Joel 2:13-14
Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot. This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now, maybe he’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all’s said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God! (the Message Bible)
"On October 6, 1973, hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, in 1967, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar."
(History Channel)
As the warring continued, tensions heightened between the United States and the Soviet Union (Russia) who came very close to direct conflict. Russians were making plans to "bring peace" to the MidEast by invading Israel. President Nixon worked out a second ceasefire and the war officially ended.
The Arab–Israeli conflicts date back millennia. Our studies into the Old Testament prophets reveal much about that. And they prophesied that these conflicts will continue to the very end. Russian influence will always be a threat. And Israel will always be the hub for all these conflicts between the dealers of war and death. In short, "so let it be written...so let it be done". It has happened, and it's going to happen, already-not-yet.
And all this because it was always intended that Israel would be a light to all the nations of the world, to convert every nation. This tiny nation, located in such a perilous location, was created to make known to all the world God's faithful remnant that he has called. Israel has forever been a hub for warring states who are engaged in hot and cold wars. Its strategic significance is without a doubt a testament in and of itself. Imagine an Israel tucked away somewhere in Madagascar or something. Would anyone know about the God of Jacob?
All this conflict is inherent and inevitable. Every part of the human being is evil and there really isn't any escape for any of us from our slavery to sin. Learning this about our ancestors through the prophets and ourselves on this side of the cross is critical if there is to be any hope for an ultimate cleansing.
"What’s the advantage of being a Jew?...First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God...(and yet) all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin...No one is truly wise...no one is seeking God...No one does good...Their talk is foul...filled with lies...full of cursing and bitterness...committing murder...They don’t know where to find peace...They have no fear of God at all." (Romans 3)
Verse by verse we learn about the need for all people of every nation to participate in the cleansing from spiritual depravity. And not a symbolic cleansing, like Russia or The U.S. playing like they come into the conflict in order to bring peace. Only new life, a new birth, a divine cleansing can bring peace to the world. All the prophets revealed God’s righteousness, revealed mainly as the wrath of God. Indeed they also revealed a new version of the old law, but always the image of salvation comes in wrath. Peace comes in the destruction of everything. There must be a sifting to remove the idols.
But now...now we have the revelation that grace has cleansed our hearts in Christ. The final wrath is coming it's true, but the restoration and sanctification is here and now, in the new birth. An instant when a change has taken place. A moment in time where someone goes from death to life. The choice is now, not later following some massive world war. It is a rebirth.
But now is the time.
But now the price has been paid.
But now God redeemed Israel in Christ.
But now sin and guilt are taken captive by the Holy Spirit.
But now faith is the atonement, and justification.
But now for something completely different..."God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."
(2 Corinthians 5:21)