A couple Sundays ago my 11-year-old told me that he learned about the war happening in Israel and how he wanted to pray for them.

Then he said, “And God will always take Israel’s side, right?”

I held in a breath and thought about how to answer him. Of course after learning about God’s promises to Israel in the Bible he would offer up that simple conclusion.

What I told him was this: “Well, God takes the side of peace. He wants peace. So he wants Isarel and Gaza to stop their fighting.”

And my son agreed. But with a lot of adults, it’s not so clear, and that’s sad.

Despite the fact that the modern Israeli government has been in numerous wars since its creation in 1948 A.D., every single time a gun is fired it seems that somebody has figured out that this means the Apocalypse is tomorrow. The end of time. The Great Return. The Rapture. Armageddon.

And apparently this means that Jesus just can’t come back unless a state government called Israel is in place. As if Jesus isn’t powerful enough. And so, in order to be pro-Jesus, Christians the world round will “take the side” of Israel in all incidents. Even if they violate the civil rights of other people. Even if they bomb a Christian church.

And what does it mean for God to always “take the side” of Israel? Who’s telling us that? The Torah isn’t telling us that. Jesus didn’t say that. God let other nations attack ancient Israel time and time again. And of course, that was the Kingdom of Israel. Is the current Israel a kingdom? Who then is the king? Why is there instead a Prime Minister? Jesus is King, but then that means I am a citizen if I am a follower of Jesus. Why then do I not have citizenship in the current nation of Israel?

Biblical history has clearly shown that the God of Abraham did not make a covenant with any nation that requires he automatically “take their side” in every conflict. If this understanding is anti-Semitic, then the Torah is itself anti-Semitic.

You know what is anti-Semitic? Using Jewish people as a pawn in your trashy Armageddon politics game. Being pro war about a war that will get thousands of Israelis and Palestinians killed just so you can say it’s a sign that Jesus will come tomorrow.

That makes you anti-Semitic.

The 6-month war in 1947 didn’t bring back the return of Jesus.

None of the insurgencies of the 1950s brought back the return of Jesus.

Israel’s attack on Egypt in 1956 didn’t bring back the return of Jesus.

Neither did the Six-Day War of 1967.

Or the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

Or the war with Lebanon in 1982.

There was the first large-scale uprising of Palestinians that began in 1987. No return of Christ.

Remember when Israel and Hamas went to war in 2008? Where was the Jesus floating in the sky then?

I could keep going. The point is, Jesus is returning one day, and history has been full of violence, the Middle-East included. He did not name or attach one single, specific geopolitical conflict to his second coming. He told you to be prepared. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars. But those have always gone on. And that’s part of his point. Always prepare for him to return tomorrow. War is a not a sign of when he will come, but a reminder of why he wants to come. To bring peace to a New Creation.

The kingdom God has in mind is not an earthly kingdom. Believers in Jesus are grafted onto Abraham’s seed. This new kingdom is to cover the whole earth, and is made of followers who are meek and will inherit the earth when wars are at an end.

Nowhere are we told in scripture to cheer for the taking up of swords to keep some sort of earthly government in place so that Jesus can fit through the door and come back. Nowhere.

Hamas is a violent regime. And so is the current Israeli government. Both have acted violently against innocents, including children. This has been ongoing for a long time. It’s wrong, and it’s sad, and it’s complicated.

No matter who you are, listen to me. You don’t know when Jesus is coming back, and you don’t know if God has taken the side of an earthly government like Israel in every single international issue.

It’s not about standing with Israel or Palestine. Stop trying to bypass the  Bible and make up your own theology. And don’t try to press that upon my children, either.

If you’re not crying for peace, I will take no instruction from you. But I will pray for peace, not war. Until Jesus returns.