Pilot Knob Lutheran Wipe Out Israel 4/24/2024
Considering recent events in Israel, Iran’s attack with missiles, drones and ballistic missiles, Psalm 83 comes to mind. It is a psalm of national lament in which the author, Asaph, prays for the LORD to intervene against her enemies.
Her enemies are listed as no less than ten (Vss. 6-11). Those are not good odds. Their purpose: Psalm 83:4 “Come, and let’s wipe them out as a nation, So that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered.” This isn’t the first-time nations have tried to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
The Egyptian Pharoah tried, so did ancient Syria, Babylon, Rome, Spanish Inquisition, Russia, Hitler, Arafat, Bin Ladin, Sadam Husain, Hamas and Hezbollah. No one has succeeded. Israel’s enemies are many, but God is more powerful than all of them. It was truly a miracle that not one of the 330 rockets fired at Israel fell on their soil, no one was injured, and that other nations, including Arab nations, joined in to defend Israel. Psalm 83 is a template for Israel perhaps till the end of time, and not just a ‘sign of the end times.”
What is interesting is the Hebrew word for cunning in Psalm 83:3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish, is the same word used in Genesis 3:1 for the word crafty and it describes the serpent. Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. Therefore, Israel’s enemies are connected to the Serpent; i.e., they are Satanic. Antisemitism, the holocaust, Hitler, 1967 Six Day War, October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel are all Satanic. Those that attack or hate Israel also hate God and seek to work against Him.
We too have our enemies, equally Satanic because we too are God’s chosen people. That alone places a target on our forehead. As God’s chosen, we are an enemy of darkness and at war every day. We must actively enter this war and fight, and not sit in the bunker. We have the same God who comes to our defense as Israel. Therefore, we have nothing to fear ‘even if the mountains should fall into the sea.’
The goal of the Psalmist is: Psalm 83:18 So that they will know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth. That should be our goal too. It isn’t simply the defeat of our enemies, but better yet to have them join the side of truth and life. May we continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel’s overwhelming victory over her enemies as well as the church’s enemies.
Pr. Bob Snitzer
By the Way:
Today: 3:45 Confirmation class.
Sunday 29, 9:00 AM Morning worship service. Sermon: Who Do You Belong To?
10:15 Sunday school. (Last day is May 5)
May 5, 2:00 GriefShare #13. Please tell others.
For more information go to: https://www.griefshare.org/findagroup or contact Pr. Bob or Sue Reese.
~ Past communiques and sermons can be read and heard on our website: www.pilotknob.org and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PilotKnobLutheran/
