Tag: religion

Israel’s Difficult Future in Christian Perspective

The dramatic hostilities of last October’s terrorist attack on Israeli citizens, as well as Israel’s retaliation over the months since then up until this moment, have held the attention of the Western world and the Middle East, more so even than recent wars in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Africa. Perhaps this is because there is in the collective consciousness or cultural memory in Western and Middle Eastern societies that Israel and its environs are of the greatest importance to the future history of the world. The living and true God, by choosing Israel as His earthly people in the distant past with a view toward great future blessing, has ordained that it should be thus, and is arranging the scene even now to bring about His own purposes in the exaltation and glory of His Son Jesus Christ. In the not-too-distant future, both those who “received Him not” (the Jews), along with those who “knew Him not” (the world), will own Him as the Son of God and the King of Israel, who has the right to put down all rule and authority as He takes away the sin of the world (John 1:10-11, 29, & 49).

How should the Christian view these sad events, and what should be the Christian’s attitude toward modern Israel, composed primarily of Jews gathered back into the land of promise while yet in unbelief? Surely, and we might say this point is of greatest importance, we ought to echo the apostle Paul in his heart’s desire and prayer for Israel, that they might be saved (Romans 10:1). A remnant is being saved now during this dispensation of the grace of God, and how wonderful that is to behold. But that “great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3) of Israel will be brought about only when the Jews finally receive their Messiah, which the scriptures plainly tell us will take place in due time (Ezekiel 36 & 37; Romans 11). Israel’s national preservation will not be effected by the efforts of well-meaning Christians with a mixture of political leanings and an a la carte dispensationalism. A dispensational understanding of the scriptures is valuable in our day more than ever, perhaps, but Christians ought to be wary of an anemic eschatology that avoids dealing with the difficult questions of how Jehovah will deal with Israel by a prescribed and righteous chastening, employing the ungodly nations around it to bring to pass His purposes of final restoration and glory.

It almost goes without saying that the Christian’s heart should grieve over the violence suffered on all sides of any conflict, and perhaps especially over the suffering of God’s earthly people during their long estrangement from Him. Still, may our thoughts and affections be formed above all by the interests and the glory of Christ, who must finally reign over Israel and over all things in heaven and earth.

For any who might wish to look further into these things concerning Israel’s future and the proper Christian frame of mind toward current events in that region, I suggest listening to the audio file below. It is ministry given by Stephen Stewart at a Bible conference in Englewood, Colorado, in 2019, long before the recent stream of events that are troubling the world. I believe the truth of the teaching in this short address is as pertinent now as ever.

Islam: Religion Without Life

I will begin with the disclaimer that I am not an expert on the religion of Islam. However, all who are to any degree knowledgeable on the world’s religions will have an understanding of some of the basics of this great religious system. We can likely agree that Muslims reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and deny His eternal deity, His equality with God. Islam teaches that “Allah is one”, believing that tenet excludes the possibility of a God revealed in trinity, or as three in one. It also seems evident that Islam’s deity is not known for the attributes of grace and mercy, but for his exacting justice, particularly in judging infidels and rewarding his servants.

But how might a person who is irreligious determine which religion or “faith” is true?  A gospel preacher might inform such a seeker that the Christian gospel of the grace of God must be accepted by faith, and there is no more truthful a statement than that. However, would not an Islamic mullah also instruct the seeker in the need to believe the teachings of the Koran?  For it is accepted in Islam as Allah’s words to his prophet Muhammed through the angel Gabriel.  In either case, the seeker would be asked to place his trust in persons and principles that he can neither see nor hear nor touch with his natural faculties. So how can the truth be known positively, and not remain simply a matter of religious preference, heritage, or cultural inertia?

If you are a Christian who is trying to follow my line of reasoning, I assure you that there can be no real comparison made between the Biblical gospel of peace and the teachings of the Koran, regardless of how some defend Islam as a “religion of peace”. To emulate Muhammed is to be the very contradiction of peaceable, and God forbid that we should bring the Lord Jesus, that holy peacemaker, down to the level of comparison with so fleshly a character.

But what one thing fundamentally differentiates a true believer in the “living and true God” from a servant of Allah?  It is this: the one possesses a new life, a spiritual life, and the other has but the natural life that he or she was born with, nothing more.  In my admittedly modest amount of research, I have not found any teaching in Islam on the necessity of new life, or being born again. As with all worldly religion, the whole belief system of Islam appeals to, regulates, seeks to improve, and finally promises rewards to the natural man. In any case, why would its prophet set forth the need for a new life when he was satisfied in his natural life, “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind”?

Man in his natural state is “alienated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18). God bestows new life by grace upon the objects of His eternal counsels (Ephesians 1:3-11; 2:5), causing them to be “born of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:5; James 1:18), water being figurative of the Word of God. Jesus is the living Word in whom is life eternal, and receiving Him for the dignity of a place in God’s family flows from a soul’s new birth (John 1:1-13). A believer on Jesus, the Son of God, has “the witness in himself” – the Spirit witnessing to the effect of the water (a new, incorruptible spiritual life) and the blood of redemption (I John 5:8-12). The religion of Islam has nothing like this internal, conscious blessedness to offer the searching soul.