On October 7, 2023, more than 3,000 Hamas terrorists entered Israel from the Gaza Strip. They murdered more than 1,400 Israeli's, over 1,100 of which were civilians, 300 soldiers, and kidnapped at least an additional 242. This was the largest terrorist attack since 9/11 and, proportional to population, much larger.

This attack completely surprised Israel, which is the most significant aspect relative to Israeli defense. Coupled with statements like the following, from Hamas political bureau member Ghazi Hamad, Israel is realizing it can no longer live in the shadows of terrorists on any border. Hamad said, "Israel is a country that has no place on our land...we must remove it because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation. We are not ashamed to say this." Hamad is referring to Nakba, the catastrophe of 1948 when Israel took the Palestinian homeland, which in their mind is an affront to Allah because it challenges his sovereignty. Allah is in disrepute until the land is restored. Thus, it is war since 1948. Hamad continued, "we must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do it twice and three times. The al-Aqsa Deluge [the name Hamas gave its October 7 onslaught] is just the first time," and added, "will we have to pay a price? yes, and we are ready to pay it." Further, "we are the victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On October 7, October 10, October one-millionth, everything we do is justified." (Jinsa.org) It becomes quite apparent that they never intend to stop fighting Israel. Therefore, what is Israel to do? 

Israeli Minister Gantz is now making significant comments to the effect that Israel can no longer live under the shadow of terrorists. Currently there are terrorists on all sides. Hezbollah on the North (proxy terrorist army of Iran), Fatah in the West Bank, along with Hamas in the South, and many other smaller terrorist organizations all around Israel. While the main operation is against Hamas in Gaza, things are heating up in the North with Hezbollah. Israel may be waiting for things to escalate to a breaking point, but it is already beyond anything seen since 2014.  Israel probably does not want to be seen as the aggressor and be positioned in a two-front war. Things are also taking place in the West Bank with Fatah as well as Hamas operatives, and casualties are on both sides. 

Israel is realizing that ultimately their position in the Middle East is an untenable and unlivable one. They need to remove all terrorists from their borders. This is where Bible prophecy comes into play. Ezekiel 38:8 predicts a time when Israel is restored from the sword and living securely. No one can convincingly argue that they have been living in such conditions since 1948. For Hamas and all terrorist organizations in the region such as Hezbollah (terrorist proxy army of Iran), Fatah, Palestinian Jihad, et.al., it is war since 1948. Israel is under constant rocket fire keeping their population in constant fear and psychological stress. But if the terrorists are all rooted out, then the conditions of Ezek 38:8 would be in place. Israel would be living securely. 

However, if Israel took this large-scale action, it could induce international anti-Semitism, including the final turn of America against Israel, leaving Israel all alone. Then the waiting game would begin, and the question of how long Israel will be living in peace and security before the Ezek 38 war. Of course, many other prophecies get in the mix, most importantly the rise of the anti-Christ and the ten-nation confederacy. Israel may eventually sense an existential threat of an Ezek 38 war and make the treaty with the anti-Christ for security purposes.

In the end, we may have to live out our days, but the situation in Ezek 38:8 is hard to imagine with terrorists living on every side, and if they are eliminated, then there can be no doubt that the rapture is very soon, as it is difficult to imagine these things taking more than 50 years seeing that Hamas planned 16 years for the current unprovoked attack. At any rate, the stage must be set, and we could be seeing that happen in Operation Swords of Iron. 

Last time we closed by asking whether dispensationalism is a narrative or a theology. The answer is that dispensationalism is both a narrative and a theology. A biblical narrative tells a story that communicates a theology. What’s interesting is that there are several competing narratives and resulting theologies; covenant amillennialism, covenant postmillennialism, covenant premillennialism, progressive covenantalism, progressive dispensationalism, essentialist dispensationalism,   Pauline dispensationalism, mid-Acts dispensationalism, and late-Acts dispensationalism. The answer as to why there are so many competing narratives and resulting theologies is tied up with hermeneutics, which we’ll discuss in a later post, but for now, what is so powerful about the way the Bible is written is that it is a story, and stories move us. 


The books we read are stories, the movies we watch are stories, and the lives we lead are stories in themselves. How many times do we sit around the kitchen table or campfire with family or friends and share stories? We love stories because we are created in the image of the One who is the greatest story-teller.


God begins the story with His work of creation, putting His essence on magnificent display, as well as uniquely creating man in His own image. The image of God is not happenstance or insignificant, since all design carries an inherent purpose; our head, our arms, our feet...our personality, our conscience, our creativity are not chance aspects of our makeup. They are designed specifically to reveal the purpose of man. This purpose is to reflect God's rule over the universe by ruling over the earth. 


We are uniquely crafted to rule the earth for His glory. This is essentially what a dispensation is; a master initiated stewardship that involves a steward who is responsible and will be evaluated. The first dispensation is kingdom. Of course man was innocent. I don't know any non-dispensationalist that would disagree with that. There is nothing unique about that descriptive title, but if we forget the kingdom on earth concept here, we will certainly not be able to find it later in our theology.


The master, God, wanted the steward, Adam, to rule over the earth. This began as a garden kingdom, but it was to grow to cover the whole earth through good stewardship. Adam started off well, naming the animals under God's watchful eye, but for the purpose of realizing that there was no counterpart like him. 


Thus, in the first surgery, God put Adam to sleep and created the woman out of the man's side. When the man saw the woman, far from taking billions of years to learn to speak and sing, Adam was able to serenade her immediately. The two became one flesh, and together they would work to fulfill God's stewardship responsibility. 


Yet, the serpent  entered the story and deceived  the woman, tempting her to question the truth of God's word regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When she ate the fruit, she also gave to her husband who was with her, and he ate. When he did, their eyes were open and they realized they were naked. They had acquired a sinful nature or disposition toward God that would forever plague the human race.


They had also failed to fulfill their stewardship responsibility. At this point, the garden kingdom that Adam was supposed to rule was turned over to Satan who became the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, and the spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience. 


God quickly judged by cursing the serpent, the woman, the man, and nature. Conflict between the serpent and the woman, conflict between man and nature, and conflict between nature and nature. Embedded within the curses is one bit of good news, the seed of the woman would defeat the serpent. But how this would all transpire was yet unknown. 


What theology can we learn from this narrative? The first big theological idea taught by the narrative is kingdom. God made man in His own image and likeness to rule over a kingdom on earth. This forever defines the kingdom and forever establishes the purpose of man to rule. Next time we’ll peer into the seed of the woman, and the second big theological idea taught by the narrative…