This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” Zechariah 8:23
Heavenly Father, watching nations rally for and against Israel is heartbreaking and fear-fueling. But it’s no shock or even a surprise. The history of redemption is playing out right before our eyes.
“Nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain. The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against you and against your appointed, anointed Messiah and Son, the Lord Jesus” (Psalm 2:1-2). The hatred we’re witnessing is really directed towards you and Jesus, not towards one nation in the Middle East. War is a repudiation and reviling of you and what you have promised to do through Jesus—through the Gospel.
As the Messiah, Jesus is the “one Jew” in Zechariah’s vision—the Lord who became the Lamb, your Son who is the heir of all nations and the entire earth (Ps.2:8; Heb.1:1-3). You sent Jesus to save Jew and Gentiles on the same basis—by grace alone through faith alone.
Because of Jesus’ finished work, “a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language” will stand in front of the throne and before Jesus—converted Jews and Gentiles together, clothed in Jesus’ righteousness… one beloved Bride, one gloriously redeemed people, one forever-family populating the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 7; 21:1-5). We SO long for that Day.
Father, we pray for a quick end to the war in and against Israel. It’s exactly the same prayer we pray for Ukraine. In the middle of all the evil and terrorism, bring many Jews, Russians, Iranians, Ukrainians, Turks, Americans, etc. to a sure and saving knowledge of Jesus. So Very Amen.
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