There's been a lot of talk in the news and social media sphere about the rise of Antisemitism in the World and while that was mostly ignorable for many years, it now seems to be an obvious, nearly everyday, reality. Going back to the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel in which over 1,200 people were killed (mostly Jews), there has been a steady drum beat of anti-Israel/anti-Jew attacks both here in the United States as well as in other parts of the World. The most recent is of course yesterday's terrorist attack by a father and son against a Jewish community in Sydney, Australia who were celebrating the first day of Hannukah on Bondi Beach, killing over 15 people.
The attacks themselves and the general rise of antisemitism over the past several years, however, are not what I want to focus on today. What I want to focus on is why I believe Antisemitism itself is a tool of Satan's use. There is an obvious reason for it and then a much more subtle reason for it, and I'll spend the bulk of my time on the subtle reason for it.
The obvious reason for it being an actual tool of Satan is: if Satan (or the forces of evil, or whatever you want to label the leader of the demonic forces) can eliminate God's chosen people from the Earth, then he can eliminate God's Covenant with them. It's a very logical approach on Satan's part actually - if you have a pact between two people that you want to disappear, then eliminate one of the parties and you no longer have a valid pact. The idea here is no different than that - if God's people are erased, then the Covenant is void and if the Covenant is void, then God is either a) a liar, or b) impotent. If God is a liar or impotent, then he is not God and thus is on the same level as Satan. This is the line of logic that Satan is following in his attempt to eliminate Jews from the planet.
The less obvious reason is that Satan gets gullible and/or shallow-thinking Christians to hate Israel through antisemitism. To define 'antisemitism' first - antisemitism is not so different, really, than racism. It's just racism against a Jews. Racism says, "I'm better than ____ group of people because I'm [insert your race/ethnicity here]." Another variation is says, "_____ group of people is inherently defective and less-than." The difference between antisemitism and a general term like 'racism' is that antisemitism can also have a religious aspect to it...and this is where the Christian typically falls into the trap. You may have heard a fellow Christian, or even a Christian pastor say something like, "modern Israel/unbelieving Israel is the 'synagogue of Satan'" (quoting Revelation 2:9). Much more likely, you have probably heard that the Christians have replaced the Jews/ethnic Israel as the 'Israel of God', which is something called Replacement Theology and which is now commonplace theology in the Western Church. Ironically, you may even be a part of a church that is outspokenly against racism, but which holds to replacement theology, or something more subtle called "Fulfillment Theology" or "Covenant Theology".
This is where the subtlety of Satan's lies can be seen. At its core, antisemitism within the community of believers is simply religious elitism. It is a lack of gratitude on the part of modern gentile Christians to a group of people (the Jews) who persevered, through thousands of years and a lot of literal blood, sweat and tears, to hand the Scriptures down through time. It is a shocking degree of arrogance (or ignorance) towards, in this case, the "Older Brother" (think parable of the prodigal son). And lastly, it's simply lazy thinking. Could all people within any people group be described as believing one thing ubiquitously? To that point - do all Jews reject Jesus? No. Are all Jews anti-Christian? No.
The roots of modern Christian faith are Jewish - and this is an undeniable fact. All of the writers of the Old Testament were Jewish, we worship a Jewish messiah (the word 'messiah' itself is a Jewish concept), all of Jesus' chosen Apostles were Jewish and the vast predominance of the New Testament writers were Jewish. There is no hint in any of the Gospels that Jesus wanted to separate himself from his own Jewish heritage, nor does he speak against the core, fundamental beliefs of his own people. Yes, he challenges the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders on traditions and yes, he calls people out for hypocrisy, but he does not attack either the Law (and obedience to it), or the concept of repentance, which I would argue are two of the fundamentals core beliefs of Judaism.
The tricky part around all of this, admittedly, is that the modern state of Israel is a largely secular entity and this can certainly be said of their present leadership as well. They operate in Worldly ways, they do bad things, they act in unrighteous ways. The part that isn't secular is (mostly) the Orthodox part and people in that camp reject Jesus as Messiah. The modern state of Israel is largely not following God's laws and many of them are living in outright rebellion against their own King. What do we do with this conundrum...
I would humbly submit that we do that same thing with this conundrum that we do whenever we a) clearly see God's directive and way of working in the world as revealed through Scripture but b) don't understand why things are unfolding the way they are: WE TRUST HIS WORD. Put another way, we hold two things in tension. God unequivocally says, in Scripture, that He is faithful to his covenant with Israel and that unless someone can make the sun not rise, or the moon not shine, then His faithfulness to that covenant will not end (Jeremiah 33:20). That God remains faithful to his promises to Israel is non-negotiable. That a large portion of the modern nation of Israel rejects Jesus is quite clear...but I must trust that God still has a plan for Israel and remains faithful to his promises made to their Patriarchs, even if I can't see how. What I must also trust is that my blessing, as a Gentile believer, comes through God's fidelity to his promises to Israel...because that is the tone and tenor of Scripture going all the way back to God's promise to Abraham ("through you I will bless all peoples/families/nations").
Which is the perfect segue to help land this plane - another part of that promise to Abraham is that "those who curse you, I will curse". Other translations say, "those who revile you, I will curse" or "I will curse those who treat you with contempt". The fruit of antisemitism is to fall under the curse of God - if we believe that God is still faithful to His covenant with Abraham, then we believe that He is still faithful to ALL of his covenant with Abraham. Getting back into Satan's head -- if he can convince Christians to dishonor/treat with contempt/curse/despise the people of Israel...then he can essentially place you under the curse of God. What is the curse? The curse is to be subject to the wrath and judgement of God. Antisemitism is literally the perfect tool for Satan. On the one hand, it leads to the oppression and death of God's people and on the other, the Christians who fall into it's trap fall under the curse/judgement/wrath of God. What a deal.
**Necessary caveat (I suppose): I'm not suggesting, in any way, that Israel and the current Israeli government is above reproach or that they shouldn't be called to account for evil actions. While I certainly believe that Israel, as a nation, has a right to defend itself in the face of attack, that doesn't not give them a blank check to do whatever they want. Unfortunately - the Western media is often not very good at separating fact from fiction as it relates to Israel and actions by the Israeli government and military, but they certainly deserve criticism when their actions step over the line. "Blessing Israel" does not mean simply turning a blind eye, or never criticizing them. It has everything to do with recognition that God is still faithful to them as His chosen people and that Israel (both the people and the Land) is, for the most part, still at the heart of His redemptive plans for the world and for all the Nations.
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