It’s been only nine days since Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel, but it has already triggered an avalanche of issues that are both complicated and deeply vexing.

Yesterday I led our church family in a moment of prayer about the situation. In that worship service, we didn’t take the time to sort through or even name the various issues, but I wanted to consolidate some thoughts on the conflict here that might help guide hearts and minds as we interact with the news in the days ahead.

These statements emerge from my current understanding of the issues within a Christian worldview: the overarching world-story about (1) God’s creation of the universe, (2) humans’ fall into sin, (3) God’s plan to liberate humans from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, (4) the giving of his Spirit to all who trust in him, and (5) the future return of Christ to the world.

1. We must label evil as such without moral equivocation.

Many people have equivocated about Hamas’ brutal actions. Such moral equivocation is appalling. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). This conflict has also revealed the antisemitism of some people on the political left, causing even Jewish senior editor at The Atlantic to lament: “The left abandoned me.” 

2. The State of Israel has a moral obligation to protect its citizens from those who have vowed to exterminate them.

Hamas is an Islamic terrorist organization whose stated purpose is to obliterate Israel. The preamble to their covenant says, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” It is the purpose of governments to protect their citizens, and the State of Israel has this responsibility.

3. All bloodshed is horrible, and warfare, insofar as it is necessary, should be “just.”

War is a horrible thing, and even more so when the belligerents have an utter disregard for human life—even the lives of their own. Insofar as war becomes necessary, Israel has a responsibility to carry it out in a way that is “just.” Unfortunately, this is terribly complicated when the enemy has taken hostages and mingled their own civilians with combatants. We recognize the vexing nature of this conflict, while at the same time carefully acknowledging that support for the people of Israel does not commit us to supporting all the methods of the State of Israel’s military.

4. The line dividing good and evil cuts through every heart, Jew and non-Jew.

The Apostle Paul, himself a Jew, wrote: “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23). Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, survivor of the Soviet gulag, famously wrote: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Admitting the universally embedded nature of sin does not mean that we cannot call evil what it is (see statement number 1 above); rather, it means that we must be first alert to and repentant for the sin in our own hearts and not surprised to see it anywhere else. This fact also means that there is no one who is beyond the reach of God’s grace, including terrorists, if they repent. 

5. We should avoid insisting that current events are certain countdown markers to the end of the age.

Yes, we are in the “last days” and have been ever since Jesus came to earth (Hebrews 1:1-4). Jesus said that the “last days” would be marked by “wars and rumors of wars” (Matthew 24:6-13). Many past generations of Christians have looked at events in their world, convinced that their generation was the last before Christ’s final return. While we are alert to end-time events, we should always heed Christ’s words: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. . . . Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:36, 42).

6. Lasting peace will be achieved only when Jesus finally returns as king.

The Old Testament looks forward to the time when God “shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and 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” (Isaiah 2:4). The New Testament identifies Jesus Christ, the Spirit-anointed Son of God as that king who will bring lasting peace. The Apostle John envisions that future day in which “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

7. Jesus’ followers everywhere must pray for peace and seek to alleviate suffering however they can.

As we await Christ’s return, Christians do not stand idly “staring into the heavens.” Rather, we are sent to spread the good news about Jesus and emulate the healing hand of Jesus wherever we go.