Spiritual War in the Middle East

Prophecy of a Great Nation

God’s unconditional promise to Abram (later called Abraham):

“Get out of your land . . . and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.” (Genesis 12:1-2, NLT)

Subsequently the descendants of Abraham (Isaac, Jacob, the twelve tribes . . .) became the nation God called Israel (Genesis 35:9-12).

The Land Promise – A Reason for Spiritual War

God said to Abram (Abraham):

” I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:8, NLT)

and God said to Jacob (Israel):

“And I will give you the land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants after you.” (Genesis 35:12, NLT)

This is an unconditional and “forever” promise. The land in question was ancient Canaan, a region corresponding to modern-day Israel, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan. Biblical Canaan, as divided amongst the twelve tribes of Israel, embraced land east of the Jordan and west to the Mediterranean Sea. So it embraced all of today’s West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sadly, apart from some of Israel’s leaders, this biblical promise is not recognised by the nations and Israel’s borders are a contentious issue.

Israel – a Chosen Nation

The nation Israel had (and still does have) a special purpose; to be God’s witness in the world and to glorify Him:

“You are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.  “You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God.” (Isaiah 43:10, NLT)

Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name (2 Samuel 7:23)

So, understandably, the Gentile nations are asked to treat the nation with respect. God said to Abraham and his descendants: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt” (Genesis 12:3).

Israel brings Blessing to the World

According to Genesis 12, Israel will be a blessing to the world. How? It is true that Israel has blessed the world in terms of medical advance, solar energy, water technology, nanotechnology, cyber security, computing, agriculture etc.. But Genesis 12 promises much more:

“. . . all the families on earth will be blessed through you [national Israel].” (Genesis 12:3, NLT)

This is widely accepted as a promise of the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world (Acts 3:25,26 Galatians 3:16). Jesus said it clearly: “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). Salvation comes from Jewish lineage, specifically the tribe of David.

Aggression against Israel today

Today many nations treat Israel with bias and contempt. For instance, in 2022 the UN General Assembly passed more resolutions critical of Israel than against all other nations combined [The Times of Israel]. Others simply aim to eliminate the nation of Israel and so become pawns in an ongoing spiritual war. For example,

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it [Hamas Charter, 1988]

You [Zionist regime] will not see 25 years from today! [Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, Sept. 2015]

Iran has acquired what it takes to blow up the Zionist regime [Chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, 2021]

Palestine extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west . . . The Zionist movement must disappear from Palestine . . . there shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity . . . Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews . . . but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine . . . [ the goal of Hamas ] is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project . . . resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right” [ Hamas Charter, 2017 ]

Where does this hatred come from?

Origin of the Spiritual War

Key prophecies of physical aggression against Israel are found in Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 49, Ezekiel 38 and 39, Zechariah 12 and 14, Joel 3, and Malachi 4. But Revelation 12 clearly explains the spiritual origin of such aggression. There is an ongoing and unseen spiritual war:

I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman [national Israel] clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars [the 12 tribes] on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains . . .

. . . Then I saw a large red dragon [Satan] . . .  His tail swept away one-third of the stars (angels) in the sky, and he threw them to the earth. He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born [Herod tried to kill Jesus, Matthew 2:16-18]

She gave birth to a son [Jesus] who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away from the dragon . . . [So] Satan was enraged with the woman [national Israel] who gave birth to the male child.

Spiritual War in the Middle East

Of course, warfare involves two parties and in this case we see the God of Israel confronting Satanic powers that are harming Israel. Remember, the nation Israel is God’s chosen servant and witness in the world and those who confront her will suffer:

“I will curse him who curses you [Abraham’s descendants] . . . Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession” (Genesis 12:3, Zechariah 2:8)

Three sudden Arabic-Islamic wars against Israel

These caught Israel weak and unprepared: 1) the 1948-49 War of Independence, 2) the 1967 Six-Day War, 3) the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

In 1948, as soon as the Jewish state was born, Israel was invaded by five Arab armies (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq). The Arabs had no difficulty obtaining all the arms they needed, whilst Israel had only a newly formed and ill-equipped defense force (the IDF). Despite this, the fledgling Jewish state survived.

In 1967, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon (and later Iraq) attacked Israel. Their goal was “to wipe Israel off the map”. Israel defeated the attack even though the Arab armies had huge superiority in amour, aircraft and troops.

In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched another attack on Israel in an attempt to regain the territory Israel had acquired in her defensive war of 1967. Their armies launched a joint surprise attack on the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday. Despite heavy casualties, Israel came through.

In all three wars Israel was either relatively poorly armed or surprised and ill-prepared. Either way, Israel repulsed the attacks and we must ask, ‘How was that possible?’ The biblical answer is that the God of Israel must have protected her. Remember what God promised Abraham and his descendants:

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt (Genesis 12:3)

Take a recent example. Although often hidden by the media, it seems modern Israel has indeed been helped in the Middle East conflict. Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump in Florida, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:

We have never had a friend like President Trump in the White House, it’s not even close . . . I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States (December 29, 2025)

Although the majority of the world seems to disagree, at least Benjamin Netanyahu sees this an instance of a nation “blessing” Israel.

The Gog-Magog War

Sometimes a war occurs in order to glorify the God of Israel in the sight of those nations not directly involved in the war. This is the case in the so-called Gog-Magog war.

This is an invasion of Israel from the north by an alliance of Arab-Islamic nations, possibly led by Russia. Prophetically and politically the war looks imminent (as of 2026, Iran is part of the Islamic alliance and there is a military alliance between Russia and Iran). It appears that God permits “an evil plan” to be devised by the invaders in order for the other nations to see God’s judgement. Satanic powers are permitted to create a war that ends in God’s glory:

God says to Gog: “I will turn you around . . . and lead you . . . and you will make an evil plan . . . and you will come up against My people Israel . . . In this way, I will show my greatness and holiness, and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world. (Ezekiel 38)

What happens? The invaders are totally defeated, probably by extreme weather (Ezekiel 38:22). Moreover, the Gentile nations, and the people of Israel, at last recognise the holy God of Israel (Ezekiel 39:7,22).

The Last World War Ends the Spiritual War

This happens in a place called “Armageddon” (the valley of Megiddo in northern Israel). As in other Middle East wars, the war appears to be initiated by demonic powers active in the very end of this age:

. . . the great Euphrates River dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies toward the west without hindrance. And I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon [Satan], the beast, and the false prophet. They are demonic spirits who . . . go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty. And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place with the Hebrew name Armageddon (Revelation 16:12-16, NLT)

The gathering is to seize Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2) and to make war against the returning Christ and His armies (Revelation 19:11-16).

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