December 13th

The Christmas War

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars...And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads...And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. Revelation 12:1,3-4

Some days I just feel like Israel, don't you? Oh, you don't know what I mean? Well, let me tell you.

What you need to know about Israel is that the devil has been trying to kill them for as long as they've existed, and even before then! In fact, we see a picture of this in our verses today, that the devil, the great dragon, has always been the enemy of the woman Israel and the One who would come from her.

That dragon was there when Abraham tried to pass off Sarah as his sister instead of his wife. He was there when Pharaoh tried to kill every infant male Jew. He was there when Saul tried to kill David, when the wicked queen Athaliah tried to kill the Davidic line that would lead to Jesus, and when Haman incited the Persian emperor to attempt genocide against the Jews only to be thwarted by Esther. He was even there when Herod had all Jewish boys two years old and under killed and when Jesus gave His first message only to be escorted by the crowd to the edge of a cliff.

That dragon's done absolutely everything to try to destroy Israel and is still working to do so today. He's also working to destroy every memory of that Child-Jesus-from our cultural memory. But the existence of Israel simply continues to testify of God's miraculous covering of protection that He gives to them.

I like to think about these things on days when I feel like Israel, on those days when just nothing is going right. I think about Israel and remember that they have wrestled with that dragon devil for thousands of years, and that through it all God has faithfully protected and preserved them to stand firm at the end of every trial.

That's just who God is. It's who He has always been for Israel, and it's who He'll be for you.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for showing me how faithful You have always been to Israel so that I can know You will always be faithful to me! No matter how bad things get for me, I will choose to look to You for help to stand firm till the end!

Amen