Israel vs. Hamas: A Reformed Perspective 

I’m about to listen to this video now . I was hoping that you might address this topic . I am a confessional reformed Baptist now and also an amellinnailist but was brought up in Dispensational circles . So this will be something that I’d like to see explored more from people in our camp .

Very thought provoking. I've been waiting for your point of reference on this. Thank you. Many prayers needed.

Brother, I have greatly enjoyed your videos recently. Thank you for this

I appreciate you weighing in on this… I’m in total agreement🙏❤️👊

Amen Pastor Matt Thank you for your grace and wisdom

Many thanks for this Matthew - a very helpful video.

Pastor, First time watcher. Saw your eschatology vid. We differ. But we agree on ALL relevant christology. We love Jesus. The son of God saved us through shedding his precious blood. So..thank you and I will continue watching you. I dont have to agree with everything to appreciate you. Im a saved ( Missouri synod) Lutheran who still professes the apostles creed. Thanks.❤

Amen and spot on brother!

You are so right. We need God's Grace and mercy

Thanks, much appreciated!

Thank you brother!!

Thank you for your information, may the lord give peace and blessing for you and your famliy , love and pray from Israel 🙏🏻♥️

Thank you for posting this. We are bombarded by mainstream media and evangelical content. Needed to hear what reformed Orthodoxy has to say

Matthew, thank you and amen! Agree 100% and I too am an "optimistic amillennialist". Keep up the great work, brother!

“Only the judgment of God can break the cycle of vengeance” amen!!!

Truly my heart aches for these people. Please God have mercy and call your people out of this darkness

Two reading suggestions: 1) O. Palmer Robertson's book "The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" 2) James Jordon's paper "The Future of Israel Re-examined" (July, 1991, Biblical Horizons, No. 27 July, 1991)

Pastor, I cannot thank you enough for this gracious, thoughtful message regarding what is taking place in the Middle East. You are a true shepherd of the flock. My husband and I recently left our church of 30 years once we realized we were part of false hyper-charismatic/NAR teachings. We are seeking another church, but it is very difficult. Most churches here are either woke or similar to what we left. I pray daily for you and other pastors who are standing for the truth of God’s Word, that you continue to stand, in fear of the Lord, and that you would be blessed and protected. And, I completely share your feelings on the whole agenda and hypocrisy in the leftist universities.

If you listen carefully to the Israeli Government spokesperson, they don't call Israel response as a revenge. This is because they(especially the Prime Minister) know " Vengeance belong to the Lord. But it is a responsibility of government to protect its citizens from harms and further harm, just like it's a responsibility of parents to protect their children. Thecontinuing existence of HAMAS can only means more wars and more harms to both Israeli and palestineans.

You're a great father, Matt! God has surely blessed your children through you. I was surprised to hear you're not postmillennial lol I assumed you were all this time aha! You've been a serious pillar in my reformed faith. I love you, brother!

That’s the best choice. Local college- studying trade skills. Good job! Be proud!

Really enjoying your content. Glad to see you take a Pro 2A stance. I noticed PCUSA appears to be the opposite.

Thank you for sharing this! It’s needed. I don’t like replacement theology either. Amen about the trades and we also agree with your statements about these colleges and universities. Our thoughts exactly. We do watch your sermons haha. 😂 Thank you! Blessings to you, your family, and ministry.

Thank you. While I disagree with you on some eschatological matters, I completely agree with on everything else. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for this world.

Thank you for standing up for our 2A rights! Again, an issue where Christians are either silent or clueless. I gave up on my beloved John Piper when I read his shameful article called, "Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves?" If it had not been on his own, official website, I would never have believed what I was seeing!

The apostle Paul does MUCH MORE than "hold out hope" for Israel's Redemption in Romans 9, 10 and 11. He makes a prophetic Proclamation based on numerous old testament scriptures. 📖

I watch your channel regularly as someone who grew up in the reformed church. I see you as a true brother and Christ. But honestly disagree with you on the antisematism that is being seen here. I do not believe in total depravity but in radical depravity. I see a huge difference between hamas and the Jewish state as far as how they deal with people.. People are sinful by nature I do not believe that people are neutral. But there are degrees of depravity. That is what we are seeing here. Hamas is beheading babies. Israel is announcing before moving in the army.

I'm not reformed but I agree to Ptr Matt's position.

I appreciate hearing your take on the Israel/Hamas war. I would, however, carefully say, it would be a good idea for you to read Adolph Safir's book, Christ and Israel. Adolph Safir,, a Jewish man, became a Christian as a young man, and a serious student of the Scriptures. Thanks again for your thoughtful podcasts. Please keep them coming.

Matthew an excellent perspective I didn’t hear anything I would disagree with.

Level-headed, measured discussion of the issues. While I do not agree with it, I appreciate Pastor Matt's clear explanation of "a" Reformed Perspective on Israel, and how it differs from the Dispensational view.

Psalm 147,2-3 (NKJV): The LORD builds up Jerusalem He gathers together the outcasts of Israel He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds

A great video, Matt, on important and pertinent issues. As an Australian living in a country where the threat of gun violence is next to none (in large part due to our Government having strict gun laws) I did find the last point of your video (from 29:25) baffling to me, though. I pray that America will one day be free of gun culture and gun violence. You spoke earlier in the video, and rightly so, that an 'eye for an eye' mentality results in nothing good and does not solve disputes. With all due respect, and from an outside observer, America's gun culture seems to be very much an embodiment of this approach.

My take is, everyone needs Jesus, including but not limited to, Jews, Palestinians, Hamas. I bring this up when Bin Landen was alive, it would have been wonderful to see Bin Landen come to Jesus.

This is a very interesting video. I learn a lot from Pastor Everhard. He certainly knows and understands the gospel and has a heart for it. I am not an amillennialist so that's where I disagree with some of the statements he makes but I'm not here to verbally attack Pastor Everhard as I still consider him to be a true brother in Christ. Let me put forth this statement. "In essential doctrines there must be unity. In nonessential doctrines there must be liberty. And in all things there must be charity." Pastor Everhard definitely has the essential doctrines such as Jesus being the only way to heaven and the inspired & inerrant Holy Bible among other essentials. I disagree with the amillennial viewpoint but he also disagrees with dispensationalism but that's OK. I commend him for stating Israel has a right to defend their land. I commend his wise decisions to have his children attend a local college to get their degrees not only to save thousands of dollars but to avoid the propaganda going on in major universities with the goal of brainwashing our future generations. Where I disagree with Pastor Everhard is where he says today's Israel is not the same Israel before the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. It IS the same Israel returning to their homeland after a 1900+ dispersion. True, they have returned to the homeland in unbelief but God will deal with their unbelief in the future. Let me ask this question. When Israel went into Babylonian captivity for 70 years and were then released to go back their homeland, were they a "different Israel"? No. True a majority of them were direct descendants but they were the same Israel. After being dispersed in 70 A.D. and again in 135 A.D., are we to believe today's Israel is different from 1st Century Israel? No. The descendants of long ago are regathering but in unbelief at this time. Look at Deuteronomy 28 as an outline of what would happen with Israel. So again, I learn a lot of truth from Pastor Everhard who truly loves Jesus and correctly teaches the essentials but when it comes to the nonessentials like this, I simply have to allow him the liberty to disagree with dispensationalism just as I have the liberty to disagree with him on the amillennial point of view.

Thanks for your own demonstrations of depravity. And thanks for saying this as a "pastor." I think it will further help those who remain unconvinced on that point.

4:18 "You don't even really need to know much of the context or the background or the history there to at least be moved by some kind of human empathy." But the background & history are the key. This is I * * * m. This is what is commanded/condoned by their texts. This is the example of its founder. Until we address this fact, we are spinning uselessly in circles.

I feel like I’m optimistic A-mil in my beliefs too. But we should live like Postmil. That would be to live as a vibrant and faithful church.

Thank you very much for this thoughtful, meaningful, spot-on video. I appreciate your videos, for so many reasons. I especially appreciated your comments about historical, Biblical Israel not being the same as the modern State of Israel. I share the following knowing that it may expose me to some negative feedback, but I was born and raised Jewish. I was baptized as a Christian way back when I was 19, much to my family's dismay. But like you, I also believe - and pray - that more Jewish people will accept Christ as the Messiah before His soon return. I, too, don't share the belief held by many other Christians that there will be a third temple built in Jerusalem, etc. I am praying that the hatred and violence to and from both sides of the current situation will end. Anyway, as a Jewish Christian, I wanted to let you know how meaningful your comments were to me. Thank you, and may you be blessed as you continue your video ministry.

Hey Pastor Everhard, what books would you recommend to read on Amillennialism?

It’s hard to pray for the enemy. How would you go about it? Certainly not lip service.

Hi Mr. Everhard, I was wondering if you can recommend a source for Calvinist theology / soteriology. I’ve been on the fence on the issue for quite a while now. Thank you!

Alongside total depravity, it calls into question the authenticity of the common grace position. Unless I am wrong in this understanding.

Everhsrd you continue to disappoint me. Stuck to being a presbyterian and teaching about God. Not about border security and scare tactics. Thank goodness I became a presbyterian in spite of you, not because of you

I certainly agree with everything that you’ve said about the “cycle of violence.” Violence does indeed beget more violence. The problem is that Westerners, even in our post-Christian era, we still have a Biblical perspective - a Christian perspective. Talmudic and Kabbalah rabbis and Mohammad’s followers have their own worldviews, which are inconsistent with Scripture. According to Benjamin Freedman, if anyone is familiar with his 1961 speech at the Willard Hotel about Zionism, we’re not aware of the malevolent machinations that have been occurring behind the global curtain. This is why I do not wish to take sides. No one within my inner circle believes terrorists were able to easily penetrate Israel’s national security defenses without approval from within. I believe Ruling power structures want this war, and we should be doing everything possible to discourage it. I have listened to a few pastors make very clear that they support Israel, and if we do anything less is antisemitism. This is preposterous, it’s manipulative, it’s disqualifying, and it’s dangerous. Christians need to be a witness for Christ to both Semitic groups, Jews and Arabs in that region. Many questions, but no satisfactory answers.

Everyone should read: The People, the Land, and the Future of Israel: Israel and the Jewish People in the Plan of God by Darrell L. Bock (Editor), Mitch Glaser (Editor) The Future Restoration of Israel: A Response to Supersessionism (McMaster Biblical Studies Series) by Stanley E. Porter (Editor), Alan E. Kurschner (Editor)

Romans 11:25-32 Christian Standard Bible 25 I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. 28 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, 29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. 30 As you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy through their disobedience, 31 so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all. Isaiah 59:19-21 Christian Standard Bible 19 They will fear the name of the Lord in the west and his glory in the east; for he will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the Lord. 20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord. This is the future of Physical Israel.

I 100% agree with you about the huge leftism takeover, & the teachings in our Universities AND schools here in Australia. The things my granddaughter tells me happens at her high school is shocking, & worries me so much. I have one daughter who moved to Melbourne for 10 years, & she has sadly been hugely brainwashed into Marxism & left thinking. It’s a tragedy & I pray for her constantly, as I do all my children, grandchildren & husband (all unsaved). The pro-Hamas marches here & all around the world are gut-wrenching. It’s hard to stay strong when it seems that the left is winning on too many fronts. I need to draw even closer to Christ to rid my heart of anxiety & of letting this world get to me. 🙏✝️🇦🇺

Thank you - a very good and wise take on the whole situation. Perhaps I have one quibble re: your distaste for calling them animals. OK, I'll grant you that, however, their ACTIONS can certainly be termed "animalistic," and therefore they themselves are marring the imago dei. Anyway, just my $0.02, and I realize others might not agree with my opinion ;-)

The Universities. You only know what you’re taught. Make no mistake, this is by design.

I appreciate your position. I am one who is trying really hard to let you convince me to the A-Mil or Post-Mil position but I cannot ignore all of the Messianic "Kingdom" passages that do not yet seem to be fulfilled and therefore feel compelled to believe that there will be a future role for Israel as a nation. I understand that the current nation of Israel is largely secular and even atheistic and that not all Israel are OF Israel so I would not consider an unregenerate person of Jewish descent to be a genuine "Child of Abraham" according to faith. I cannot help but think that the regathering and emergence of Israel as a nation is a fulfilment of Ezekiel 11:17 but it is clearly obvious that verses following (18 & 19) have not yet been fulfilled and God does need our help regarding this matter! God will accomplish this in his own time according to his sovereign will and good pleasure (Yes, I am Calvinistic in my thinking - Think Macarthur, "Leaky Dispensationalist," Etc.). Now, I have a question for my Reformed friends here. I am not sure where Pastor Matthew stands on this but I have known some Reformed types who take the position that the modern state of Israel has no relevance whatsoever regarding end-time events and that God has no plans of a future role for Israel. My question here is if this is actually the case, that Israel and the Jewish people are truly irrelevant, why is there so much hatred and animosity towards the Jewish people and the current nation of Israel? Different people have been trying to exterminate the Jews from the face of the earth for the last 2000 years since 70 AD when Jerusalem was ultimately destroyed! Hatred towards the Jewish people seems as if it is literally demonic and satanically driven! Yes, the world also hates Christians and Christianity but not to the extent as the Jewish people and of course, there are those who have killed and persecuted Jews IN THE NAME OF Christianity but such are no more "Christian" than the Jews who killed Christians true "Children of Abraham according to promise" but I digress. Anyway, I'd love to hear your perspective on this! I have some thoughts and theories of my own but I'd like to hear you out first.

Hamas said its over the red heffers and now the altar on the mount of olives. We arent saying what hamas is saying in thier taliban type videos.

We can all have our own ideas/views on what goes on. Human intelligence just cannot lead us to know what is right. Only God knows that. GOD'S WILL BE DONE, and we must understand that there is no other outcome to current and future events for God’s children than what God has planned.

I want to meet an A/Post millennial who acknowledges the ridiculous number of miracles that have taken place in the return of these secular Jews to their homeland. They have fought no less than four Wars for their very survival in the last 80 years. No nation in the history of mankind has survived without a homeland for more than 150 years. They did it for 1,800 years. God clearly still has his hand upon them... I don't know why. I don't have a position on the millennium, yet.

Thank you Pastor. Would you please consider teaching more on the scriputes that are specifically preached by dispensationalist concerning prophecy such as Psalm 83? We are saturated with "prophecy " teaching from evangelical Zionist and there is very little teaching from Amillenneism / reformed perspective. Kind regards.

THANK YOU for addressing our own border situation. Very few Christian leaders or Christians are. When they do, it's on the side of agreeing that it's okay to break into our country illegally and that we are then morally obligated to support such criminals. That's like saying it's morally acceptable for someone to break into your house and then you are morally obligated to not just allow it, but to let them take your food and other possessions and you must now finally support that criminal, indefinitely! The only thing that makes me more angry than the situation is the idiocy of my fellow Christians on the issue. 10:44 "tens of thousands of unknown immigrants" Please be careful about the language being used. These are not "immigrants." Immigrants come to a country LEGALLY. They also assimilate into the culture into which they enter. These are criminals who not only break in, but often have no interest in assimilating. Why don't they have interest in assimilating? Because they have no respect for the country and culture they are entering. Why don't they have any respect for it? Because their very first act is breaking their laws! Thank you also for speaking out against the Leftism in colleges. That's another aspect where Christians seem utterly clueless.

5:07 "We tend to use the harshest language that we can summon to describe it. And so in recent days we've seen this kind of behavior from Hamas described as savage, which I think is correct. Barbaric, which I think is correct. Animalistic, which I would back off from that term because I think that violates the doctrine of the image of God. Our worst enemies share the image of God. And, yes, there are times when we get so frustrated and we're just bent and we're just recoiling inside with fury and anger, even righteous anger, and we tend to use even dehumanizing language to describe our enemies. I think we should kind of pull back from that a little bit and prefer terms like savage and barbaric, as over against animalistic." I disagree. First of all, it's the behavior we are describing. Second, WE are not "dehumanizing" them by this language. THEY are dehumanizing themselves by committing the actions.

I struggle with the idea of Israel’s response is vengeance. If you as a parent had your child taken from you, can you honestly say you would not respond to protect and save? Naturally I don’t think your response would be to just give grace and pray and leave it to God but instead you would take action to do whatever you can to save and protect.

Ghandi followed the Christian forgiveness/peace approach against England and won the nation is free rule

Have you read Zion's Christian Soldiers by Stephen Sizer ?

John 17:14. The word( the Torah). Mark 7:13. You nullify God's word ( His commands) by your traditions. Deut.4:2. ...Job :13:1 Rev 18-19... Deut.13:1-5...Romans 3:31.... 1 John 3:4.. it's not the law that put us into bondage but disobedience. He die to set us free to from the the law of sin and death, that we might live in and thru Him Who was the living Word (the Torah). Able to understand by the Spirit of truth Psalm 119:142 that by the Spirit we can apply it to our lives . Walking in the Spirit of God as His children. . No man can Have the fullness of that Spirit (God) Least He have the the Spirit of His only Begotten ( the Son). For we only received a deposit of that Spirit. Shalom

Thank you for this wisdom. I've been conflicted on this matter and haven't gone down the rabbit hole because of how polarized it is. It's hard to find good Christian thoughts on this because of dispensational premillennialism thinking differently of Israel than most of the Church historically would view it.

Describing sinful men as animals IS scriptural. Please do not twist the scripture. 1 Corinthians 15:32 If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Plain scripture, what did LORD Jesus say about a zealous Jew when he was persecuting Christians? ..Acts 9 English Standard Version The Conversion of Saul 9 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Do any of you respond to those who just post: “Free Palestine! 🇵🇸”? What do you say to them? For me, I have struggled with not have anger for them.

I’m quite shocked by this, to be honest. I thought Reformed Christians took all Scripture seriously, yet you seem to set aside so much of what Jesus and Paul taught, as well as numerous of the prophetic books. We who are Christians ought to understand the history of Israel, and recognise the miraculous re-forming (no pun intended) of the state of Israel in its historic land after nearly 1900 years, as promised by God. Jeremiah spoke of this as a miracle comparable with the Exodus. Ezekiel told us some 2600 years ago that Israel would be regathered to its land in unbelief, with enemies all around, and Zechariah tells us about amazing things yet to come, as do many other prophets… So, it’s no coincidence that the land of Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, are the ultimate battleground. This is all remarkable proof that the Bible is God’s unchanging Word! Jesus will be returning soon to Jerusalem, just as He said, when the Jewish people, His brethren, finally cry out, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” I agree fully on the sad demise of universities! You lose me when talking about the 2nd Amendment, but no problem, as I’m not from the USA. May God bless you, brother.

Don't think this is that difficult-Genesis 12:3.

Pre-millennial second coming

If calvinism was really a thing, y’all would feel the need to teach it to everyone.

Matthew: I’d be interested to know if your views have altered in the seven months since you made this video. Israel has behaved monstrously toward the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and currently the IDF is ravaging Rafah in pursuit of Hamas. Some 34000 Palestinians, many of them children as you know, have been killed in bombing raids that have destroyed the infrastructure and most of the health care facilities, let alone housing. If we love Israel for Jesus’ sake - which is right - then ought we not to be protesting against the continuing slaughter of a starving and traumatised population?

Hey everyone, do not forget the ww1 babies on bayonets propaganda. And the gulf war babies in incubators and weapons of mass destruction.

I watched your video. Like you, I support Israel's right to exist and to defend its borders. And like you I unconditionally condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas. But i heard not one word from you about the Palestinians equal right to a state of their own. And of course there was not a single word about the legitimate grievances the Palestinians have with Israel. I would agree that we need to stand with Israel during this crisis. However, if there is ever to be a hope of peace in that region then we cannot ignore the concerns of the Palestinians. As for the rest of your comments, I found them to be disheartening. To paint immigrants the way you did is in my view reprehensible. And then to cap off those comments with a mention of the Second Amendment? Despicable. Take a look at the perpetrators of mass shootings in recent years. It's not immigrants or even the leftist you castigate who have committed those atrocities. In fact in many instances the shooters have been those on the political right. I've always enjoyed your videos because they have helped me understand Reformed theology. But no more. With this video I now understand that you're just an apologist for the type of right wing political views one might find on Fox News. I am theologically conservative so we would agree on many things when it comes to matters of faith. But I want nothing whatsoever to do with the political views you are trying to sell. And since I've seen this far too often from those in the Reformed camp, I'm now done with Reformed theology as well.

This is disappointing and a very uneducated view of the situation