Charles Gardner looks at the dangerous scenario unfolding in the Middle East and its implications for Israel.

The stage is being set for what could turn into an almighty battle in the Middle East. What are the implications for peace in the region - and especially for Israel, already surrounded by sworn enemies before Russia entered the toxic fray? We are now witnessing an extremely dangerous situation which could erupt into a major conflict that could even trigger World War III.

David and Goliath

The entire scenario needs to be seen through a biblical lens. With such a focus, we should be in no doubt that this is a spiritual battle as much as a physical reality.

Through the natural lens it may well appear as yet another young David facing up to the seemingly impossible task of slaying the nine-foot Philistine giant Goliath. But David, through whose line Jesus traces his ancestry, never saw it that way: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." (1 Sam 17:45)

David became the greatest king Israel ever had: today's re-born nation would do well to adopt their hero's total faith and trust in God.

David became the greatest king Israel ever had: today's re-born nation would do well to adopt their hero's total faith and trust in God.

Spiritual Awakening

True, today's Israeli society is as secular as Britain's in many ways. But Jesus said that nation would rise against nation and Israel would be threatened. The prophets foretold that before Messiah's return there will be a great spiritual awakening among God's people, whose hearts will melt as they recognise the One who declared his everlasting love with outstretched arms. The stage is now set for this great unveiling.

It is heartening to know that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a convinced Bible believer. A recent survey has revealed that an impressive 95% of Israelis have a Bible in their homes. The Jewish people may very soon welcome their Messiah. But the onus is not only on them. The Gentiles have a big responsibility to help in this mission through sharing love, support and the Gospel message.

Russia, Assad and Abbas

Meanwhile, Russia's presence in the region is intended to prop up the Assad regime, a key ally of Iran which has made no secret of its intention to wipe Israel off the map. Tensions in Israel itself are almost at boiling point, with seven children orphaned in recent attacks on innocent Jews. And now Jew-hatred is being exported to Europe, where many of the refugees fleeing Muslim countries will have experienced decades of anti-Semitism promoted through schools, newspapers and social networks. Worse still, some refugees will undoubtedly turn out to be IS fighters in disguise.

Tensions in Israel are at boiling point because of recent attacks. We stand in hope of the great spiritual awakening of Jews to the Messiah Jesus, foretold in Scripture.

Against this background the world continues to witness the deceit and hypocrisy of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas who, at the UN, compared Israel to apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany, and declared that the PA no longer considered itself bound by the 1993 Oslo Accords.¹ As bestselling author Jack Engelhard wrote last week, "The entire world is arming itself against radical Islam, and it was to support radical Islam that Mahmoud Abbas came to the United Nations."²

The word of God says: "The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head." (Ob 1:15)

Persecution and Revival

Also in the Middle Eastern firing line are Christians, who worship Jesus, their Jewish Messiah. I have just received a shocking report (from California-based Assist News Service) of the beheading and crucifixion of a dozen indigenous Christian workers near Aleppo in Syria.³

Supported by US-based Christian Aid Mission, they had opportunities to escape, but chose to stay in order to provide aid and comfort in the name of Jesus amidst the carnage. All were ex-Muslims who refused to renounce Christ, and were badly brutalised before being executed, with the two women among them publicly raped. Yet they prayed throughout their ordeal. And in the midst of such unspeakable horror, the region's underground church has mushroomed since June 2014.

In the midst of unspeakable persecution of both Christians and Jews, Syria's underground church is mushrooming.

One former IS fighter fled to Jordan where he intended to kill Christian aid workers. But something stopped him from following through with his plan and that night he saw Jesus in a dream. He subsequently received Christ with tears, and now he's helping in the church. A spokesman said: "In the past we used to pray to have one person from a Muslim background come to the Lord. Now there are so many we can barely handle all the work among them."⁴

Jews and Christians are in it together because they share their Messiah - who is clearly coming soon, judging by the many signs of his imminent return. It's time to stand with the God of Israel and the Israel of God!

Charles Gardner is author of 'Israel the Chosen', available from Amazon; and 'Peace in Jerusalem', available from olivepresspublisher.com

References

1 Not that the PA has ever kept the agreement anyway, as though their former leader Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of dropping Israel's destruction from its charter, this never happened!

2 Engelhard, J. Op-Ed: Mahmoud Abbas - You Are Not That Important. Israel National News, Thursday 1 October 2015.

3 Christian Aid Mission. Eleven Christian Workers in Syria Crucified, Beheaded. Assist Christian News, Monday 5 October 2015.

4 Ibid.

Last week we re-printed part of an interview with Lance Lambert, in which he gives a Messianic perspective on the future of the Jewish people. Interviewed by Gary Clayton, he concludes by assessing the significance of lsraeI's fortieth anniversary in the light of scripture and world events.

I believe that in many ways the fortieth anniversary of modern IsraeI's history has to be deeply significant. Indeed, there has hardly been a phase in the past forty years that has not been of significance.

It is surely noteworthy that most of the political and military analysts examining the Middle East situation in 1946 and 1947 — before the State of Israel was created — found it hard to believe that Israel would survive. Even after her first year it still seemed incredible that she could have lasted so long. There have been five wars in the forty year period, three of which could easily have seen the liquidation of both state and nation. lt is remarkable that every war has ended not only in Israeli survival, but in triumph — including the first, a war of independence.

Triumph and survival

People tend to attribute this survival to Jewish intelligence and ingenuity, but as someone who is both a Jew and an Israeli, living in and being part of the nation, I realise what a miracle it is that we have come through. But this is not the only miracle. Anyone examining the economy of Israel can see that it has been disastrously managed. Red tape and bureaucracy have caused enormous problems, which is surprising when we remember that throughout the world Jews are regarded as shrewd and successful businessmen.

Yet forty years on, despite such mismanagement, Israel has a viable economy. This to me is as great a miracle as the one of political stability. It is truly remarkable therefore that Israel has reached her fortieth year.

The question we need to ask is what this new phase actually signifies. Some believe that IsraeI's wars and troubles are over and that she is going to move into a period of peace and establishment, but l cannot subscribe to that view. My intuition and understanding of the prophetic word tell me that Israel faces further war and suffering in the years immediately ahead. I expect that this will herald the beginning of a much greater fulfilment of God's purposes for the nation. The fortieth anniversary is just the start.

My intuition and understanding of the prophetic word tell me that Israel faces further war and suffering in the years immediately ahead. The fortieth anniversary may herald a much greater fulfilment of God's purposes for the nation.

Hakhel: The Solemn Convocation

An event took place in Israel last year during the Feast of Tabernacles which went practically unnoticed by the outside world, yet it was one which I feel has great significance. This was the re-enaction of a ceremony which had not been held in Jerusalem for over 2,500 years, not in fact since the time when the last kings of Judah were in the land. It is called the Hakhel, a solemn convocation. This was always summoned in the Sh'mittah, or seventh year, when the land had to lie fallow.

During this ceremony the high priest would gather the people in the Temple and ask the king to read the law from the book of Deuteronomy. For the first time in two and a half millennia, the two chief rabbis gave notice that they were going to hold this ceremony at the western wall, and asked President Chaim Herzog if he would represent the king while they took the place of the high priest. I was present with a group of Messianic believers. It was a most moving and remarkable event with more than thirty-five thousand people present, the largest crowd I ever seen at the western wall.

In 1987 during the Feast of Tabernacles, the Hakhel ceremony was re-enacted in Jerusalem for the first time in over 2,500 years.

Unearthly Sounds

It began with a fanfare of military trumpets to announce the arrival of the president, and then a strange, unearthly sound suddenly filled the air. I wondered what it was, but looking up l saw seven men on the western wall dressed in the garb of Levites, blowing seven silver trumpets. From the south-west corner of the temple wall came the sound of a further seven blowing similar instruments, and the two groups echoed one another back and forth. These silver trumpets were being blown for the first time in thousands of years so as to call together the meeting, the solemn convocation.

The law was read and there was much prayer, which I found very moving. There was a strong sense of the Spirit of God and there could hardly have been one Messianic Jew present who was not deeply moved, even to tears. The prayer was for Israel to be given the gift of repentance; for her to return to the Lord and for the Lord to renew her so that she would be able to walk in his ways, forsaking all unrighteousness.

Moving prayers were said for Israel to be given the gift of repentance, for her to return to the Lord and for the Lord to renew her so she would be able to walk in his ways.

We all felt it was a most important event, and coming at the beginning of the new Jewish year of 5748, the fortieth anniversary of Israel, we could not help but wonder what it might herald. It could indicate the beginning of a movement of the Spirit of God to establish the Messianic community and turn the nation towards the Lord.

On the one hand this new phase in Israel's history may see even more war and suffering, on the other it may see the establishment of the nation in new and deeper ways than ever before, particularly on a spiritual level.

Prophecy of Conflict

Looking at Israel and the global situation, I recollect that it is now 14 or 15 years since I first began warning people that we could be in the run-up to the fulfilment of the prophecy in Ezekiel 38 and 39 concerning war against Israel:

In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land (Eze 38:7-9).

Viewing the Middle East through Israeli eyes, it seems clear to me that events are being moved into place in readiness for this prophecy to be fulfilled.

Reflections on the Gulf War

The Ayatollah has received something of a setback in the Gulf as a result of the involvement of Western powers, with lraq's re-arming by the French, the West Germans and the British naturally prolonging the war. The involvement of the United States in bringing its navy into the Gulf with 14 of its warships and the re-flagging of Kuwaiti ships under the Stars and Stripes have likewise prolonged the conflict, as has the Soviet Union's own massive military assistance to Iraq.

It is hard to believe that this war has gone on for more than eight years, resulted in over a million deaths and continues with still no sign of an end in view. Israeli intelligence believes that there will be at least another two years before there is any outcome. Had Iraq and Iran been left to themselves, lraq would probably have collapsed long ago. Her economy is in ruins and her second-largest city practically a ghost town, with no ships able to get in or out of her port. The oil fields in the north have been partially wrecked and Baghdad has been under continuous threat of bombardment by missiles. The Iranians number about 70 million people and are determined to win this war. Morale is quite high and although the economy has suffered it is still functioning.

Iraq, meanwhile, is in colossal debt. She numbers just under 16 million people and suffers from poor morale. I believe Iran will win this war, and so far every month that passes makes it seem even more likely. The other Arab and Islamic leaders are all afraid of Iran. An American intelligence report based on a three and a half month's study stated that it did not matter if there were forty American ships in the Gulf or a hundred, Iran would still win. Not long ago a number of unofficial delegations comprising high-ranking Soviet officials went to Tehran. This may be significant since the American presence in the Gulf is quite likely to trigger a Soviet response.

In the end, Iran may get desperate to conclude the war and so might decide to do some kind of deal with the Soviet Union. I am not predicting that this will necessarily happen, but we should watch out for such developments as they could be significant in the light of Ezekiel's prophecy in chapter 38, concerning the evil scheme of the 'country from the far north' to advance with many nations against Israel.

Agenda against Israel

For many years people have asked what would happen if Iran won the war. The answer is simple, since their oft-stated aim is the 'liberation' of Jerusalem and the liquidation of Israel. I have no doubt that once victory over Iraq is complete they will seek to thrust through Jordan and press on to the mountains of Moab and Gilead.

Iraq is also an enemy of Israel, and this is why the latter has been only too happy for Iran and Iraq to have been at each other's throats for so long. I believe that, once the war is over, the victors' attention will shift to Israel.

I believe that once the Gulf War is over, the victors' attentions will shift to Israel.

Syria, meanwhile, is in a quandary. Her economy is in ruins and she is dependent on Saudi Arabia to bail her out. The Kuwaitis, Saudis and other sheikhs have been pouring large sums of money into Iraq to keep her afloat and Saudi Arabia recently questioned whether she would continue to support Syria in view of the latter's antagonistic attitude towards Iraq. Not so long ago at the Islamic Conference at Amman Jordan's King Hussein tried to bring about a reconciliation between Syria and Iraq. The one thing Syria and Iraq have in common is that both are violently opposed to Israel.

Glasnost: real openness or window-dressing?

In Mikhail Gorbachev the Soviet Union has the youngest and most popular leader for decades. As a result of his glasnost ('openess') policy he has an excellent public image. He appears a much more open, contemporary and compassionate leader, yet it is hard to believe that a man who was for many years a leader in the KGB could ever really be as good as he sounds. I do not know of a single Jew released from Soviet Union who does not regard glasnost as little more than an exercise in window-dressing. Many of them are concerned that the West is being taken in by this new approach.

I believe that the Soviet Union's real plan is to let out some ten thousand or so Jewish activists who are considered to be trouble-makers but keep the remaining three million Jews where they are. There is no doubt, however, that this community will come home to Israel in the end, and that it will be by divine dictate. I am certain of this because of the prophetic words of Isaiah 43:3-6:

For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour...do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you up from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back". Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.

Some good things are happening in Israel and we have to be thankful for them. We live in a country battling for its life, one in which most young people have been involved in at least one war before reaching their twenties, and which has problems no other nation has. If we have special problems, however, we have special promises as well; promises made by God through the prophets. They are promises no other nation has.

If Israel has special problems with conflict and survival, it also has special promises made by God that no other nation has.

Clifford Denton examines the historical conquest of Israel by Rome and its creation of the Israeli diaspora.

Every Bible student needs a grasp of history and to set this alongside the purposes of God as revealed in Scripture. What was happening on the world stage when Jesus was alive, and in the first years of the Church's existence?

Roman Occupation

This is the background to the Roman domination of Israel preceding the biblical account of Jesus and the Apostles.

In the years before Rome, the Greek Empire dominated Israel. There was resistance from the Maccabees, a group of Jewish rebels, during this time. The years that followed saw the rise of the Hasmoneans as a priest-king dynasty in Israel, but which did not restore Israel as a truly Torah-based society.

Rome grew as the new world power and it was in the year 63 BC that the legions under Pompey entered Israel. Jagersma's account of Pompey's arrival (History of Israel to Bar Kochba, SCM Press 1985, p98) reads:

Bust of General Pompey[While] the Roman general Pompey was busy with his successful campaign in Asia (66-62 BC); one of his generals, Scaurus, had captured Damascus for him in 65 BC. Soon after that he turned his attention to Judaea. At about that time delegations came from both Aristobulus and Hyrcanus [two rival Hasmonean princes] to ask for his help. Both offered him gifts. On this occasion the Romans opted for Aristobulus.

In 63 BC Pompey himself arrived in Damascus. There not only delegations from Aristobulus and Hyrcanus but also representatives of the people of Judaea came to him. These last asked Pompey to abolish the Hasmonaean dynasty because they wanted to be ruled by priests.

At the time of this meeting Pompey did not make any decision...Arisobulus was least happy with the delay. He...established himself in the fortress of Alexandrium to make his position secure. This action aroused the wrath of Pompey, who immediately invaded Judaea. Aristobulus quickly surrendered, but most of his supporters refused.

Pompey then went back to Jerusalem and besieged the city. Hyrcanus and his followers opened the gates to the Romans, who were then able to occupy the city and the royal palace. However, a group of the supporters of Aristobulus, who had already been taken prisoner, occupied the temple. Only after a siege of three months did the temple fall into the hands of the Romans. To the dismay of the pious, on this occasion Pompey entered the Holy of Holies.

Pompey led Aristobulus and numerous Judaean prisoners through Rome in triumphal procession by which he celebrated his return. When they were later freed, the latter formed the beginning of a great Jewish community there.

The weak Hyrcanus II was eventually made the High Priest, and political rule was given to his powerful advisor, Antipater. Antipater's sons Phaesel and Herod (later Herod the Great) were given the task of governing Jerusalem and Galilee respectively, and the Romans gathered tax from Judaea. In 43 AD, Herod showed his allegiance to Rome by opposing an insurrection in Galilee and then opposing and undermining the Sanhedrin.

The Fall of the Temple

Jesus had made it clear that the Temple would fall:

...the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. (Luke 21:6)

This prophecy came to pass in 70 AD, during the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73 AD. This was the first of three major revolts by Judean Jews against the Roman Empire, brought on by religious and political tensions. It will be discussed in more detail next week). Josephus gives a graphic account of the Temple's fall:

And now two of the legions had completed their banks on the eighth day of Lous. Whereupon Titus gave orders that the battering-rams should be brought and set over against the western edifice of the inner temple; for before these were brought, the firmest of all the other engines had battered the wall for six days together without ceasing, without making any impression upon it; but the vast largeness and strong connexion of the stones was superior to that engine, and to the other battering rams also...

...and now the soldiers had already put fire to the gates, and the silver that was over them quickly carried the flames to the wood that was within it, whence it spread itself all on the sudden, and caught hold of the cloisters. Upon the Jews seeing this fire all about them, their spirits sunk, together with their bodies, and they were under such astonishment that not one of them made any haste either to defend himself or to quench the fire, but they stood mute spectators of it only...

While the holy house was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity ; but children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests, were all slain in the same manner..." (Quoted from The Wars of the Jews)

Model of the Second Temple, destroyed in 70 AD.Temple Mount today.Jagersma summarises this sad event in Israel's history too (p144):

In early 70 Titus began the siege of Jerusalem...Titus had in all four legions and auxiliaries for this siege. The beginning of the siege fell some weeks before Passover.

The Romans began by attacking the northernmost wall. In military terms this side was always the most vulnerable part of the city to defend...three weeks later the Romans had the whole of the inner city in their hands. Meanwhile a pressing lack of food in the city made itself felt. That of course was disastrous to the morale of the defenders.

The focal point of the dispute now shifted to the temple mount with the citadel of Antonia and the upper city. When the defenders succeeded in destroying the entrenchments which the Romans threw up against the wall Titus had a stone wall put round the whole city. This was done in three days. Shortly after that the Romans were able to capture the citadel of Antonia in a night attack; it was then completely destroyed.

A great blow to the morale of the besieged was the day when the offering of the daily morning and evening sacrifice had to be stopped. From that day on the temple was only a fortress. At the cost of very severe losses Titus succeeded in gradually getting it into his hands. According to Josephus, Titus wanted to spare the temple. This does not sound very plausible, since such an action would go against the usual military practices of his time. Be this as it may, the temple went up in flames. This event is still recalled in the synagogue on 9 Av (about August). [emphases added]

After the fall of the Temple the upper city of Jerusalem was taken, the whole battle lasting five months and wreaking terrible destruction, evidence of which can still be found today. 700 young Jews were paraded in Rome. Others were put to work in mines in Egypt or sold as slaves. The triumphal march of Titus in Rome is depicted on the Arch of Titus in the city and can be seen today. He took with him the Menorah and the Table of Shewbread from the temple.

Some Jewish families fled to the fortress at Masada near the southern shores of the Dead Sea, where they were surrounded by the Roman army who gradually ascended the mountain. In the year 73 or 74 the families took a suicide pact as their capture and humiliation became certain. So ended the devastation of Israel. The Temple, and hence Israel's religious and national centre, was lost, sacrifices ceased and a new Jewish Diaspora began.Stone outline of Roman encampment, viewable from Masada.The location of the Masada fortress.

Impact on Early Christianity

The fall of the City of Jerusalem and of the Temple in 70 AD coincided with the early days of the community of disciples in Jerusalem and the spread of the Gospel to the Gentile world. The Council of Jerusalem had taken place 20 years earlier. Paul's three missionary journeys had already taken place and both he and Peter had suffered martyrdom in Rome.

The majority of the New Testament Scriptures had been written. The Christian Church was a visible body within the world of Judaism. Theological issues had arisen and the separation from the Synagogue had begun.

The destruction of the Temple contributed to this separation. In the final chapter of his book A House Divided: The Parting of the Ways between Synagogue and Church (Paulist Press, 1995), Vincent Martin writes:

The reaction to the catastrophe of 70 C.E. among Jews and Christians proved to be diametrically opposite. The Jews rejected the NEW and the Christians rejected the OLD. The Jews affirmed that salvation for Israel could be found only by upholding in its pure form the Sinaitic Covenant; the Christians proclaimed that salvation for Israel, and the Gentiles, could be found only in the eternal covenant established through the risen Jesus.

Judaism...was unique, clearly distinct from all other religious systems. Totally God-centered, it had a deeply humanistic quality emphasizing ethical and social values. It was a "classical" religion, moderate, measurable, seeking harmony with nature, bursting with love of life and joy – when not punished by the Lord.

Suddenly, the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth with its more radical aspects, the proclamation by the Twelve that the same Jesus was truly risen inaugurated the heavenly Jerusalem, and the reaching out of Saul of Tarsus toward the Gentiles, all seemed to destroy the delicate equilibrium God had built through centuries of patience and inspiration. Not only did these novelties not correspond to the actual messianic expectations of the common people, but they were changing the focus of traditional Jewish life from covenantal justice toward gratuitous love, from concern with this world toward concern with the world to come, and from nationalism toward universalism. Such new perspectives were not essentially anti-Jewish, or completely foreign to Judaism, but they were stretching Temple Judaism to its limits and even beyond its limits.

Martin goes on to distinguish out various reactions to Jesus and the early Church from within the Jewish community, and shows how the political situation at the time framed these different responses:

To understand the reaction of the Jewish people to this new teaching, we must carefully separate the reaction of the Sadducean party in control of the Temple, and indirectly of the nation, from the general reaction of the people. The colonial situation, the fear of the Romans, and the will to maintain a grip on political power, led to an unavoidable conflict at first between the religious establishment and Jesus of Nazareth, and later his Galilean disciples. As the Sadducees lost all power after the burning of the Temple, the general reaction of the Pharisees and the common people remained the most significant response. Originally it was not negative. It was rather a feeling of uncertainty concerning the imminent coming of a hoped for messianic event mixed with a deep uneasiness at experiencing cherished traditions stretched beyond acceptable limits.

It is principally Pauline evangelism which started to transform an attitude of respect, curiosity and distance into a negative reaction. The sense of self-identity and the struggle for national survival in difficult political circumstances brought forth a great fear that the dissolution of Torah Judaism into an a-temporal and universal Judaism would strike down the dividing wall carefully constructed by Ezra and would finally destroy the integrity of the nation. The leaders of the Diaspora dreaded that Paul would attract many Jews to this strange and easier kind of Judaism; they were deeply offended at the manipulation of Jewish sanctities by uncircumcised Gentiles. This time it was not a matter of systematic doubt or suspended judgment but of a religious injury that needed an antagonistic answer. (ibid, p178-179, emphases added)

For Study and Prayer:

What should a Christian's attitude be to the dispersion of the Jews over nearly 2,000 years - and to the restoration of Israel today?

Next time: The Jewish Revolts

'Jacob's Tears', DVD documentary by Hatikvah Films (2015, 1 h 44 mins, available from the publisher for £15, or click here to stream immediately for £9.99)

How does one explain the 'why', 'what', 'where' and 'how' of the greatest catastrophe in Israel's national history (known as the Shoah in Hebrew), which took place less than 100 years ago in a highly civilised, cultured European country, during the twelve year reign of Hitler's Third Reich?

A DVD produced by Hatikvah Films, narrated by Peter Darg and Richard Climpson and presented by the late Lance Lambert, is a thought-provoking, arresting narrative of the Holocaust – presenting both Jewish and German viewpoints.

The Seeds of the Holocaust

The seeds of the Holocaust were planted in the German psyche well before World War II. During the 1930s, Hitler became the most successful politician of his era, uniting the Germans by blaming the Jews for the country's post-WWI political, economic and social woes. This created a climate for virulent anti-Semitism.

In 1930 after re-creating and enlarging 'the throne of Satan' (Rev 2:13), an ancient stone altar in Pergamum, as part of the new Nazi rally grounds in Nuremberg, Hitler used the enormous arena to accommodate the masses, who offered their adulation in raised-arm salutes to their Fuhrer. "Heil Hitler" means 'salvation comes from Hitler'.

This DVD by Hatikvah Films, presented by the late Lance Lambert, is a thought-provoking, arresting narrative of the Holocaust, presenting both Jewish and German viewpoints.

Sister Joela Kruger of the Evangelical Sisters of Mary explains the spiritual dynamic in Germany during that time. Hitler sought to eradicate the Christian witness there and to transfer the peoples' allegiance to himself - hence the conflict of the two crosses: the broken swastika and the true Cross of Jesus Christ.

Tragically the Church was silent, even after the horrific events of Kristellnacht on 9 November 1938. German Jews were set upon by the SS and SR, beaten, their homes attacked and looted and their synagogues burnt to the ground. Some brave Christian leaders - Dietrich Bonhoeffer amongst them - did speak out against Hitler, but NOT (significantly) against his treatment of the Jews.

Looking East

As the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Dachau became the hideous killing factories for European Jewry and other despised ethnic groups, Hitler turned his eyes towards Jerusalem. Being a prominent foreshadowing of anti-Christ, he allied himself with the Mufti of Jerusalem. Both men held an endlessly hostile attitude towards the Jewish people and they signed an agreement for the 'extermination' of the Jews.

By 1942, a German conquest of the Middle East seemed a distinct possibility. The British held the Mandate in Palestine (as it was then known) but the country was very vulnerable, completely surrounded by armed and dangerous enemies. The Germans were strategically placed to overcome the Allies but failed to capitalise on their advantage. The Allied victory at El Alamein secured the national homeland of the Jews – the land of Israel; many saw this as a victory by the finger of God.

Curses and Blessings

Many Germans today acknowledge that the Holocaust left a nation under a curse. Families have suffered generationally from the commitment of their forebears to the Third Reich. But praise God, those who come to Christ in repentance have the curse broken by Christ's work on the cross. What grace has been poured out to all sinners!

Is Germany cursed or blessed? Commentaries by Dr Harald Eckhert, Chairman of European Coalition for Israel and Dr Jurgen Buhler, Executive Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem are emotionally revealing. Some Germans have led the way into deep repentance for their nation's sins against the Jews. The late Basilea Schlink of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Darmstadt was a guiding light, leading the way. The nation has been rebuilt, is prospering and secure. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Germany owes its nationhood to the State of Israel. Both countries maintain a loyal, reliable and strong alliance. As Dr Eckhart asks with fear and trembling "can we as a nation match up to the grace that the Lord has poured out upon us?"

Some Germans have led the way into deep repentance for the nation's sins against the Jews, and God has poured out grace upon them. But anti-Semitism has not been entirely eradicated.

Sister Joela Kruger says that not all Germans are repentant. There is another form of anti-Semitism taking root there. It is opposition to the State of Israel. God's judgement has nevertheless been suspended to give Germany an opportunity to become a sheep nation (Matt 25:32). But he will have the last word.

DVD

I commend the DVD to all who have a desire to understand the role Germany played on the world stage during the 12 years of the Third Reich. The scenes and images on the DVD are familiar to some but traumatising for others - there is a warning about allowing children to watch it.

God Almighty does not change. He has said that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, BUT whoever curses Israel will be cursed. Let us too, as a nation, take warning.

ln this, the first of two articles, we re-print an interview with Lance Lambert from 1988, in which he gives a Messianic perspective on the fortieth anniversary of the State of Israel. Interviewed by Gary Clayton, Lance responds to the question: what does the future hold for the Jews, God's chosen people?

I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons, theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the laws, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all (Rom 9:3-5).

In Paul's letter to the Romans, the apostle refers to the Jews as being the natural branches of the olive tree that is Christ. At present some of these branches have been broken off so that, like wild olive shoots, the Gentiles can be grafted in, but when the full number of the Gentiles comes in, we will see many of the natural branches restored.

I do not think it will necessarily happen this year, the fortieth anniversary of the State of Israel, that the natural branches will be restored to the olive tree, but l do feel that we have nevertheless passed irreversibly into the last phase of world history. We know this from Luke 21:24, where Jesus prophesies that the Jewish people will fall by the sword, be taken as captives into all the nations, and Jerusalem trampled on by foreigners "until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled".

When the full number of Gentiles has come in, in the last phase of world history, we will see many of the natural branches of Christ's olive tree (i.e. Jews) restored.

The change takes place

The phrase "times of the Gentiles" signifies every time in history in which the Jews are subjugated by Gentile or non-Jewish ideologies, nations or forces. What Jesus was saying, therefore, is that these times would last until a change took place in the status of Jerusalem. Such a change did take place on the 6th and 7th of June, 1967.

In the last nineteen hundred years, ever since Jerusalem came under non-Jewish domination (barring 135/136 AD in the time of Hadrian, when Bar Kochba led a rebellion against the Romans and for a time liberated Jerusalem) it has never been under Jewish sovereignty or government. However, in 1967 the status of Jerusalem changed when it was placed under Jewish sovereignty and government, becoming the capital of the independent Jewish state.

Along with the appearance of this sign we also note the presence of wars, rumours of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences and persecution, all of which are a prelude to the Second Coming of Christ. lt would therefore seem that something is going to happen to the Jewish people, and perhaps the 1988 anniversary holds real significance as a result.

The mystery concerning Israel

In Romans 12:25-26 Paul says to Christians of Gentile extraction, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved." Unfortunately however, there does exist a conceit in the Christian world, especially in the West. At its worst this conceit has resulted in an anti-Jewish attitude, or at least a feeling that the Church can have nothing to do with the Jews.

There is a lack of recognition of the fact that the root of the olive tree is Jewish, as is the tree itself, and in the end will regain its natural branches. I do not believe that every Jew will automatically be saved simply because he is a Jew, any more than every Gentile could be automatically saved. It is only God's elect people who will receive salvation.

Salvation is from the Jews

The conceit is not malicious, however, but comes from the fact that the Christian church is largely Hellenised in culture, having adopted an almost totally Gentile outlook despite its Jewish roots and background. Such an attitude is understandable since the vast majority of Christians over the centuries have been Gentile. However, this does not in any way detract from the fact, stated by Jesus himself (in John 4:22), that salvation is from the Jews.

There is a lack of recognition in the Christian world, especially in the West, that the olive tree of Christ is Jewish, and in the end will regain its natural branches.

When Paul uses the term 'mystery' to describe what will happen to Israel he does not refer to something so academically complex as to be incomprehensible, but instead uses the term to denote a secret revealed to the initiated - to those born of God. Unfortunately most Christians are ignorant of this mystery. After all, the gospel can be preached until the speaker is blue in the face but unless the Spirit of God opens the eyes of the listeners they cannot be saved. It is precisely the same with Israel, for the Spirit of God has to touch the Christian heart before it can understand God's purposes regarding the Jewish people.

The eternal covenant

I believe that there are only two peoples in the world with whom God has made an everlasting covenant- the Jews through Abraham (Gen 17:7), and the true Church of God with whom he made a new and eternal covenant.

These are the only two peoples throughout history to have suffered horrifically and continuously. They have been hounded from pillar to post, persecuted, denigrated, devalued, drowned, burnt, buried alive and beheaded. I cannot understand it when people try to explain that the true church has suffered because it is the apple of God's eye and that the Jewish people suffer because they have been rejected by God. This simply does not make sense. Instead, I believe that the reason for this suffering has to do with both peoples being bound up with a divine destiny.

Throughout history, the Jews and the Christians have both suffered horrifically and continuously. I believe that the reason for this suffering has to do with both being bound up with a divine destiny.

The coming Messiah

Both peoples share the same origin, the same revelation of God, the same prophets, the same scriptures, the same Messiah. Indeed, both believe in the future coming of the Messiah: the Christian that he will return, the Jew that he will come for the first time. They both believe that the Messiah will bring in the kingdom of God and establish it on earth, resulting in the knowledge of the glory of God covering the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Sadly, over the centuries Jews and Gentiles have tended to part company over the character of the Lord Jesus. Walls of suspicion and distrust have grown up to the extent that they would appear to be almost entirely alienated from one another. Somehow these two peoples will come together and be forged into one in the person, and through the work, of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Fulfilment

As we enter into this new period in the history of the State of Israel we must be nearer than ever to this great event, the fulfilment of PauI's inspired statements concerning the grafting in of the natural branches. When this occurs it will result in resurrection life and power for the whole redeemed community.

First published in Prophecy Today, March 1988.

Clifford Denton begins a two-part study on what happened to Jews and Christians under the rule of Rome.

Every nation needs its own land. It is within its land that a nation establishes its particular way of life. Part of God's covenant with Israel was to give them the Land of Canaan. The people would be kept safe in this land providing that they followed the ways of God revealed through Moses. However, at their low times, Israel came under the rule of other nations.

This was the case at the time of Jesus and his first disciples: Rome ruled Israel. The climax of Roman occupation came with the fall of the Temple in AD 70. This coincided with the early days of the spread of the Gospel and so contributed to the separation of the Christian Church from its Jewish roots.

People and Land

After the wilderness years following their deliverance from Egypt, the children of Israel finally inherited their own land. Under Joshua they took possession of the Land of Canaan and established the nation, first under the judges and then under the kings. This was in fulfillment of the covenant promise given to Abraham:

On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates --the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Gen 15:18-21)

The conditions that the Lord gave for Israel's ongoing possession of the Promised Land were made clear through Moses. It is important to remember the precise terms of this Covenant.

Blessings for obedience:Man tending grain, Israel.

Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (Deut 28:1-7)

Curses for disobedience:

But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me...

The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth...

Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. (Deut 28:15-33)

These are not words to treat lightly. Christians should not stand in judgment over Israel, and use these words to support a persecution mentality towards Jews. It is in God's hands alone to work out his purposes according to the covenant that he made. He placed Israel at the centre of his covenant plan for the whole world. God's purposes are far higher, more complex and more loving than most of us realise, and so we must be careful how we read some of the harder scriptures, lest we misunderstand. Indeed, it is the role of those grafted into the Israel of God to comfort and pray for Israel the nation.

The covenant blessings and curses mentioned in Deuteronomy 28 are not words to treat lightly, but Christians should also be careful to not stand in judgment over Israel.

Israel itself must understand her own destiny as a nation and be aware of the covenant conditions that God has made. It is not for us to interfere in some of the major issues between Israel and God, especially regarding judgment. Indeed, we have already noted how this is understood by some leaders and interpreters of Torah. For example, in Popular Halachah: A Guide to Jewish Living,¹ we read in the chapter entitled Serving the Creator:

Because of the sins of our forefathers, we were driven from our land, the land of Israel. Exile, dispersion and suffering caused many of our people to neglect the study of the holy language (Hebrew), to forget the Torah and to assimilate among the gentiles. But God has promised the eternity of the Jewish people: "And yet for all that, though they be in the land of their enemies, will I not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, nor will I break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God." (Leviticus 26:44) And it is said: "For I, the Lord, I have not changed; and you, sons of Jacob, you have not ceased to be." (Malachi 3:6)

Go forth and search for the nations of old; where are they today? They have vanished! Not so the people of Israel who live on forever more. What is the secret of their survival? There is but one answer: The Torah! "And you who cleave unto the Lord your god, you are alive, everyone of you, to this day." (Deuteronomy 4:4) Our sages explained it this way: The children of Israel who clung to God, the Source of Life, have come to possess life everlasting.

If Israel would return to God in true repentance, then will He fulfill unto us His promise which He gave us through the prophets, His servants, to gather in the remaining exiles from the four corners of the earth, to restore us to the land of our inheritance, and bring us the Messiah who will rebuild the Temple and restore Divine Worship and the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.

These covenant issues are between Israel and God alone. Indeed, when God has brought enemies to rule over Israel these enemies are on their own path to God's judgment. This, for example, is what we understand from the prophet Daniel. Right up to the end times, the nations that come against Israel will eventually be judged by God. In Daniel 11:45-12:1, we read of the antichrist movement of the last days:

...he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.

When God has brought enemies to rule over Israel, these enemies are also on their own path to God's judgment, and will eventually fall.

Historically, the nations of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome came against Israel. They are now no more, while Israel survives and goes on to the end time purposes of God. Those who come against Israel have already built up reasons for God's judgements on themselves.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream where he saw an image of a statue representing the world empires that would be used in Israel's history (see right). They would all disappear. The gold head represented Babylon, the silver upper body depicted the Medes and Persia, the bronze lower body stood for Greece and the iron legs were Rome (the feet of iron and clay represent the empire of last days).

It was into this context that Jesus, when Israel was under Roman rule, predicted the fall of the Temple and yet also, in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 12, spoke of the continued purposes of God for Israel outworked through suffering.

For Study and Prayer

• Study Deuteronomy 28, 2 Chronicles 7:12-14, Jeremiah 31:31-37, Romans 11. What is the relevance of these covenant principles to the fall of the Temple in 70 AD?
• How should this make us reflect on Britain's relationship with the nation of Israel?

Next time: The Fall of Israel under Rome (Part 2)

References

1 Edited by Avnere Tomaschoff, and sponsored by the World Conference of Jewish Organisations (1985)

Having begun our survey of the separation of the Christian Church from its historical roots, we now consider aspects of our inheritance: what legacies have the Jews given us?

The history of Israel reveals many things. Above all, the Jewish people are a living witness to the covenant faithfulness of the One True God. In addition, however, despite much failure to attain the highest goals of Torah, the Jewish people passed on to the Christian Church a testimony of Biblical interpretation and lifestyle, giving enough light on God's relationship with (and requirements of) mankind for the Christian Church to enter into its inheritance.

Unfortunately, because of the failure of Israel to live up to the perfect standards of Torah, the Christian Church has largely failed to give credit where it is due. We will make a brief survey of just a little of what the Christian Church owes to the Jewish people. First an important comment.

Good but not Perfect

No-one claims that Israel was perfect. Indeed, God did not choose Israel because of its size:

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy... (Deut 7:7-9)

Nor did they displace other nations on merit:

Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land'; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deut 9:4-6)

The prophets constantly echoed the theme of imperfection which, at its lowest point, even resulted in exile from the Land:

If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then...it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.

Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known - wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. (Deut 28:58-65)

The Book of Lamentations shows the anguish of a fallen nation:

How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is she, who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces has become a slave! She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers She has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into captivity, under affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtake her in dire straits. The roads to Zion mourn because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries have become the master, her enemies prosper; for the Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. (Lam 1:1-5)

Contemporary View

Even a contemporary comment recognizes the failure of Israel to achieve perfection. In Popular Halachah: A Guide to Jewish Living (edited by Avnere Tomaschoff, 1985), we read in the chapter entitled 'Serving the Creator':

Because of the sins of our forefathers, we were driven from our land, the land of Israel. Exile, dispersion and suffering caused many of our people to neglect the study of the holy language (Hebrew), to forget the Torah and to assimilate among the gentiles.

Our Expectations

We do not need to labour the point further. We acknowledge that Israel has not been a perfect light to the Gentiles. However, there are two errors we can commit as we respond to this. The first error is to expect perfection from Israel. The second is that, on account of the imperfection, we neglect all the good that has been done for the Christian Church because of the testimony of Israel.

It is only by God's grace that the Christian Church exists at all. With the biblical testimony of Israel to help us understand God's ways and draw near to him, we must remember that all good is from God. However, we can still validly consider these things from the human level. We would not even have our Bibles if it had not been for the Jewish people who had to walk the hard road before us, write down what they heard and experienced, and bring the Scriptures to us through many generations.

If we had received the truth in our Bibles another way, we would not have had the living testimony that Israel brings, showing their full humanity. Imperfect though this human testimony is, it is nevertheless a good and useful testimony, the one from which we learn. If they had not walked the hard path of seeking to respond to God, and failing, would we not have failed in the same way?

Imperfect though their testimony is, Israel provides a vital living testimony of true humanity seeking God. If they had not walked this hard path before us, would we not have failed in the same ways they did?"

When we look at the Jewish inheritance we must consider it, from our human standpoint, as good but not perfect. We should not seek to emulate their failures, but we can learn from their experiences and, starting from that point, we can use the Scriptures to seek out the good roots of that testimony.

If we keep this testimony alongside us as we also seek to walk with God, we can ignore what is imperfect and learn from what is good. We can also give credit where it is due for all that the Jewish people have given to the whole world. Their testimony came at great cost.

Jewish Communities

To investigate what we owe the Jews we simply need to look into their community life, in which there is much variety. In our day, among the people in the Land of Israel as well as in Jewish communities around the world, we can observe everything from atheism to devotion to the God of their Fathers. In the midst of this variety, we discover every aspect of God's dealing with the Jews and of their response to him.

In the Home

Jewish communal life shows us that community is built on family. Our first picture is therefore not of the Synagogue, but of the home. The focal point of the home is the family mealtime. This is most strongly emphasized at the Shabbat table, where we hear prayers to God, blessings on the children and between husband and wife, the sharing of bread and wine, and the candle-lighting ceremony to remember the light of the Sabbath, pointing to rest in God.

Jewish traditions are not necessarily straight from the Bible but they are generally a response to this heritage. In this case, the response is to the biblical emphasis on the Sabbath; to thank God for His provision, to bless one another and centre one's spiritual growth in the family.

Education and Worship

On other occasions, the home becomes a centre for education. We can picture the father studying from the teaching of God, leading evening prayers or talking to his children about the Scriptures and about God. We see an emphasis on education in the home and remember how God said to Israel:

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut 6:6-9)

If we were to look around a Jewish home in more detail, we might see the mezuzah on the door (parchment including these verses from Deuteronomy). Similarly, at a Synagogue we would see the tefillin (small boxes also containing verses) on the arms and forehead of the men in prayer. These are among the constant reminders of Torah's centrality to the lives of the Jews.

From Synagogues to Churches

In the Synagogue we would hear Torah read on a yearly cycle, again emphasising that Torah is central to the life of the Jew. But the Synagogue is not only a place of congregational meeting- it is also a House of Prayer and a House of Study. Here there are echoes back to the days of the Temple (there are also echoes in the function of Christian church buildings).

The Jewish people passed on to the Christian Church models of prayer, worship, and honouring the Bible as the teaching of God, in both the home and the community.

From the Jews we have not only inherited the Scriptures and their testimony, but also models of communal life, prayer, worship, teaching, celebration and devotion."

Our knowledge of the One True God comes from our Jewish inheritance. If the Jews had not been zealous to remember the Shema (the Hebrew word for hear) then how would Gentiles have responded to the coming of Jesus? Without this heritage, the Church would have all too readily drifted into even more idolatry than has occurred over the years of Christianity. The Shema is from the Book of Deuteronomy:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deut 6:4-5)

The Feasts

What would the Christian Church have made of the Feasts of the Lord had not Israel faithfully celebrated the Feasts on a yearly cycle? How would they have understood Passover (and in relation to this, Communion) without the rooting in the Passover Seder of the Jews? From the time of Moses until today, the Passover Seder has developed and been celebrated in ways interpreted by the Rabbis. We are free to look through the traditions into what the Bible says, but we have the Jewish interpretation as a place from which to begin.

Witness to the World

Then there is the wider fruit of Israel's Torah-consciousness. It was always God's intention that this Nation should be the light to the world. Instead of a book of philosophy, God prepared a people to live out his purposes, observable by all nations. In the midst of a pagan world, Israel has been a witness to the living God who dwelt among his people, and also to the ethical and legal requirements of a nation under God.

Instead of a book of philosophy, God prepared a people to live out his purposes as a witness to all nations."

It is true that the Christian influence on the world's legal and moral stance has been great. Nations such as Britain and America have attempted to frame their constitutions on biblical principles. However, the first nation to show the way was Israel. They demonstrated that the Living God enters into the affairs of men not just through dry commandments but through living relationships and we have seen the outworking of this giving vision and hope for our own nations.

Suffering

In all of this, Israel has suffered the consequences of being the chosen nation in covenant relationship, demonstrating every aspect of man's need, his relationship with God, his failings and successes. God came to earth in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) through the relationship he had been building with the people of Israel. The suffering of Israel, on account of their inability to live out this relationship to the full, brought us necessary teaching, so that we all might inherit what was first offered to them.

Faith and Works

Israel is built from families, and yet it is a nation, a corporate entity. There is a balance here that the Jews teach us between family and nation.

There is also a balance between faith and works. Every nation is bound to its own inheritance of land. The nation of Israel teaches us the very meaning of inheritance: an inheritance (in biblical terms) is something that God gives and yet which you also work for. Israel is a society that sees faith and works in balance- and as a consequence, Jews have achieved success in every area of human endeavour, even in the Diaspora.

We can therefore learn about the biblical balance of work and faith by observing the Jews (this has long been the starting point for the work ethic of Christian believers, and we must not forget it).

Christian Inheritance

The Christian Church has entered into the inheritance of the Jews, not to replace the Israel of God, but live as part of the Israel of God's family of faith rooted in Messiah:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh...that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:10-22)

From Inheritance to Biblical Root and Fruit

We can go on and on taking examples from every area of life to emphasise the indebtedness of the Christian Church to the Jewish people, and each of us should be careful to study this and give credit where it is due. Though Israel was not perfect, and even though individual Jews cannot fulfill their Covenant response to God unless they have faith in Yeshua the Messiah, we have good examples from Jewish life of the inheritance into which we were adopted. Every study of Jewish response to God is an example to us. This was touched on by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10.

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ...Now these things became our examples...

When we read the Psalms, we ought to read them in the context of Israel's experience, out of which they were written. When we read the prophets we should study first the context of the history of Israel, as we seek to know God and the prophetic understanding of our own day. When we read the Torah we should consider how Israel responded to God through his teaching. We will find lessons for every part of life. If we look at the practices of the Christian Church and the fruit of Christianity among the nations, we must realise that all practical application of biblical principles began with the Jewish people.

We must realize that through history and across the world, all practical application of biblical principles began with the Jewish people."

Then we must go back to the Bible itself and study what is biblical, what is a good tradition and what is not useful from Jewish tradition, thereby maturing in our own response to Scripture. We have years of Christian history to consider too, in our appraisal of what the life of faith is meant to be. In all our searching, we must remember that our biblical inheritance was passed on to us through Israel and the Jews.

The most important truth of all is that Jesus the Messiah comes one hundred per cent from a Jewish background. The testimony of Jesus is perfect, but he would not want it to be detached from the background of Judaism from which he emerged - as King of the Jews. The perfect message of Jesus is not in isolation from this context.

Apart from Jesus, Israel did not fulfil the prophecy of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. But they have suffered for us in passing on an inheritance, and we must recognise this as part of our own heritage.

For Study and Prayer

Consider Romans 11 in light of what we have studied.

Next time: Theological Conflict

When Christianity loses its Hebraic foundations, it loses its vital focus on community...

Introduction

Following on from our previous study, we recall that Paul would have seen no new concepts in his apostolic ministry. He used the Tanakh (Old Testament) as his Scriptures. He understood the glorious revelation of what God had in mind in all the years leading up to that time, now fulfilled through Jesus. For example, he would have understood:

• how the covenant with Abraham was to be fulfilled.
• how the New Covenant that Jeremiah foresaw (Jeremiah 31) was fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah.
• that what God promised for Israel came to clarity through Jesus.
• in what manner Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles.
• the basis of the Olive Tree metaphor.
• that sin needed a permanent remedy.
• the types and shadows of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.
• the balance of Law and Grace.
• the heart principles of Torah.
• the balance of justice with mercy and of faith with works.

He would also have reflected on the Feasts and Sabbath and seen the reason for the days of preparation for the coming Messiah. And his mindset would have been the building up of the Covenant family of God.

Revelation of the Word

Paul's revelation of Jesus, a bright shining light from the dim shadows of understanding, would have stood in context because of his rabbinical training. The preparation of his understanding of the Tanakh (Old Testament) makes the revelation of the Gospel not only rooted, but also understood through the contrasts that were made.

Take, for example, the concept of salvation. This was not a new concept with the New Testament. It is a constant theme with over 150 direct references in the Old Testament, of which over 60 are in the Psalms. The Psalms deal with mankind's response to all the travails of life. Their application is first to the trials of this life, developing into a Messianic expectation that looks to a permanent separation of the righteous from the wicked, and to an eternal life free of the pressures in this life.

For Paul, the revelation of Jesus made perfect sense in view of the Old Testament, in which concepts like salvation and the coming Kingdom are constant themes."

Jesus confirmed this when he spoke the parables of the Kingdom, bringing faith and hope to those who were downtrodden with no human means of escape or salvation. There are also glimpses of the future Kingdom in the Tanakh, such as in Job and the Psalms:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:1-27)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. (Psa 23:4-6)

It needed the revelation that Paul had directly from Jesus to understand the greatness of the salvation brought through Jesus. This did not change, but shed fresh light on his earlier training in the Scriptures. The whole world needs this same revelation. This is the Gospel message, echoed by the writer of the Hebrews:

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? (Heb 2:1-4)

Paul would have known that the Hebrew word for salvation- Yeshua -became the name and ministry of the Son of God, whom Christians re-named Jesus.

Without the revelation of the eternal purposes of God, it is only ever possible to interpret the Bible in earthly terms."

Without the revelation of the eternal purposes of God, it was only possible to interpret the shadows of the Gospel message in earthly terms. Even with the scholarship of the Rabbis, there was misunderstanding and disagreement about the future hope for Israel:

For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection -- and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. (Acts 23:8)

From the same source material as the Jewish Rabbis of his day (the Tanakh – Old Testament), however, Paul understood its true fulfilment in the life, ministry, sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. His understanding linked Heaven to earth. There was both a promise for eternal life and an application to this life.

The Man and the Message

Pause, and imagine Paul travelling from place to place through the countries surrounding the Mediterranean. He was both the man and the message. He was a prepared vessel, ready to share the Good News of Salvation from his very inner being, from the foundation of the Gospel to its fulfillment in Jesus.

He traveled from place to place sowing the good seed, pouring himself out, as it were (Phil 2:17). All this was before the Church Councils that re-defined Christianity as a new thing, separate from its Hebraic foundations.

Now let us turn briefly to the application Paul had in mind for building community on this earth.

Community

One of the most important consequences of the Gospel message, understood against its Hebraic background, is that it is linked to community. It was Greek philosophical thinking that turned the message of salvation into an other-worldly theological concept, often overly detached from application to this world. The Gospel of salvation can become the end, not the beginning, preached Sunday after Sunday to those already converted, forgetting the fact that we should be building a mature witnessing community in this world.

Paul and the other apostles had a 'this-world' perspective of the Gospel: it was a beginning, not an end, to be played out in community."

Paul and the early Apostles would have had a 'this-worldly' perspective of the Gospel message, emanating from their Hebraic background of being rooted in the community of Israel. Salvation is personal but the consequence, on this earth, is to strengthen family and community.

Greek Humanism

By way of contrast, consider what Greek philosophy has imposed on the Christian Church. Greek humanist thought would have been unimaginable to Paul on his apostolic journeys, as he sought to invite Gentiles into the ancient family of faith promised to Abraham and fulfilled in Jesus.

Contemporary author and lecturer John Carroll has seen in humanism what many Christians have not seen. In Humanism: The Wreck of Western Culture (Fontana, 1993), he has a telling message relating to the post-Reformation Church. Carroll's main thesis is that the Greek philosophies, on which humanism is founded, fail to answer the deepest questions of mankind – namely those associated with death.

In his book, Carroll also sees elements of failure in the Church as well as in the humanistic world. The humanism of the Renaissance was not completely washed away from the emergent Church of the Reformation. The author makes a brief, but perceptive, analysis of the Protestant Church that emerged at the time. He writes of the great work that was done in many ways to bring the message of personal salvation, but he also notes that this was at the expense of community:

The Puritan's constitutional inability to relax in the world combined with its reliance on his own conscience to undermine the role of both priest and church. Protestantism is in essence, under Calvin's huge shadow, a conglomerate of one-man sects loosely held together by a common metaphysics. Its achievement was to create another powerful individualism with which to counter the new humanistic individualism. The cost was the decline of community. Once there is a faith alone and Calvin's conscience, the vital unifying role of family, village and town has been eclipsed. The Reformation threw out the incense and holy water, the chanting, the bleeding madonnas and most of the sacraments. It burned the relics and smashed the statues; it banned the dancing. It found, however, that the Church it occupied had cold floors and bare walls. The communal warmth had gone. (p62, emphasis added)

Paul's Gospel message emerged from the community of Israel, and was based on a covenant community that expanded to include those saved from the Gentile world. When the Hebraic roots of the Gospel message are neglected, Greek shadows replace them and so the Gospel loses its community setting. This is one of the most important aspects of restoring the Hebraic foundations of the Gospel message.

When the Hebraic roots of the Gospel message are neglected, Greek shadows replace them and the Gospel loses its sense of community."

In the section entitled 'Salvation: Escape or Involvement?' in Our Father Abraham, Marvin Wilson echoes the same thoughts:

The Hebrews boldly affirmed their God-given humanity. Again and again in Scripture we see that their identity was found in society, not in isolation from others. They did not view the earth as an alien place but as a part of creation. It was on earth alone that human beings' highest duty and calling could be performed – namely, that of bringing glory to their Maker through the praise of their lips and the work of their hands. (p179, emphasis added)

For Study and Prayer

If Paul visited a church in the Western world today, would he recognise it as emerging from the Middle Eastern context of his day?

Next time: Our inheritance from Israel and the Jews

Clifford Denton concludes his study of the Apostle Paul's attitude to Torah.

In order to recover Christianity's intended relationship with Israel, we must study the way they grew apart. There are a number of historical factors that began in the First Century and continued up to the present day – it was a gradual process more than a one-off event. It is important to consider each of these factors carefully.

In this study we will continue to consider Paul's attitude to Torah. It was inevitable that theological differences would occur between the disciples of Jesus and the existing rabbinical sects, so the developing tension would always have the potential of causing a rift. Nevertheless, when we read Romans 11:11 we might wonder if the Christian Church has fulfilled its particular calling to provoke the Jews to jealousy, when some branches of Christianity are all but unrecognisable as the authentic fulfillment of Old Covenant promises.

Has the Christian Church become so estranged from its roots that it now fails to provoke Jews to jealousy with its fulfilment of Covenant promises?"

It is therefore reasonable to reassess Paul's perspectives in order to recover the balance we need.

Need for balance

Above all, nevertheless, we must remember who we are in the Lord Jesus as we study these things and not lose our New Covenant inheritance through any form of imbalance. Time and again, Paul emphasised that disciples of Jesus were saved by grace. Theirs was a walk of faith, according to the life of the Holy Spirit. We must not detract from this wonderful liberating truth. We who are saved by faith must not return to the external obligations of ritual halakhah.

Yet, Paul also knew that the Lord Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, had taught:

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:17-19)

There is a balance for New Covenant believers to achieve between walking in the liberation of grace through faith, and not rejecting God's law."

Paul the Apostle taught the life of the Spirit; he also had the depth of understanding of Torah to use the Scriptures to teach heart principles. For example, he used Deuteronomy 25:4 (concerning feeding oxen who tread the grain) to argue the case to care for those who teach the Gospel (see 1 Cor 9:9, 1 Tim 5:18).

Linking the New with the Old

The New Testament is not a new law book to replace the Law of Moses, so we will find only a few examples of Paul's way of thinking to link back to Torah. The more we consider this, however, the more serious our own quest to connect new with old should appear. Consider, for example, a principle illustrated in passages such as Ezekiel 26:2-3:

Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha'...Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you...

Tyre came to nothing because the people did not respond correctly to the Babylonian captivity of Judah, thinking they should mock the people whom their God had abandoned. Could Paul's understanding of this be behind his statement in Romans 11:18-21:

...do not boast against the branches...do not be haughty but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either...

Paul's biblical mindset led to his understanding of weighty matters concerning the God of Israel, some with important prophetic significance.

For fear of Judaising, many Bible teachers have barely begun to handle the Scriptures so fluently as Paul."

For fear of Judaising, many Bible teachers have barely begun to handle the Scriptures so fluently as Paul. Over the centuries there have been many alternative standpoints from which Scripture has been taught. Let us, therefore, consider these.

Two extremes

In Our Father Abraham, Marvin Wilson gives the example of Marcionism- a set of Church teachings originating in Rome with Marcion of Sinope, in the 2nd Century AD. Wilson writes (p108):

To some degree, Marcion appears to have been influenced by the dualistic teachings of Gnosticism. Thus he held that the world, with its appalling evils, was created by a Demiurge (a term Gnostics borrowed from Platonism). This cruel god of battles and bloody sacrifices, so Marcion contended, was revealed in the pages of the Old Testament. He insisted that since an evil world could not be created by a good God, the Old Testament was really the Demiurge's book and hence of lesser status than the New. The Old was the great antithesis of the New and thus was demeaned as being imperfect, offensive, and unedifying.

But the New Testament, Marcion insisted, revealed the true God in the coming of Christ from heaven. Unlike the Demiurge, this God was a God of love. Marcion argued that the New Testament, being Christ's book (not that of the Demiurge), was unquestionably superior to the Old Testament. Furthermore, in his quest to demote the Old Testament from its recognized position of authority, he began to extol the writings of Paul, which held that Christians were "free from the Law" (cf Galatians 5:1). He contended firmly that the Church was wrong in attempting to combine the gospel with Judaism. Indeed, Marcion's principle goal was to rid Christianity of every trace of Judaism. Hence Marcion became the archenemy of the "Jew God".

Wilson goes on to point out that Marcionism is still prevalent in the Christian Church today albeit in another guise. By contrast, he also writes of another sect of Early Christianity called the Ebionites (p25):

The Ebionites, a Jewish-Christian sect which flourished for several centuries after A.D. 70, are most likely a continuing reflection of the Judaizing movement. An ascetic group, committed to poverty as a life-style, the Ebionites upheld the whole Jewish Law but rejected Paul's letters on the grounds that he was an apostate from the Law.

These are two extreme examples of the many views Christians have taken on Paul's teaching. They show that the consequences of our worldview, mindset or way of thinking can be profound, ranging from antinomianism to legal bondage.

Olive Tree Theology

In Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel (Jewish New Testament Publications, 1988) David Stern explores three types of theology, which he terms Covenant, Dispensational and "Olive Tree". Of the first two he writes (p16):

Christian theologians have usually followed one or two approaches in dealing with this subject. The older and better known one is generally called Replacement theology or Covenant theology, although it is also appearing these days under other names; it says that the Church is "Spiritual" Israel or the "New" Israel, having replaced the "Old" Israel (the Jews) as God's people.

More recently there has developed in Protestant quarters Dispensational theology, which, in its more extreme form, says that the Jewish people have promises only on earth, while the Church has promises in heaven.

David Stern goes on to remind his readers of the Olive Tree metaphor of Romans 11, inventing the term "Olive Tree theology". This was the way that Paul considered the Covenant community to be defined. Gentiles are grafted by faith into an existing body in which Jesus the Messiah is central, and where the roots go back to the Patriarchs and the Covenants.

Paul defined the New Covenant community as branches grafted by faith into an existing tree, rooted in the Patriarchs and Old Testament covenants, in which Messiah Jesus is central."

How does the Torah fit into Paul's Olive Tree theology? Since Covenant history for Israel was Torah-based (intended to be understood in the right way), we from the Gentile world, with a different background to our lives, must be careful not to read into what he says through our own preconceptions, thereby misunderstanding what he is really teaching us.

Let us consider Paul's way of thinking a little more.

Paul's Way of Thinking

We can start in a number of places to anchor Paul's way of thinking. Following David Stern, Romans 11 is one place, where Paul brings balance to his teaching to the Romans about how the Gentiles were saved by grace through faith, entering the existing community of Jewish disciples of Jesus the Messiah.

Acts 15 is another place, where we see Paul and the other apostles and elders grappling with issues of halakhah for Gentile converts and deciding that the Torah is not to be a set of obligations, but is to be learned, in its fulfilled sense, through the Holy Spirit. A new and living halakhah was being launched into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit, but the Covenant heart was still founded on the Torah of God.

We could also start in Galatians and find a strong word against the wrong interpretation of Torah which deprives the believer of his freedom in Messiah.

Wherever we start, we must conclude that Paul does not teach that the Torah is replaced by something else. Instead, Paul leads the believer to trust in God and live by faith, recognising the value of the written Torah as a guide and inspiration. He shows great trust in God rather than man (including those Rabbis who, with strongly held traditional interpretations, did not recognise the Messiah) for the willingness to guide each believer on to maturity, within the context of the believing community.

Wherever you start in Paul's writings, he does not teach that the Torah is replaced by something else. Instead, he leads believers to trust in God and live by faith, valuing the Torah as a guide and inspiration."

In Romans 7:12 he recalls that though the flesh is too weak to obtain salvation for a person by striving for righteousness, the Torah is nevertheless holy:

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

In writing to Timothy, he upholds the Torah as the foundation of teaching:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

Here, we must interpret 'Scripture' as the existing Tanakh (Torah, Prophets and Writings – what came to be called the Old Testament by Christians). The New Testament was still emerging and was not yet united as a single document.

Walking with God

Yet, we sense that Paul is urging his students on to a personal walk with God rather than the ritual lifestyle that typified Israel before the coming of Messiah and the giving of the Holy Spirit. He also exhorted Timothy:

But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. (1 Tim 1:8-11)

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:24-25)

Paul sees that New Covenant faith is like the faith of Abraham that leads a person to walk with God. That is the goal of Torah. He sees Jesus the Messiah as central to the fulfillment and goals of Torah, like the objective one sees through a telescope when one is on a journey (to a destination). This is the "end" or "goal" of the Torah in Romans 10:4, which is the pivot point of the teaching in the Letter to the Romans, where Paul shows the chief and central context of the Torah is Jesus the Messiah:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4)

Thus Paul's mindset is completely Christ-centred whilst also being Torah-centred. He sees beyond his Rabbinical training whilst not denying his roots. He sees a need for the grace of God and the fulfillment of the sacrificial system for sin permanently accomplished in Jesus, so that the punishment for sin of those who believe is also nailed to the cross (Col 2:14). He exhorts us to freedom in Jesus and a walk in the Spirit of God with the Torah on our hearts.

Paul's mindset is completely Christ-centred whilst also being Torah-centred: he urges believers on to freedom in Jesus and a personal walk with God with the Torah on our hearts."

Those who read Paul as denying Torah and breaking from Covenant history have not understood his background, and have misunderstood his message of freedom from sin in the power of the Holy Spirit.

A Balanced Perspective

Since Paul is so central to the teaching of the New Testament, many books have been written concerning his relationship with Torah. The secret is to first assess the context of Paul's call and understand the background from which he came. Then it is possible to walk through this theological minefield without danger, recognising the error of those who are reading into the Scriptures what they have already decided that Paul would say, to justify their bias.

The issue is balance. Paul does not exhort us to come under the yoke and limits of rabbinic Judaism. This led to the powerful letter the Galatians. Salvation is by grace alone and through faith, leading to a walk in the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the gift of God to a disciple of Jesus. The authority of the rabbis to interpret Torah had, inevitably, become bondage to external show rather than spiritual relationship.

Nevertheless, we must recognise that the roots of Judaism are also the roots of Christianity. Christianity must not be a replacement but a fulfillment of Torah. Indeed a new form of legalism within Christianity, perhaps equivalent to a sect of Rabbinic Judaism, is not the goal either, but a continuity of biblical Torah founded in covenant history which leads to the faith of Abraham in the context of knowing all of God's teaching. Paul leads us to a maturity which bears the fruits of justice and mercy through love, whilst living humbly in the protection of Jesus for the shortcomings of our lives.

Paul encourages us towards the faith of Abraham: walking with God, knowing his teaching and bearing the fruits of his Spirit, whilst living in the protection of Jesus for our own short-comings."

The curse of the law (Gal 3:13) was the curse for disobedience (Deut 27). It was this curse that Jesus took upon himself so that we could be free, not to sin but to walk with God under the leading of his Spirit. It was not that the Torah of God was a curse, but that we needed help because of our inability to attain the righteousness that is at the heart of Torah.

For Study and Prayer

In Ephesians 5:18 Paul writes, "be filled with the Spirit." In a similar passage, Colossians 3:16, he writes, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." How might a Christian fulfill Romans 11:11 by a balanced walk in word and Spirit?

Next time: Paul and the spread of the Gospel.

Charles Gardner reports on an inspirational conference bringing Jew and Gentile together in the peace and reconciliation of Christ.

With the Middle East engulfed in flames, a story of peace and reconciliation was unfolding last week in Manchester, where delegates from all over the Arab world came together for a unique conference aimed at building bridges between Arabs and Jews who have become followers of Jesus.

As Iran continues its aggressive stance against Israel, threatening to wipe the Jewish state off the map, Iranian refugees and asylum seekers now living in Britain embraced their Jewish 'brothers', some of whom had travelled from Jerusalem to meet with them. Also present was a sizeable contingent of Egyptians along with representatives from Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria. Others wanting to join them had been unable to get visas.

Highway of Peace

As part of the great untold story of the Middle East, the three-day conference was hosted by the Church's Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ), a 200-year-old Anglican society specifically dedicated to spiritual revival in Israel. Other key figures behind the event were Robert Sakr and Michael Kerem, along with Rev David Pileggi, rector of Christ Church in Jerusalem.

Although working mainly among Jews since its founding in 1809 by slave trade abolitionist William Wilberforce and members of the Clapham Group, CMJ has also consistently reached out to Arabs over the years and, in 2012, held their first At the Crossroads conference at their Jerusalem headquarters to enable Jew and Gentile to express their oneness in Christ and work together to spread the gospel, on the basis of a prophecy from Isaiah 19 (v23-25) of a "highway" of peace and reconciliation from Egypt to Assyria via Israel.

The 'At the Crossroads' conferences aim to bring Jew and Gentile together to express their oneness in Christ and work together to spread the gospel."

This highway, which includes much of the modern-day Arab world, represents the very path travelled by Abraham, father of the Jewish race, and so it's perfectly appropriate that it is also the road to peace for Isaac and Ishmael, the sons of Abraham.

Iranians Pray for Jewish Rabbi

At the second At the Crossroads conference, held in Jerusalem in 2014, a number of UK-based Iranians were turned back at the Israeli border and so missed out on a chance to meet with other Muslim-background converts from all over the region. And so, UK at the Crossroads was arranged to encourage and inspire those who would struggle to enter Israel.

David Friedman, a Messianic rabbi from Jerusalem, was delighted that so many Iranians had turned up for the conference – they have established thriving churches throughout England – and implored them to join him in praying for barriers to be broken between their two countries.

"We need to get together and pray for our two nations," he said. Reminding them of a time in ancient days when a Persian king opened the door for his people to come back home, he prayed that God would so pour out his Spirit that hatred of Israel (among the authorities) would be melted by love. The alternative was a nuclear conflagration that would destroy not only the Middle East, but possibly the entire world.

Before he had finished speaking, the Iranians responded by coming forward to pray for him, and for Israel! It was an awesome moment- something akin to an earthquake in reverse as a shattered and broken world is put back together again, with all the pieces mended.

An Israeli Messianic rabbi implored people to pray for barriers to be broken between Iran and Israel. Iranians responded by coming forward with an awesome offer of prayer."

United in Jesus

Sessions were interspersed with times of worship in Arabic, Farsi (the language spoken in Iran), Hebrew and English, creating a beautiful atmosphere of shared love and identity. Communication may have been a challenge at times, but you only had to look in each other's eyes to know you were one in Christ who, in the words of St Paul, destroys the dividing wall of hostility, creating "one new man" out of the two, thus making peace and reconciling both of them to God through the cross (Eph 2:14-16).

Beirut-based Robert Sakr, one of the visionaries behind the conference, said: "There's no such thing as a peace process apart from Jesus. In the 55 years I've lived in the Middle East, there has been no political solution."

There's no such thing as a peace process apart from Jesus." ~ Robert Sakr

Turkish Christians Apologise for Armenian Genocide

The conference also heard how Turkish Christians recently met with a group of Armenians to apologise for the genocide that took place 100 years ago.

Admitting a mistake goes very much against the grain in the Middle East, but they embraced in the name of Jesus and a Turkish pastor, Ali Pektash, got down on his knees to wash the feet of an elderly Armenian, apologising for what his grandparents had done, whereupon the Armenian responded by washing the feet of his Turkish brother-in-Christ.

"Forgive me for what my people have done in killing, torturing and forcefully converting and expelling you from our land," Ali told his hosts, asking them to pray that the curse he believed had come upon his nation as a result would be lifted.

The Armenians, along with a group of Yazidi Kurds, duly prayed for their visitors and forgave them. And when two pastors who had been at loggerheads with each other saw what happened, it melted their hearts and they were reconciled.

Focus on the Wheat

Robert Sakr frankly admitted that he didn't understand what was happening in the Middle East today, with borders being wiped out and bloodshed on a horrific scale. "But I know that God is in control and that the harvest will come in an environment of both persecution and blessing."

Referring to Jesus' parable of the weeds (Matt 13) in which he explains that the weeds, planted by an enemy, should be left to grow with the wheat until the harvest, Robert said that while organizations like CNN and the BBC were focused on covering news about the weeds, "we must take care of news about the wheat".

"We're the 'good news' people; our job is telling people what God is doing, not the enemy." He said Zionism and Arab aspirations are incompatible. "But God has the last word. For 67 years some of the smartest people in the world have tried to solve this problem. It's a puzzle. But I'm focusing on the crop of wheat which is growing and expanding. Israel was a spiritual desert when I was growing up. Now there are so many believers. We need to focus on the wheat. Yes, unimaginable evil is being perpetrated in today's world. But what God is intending to do in our day is beyond our wildest imaginations."