What isn’t being reported is the spiritual dimension that is the driving force behind Hamas’s terror. The media would have us think this is a political conflict. But it is not. It is a religious war that can only be understood in terms of the spiritual battle in the heavens “against spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Eph. 6:12). This is not a battle that can be rationalized in human terms; it is a battle between good and evil, between God and Satan.
A question I have heard repeatedly is, “Why does Hamas think it can win?” From a biblical viewpoint, Israel’s victory is inevitable. God raised Israel up to be the channel through which He is accomplishing His redemptive plan. God has promised Israel will endure forever (Jer. 31:35–37) and that those who touch Israel touch “the apple of His eye” (Zech. 2:8). Hamas isn’t merely fighting Israel; it is battling the God of Israel. Psalm 83 declares that Israel’s enemies are the enemies of God.
Modern Israel is a miracle. In 1948, the tiny Jewish state overcame many Arab armies that threatened to wipe the newborn country off the map before it took its first breath. God fought for Israel, and Israel prevailed over far superior military forces. And God has fought for Israel ever since––including in the major wars of 1967 and 1973.
Over the years, the Lord has enabled the Jewish state to build a powerful military in the Middle East, capable of retaliating mightily against Hamas. So, what would lead Hamas to think it can win? The answer is steeped in Islamic ideology.
Hamas is determined to remove every Jewish person from Israel and replace the Jews with Muslims. Muslims claim all the land of Israel belongs to their god, Allah. This belief is an Islamic form of Replacement Theology. Instead of believing the church will supersede Israel, Muslims believe Islam will replace Israel (and the church) in the land.
Hamas’s Charter states that the land of “Palestine” is “consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement [sic] Day.” The Charter incorporates the Islamic teaching that once Muslims have conquered a land, it belongs to them forever as a waqf, an endowment. With the exception of the century-long Crusader period, Israel was occupied by Muslim empires from 638 until 1917, when the British drove the Ottoman Turkish Empire out of the Holy Land.
Imbedded in the Hamas Charter is the Islamic ideology that if once-conquered land falls into the hands of non-Muslims, all Muslims are obligated to fight and liberate it for Allah. Muslims oppose Israel’s existence because they believe the Jewish people are occupying Muslim land. Therefore, all Muslims must fight to eliminate Israel and reclaim the land for Allah.
When Hamas speaks of Israel as occupiers, it isn’t referring to Gaza because Israel turned Gaza over to the Palestinian Arabs in 2005. Hamas sees the Jewish presence in Israel proper as an occupation of Muslim land. Muslims don’t regard God’s promise of the land to Israel as binding or valid. They follow their Islamic teaching.
This belief that any land once occupied by Muslims must be restored to them is taught in Islamic schools of law and has been the basis for many jihads (holy wars) around the world over the centuries. Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7 because their religion obligates them to fight for Allah. They believe they can win because they think they are fighting a religious war for their god.
Hamas focuses on past victories, not on defeats. The Hamas Charter refers several times to the Muslim victory over the Crusaders. Muslims believe that if they did it before, they can do it again. Victory is seen as a promise of Allah to the Islamic faithful:
• The Qur’an gives hope that even a small force of Muslim fighters can defeat a larger force by the will of Allah (Sura 2:29).
• The Qur’an teaches that terror is a tool of warfare that causes your foe to surrender (Sura 8:60).
• The Qur’an says peace is not an option with the Jewish people, claiming they are inherently war-mongering aggressors (Sura 5:64).
• The Qur’an teaches jihad fighters win, regardless of whether they kill others or are killed fighting infidels. Either they defeat the enemy and rule over them, or they enter paradise as martyrs.
Believing it incumbent on Muslims the world over to fight to remove the Jewish presence from Israel, Hamas uses the news and vivid images of its savagery to stir up its people to even greater atrocities. Hamas dreams that its exploits in Israel will inspire more bloodshed against the Jewish people. Hence, it is calling for Muslims around the world to rise up in a wave of jihadi violence.
If you would like to know more about Hamas’s beliefs that Islam will win, you can read Mark Durie’s October 21, 2023 article, A Primer on Hamas; Part 2: Why Does Hamas Think It Will Win?”
Hamas’s attack that so viciously slaughtered helpless, innocent Israelis is a human outworking of the spiritual battle in the heavens. On the fateful day he influenced Adam and Eve to join his rebellion against God, God promised to deal him a fatal blow through the Seed of a woman (Gen. 3:14–15). That promise of a coming Messiah, a Redeemer, who would defeat Satan launched a spiritual war between God and Satan that has shaped world events ever since.
God has promised that the Messiah who would bless the world (Gen. 22:18; 26:4) would come through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, Satan’s best chance to avoid his demise is to eliminate the Jewish people, through whom God’s promise flows.
Consequently, generation after generation, the Jewish people find themselves in harm’s way. Satan, the father of antisemitism, wants to annihilate Israel; and those who do his bidding on Earth join him in his ongoing campaign. This is a spiritual war with the powers of darkness attacking the one nation God will use to end humanity’s rebellious reign.
Satan works in the hearts of people to turn them against Israel. We see this in the book of Esther, as the wicked Persian bureaucrat Haman sought to annihilate all the Jewish people in the world in a single day. Each year we are reminded how his plan turned out when the Jewish people celebrate Purim. God used Esther, a beautiful Jewish woman, to turn the king’s heart and permit the Jewish people to defend themselves; and it was Satan’s henchman Haman who met his demise. Like Haman, Hamas will meet the same fate.
Ultimately, Islamic replacement theology will fail. Israel will not be replaced by Muslims. We know this because God promises in His Word that Israel will endure forever; and His Word is forever “settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89). But best of all, we know that Satan, a created being, will never prevail over the Creator, who is El Gibbor, God Almighty, and El Elyon, the Most High God.
