STAND FIRM: Antisemitism, Satan's Platform
In the previous article, I addressed how antisemitism is rapidly increasing in the United States, which has been brought to light through the Kanye West rants. Europe has already been experiencing a rise in antisemitism and it has risen to heights higher than during the time of Nazi Germany. I wrote how this will happen in the last days, but not just in the last days, because it’s a major agenda in Satan’s “political” platform.
It blows my mind that Christians debate whether there is a “Christian” political platform. Of course, since there is one absolute truth — God’s Word — God’s agenda should be clear. Though no political party is perfect, God’s Word is clear on many of the issues debated between the parties. I believe the argument about a “Christian” political platform can be circumvented, though, because Satan may have an even clearer platform. For 6,000 years, Satan has attacked the same things over and over.
Of course, he attacks the truth. He causes questioning of God. We see those, but there’s more.
He’s continually been after the Jewish people. He is also constantly after the death of children and promoting sexual perversion. These are just a few, but I want to focus on his hatred of Israel, because antisemitism is prejudice or hatred toward Jews.
Satan’s hatred and attacks towards Israel throughout history are uncanny. There’s no group of people that has been singled out to the degree Jews have been in all of history. Repeatedly throughout history, individuals and groups have come to power and are disproportionally hellbent on eradicating Israel. There have been many moments, but here are a few:
• In Egypt, along with enslaving Israel, Pharoah ordered all male Hebrew children to be killed. Eventually, he would have eliminated the Jewish race if he had been successful.
• Years later, the Assyrians invaded Israel and took away 10 of the 12 tribes. Then Assyria marched on Judah, destroying all the cities except for Jerusalem. They were mere days away from wiping Israel out when God answered Hezekiah’s prayer and sent the Angel of the Lord to kill the Assyrians who surrounded the walls of Jerusalem.
• Less than 200 years later, the Babylonians invaded Judah. They ransacked Jerusalem and carried the Jews away to captivity in Babylon.
• Even after the Medes and Persians took Babylon and Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return home, the Persian official, Haman, sought to wipe out the Jews again. This time God rescued them through Esther.
• In 70 A.D., the scene of Jerusalem surrounded and besieged repeated. The Romans surrounded it and like the Babylonians, they destroyed the city and Temple. Jews were then displaced around the world.
• There was the Spanish Inquisition in the 12th century.
• Then there was the horrific Holocaust in the mid-1900s where Hitler led the murder of six million Jews. Less than 80 years ago, the world was made aware of the horrors of the Holocaust, yet today antisemitism is rising higher than at that point.
This persecution and hatred of Jews has resurfaced time and time again. When you stop and think about it, this hatred of Israel is so bizarre. It only makes sense when we realize that the enemy of God and His people is working behind the scenes to fuel this hatred — and that is exactly what Scripture says.
In the first prophecy of the Bible, Gen. 3:15, it is promised that there would enmity between the seed of the woman (which ultimately is Jesus) and the seed of Satan, but that the seed of the woman would defeat Satan. This promise in the Garden of Eden gave Satan a target. Later, as it became clear that God would bring that ultimate seed of promise through Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, then Judah and later David, Satan had another target.
The strange account in Revelation 12 tells more about the unfolding of that prophecy in Genesis 3:15:
“…The dragon (Satan)…pursued the woman (Israel/Jews) who had given birth to the male child (Jesus). The woman (Israel/Jews) was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she (Israel/Jews) might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she (Israel/Jews) would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach (Satan). Then from his mouth the serpent (Satan) spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman (Israel/Jews) and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman (Israel/Jews) by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon (Satan) was enraged at the woman (Israel/Jews) and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring (Christians) — those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (Rev. 12:13-17 NIV with authors interpretation in parentheses).
Antisemitism is absolutely bizarre when you stop and think about it. The most uniting opinion in the world is a unified disdain for the Jewish people. How strange is that? Well, when we realize the Bible tells us that is the M.O. of Satan, it all makes complete sense.
Jake is the newest state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)
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Jake McCandless
Jake McCandless authors a weekly column titled, Stand Firm and Live Epic, through which he seeks to encourage the modern church to not just survive, but thrive in current times. He also addresses many end-times topics.
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