Millions around the world have been mourning the deaths of an Israeli mother, Shiri Bibas, and her two sons, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir. They were seized by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7th, 2023, taken as hostages into Gaza, where they were brutally killed a month later. Their bodies were recently returned, and have sparked outrage. It’s as if we all have come face-to-face with evil; the inhumanity of Palestinian Muslim leaders, and the amoral hatred and violence endemic to Palestinian culture today, has been graphically exposed.
But the deaths of the Bibas family (the father, Yarden Bibas was abducted separately and released alive last month) are just three of many who have died in the ongoing war. Why have they aroused such rage? Why has this event caused many who were desiring a peaceful solution to the conflict to declare their support for the utter decimation of Gaza? To borrow words attributed to Joseph Stalin, who was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions, “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths are a statistic.” We simply cannot grasp the deaths of so many; if we tried, the whole of mankind would soon annihilate itself. But we can have indignation at the deaths of a few. There is something here for us to learn about the heart of God, and to consider for our own lives.
No one knows the number of people who have died in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars. Russia and the Palestinians in Gaza instigated these wars, and therefore bear the brunt of the blame for the conflicts, but for us, the casualties are just a number. Other conflicts are raging in Africa, where millions have been displaced, and thousands are being killed in Sudan and the Congo. Millions of Christians are being persecuted for their faith in North Korea, China, Nigeria, and across southern Asia. The suffering of so many we cannot see is a statistic; the face of these three, a mother and two beautiful children, turns that statistic into a tragedy. Now imagine you could see every person being tortured or brutally murdered in the world. Thankfully, you can’t. But God can, and this tells us something about the heart of God.
Could God end all the suffering in the world tonight? Yes, by eradicating sin. But as someone has noted, if God removed all sin from the world at midnight tonight, none of us would be here tomorrow morning! Satan has plunged this world under the curse of sin and all its terrible consequences. He is the one to blame for this mess, and the damage is extensive! The Bible has much to say about this; see John 10.10; Rom. 1.18-32; 3.9-20, 23; 8.19-23; 2 Cor. 4.4; 2 Tim. 3.1-7; 1 Peter 5.8; 1 John 5.19; and many more!) Is the situation hopeless? No…
God has defeated sin and death! Through the substitutionary death of God the Son, Jesus, on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead, the penalty of sin has been paid, and the result of sin, death, has been defeated. Jesus Himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life… Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11.25-26)! Satan is doing his worst in this world, spreading his misery; God is rescuing millions for eternal life, through faith in Jesus. The offer is open to all, and He wants everyone to come (John 3.16; 1 Tim. 2.3-4)!
And that’s where we come in. As we recoil in horror at this unspeakable evil, instead of getting inflamed with self- righteous indignation and a desire for vengeance on those who perpetrated this heinous act, let it reignite our desire to share the life-saving good news of God’s love, forgiveness, and eternal life with people, one-at-a-time, who are caught in sin’s curse. Tell someone about it this week. It’s God’s solution to evil.