Is Israel Being Punished for their Sins?
When terrorists attack and innocents die, for many it would be unfathomable to ask, “Isn’t Israel just being punished by God for their sins?” And yet, after the October 7 vicious attack by Hamas and after the rocket fire from Iran on April 13 and October 1, 2024, we have seen similar comments appear on social media.
In these online posts, there are Christians who draw a connecting line from the biblical prophecies and call for Israel to turn from sin or suffer God’s judgment – to today. They urge the Jewish people to “repent and acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah . . . so that there might be peace in Israel.”
In other words, they suggest that the Jewish people have brought the terror attacks and subsequent war upon themselves. When evil came knocking, Israel must have done something to draw it, is the sense.
Are the Jews to blame?
Is the accusation unique to these lifting their Bible? Hardly. Look again online and you’ll see many raising the Koran who also claim the Jews have brought this upon themselves. Look a third time and you’ll find officials and politicians on their daises with twisted condemnations leveled at Israel. Keep looking and you’ll find a crazed international mob who mischaracterize themselves as tolerant and compassionate advocates while screaming for the removal of Jewish people “from the river to the sea.”
“The Jews are to blame” is not a new accusation.
Innocent Israelis and internationals in the land on October 7 were not asking for trouble. Early reports of the atrocities included 40 babies, some beheaded, others burned alive. They somehow deserved this? It’s unthinkable! Slaughtering families, butchering children, abusing, and taking captives sets a person or a people on the wrong side of justice and the wrong side of God.
So, let us be clear. No, this isn’t Israel being punished by God. What we see today is from the pit of hell. It’s antisemitism in full color. Satan and his hordes are raging against God’s authority and His eternal covenant with the Jewish people. It’s exactly what Jesus said of Satan, that he “comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10)
Is Israel Being Punished by God? – Learn from Church History
It’s important for us as Christians to get this correct in our thinking and speech. Church history holds painful memories of previous times when the Church concluded God was punishing the Jewish people, that He had rejected Israel for her sin . . . so we the Church will do the same, was the prevailing thought and action.
The Church has blood on her hands from those days. God forgive us! God help us to never repeat that sin.
Does God Judge Sin?
Does God judge sin? He does. The apostle Paul wrote that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). It’s true for all people – all. Sin has natural, spiritual, and eternal consequences.
Romans 2:9-10: There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Does Israel today honor and obey God’s law and submit to His authority? Is there purity covering the land? No, not as a nation. Not yet. Does that automatically condemn the country to God’s judgment by way of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Hague, or Iran, as some proclaim? No.
The above verse says tribulation and distress will come to any who do evil, so yes, Israel will experience the consequences and be accountable for her sin – but so will every nation and person outside of the blood of Jesus. Where’s that recognition in the one-sided emphasis on Israel’s guilt? Why do fingers so quickly point at the Jewish people as somehow more deserving of every evil and trouble that arrive at the door?
Who Deserves War?
Sin is serious – no matter who you are. But before we conclude that Israel is being punished by God for their sin, let’s ask ourselves. Are we willing to subject our families, ourselves, our countries, to the same scrutiny that Israel endures? Is every war and evil deserved?
Here’s what I love. The remnant of Jewish believers in Israel today is less than 1% of the population, but they are a vibrant, beautiful remnant who is affecting the nation with the hope of the gospel. They do so with practical help and genuine love – especially in the past year of violence and uncertainty.
The Lord promised Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah would be spared if ten righteous were found within its walls. The number of Jewish believers in the land is far more numerous than ten. Thus, we say: Live, Israel, live!
Israel Tested in the Days of the Judges
After Joshua and his generation secured the Promised Land, there arose a generation within Israel who did not know the Lord, nor the work which He had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10)
Sadly, Israel did evil in God’s eyes and played the harlot with the idols of the surrounding nations. Not so different from today. But in Judges 3, we learn that the Lord left some nations in the land “for testing Israel.”
The Hebrew word for testing is nassot. It means to put someone to the test to ascertain the nature within, including imperfection. Judges 3:3-4 says the nations, including the five lords of the Philistines and the Hivites who lived in Mt. Lebanon, were there for testing Israel to see if they would obey the commandments of the Lord. Interesting! The nations weren’t left for Israel’s destruction or torture and torment, but testing.
In each subsequent generation during the judges, God heard Israel’s cry for help and raised up a deliverer to lead His people out of bondage and into freedom. The Lord still hears Israel’s cry – as He hears yours. The Lord allows testing, difficult times, excruciating circumstances, not to destroy us but to prove us.
God’s Punishment According to Job’s Finger-Pointing Friends
Job is known by people inside and outside of the Church world as the man who suffered crushing loss and pain, despite his upright life. Through Scripture, we have the benefit of the behind-the-scenes conversations between God and Satan. A benefit Job never had.
Job’s suffering was never about punishment or discipline, but about God’s sovereignty and love. The Lord set limits to which Satan was required to adhere. And He’s still setting limits for the enemy.
God’s character was questioned by Job, understandably, but in the end his suffering resulted in greater dependency and intimacy.
Job’s character was questioned by his friends. In Job’s worst days, in trotted his friends one after the other to offer their opinion, their judgment, as to why he suffered so horribly. “Repent, Job! Clearly, you’ve sinned,” was their consensus.
Eliphaz recognized that Job had a reputation of helping others in their times of need. But now the day had come when Job’s knees were weak, and he needed help and support. “Why are you complaining, Job?” Eliphaz asserted Job deserved what he had gotten, for surely Job was guilty of sin and therefore trouble hit his door.
“Who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it.” Job 4:7-8
Punished by God like Israel? Or Suffered Unjustly?
Finally, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. It seemed even the Lord had heard enough of the friends’ “darkened counsel,” and their “words without knowledge.” (Job 38:1-2) The Lord had the final say, and He brought clarity when the time was right to do so.
If we could answer Eliphaz’s rhetorical question of “Where were the upright destroyed” we could offer a list of examples: Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul, Isaiah, and James the brother of the Lord, for starters.
How about those who suffered unjustly? We’d add Joseph in Egypt, Job, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, John the apostle, names of saints we’ll never know this side of heaven who, the writer of Hebrews said, were tortured and refused their release for the Kingdom’s cause . . . the world was not worthy of such people.
Does the presence of pain and suffering automatically mean God’s hand is raised in punishment?
Our minds don’t like unanswered mysteries (for now) in God’s story, for Israel and for each of us. We scrabble to fill in the blanks, but we often speak as fools only to satisfy our minds with what we think He might be doing. Job said that when he stood before the Lord, he covered his own mouth.
Time to Pray
Israel is in an existential threat, fighting their longest and costliest war in modern history. The nation is hurting, the people, the families, the children – the 101 hostages languishing in Gaza. Lord, help.
Through terrorism and every anti-God and antisemitic scheme and weapon, Satan raises his bloody fist against God’s authority and eternal covenants. He has deceived the nations and distorted the truth.
The Lord said through Zechariah, “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster.” (Zech. 1:14-15)
The nations will be held accountable before the Lord for their treatment of the Jewish people. He has sent “a man” against the nations which plunder Israel, “for he who touches Israel, touches the apple of His eye.” (Zech. 2:8)
In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old. Isaiah 63:9
Today more than ever, the Jewish people need us to stand with them in prayer and unwavering support. Not debating if they deserve the atrocities that have hit their borders; not questioning if Israel is being punished by God.
Rather, carrying God’s covenant people on our shoulders of intercession and love. We should be standing and speaking out for Israel and the Jewish people worldwide amidst the crazy din of antisemitism reverberating off the walls of university campuses, coffee shops, government buildings, international courts, major corporations, and sadly, some faith-based organizations.
Judgement of Sin and Kingdom of Righteousness
The day of judgment will come when every nation and people will stand before King Jesus.
For today, let’s ask better questions. Not, Is Israel being punished by God?, but How can we best stand with and speak up for the Jewish people? How would the Lord have us pray and act for every person in the region in desperate need of help and hope?
The battle at its root is a spiritual one. It’s real, it’s intense, but we have been given weapons of warfare that are not of flesh but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4)
Let’s partner with the God of Israel to see all come to know Him and experience His peace.
At the end of his struggle, Job declared, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.” Lord, let it be so.
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The post Is God Punishing Israel? Let’s Look at Modern History and the Bible appeared first on FIRM Israel.
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