As we see the war in Israel drag on for several months, it can be wearying, not only for the soldiers and their families but also for the intercessors. The aim of war is to wear down the enemy to the point of surrender (or annihilation). War is never nice and always costly but unfortunately is necessary in a fallen world where there is an enemy who wants to wipe you off the face of the earth.
War in the Bible is mostly associated with the judgement of God. War, disaster, famine, vicious animals, and plague (Jer 28:8, 29:17-18, Ezek 14:21) are listed. They are signs that the end-time judgements (as in Rev 6) are beginning to play out. They have consequences not only for the individual but also the nation.
God’s purpose in judgement is not to annihilate us, but to further His purposes. Individually and as nations, He wants us to humble ourselves and repent so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth (Ex 9:14). His acts like a loving father who has to discipline his son to teach him the right way to live. As in the book of Judges, we frequently turn aside and each one starts to ‘do what is right in his own eyes’ (Jud 17:6, 21:25). We fall into toying with evil and become selfish rather than obeying God’s commandments and walking with Him. Thus, we open a door for Satan to come in to steal, kill, and destroy (Jn 10:10). Before Israel went into exile, God sent them many prophets to warn them of coming disaster if they did not turn from their idolatry and wicked ways. Before this war with Hamas, Israel was at the point of civil war, self-destructing with disunity and rebellion against the elected authorities and each side insisting its own way was right. Thankfully, all have now come together again to fight an evil external enemy. Just perhaps God knew they needed a strong government that would stand against international pressure for the good of the country at this time? I trust the nation will learn the lesson and never repeat the disunity that opened the door for the 7 October attack.
As Christian believers, it is not our job to judge but to intercede. When we see judgement coming, it is a call to repentance. In the book of Joel, when armies of locusts or invading human armies broke through the defences, it was the priests who were to weep between the porch and the altar (Joel 2:17). In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 it was the people called by His name who were to intercede for the entire nation. In interceding for the breaking of a war or plague, we need to identify the cause and find God’s strategies to overcome to bring the victory. The battle must first be won in our own individual lives, then God can use us to bring the breakthrough in others, our communities, our region, or our country.
To break the plague, caused by the non-God-ordained census, King David had to build an altar. He would not sacrifice to God something that cost him nothing (1 Chron 21:24). It will cost us something also. But it is in these sacrifices that God shows up (v 26) and desires to dwell. That is his ultimate goal—to restore the relationship between God and man so He can dwell in our midst to be our God and we can be His people. He is after our individual hearts and the heart of our nations. One of the saddest verses in the Bible is ‘but they refused to repent’ (Rev 9:20-21, 16:9-11).
God does not desire war and He promises to fight for His people when they call upon Him. He even knows there will be wars and gives Israel a whole chapter of rules of engagement for war (Deut ch 20). He will manifest His glory in the midst of war and His purposes are greater than the selfish ambitions of humanity that causes wars. He will even work His purposes out through the wars of mankind. Through WW1, He opened the way for the Jewish people to return to the Land via the Beersheba victory and the Balfour Declaration. Through WW2, He enabled Israel to become a nation, albeit though the terrible furnaces of Hitler and the Nazi regime. He who sits in the Heavens laughs at the puny efforts of man to exalt himself to the place of God (Psalm 2). He is Almighty God and His plans will not be thwarted.
In the midst of war is suffering both to individual lives and the countries involved. There is grief, physical suffering, financial hardship, and mental trauma. It is here that the compassion of God needs to come to the fore. We need to stand with Israel in her pain and international isolation. When the war finally ends there is much rebuilding to do—of lives, homes, businesses, and the economy.
In intercession, we need to keep praying God’s prophetic purposes into being. The nations are trying to force Israel into their human agenda of a two-state solution that has never worked, which is in opposition to God’s plans outlined in the Scriptures. We pray for ALL Israel’s covenanted land to be restored to her and not given away (Gen 15:18), for ALL Jewish people to return from exile to their land (Ezek 39:25-29), for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the people (Ezek 36:24-28), and for the revelation of the Messiah (Zech 12:10).
“Lift up your heads, you gates, and be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! 8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates, and lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord of armies, He is the King of glory.” Ps 24:7-10
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