Don’t be distracted from the greatest sign of Jesus’ soon return

The San Remo Conference of April 1920

The Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘God-Fearers’ by Toby Janicki (First Fruits of Zion, 2012)

True freedom for God’s chosen people can only come from the gospel

The promise of a new covenant

Jew finds comfort in words of Jesus used as wrapping paper

Choosing the way of the world or the way of the Lord. 

Giving thanks for the Jews’ most precious gift to us

Just as the modern state of Israel was born out of the ashes of the Holocaust in perfect fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy of dry bones coming back to life, so too did a new love for the Jewish people emerge from the rubble of Germany.

Shocked and devastated by the destruction of their home city of Darmstadt through the RAF bombing of 11 September 1944, which saw 12,000 killed and many more made homeless, Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary founder Basilea Schlink saw it as judgment for her country’s mass murder of the Jews.

But it stirred her heart to repentance and sorrow, as a result of which the movement was dedicated to confessing the sin of her nation and to making restitution with God’s chosen people, chiefly by loving and serving them in whatever way they could.

Now an international organisation with branches all over the world, they continue to bless the Jewish people as, full of the joy of Jesus, they demonstrate unbounding gratitude for their gift of the scriptures and, most of all, of their Messiah.

Solidarity and Reconciliation

My wife Linda and I have just attended the golden anniversary of the UK branch, based in a Hertfordshire village near London, when they looked back with amazement at the reconciling power of the Cross modelled beautifully by the current residents – Sister Thekla from Germany and Sister Glory from England – representing the nations once at war with each other.

Just as the modern state of Israel was born out of the ashes of the Holocaust, so too did a new love for the Jewish people emerge from the rubble of Germany.

A measure of the impact they have made is apparent in the way they have been embraced by the local Jewish community, who have not only accepted invitations to their many events but have also in turn welcomed the sisters into their synagogues!

One of the sisters’ annual 'Israel Day' events included the testimony of the son of a Nazi now reaching out in love to the Jews as part of his role as a disciple of Jesus. Half the audience on that occasion were from the Jewish community, one of whom later wrote: “We were overwhelmed by the event.”

Sister Thekla explained that, in sharing their shame and sorrow for the guilt of the nations, Jewish groups are greatly moved. “The smallest sign that we recognise what they went through touches them deeply.”

Maranatha

Bearing in mind that the name of their UK home is Jesus’ Return, the weekend theme was, appropriately, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” (Rev 22:17) – a reference to the Second Coming. And as their house name implies, their focus is very much on Jesus himself and his soon return.

Always welcoming, praying, believing and encouraging, their irrepressible joy is impossible to ignore, proving a magnetic draw to the One they adore.

Against the background of Christianity’s guilt towards the Jewish nation, guest speaker Sister Verita (currently based at their Jerusalem branch and originally from New York) challenged us from Romans 11:11: “That is the call of the Church – making the Jews jealous, causing them to ask what is the source of the faith, hope, love and joy that we have in the Messiah” (see Psalm 126).

Above all, the sisters point to Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). But we have lost our way as a nation, and need to rediscover our true destiny.

Always welcoming, praying, believing and encouraging, the sisters’ irrepressible joy is impossible to ignore, proving a magnetic draw to the One they adore.

Jesus is the Way

This was brought home to us when we temporarily got lost after losing our GPS signal en route to the event. Even the road sign we were looking for was covered in foliage, an increasingly common sight across the country, causing Linda to remark: “In a year’s time, no-one will know where to go.”

A prophetic statement indeed for where we are today – lost in a fog of pointless activity as we struggle through a maze of no-through-roads, disconnected from the true source of life and direction while blindly taking wrong turns.

We desperately need to rediscover how to find our way through life, plugged into the Maker’s instructions rather than unreliable Satnavs. Jesus is the way!

Walking in Ancient Paths

We took a lovely walk in the Cotswolds on our journey back, but again got lost temporarily where the once well-worn path was overgrown. We needed to retrace our steps and get back on track.

As Jeremiah wrote, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls’” (Jer 6:16).

Jesus fulfilled that promise when he said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 11:28f).

Murder outside church points to fresh hope for London community

A fatal stabbing took place just outside a north London church only days before I spoke there about Pentecost last Saturday.

The young man’s family had left a floral tribute beside the pavement and were being comforted by passers-by as we came out of church. Barış Küçük had been taken to hospital after an attack in the early hours of 1 June, but had simply lost too much blood. A man has been charged with his murder.

As in the Days of Noah

The harrowing scene was a stark reminder of the suffering Jesus went through in order to bring us life. And our prayer was that life and peace would emerge from the ashes of this terrible tragedy, the latest in a string of such incidents across the capital where knife crime has reached epidemic proportions.

Political activists were quick to blame cuts to policing, but this is a shallow analysis of the situation. We are living in times of violence compared to the days of Noah, which Jesus indicated would be a sign of coming judgment and of his imminent return (Luke 17:26-30).

There are all kinds of reasons for the murderous mayhem we are witnessing, but chief among them is a turning away from God’s laws, which successive governments have encouraged.

Is it surprising that knives are used freely on the streets when doctors and nurses, charged with our care, are engaged in the legal butchering of unborn babies every single day! We are reaping what we have sown. We have also too often allowed the guilty to go free, with murderers serving ridiculously short sentences before returning to our communities to wreak further havoc.

There are all kinds of reasons for the murderous mayhem we are witnessing, but chief among them is a turning away from God’s laws.

Scene of Reconciliation

This latest outrage occurred just a ten-minute walk from the former Haringey Stadium¹ which, in 1954, witnessed the only significant post-war turnaround in the fortunes of the UK Church. Tens of thousands had their lives transformed by the message of American evangelist Billy Graham, including a young Jewish lady, Helen McIntosh, who later guided me through my early Christian discipleship.

Crowds gather for a vigil to mark the untimely death of Barış Küçük, the latest victim of London's knife crime epidemic. Photo: Charles Mugenyi.It was appropriate too, therefore, that the church I visited stands on the edge of Stamford Hill, home to many Jewish people, some of whom came to hear my talk on Shavuot (Pentecost), a thoroughly Jewish feast which empowered the first disciples of Jesus to ‘turn the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6) with God’s commandments written on their hearts and not just on tablets of stone (2 Cor 3:3).

Pentecost is still available to turn this tense and troubled community around, and I pray that my friends at the church will help to bring the resurrection life of Jesus to the streets of Tottenham and Haringey.

It would certainly be the perfect place to witness the reconciliation between Jew and Gentile the Apostle Paul talks about in his letter to the Ephesians (2:14).

In writing to the Romans, he says both groups are steeped in sin and, in quoting the Old Testament, writes: “There is no-one righteous…no-one who seeks God…their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom 3:9-18).

A return of the fear of God that people felt at those Billy Graham meetings would bring new hope; I am told they used to arrive on train platforms singing hymns. So what is the remedy? How can such reverential fear be restored to communities that have forsaken God?

75 years ago a vicious enemy threatened our freedoms, but while our soldiers fought on the beaches of Normandy, much of the country fought on their knees as they responded to the King’s call to prayer. We must turn to God once more.

How can a reverential fear of God be restored to communities that have forsaken him?

True Freedom, New Life

Jesus, God’s Son, lived a perfect life on earth and was unjustly crucified. He became a substitute for us – for we have all sinned – and by trusting in his sacrificial blood, we are raised to new life and hope (Rom 3:23f).

Just as 33-year-old Barış bled to death through the cruel hands of his assailant, so Jesus bled, for us – and he was exactly the same age! In doing so, Jesus became the ultimate Passover Lamb, fulfilling the picture of how the enslaved Jews were freed from captivity in Egypt by daubing a lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes (as a result of which the angel of death ‘passed over’ them while striking the first-born of the host country who had stubbornly refused to let them go).

Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, freedom from sin and darkness comes by marking your heart, figuratively speaking, with the blood of Jesus – which shows that you are placing all your trust for escaping God’s judgment and inheriting new life in what Jesus has done for you.

It will surely open up the ‘Red Sea’ and lead you into the Promised Land of peace and purpose. Not just for this life, but forever more.

Perfect Peace

As well as Pentecost, I also led a session on Job who, in spite of terrible trials, refused to relinquish his integrity and trust in God. One dear woman in the audience confirmed the reality of Job’s experience in her own life. Tragically, she had lost three sons – all in their twenties – and yet, through her faith in Jesus, she had managed to maintain perfect peace through all her troubles!

The Prophet Isaiah wrote: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusts in Thee” (Isa 26:3 KJV).

Notes

1 Now a shopping centre, accommodating the new religion.