President Bush is seeking to take advantage of a lull in the popularity of Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, and is espousing again the idea of two states side by side—Israel and the Palestinians. It’s a noble goal; but is it chasing a chimera?
The innate alienation that persists between the two ethnic cultures shows no sign of abeyance; even Abbas has in his history a record of denying the Holocaust, and saying the State of Israel shouldn’t exist. Of course, people can change their minds and attitudes; but somehow the old suspicious hostility erupts in each generation.
The Bible tells how it began: Abraham and Sarah were waiting for the Lord to fulfill His New Covenant promise to give them a male heir; the promise was embedded in God’s plan of salvation for the world—through their offspring should come the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the only hope for the world, in fact. (No wonder Satan opposed the idea.)
Sarah’s bitter unbelief exploded in a hasty complaint against the Lord: “Sarai ... said to Abram, ‘The LORD has kept me from having children’” (Gen. 16:2, GNB). This was a serious calumny against Him! Wrapped up in this was her unbelief against the gospel: God promises a blessing, then He turns around and stops it from coming! (Go slow here: you and I may be the “Sarai’s” of this age! All Laodiceans are.)
“‘Why don’t you sleep with my slave girl? Perhaps she can have a child for me.’ Abram agreed with what Sarai said. So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. ... Hagar ... became pregnant, ... proud and despised Sarai.” Then she blamed her unhappiness on Abram; “‘May the Lord judge which of us is right, you or me!’ ... Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.” With such turmoil in her womb, it’s not surprising that Hagar’s son Ishmael had a disposition to “live like a wild donkey, ... against everyone, and every one will be against him” (vs. 12). (Here are the roots of jihads.)
The promised heir finally arrived after Sarah repented of her bitter unbelief (cf, Heb, 11:11), but in this story we see the beginnings of the tension that exists continually between Israel and the Palestinians. (In these last days we live only a step from Abraham.)
Can repentance, reconciliation, and peace ever come between the two peoples? Yes, when Laodicea learns how to repent and can teach them how (cf. Rev. 3:19); hearts in both cultural camps in the Middle East will be melted through the final proclamation of “Christ and Him crucified.” The world will see that there is indeed “power” in the finally unfolded gospel that lightens the earth with glory (Rev. 18:1-4; 1 Cor. 2:1, 2). Among that group who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (14:3, 4) there will be some Israelis and some Palestinians, who will dwell amicably in the New Jerusalem at last.
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