Folks, let’s talk about a burden I have for a moment about Israel and this war. Many of you have been watching and praying. On October 7, 2023, Hamas came in and murdered over 1,200 people in Israel, most of them civilians, and they took hostages. Israel had to respond. They had to try to stop the threat and bring their people home.

This has not been an easy fight. Hamas has put fighters and weapons and tunnels right inside schools and hospitals and homes. When the enemy hides like cowards among the people, every decision gets harder and the risk to civilians goes up. You know the Bible does not hide the cost of war. It shows us the grief that comes when people choose violence instead of turning to the Lord.

The Israeli army has tried to adapt; they are geniuses with what they do as they have dropped leaflets. They have made phone calls and sent texts. They have even used a thing called roof knocking—firing a small charge at the roof so people inside know a bigger strike is coming and can get out. They have used drones and other tools to try to hit military targets more carefully. These are real efforts to limit harm. But war is never perfect. Mistakes happen. In December 2023 three Israeli hostages who had escaped and were trying to reach their own soldiers were shot by mistake. The army said it was an error. There was no malice, but the loss was real and painful.

People have made films about all this. One film has been called full of errors by Israeli leaders. Another film, NAZA – The Real Story, shows bodycam and drone footage and tries to show how Hamas embeds among civilians. You should look at the evidence carefully and test it against the facts and against the Word.

An Australian journalist named Erin Molan, who is not Jewish, has spoken plainly. She says the war is messy and imperfect, as all wars are, but she does not say Israel and Hamas are the same. She points out that Hamas chose to use civilians as shields and has promised to do October 7 again. She has even gone into tunnels in Gaza. She says that if you care about the children there, you have to see who is putting them in danger.

At the same time we must be honest. Israel, like the nations around her, has walked in ways that go against the Scriptures. Abortion is legal. Pride events take place. These things matter. God’s Word is clear about the value of life in the womb and about His design for marriage between a man and a woman (Genesis 1:27; 2:24; Psalm 139:13-16). That does not cancel God’s promises to the Jewish people. God has worked through imperfect people all through history, and He has not abandoned His covenants (Romans 9-11). We can grieve the sin, pray for repentance, and still pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

Above all, every person—soldier or civilian, leader or bystander—faces the same choice. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He also said the one who believes has everlasting life, but the one who does not believe remains under the wrath of God (John 3:36). The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). That gift is received by trusting Jesus alone—that He died for our sins and rose again.

You know folks as I finish, war makes the stakes feel urgent because life can end suddenly. But, importantly, the need for the gospel is the same in peace and in war. God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), yet He honours the choice each person makes.

So we pray for the soldiers who must decide under hard constraints. We pray for the hostages and their families. We pray for the civilians caught in the middle becuase of Hamas’s choices. And we pray that many eyes on every side would turn to the Messiah who alone brings true peace and eternal life.

The Lord is still on the throne. His hand is not shortened. Test these things by the Word, and keep looking to Jesus.