May 25: Transition Time
This
is it, our last official day in the Middle East. It’s difficult to know exactly what to write to sufficiently
summarize our journey. For one,
it’s certainly been a multilayered learning experience. Each country we visited is so deep and
rich in culture and history.
Likewise, this part of the world is also incredibly complex, especially
with regards to the overarching oppressive spiritual situation. In my opinion, from what I know about
the world and from what I’ve studied in Scripture (a reliable historical and
morally logical text), spiritual realities are the most significant realities,
and accordingly they are the realities we should strive to base our lives
upon. Explicitly, this is Spiritual Reality; that we are depraved, rebellious
sinners, that we deserve eternal death, that God sent His only begotten Son
Jesus Christ to earth on a rescue mission to redeem a lost and dying humanity,
that the world is entirely hopeless apart from Christ’s atoning sacrifice, that
Christ will one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead, to right
all wrongs, and to make all things new.
This all-encompassing Reality is the central driving force in my
life. It impels, motivates, and
directs every move I make – every thought, every word, every deed.
So
then, how does this Reality specifically apply to the situation in the Middle
East? There are a few ‘big’ noticeable
things worth mentioning here.
First and foremost, and obviously, the centrality and preeminence of
Islam in this part of the world is unrivaled. Here, you are basically born Muslim, and if you are not a
practicing Muslim, at least you are a Muslim by orientation. This dark and domineering religious
reality drives and shapes societal institutions, cultural characteristics, and
national constituents. Ultimately,
Islam controls people’s lives, and thus it tyrannically serves as the biggest,
cruelest, most blinding deception in the Middle East.
Israel
is different but similar. The
majority of God’s chosen people have wandered astray, or at least, they’ve been
willingly left behind. Judaism is
obsolete. The Old Testament law is
only necessary now in making us aware of our own depravity, aware of our
hopelessness apart from Christ, and aware of our desperate need for a
savior. The law, in and of itself,
can never save us. Under the New Covenant of God in Christ, salvation comes by grace
through faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself up for us. Many Jews still reject this. They reject the divine Messianic claims
of Jesus and so they are blind, depressed, and largely, miserable. The Muslims are trying to ‘be good’ to
get to God, and the Jews likewise.
It’s all the same dead, man-made religion.
In
the midst of all this, God through His Church has gained footholds here and
there throughout the region. There
are pockets of true believing Christians throughout the Middle East, and though
their numbers are few, their resiliency, perseverance, passion and
determination is strong. Along the
way we’ve has the privilege of meeting believers (both local and foreign)
who’ve committed their lives to working and living in this tough area. These people have been both inspiring
and encouraging. It’s so
spectacular to know that as Christians, we have family all over the world. Even more spectacular is the reality
that God is building His church throughout the globe, and Death and Hades can
do absolutely nothing to stop Him.
Citizens from every tribe,
tongue, and nation will be
represented one day before the throne of our good and gracious King Jesus –
this is undeniably inevitable…
All
in all, I’d like to come back here some day. I know there’s plenty more to see and experience. I’m definitely drawn to this part of
the world. Even in spite of the
spiritual darkness it’s still so full to the brim with color and culture and
vibrancy and beauty. I hope and
pray God sends us back. Who knows
what the future holds?
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