Where was God on October 7?
To my dear Jewish brothers and sisters:
A question keeps surfacing since the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of innocent Israeli’s in Southern Israel. It is the same question that is asked about the Holocaust. The question is “Where was God?”
I want to try to answer that question today and it won’t be easy. Telling the truth is never easy and receiving it can be even more difficult. But if you love people, you have to tell them the truth and I love my Jewish brothers and sisters. So here is the truth and I hope you can receive it. The truth is this: We all sin and we all deserve to die.
Listen to what Adonai says through the prophet Ezekiel:
“"Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4, NKJV)
But surely we don’t all sin, do we? We do, because we are all born with sin in us. Listen to what King David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, said:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalms 51:5, NKJV)
We all sin, brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters, people died in the Hamas attack. There were deaths, many deaths. How many of those deaths could have been prevented? I don’t know. That is an important question. But I want to talk about something else right now, something much more important. I want to explain something about death to you but then I want to focus on life. Did you know that there are two types of death? One type leads to nothing but death. That is eternal death. The person who dies in sin will experience eternal death. There is a second type of death and this type of death leads to eternal life. That’s a good type of death. This type of death leads to living with God forever, for eternity. That is a good death. If I was in Southern Israel on October 7, I would not have wanted to die. But if I did die, I’d want my death to be a good one, a death leading to eternal life.
Is there a way that you and I can know that when we die, we will go to heaven to be with God, that we will have eternal life? Yes, there is. And that is very important, because everyone dies. In order to go to heaven when we die, we must be free of sin. How does that work?
In the Old Testament dispensation there was a tabernacle and later a temple. There, God ordained animal sacrifices that provided a covering for sins. God talked about this through Moses, in Leviticus:
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'” (Leviticus 17:11, NKJV)
But animal blood provided only a temporary covering for sins. That’s why these sacrifices had to be repeated constantly; they had to be repeated after every new sin. But there is no longer a temple in Jerusalem. So how can people receive forgiveness of sins today? God told us how through the prophet Jeremiah:
“"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, NKJV)
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD. Those days have come. They are here, now. Jesus, the Messiah, inaugurated this new covenant 2,000 years ago. Jesus talked about it at the last supper which was a Passover seder:
“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28, NKJV)
Then, He went to the cross where He shed His blood and died. He was the perfect blood sacrifice, because He was and is God. His blood is perfectly holy, and it provides for permanent and total forgiveness of sins for all who accept it. His blood was offered once and that was sufficient. Listen to the apostle John:
“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30, NKJV)
All who believe in this finished work of the Messiah on the cross, those who believe it through faith, become sons and daughters of God; they are born again. The apostle John, Yohanan, said this in the New Testament:
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13, NKJV)
And God’s Old Testament prophet Habakkuk said this in the Tanach:
“"Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4, NKJV)
Brothers and sisters,
God was there on October 7 and during the Holocaust. He was there, welcoming His children, those destined to die then and who were born of God, into heaven to be with Him. They are in heaven now. Their deaths led to eternal life.
One day soon, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah will return. Then, the unrighteous – like Hamas – will be unable to harm anyone anymore. They will be confined to Sheol awaiting their final judgement by God and then they will be consigned to the Lake of Fire for eternity. Then there will be no more October Sevenths, ever. But now, today, you should accept the work that Jesus did for you and me on the cross because you will have the guarantee of eternal life when you die. God was there on October 7, and He is here now. He offers you the gift of eternal life. Please don’t turn Him down. Please don’t ever say “I’m Jewish and Jews don’t believe in Jesus”. That is simply not true. Please don’t be proud, but be just, as Habakkuk said. Listen to the testimony of Rabbi Daniel Zion who saved 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from Hitler’s ovens and the testimony of Rabbi Sam Stern who lived through the Holocaust and found his Messiah. Both those testimonies are on this very site. Please, brothers and sisters, choose life.
Thank you for listening. This is Art Wolinsky.
