End of the world? Israel-Hamas war sends Christians in search of prophetic meaning

Evangelical leaders are looking to the Bible’s end-of-days prophecies as congregants seek to understand the Israel-Hamas war.

While the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of Matthew offer details of what is to happen before Christ’s return, apocalyptic Scriptures often have been cited when global tensions flare up, such as Israel’s war of independence in 1948, the 1967 Six-Day War and the October War of 1973.

Believers also sounded alarms after the eruption of World War II, the Cold War and the 9/11 attacks.

“I think even secularists would tell you never have we faced so many severe threats in the world that we’re facing right now,” said the Rev. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas.

“Bible scholars and secularists both have wondered why the final world conflict would take place in a country no bigger than the size of New Jersey,” Mr. Jeffress said in a telephone interview. “But I think we’ve seen in recent days, how what starts as a regional conflict could quickly escalate and world powers conflict, fighting against one another.”

He said his church and its Pathway to Victory media ministry have been flooded with questions about prophecy since the Oct. 7 terrorist raid by Hamas forces of southern Israel. Because of those inquiries, Mr. Jeffress will start a six-week sermon series, “Are We Living in the End Times?” on Nov. 5.

“Our purpose in this is not to capitalize off of these headlines in an opportunistic way, but instead to answer questions people are really asking,” he said. “I am hearing concern from Christians and non-Christians alike about what’s happening in the world today and how it might relate to what the Bible refers to as the last days.”

Corné J. Bekker, dean of the divinity school at Regent University in Virginia Beach, said Mr. Jeffress is not alone among those pivoting to preaching about prophecy.

“We are seeing a substantially greater interest in what we would term eschatology or teachings on the end times,” Mr. Bekker said. “It makes absolute sense why people would think of that.”

He said the story of Israel and the Jewish people “is central to the biblical story,” in the New and Old Testaments. The return of Jews to the Holy Land after World War II is another factor that reflects biblical prophecies, he said.

At the same time, Mr. Bekker said Christians should guard against “date setting,” or predicting a precise year, month or day of Christ’s return. The New Testament, specifically, “warns against any kind of saints that we can precisely identify the time of the end or the time of the return” of Jesus, he said.

The Rev. Greg Laurie, whose “A New Beginning” broadcast airs on about 1,100 radio stations nationwide, agrees that caution is needed.

“I think it’s really important for pastors to bring biblical clarity [to end-times questions] but in a clear-headed, measured way, to not be alarmist or exaggerate. I think sometimes people are quick to jump to conclusions on these things,” said Mr. Laurie, whose Harvest Church campuses draw an average of 8,800 weekly.

He said that in his response to the Oct. 7 attacks, “I tried to measure my remarks and say we don’t know if this will lead to these events of the times.”

Hispanic evangelical churches are also seeing an upswing in prophetic preaching, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an association of 42,118 U.S. congregations, told The Washington Times.

“Yes, we are modifying our sermons to incorporate at least elements regarding what’s currently taking place, things that have occurred from the pulpit in the past three weeks,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

He said the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 and a growing “apostasy” among Christian churches have triggered interest in apocalyptic Scriptures.

“We are in the last days,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “The question is, ‘How long will the last days last?’ Arguably some would argue the moment Jesus ascended, we began the last days. They would be theologically correct, by the way, because He referenced, ‘I’m coming back.’”

Congregations choosing to examine Bible prophecy in light of current events are likely responding to questions raised by parishioners and others, said Jim Showers, executive director and president of Friends of Israel, an 85-year-old Christian ministry that teaches biblical prophecy, supports the Jewish people and works against antisemitism.

“I was invited to speak at a local church last Sunday to give people perspective on what’s going on,” Mr. Showers said from the group’s office in Bellmawr, New Jersey. “I think what you’re seeing at First Baptist Church in Dallas is a recognition that a lot of people have questions” about how recent events fit into eschatology, the study of ‘final events.’”

“The pastor I was with [last] Sunday said he’s getting so many questions from his congregation, as people are curious to know what’s going on and how they will understand the [recent] events,” he added.

Mr. Showers said he composed a statement about the terrorist incursion the day it happened “because I knew people would start turning to our website, and I know pastors have been consulting that statement.”

Not every Christian church has focused on Bible prophecy after Hamas’ attacks. Catholic, Anglican and Episcopalian churches follow liturgical calendars containing set Scripture passages to be read, with sermons or homilies to be derived from those passages. Individual Catholic parishes or dioceses do not select their own Scripture readings.

The Rev. Henry G. Brinton, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Virginia, said that while he and his congregation “have certainly been praying for that situation,” he hasn’t changed his preaching schedule. 

“About the only time I completely threw out a sermon was the Sunday after the terrorist attacks of 9/11,” Mr. Brinton said.

Other pastors embraced the issue soon after the Hamas incursion. On Oct. 15, Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, delivered a 48-minute message explaining the links between the Israel-Hamas struggle and Bible prophecy. Within 10 days, the message had garnered 1.62 million views on YouTube.

“Given that the Bible records both historical and prophetic events about Israel, people are often curious about whether this current war is any indication of the ‘End Times,’ and I think that has generated a lot of interest,” Mr. Hamrick said via email.

“People want to know the truth,” he said. “Since we are living in the ‘information age’ with an overload of information at our fingertips, people don’t know who or what to believe. They are hungry for someone to speak truth into the chaos, and I tried my best to offer them that.”

Correction: In a previous version of this article, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez’s last name was spelled incorrectly in subsequent references because of an editing error.