The Biblical Origins Of The Middle East Crisis

What are the origins of the conflict of the Middle East? If you ask the average person when the conflict began, they will probably tell you it was during the Crusades. During the Crusades, for example, former president Bill Clinton said, indeed, the first crusade when the Christian soldiers took Jerusalem, they first burned a synagogue with 300 Jews in it. Then they proceeded to kill every woman and child who was a Muslim on the Temple mound. That story is being retold in the Middle East, and we are still paying for it. According to this account, we’re paying for it because of the crusades which took place.

Now, I must emphasize we should not view Muslims as our enemies. As a matter of fact, every time I get in a cab, I try to witness and help our Muslim drivers to see Jesus is more than a prophet. I want to make Jesus look good in the little time I have, I sometimes ask them whether they would be killed if they convert to Christianity. They often say “yes.” We need to see this reality: While Muslims are not our enemies, they are victims of a very oppressive religion. If you’re reading this as a Muslim, I invite you to read to the end. I will also talk about what love is all about.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. In this chapter, we’re going to cover the teaching of the Quran about the Jews to discover the origin of the conflict. Then, we will take a historical overview of the conflict between the Ishmael and Isaac, Islam’s first capture of Jerusalem, the first Crusade, and the events following World War I.  

First, what we want to do is to see what the Quran has to say about the Jews that is actually the origin of the conflict, mark Gabriel, and that of course is a pen name. He's been here at the Moody Church a number of times, but he writes under a pseudonym for security purposes. He was a lecturer of Islamic history at Alazar University in Cairo, one of the most prestigious universities in all the Islamic world. And he has written a series of books, and in the book he tells the story of how as a little boy, a recit used to come to his home and this recit would recite the Quran for perhaps an hour and the family would listen.

Sometimes the recit came twice a week. One time the man was reciting Surah five verse 60, which told of the fate of the Jews who incurred the wrath and the curse of Allah, the Quran said that these cursed Jews were those that Allah transformed into pigs and apes. So as a boy, mark said, is this true? And the recit answered, yes, my son, you have heard the Quran, which I have just recited to you, and Allah never lies to us. So little Mark, as he calls himself now, was taught from the earliest days to hate the Jews. He said that he would spit on their tombstones. He was told that they were under a curse. He was told that they killed pregnant women, and the stories went on and on. What is it that the Quran actually says three times? It says that the Jews have been transformed into pigs and apes.

Let me give them to you, surah chapter seven, number 66. So when the Jews exceeded the limits of what they were prohibited, we said to them, be you monkeys despised and rejected Surah five verse 60. Shall I inform you of something worse than that regarding the recompense from Allah, those Jews who incurred the curse of Allah and his wrath, those of whom he transformed into monkeys and swines. One more Surah chapter two verse 65. And indeed, you know those amongst you, the children of Israel who transgressed in the matter of the Shabbat. We said to them, be you monkeys, despised and rejected. Now, one of the questions that we have to ask is why all of this anger? Why all of this anger and hostility and hatred in the Quran about the Jews? In order to understand that, we have to understand a bit of history.

As you know, I'm sure Muhammad was in Mecca. He was espousing his revelations and his religion and some converted but not many and he eventually went to Medina, but it was during this period of time when Muhammad was trying to win the goodwill of the Jews and have them to convert to Islam. Now, if we had time this morning, I would quote verses from the Quran, which speak of the Jews in favorable light. For example, there is a text that says that the Jews were the chosen people of God. It says that the Jews were protected by God when they were in a foreign land. And then in a text, which I have here, which maybe I should take time to read, it actually says that Abraham was not a Jew but a Muslim. Let me read this is Surah 360 7. Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a Christian, but he was true in faith and bowed his will to Allah, which is Islam, and he joined not God's with Allah.

Now, what's very important to realize is during this period of time, Muhammad was trying to convert the Jews to Islam and he was doing it by not only speaking favorably, but of course they are both monotheistic religion. So you can see the connection. He was telling them that if you were a true Jew, a true follower of Abraham, you'd become a Muslim. And you hear this even today on television, there are those who say that true Christians are Muslims, all true Jews are really Muslims. And what Muhammad said is that the Christian scriptures and the Old Testament scriptures have been corrupted. And if you want to go back to the real true quintessential bottom line faith, it is Islam and he hoped therefore to persuade the Jews to become Muslims, but it didn't work. The Jews said to themselves, we don't think that Abraham actually was a Muslim.

They noticed a lot of contradictions with the Old Testament stories and the stories in the Quran, and so they rejected him. And at that period of time, Muhammad said that his previous stories, his previous affirmations were abrogated. You know the how important the abrogation is, and they began to accuse him and say, in fact, this is actually in the Quran. We don't have time to read the verses, but it says that the Jews were criticizing Muhammad because of the fact that Muhammad said that God can change his mind. Muhammad said that God sometimes takes commands that were applicable at one period of time and then substitutes others. So when he began to receive these revelations in Mecca, he began to receive opposition. Many of the Jews therefore began to contradict him. They began to oppose him and as a result he turned against them. Now, I've so much material to cover.

I'll simply summarize, what does the Quran say about the Jews? If we had time, we'd give you a surah for each, but we can't. First of all that the Jews are the greatest enemies of Islam. Jewish people do not love Muslims. Number three, Jews start wars and cause trouble on the earth. Both Christians and Jews blaspheme because they say they are children of God. Jews are cursed because they claim they killed the Messiah. Absolutely important. Surah 4 1 57 to 1 59 says that Jesus did not die on the cross, someone else died. Separate story and now judgment comes on both Christians and Jews. For example, this is what it says in Surah 4 47, Christians, let me owe you who have been given the scriptures, namely the Jews and the Christians believe in what we have revealed, the revelations of Muhammad confirming what was already said with you before we efface faces, and that means that we make your face look like the back of your neck without a nose and a mouth and eyes and turn them hind words or curse them as we curse the Sabbath breakers and the commandment of a law is always executed.

By the way, mark says that when he began to be an imam, he began to quote one of the surs, which I also have here, but I don't take time to quote in which it has said the Jews are like donkeys who have been given the Torah, but just like a donkey doesn't know what he's carrying on his back and cannot read. That of course is a picture also of the Jews. So the bottom line is that there are statements in the Quran that are very favorable to the Jews, but those statements evidently have been abrogated. They have been changed because the Jews refuse to accept Muhammad and his teachings as being legitimate Judaism and therefore he turned against them in anger and cursed them. I remember seeing a special on television, maybe you did also where schoolchildren in one of the countries that may have been Saudi Arabia, I hope that you saw that every morning these children chant the Jews are pigs and apes.

The Jews are pigs and apes. That's their chant as they begin school in the morning because the Jews refuse to accept muhammad's religion. Let's go on to a second issue talking about the origin of the conflict, and that has to do with the conflict between Isaac and Ishmael. Going to read just one or two verses about what the Bible says about Ishmael and then we will, and you know the story of course of Abraham and Hagar and so forth. This is what God said though. This is chapter 17 of Genesis verse 20. As for Ishmael, I have heard you behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall be the father of 12 princes. I will make him into a great nation, but I will establish my covenant with Isaac. You'll notice that when Ishmael at about the age 14 was cast out of their home, it says God was with the boy.

Isn't that beautiful? I remember the King James I think says, and God was with the lad and he grew up, he lived in the wilderness, became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of pran. His mother took him to Egypt. That's where he got his wife because that's where Hagar was from. You'll recall that. And then when he dies, before he dies, he and Isaac actually meet at the cave of Mcla where their father Abraham is buried. And then this, it says he died at the age of 1 37. They settled from Haah to sir, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen, so that's where he went. What do we know about Ishmael in the Bible? First of all, God promised blessing to Ishmael. God says, Ishmael, you're going to be a big nation and he is.

There's some question as to who, whether or not the Arabs can trace their lineage back to Ishmael because there have been so much intermarriage, but at the end of the day, God certainly fulfilled that promise. God's presence is going to be with him. You'll notice the phrase he says, and the Lord was with the lad. About a week ago I was talking to a young Palestinian woman, a Christian, and she said, oh, I fear your conference that you're having at Moody Church. I said, why? She said, because the Jews get the promises. She says, and you're going to forget about us Palestinians. I assured her, no, we wouldn't forget about you because we know that there's a blessing also to the descendants of Ishmael because God was with them and God is with them today. And our hearts are also, especially for the Palestinian believers that are found all throughout the West Bank and actually all throughout the Middle East, God says, I have a special blessing.

They settled in Egypt. They were at their father's funeral together, but the promises of God go to Isaac. Now, what I want to read is a quotation from the Quran, and this quotation gives you a description of the sacrifice of Isaac and the Quran looks at it very differently. As we shall see in a moment. Just listen carefully. Now, this is the Quran's explanation of Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac. We gave him tidings of a gentle son, and when his son was old enough to walk with him, Abraham said, oh my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice thee. So look what thou think us thou, he said, old father do that which thou art commanded Allah, willing thou shall find me to be steadfast. Then when they had both surrendered to Allah and he had flung him down upon his face, we called onto him, oh, Abraham thou has to already fulfilled the vision low.

Thus we do reward the good low. That which was very clear was a test. Then we ransom him with a tremendous victim. Now what's interesting is that the Quran does not say expressly in that passage that it was Ishmael that actually was sacrificed or willing to be sacrificed. But in my Quran, which I was reading yesterday afternoon, there's quite an extensive footnote that says that this is Ishmael, and the justification is this. It says that Ishmael was always Abraham's firstborn, which is really true. Ishmael is at least 14 years older or so than Isaac. So Ishmael was always considered to be the first born. In fact, the text says there in the footnote that never at any time was Isaac the first born. That's true. Now, do you understand how complicated the Middle East is when you have two competing points of view as to who gets the promises as to who gets the land?

Of course, if Ishmael is the child of promise, if Ishmael is the one that Abraham was willing to sacrifice, it becomes very clear then that you have two competing understandings as to what God has said. And the consequences of course are very, very huge. Now, in my haste here, I seem to have lost my way, but that can be said about a lot of people, can't it? Many people lose their way in their haste. So what I'd like to do now is to go on to another subject and that is the Crusades. The Crusades in 6 37 within the first year of Islam. I mean imagine Muhammad was born in seven, excuse me, five 70 and died in 6 32. So a few years after Muhammad's death, the siege of Jerusalem took place. It was part of a military conflict between the Byzantine Empire. That's an important concept.

You need to get Byzantine Empire. Of course, when you think of it, think of Constantinople, which today is Istanbul was between the Byzantine Empire and the caliphate. It began when the army under the command of a man whose name's a little difficult for me to pronounce Besiege, Jerusalem. In November of 6 36, after six months, the patriarch of Jerusalem agreed to surrender on condition that he would submit only to the K. So the Omar Umar traveled to Jerusalem to receive the submission of the city. And so the Muslim conquest over Jerusalem strengthened of course the Muslim advance and the Muslim control. Now here's the point to be made in passing. I'll make a number of different points in passing. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. As we learned last night, how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? The answer is this. The Muslims always wanted to show their superiority over other religions by capturing them and then using those captured lands and captured spaces to assert their superiority.

And so they built a huge mosque. Actually, there's the Axa Mosque and then there's the Dome of the Rock, which many of you have either seen or been in, I've been in many times. And the reason that it was built there is because that was a site that was sacred to the Jews. And of course it was also sacred to the Christians because that's where Jesus was and that's where the temple was and that's where the Holy of Holies probably was somewhere close to that rock. That might even be the place where Abraham sacrificed his son. Are you aware of that? Because it says that he sacrificed his son on Mount Mariah and one chronicles says that the Solomon built his temple on Mount Mariah. So when you are in the dome of the rock and you see that huge rock, remember this, it may indeed be a very sacred rock, but why the Muslim dome of the rock there to show the superiority of Islam over both Judaism and Christianity?

And that's why in the Arabic texts in the mosque, it talks about the curse that comes on those who believe that God had a son, et cetera, et cetera. This is not my topic today, but we think for example of the mosque near ground zero, in my mind, there's absolutely no doubt if you look at Muslim history, the intention is to build a victory mosque at the place of a great victory that took place for Islam. This would be very consistent. I was in Istanbul one time, a whole day with a very, very devout Muslim. I mean he would've said that he wants the restoration of the Ottoman Empire. Everyone killed who converts. We got along very, very well. I could tell you some stories though about how things went. I don't know if I should tell exactly how they went because I think this is being taped.

But let's just say that he and I had some frank discussions and he made it very clear that the superiority of Islam is shown by its ability to crush Christianity. And that's why I give a separate lesson on the whole issue of what the seven churches of Revelation that no longer exist have to say to the American Church, separate deal we can't go into, but this is intended in New York to be a victory mosque to commemorate the victory of Islam at nine 11. I believe that this can be shown if you look at history now, alright, the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem was used by the Muslims as an opportunity for aggression. For example, in the eighth century, Christian pilgrims were attacked and crucified. Muslims were demanding money from Christians. Oh, you need to grasp this. What's it like for Christians under Muslim rule? They have to pay the Gia the tax and then they're protected.

I don't have time to go into the order of protection. It's basically terms of surrender. But anyway, also a Muslim ruler banned displays of the cross in Jerusalem and increased the tax that Christians had to pay. Christians experienced violence and persecution in Bethlehem. All the monks in a monastery were killed. 9 23 Muslims went on a palm Sunday rampage in Jerusalem, plundering and destroying churches. When the Byzantines began to recapture part of the land, a jihad was declared against them. In the year 1009, an order was given by the Muslim Cale to destroy the church of the Holy Sker in Jerusalem. And that was the cause of the first crusade. Are you all with me or am I talking too fast? Everybody with me? Do I hear an amen out there somewhere? Amen. You with me? There are times when we just have to back off and think the crusades are used in Muslim mythology, if I could put it that way, to say that this is proof of Western aggression. The Westerners just came in there without provocation and they just decided to take Jerusalem and the holy land from us. And because of what happened in the Crusades, that's why we are still fighting that war.

So a couple of comments. First, there was every reason for Europe to go there and to capture Jerusalem in light of the plight of those who wanted to visit the city and the Muslim Rampages, et cetera, et cetera that I've just read about. And then the first crusade went. The first crusade went because Pope Urban II at Claremont in France gave a lecture which you can read and it's very interesting. Obviously I don't agree with all of it, but here's what I need to say in summary. First of all, I do not stand here today and say that the Crusades were justified as such for two reasons they should have never fought in the name of Jesus. Luther, in fact wrote extensively about that and before this lecture is over, I'm going to tell you some things about Luther and the Turks, but they should have never done that in the name of Jesus.

If the standing armies of Europe had gotten together disciplined armies and had gone in there and rescued the land so that Christian pilgrims could be there and so forth, that would've been perfectly justified. The second reason that you don't want to come in in favor of the Crusades is because there were excesses. There's one account that uses the book of Revelation and says that the blood ran to the horse's bridles. We know of course that that is really hyperbole. How many people did the Christians kill? We don't know. The original accounts I think said 20,000. That might've been somewhat exaggerated, but by the 15 hundreds centuries later, it became a hundred thousand because the Muslim community began to see that these crusades could be used for propaganda purposes. Now again, I do not justify what they did. Christians also are in the wrong, and there's a lot of blood on Christian hands, not just on this first crusade, but in other crusades as well.

And so they did go in, they did massacre, they did plunder. All that I'm sure is true, but here's what sticks in my heart today we hear that side of the story, but we do not hear the atrocities committed by Muslim armies. Folks today, history is just being used like putty to be made into whatever position or shape. One wants to promote a certain agenda. Our heart should be broken over that what is said in American textbooks is so wrong. Let's go for example to Constantinople. Let's go to the Church of Holy Wisdom in Istanbul. It's 1453. The Muslims break over the wall and they come in. Prayers are being said in the church. Massacres begin to happen. They kill all of the weak and the elderly, and then they begin to realize that many of those who are healthy can be sold into slavery. 5,000 people in the city were impaled. It's the most painful death you can imagine. Thousands upon thousands were sold into slavery. The atrocities were huge and we never hear about that, but we continually hear about the Crusades. One footnote about the crusades, and then we have to move on.

In his excellent book, Robert Spencer who wrote the book, the Politically Incorrect View of Islam, says that the Crusades performed a tremendous function. Now the rest of them were disasters. I will not go into it. Some things that were done there that would just tear your heart out in terms of stupidity and everything else, the rest of the crusades. But he said that they did perform a valuable function that doesn't make them right In Christianity, evil never becomes good, but God may use evil on occasion. According to Spencer, what happened is because of the crusades, you have a situation in which the Muslims were occupied in the Holy Land, were it not for them. There would've been a jihad all throughout Europe and all of Europe today can be Muslim, could possibly be Muslim given in his monumental history, talks about the battle also of 7 22.

And were it not for that battle, that pointers in 7 22 where the Muslim advance was stopped by the Frankish armies. Notre Dame today would be a mosque. And by the way, many Muslims brag that it won't be that long before Notre Dame will be a mosque because of the population explosion and the logistics that are happening there in the Middle East. So please keep that in mind. What we need to do when we look at history, we need to see balance. We need to see the sins and the crimes of the Christians and they're therefore all to see, but we need to balance it and see the other side of the story. But God preserved Christian Europe such as it was because remember the Muslims overtook North Africa, they moved into different areas and in a moment I'll even talk about the Ottoman Empire as God wills.

So we're hurrying along. Now let me say a word about World War One. In World War I. What happened is the Ottoman Empire with its headquarters there in Istanbul, and if you look at a map of the Ottoman Empire, you know that it encompassed a huge territory. Many different countries. The Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in the war. Germany lost the Ottoman Empire was already quite corrupt within, and for various reasons it was dismantled. And after that, the allies moved into many of those countries we're going to be hearing about Iraq and Iran and those other countries and they basically created the lines and the borders of the country. And in the Muslim understanding, this really showed that the West exploited these countries, took natural resources from these countries and was party to the fall of the great Ottoman Empire. Now, my guide in Istanbul wished again that the Ottoman Empire would be reconstituted.

But it's interesting, if you go to Greece where we went after we were in Israel, they were celebrating the liberation of Greece from the Ottomans. So it depends who you talk to. You talk to Muslims, they'd like to see the Ottoman Empire reconstituted. If you talk to the countries that were under their authority, they were only too happy to see it dismantled. But when Bin Laden spoke and said 80 years ago, we have to avenge the great hatred against that was done against us most Americans 80 years ago. What in the world was that about? Is the dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire? And I could tell you a story about what happened in Smyrna modern day Isir also. But you know what? That's going to have to wait for some other time. It blows your mind away. I mean, you can't get your mind around everything that's happened.

Now, what is the contemporary? And so what we have then is the origin of the conflict, and I want to summarize this. First of all, let me say this that think of it this way. Think of what the Quran teaches about the Jews, the attitude that should be had toward them. Think of the conflict between Isaac and Ishmael who gets God's promises. Both groups claiming that God is on their side. God gave them the land, God gave them the right to occupy it. Think also of the view that is preached that once Islam has territory, it needs a jiad to always get it back. It should never be given up. I think I have time for this quote from Bernard Lewis, the great scholar of Islam from a Western perspective. He notes that in classical Islamic view to which many Muslims are beginning to return the world in, all mankind are divided into two houses, the house of Islam or Muslim law and faith prevail, or the house of unbelief, which is the house of war.

When a Muslim says Islam is a religion of peace, understand what he means, it brings peace to countries that are not yet under Islam. It should be clear that we are facing a mood and a movement far transcending the level of the issues and the policies and the governments that pursue them. This is no less than a clash of civilizations. Now, it's interesting that Lewis wrote that in 1990, long before nine 11, long before the rise of what we consider to be modern terrorism. So you have really this clash of civilizations. Now how do I bring this plane down on time? And I got up a little late, so I am going to go to 10 20, which is five extra minutes and every minute here is precious. Okay, number one, a word to the negotiators in Washington two state solution probably won't work. Joel was much more optimistic last night than I am.

Maybe Antichrist will sign a covenant of protection, but there's more going on here than the issue of the land. There's the whole issue of blood and the desire for vengeance. So I think that our diplomat should work toward peace. I think if it comes through our diplomats, it's going to be very short-lived. The issues here are too deep, too long, and too religious. Somebody said, oh, if we could just take religion out of it, we could solve it. You take religion out of it as something like saying, oh, I know of a toothpick that has all of the wood shave from it.

Religion is at the heart of it. It is it. Secondly, I want to say a word to the church when Luther was confronted with reports of the advance of Islam. Now remember Ottoman Empire Luther nails the 95 feces to the castle Church do in Wittenberg five 17 and the Ottoman Empire is in its flower sle on the magnificent, who by the way built the walls in Jerusalem that you see today when you go there as a tourist built by SLE on the magnificent who is a great builder part of the Ottoman expansion program. When all that was happening, Luther was receiving all of these reports about the number of heads rolling on the sand because the Muslims were bragging the cutting off of the head to show superiority and all these different countries were being gobbled up. He wrote a book about 40 pages on the Turks, and I'll give you one paragraph and it's in my words, not his. He says that what does the Christian do when you look around and have no reason to believe that God is on your side? We don't have reports like the Muslims do. He said at that time, he says, A Christian believes God's bare word, God's bare word. That what you see is not the way it's going to be.

But I also want to say this to the Christian Church. What are we to be doing? The answer is clear to show the love of Jesus Christ to Muslims. About a year ago or so, some of us met Kamal Sali. He came here from Lebanon with the intention of doing terrorism and was as a serious car accident. Three Christian doctors loved on him. They just loved on him. This caused such distress in his soul that later on when he was better, he went into his room and he shouted, Allah, are you there? Total silence, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Are you there? And he says that within him the words arose, I am that I am. Words he had never heard before.

And as a result, he was converted. And as you know, he travels in universities and so forth. Listen, don't ever underestimate what God might be willing to do with someone who is desperately seeking him. And you and I are brought face to face with Muslims whom God has brought to this country so that we could show them the love of Christ. It isn't a matter of an intellectual exercise, it's a matter of love because what he said was what Salim said is, I don't understand. We were taught to hate, hate, hate, hate. And we have the true religion. These infidels love, love, love, love, and that's what won him over. There's a final word and that this is a word of prophecy. There are two different scenarios as to how everything is going to end in the Muslim point of view. Jesus Christ is going to return, he's going to destroy all crosses.

He is going to force everyone to convert to Islam. Then he's going to die a natural death and be buried close to Muhammad in Mecca. That's one scenario as to how it's going to end, but there's a different scenario as to how it's going to end. And the different scenario says that when Jesus Christ comes, he comes as king of kings Lord of all lords. And before him, every knee shall bow, Muhammad shall bow, and Buddha shall bow. And everyone is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and things are not what they seem to be. The Christian goes on believing in the triumph of Jesus no matter what happens in this fallen world. May I pray for you, father, help us Lord God to understand, help us to love, help us to care. And we know, Lord, that you have brought to us in this country, tens of thousands of Muslims who are seeking for truth and forgiveness and life. Help us to be winsome loving witnesses that you might overcome these barriers in the name of Jesus. We ask and bless all who are here, we pray in the exalted, uncontested name of Jesus. Amen.