Comfort

“Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment” (Isaiah 41:1).

When reading reports by the international media about Israel, much confusion is evident. Whether the sources originate in Australia, Asia, Africa, America, or Europe, there is overwhelming evidence that slowly but surely, the nations are no longer in favor of Israel’s defensive action, particularly relating to Gaza.

Representing the nations of the world is the United Nations. Their motto is, “Peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet.” Their stated objectives are: “The maintenance of international peace and security, the protection and well-being of the people of the world, and international cooperation to these ends.” The sculpture in front of the UN building in New York shows a man holding a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other. It is mimicking Isaiah 2:4: “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

But that will not be fulfilled by the UN or any other geopolitical entity; rather, by the Lord Himself. The Jewish News Service (jns.org) outright condemns the chief of the UN: “From the outset of the Gaza war, Guterres has consistently blamed Israel while ignoring or excusing Hamas atrocities, beginning with a statement some three weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, saying the terror invasion ‘did not happen in a vacuum.’”

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein, analyzed many of the statements and resolutions coming out of the UN, and declared: “What a disgrace. Even if you look very hard, there’s one word you won’t find in the Secretary-General’s statement: Hamas.”

The global media quite deliberately turns a blind eye to Israel’s precarious situation—being threatened by cold-blooded murderers such as Hamas.

The prophet Isaiah has a different message in chapter 40: He asks 13 questions, and in verse 17 declares: “All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.”

In contrast to that declaration, there is consolation: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 41:14).

Comfort

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-2).

Who is to comfort whom? Obviously, the rest of the world, and the comfort is directed toward Israel’s representative city, Jerusalem.

Note the statement, “she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” When did that happen? Is this for the future, or the past?

Some theologians think it will be fulfilled during the Great Tribulation. Others interpret this as referring to when they returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity.

Ezra the prophet makes something abundantly clear with his statement: “And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this” (Ezra 9:13). We note “less than our iniquities deserve,” but Isaiah proclaims, “double for all of her sins.”

Looking back in history, Jews were persecuted under the church’s representative, Rome.

The Times of Israel states, “20 years before the Holocaust, pogroms killed 100,000 Jews.” Then came the Holocaust, and 6 million were killed. At that time, it was one-third of the Jewish people in Europe that were killed by Nazi Germany.

When one considers these shocking facts and analyzes these things from international perspectives, then we understand our introductory verse: “Keep silence before me, O islands,” says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

Years ago, I read a report where the author, a Catholic priest, estimated that without Jewish persecution, the world’s Jews should number over 150 million today.

That is why our late founder Wim Malgo established the Action for Israel fund way back in 1973, with the aim: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” Our testimony of solidarity with Israel has been proven for over five decades. Now we add the words, “Keep silence before me, O islands.” The islands represent the whole world, with Jerusalem at the center. May we not be polluted by various news media, but rather declare our comfort, our blessing, and our prayer for the people who “received of the Lord’s hand double for all of her sins.”

But that’s not the end, because Isaiah 41:10 is yet to be fulfilled: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” It is the great I Am. It is His will; He will implement His righteousness.

Midnight Call - 08/2025