Visit Every City

I opened my eyes and wondered why it was unusually dark inside our bedroom. We had begun closing the shade to help keep the cold wind outside and any warmth inside. The winters in Amman were colder than we had anticipated, although we hadn’t yet seen any snowfall. I couldn’t imagine that city in the snow. I’m sure everything would just shut down in that city that always seemed to be active.

The news of late was very unsettling. While the United States was about to get a new president, the people of Jordan were more focused on the conflict between their neighbors. For the most part, Jordan is a peaceful kingdom filled with hospitable individuals who love to care for their visitors. The country shares its western border with the nation of Israel, including the much disputed West Bank. In the far southwest corner of Israel lies Gaza, a narrow strip of land that also borders Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. In December of 2008, when we finally felt like we were settled and making lifelong bonds with our neighbors, colleagues, and students, a war began between Israel and Gaza.

Within its borders, Jordan houses at least ten Palestinian refugee camps. We had the unique experience of doing some shopping for fruits and vegetables in one of these camps (Baqa’a on the northern edge of Amman) with some very friendly neighbors of ours sometime in late 2008. Many of the citizens of Jordan have Palestinian ancestry, including many of the students and teachers I worked with nearly every day. When I showed up to work on the first day of the war, amid the obvious distress over friends and family members living in Gaza, I was asked a specific question by many of my students: “Who are you for, Israel or Gaza?”

Whether or not many would acknowledge it, the true origin of the conflict between Israel and much of the Arab world goes back to a prophecy given to Hagar, the handmaid of Sarai who was pregnant with Abram’s first son, Ishmael. Hagar had fled away from Sarai since she was dealt with so harshly. Sarai and Abram had taken matters into their own hands instead of trusting in the plans that God had for them and their children. As God instructed Hagar to return to her home and submit to Sarai. She was then given a prophecy about her yet unborn child and the descendants that would come from him: “Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.’ And the Angel of the Lord said to her: ‘Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren’” (Genesis 16:10-12).

You can read more on this topic from these articles on the UCG website:

Bible Commentary on Genesis 16

The Sons of Abraham (article from “The Middle East in Bible Prophecy”)

As we navigated keeping peace with those who were around us, who we worked with and who we cared about, we had to come up with an answer that would express the fact that we were not involved in worldly conflict. The answer, as we expected, came from the word of God: “We are for peace.” We took this phrase from the last verse in Psalm 120. This psalm is a plea to God for relief from enemies. As God’s people, we find that we are often out of place among the political and religious commotions and conflicts we see. This is because we are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” who “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country” (see Hebrews 11:13-16). Since we follow Jesus Christ, and His “Kingdom is not of this world,” we do not fight the physical battles that others entangle themselves in (see John 18:36). Instead we pray for, and seek after, the return of our Savior and the time of peace He will bring.

As I write this letter, it has been a week since the conflict between Israel and Gaza was openly reignited. Rather than a cry for peace among neighbors there are cries for war. Rather than merely a celebration of the peace of God’s Kingdom on the Eighth Day of the Feast, we prayed for the safety of God’s people caught in the middle of worldly warfare and conflict in several places. Rather than feeling strengthened by the hope given to us throughout God’s Feast of Tabernacles, I went away feeling at least a little distressed by yet another conflict and all the confusion and arguing that would come with it. “My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war” (Psalm 120:6-7). I know, however, that the “wars and rumors of wars” that Christ prophesied we would hear of and see around us must happen before He returns. We can choose to either be distracted by it all, or be strengthened in our faith by the revealing of prophecy.

The real answer to this and all worldly conflicts, even those conflicts between brethren we experience, is the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Those who now make war will then learn peace. “He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Micah 4:3). In the meantime we continue to seek peace, praying for both our allies and our enemies since God has plans to one day offer them the choice of life in His everlasting Kingdom. In the meantime we continue to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” today, knowing that He will see us through the troubles that will come tomorrow.

(Also published as a pastoral letter here)

– Lewis VanAusdle