The Roots of Anti-Semitism

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon... 

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron (cf., Psalm 2), but her child was caught up to God and to his throne… 

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him… 

Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short! And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child” (Revelation 12:1-13). 

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John, in apocalyptic vision, sees a red dragon (the devil) hell-bent on killing a man-child (the Christ) who is about to be born. Foiled in his efforts to destroy the child, the devil turns his rage on the woman (Israel) who brought the child into the world and, bent on her destruction, pursues her to the ends of the earth (Revelation 12:13).

 

This little vision teaches us that we're caught up in a wider and more sinister plot than the one we see played out in the media. The relentless persecution of the Jewish people, here and abroad, is part of a larger spiritual conflict between good and evil—God’s redemptive purposes and the murderous strategies of the devil.

 

Antisemitism is bigotry and racism, but it is more: It is Satan's way of avenging the birth of the One who loves us and came to save us. Anti-Semites stand on the wrong side of redemptive history, for "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). No true follower of Jesus would embrace it. 

 

David Roper

5.23.21