“According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). I had asked some of our Lutheran congregants from Iran how they felt about the recent war between Iran and Israel. Another thoughtful reply: “We are deeply saddened and concerned about the war itself. Our families still live in Iran, and currently, the internet there is almost completely shut down. People live in isolation, uncertainty, and ignorance about what is truly happening… We find ourselves in a very painful situation: If we support the current Iranian regime, we feel like we are betraying our own people – because we all know how much this government oppresses and makes us suffer. And if we support Israel, we feel like we are betraying our country – because then we would be helping a country that has attacked our homeland. At the same time, we believe that this war was, in a way, a kind of ‘necessity’ for the Iranian regime. For years, the rulers claimed: ‘If we want, we will destroy Israel.’ … Many people have realized how empty and exaggerated these slogans were…But in the end, it remains a war…As Christians, we believe in a deeper truth: Our hope does not lie in human governments but in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ…In a broken world, we want to be messengers of peace and love – a love that even embraces the enemy. We are not only praying for an end to the war but for a change of hearts, for true reconciliation, and for the coming of God’s kingdom. Because we believe that only God can bring forth new life from the ashes of war.” Wise and insightful words from an Iranian Christian. Indeed, whether in the “fog of war” or in the tribulations and difficulties of normal life in peacetime—our ultimate and living hope lies solely in our Lord Jesus Christ, who, having defeated sin, death, and the devil, has prepared for you and me a glorious Kingdom, in which human strife is non-existent.
The Tiews in Germany 