by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
There are now “only” 134 hostages still in Hamas captivity in Gaza as the IDF rescued and freed 2 male abductees, Fernando Marman, 61 and Louis Har, 70 from an apartment in Rafah. Videos, analyses and commentaries of the dramatic operation executed and completed by elite Israeli commandos at 1:50 a.m. on Monday, February 12 are now in viral circulation all over the Internet. While we should be glad that these hostages are rescued, we must remember that men, women, elderly, children and a baby; as well as corpses of hostages are still held since Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attack into Israel. The Israelis are now drawing up plans on how to evacuate Gaza civilians to safe zones while preparing to attack Rafah along the Gaza border with Egypt. Israel wants to achieve its 3 stated objectives: destroy Hamas; get the hostages back; and ensure that Israelis will no longer be endangered by rocket fire and/or attacks from Gaza. We should continue to pray for the immediate release of all hostages and a just end to this war. Let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-7).
It was in the process of marveling at the YouTube clips of the commando rescue operation from various Christian, Messianic and Israeli video presentations that I came upon a very thoughtful video from Tree of Life Ministries Israel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scCPniW1rp0&t=36s). It featured “Two Surprising Things the News isn’t Reporting about the War in Israel.” The title caught my attention. Watching the short video reinforced my view about one thing and also quite rightly informed me of another very important prophetic matter.
The first thing is that this October 7, 2023 Hamas War really is a spiritual turning point for Israelis. They had long “tolerated” the missiles and rockets from Gaza under the false belief that they were protected by their vaunted technological and military prowess. They had their high wall fences, surveillance cameras, other high-tech defense mechanisms and of course, the Iron Dome. They made a huge “concession” to the Palestinians in 2005 and gave up Gaza, even forcibly and physically moving their citizens from their homes and lands with the view that the Arabs would want to live peacefully by their side. By 2007 Hamas had completely taken over Gaza and started lobbing missiles and rockets into southern Israel. The Israelis thought that they could give up part of the Promised Land that the LORD God gave to their ancestors when it was still called Canaan millennia ago. God even told them that the land did not really belong to them, it was God’s (e.g., Genesis 12:1-8; 17:15-21; 23:1-20, Leviticus 25:23, Deuteronomy 32:8-9, Psalm 24:1-2). The Israelis even hired Gazans into southern Israel with the notion that incomes earned would dissuade them from hating and wanting to destroy Israel. Gaza has been turned into one big terror place, on the ground and underground. The Gazans working in the Israeli kibbutzim gained vital security knowledge which was used by Hamas against the residents with terrifying results in the October 7 attacks. Now, the Israelis know better. And now, so many are turning to God, the God of Judaism and now also to the “Christian God.”
The Tree of Life video reveals that Israeli Jews (nominal or otherwise) and Israeli Arabs are now asking for copies of the New Testament! There is a spiritual reawakening of the Israelis going on in the midst of this war. Other Messianic (e.g., One for Israel, Behold Israel) and Christian sources (e.g., CBN) corroborate this. Jews who were formerly dismissive and even hostile to Jesus Christ (the “god of the Gentiles”) are now opening up to the Gospel and more are accepting the Lord Jesus! This, I believe can only be the work of God as he calls his people back to him.
The second thing that God is doing is related to this. As the video points out, the current world-wide surge of antisemitism is affecting Jews from every nation and walk-of-life (especially in the US and Europe). The Jews no longer feel safe in the countries where they have lived for the longest time outside Israel. Comparisons with the times of Hitler and the Nazis in Europe are now being discussed. With controversies rearing up even in the elite universities in the US, the Jews in America are understandably upset and nervous about the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic wave that threatens to engulf them. American Jews are numerically more than those living in Israel, and there have been many prophetic voices raised in the past (e.g., Tom Hess, Let My People Go! Washington, D.C.: Progressive Vision, 1991) that they (and other Jews everywhere in the Diaspora) need to go back to their real ancestral homeland, the Promised Land the LORD God had given them. There are literally hundreds of Scripture verses pointing to the need for God’s people to turn to God as he will never cease loving and protecting them. Again, I believe this is part of God’s call to his people to return to him; to Israel, the only place where they can be protected as a people. This modern movement of Jews returning via immigration to Israel is called “Aliyah.” Eschatologically-speaking, we should recall that the Jews must call upon the Lord Jesus for the Second Coming to happen in the Holy City of Jerusalem (see Matthew 23:37-39, Luke 13:34-35). Until then, the State of Israel must care for and protect them.
When I started this reflection, my focus was on the daring rescue mission successfully executed by IDF commandos. Now as it turns out, these two gentlemen kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak last October 7 were Jews from Argentina. And then it dawned on me that just last Tuesday, February 6, the newly-elected President of Argentina, Javier Milei visited Israel in an unabashed show of wartime solidarity. President Milei prayed and even wept at the Western Wall, visited Kibbutz Nir Oz which was heavily brutalized by Hamas, and pledged to move the Argentine Embassy to Jerusalem (one of his election campaign promises). And then he left. And then the rescue operation happened after less than a week. It could be a coincidence. Or maybe a “gift” by the Israelis to him as the 2 hostages freed were Israeli-Argentines. Or perhaps, it was God reminding us again of his promise of blessings long ago, in Genesis 12:1-3, given to Abraham and all people:
1Now the LORD said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (NASB)
We will continue with another topic next time.
God bless us all.