"What should my response be to what's going on in the Middle East?" someone asked recently. "And what should our response be as 'a Christian nation'?"
The inquiry as to what might be a personal "response" to events in the Middle East could use some sharpening. A response to whom? To friends who ask in a coffee shop conversation? To your Congressional representative? To the international student from Jordan who wants to know 'where you stand'?
I have "a response" if you will. I think people, starting with me, and everyone else needs a Biblical world view.
WHAT IS A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW?
A biblical worldview is seeing the world and what goes on in it through the lens provided us by God's Spirit in the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. But even that "lens" needs a clarification. It is to look at reality believing that God has revealed in Scripture (1) who He is, (2) what He is up to in the universe He created and the affairs of humanity whom He loves.
Can something helpful from a Biblical approach be summarized as speaking to "the Middle East"? Perhaps. Here is my attempt.
People in every country -- be those countries located in the Middle East or anywhere else on the planet -- are called to believe that God wants to, and will, bless all peoples through Abraham's "seed," that is, the Person of The Lord Jesus Christ. History's most important person came through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, and David. Israel is God's chosen nation, and He has always intended to bless the world through His people.
Jesus Christ The Lord, the Messiah, is, as Isaiah declared, the Prince of Peace and humanity's Wonderful Counselor (cf. Isaiah 9). Thus, there will never be peace in the hearts of individuals nor in the relationships between nations, until hearts and knees and thrones and kingdoms are bent before Him, and submitted to His righteous rule. Sin and selfishness are what stirs people to bad, self-serving relations, and also nations to conquest and war. Only Christ can effectively put sin and death and all its relentless collateral damage aside. Only then comes "shalom," the unique peace of God to a restless, sinful humanity.
WHAT TO SUPPORT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Usually, questions like those at the beginning of this blog are also wondering about what we - those with a Biblical worldview - should politically and personally support in the Middle East. Should we be "on the side of" Israel? the Palestinians? The citizenry and governments of surrounding nations like Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, etc.?
I believe that the world one day will be blessed as Israel is in right relationship with Her Messiah, that His kingdom and "David's throne" will be reestablished in the region of Jerusalem and Palestine. That He will reign righteously over the nations, and they will be glad for His equitable rule and the blessings of the Kingdom era.
The truth is that Israel today is over 70% secular. It is not oriented to God's Messiah. She needs to be. But so do the surrounding nations. "There is salvation in none other," said Peter. "There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we MUST be delivered (or saved)" (Acts 4:12).
Support the spread of the Gospel in the Middle East. Support governments in the Middle East who will allow open and free gospel-sharing about the Person of Christ. Pray for conditions in all nations where the good news about what can be found when trusting in Jesus Christ can be understood and embraced (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-8).
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