WHAT IF ISRAEL IS IN UNBELIEF? WILL GOD STILL JUDGED THOSE "THAT JUDGED ISRAEL?"

WHAT IF ISRAEL IS IN UNBELIEF? WILL GOD STILL JUDGED THOSE "THAT JUDGED ISRAEL?"

One of the arguments as to why Christians shouldn't support Israel is because they killed Christ, and therefore under judgment. As such they are outside God's protection and her "judge-ers" are justified in hating her. 

Yet in Habakkuk 1 we have Habakkuk crying out to the Lord against the evil of Israel. At that point of her history she is clearly outside God's will and in a position of judgment. God's response? "I will use Babylon to judge Israel." This is where things get interesting.

Let us meditate on Habakuk's words:

Habakkuk 1:12-17

[12]Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.

[13]Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

[14]Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, Like creeping things without a ruler over them?

[15]The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

[16]Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net And burn incense to their fishing net; Because through these things their catch is large, And their food is plentiful.

[17]Will they therefore empty their net And continually slay nations without sparing?

Habakkuk objected. Why will God use a nation that is more unrighteous than Israel to punish a nation that is relatively more righteous than the "weapon" of judgment? Isn't this unfair? What if these people go beyond what God intended? Won't Israel be unsafe as she is outside God's will and her enemies are free to attack her? Incidentally that is Israel's position today also? From the standpoint of the gospel  she is the enemies for believers' sake. Does that mean Christians are free to diss her since she crucified the Master? Or at the very least step aside, look away when Jerusalem is in trouble. Do not pray for the peace of Jerusalem as she is to spend her days without a country and without God? (1948 anyone?). 

God's reply to Habakkuk showed that even then Gen 12:1-3 is in effect. For this (the curse clause of the Abrahamic Covenant) reason alone, not to mention other nonreligious reasons (right to self-determination and self-defense, the legality of Balfour Declaration and relevant treatises, the legitimate purchase of parcels of then useless land during the aliyah, the right of conquest, etc), Christians should be supportive of Israel. God replied that He will punish the Babylonians for their wickedness. 

Habakkuk 2:8

[8]"Because you have looted many nations, All the remainder of the peoples will loot you- Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.

So apparently Gen 12 applied even when Israel is in disobedience. 

By the way, this does not mean, evangelicals always support Israel regardless of what she does. It does mean that we support her right in the land as her title deed is written in the Bible.

Also since we are talking of Israel's guilt in crucifying the Lord, let us remember that Jesus Himself said that He laid up His life on His own and He'll take it back Himself, that He is obedient to the Father even to death, and that you and I are in a sense crucified Him for He is the propitiation for our sins and the whole world. Everyone, not just the Jews have a hand in His death, for it is a central fact of history that one cannot overlook:

Acts 4:27-28

[27]For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

[28]to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

(Kung gusto ninyo ng karagdagang impormasyon, bisitahin ninyo kami. May pagtitipon kami sa Dahat, kada Linggo, alas 8:30-10:30 am. Sa Amoguis, 1:00-3:00 pm. Sana manampalataya kayo at kita-kita tayo.)