During my quiet time, I had worship music playing in the background. Without warning, the theme from Schindler’s List came on. It is a piece of music Carol and I both struggle to listen to. It carries too much weight, too much sorrow, too much history. Yet instead of turning it off, I let it play. As it did, my thoughts began to move in a direction I did not expect.
That music does not just tell a story; it remembers one. It carries the grief of a people who have been hunted, scattered, and nearly erased. It led me to think about three realities that have stood at the center of human hatred and conflict for thousands of years: the Jewish people, Christianity, and the city of Jerusalem. These are not random targets of history. They are connected by one unchanging reason: God declared them His own.
The Jewish people have endured persecution unlike any other group in human history. From slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon, and dispersion under Rome, to medieval pogroms, expulsions across Europe, and the Holocaust, generation after generation has tried to erase them. Entire empires committed themselves to their destruction and failed. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome, and Nazi Germany are gone. The Jewish people remain. This endurance is not accidental. God said, “I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God.” Hatred toward the Jews has never been merely political or racial at its core; it is spiritual. Satan has always opposed what God has chosen, believing that if he could destroy the people of covenant, he could call God’s promises into question.
Christianity bears the same mark of opposition. From the first century onward, believers were imprisoned, burned, crucified, and fed to lions, not for violence, but for confession. Rome persecuted Christians because they would not declare Caesar lord. Today, Christianity remains the most persecuted faith in the world, with believers imprisoned or killed simply for naming the name of Christ. Scripture explains why: the church is called the bride of Christ. Jesus Himself warned, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.” The enemy understands that to attack the bride is to defy the Bridegroom. Yet history shows that martyrdom has never weakened the church. As Tertullian observed long ago, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Then there is Jerusalem, a city no larger than many modern towns, yet fought over more than any other city in history. Destroyed and rebuilt, conquered by Babylonians, Romans, Crusaders, and empires long forgotten, Jerusalem continues to draw the world’s attention and conflict. Why? Because God said, “I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there.” Jerusalem is more than land; it is testimony. As long as it stands, it declares that God enters history, chooses places, and keeps His word. Satan believes that if he can destroy the city God chose, he can deny God’s authority and escape judgment. Yet Jerusalem still stands, scarred, divided, and contested, but enduring.
As that music faded this morning, one truth remained clear to me. The enemy’s strategy has never changed: destroy what God loves, oppose what God chooses, and silence what God declares His own. History tells a different story. The Jewish people endure. The church continues to grow. Jerusalem remains. What was meant for destruction has instead become evidence of God’s faithfulness.
The enemy resists, history records, and God remains faithful.