A podcast listener named Melinda writes in to ask this, Pastor John, what is the proper

response of the Christian to all that's going on in Israel and Gaza?

I have Christian friends praising Israel because they are God's people defeating their long

time enemies, saying that all their offensives are justified in sanctioned by God because

they are defending the land that He gave them.

I have other Christian friends who are outraged over Israel's slaughter of innocent civilians

and children in Gaza and the support they receive from the United States.

Which is the right response?

Let's start with an overarching position on the conflict and then I'll try to put some

Bible underneath it and explain.

And when I say conflict, I mean between the Jewish people or Israel, the state and Jews

as a body and the Palestinians, there are Jewish Christians and there are Palestinian

Christians and these Christians are the meek who will inherit the earth, including

the land of Israel someday.

Jesus died to make peace between Jews and the nations.

That's the point of Ephesians 2.11 following and therefore our prayers and our labors should

be devoted especially to heraling the gospel of Messiah Jesus as the only hope for long-term

peace and justice among Jews and Palestinians.

That's the most important thing to say I believe.

And then I would say the Bible does not teach that we should be partial to Israel or to

the Palestinians in the present Christ-rejecting rebellion that both of them have against God.

As if either of them had a divine right to the land of Israel in spite of their rebellion

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