The Battle for Israel

Part 2: Tim Moore Presentation

Tim Moore: In early 2026, another war broke out in the Middle East. Ostensibly focused on the malign nation of Iran, from a biblical perspective, this war has much more to do with the decades long threat to Israel. Now, other nations are obviously caught in the crosshairs, but God’s eye is always on the beautiful land promised to Abraham and to his chosen descendants.

And yet this war is merely the latest in a series of battles stretching back to Old Testament times. For since God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and set them apart to be a conduit of blessing to the world, Satan has endeavored to possess their land and eradicate the House of Israel from the Earth.

My theme for today is the Battle for Israel. I intend to prove that the battle is not what we think. The battle is better likened to a 5,000-year war with outbursts of activity that are more attuned to individual battles. And although our attention is drawn to the clash of arms that have marked many of the recent physical battles, the conflict rages mostly in spiritual realms that cannot be seen by those without eyes to discern. In fact, this war, this battle is ongoing even in moments of relative calm that we might call a ceasefire.

As Christians, we also know that the outcome has been prophesied and is more sure than me standing here talking to you today. No, friends, the age-old war will enter a fever pitch during the Tribulation but will finally end at Jesus Second Coming. And as such, there are aspects of this war that have little to do with the Church, as mostly Gentile Christians, even as we await the Rapture, and other aspects that are undeniably and absolutely intertwined with our own prophesied provision and destiny.

So let’s talk about some definitions. Of course, here at Lamb & Lion Ministries, we proclaim the soon return of Jesus Christ, and yet so much of what is happening in the world today and what will soon come to pass, was prophesied long, long ago. We are promised that all who have believed in Jesus Christ unto salvation throughout the Church Age will be swept up to Heaven at the Rapture. But that is not the end of His story for the Earth, and it is certainly not the end of His story for Israel.

As Winston Churchill might have said, with regard to Israel, the Rapture itself is perhaps the beginning of the end. Before I explain what I mean by that in terms of what lies ahead, I want to explore the past and analyze the present. But first, as I said, let’s define the word Israel in biblical terms. Israel is best understood as the House of Israel according to Ezekiel 36, meaning the people, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So today, if I’m referring to the ancient nation, I will refer to Israel or Judah in clear context. If I’m referring to the modern nation state, I’ll say the state of Israel. And if I’m referring to the land of Israel, I’ll simply refer to it as the land or the land of Israel in context.

You know Kentucky’s favorite son, our 16th president, was named after Father Abraham. Considering the nation and the House of Israel today, we could apply the famous words of Abraham Lincoln following another great and epic battle and turn it into a question, “Will this nation, Israel, under God, have a new birth of freedom, or will the Jewish people, chosen by God, perish from the Earth?” We know that the first half of that question was answered in 1948 with a prefillment of God’s ancient promise to regather His people and reestablish them on the nation of Israel.

The fulfillment of that promise will occur when the remnant of Israel finds true freedom in their promised Messiah, the anointed one, and son of David, Jesus Christ. Now regarding the second half of that question, Satan has worked tirelessly since the days of the patriarchs to ensure that the latter comes to pass rather than the former. So I’ll begin my discussion of God’s intention and plan for Israel exactly where you’d expect me to begin at a conference like the Pre-Trib Conference we had last December at the end of the book.

Let’s turn to Revelation 12, to explore the age-old dynamic between the unstoppable will of God and the nefarious efforts of Satan as described in a sweeping prophetic perspective. Beginning in Revelation 12, verse 1, we read, “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.” We recognize these symbols as pointing back to the visions Joseph had in the Book of Genesis, and we recognize that the woman personifies the very nation of Israel.

Continuing in verse 2, it says, “And she, Israel, was with child; and she cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having 7 heads and 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems.” Israel is in pain and giving birth in labor to deliver none other than the promised Messiah. And this red dragon we know is Satan. Even the vision of the horns and the crowns represent the Antichrist when he is indwelled by the personified entity of Satan himself.

And continuing in verse 4, it says, “And His tail, the dragon’s, swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth, and the dragons stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.” Rightly understood, we can see again with hindsight that Satan took seriously the threat that God had foretold in the garden. So, he endeavored to destroy or corrupt the lineage of man to thwart God’s plan and thus preclude the coming of a righteous one who could fulfill God’s plan.

Ultimately, of course, Satan wants to usurp God’s position as Lord of all. And in the generations that followed Adam and Eve, Satan and his demonic hordes endeavored to corrupt mankind by intermarrying with the daughters of men. Now leave it to others to evaluate the nature of the Nephilim and the fate of those transgressing sons of God for now. Suffice it to say that God saw the wickedness of man was great on the Earth and that the intent of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually to the point that God was grieved in His heart.

But even as it resolved to destroy the corrupt inhabitants of Earth, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. There would be a lineage to provide this promised son of the woman. And because Noah found favor and because he was obedient to do all that God commanded him, Satan’s plot to incite God’s wrath against all mankind was stymied. Now following the flood, Satan once again motivated the hearts of men to aspire to be like God, leading to the first effort to craft a one world government, then raise a really great tower. And we all know how that ended.

Once again, God chose a single son of Noah, Shem, to be the conduit of blessing that would lead to a chosen man and people. And 10 generations after Noah, Abraham was that man. Scripture does not record Satan’s effort to lead any of those intervening generations astray. But after God revealed His plan to bless all the families of the Earth through Abraham and his offspring, Satan had a target that has lasted down through the ages.

So before we continue, let’s explore why God chose Israel in the first place. Friends, He did not choose them because they were better or bigger or smarter or stronger. Moses made that point very clear in Deuteronomy 7: “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers.” Paul echoed the same sentiment regarding those called by God to follow Christ in 1 Corinthians 1.

And so back to Israel, God chose them to reveal Himself to a sin-racked world, to record His Word through a series of prophets, to be a demonstration of what it means to be in a covenant relationship with the living God, to be a conduit of blessing to the families, meaning the nations and peoples of the world, to demonstrate His amazing grace, His faithfulness, and His love, and most importantly perhaps to bring forth His promised Messiah, who would be of the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David, but separated from the sin that flowed through that ancestry of men by virtue of being born as the seed of a woman; in other words, a virgin.

And conversely, Satan and his determination to destroy, corrupt, thwart, and usurp did not want God revealed or at least sought to distort and confuse God’s self-revelation, corrupting man’s recognition of God and making him wrongfully fearful of his Creator. Satan also tried to discredit His prophets and His Word, an effort that is ongoing still today. Satan attempted to snuff out the Jewish people so that the promised Messiah could not be born. Satan raised up scoffers to sneer at a relationship with the Almighty God. And Satan convinced the Jews that they were to be a repository of God’s blessings instead of a conduit. That’s one reason the Scribes and Pharisees were so upset when Jesus dared to speak of His interaction with the Gentiles.

You know, we see throughout the life of Abraham and the following generations, Satan endeavored to distract, deceive, and discourage the chosen lineage of the Messiah, hoping to render them, the Jewish people, unfit as a chosen line. But God ongoingly demonstrated His mercy and grace, His unmerited favor toward those He had providentially chosen, and He made it clear that He would judge the very nations and individuals who opposed His people and His plans. So over and over again, nations and individuals have acted out Psalm 83, which says, “They make shrewd plans against your people and conspire together against your treasured ones.

They have said, ‘Come and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.'” Yet Asaph, the psalmist, who pinned those words, understood that there was much more to the hatred expressed against Israel. He wrote, “For behold, your enemies, oh Lord God, make an uproar. And those who hate you have exalted themselves. They say, ‘Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God.'” In other word, the people who hate Israel are not merely expressing hatred against the people and nation of Israel, it is against the God who chose Israel.

But even when God in righteous anger allowed or, dare I say, ordained those nations to serve as instruments of discipline toward His chosen people, He would not violate His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor His promise to David. God foreknew all that would befall His people. Through Moses, He told them what would happen to themselves and to the land He had given them. He said they would receive blessings if they diligently obeyed the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments. But conversely, if they do not obey the Lord your God, to observe all His commandments and His statutes, they would receive curses.

The promise of blessing in Deuteronomy 28 goes on for 14 verses, but the consequences for disobedience last for 54 verses. The curses included physical impact to the Jews and their livestock, pestilences on the land, scattering to the winds, and faintness of heart leading to despair. In short, exactly what we’ve seen over the past 2000 years: dispersion of the Jewish people, persecution of the Jews at the hands of the Gentiles, and desolation of the beautiful land promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.

Now we can see that for the first part of Israel’s history, the battle for Israel, the war involves Satan’s effort to destroy it through physical means: war, famine, pestilence, and intrigue. Those efforts clearly failed. So, Satan employed the strategy laid out by Balaam. If you can’t beat or destroy the people of God, get them to join you in wickedness and rebellion against God. And this tactic worked much better since it played to the natural inclination of sinful hearts, to stray from the Lord, just as had Adam, Eve, Cain, King Solomon and you and I.

No less than the greatest king of Israel, David himself, fell prey to this besotting inclination to sin. What Satan did not understand was God’s patience not wishing any to perish and His inclination to forgive. And knowing that man’s heart would not be inclined to seek Him, in order to enjoy the blessing of a restored relationship, God consistently sought those who had strayed to His glory. All that is required to receive His forgiveness is a contrite heart.

Certainly consequences and discipline inevitably follow sin, but God will not cast aside the people He chose individually or collectively. And He made that clear in passages like Isaiah 10:25, “For in a very little while, My indignation against you will end and My anger will be directed to your enemy’s destruction.” But God’s calling of the Jewish people is repeated throughout Scripture in passages like Isaiah 43, 2 Samuel 7, and Jeremiah 31. We understand that God has fulfilled His prophetic promises to discipline Israel, but He is by no means cast them aside.

So this side of the cross or the first advent of Christ, we are presented with a couple of questions. Why does Satan still hate the Jewish people? The House of Israel, again, is defined by Ezekiel 36. And why does he covet the land promised to them? Friends, it is because the Jewish people are chosen by God and still loved by God, and because they still serve a purpose in God’s eternal plan.

But there are several other reasons, Satan continues to try to destroy the House of Israel. Since God has clearly declared that He still has plans for the Jewish people and that He will bring a great remnant of them to salvation through faith in His anointed one, Satan would like nothing more than to prove God a liar at long last. And in addition, since Jesus’ Second Coming is tied to the Jews coming to the end of themselves and looking upon Him whom they appear and weeping as over an only son and crying out, “Baruch Haba B’Shem Adonai!” If Satan can eradicate the Jews, he can thwart God’s plan of the ages and prevent Christ from coming again.

This same mentality explains his evil conspiracies with regard to the land because the land itself was called The Beautiful Land where God put His name and where He will dwell. You know regarding that Beautiful Land, why do you think the Word of God does not mention Incas, Aztecs, Indians, or Chinese, although these had thriving manmade empires? Biblical empires were significant because of their interplay with God’s chosen people and the land where He put His name.

Is there any other land that God describes as Beulah Land, married to Him forever? God specifically said, “In this house,” David’s and Solomon’s, “and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.” And in Leviticus 25, the Lord God clearly stated, “The Land is Mine.” “I have inscribed you, Zion, on the palms of my hands.” “He who touches you, Zion, has touched the apple of my eye. The Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.”

And anyone who has been to Jerusalem knows that the valley surrounding Mount Zion formed the letter “shin,” the 21st letter of the alphabet, in other words, three times seven, and associated with the priestly blessing and the name Shaddai, Almighty.

Given this understanding, we realized why Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of a mighty statue contained only those great empires within the Old Testament that contended for the beloved land: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome; and why the final world empire will muster all the nations of the world to exert authority over the land and the key city of Jerusalem. In short, Satan has always coveted the land because it is the grand prize. Since God claims it, Satan wants it. Since God will dwell in it, Satan is determined to possess it by squatting and has done so throughout most of the Church Age.

So once again, when we speak of world empires in the relationship to Israel, we could be referring to the land or the people or House of Israel. So let’s return to the previous question regarding Satan’s continued hatred of the Jews. Since God had made good on His promise to pour out curses or disciplining His chosen sons for their hardness of heart and stiffness of neck, Satan seized an opportunity to raise up a people to squat on the land.

So following the presence of the Canaanites in the Old Testament and the Assyrians and Babylonians following the exile of Judah and Israel, Satan encouraged Bedouins and Ottomans to infiltrate the land over the past 2000 years. He incited those later occupiers with religious fervor of the false religion of Islam, ensuring a ticking bomb ready to explode when God did fulfill His promise to regather the House of Israel back into the land.

And isn’t it telling that this religion is particularly possessive of all it has claimed in the past, whether people or land, Islam will not tolerate anyone proselytizing its adherence or reclaiming land it is captured or occupied. And this attitude is not passive or half-hearted. It is a mandate and a battle cry.

So even as Israel began to stream back into the land at the end of the 19th century and accelerated their Aliyah in the 20th century, Satan increased the immigration of Muslim migrant workers who would serve as a fifth column in their midst. And when God orchestrated the revival of Israel as an established nation in the community of the nations, Satan also raised up a Muslim people group who took as their identity or nom de guerre their war name, the very name claimed by Israel’s ancient foe, Philistina or Palestinian.

Just as the pagan Canaanites who lived in and among the children of Israel in the Old Testament, these Palestinians have been indeed a troublesome thorn. With that in mind, let’s briefly consider the wars that have ensued since the nation of Israel was established on the Earth again in 1948. From the very beginning, the War of Independence and all the other uprisings, the Suez War of 1956, the Six Day War of 1967, Wars of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War of 1973, on and on and on, Israel has been at war.

So even as we’ve witnessed the war that began on October 7th, 2023 and the recent conflict with Iran, we understand that this long sequence of wars seems to blend together into one long period of hostility, and rightly understood, they are just that, one long series of battles in a much longer war that has raged since God called Abram and told him to go to a land the Lord would show him.

As I’ve said, I believe that is a rightful way to look at this. Satan has been endeavoring to destroy or corrupt God’s chosen people since God first called Abram. We see the clash of arms that took place in the Old Testament and recognize God’s hand at work in going before them and giving them favor as they took possession of the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But lately in living memory, meaning within the lifetimes of some watching today, God has once again given the house and land of Israel favor as they have been attacked from every side.

Even now, Israel stands as a bastion of freedom in a region seething with animosity, and until very recently determined to wipe it off the map. These modern wars are merely the latest effort to do what could not be done in biblical times. The facts on the ground are plain to see. The attitude of the haters is testified in blood and destruction and death. Why else would the world take on as its rallying cry, the image of red hands emulating the obscene example of a Palestinian terrorist who raised his blood-drenched hands following the murder of an Israeli.

This realization brings our attention to yet another realm, the spiritual battle that is raging. Unless we can see the battles that take place in the heavenlies, we have to infer those struggles by the evidence that is available to us. Much like Peter saw the wind in Matthew 14. The antagonism of Iran, or modern day Persia, demonstrates the spiritual nature of this war. It was the prince or demon of the kingdom of Persia who delayed an angelic messenger to Daniel.

Only when the Archangel Michael intervened, was that angel, thought by many to be Gabriel, able to give Daniel understanding regarding what would happen to his people in the latter days. The overview he provided the great prophet in chapters 11 and 12 prove yet again that the battle for Israel is really a long series of battles in a greater war that will culminate in the Tribulation or what He described as a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.

But when it comes to Israel, do we recognize that what has been happening for the past 77 years bears evidence of spiritual warfare? Regarding the House of Israel, Satan’s modus operandi seems to be, if I can’t destroy them physically, I’ll destroy them spiritually. And sadly, he has been very successful in that effort. Even more tragically is often professing Christians who have been instruments of Jewish resistance to saving faith. Instead of making them, the Jews, jealous, as Paul called us to do, for almost 2000 years, the Gentile Church has engaged in gross antisemitism that has caused Jewish hearts to harden even further against the Gospel of Christ.

But that, thankfully, is beginning to change. God is softening Jewish hearts and drawing Israelis to Himself, a trend that is only accelerated since October 7th, 2023. It is against this backdrop and poignantly so as we recently celebrated Resurrection Sunday, that I believe Satan has overplayed his hand just as he did 2000 years ago. You see, Satan thought he’d defeated the Messiah at Calvary, but Jesus demonstrated His power over death when He rose again. Christ will ultimately crush Satan when He returns to reign upon the Earth and finally cast him into the Lake of Fire.

We eagerly await Jesus’ final victory. But for now, we seek to share the Good News of the Gospel, to Jew and Gentile alike. As the battle for Israel continues to rage toward its prophesied conclusion, any soldier will tell you there are two dangers we must guard against. One is to think that the battle is lost before it has ended. The other is to think the battle is won while it is still raging. Christian soldiers can fall prey to either fallacy, despairing as we look at the battlefield around us becoming lackadaisical, while the spiritual battle is certainly still raging.

Closing

So let me close by assessing the state of affairs as a military tactician might. We may be eager to be rescued like a military unit awaiting extraction from a hot LZ, but while we are still in the fight, let’s apply some military intelligence and analysis to what lies ahead. To bring this presentation full circle, let’s return to Revelation 12. The son who was born of Israel was indeed caught up to God in verse 5, just as Jesus “was caught up to heaven” 40 days after His resurrection. We’ve been living in the in-between that follows that verse for almost 2000 years right now.

So what does God have in store for the house and land of Israel when He has told His Church to come up here? One more last best effort by Satan to destroy the Jews and prove God a liar. But the Lord has promised to preserve a remnant of Israel to the very end and to bring them to salvation, to His own glory. I hope you see that the battle for Israel is in fact a timeless war between the Lord God and Satan and those who are in rebellion against the Almighty.

In that regard, the individual wars Israel has fought over the past 78 years are really a series of battles in that 5,000 year conflict. And perhaps more importantly, the ongoing conflict that rages in the spiritual realm is more dramatic than even the kinetic battles that wax and wane. But we know that the outcome was prophesied long, long ago. Israel will endure, and God will be victorious over all His foes. So what does this mean for the Church and what do we as Christian soldiers do while we remain on this battlefield Earth?

Well, Scripture tells us that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. Talk about taking the fight to the enemy. Yet we are told that led by our warrior king, we are to mount an offensive against the enemy and his forces as the song says, “far as the curse is found.” Satan knows his time is short. That is why he has redoubled his efforts and pulled out all the stops. The cacophony this has caused is plain to see. Satan is raging right now because he knows he will be defeated, but he does not intend to go down without a fight or without taking as many as possible with him. And therein lies both a tragedy and an opportunity. Millions, if not billions, are being deceived as they stampede toward destruction. Their numbers and their aggression is mounting.

But I’m reminded of something Marine Corps General, Chesty Puller, said when surrounded by Chinese troops during the Korean War, to paraphrase, general Puller, he said, “Boys, the enemy is in front of us and behind us. He is on our left and on our right, we’re completely surrounded. They can’t get away from us now.” Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are surrounded. Rebels against the Lord are all around us, but they are not our enemies. They are the same lost souls Jesus Christ loved enough to come and die for; they are our mission field.

While we are here awaiting our homegoing, either individually or at the glorious Rapture, we should be heating two scriptural obligations. We should be blessing the hereditary descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that means supporting the House of Israel in the land and yet scattered in the diaspora, and we should be endeavoring to make the Jews jealous. Jealous of what? Of the salvation that has come to us as Gentiles and completed Jews giving us a relationship with the true and living God and the promise of life everlasting with Him.

The war for the souls of mankind, let alone the House of Israel and the Promised Land, is still raging. Until our commander has called us home, as Christian soldiers, let’s take up the full armor of God and join the battle. The victory is already His. Godspeed!

End of Program