God’s warning to humanity.

“I looked at the earth and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. This is what the LORD says: ‘The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.’” (Jeremiah 4:23-28)

This is not an easy passage to understand but it has a message of immense significance for us today. It is essential to recognise that in the Hebrew this is poetry and it is not intended to be read as literal prophecy. It is a prophetic vision given to Jeremiah to enable him to perceive the eschatological truth embedded into God’s act of creation and his purposes for humanity.

“O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved”

The poem has to be seen in the context of the warnings given in this chapter of the impending destruction that will befall the whole land of Judah and Jerusalem unless the people heed the trumpet call and repent of their evil ways. Jeremiah expresses this previously in verse 14: “O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved”. In the next verse he spells out the physical danger facing the nation from the advance of the Babylonian army.

An Urgent Message for Jerusalem

Jeremiah describes the northernmost tribe of Dan seeing the advance of the Babylonians and sending an urgent message to Jerusalem from the hills of Ephraim, warning them that a cruel enemy is on the war-path who will overwhelm all the small nations around Judah before eventually attacking Jerusalem itself: “Tell this to the nations, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah’” (Jer 4:16). Jeremiah is given a specific warning from God: “‘They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’ declares the LORD” (Jer 4:17).

At the end of chapter 4, in verses 29 to 31, Jeremiah returns to the theme of warning about a physical attack coming from an army on horseback as well as infantry and archers. He says the attack is coming upon every town, and he sees people taking flight into the countryside, hiding among the rocks, and leaving the towns deserted. But the people of Jerusalem ignore the warning signs and behave like a prostitute would; looking at herself in the mirror, admiring her beauty, putting on her scarlet dress, adorning herself with heavy make-up and jewels, unaware of the danger about to descend upon her. Then it happens! She is brutally raped. She is in great pain. She cries out, gasping for breath, but it is too late – “‘Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers’” (Jer 4:31).

In the midst of these dire warnings of an actual attack from the Babylonians, Jeremiah is given this apocalyptic poem that should not be read as predictive prophecy, but rather as divine revelation of the ultimate purposes of God the Creator of the Universe.

The Creational Purposes of God

In the biblical account of the creation of human beings, God gave them freedom of will and the ability to exercise dominion, or power, over the whole order of creation, both animal and material. In due time God revealed his teaching (Torah) through Moses to the people of Israel whom he called into a covenant relationship of servanthood and through whom he would reveal his nature and purposes to humankind. The poem we are studying today from Jeremiah 4:23-28, is prefaced by a single statement in verse 22. It is in the first person singular and comes from God himself to his covenant people: “‘My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.’”

There comes a point in the history of the world when the wickedness of humankind becomes so intense that their evil deeds threaten the well-being of the whole of creation.

This is the tragic history of Israel. Apart from a remnant throughout the ages (Rom 11), they have never understood the creation purposes of God. They have never understood the reason why God called them into a covenant relationship with himself in order to carry out his missionary purpose of taking his salvation to all nations.

The Consequences of Rebellion

In this prophetic poem Jeremiah is shown the consequences of the rebellion of human beings and their rejection of the good purposes of God. There comes a point in the history of the world when the wickedness of humankind becomes so intense that their evil deeds threaten the well-being of the whole of creation. The poem envisions a time when the entire universe is affected; the earth returns to its original formless chaos at the beginning of Creation. The light of the sun and moon and stars are dim; the mountains are shaken, the hills sway and the birds of the air disappear. The fruitful land becomes a desert and the towns lie in ruins as God carries out his purposes of judging the nations that have grossly misused the power God gave them at the Creation.

Final Judgment

Jeremiah is the first to receive this prophetic revelation of the ultimate purposes of God. Some 70 years later, at the end of the Exile, the Prophet Haggai was given the revelation that the day would come when God would “shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land” and would “shake all nations” (Hag 2:6-7). Jesus speaks of the time coming when “there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now” (Matt 24:21). At that time Jesus says, he will return to earth and “all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt 25:32).

The moral and spiritual pollution of humanity is the root cause of the damage done to the physical creation.

There are other passages in the New Testament that speak of the days when God will deal with the lawlessness and wickedness of human beings “who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Thess 2:12). And Peter describes, in apocalyptic terms, ‘The Day of the Lord’: He says that day “will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Pet 3:10).

These words should give us insight as to how God looks with horror at the wickedness of our civilisation and the way we have misused and polluted the whole created order, and corrupted the human nature that he gave us.

The United Nations has issued a strong warning that a great many species are threatened with extinction due to human activity¹, but what they fail to notice is the moral and spiritual pollution of humanity that is the root cause of the damage done to the physical creation. Jeremiah’s poem is a revelation from God intended to bring a severe warning to humanity of the consequences of our wickedness – and that the day will undoubtedly come when God will judge the human beings he created in his own image – a message that is desperately needed to be heard today!

The day will undoubtedly come when God will judge the human beings he created in his own image.

References

1 Planet on 'path to catastrophe' as million species threatened, warns UN report. Sky News, 6 May 2019.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

Christians called to support Jews in every way they can

Jeremiah's insight into the Father's heart.

“I myself said, ‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation’. I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 3:19-20)

This is another lament expressing the grief in God’s heart as he reflects on the history of the people of Israel, from the time he made a covenant with Moses, drawing together the tribes of Israel into a special relationship with himself.

That special relationship was, “I will be your God and you will be my people”, and from that time they became a family created by God, with a beautiful land in which to live together with a rich inheritance. Every true family has a father to whom they look for love, protection and provision. In the same way, God expected the people of Israel, his family, to regard him as their Father, so that he could treat them like sons.

Sadly, they had turned away from the truth that he had presented to Moses for their health and security, and to enable them to follow him so that he could work out his purposes for the world through them. Israel had never been faithful: they had never fully put their trust in God and, like an adulterous marriage partner, they had been unfaithful to him, causing untold grief in God’s heart.

Idolatrous, Unfaithful Israel

This is what Jeremiah discerned in his times of entering into the council of the Lord and he broke entirely new theological ground in daring to put words into God’s mouth, “I thought you would call me ‘Father’” (v19).

None of Jeremiah’s forebears – the 8^th-Century-BC writing prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Nahum – would have dared to make such a statement. Priests and prophets alike in pre-exilic Israel/Judah all avoided the word ‘Father’ in relation to God, because of their fear of idolatry. The Canaanites had introduced Israel to the Baals (local gods who supposedly owned the land) as the fathers of the people, who had to be worshipped in order to produce the fruits of the soil upon which the people depended for their sustenance.

Jeremiah broke new theological ground in daring to put words into God’s mouth, “I thought you would call me ‘Father’”.

Many of the local shrines, under groups of trees or on high places in the countryside, were occupied by altars to Baal. For the sake of peace and harmony, many of the priests of Israel and Judah practised at these shrines, offering thanksgiving to the God of Israel but also paying respect to the local Baal. It was against this practice that Amos was sent to protest at Bethel, where Amaziah ordered him to leave:

Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy any more at Bethel, because this is the King’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom. (Amos 7:12-13)

Jeremiah saw exactly the same thing happening in the countryside of Judah that had been denounced by Amos: the mixing of Baal worship with the worship of the God of Israel. He spelt out his complaint in one of his earliest statements: “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced – they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. They say to wood, ‘You are my father’, and to stone, ‘you gave me birth'” (Jer 2:27).

The Abomination of Syncretism

Jeremiah continued this theme when explaining why there was a drought covering the land of Judah in the late 7^th Century BC (this has enabled us to date this pronouncement to early in Jeremiah’s ministry): “You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen” (Jer 3:3).

In the next verse he spelled out the theological error that was being encouraged by priests and prophets: “Have you not just called me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue for ever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can”.

In these words, you can feel the horror that Jeremiah was experiencing, perhaps reflecting his own suffering at the hands of his father, brothers and sisters, who had publicly denounced him and were even threatening his life. He saw the people, and probably some priests from his own family, officiating at the shrines on the high places where they were actually offering sacrifices to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, on an altar dedicated to Baal.

Jeremiah’s horror at what God was experiencing was reflected in his own suffering at the hands of his family.

It was the abomination of people publicly acknowledging a pagan god as the father of the nation that Jeremiah found almost beyond description. It caused him so much grief because he himself had come into such an intimate relationship with God, the Creator of the universe, who was the true Father of the nation of Israel and his own precious Heavenly Father.

Our Father in Heaven

Jeremiah was the first in the history of Israel to recognise the Fatherhood of God. None of the pre-exilic writings in the history of Israel mention it; the other references are all post-exilic, such as Isaiah 63:16 and 64:7, and Malachi 2:10.

This is why Jeremiah was such a theological giant. Not only was he the first to recognise the Fatherhood of God, he was also the first to hear God’s plan to create a new covenant relationship with the houses of Israel and Judah (Jer 31:31) that would one day be extended to people of all nations through Messiah Jesus.

This is why there is such affinity between the ministry of Jeremiah and the ministry of Jesus, who sometimes quoted Jeremiah word for word, such as when he said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest your souls” (Matthew 11:29, from Jeremiah 6:16). Much of John’s Gospel is about the Fatherhood of God, first revealed to Jeremiah, especially Jesus’ teaching at the Last Supper (John 13-17), which centres around his statement, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Jeremiah’s Personal Anguish

It may have been because of Jeremiah’s own experience of rejection by his own family, and the intense sorrow that this brought to him, that he was able to perceive the depth of suffering in God’s heart at his own ‘covenant people’ being so unfaithful to him. Jeremiah’s personal anguish came tumbling out of his mouth a number of times when, in mid-flow, he was describing the terrible consequences to the people of Israel of deliberately turning away from God and forfeiting his covering of protection.

Not only was Jeremiah the first to recognise the Fatherhood of God, he was also the first to hear God’s plan to create a new covenant with Israel, and with all nations.

A good example of this is Jeremiah 15:10 where, in the midst of describing what was going to happen to Jerusalem, he suddenly broke off and proclaimed, “Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed yet everyone curses me.” In the very next verse, Jeremiah returned to the theme of declaring God’s willingness to protect his people from disaster and drive out their enemies, if they would only repent and return to him.

It is Jeremiah’s own close relationship with God, reflected in his affliction even more than in his bold and fearless declarations of the word of God, which makes his teaching of such value for us today. He reflects to us the grief in God’s heart at those who have his truth but deliberately reject his word, thereby forfeiting the wonderful benefits of God’s loving intention to treat us as precious sons and daughters in his own special family.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

But we know Someone who holds the future in his hands!

With the climate change protesters bringing London to a standstill in a bid to save the planet, and despairing Brexiteers having virtually given up hope of saving the kingdom from European predators, is there any future for us?

Yes, assuredly so, if we look to the rock from which we were hewn (Isa 51:1); to the One from Israel who brought us salvation. Jesus is doing a new thing in the land that gave him birth, and it carries a message of peace for us all.

What? Peace! You’re telling me Israel has a lesson of peace for us with all the bloodshed that is being spilled in the Middle East? Bear with me.

The ‘Peace Process’

As many in the UK have had their fill of squabbling politicians, so in Israel talk of peace is being treated with contempt. After decades of negotiations surrounding the ‘peace process’, most Israelis realise that they have no genuine partner with whom to make peace – and no longer believe peace is possible.¹

But there is a peace being enacted right before their eyes in the form of believers in Yeshua (Jesus) – both Jew and Arab – embracing one another out of a common love for the Jewish Messiah.

Congregations of such believers are meeting all over the land where Jesus once walked, and have become the ‘one new man’ referred to by the Apostle Paul in a letter to the early Christians, thus:

“For he himself [Christ] is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” (Eph 2:14)

There is a peace being enacted right before their eyes in the form of believers in Yeshua – both Jew and Arab – embracing one another out of a common love for the Jewish Messiah.

One New Man

When Jesus died on the cross, he broke “the dividing wall of hostility” between man and God, and between Jew and Gentile. The barrier has been well and truly smashed, and I have witnessed the beautiful reality of this on several occasions, both in Israel and in Britain.

I have also just written of an Arab woman brought up to hate the Jews who, since finding freedom in Jesus, says: “I love the Jewish people because it is their God and their Messiah I’m following and he told me to love them.”²

When Moses was about to lead the Israelites through the Red Sea, he told them: “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation [literally Yeshua] of the Lord [Yahweh].” ‘Yeshua’ (Jesus) means salvation; it still does, and it’s where true peace has been won!

Hypocrisy and Appeasement

Instead of peace, however, many people – even in Israel – are being taken in by hypocrisy. Speaking of discriminatory apartheid-type laws denying basic rights to Palestinians in Lebanon, Israeli Arab journalist, lecturer and film-maker Khaled Abu Toameh writes:

Palestinian leaders do not seem to care about the suffering of their people at the hands of Arabs. Yet these same leaders are quick to condemn Israel on almost every occasion and available platform.³

And Bassam Tawil of the Gatestone Institute points out that payments to terrorists and their families lie at the heart of Palestinian incitement to terror that drives the conflict there. For they are entitled to full salaries that are denied to others!⁴

Here in Britain, meanwhile, we are suffering the effects of political appeasers kowtowing to a godless empire supposedly set up to ensure lasting peace in Europe, when they ought to be defending our democracy, decency and sovereignty, as Churchill would have done.

Plumbing the depths of insanity, they have the gall to push ahead with an election to this body - three years after the public voted to leave it, and at a colossal cost of £100 million+.

When Jesus died on the cross, he broke “the dividing wall of hostility” between man and God, and between Jew and Gentile.

A Political Circus

This is surely a political circus led by clowns – a humiliating, soft-touch approach. No wonder that climate change ‘warriors’ have been so easily able to exploit this time of political weakness, grabbing the headlines to have their say on an issue no-one (but God) can do anything about.

The Bible tells us that “the earth will wear out like a garment” (Isa 51:6) and that the real Saviour of our planet, the Lord Jesus Christ, will one day usher in a new Heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1).

Meanwhile these anarchists are putting the country in grave danger of a terrorist strike as police resources are diverted elsewhere and more than a thousand arrests are made.

Writing this on ANZAC Day, when Australia and New Zealand remember the bravery of their soldiers in past conflicts, I conclude with the hope that sanity will prevail and we return as a nation to battles that are really worth fighting.

References

1 David Soakell, Christian Friends of Israel’s Watching Over Zion newsletter, 25 April 2019.

2 News & Views, newsletter of CMJ Israel. Testimony also available on YouTube courtesy of One for Israel.

3 David Soakell, 25 April 2019.

4 Ibid.

Dr Clifford Denton reviews ‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel’ by Rivi Litvin (Milestones International Publishers, 2017).

Raised in an Orthodox Jewish community, Rivi Litvin was shocked upon coming to faith in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to discover that many Christians believe that God has now rejected Israel and replaced her with the Church.

With access to sources of Rabbinic Judaism as well as the opportunity to consult with the most prominent scholars, she and her husband Danny began a quest to help others understand Yeshua in the context of God’s purposes for Israel.

After her husband’s sudden death in 1986, Litvin (a third-generation Israeli) continued with this work in Israel before later relocating to the USA, keeping her home in Migdal, Galilee, as a base for teaching.

She now has a worldwide itinerant ministry helping believers to recover the true roots of the Christian faith.

Israeli Rivi Litvin was shocked, upon coming to faith in Jesus, to discover that many Christians believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church.

Multitude of Insights

At last Litvin has found time to put her multitude of insights into a series of books, of which this is the first volume. She could have taken a thematic approach, applying her Hebraic knowledge to topics like the biblical feasts, the Sermon on the Mount and so on – but instead, she has chosen to write a commentary on the Gospels.

Inside this first volume, the reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts, including the answers to questions such as:

• What happened historically that caused the world to see Jesus as a son of Greece instead of an observant Jew?
  
• Who were the mysterious shepherds present at his birth?
  
• Were the wise men really Babylonian sorcerers - and how did they recognise the birth of the King of the Jews?
  
• Why are the Gospels so silent regarding Jesus’ Jewish education?

Divided into two main sections, the first covers the early life of Yeshua, while the second focuses on Yochanan Ha-Matbil (John the Baptist). In addition there are two appendices, one on the Tzadokim (Sadducees) and one on the Perushim (Pharisees).

Litvin’s choice of title is apt. In presenting Jesus specifically as the Son of Israel, extra light is shed on the Gospel accounts. Litvin also includes useful word analyses throughout the book, allowing those with limited knowledge of Greek or Hebrew to understand what is often missed in English translations.

The reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts.

Highly Recommended

I highly recommend this book for those already some way on with their studies of the Hebraic foundations of the faith. For those who are just beginning, it is recommended with some qualifications. Litvin’s breadth of reading and depth of knowledge are welcome – but newcomers to such studies may well be daunted by some of the conclusions she draws. While some are enlightening, others contrast those of other reputable scholars and may not sit well.

She also seems at times to call into question the accuracy of the gospel writers in places where the biblical text is seemingly at odds with other Jewish literature. Her strong desire to consider other rabbinic sources means that a mature and discerning mind on the part of the reader is required.

That said, this book is surely a major resource for the Christian Church to reconnect with the Jewish roots of the faith and the continuity of God’s covenant plan.

‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel: A Jewish Commentary on the Gospels, Volume 1’ (paperback, 237pp) is available on Amazon for £12.90. Also on Kindle.

God's plans for the faithful remnant.

The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Go, proclaim this message towards the North: ‘Return, faithless Israel’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry for ever. Only acknowledge your guilt – you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favours to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me, declares the Lord.’” (Jeremiah 3:11-13)

This pronouncement is said to have been given to Jeremiah “During the reign of King Josiah” (Jer 3:6) which makes it one of the earliest words given to the Prophet, as Josiah died in 608 BC when Jeremiah was still a young man, probably in his 20s.

If we compare this word to that given in the year 587 BC, more than 20 years after Josiah’s death, we find Jeremiah still talking about a promise of restoration to Israel, the Northern Kingdom. That promise was given when Jeremiah was being held in the gatehouse of the guard (Jer 33:14) just before the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar’s army, which reveals the life-time commitment of Jeremiah to the message of restoration and to unity between the two houses of Israel, North and South.

Calling Back the Remnant

This message is all the more remarkable when we remember that Jeremiah never knew the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which had been destroyed by the Assyrians about one hundred years before he began his ministry.

The city of Samaria had been destroyed and the whole Northern Kingdom of Israel overrun by the Assyrians who carried out ethnic cleansing, deporting whole communities and resettling them in different parts of the Assyrian Empire, while replacing the Israelites with people from Babylon and other parts of their Empire (2 Kings 17:24). Historically this began the formation of the mixed-race people known as the Samaritans, who were still around at the time of Jesus.

Jeremiah had a life-time commitment to the message of restoration for both houses of Israel, North and South.

Jeremiah firmly believed that it was God’s purpose at the end of a period of exile to bring together the remnants of both peoples, those of Israel and those of Judah, who were scattered around the old Assyrian and Babylonian empires. They would be brought back to the land originally promised to their forefathers, but there would no longer be any tribal differences: they would be one people in a covenant relationship with God who declared “I will be their God and they will be my people” (Jer 31:33).

Message of Hope

This word from the Lord pronounced by Jeremiah must have come as a wonderful message of love and mercy from God to the remnant of Israel still in the land. They must have felt lost and abandoned after the disaster that had befallen Samaria and the whole Northern Kingdom. It appeared that God had deserted them and that there was no hope of redemption from the yoke of Assyria. But this beautiful word of hope from Jeremiah would have brought them great joy.

A similar word was given in Babylon to the remnant of Judah, to whom Isaiah was sent by God with a message of restoration: “‘For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger, I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer” (Isa 54:7-8).

This is similar to the promise given in Isaiah 49:15: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hand.”

The promise of restoration given to Jeremiah was conditional upon the response of the faithful remnant. He was told to go and proclaim the message towards the North: “Return, faithless people, for I am your husband. I will choose you – one from a town and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer 3:14-15).

The promise of restoration given to Jeremiah was conditional upon the response of the faithful remnant.

Preserving a Remnant

This promise is of great significance for us today. When a nation comes under judgment or grave misfortune that has been brought upon them by their own foolishness or falling away from the truth, everyone suffers – the righteous and the unrighteous, the guilty and the faithful. But God recognises that there is always a faithful remnant, even in times of judgment and national catastrophe.

They are the ones who provide the seed of renewal, the hope for the future – the tiny number of faithful believers who have not surrendered to foreign gods but who have remained faithful to the God of their fathers, the God of the Bible who gave his word of truth to Moses.

This promise says that God would summon “one from a town and two from a clan”: these precious individuals who had remained faithful to God, he intended to bring together into a new relationship with himself (the fulfilment of the New Covenant given first as a promise to the house of Israel and the house of Judah in Jeremiah 31 and opened to Gentiles through Jesus).

This faithful remnant would be used by God for the salvation and restoration of the whole nation – for a fresh outpouring of his cleansing, refreshing and empowering Holy Spirit that would bring resurrection life to the nation.

Sowing Life

While these promises were originally given to Israel and Judah, we can learn important principles from them that apply to us today. God loves to use small numbers for carrying out his purposes as he used Gideon’s 300 to save the whole nation. In the same way, God preserves a small number in every generation who remain faithful through the darkest days.

At the right time he turns to them and uses them as the seedbed for sowing life into the soil of the land; as the kindle for lighting the fires of revival that spread across the countryside from village to village and town to town, until all the people lift up their heads again and come to Zion, to the God of Creation, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He is the One who has given the true faith for all time: who so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever shall believe in him will have eternal life.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

Tough stance is seen as the best recipe for peace

In an age largely devoid of politicians of stature, Binyamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu stands head and shoulders above the rest as a steadying influence on the world scene.

Elected to lead Israel for the fifth time in the past 23 years, he clearly commands wide respect and is seen as a figure of stability in a volatile region.

No Pushover

Paradoxically, though perhaps not surprisingly, the Likud Party leader is no pushover either. I guess that’s part of his secret.

Focusing on the paramount need of security for a nation hemmed in on all sides by enemies, he is perceived as a strong man who refuses to compromise with those who do not have his people’s best interests at heart.

So, while it might seem he is being provocative with his apparent lack of commitment to a Palestinian state along with a determination never to see Jerusalem divided, these are in fact peaceful objectives.

For a Palestinian state on Israel’s doorstep is an open invitation for Hamas and Hezbollah to ‘walk all over’ the Jewish people with the explosive fury they are already expressing through rockets and other missiles on the Gaza border.

Bibi is perceived as a strong man who refuses to compromise with those who do not have his people’s best interests at heart.

But Bibi is no doormat. Jews may have been led to the Nazi ovens like lambs to the slaughter, but never again. Their enemies have repeatedly made clear that they do not want peace; they don’t even want a ‘piece’ of the territory over which they are fighting. They want it all – “from the river to the sea”, a mantra even heard at the British Labour Party conference and on the streets of London during an annual march from which Hezbollah is now thankfully banned.

Even Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has shown sympathy for this slogan which effectively denies Israel’s right to exist.

Appeasement Not an Option

So giving in to the demands of terrorists is not an option, and Bibi is thus seen as holding the best hopes of peace. By contrast, former Generals Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin both signed up to ‘land for peace’ accords which have only led to further violence.

But like Winston Churchill, Bibi is in no mood to appease bullies and has correctly perceived that the Ayatollahs of Iran mean what they say about wiping the Jewish state off the map.

We do not want another Holocaust, and it is high time British Christians realised that sitting on the fence over Israel is both cowardly and deadly. The Jewish nation is under severe threat and God will call us to account over the deafening silence on the issue generally expressed by the Church at this time.

Shining Example of Democracy

It was just over a year ago that Hamas launched its ‘Great March of Return’ for the descendants of refugees claiming their land has been stolen, promising ‘peaceful’ protests which have instead sparked 2,000 violent incidents and 694 explosions, burnt up 9,000 acres of agricultural land and fired 1,323 rockets into Israel.¹

In the northern part of the country, meanwhile, the strategic Golan Heights is now the centre of fresh controversy following recognition of the region by US President Trump as sovereign Israeli territory.

It’s high time British Christians realised that sitting on the fence over Israel is both cowardly and deadly.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has condemned this move while at the same time acknowledging Israel as “a shining example of democracy in a part of the world where that is not common”.²

But as the Gatestone Institute put it, “Israel’s continuing control over the Golan Heights increases the chance for peace and decreases the chances that Syria, Iran and Hezbollah will be able to use this high ground as a launching pad against Israelis.” Besides, they add, “no country in history has ever given back to a sworn enemy, militarily essential territory that has been captured in a defensive war.”³

Right-wing Government

Meanwhile we await Donald Trump’s much-heralded ‘Deal of the Century’ with bated breath, though Bibi has already set out his ‘guidelines’ for the agreement on a visit to Washington - according to an interview with the Editor of conservative Israeli weekly Makor Rishon – namely, that he will not accept any plan that uproots “even a single settlement or settler”; that “governance west of the Jordan River will remain in our hands”; and that he will not divide Jerusalem.⁴

Another boost to Bibi’s position is the fact that the Saudis, along with other Sunni Arab leaders, are growing weary of Palestinian intransigence while at the same time strengthening their own ties with Israel.

Where Abraham and Lot parted company – looking out to the Dead Sea with the Jordanian mountains of Moab beyond. Picture: Charles Gardner

Bibi has committed himself to a nationalist, stable, right-wing government working for all its citizens. In this respect I was intrigued to read a Jewish explanation for the origin of the political terms ‘left’ and ‘right-wing’ that are now, of course, used globally.

According to the explanation, it began as a biblical concept reflecting the locations chosen by Abraham and Lot as they went their separate ways. Orientation in those days was not defined by one’s position in relation to the North Pole, but from facing East, where the sun rose and a new day began. So the Hebrew for west, for example, actually translates ‘behind’ while north and south stand for left and right. Thus Abraham went south (i.e. turned right towards Hebron) while Lot went north (i.e. turned left in the direction of Sodom).⁵

Bibi has committed himself to a nationalist, stable, right-wing government working for all its citizens.

Israel Today Senior Editor Aviel Schneider explains: “Lot chose [the well-watered Jordan plains] according to his senses and human understanding. Abraham trusted God, and was content with the south and with going ‘to the right’…Left-wing ideology is founded on logic, on what the eye can see, while right-wing ideology puts its trust in God. Left-wing politics are more likely to be humanistic, right-wing politics biblical.”⁶

The rabbis and many Likud voters subscribe to this theory, he adds.

Not a very flattering concept for left-wingers, for sure. But then they are the ones promoting sodomy, right?

Perhaps it’s also a useful pointer to Britain’s troubles over Brexit. Even the Tories, who were once regarded as the party of the family, have made a significant left-turn of late which has helped to sink the ship of state.

Postscript

As an interesting postscript, Israel’s democracy is based on proportional representation which many, including me, believe to be fairer than the ‘first-past-the-post’ system we have adopted, and citizens vote for a single political party rather than for individual candidates.

So please continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6), where the 120-seat Knesset (Parliament) is located.

References

1 United with Israel, 29 March 2019. 

2 Jerusalem News Network, 5 April 2019, quoting Arutz-7.

3 JNN, 5 April 2019.

4 JNN, 10 April 2019, quoting INN.

5 Israel Today magazine, March 2019.

6 Ibid.

How will God deal with Britain?

An incredible battle is raging over Britain. It is raging in the heavenlies above, and on the earth below, where it is centred upon our Parliament. Our MPs are in total disarray, fighting each other and not understanding the battle. Few of them realise that they are being driven by the powers of darkness intent on destroying this great nation that has turned its back upon God and despised its spiritual heritage.

The battle in the House of Commons is being fought between those who want to see Britain free from the European Union and those who want to see Britain continue enslaved to the rules and regulations of Brussels. It is as simple as that. But most of our MPs have no understanding of spiritual warfare and do not perceive the forces of darkness that are moving them like pawns on a chess board, driving them to destruction.

Come Out and Be Separate

The Prime Minister appears to have panicked under pressure and turned to Jeremy Corbyn, a notorious Marxist atheist, as her saviour, in a last-ditch attempt to get her deal approved by Parliament. As a professed Christian, has she never read the warnings in Scripture about being unequally yoked with unbelievers? The teaching of Paul could not be clearer:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

In verse 17 Paul urges “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.” This is an instruction that all our MPs should take to heart in dealing with Brexit. Undoubtedly, the best outcome for Britain and the most feared outcome for the EU is that we leave next Friday without a deal. But if that cannot be achieved, provided we leave with any kind of deal that leaves us free to make changes in the future, that would be better than a long delay with the possibility of never getting away at all, which is the objective of the majority in our present House of Commons.

Undoubtedly, the best outcome for Britain and the most feared outcome for the EU is that we leave next Friday without a deal.

Egypt…or Babylon?

A number of commentators, including prominent politicians, have compared the present situation with the time of Moses and the release of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. But this is not the best biblical analogy, because we are not having to fight the EU for our freedom, as Moses fought Pharaoh. We are having to fight the morally corrupt and spiritually blind Members of our own Parliament, who do not understand the issues that face them.

A more instructive biblical analogy is the release of the faithful remnant of Israel and Judah from Babylon in 538 BC. Babylon had fallen to the Persians whose Emperor, Cyrus, issued a decree freeing all political prisoners. The people of Israel were free to return to the land of their forefathers, to rebuild Jerusalem and to restore the shattered economy, social structure, and towns and villages across the land.

A wonderful new opportunity was presented to Israel if they could face the one-thousand-mile trek across difficult country and undertake the great task of reconstruction and renewal. For many who had become comfortable in exile, the offer of freedom in the Promised Land was rejected for the fleshpots of Babylon. They were too comfortable and prosperous to risk embarking on an uncertain future.

But for those who had faith and vision and were prepared to put their trust in God, a wonderful new opportunity was presented. They obeyed the call to come out from Babylon and totally put their trust in God for the future. They were the faithful remnant who God would use to rebuild Jerusalem and prepare the way for Messiah and the coming Kingdom.

Yes, they had lots of hardships to face and difficulties to endure in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its surrounding walls, but they had a shared vision which enabled them to work together, and God blessed their labours - especially when they rebuilt the Temple in the heart of the city and re-emphasised their faith in God at the centre of national life.

A more instructive biblical analogy than the Exodus is the release of the faithful remnant of Israel and Judah from Babylon in 538 BC.

Calling on God

This is surely a biblical parable for us today caught up in the conflict of Brexit with an unbelieving Parliament leading the nation.

The great unknown at the moment is precisely how God will deal with Britain. We know that judgment is thoroughly deserved for the way we have rejected our spiritual heritage, squandered the responsibilities we had for bringing the light of the Gospel to more than a third of the world’s population in the great Empire to which God entrusted us, and in the terrible way that we reneged on our promises to Israel - as Charles Gardner shows elsewhere in this week's issue of Prophecy Today.

Despite deserved judgment, we know that our God is loving and merciful – more ready to forgive than we are to repent. And we know that the Referendum result was a gracious allowance from God to give us a greater opportunity to return to him. Now is the time to petition God for his help to overcome the powers of darkness that are trying to sweep Britain into an abyss of chaos, which will inevitably result if we fail to leave the European Union within the next few weeks.

We ask all Bible-believing Christians to call upon the Lord for his mercy and intervention in what appears to be a hopeless situation. Let all the prayer groups and intercessors throughout the land acknowledge the plight of the nation before the throne of grace and call upon God for an outpouring of his power, which is the only means of saving Britain from the folly of its own leaders.

In the current confusion - our only hope is in God!

Official EU policy has been to sacrifice Israel for oil

The secret is out. Britain has been locked into an anti-Israel agreement ever since we first entered Europe in the early 1970s – a policy likely to consign us to the dust of history.

But a successful Brexit could allow us to repair the damage.

Writing for Heart newspaper,¹ which circulates in churches throughout the south of England, film-maker Hugh Kitson has revealed the real reason for the mess we’re in over Europe.

In a devastating article, he says that Britain, along with its European allies, has effectively sacrificed Israel on the altar of expedience and economic survival.

By signing up to the so-called Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD), we capitulated to the Arab political agenda in exchange for oil, literally allowing the rich Arab nations to hold us ‘over a barrel’.

Economic Blackmail

The historical background to this little-known arrangement was Arab frustration at Israel’s resilience in surviving a succession of wars against the odds. Having failed yet again to defeat Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, they dispensed with brute force in exchange for undermining the political will of the West by imposing an oil embargo.

This led to severe restrictions that brought Britain to its knees, as a result of which European countries led by France agreed to the EAD agenda which ensured that Israel – the Middle East’s only democracy (holding elections again on Tuesday) – would have her actions and borders constantly challenged.

Shockingly, we agreed further that Islam and its human rights abuses could not be criticised, while Muslim immigration into European society was to be welcomed.

The EAD has changed shape over the years, but has continued to meet to this day; its most recent gathering, in February, was attended by Theresa May.

By signing up to the so-called Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD), we capitulated to the Arab political agenda in exchange for oil.

Distortion and Deception

Hugh Kitson writes: “This explains the anti-Israel bias in the Western media, which leads to a completely distorted view of the Arab-Israeli conflict…”

See Photo Credits.And he adds: “This policy is obligatory on member states of the EU to this day if they are to have favourable economic relations with the Arab world. Basically, the European nations decided that there has to be a Palestinian state with ‘East Jerusalem’ as its capital, no matter what, even if it means the demise of the Jewish state.”

The push for a so-called ‘two-state solution’ has been part of this mantra for years. Yet it flies in the face of international acknowledgement of Israel’s right to the land, particularly through the San Remo Treaty of 1920, and brazenly provokes the judgment of God, who states in his word: “When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and…enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land” (Joel 3:2).

So it seems that our 45-year dalliance with Europe has been marked by deception – not only that the liaison was never intended to be more than a trade agreement, but also over Middle East foreign policy, which the electorate will have trusted the Government to enact in good faith and for the benefit of both parties.

But this has clearly never been the case with Israel, whom we have betrayed – not once, not twice, but three times. First, we reneged on our 1917 pledge to prepare a home for them in their ancient land; then we refused immigration to many who were desperately trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe and now, we discover to our horror, we have been sacrificing them relentlessly to the god of oil.

Deliberate Policy

Such a policy has long been suspected, as it has effectively been our practice, but it has only now become more widely known that this had been the agreed course of action all along, to which our Government has been committed.

This disgraceful treatment of God’s chosen people has sent us sliding down the slippery slope of godlessness, hopelessness and despair amid the chaos and confusion surrounding Brexit – unless, of course, we see the error of our ways and act upon it.

Our 45-year dalliance with Europe has been marked by deception.

Speaking of the future glory of Zion, the word of God says: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined” (Isa 60:12).

Although seen as a means of our short-term economic survival, the reality of the policy we have pursued over Israel is that it will ultimately lead to our destruction. We have cursed rather than blessed them, and will be judged accordingly (see Gen 12:3).

We’ve Lost the Way

And the result is that much of what we see happening in the Middle East is being replicated here – the death of democracy, for instance, seen in the huge crowds descending on London calling for a second referendum because they didn’t like the outcome of the first. They were, of course, reflecting the views of their politicians, foolishly ignoring the will of 17.4 million people.

Another feature of Middle East politics is the blatant propaganda which seeks to portray Israel as the unwilling party in peace negotiations, whereas in reality neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas is interested in securing a peace deal that doesn’t involve driving the Jews into the sea. The fact is, they don’t want part of the land; they want all of it.

In Britain too we are being bombarded by propaganda. It’s not enough that homosexuals have been ‘normalised’ into society. No, the government’s Department of Education email signature line now embeds a large rainbow flag with the logo ‘I’m an LGBT+ Champion’.²

We now hear how the general populace has fallen out of love with our politicians, but they only reflect the selfish, sinful and confused state of the electorate.

In a passage about wisdom, the Book of Proverbs offers us the choice of life or death: “For whoever finds me finds life and receives favour from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death” (Prov 8:35f).

Jesus is the way, the truth and ‘the life’ spoken of here (John 14:6). We have lost our way as a nation; we need to find Jesus again!

References

1 Heart newspaper, April/May 2019.

2 Christian Concern, 29 March 2019.

How easy it is to forget God.

“As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced – they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’” (Jeremiah 2:27)

Jeremiah always found it amazing that a nation such as Israel, with its long history of God’s provision in the desert and his loving protection over many generations, could be involved in idolatry as they were in the 6^th Century BC.

As a nation, Israel had been in a covenant relationship with God for centuries and they had benefited enormously from his faithfulness and his amazing good deeds: yet they ran after worthless idols, declaring that bits of wood and stone were their gods. It just didn’t make sense!

Forgetting God

They had as many gods as they had towns in Judah, and God had sent them many warning signs which had all been ignored; they simply did not respond to correction, which Jeremiah found utterly irrational and almost inconceivable. He said “Does a maiden forget her jewellery, a bride her wedding ornaments?” Yet God is saying “My people have forgotten me, days without number” (Jer 2:32).

It was beyond anybody’s imagination that a bride could possibly forget to put on her jewellery and ornaments in preparation for her great wedding day. But surely it was equally impossible for the people of Israel to forget the God of their fathers, who had revealed himself to former generations of their people as the God of Creation.

It was he who had flung the stars into orbit and who from the beginning of time had intended to raise up a people of promise through whom he would reveal himself and his plan of salvation to all nations.

Jeremiah always found it amazing that a nation such as Israel, with its long history of covenant relationship with God, could forget him and run after worthless idols.

Height of Hypocrisy

The greatest anomaly was that when they were in trouble, they turned back to the God of their fathers and cried out, “Come and save us!” Jeremiah saw this as the height of hypocrisy. They ignored God all the time that things were going well with them.

In times of peace and prosperity they turned their backs upon God and joined in all the exciting festivals and pagan partying of the Canaanites and their other idolatrous neighbours. They entered wholeheartedly into the orgies of self-indulgence, sexual excesses, feasts and revelries which were part of the religious practices against which Israel had been warned from the time of Moses.

Suddenly, however, there was a change of mood among the people. Rumours were running rife across the land from village to village, spread by the 6^th Century BC version of social media – the human tongue! Rumour had it that the Babylonian army was on the move. Whole towns in Syria had been sacked and the countryside raped.

The rumours lost nothing in bloodcurdling detail of what had happened to the people in the towns and villages the Babylonians overthrew. Fear began to grip the people of Judah. Widespread panic spread among all ranks of society – priests and people alike began crying out to God to come and save them!

The Prophet Jeremiah was not impressed. In fact, he was outraged! How dare the people call out to God for help when they had been running after idols for so long? Let them call upon their bits of wood and stone and see if they will help by coming to save them!

How dare the people call out to God for help when they had been running after idols for so long?

Sins of Omission

This is just the kind of thing that we all do. Even if we don’t get into the same kind of idolatry as the people of Judah did, we commit very similar sins – sins of omission rather than sins of commission. When things are going well in our lives and we are enjoying peace and prosperity we are less fervent in our prayers, less eager to seek the presence of the Lord. We don’t actually say that we don’t need God, although this must be how it seems to him.

Sadly, it is not only individuals but whole nations that have turned away from God – the one true God of Creation revealed in the Bible – in recent years. I’m old enough to remember the shock when John Robinson, Bishop of Stepney, published his book Honest to God in 1963. He said that Christians have outgrown the traditional version of Christianity.

He said: “The only way to be honest is to recognise that we have to live in the world even if God is not there. Like children outgrowing the secure religious, moral and intellectual framework of the home, in which ‘Daddy’ is always there in the background, God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get along very well without him” (pp38-39).

This began the great decline of the Church of England in Britain and it was soon followed by David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham, who said that the resurrection was “a conjuring trick with bones”. Once it became clear that the clergy and preachers no longer had confidence in the God of the Bible, faith in the nation rapidly declined. In Scotland last year, more marriages were conducted by humanists than by ministers in the Church of Scotland.¹

We worship our bits of wood and stone, yet when we are in deep trouble we cry out to God for his help. The time to call is not when disaster overtakes us, but every day, in the quiet times of reflection that we all need when we can review the past, remembering what God has done in the nation and seeing his hand in our own lives, and in humility confessing our needs. It is then that we feel his arms around us to comfort, to forgive and to love, unconditionally.

References

1 BBC Radio 4, Sunday Programme, 10 March 2019.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.