Every day is a miracle in Israel, but today is one of those especially divine times that everyone living here will remember for the rest of our lives. āThis is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and celebrate!ā The God of Israel enabled His Chosen People to strike back at our mortal enemy, Iranāafter decades of a growing threat of nuclear annihilation, years of careful military planning, and months of fearful anticipation since their evil ring of fire began to suffocate us on October 7th, 2023.
While āOperation Rising Lionā has only just begun, and many IDF soldiers are bravely fighting in harmās wayāon land, at sea, and in the airāwe pray for their safety. So far, the initial strike has been nothing less than historic. Before our very eyes, Israel has once again served as the Mighty Hand and Outstretched Arm of our Heavenly Father, delivering a devastating blow to the Islamic regime.
What happened today is extraordinary, and we must take a moment to recognize the unprecedented times we are living in. God is not whispering for our attentionāHe is shouting! When the leader of the Jewish people, Prime Minister Netanyahu, steps onto the world stage and speaks about the God of Israel, quoting from the Bible in his historic announcementāfollowed immediately by a spectacular military achievementāyou know we are living in Biblical times.
So how should we, Bible-believing Jews and Christians, respond? Thatās actually quite simple. We have a tradition that tells us to look into the weekly Torah portion to find the most relevant messages. And in this weekās portion, there are three goosebump inducing passages:
āWhen you are at war in your land against an aggressor who attacks you, you shall sound short blasts on the trumpets, that you may be remembered before Hashem your God and be delivered from your enemies.ā (Numbers 10:9).
This is the first war in Israelās modern history in which specially crafted silver trumpets were blown on IDF army bases to encourage the soldiers, just as God commanded.
Iran viciously used proxies and built a ring of fire around Israel, but in His kindness, God scattered our enemiesāfrom Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, to Iran itself.
The Haftarah discusses the battle of Gog and Magog and describes how, after the awesome miracles God performs for His people, many nations from around the world will cling to Him. Once again, this is the first war in Israelās history in which millions of Christians across the globe are standing up for the People of Israel in recognition of the God of Israel.
There is a reason each and every one of us is alive today. It is because we see the threats against Israel as an affront to the God of Israelāand we, Jews and Gentiles, have stood up to call upon Him to scatter our enemies.
However, it is not enough to keep this moment to ourselves. We must sound the trumpets and declare publicly:
May the bitter war that Iran started on October 7th end with the dawning of an era of eternal peace for Israelāand for the entire world.
