As the dust settles in Nepal, Charles Gardner considers the prophetic significance of earthquakes...

Frightening scenes of the earth shaking in the Himalayan region, bringing death and destruction to Kathmandu while trapping climbers in an avalanche, are stark reminders of our insecurity on this planet.

And although this is a terrible tragedy for the people of Nepal, where thousands of helpless souls were caught in its grip, I believe this is a prophetic sign from heaven as the mountain range known as the 'rooftop of the world' threatens to bring the 'house' down – that is, everything we have held safe and dear during our temporary stay on terra firma.

Wake-Up Call for Israel

In fact, a recent Jerusalem Post editorial referred to the first Nepalese earthquake as a "wake-up call" to Israel, urging the government to ensure that the nation is better prepared for a similar disaster, pointing out that the Jewish state lies on a 'fault' line which runs down the Jordan Valley and that a quake could strike at any moment.¹

Experts have been warning for a number of years that Israel is at risk of a big earthquake in the near future.

Reinforcements are still necessary for schools, hospitals and other public buildings more than 35 years old (ie built before stricter quake-resistance regulations were introduced). Apparently Israel experiences a serious quake every 80-100 years, and the last one occurred in 1927.²

The findings for such a scenario (prepared for Israel five years ago) – that a quake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale (less than Nepal's) would kill an estimated 16,000 people and render 377,000 homeless – are sobering indeed.³

Earthquake Prophesied at Jesus' Return

Yes, it's scary, and we should prepare for the worst. However, such an apocalyptic vision will inevitably become reality for Israel – it's in the Bible! The prophet Zechariah foretells of a time, at the end of the age, when all the nations would come against Jerusalem, causing terrible distress. But the Lord himself will go out and fight them in the day of battle.

On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. (Zech 14:4)

In a recent blog for the Times of Israel,⁴ I mentioned how Yeshua, the Jewish rabbi whom Christians (and a growing number of Jews) worship as Messiah, indicated that earthquakes would strike with increasing frequency and severity, as labor pains on a woman in childbirth, immediately preceding his return.

The Bible tells us that when Jesus returns in glory, he will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split in two"

And the New Testament records that it was from the Mount of Olives that – 40 days after Passover – the risen Jesus ascended to Heaven. Luke, thought to be the only Gentile to have authored any book of the Bible, said Jesus was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.' (Acts 1:9-11)

Verse 12 tells you that this dramatic incident occurred on the Mount of Olives. So we believe that Yeshua, when he returns, will place his feet there and the ensuing quake will shake the foundations of every man and woman on the planet.

Solid Foundations

We must ensure that the foundations of our lives are solid, rooted in an absolute trust of Elohim⁵, and not just in our temporary homes on this earth, so that when everything else shakes around us, we at least emerge with our faith intact. And when all is said and done, that's what really matters. For all who have not built their 'house' on the only strong foundation there is will be left naked, ashamed and forlorn.

If the foundations of our lives are solid, rooted in absolute trust of God, then as everything else shakes we will emerge with our faith intact."

Famous British author and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, in his book Jesus Rediscovered, wrote:

The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth. As long as we are aliens, we cannot forget our true homeland.⁶

There are many people, including Christians, who are convinced things will get progressively better. Their worldview is based on a utopian aspiration that believes our efforts can bring heaven to earth. But as Jews for Jesus international director David Brickner says, this is not the worldview the Bible presents:

Anyone who thinks things will become progressively better in our world either hasn't heard or hasn't believed what Jesus said in the Olivet discourse (in which he discussed the end of the age). In a word, it is cataclysm, defined as 'a flood, a deluge, any violent change involving sudden and extensive alterations, an upheaval, a social or political one'.⁷

Brickner states: "Jesus says to expect a geopolitical, religious, economic, ecological, sociological and astronomical cataclysm".⁸ But as the world around us disintegrates, if we believe and trust in Yeshua, he promises to help us, strengthen us and guide us to a bright and beautiful eternal future where the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14).

References

1 Nepal wake-up call, 26 April 2015.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Earth-shaking events are signs from heaven, 29 April 2015.

5 This Hebrew name for God (Gen 1:1) traditionally signifies God as Creator and Judge of all.

6 Fontana, 1969, p30-31.

7 Dystopia: the truth behind the fiction, May 2014.

8 Ibid.

Clifford Denton continues to consider consequences of the separation of branches of Christianity from its original roots.

The Jewish Messiah becomes the Gentile Christ

This week, we are pausing in our historical survey of Christianity's parting of the ways with Israel and the Jews to consider some of the consequences. There is nothing more important to consider than the way Israel's Messiah has been taken out of his historical and cultural setting and re-defined by Christian theology. At the extreme, some Christian theologians have made Jesus Christ unrecognisable as the expected Messiah of Israel.

Of course, a rejection of Yeshua by many Jews contributed to Christians making fresh claims and re-defining him in a Gentile context. This included changing his Jewish name (Yeshua) to a Greek form (Jesus), and changing his title (Mashiach – Messiah – Anointed One) to the Greek (Christos, shortened to Christ). Whatever the cause, the same Christian theology that saw the Church as replacing Israel has often also been in danger of transforming Yeshua into a Greco-Roman god, an Anglican Bishop, a product of Lutheran or Calvinistic theology, or many other things including a European, African or other form of iconic figure.

Jesus has often been removed from his historical and cultural setting and re-defined by Christian theology, so we lose a sense of his Jewishness."

Words that we use and pictures that we paint are loaded with meaning and are interpreted through the way hearers think. The meaning of the words Jewish and Messiah must be understood without modification of their true, intended meaning. When understood correctly, it is a certain fact that Jesus is both Jewish and Messiah. He perfectly describes and fulfills the meaning of those terms. He was born into a Jewish family, and came to earth to be the Messiah.

These are basic issues for both Christians and Jews. Jews may have defined their Jewishness in a certain way and their Messianic expectation in a certain way, so that many Jews missed the moment of revelation that Yeshua (Jesus) is indeed the Jewish Messiah. Whatever may be the reasons, however, many Christians have disconnected themselves with Judaism so much as to miss the point that Jesus was, is and will return as King of the Jews.

In truth, Jesus was, is and will return as the King of the Jews."

Jesus and his followers

We can read the biblical account over and over again, and still have a mindset that has been cultivated through our own background and culture. We might pay lip-service to the Lord's Jewishness, without realising that our image of him is actually far removed from the truth.

Jesus was born and raised out of the stock of Israel and the Tribe of Judah. He is the fulfillment of the covenant promise given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets of Israel. It was essential, in fulfillment of prophecy (see below), that he was and is of the Tribe of Judah, King of the Jews and the promised Jewish Messiah.

Marvin Wilson writes in his book, Our Father Abraham:

The life and teachings of Jesus reveal a deep commitment to the Jewish beliefs and practices of his day. He was born of Jewish parents (Matthew 1:16) and circumcised on the eighth day in accord with Jewish Law (Luke 2:21). As a boy he celebrated Passover (Luke 2:41-43), and as a youth he learned by interacting with various Jewish teachers, all of whom were amazed at his understanding (Luke 2:46-47). Frequenting the synagogue from Sabbath to Sabbath as was his custom at the start of his adult ministry (Luke 4:16), Jesus was exposed to a wide range of Jewish thought.¹

Marvin also points out:

Furthermore, Jesus' early followers were Jews. Less than three scant years after Jesus launched his public ministry, a nucleus among them would found the primitive Christian assembly. Jesus discipled his followers in the fashion of a typical first-century itinerant teacher of Judaism. Not in synagogue classrooms but on hillsides, in fields, and in remote locations, this Galilean carpenter's son clustered many pupils about him.²

Jesus came to the world of the Rabbis (each being from a various sect of Judaism) and ministered according to Rabbinic traditions, in his own perfect exposition of the Hebrew Scriptures. In particular, we note Jesus' own central purpose while he was on this earth, to find "the lost sheep of Israel" (Matt 15:24).

Jesus the Jewish Messiah

Not only did Jesus come into this world as a Jew, he also fulfilled the promises given through the prophets of the coming Messiah to suffer for his people. The Hebrew root of the word 'Messiah' is 'one who is anointed'. The Messiah foretold by the Scriptures is the one who is anointed by God to lead his people, and bring in eternal peace.

Jesus first came to suffer and pay the sacrifice for the redemption of his people. On his return he will fulfill the remaining prophesies and bring in the Messianic Kingdom (Jude 15, Rev 2:27). Many people from the tribes of Israel expected the Messiah to fulfill the promises all at once when he came. There was an expectation of the "lion lying down with the lamb", the symbol of peace that would confirm the Messianic Kingdom (extracted from Isaiah 65:25). There was therefore a disappointment when this did not take place all at once, and this has been a cause for many Jews rejecting Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah to this day.

Jesus came in fulfillment of the promises of Scripture and will return in fulfillment of the promises of Scripture."

Yet, he came in fulfillment of the promises, will return in fulfillment of the promises and continue to confirm that he is indeed the Messiah. He was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a Jew in fulfillment of all prophecies pointing to his sacrificial death and resurrection. He will return as the King of the Jews, returning to Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel and Judah. Here are some of the Scriptures pointing to Jesus (Yeshua), the Jewish Messiah.

• Jacob prophesied His coming from the Tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10).
• Balaam foresaw the Star out of Jacob and the Sceptre from Israel (Num 24:17, 19).
• Moses foresaw the coming Messiah (Deut 18:15).
• David knew that the Messiah would come from his descendants (Psa 132:11).
• Micah was told that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2).
• Daniel was shown the time of the coming of the Messiah to suffer for His people, and Isaiah predicted the suffering too (Dan 9:26, Isa 53:5, 7).
• David related the suffering of Messiah to the Passover Lamb (Psa 22:6).
• Zechariah was shown that Messiah's own brethren would be involved in the sacrifice (Zech 12:11; 13:6).
• The Messiah would rise from the dead (Isa 53:10, Psa 16:10, 11).
• He would be the Son of God (Psa 2:7).
• He would rule with the Father (Psa 110:1).
• He will return to execute vengeance on His enemies and establish the Messianic Kingdom (Jude 15, Rev 2:27).
• He came as the Lamb (John 1:29) and will return as the Lion of Judah (Rev 5:5).

While some people, including many Christian theologians, have created an image of Jesus that is divorced from his Jewish and Hebraic background. Others, including some of his own brethren, have not realised that God raised him up as one of them, of the Tribe of Judah, totally integrated into the biblical world of Israel. He was, is and will return as the Jewish Messiah.

Jesus was, is and will return as the Jewish Messiah. In him is the mending of the rift between Christians and Jews: there is no other way."

The mending of the rift and uniting of Christians with the Israel of God is in and of Yeshua HaMashiach. There is no other way.

For Study and Prayer

Do you agree that some Christians may have unconsciously accepted concepts of Jesus that are not compatible with his Jewish background? Can you think of any examples? How can we move towards correcting any misconceptions?

Follow this link for a study of the significance of the Hebrew letters that form the name Yeshua.

Next time: The Jewish Heritage of the Christian Church

These studies are developed from the course Christianity's Relationship with Israel and the Jews, first prepared for Tishrei Bible School.

References

1 Eerdmans 1989, p40, emphasis added.

2 Ibid.

Helen Belton looks at the history and significance of Pentecost, or Shavuot, the biblical 'Feast of Weeks'.

Shavuot in the Hebrew Bible

Easter and Passover coincided this year and so this Sunday (24 May) begins the Jewish festival of Shavuot, known to Christians as Pentecost, referring to the fiftieth day after Passover.

There were three feasts at which the Lord required the men of Israel to go up to Jerusalem to present themselves before him, known as the pilgrim feasts: Passover (Pesach in Hebrew transliteration), Pentecost (Shavuot meaning 'Weeks' in Hebrew) and Tabernacles (or 'Booths', Succot in Hebrew) (Ex 23:14-16). Jesus, the disciples and the early Church celebrated these feasts.

Shavuot or the 'Feast of Weeks' is so called because of its connection in time to Passover. The Israelites were instructed as follows in Deuteronomy 16:9-10:

You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name.

So, from Passover you count off seven weeks (or 49 days) until the fiftieth day, Pentecost (from the Greek for 'fiftieth'). The counting period between the two feasts is known as the counting of the Omer. 'Omer' is Hebrew for 'sheaf': agriculturally, Pentecost marks the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. So, you are counting the sheaf to see when it is ripe for harvest.

The Anglican Church has kept the relationship between the two festivals: the Easter season continues for 50 days until Pentecost. At Easter we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus and at Pentecost we celebrate the giving of his Spirit. Many Christians are not aware that Pentecost was an ancient festival long before its mention in Acts. Acts 1:5 says that there were "staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven". What were they doing there? Celebrating Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks.

Shavuot in the time of Jesus

Like all the pilgrim feasts, Shavuot was a harvest festival. At the Temple in Jerusalem, the first fruits of the harvest, known as the Seven Species, were offered. These are: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates, listed in Deuteronomy 8:8 as the fruits in which the land of Israel was rich.

Farmers would tie a reed around the first ripening fruits from each of these species in their fields. At the time of harvest, the fruits identified by the reed would be cut and placed in baskets woven of gold and silver.

The baskets would then be loaded on oxen whose horns were gilded and laced with garlands of flowers, to be led in a grand procession to Jerusalem. As they travelled, the people sang praises to God and rejoiced in his goodness. Priests would meet the pilgrims on the edge of the city and lead them up to the Temple Mount with music, psalms of praise and dance.

At the Temple, the priest would take the sheaves, the firstfruits of the harvest, and wave some in every direction. By doing so, the whole crowd would be acknowledging God's faithful provision and sovereignty over all the earth.

The priests also waved two loaves baked with yeast before the Lord, as prescribed in Leviticus 23:17-21. This was unusual because normally yeast was not to be present in a sacrifice to the Lord, since yeast represents sin in scripture.

How Shavuot is celebrated today

Today the celebration of Shavuot has changed drastically. With no Temple, there can be no waving of the Omer, offering of neither the first fruits nor the waving of the two loaves.

People decorate their homes and synagogues with flowers and greenery because this was originally a harvest festival. The Torah or Law is celebrated because Shavuot was the time of the giving of the Law through Moses at Mount Sinai. Because of this key historical significance of Shavuot, it is also traditional for Jewish men to stay up all night studying the Torah and for Jewish children, age five, to begin their first formal studies of the Torah.

The book of Ruth is read because the story occurred around the time of the harvest and also because Ruth is seen as a great example of someone who voluntarily took upon herself the yoke of the Law. Shavuot is also the anniversary of the death of King David, who was the great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz.

Viewed through New Testament eyes, we can see that Ruth's story also shows the determination of a Gentile to seek God and to be attached to his people. Boaz typifies the loving-kindness of our Redeemer, his compassion and admiration for Ruth's faith and commitment to his people causing him to accept his role as kinsman-redeemer and enter into covenant relationship with her in marriage. In the same way the Lord entered into covenant with Israel, like a marriage covenant, with the Ten Commandments (known as 'the 10 Words' in Hebrew) as the wedding certificate (Heb. ketubah).

The book of Ruth is often read at Shavuot. Through New Testament eyes, Ruth shows the determination of a Gentile to seek God and to be attached to his people."

Traditionally, foods made from milk products are eaten at Shavuot such as cheesecake, blintzes (cheese crepes), kreplach (triangle dumplings), and holiday loaves representing the two loaves waved and eaten in the Temple. It is thought dairy products are eaten because the Promised Land was a land of "milk and honey", and as Song of Songs 4:11 says: "Like honey and milk [the Torah, by interpretation] lies under your tongue."

There is also a theory that because the Jews only received the Torah at Mount Sinai (the reason Shavuot is celebrated), they didn't have the laws of how to slaughter and prepare meat prior to this. When they received the Torah and the commandments about ritual slaughter and the separation law of "do not cook a kid in its mother's milk" (Ex 34:26) leading to the complete separation of meat and milk products in traditional Jewish cuisine, they didn't have time to prepare meat dishes, so they ate dairy instead.¹

In the morning service in synagogues on Pentecost, Exodus 19 and 20 are read (the giving of the 10 Commandments). The congregation stands because you are to hear the word of the Lord in awe, as though standing at the base of Mount Sinai and personally receiving these words from God. Ezekiel 1 and 2 are also read, which describe visions of God surrounded by wind and cloud, flashes of lightning and brilliant light, just as in Exodus 19:6 it says there was "thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast."

Shavuot and the land of Israel

Five days after the Six Day War ended in 1967, over 200,000 Jews flocked to Jerusalem. One eyewitness said:

It was biblical, like a pilgrimage. On that Shavuot, people felt that Mashiach [Messiah] was in the air. I've never known such an electric atmosphere before or since. Wherever, we were stopped, we began to dance. Holding aloft Torah scrolls we swayed and danced and sang at the tops of our voices. So many of the Psalms and songs are about Jerusalem and Zion and the words reached into us a new life. As the sky lightened, we reached the Zion gate. Still singing and dancing, we poured into the narrow alleyways beyond.²

With the reunification of the city of Jerusalem in 1967, a custom to 're-enact' the festival pilgrimage began. Every year, hundreds of people stream on foot from throughout Jerusalem to arrive at the Kotel (Western Wall) early Shavuot morning in order to pray at a sunrise service.³

Every year in Jerusalem since the end of the Six Day War in 1967, hundreds of people re-enact the festival pilgrimage."

Since then, more Jewish people have become believers in Jesus as Messiah than at any previous time in history. Before 1967, there were no Messianic congregations in Israel and now there are over 150.⁴

The link between Passover and Shavuot/Pentecost: redemption and revelation

Passover and Shavuot were connected because of the two harvests and the counting of the Omer- the 50 days. But they are also connected in a deeper way.

God brought redemption at the first Passover: in the exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people were freed from being slaves to Pharaoh. Then, 50 days later at Shavuot, they accepted the Torah (God's Law given through Moses) and became a nation bound to the Lord. If they were fully obedient and kept this covenant "then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex 19:5-6).

The Torah kept God's people even if they did not keep the Torah in all its fullness. So a new covenant was needed for them and to bring in the nations of the world. Messiah Jesus came and died at Passover (the Messiah is our Passover Lamb, says Paul, in 1 Cor 5:7). 50 days later, at Shavuot or Pentecost, he sent his Spirit to create a renewed holy nation, "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Pet 2:9).

However, redemption is not the end of the story. God redeems for a purpose: in order to reveal. Shavuot is about revelation: first of the word (the Torah) and then of the Spirit. Exactly 50 days after the first Passover, God gave the Torah to Israel and so Israel was born as a nation, as a called-out, chosen people, priests to the world.

Shavuot is not just about redemption, it's about revelation: revelation of the word and of the Spirit."

About 1500 years later, at that same festival of Shavuot in Jerusalem, 50 days after Jesus gave his life at Passover, God poured out his Spirit to seal the covenant with his renewed bride, the body of believers in Messiah (which was 100% Jewish at that point).

In Acts 1 we read that the disciples were together in one place, an upper room. We assume that the disciples were still in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came (Acts 2:1) but they would have been at the Temple, because that is where Pentecost was celebrated. "All together in one place" suggests somewhere large enough to accommodate all the disciples, not just the 12.

Also, Acts 2:41 says that 3,000 were added to the believers that day, so it would have had to be an enormous upper room! Peter addressed the crowd of pilgrims who had come for the Feast at the place it was celebrated, their national and spiritual centre, the Temple in Jerusalem. Those 3,000 were immediately baptised and the only place where that was possible was at the Temple.

The Lord promised in Haggai 2:9 regarding the Second Temple that:

'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty.

This promise was fulfilled as the Prince of Peace stood in the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles and declared that those who would turn to him would experience streams of living water flowing through them (John 7).⁵ Jesus was speaking of his Spirit, and on the fiftieth day after his death at Passover- at Pentecost -his Spirit was poured out like water over his disciples in the presence of all Israel gathered for the feast of Shavuot,coming to rest on each as tongues of fire. The onlookers were invited to join with the disciples, and those who did became the Body of believers in Messiah: the early Church.

From death to life: repentance and faith

Just as the Spirit of Messiah revived and cleansed their spirits, so their bodies were washed as a sign by baptism or, as it is known in Jewish tradition, the mikveh or ritual bath. At the Second Temple site, archaeologists have uncovered many ritual baths (pl. mikvot). These mikvot were used for ceremonial cleansing before entering the Temple, but also for immersion as a sign of repentance.

At Sinai, 3,000 died because they turned from the Lord to idolatry with the golden calf (Ex 32:28). In Jerusalem, 3,000 were brought to spiritual life as they returned to the Lord in repentance and faith in the Messiah (Acts 2:41).

At Sinai, 3,000 died because they turned away from the Lord. In Jerusalem, 3,000 were brought to spiritual life as they turned back to God in repentance and faith in Jesus as Messiah"

Mount Sinai was covered in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire (Ex 19:18) and 70 elders of Israel saw the Lord and prophesied, but at Mount Zion in Jerusalem the Holy Spirit descended like tongues of fire on all the believers and they all prophesied – men, women, young and old as Joel 2:28 foretold: "I will pour out my Spirit on all people". The miracle of Pentecost was not just the ability to speak another language supernaturally, but that all the believers prophesied.

Even more significant is the wider fulfilment of prophecy to Israel. At Pentecost the Lord demonstrated that he had not finished with Israel. He proved his covenant faithfulness by making his new Jeremiah 31 covenant with the people he had restored from exile:

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls (Joel 2:32).

We think that Pentecost is about the birth of the Church, but it is about the rebirth of Israel.

At the time of the first Pentecost, the only believers in Jesus were Jews. In due course, foreigners would join with Israel: not all Israel believed and so "branches were broken off" from the olive tree of faith so that wild, pagan branches from among the nations (or Gentiles) could be grafted in (Rom 11:17-19).

The aim of giving the Torah and giving the Spirit was the same: to enable a holy God to indwell a sinful, but chosen people.

The aim of giving the Torah and giving the Spirit was the same: to enable a holy God to indwell a sinful, but chosen people."

God with us - and in us

"Let the people build me a sanctuary", the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 25:8, but he does not say 'so that I may dwell in it', but 'so that I may dwell in them'.

We may think that we search for God, but God is searching for us in order to indwell us.

At Mount Zion, the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 was fulfilled. Previously, God's law was written on tablets of stone, but now it is written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. At Sinai the covenant of circumcision was given, a mark in the flesh as a sign of covenant. At Mount Zion, the sign of the covenant was "circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code" (Rom 2:29).

After Pentecost, even Gentiles, we who were far off, were brought in to God's kingdom: as Peter said:

God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:8-9)

So even the Gentiles could become temples of the Spirit of the living God (1 Cor 6:19). We are "living stones", a collective temple of God's Spirit, as Peter puts it, who "are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood" (1 Pet 2:9).

Christians often talk about 'going up' to heaven, but the story of the Bible is about God coming down"

Christians often talk about going up to heaven when we die. But the story of the Bible is about God coming down: in creation, at Sinai, in Jesus, at Pentecost and eventually in the new heaven, the new earth and the new Jerusalem, when God will live with us (Rev 21:3).

Israel reborn

So, at Pentecost Israel was reborn: a renewed called-out people (Heb. kahal, Gk. Ekklesia, Eng. church). It was an all-Jewish body of believers at this stage. Those Jewish believers visiting from the nations, from the Jewish diaspora, became the first emissaries of the gospel, fulfilling prophecy: the word of the Lord did indeed go forth from Mount Zion and from Jerusalem, as Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 prophesied.

'Diaspora' is a Greek word that literally means "through scattered". Those same seeds that had been harvested for the Lord at Pentecost were re-scattered among the nations as they returned to their homes, forming part of a new spiritual diaspora. Exiles from the future kingdom of God, their true home, they were seeds scattered through the nations to bring the gospel to the known world.

Peter wrote to these Jewish believers as follows: "To God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces" (1 Pet 1). They were seeds fallen to the ground, with some dying for the gospel, and Peter wrote to encourage them as they were undergoing Roman persecution for their faith.

The harvest extended to the Gentiles so that, as Ephesians 2 says, non-Jews are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people, joined to the commonwealth of Israel. The loaves made with yeast that the priest waved on the day of Pentecost symbolise the harvest of sinful man from among both the Jews and the Gentiles.

Jesus became the firstfruits from among the dead (1 Cor 15:20) when he rose from the dead at Passover, fulfilling a part of that festival called the 'Feast of First Fruits'. At Pentecost he is joined by Jewish and Gentile believers, symbolised by the two loaves. So, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile, is united as "one new man" as Ephesians 2:15 says.

A Ruth Church

Like Ruth, whose story is read at Shavuot, the Gentile woman who followed her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi back to the Promised Land and through kindness and obedience followed a greater destiny than she could have imagined, Gentile believers in Jesus also say, "Your God will be my God."

Where are the Ruths in the Gentile church who will make Israel "envious" (Rom 11:11) through kindness and attractive obedience to God's word? They are still few in number. We must reject the stay-at-a-distance criticism and hostility which has been typical of the Church's dealings with the Jewish people historically and is often still the case today, although now it is directed at re-gathered Israel, the nation.

Will we become the Ruth Church that we were destined to be, loving and supporting Naomi, our frailer, older relative, Israel?"

Will we become the Ruth Church that we were destined to be, loving and supporting Naomi, our frailer, older relative, Israel? Will we draw near to the Lord and to his people, as the Lord desired at Sinai and at Jerusalem in the giving of his Law and Spirit, so he can indwell us and unite us as "one new humanity" of Jew and Gentile (Eph 2:15)? Or will we stay at a distance (Ex 15:21) as Israel did at Sinai, so that only Moses heard the voice of the Lord?

Acknowledgement: with thanks to the late Dr Dwight A. Pryor of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies (teaching available via www.jcstudies.com and www.cfi.org.uk) for his insights on this subject.

References

1 Gordon-Bennett, C. Why do Jews eat dairy on Shavuot?

2 Voices of Jerusalem-Crowd of Tears, Hadassah Magazine 77, No.9, May 1996: 23.

3 Domnitch, L, 2000. The Jewish Holidays: A Journey Through History. Jason Aronson.

4 Directory of Messianic Organizations in Israel.

5 This resonates with the water libation ceremony that took place at the Feast of Tabernacles, which also connects to Shavuot- but that is a subject for a further study.

'Older Younger Brother: The Tragic Treatment by Christians of the Jews', by Canon Andrew White (self-published, 2014, 48 pages)

This short account of Jewish-Christian relations over the centuries contains a concise summary of the main historical events that feature in other books of this kind, but also adds some fascinating extra details not usually found elsewhere.

Andrew White, Vicar of St George's Anglican Church, Baghdad (known affectionately as the 'Vicar of Baghdad') is able to bring a clear personal perspective to this sorry tale of how Christians have mistreated the Jewish people. His background and training included studying at a Rabbinic seminary in Israel, which provided him with a spiritual passion for the Jewish people and a love for their Scriptures and other writings. This, together with his current role in the Middle East (especially in reconciliation projects), means he is well aware of the innate bond between Christians and Jews, how this has been shattered and what can be done about it.

Andrew traces how the Christian Church divided itself from its Jewish roots and examines the theological prejudices behind this. His brief survey of the Church Fathers is followed by an examination of key moments in the Middle Ages and the Reformation, leading to more recent events such as the Holocaust. All this may well be familiar to many, but he then adds an account of two important conferences aiming to combat the prejudices which had produce these catastrophes.

Andrew White is well aware of the innate bond between Christians and Jews, how this has been shattered and what can be done about it."

He quotes in full the 10 point statement produced by the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) held at Seelisburg in 1947, a statement which the author says "remained the most significant document on the issue of the relationship between Jews and Christians for over 60 years" (p25).

He then reproduces, also in full, the more extensive and updated statement published by the ICCJ following their 2009 conference in Berlin. This deals not just with Christian-Jewish matters but also considers two other important issues – relationships with Islam and the establishment of the state of Israel. His conclusion is that this is "a truly amazing document" which although "accepted by many academics and those concerned with Christian-Jewish relations" has sadly been ignored by many other Christians and whose precepts have not been followed by all churches (p30).

He then examines why this unhappy state of affairs still exists, mainly from a theological rather than political point of view. In this section he outlines the 3 R's of Christian theology towards the Jews. He explains the role of Replacement theology and its dangers and evils. He also compares this to Remnant theology (basically Christian Zionism which has become popular over the past hundred years) and the less well known Recognition theology, whose core belief is found in the Seelisburg Conference pronouncement mentioned earlier and which was largely formulated via the ICCJ.

The author allows us to make up our own minds on the latter two, as recent re-assessments of Christian attitudes towards the Jews, but he is certainly clear that "the evil of Replacement Theology is now once again poisoning Christian minds" (p30).

He doesn't leave it there, but explains how this resurgence of Replacement Theology is now centred upon the nation of Israel and its relationship with the Palestinian people. This is producing a new crisis between Jews and Christians, especially those who wish to show compassion towards the Palestinians.

Andrew's experience in the Middle East gives him valuable insights"

The author's experience of the Middle East (he is President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East) gives him valuable insights, but he is also aware that "the great fissure within the church over Israel and the Jews is of enormous importance, with ramifications spreading far beyond the troubled region of the Middle East" (p44).

Overall this is a very useful contribution to the information and arguments usually expressed within the whole area of Christian-Jewish relations. How the Younger Brother turned against the Elder is a lesson of which we all need to take note. An awareness of where this has left us today, politically and theologically, is vital for all thoughtful and caring Christians.

Our Scriptures were first given in a world that was very different from today. To understand the Scriptures, we need to place them in their proper context and study the world in those days, particularly in and around the nation of Israel.

The Bible emerged over several thousands of years that witnessed the rise and fall of several ancient Empires. This is heritage of our faith, and the background of Jesus and the first Christians. Understanding it helps us to be properly grafted into the olive tree (Rom 11). It is the legacy of our people: the land, language and culture moulded by the teaching of the One True God. On account of the call of Abraham, we call this culture Hebraic.

Why are language and culture important?

The Scriptures are not just words and ideas that lead to philosophy; they deal with matters of the heart and the way people live out their lives.

No other language is quite like Hebrew, because Almighty God brought his teaching to his people through this language. In this sense, through the language and the teaching transmitted through it, Almighty God cultivated a people for himself. We identify this as Hebraic culture.

"No other language is quite like Hebrew, through which Almight God brought his teaching to his people."

Which God?

It has been said that language is 90% of culture, and this is in accord with all we have said so far. The focus of our attention, when we consider the world of the Bible, is the Middle East, the nations around the Fertile Plain and the Mediterranean basin. These nations were distinguished by their different languages, many of which had the same Semitic root. This led to some cultural overlap in the Middle East.

Beyond the influence ofStatues of Canaanite gods language, however, is the influence of the religions and gods of these different nations. Archaeology confirms the multitude of these gods from the statues and inscriptions that have been found, and we can see how the culture of the nations was framed by their beliefs and religious practices.

Israel was the only nation in the ancient world that knew the One True God. Abraham, the father of the Hebrews, was called out of the worldly system of Ur of the Chaldees. He learned to live by faith in God, becoming a pilgrim and stranger in a world of false gods. This principle framed the culture of the Nation of Israel in a unique way. Only Israel had direct teaching from God who revealed himself first as Yahweh (YHWH) and later fully revealed himself through Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah.

He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. (Psa 147:19-20)

Despite (perhaps because of) their constant failures, the Nation of Israel in the wilderness years and in the Land of Israel thereafter are included in our Bible to teach us important truths. With the Scriptures as our reference and the history of Israel as our witness, and with the other nations of the biblical world as a contrast, we can begin to understand the unique and distinct character of a people under the One True God.

Resources for Study

The walls of Jericho

For students of the Bible, learning about the historical and geographical context of Scripture can be invaluable. Today, this is a relatively easy task: archeological sites have been opened in all the major countries mentioned in the Bible. Many sites can be visited, museums hold examples of what has been discovered and many relevant books and DVDs are available.

Not all of these resources are expensive and, where possible, a student of the Bible should acquire a small library, especially of books that have good illustrations. Illustrations give invaluable insights to enhance written descriptions of the world of the Bible and of the cultural background from which the Christian faith emerged.

They enable us to see at a glance the clothes that were worn in Bible times, features of the outdoor lifestyle of Abraham’s day, the styles of houses and the Bedouin tents, routines of home life, festivals and ceremonies of life such as birth and marriage, education, healthcare, the farming life, the crafts, means of travel and so on.

The prominent nations and Empires should be studied, including Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, and the Bible should be read in parallel so that what is studied can be put into a biblical context.

Finding similar examples today

Despite dramatic technological changes and advances in communication, we can still find examples today of cultures that remind us of the biblical world, particularly where lifestyle is simple, mainly outdoors, reliant on manual labour and devoid of the inventions of the modern era.

There are still areas of the world where water is obtained from wells, where there is no electricity or flush toilets, where pottery is baked in the village and bricks are home made, where cloth is spun and where the land is farmed according to ancient traditions. Such areas of the world give us a present day glimpse into the days of the Bible.

"Unless we develop a mindset that places our Bible readings into the ancient cultures from which they came, we will filter what we read overmuch through our experience of the modern world."

What do we gain?

Library at the Western Wall of Jerusalem

As we begin the study of the world of the Bible, at the heart of our efforts, through all the contrasts, will emerge a picture of God’s own people throughout the generations: a picture of Yahweh developing a Hebraic character in his people.

The purpose of studying these things is to understand more deeply the heritage from which the Christian Church came, that we might be properly rooted into the family of the olive tree (Rom 11) and not left to filter our understanding through some other culture ruled by alien spiritual powers.

In his letter to the believers in Rome the olive tree is Paul’s chosen metaphor for the covenant family of the God of Israel. We have considered the metaphor itself, so now let us study more fully what Paul wrote in the letter.

A balanced understanding is of great importance here. As we discussed in the previous article, imbalance has contributed to replacement theology and its consequences. Imbalance of other kinds is possible too in our quest to understand the relationship between the Christian Church and Israel.

The God of Israel remembers his Covenant promises to Israel, but these promises are only fulfilled through faith in Jesus the Messiah (Yeshua HaMashiach). There is one way to salvation for both physical descendants of Israel and those called to faith from the Gentile world. This too must be kept in balance.

Romans 11: a picture of the Covenant family

Paul’s letter to the Romans has been held up as his theological masterpiece. In it, he sets down a comprehensive understanding of God’s Covenant community fully and finally revealed in Jesus. In Chapter 11 Paul explores the way God is drawing together his Covenant family from all nations. However, this chapter does not stand alone - we must consider it in relation to the previous chapters of Romans.

The key issue in Paul’s day was a new move of God, whereby Gentiles, through faith in the Son of God, were included in the Covenant family. Chapters 1 to 8 are used by Paul to bring understanding to what God has done through the New Covenant. In chapters 9 to 11, Paul then balances this focus on the Gentiles by exploring God’s continuing purposes for Israel.

In Romans 11, believing Jews and Gentiles are seen as branches of the same body. Paul shows that God had already called many Israelites to faith and also has plans to call others in the future.

The ongoing plan, according to the promises given to Abraham, is that through grace there will be some from every nation in that family and an ongoing inclusion of some from the Tribes of Israel.

God’s timing

Since the time of Jesus there has been a partial blindness on the nation of Israel regarding God’s purposes in and through Jesus the Messiah, yet God still has a plan and a purpose according to all that he has promised. Paul asks:

I say then, have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! (Rom 11:11-12)

Paul sees a door of opportunity for the Gentile world opened by God. He is clear that he has been called as an Apostle to the Gentiles, but the Gospel to the Gentiles is not at the expense for God’s ultimate plan for Israel.

Paul’s ongoing love and concern for his physical family, the biological descendants of Jacob (Israel), is also very clear.

Paul’s ongoing love and concern for his physical family, the biological descendants of Jacob (Israel), is also very clear. He looks forward to the time when God will restore believing branches of Israel to himself, and though branches were cut off like branches cut from a tree, they can be grafted in again.

Believing Gentiles join, not replace, an existing family

Those who have been brought from the Gentile world into the family of God must realise they were brought into an existing family, just as a branch is grafted into an olive tree. They must recognise fully what God has done by their inclusion and not think that they have become a new family. Rather, they are a new part of an old family.

Particularly, by knowing this they must not boast but be aware of their position. They must in all humility understand that God has ongoing plans for the Israel. An implication is that Christian branches can also be cut off unless they are drawing the true life of the olive tree and producing true fruit, becoming what the deep soil and nourishment of Covenant history intended them to be.

Application

When Paul first used the metaphor of the olive tree there were misconceptions about the relationship of the new Christians in Rome to the roots of their faith. This may have been the reason for the clear exposition in his letter to the Romans. Be that as it may, the letter has also been bound into our Bible as a teaching for all generations.

Despite this, however, there has been neglect of chapters 9-11 of Romans (even in some Bible schools), so that the tendency of Christians through the centuries has been to misunderstand the roots of their faith. As a result, issues like the following are often side-lined or poorly understood:

• The Middle Eastern background of Christianity: Christianity developed out of Israel at the time of Jesus, and was founded on the long history that had paved the way to the coming of the Messiah. God’s covenant was made with Abraham; this is the foundation for all who come to the Father through faith in Jesus the Messiah.
• The Hebraic roots of Christianity: The language of Israel was Hebrew and the culture was Hebraic. This context became the foundational setting for the Christian faith. To study the Hebraic nature in the background to Christianity one should study the cultural and historical settings of the patriarchs and the Israelites through Old Testament times, and also study the Hebrew language to gain insights into Hebraic thought processes.
• The influence of Greek culture on the Christian faith: The Gospel went out to the Gentile world in the framework of the Greek language. This encouraged the Hellenisation (Greek emphasis) of the Church and the infiltration of Greek philosophical ideas that in turn caused separation from the true roots of the faith. The more meaningful approach has always been to trace back the Hebraic background to better understand the Gospel message as an invitation to join the Covenant family of God.
• Paul’s Jewish background: Paul came from a Torah-based, Rabbinical community. One should look into both his biblical and cultural roots to see the background from which he conveyed his message to the Gentile world.
• The Gospel call: The Christian Church emerged from a pagan world, but the Gospel message came from the nation of Israel, which was where God had made himself known by revelation. The call was to join God’s Covenant people through faith in the Messiah, not to interpret the Gospel message into the practices of the pagan world.

For Study and Prayer

Read the entire Letter to the Romans and consider the balance of Paul’s message. How might we ensure that we have the balanced perspective on our place in the Covenant family of God?

Next time: We will consider how aspects of ancient Middle Eastern culture help us understand the background to the Bible.

These studies are developed from the course 'Christianity’s Relationship with Israel and the Jews', first prepared for Tishrei Bible School.

What has Christianity got to do with olive trees? Clifford Denton opens up this important metaphor from Romans 11, in this second installment of our series on Christianity's relationship with Israel and the Jews.

In Romans 11, the Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of an olive tree to teach about God's Covenant family. In the preceding chapters of the Book of Romans, so strong is Paul’s message about inclusion of believers from the Gentile world, that one might consider that the Christian Church has replaced Israel. Hence, from chapters 9 to 11 there is a re-balancing of the picture. This confirms the continuing place of the physical descendants of Israel in the Covenant purposes of God.

Replacement Theology

Replacement Theology is the term that is given to the view that Christians replaced Israel as God’s Covenant People. Replacement Theology teaches that the failure of Israel has resulted in their total rejection - so that God could make a fresh start on a New Covenant plan. This is very subtle and has contributed to the loss of the Church’s deeper identity and an unnecessary rift between Christians and Jews. A study of Romans 11, therefore, helps us in the quest to restore an understanding of the relationship between Israel and the Christian Church.

The Olive Tree in Scripture

The olive tree is a familiar sight in the Middle East and, because of its character, is a very appropriate symbol to teach us about God’s Covenant family.

The first mention of the olive tree is in Genesis 8:11, where a dove brought back an olive leaf to Noah as the floodwaters receded. There are also a number of times when the olive is mentioned as a tree cultivated for its fruit in the Land of Israel (eg Deut 8:8).

It is a tree that has many uses, both every day and sacramental. Olive wood is a hard wood used for construction and ornaments. It was also used for parts of the construction of the Temple of Solomon, and was one of the trees specified for the construction of a Sukkah (Tabernacle) at the Feast of Sukkot at the time of Ezra.

The olive tree is first used as a metaphor in Psalm 52, where David compares himself with it. Prosperity for Israel is often linked to the health of the olive and the goodness of its fruit. The fruitful olive is often used to indicate health and wealth, whether in relation to the family (eg Psalm 128), or to the nation of Judah (as in Jeremiah’s warning, see Jeremiah 11:16). It is an eschatological symbol (that is, a symbol of end-times significance) in Zechariah 4:3 and 11-12. All of these scriptures come before Paul’s the use of the metaphor in Romans 11.

The Olive Tree and God’s Covenant

By using the symbol of the olive tree in Romans 11, Paul shows that the destiny of the faithful of Israel and of the Gentile world is bound together. The Christian Church has emerged from the same background as the faithful remnant from Israel.

The olive tree has some remarkable characteristics that remind us of God’s Covenant family:

• It is not an especially beautiful tree, but has nevertheless received much admiration from artists. Its roots are strong and can survive in a hot, dry climate and in rocky soil.
• Olive trees are well-known for their long life, more so than most fruit trees. Centuries-old olive trees can still bear fruit, and produce tender shoots around their roots.
• The fruit of the olive is either eaten or pressed to make olive oil. It is interesting that the word ‘Gethsemane’, the name of the garden where Jesus went before His betrayal, means ‘olive press’.
• Olive oil has, for thousands of years, been considered a source of wealth. It is useful for cooking, lighting lamps, ceremonial anointing and for medicinal purposes.

We can assume that, in the choice of the olive tree for the metaphor in Romans 11, Paul knew his readers would draw associations between these characteristics. This would help them understand about the root and branches of Israel and the whole Covenant family of God joined together as one body with one heritage, one character and one fruit.

For Study and Prayer: Consider the characteristics of the olive tree and discuss why Paul chose this metaphor to represent the covenant family of all believers.

Next time: Further studies on the olive tree metaphor.

These studies are developed from the course Christianity’s Relationship with Israel and the Jews, first prepared for Tishrei Bible School.

It doesn’t take much serious Bible study to understand that Israel was chosen by Almighty God to be his Covenant Nation. But what should our relationship with Israel be? Clifford Denton opens up a new study series...

The Tanakh (Old Testament) bears witness to Israel's chosen status, and follows its history through all of its phases. When the Nation was divided after the time of King Solomon (2 Chron 10), and following the exile of the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 17), Judah, just one of the Twelve Tribes, came into prominence.

Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) came from this Tribe of Judah, and thus from the background of both Israel and Judah. When the Gospel went out across the whole world, Gentiles were called by faith into the Covenant family.

Parting of the Ways

For nearly 2000 years, since the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jews have been dispersed across the world, but have not lost their national identity. Meanwhile, however, various Christian theologies have emerged which have re-positioned the Christian Church as a distinct entity from the Jewish world, severing links between them.

The faith of Jesus and the Apostles was solidly based on the Hebrew Scriptures and Second Temple Judaism. Earliest Christianity was one among the many Judaisms of the first century. Neither Jesus nor the apostles attempted to break away from their heritage and form a new, different, religion. Indeed, the break of the Church from its true roots has had immense consequences, as we shall see in future studies.

"Neither Jesus nor his apostles attempted to break away from their heritage and form a new, different, religion."

The end of the 20th Century and beginning of the 21st have marked a new era of re-discovery. Israel has become a territorial nation again and so Christianity’s roots are being re-assessed. Was the break from the Jewish world unnecessary? If so, in what way is the Church linked to Israel and the Jews?

It is the purpose of this study series to explore this issue, considering some of the reasons for the break and opening up the agenda for re-considering the relationship between Christians and the Jewish world.

Many Topics to Consider

The list of topics to study on this subject is wide-ranging. They include aspects of history, theology, inter-faith dialogue, Hebrew background to Scripture, Judaism through history, the history and consequences of anti-Semitism, the Jewish background to the times of Jesus and the Apostles, and the relevance of Christianity’s Hebraic heritage to family and community life.

God has preserved the Jewish people despite the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and all the pogroms, anti-Semitism and even the Holocaust of recent history. God has been faithful to his Covenant promises, and biblical prophecies relating to Israel and the Tribe of Judah are being fulfilled before us today.

Now more than ever, we have both the need and the opportunity for Christianity to restore its true roots.

The Church was never intended to divorce itself from its roots, which go down deep into the biblical soil of Israel’s history and formative influences on its culture.

Return to Roots

In our weekly studies, the intention is to open out foundational issues relating to the restoration of the Christian Church to its true roots.

The departure of the Church from these roots has had serious consequences over the years. One is that distance has grown between Christians and Jews, so much so that, whether by default or design, Christians have contributed to the anguish of Jews over the centuries. One consequence of the Christian Church restoring its true roots is that Jewish/Christian relationships will be strengthened again. This is not the only reason for this course of study but it could be a major fruit.

When we study the separation of the Church from the Synagogue and enter into the issue of Jewish/Christian relations, many will find that their old assumptions and pre-conceptions suddenly need to be reconsidered.

For some it is a wake-up call, for others a prompt to repentance, but chiefly it is an opportunity to go forward more securely to the time of the Messiah’s return, conscious of our place in the Olive Tree of Romans 11 and the One New Man of Ephesians 2.

Next week we will look more fully at the metaphor of the Olive Tree.

For study and discussion: read Romans 11 and consider ways in which the Christian Church might be better identified with Israel.

These studies are developed from the course 'Christianity’s Relationship with Israel and the Jews', first prepared for Tishrei Bible School.

We have not learnt the lessons of the Holocaust: the Jewish community in the UK is more vulnerable than at any time since the Second World War.

We are launching Prophecy Today UK online on the first day of Passover, 4 April 2015. This date was chosen because Passover is foundational to biblical faith and prophetic understanding, and is an “appointed time” (in Hebrew, moed) in Scripture when God meets with his people.

Passover in 1945

Having chosen this date, we then realised its significance in European history. Seventy years ago on 4 April 1945, which also fell during ‘the Season of our Freedom’ (another name for Passover), the US Army liberated the Nazi death camp at Ohrdruf, Germany, part of the Buchenwald camp network.

Ohrdruf was the first concentration camp to be liberated by the US Army (Auschwitz in Poland having been liberated by the Russians on 27 January 1945). Among the American soldiers was 20-year-old Charlie Payne from Kansas, who later became the great uncle of President Barack Obama. Obama said that when his uncle returned home, "he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months”.¹

Also overwhelmed was General Eisenhower, who wrote:

The things I saw beggar description…The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick…I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to 'propaganda.'²

The Allies realised the importance of documenting the German atrocities in film because they thought they would not be believed. As Churchill said, “no words can express the horror…of these frightful crimes”.³ Instead, the images captured by the Allied armies’ film units speak more loudly than words ever could.

In the 1945 film German Concentration Camps Factual Survey, produced by Sidney Bernstein (assisted by Alfred Hitchcock) for the British Ministry for Information, Richard Crossman’s elegiac script commented: “Unless the world learns the lessons these pictures teach, night will fall. But by God’s grace, we who live will learn.”

“Unless the world learns the lessons these pictures teach, night will fall. But by God’s grace, we who live will learn.” - German Concentration Camps Factual Survey, 1945

After the War, many Jews left the graveyard of Europe for the Promised Land. Shamefully, thousands were turned back by the British and were placed in camps in Cyprus and elsewhere. Others were returned to Germany to their horror.

There is speculation that the British government shelved Bernstein’s film so that pity for the Holocaust refugees would not fuel demand for a Jewish homeland in British-controlled territory.⁴ It took until January this year for Bernstein’s film to be shown in its entirety for the first time on British television.⁵ How different would government policy have been, had it been shown to a horrified public in 1945?

Have we learned the lessons of the Holocaust? Or, to echo Crossman’s haunting warning, is night falling? Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme last year, Sir Nicholas Winton, the “British Schindler” who organised the Czech Kinderstransport, said "I don't think we've learned anything...the world today is in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been."⁶

The rise of anti-Semitism in the UK and Europe

Anti-Semitic incidents in the UK reached an all-time high and escalated around Europe during the Gaza conflict in July-August 2014.

In Germany, molotov cocktails were lobbed into the Bergische synagogue in Wuppertal, which was previously destroyed on Kristallnacht. A Berlin imam, Abu Bilal Ismail, called on Allah to "destroy the Zionist Jews…Count them and kill them, to the very last one."⁷ In France, eight synagogues were attacked and one, in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, was firebombed by a 400-strong mob.⁸

In the UK, the Jewish community’s watchdog for anti-Semitism, the Community Security Trust, recorded 1,168 anti-Semitic incidents in 2014, more than twice as many as 2013.⁹

In London, October 2014, “Five girls from a Jewish secondary school were approached by a man at a London underground station who said: ‘Being Jewish is wrong. You are going to die if you carry on being Jewish’ and ‘I will kill you all after school.’ He grabbed one of the girls by the wrist and said: ‘Come with me and be a Christian’. She kicked him and ran away.”¹⁰

In Norfolk, July 2014, “A leaflet found among Israeli produce in a supermarket featured an image of the Israeli flag with the title ‘The flag of Zionist racist scum’. It read: ‘Deny the Holocaust? Of course there was a holocaust. What a pity Adolf and Co didn’t manage to finish the job properly!’”¹¹

Prejudice in the UK public

We cannot dismiss these incidents as the actions of extremists because prejudice against Jews is alive and well among the general public. The government’s Campaign Against Antisemitism found that nearly half of Britons thought at least one anti‑Semitic view presented to them was ‘definitely or probably true’.¹²

In its Annual Antisemitism Barometer 2015, published a week after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, it concludes:

Britain is at a tipping point: unless antisemitism is met with zero tolerance, it will continue to grow and British Jews may increasingly question their place in their own country.¹³

It also reported that:

Well over half of British Jews (58%) believe Jews may have no long-term future in Europe and "The Mayor of London’s office revealed that in July 2014, when fighting between Israel and Hamas peaked, the Metropolitan Police Service recorded its worst ever month for hate crime in London, 95% of which was antisemitic hate crime directly related to fighting between Israel and Hamas."¹⁴

In the media, Jews in Europe are consistently identified with and blamed for Israel’s actions. Reports describing Palestinians and “Jews” rather than Palestinians and “Israelis” in coverage of events in Israel have reinforced this perception. The Jewish people’s unique dual religious and ethnic identity crosses national boundaries and so anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are inextricably linked.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressing the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) commented on how anti-Semitism has been dressed in new clothes:

...in much of the western world, the old hatred has been translated into more sophisticated language for use in polite society. People who would never say they hate and blame the Jews for their own failings or the problems of the world instead declare their hatred of Israel and blame the only Jewish state for the problems of the Middle East.

He also said that while criticism of Israeli government policy is not anti-Semitic, criticism that targets only Israel while ignoring violence and oppression in its neighbours is unacceptable.¹⁵

This 'New Anti-semitism', as it is called, based on hatred of Israel’s nationhood (rather than religion or race), has been identified by a number of commentators from the 1960s onwards, including historian Leon Poliakov, who published From Anti-Zionism to Anti-Semitism (1969), and Holocaust survivor Jacques Givet, who used the term 'neo-antisemitism' about the Left’s anti-Zionism. Much has been written since about this phenomenon.^{16, 17}

The Church has fallen broadly into two camps: Christian Zionists (and supporters of Israel of various hues who dislike the term 'Christian Zionist'), and those who question Israel’s right to exist and are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians.

Paul Charles Merkley in Christian Attitudes towards the State of Israel¹⁸ says that Christian anti Zionism is in part due to the history of missions to the Middle East:

Beginning in the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries from the West – Protestant, Catholic and evangelical – sought the conversion of the Jews of Palestine for about a century, with only the most modest results. On the other hand, missionary efforts among the Arabs did win substantial conversions in the latter half of the nineteenth century and a modest number since. Not unreasonably, Church organizations have been much more open to the political aspirations of their clients than to those of their clients’ adversaries.

He also points out that anti-Zionism “provides respectable camouflage for hostility towards Jews and Judaism that cannot be admitted to oneself or others.” It allows Christians a platform among liberal and fashionable thinkers who condemn Israel as 'apartheid' and 'racist'. It also looks good for the Church to be seen as a champion of 'the oppressed'.¹⁹

Attacks on the increase since Paris and Copenhagen murders

The recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks has continued in the wake of the Paris and Copenhagen attacks, which have spawned a rash of UK incidents.

In Radio 4’s programme Anti-Semitism in the UK: Is it Growing?,²⁰ Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, the national lead on Jewish communities for the Association of Chief Police officers, said that in January 2014 there were 28 anti-Semitic crimes, but this January there were 100. The increase was due to events in Paris inspiring copycat behaviour but also a greater desire to report such incidents.

Also interviewed on the programme was Mehmood Naqshbandi, who visits mosques around the country and advises government and police on Muslim matters. Asked how common Muslim animosity is towards Jewish communities, he said:

It’s a problem which is endemic in the Muslim community. It’s widespread; it covers generations. It is taken for granted when Muslims are talking to other Muslims, people don’t feel any obligation to hold back from expressing the kind of casual racist views about Jews and about the Jewish community that fits the nasty stereotypes of caricatures of Jewish behaviour, expectations of Jewish conduct and so on. It’s a deep-rooted problem, a problem which is not challenged.²¹

Conflicting analysis of Charlie Hebdo attack and other Islamist terror attacks

The Charlie Hebdo massacre in January 2015, including the related attack on a Jewish supermarket, has been blamed on the disaffection of French Muslim youth. If they were more integrated, better off, less marginalised in French society, these things would not happen.

Similarly, after an Islamist terror plot to kill Belgian police was foiled, Professor Peter Neumann of Kings College London (interviewed on Channel 4 news) said the cause was socio-economic. Disenfranchised young men on the margins of society were the problem with Belgium having the highest number of European fighters going to Syria and Iraq. Channel Four News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy responded that this was a naive view and that there were also men involved in terror from well-off backgrounds.²²

The debate in the European Parliament on security in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting was no more illuminating. More heat than light was shed, with opinions sharply dividing over Muslim immigration.²³

The roots of anti-Semitism

Pundits and politicians do not know how to tackle Islamist terror because they do not fully understand its roots.

As well as the fierce jealousy for Muhammad which motivated the Charlie Hebdo massacre, anti-Zionism is a key reason for Islamist terror. Beneath that (often ill-concealed) is anti-Semitism. Journalists and politicians insist that you can be anti-Zionist without being anti-Semitic, but the line is frequently crossed. What is certain is that Jews around the world are being identified with Israel and are consequently suffering prejudice and violence, in other words anti-Semitism.

Academics have debated the roots and causes of anti-Semitism to find a unifying factor: is it economic, social, religious, political? Today, Israel’s political actions are blamed. However, that cannot be the cause of anti-Semitism pre-1948 (the year the modern state of Israel was formed).

Anti-Semitism has morphed into different expressions through the ages, but always with one aim: the destruction of the Jewish people. Edward Flannery, in his classic study of anti-Semitism, The Anguish of the Jews,²⁴ concludes that the only unifying aspect of anti-Semitism is its spiritual nature.

Both the religious anti-Judaism of the Christian Church and modern racial anti-Semitism, epitomised by the Nazis, share a spiritual root: an unacknowledged hatred of Christ.

Flannery comments that scholars “have varyingly perceived in the hatred of the Jew an unconscious hatred of Christ, a rebellion against the Christian ‘yoke’ no longer found sweet (Matt 11:30); in a word, a Christophobia.”²⁵ Freud recognised it and said: “In its depths anti-Judaism is anti-Christianity.”²⁶

A number of prominent Nazis were brought up as Catholics: Himmler, Goebbels, Hoess and Hitler. In order to pursue their dream of unfettered German power, they had to throw off moral restraint and embrace a pagan view of man as master of his destiny. Christ and Christianity could serve the Reich but they had to be purged of their Jewish root: the Nazis sought to throw off the shackles of Judeo-Christian morality and return to a mythically powerful Aryan pagan past.

Flannery writes:

His [Hitler’s] genocidal decision against the Jewish people represented, again symbolically, the annihilation of his moral (Jewish-Christian) conscience, which stood in the way of his grandiose dream of a Thousand Year Reich founded on an apotheosis of the German Volk and of himself as its Fuehrer and Saviour.²⁷

In other words, the Nazis did not want simply to destroy the Jews; they wanted to be the Jews. They wanted to be the chosen people, to usurp their place. This usurping spirit is found in scripture. God’s Adversary is described in Isaiah 14:14 as one whose declared aim is, “I will make myself like the Most High.” This is the spirit of Anti-Christ:

He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thess 2:4)

"The Nazis did not want simply to destroy the Jews; they wanted to be the Jews."

Flannery asserts that “anti-Semitism is at its deepest root a unified phenomenon and from all angles an anti-religious one”²⁸ which resides “in the deepest chambers of the spirit.”²⁹

The rebellion behind anti-Semitism

Nazism was a perfect storm combination of the legacy of Christian anti-Semitism and modern racial anti-Semitism.

It highlighted that not only Christophobia but nomophobia (from nomos, Greek for law), or fear of law (specifically God’s moral law epitomised in the Torah), are hallmarks of anti-Semitism. It was a revolt against the word and the Word made flesh (John 1:14).

In pre-war Germany, Nazi-sympathising theologians were keen to reposition the Bible and theology to accommodate National Socialist ideology, specifically by undermining the place of the Old Testament. In 1939, a group of German theologians established The Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life, aiming to de-Judaize the New Testament and present an Aryan Jesus.³⁰

This ultimate expression of replacement theology was fuelled by anti-Semitism, but rooted in the rebellion of men’s souls against their Creator and his established order. It was satanically inspired: the one who wishes to overthrow and usurp God’s throne is the one who wishes to destroy the Jewish people because by doing so, he will destroy the hope of the world, the Redeemer, who comes from Israel and to Israel.

"When we reject God’s people, we are rejecting God himself."

Rejection of God’s light and truth

A political satire from the 1960s has been revived in the West End. In The Ruling Class³¹ Jack, a fictional earl and paranoid schizophrenic, firstly imagines he is Christ and then Jack the Ripper. As Jesus, his message of peace and love is rejected as insanity. As Jack the Ripper, he takes his seat in the House of Lords with a fiery speech in favour of capital and corporal punishment. His colleagues applaud wildly (completely unaware the speech is the ranting of a lunatic), in contrast to society's reaction when he believed he was Christ.

The play was intended as an indictment of the establishment, but it also testifies that people are more comfortable with the darkness of sin, condemnation and punishment than with the light of Christ’s love, peace and grace. Man’s rebellious nature is so corrupt that it sees evil in good and good in evil.

The temptation for Adam and Eve was to become the arbiters of good and evil, to dethrone God’s judgement and become their own judges. The Torah, as God’s wisdom, is a “tree of life” to man (Prov 3:18), but it also is the means of our judgement and the harbinger of death to those who reject it (Rom 3:20 and 7:7-9).

We seek to destroy that which exposes and accuses us; Israel as the bearer and enacter of God's Law has paid the price for exposing it to the world and, by its light, exposing the world’s darkness.

The Torah was also the means of keeping Israel separate from other nations: a holy people (Ex 19:6). It prevented them from being assimilated. They had to remain separate in order to be worshippers of God, not idol-worshippers like every other nation, so they could be prepared to receive God himself.

This is why in Israel’s history the Adversary (in Hebrew, Satan) sought alternately either to undermine the Torah by enticing Israel away from God and his Word to make them like all the other nations, or to destroy Israel in order to prevent the coming of the Messiah. If your enemies cannot be assimilated, they must be annihilated and from the Amalekites to Haman, from Herod to Hitler, this murderous desire persists.

The Adversary did not succeed in destroying the Jewish people before the first advent of the Messiah – but he persists because that is only part one of the salvation story.
We await the second coming: Jesus’ promised return in power and glory to reign from Jerusalem over all the earth: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

Jerusalem is fought over because it is the City to which Messiah will return. He will not find it empty or still being “trampled down by the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). Instead, he will return to re-gathered Israel:

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people. (Isa 11:10-11a)

He will redeem Israel and all who have joined with them by faith from among the Gentiles (Eph 2:11-22).

Anti-Semitism and the anti-Christ spirit

The world continually rejects Israel and the Jewish people because they reject God’s call to be joined with them through the Messiah. Through Israel’s particularity, the ‘narrow way’ of the kingdom (Matt 7:14), we are called to become “one new humanity” (Eph 2:15) in spiritual unity (not uniformity) which is the only true peace available to mankind.

However, by placing the Church centre stage in salvation history and declaring that she has superseded Israel in God’s plans and purposes, the majority of believers have failed to understand that the Church is not the main player on the stage of history.

Israel, both people and land, is still the subject of the salvation story because all God’s salvation promises were made to Israel and to those Gentiles who join with her, through her Messiah by faith.

Sadly, before Christian theology was re-assessed in the light of the Holocaust, the Church was the main instrument of Jewish persecution. However, Christians still remain largely unaware of the bleak history of Christian anti-Semitism and how the teaching that the Church has replaced Israel has contributed to it.

Inspiring 'Replacement theology' or supersessionism, the teaching that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plans and purposes, is the same jealous, usurping spirit, the spirit of Anti-Christ, which aims to overthrow God's end-time plans (for a more in-depth analysis of Replacement theology, click here).

The same spirit is at work in Islamic teaching, which claims that Mohammed’s teachings supersede Judaism and Christianity. Rejected Ishmael jealously insists he was chosen, not his half-brother Isaac: my promises, my land!³² It is a triumphalist theology, unwilling to tolerate difference unless in submission to its rule.

Wherever the Holy Spirit is at work, the anti-Christ spirit, hallmarked by jealousy in man, is also at work. People of all faiths and all religious backgrounds have expressed it. Peace and harmony for mankind, but intolerance and jealousy of the Jewish people are hallmarks of religion of all kinds, including New Age spirituality (one of the main protagonists of the New Age movement, Alice Bailey (a former evangelical Christian³³), equated Judaism with “an evil cosmic energy called ‘The Jewish Force’, which must be eliminated in order for the Age of Aquarius to arrive fully”³⁴).

"Wherever the Holy Spirit is at work, the anti-Christ spirit, hallmarked by jealousy in man, is also at work."

The Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus were said to be jealous of him and that is why they handed him over to Pilate (Mark 15:10). This jealousy continued to be vented against his Jewish followers. In Acts 5:17-18:

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

In militant Islam, this jealous, usurping spirit finds violent, implacable expression. It is fuelled by an irrational spiritual jealousy that cannot be appeased (Prov 27:4). Only the Holy Spirit can withstand and conquer the spirit of anti-Christ and in turn counter it with a godly jealousy that cannot be withstood: “I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion” (Zech 1:14).

It is the God of Israel’s land, his city, the place where he has set his name:

In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. (2 Chron 33:7)

I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. (Joel 3:2)

The Church’s response

After 9/11, there was much talk of the ‘clash of civilizations’ between Islam and western secularism. This is not a battle of civilizations; it is a spiritual war. It must be fought with spiritual weapons.³⁵

Ordinary Muslims are shocked and outraged by extremists and many will be seeking answers; the Church must be prepared to explain, challenge and comfort. We must demonstrate that Christianity is an Eastern religion, which speaks to all peoples, and forms the lost and dwindling heritage of the peoples of the Middle East. We also need to show that Christianity is not a religion for the individual but for the community. Western enlightenment thinking is unappealing to Muslims with its focus on individual rights, because Middle Eastern cultures focus on community cohesion.

However, the Church has its own challenge: anti-Semitism is infecting the Church in the form of Christian anti-Zionism and it must also be addressed. In pre-war Germany, theologians were ready to distance themselves from the Old Testament and from a Jewish Jesus so that they could comfortably reject and persecute the Jewish people.

"Today's Church has appropriated God's promises to Israel and denied its role and place in God's end-time plan."

Today’s Church is dangerously misaligned too. We have appropriated God’s promises to Israel and denied the people and land of Israel their role and place in God’s end-time plan. This means we can comfortably distance ourselves from anti-Semitism because we can claim it is bound up with anti-Zionism. Jews have always been blamed for their own misfortunes and the fight for survival in their own nation is cited as the legitimate cause for Islamic violence.

However, land and people are inextricably linked in God’s schema: “I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth…say to Zion, 'You are my people.'" (Isa 51:16). Zion- land and people -are conflated in this verse illustrating that their destinies are linked: salvation for the Jewish people is connected to the land of promise. It is this very link between land and people that is expressed in the final form of anti-Semitism that is increasing and intensifying today: anti-Zionism.

If we say that Israel has no right to the land God promised them, that those rights were superseded, we are setting ourselves against God’s end time plans. It is his land and by his sovereign choice he has restored his people to it.

We are also denying God’s covenant faithfulness if we say that he has finished with Israel as a nation:

'Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares the Lord, ‘will Israel ever cease being a nation before me. Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel’ declares the LORD. (Jer 31:36-37)

In that same chapter, Jeremiah 31, God promises the New Covenant to Israel, including a Jerusalem that will never be uprooted or demolished (Jer 31:40). This is not a promise to the Church but to Israel. We are the adopted children, the invited guests, but we have arrogantly overrun the party.

Many are sleep-walking in the end times, accepting unquestioningly the world's political narrative that the conflict between Israel and Palestinians concerns a land which is no longer spiritually significant. This is not to say that Christians should uncritically support the Israeli state’s government and policies, but we must view them through the lens of Scripture, not the other way around. We must also still unstintingly love those who persecute us and God’s people Israel: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44).

"We must also still unstintingly love those who persecute us and God’s people Israel: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44)."

We must, though, reject the subtle Christian anti-Semitism which seeks to sever the link between the biblical land of Israel and its current prophetic significance.
Giulio Meotti writes:

The Presbyterian Church USA is considering banning the word “Israel” from its prayers. That anti-Semitic resolution was meant to ‘distinguish between the biblical terms that refer to the ancient land of Israel and the modern political State of Israel’.³⁶

It is imperative that Bible-believing Christians reject this replacement narrative and align with Israel and the Jewish community because the spiritual battle lines are already drawn.

The need for solidarity

A friend doing door-to-door outreach met a Jewish lady who thanked her for calling and commented that the time is coming when Jews and Christians will need to stand together.

That time is now.

The Jewish Chronicle launched a campaign for the government to pay for synagogue security.³⁷ Why should Christian volunteers not show their solidarity with the Jewish community by volunteering to guard synagogues during Saturday services?

After the shooting of a synagogue guard in Denmark, around 1,000 Muslims (5% of the Muslim population) in Norway formed a 'ring of peace' around a synagogue in Oslo.³⁸

Where are the Christian demonstrations of solidarity? We cannot retreat into our safe churches and relax because it is not us at risk. Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous words, written after being imprisoned by the Nazis, still resonate:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Dan Hodges in The Telegraph: “…as the Paris attacks proved, they are still coming for the Jews. In reality, they have never stopped coming for the Jews.”³⁹

The lesson from the Middle Eastern nations under Islamic State control is that since the Jews had already left, the Christians are next in their sights. If we withdraw from the Jewish community when they need our support, how can we dare pray for our own protection?

After the Paris terror attacks, some London schools cancelled Holocaust education trips to synagogues. Two rabbis from a Kingston synagogue commented that although the schools felt they were acting in the children’s interests:

...it marginalises the Jewish community to be the pariah within our society, not through active discrimination but through neglect…For us this marks a tipping point, not when Jews are concerned for their own safety but when others are scared of mere connection to our community.⁴⁰

It is time for the Church to stand unequivocally with the Jewish people in the name of their Messiah. The battle surrounding Israel is going to intensify and we cannot again stand by watching from a distance while the Jewish people are persecuted.

We cannot be people who, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, withdraw to a "the sanctuary of private virtuousness. Such people neither steal, nor murder, nor commit adultery, but do good according to their abilities. But in voluntarily renouncing public life, these people know exactly how to observe the permitted boundaries that shield them from conflict. They must close their eyes and ears to the injustice around them.”⁴¹

The rise of anti-Semitism in Europe indicates that we have not learned from history and the rise of Islamist terror as the frontline jihad of raging anti-Semitism masked as anti-Zionism suggests that night is falling.

As the day darkens, as night falls, we must shine ever more brightly with the light of Christ until the daystar dawns (2 Pet 1:19).

References

1 Medoff, R. Death camp liberated Pesach 1945, Israel National News, 31 March 2010

2 Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, Wikipedia.

3 Speech in the House of Commons, 17 April 1945. Churchill, W (grandson), 2003. Never Give In!: Winston Churchill’s Speeches, London: Bloomsbury.

4 Lynette Singer (writer) on ‘Holocaust: Night Will Fall’, documentary broadcast on Channel 4, 29 January 2015.

5 Ibid.

6 Sir Nicholas Winton: I've made a difference. BBC Radio 4, broadcast 28 October 2014.

7 Henley, J. Antisemitism on rise across Europe 'in worst times since the Nazis’, The Guardian, 7 August 2014.

8 Ibid.

9 Booth, R. Antisemitic attacks in UK at highest level ever recorded, The Guardian, 15 February 2015.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Annual Antisemitism Barometer 2015

13 Ibid, p2.

14 Ibid, p5.

15 Goodman, L, PM Harper warns of new age of anti-Semitism in speech to Knesset, The Record, 20 January 2014.

16 Eg Wistrich, R, 2010. A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad, Random House, New York.

17 Kahn-Harris, K, Gidley, B, 2010. Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today, Bloomsbury Publishing, p139.

18 Merkley, P C, 2001. Christian Attitudes towards the State of Israel, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kinston, p215-216.

19 Ibid.

20 Anti-Semitism in the UK: is it growing?, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 5 March 2015.

21 Ibid.

22 Channel 4 News, 16 January 2015.

23 European Parliament debate, 11 February 2015.

24 Flannery, EH, 1985. The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-Three Centuries of Antisemitism, New Jersey: Paulist Press, revised 2004.

25 Ibid, p292.

26 Ibid, p292, quoting S. Freud, Moses and Monotheism, New York: Vantage Books, 1955, pp116-117.

27 Ibid, p292.

28 Ibid, p293-4.

29 Ibid, p295.

30 Heschel, S, 2010. The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, Princeton University Press.

31 By Peter Barnes.

32 See Genesis 16-18, 21.

33  Joseph E, 2004. Krotona of Old Hollywood, Vol. II, El Montecito Oaks Press, p. 340. See also Wikipedia on Alice Bailey-Ross.

34 Harradine, K. New Agers fall for Anti-Semitism, The Jewish Chronicle, 17 September 2013. Also Newman, H, 2005. 'Aquarius, Age of', entry in Levy et al (eds) Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, Vol 1, p30.

35 Ephesians 6:10-18

36 Meotti, G. To Anti-Semitic Christians, Israel is an Usurper, 5 January 2015.

37 Jewish Chronicle Online, Secure our shuls, 19 February 2015.

38 Stone, J. Hundreds of Norwegian Muslims form human shield to protect Jewish synagogue in Oslo, The Independent, 22 February 2015.

39 Hodges, D. They are still coming for the Jews. So why is nobody speaking out?, The Telegraph, 19 January 2015

40 Bingham, J. London schools cancel synagogue trips citing security fears after Paris terror attacks, The Telegraph, 6 February 2015.

41 Bonhoeffer, D. Ethics, DBWE 6, 80. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Research Center, University of Bamberg.

Replacement Theology is a denial of the promises of God made to Jacob and his descendants. It is a false doctrine which has long been endemic in the Gentile Church, teaching that the promises made by God to his chosen nation Israel have been rendered null and void by the death of Jesus at Calvary, and are now applicable only to the Church.

Behind this erroneous interpretation lies a darker force: the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism.

God’s Covenant with Israel

The first 11 chapters of the Bible document the increasing corruption of mankind which followed the Fall, the resulting grief and anger of God which brought the Noahic flood, and the subsequent continuing rebellion culminating in the building of the Tower of Babel and God’s judgement in the form of confusion of language and scattering of the rebellious people.

In chapter 12, however, we read of a new initiative on God’s part; his calling of Abram to be the progenitor of a new nation through which the entire world would receive the blessing of salvation.

In Genesis 15 comes God’s further confirmation of that decision, in the form of a solemn covenant with Abram and his heirs which He makes unilaterally and unconditionally. This covenant is reaffirmed to Isaac in Genesis 26, and to Jacob in Genesis 35; and is expressed in Psalm 105:8-10 to be everlasting.

"Jacob’s descendants are irrevocably destined to be God’s chosen earthly nation through whom Messiah would come, and are granted an inalienable right to ownership of the land of Canaan."

Jacob’s descendants are irrevocably destined to be God’s chosen earthly nation through whom Messiah, the woman’s offspring (Gen 3:15), would come, and are granted an inalienable right to ownership of the land of Canaan (Gen 17:8).

What is Replacement Theology?

Replacement Theology is a denial of the validity of these promises of God to Jacob’s descendants. It is a false doctrine which has been endemic in the Gentile Church during most of her history, teaching that the promises made by God to his chosen representative nation Israel have been rendered null and void by the death of Jesus at Calvary, and that in consequence the Hebrew nation is no longer to be regarded as God’s chosen people.

The doctrine effectively declares that much of God’s Word is now obsolete, teaching that Israel has been disinherited and that both the calling and the promises of God are now applicable only to the Church, which is seen to have superseded the Hebrew nation in God’s purposes and to have become the “new Israel”.

However, to quote Malcolm Hedding, former Executive Director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem:

Replacement Theology is nowhere to be found in the Bible…From a theological perspective, the Replacement doctrine can only exist if one can prove that the Abrahamic covenant has been abolished.¹

"Replacement Theology is nowhere to be found in the Bible…From a theological perspective, the Replacement doctrine can only exist if one can prove that the Abrahamic covenant has been abolished.” - Malcom Hedding

Such a teaching is driven by the spirit of anti-Semitism and the failure to understand that unless allegory is being used, Scripture is to be interpreted according to its plain literal meaning. When God says, concerning the descendants of Jacob, that “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29), He means exactly what He says. He will not reject his chosen earthly representative nation, nor will He revoke his stated purposes and promises concerning them.

To teach that God has cast aside the nation of Israel and broken the covenant which he made unconditionally and unilaterally with Abraham in Genesis 15 is to make God out to be a liar, and to reject the plain teaching of Paul in Romans 11: “…has God cast away His people? By no means!”²

Paul explains the truth of what has taken place in the relationship between God and Israel, and warns the Gentile believers against the arrogance of thinking that they now have preference over the Jews and have replaced them in God’s purposes. In verses 28-29, Paul explains clearly that they remain God’s elect people and that He will never cease to love the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor withdraw His stated purposes for them.

The Origins of Replacement Teaching

In the light of the plain teaching of the Word of God, what accounts for the error which gives rise to the belief that the Church, which has been almost entirely Gentile since the end of the Second Century, has replaced Israel in God’s affection and purpose; and that Israel has therefore also forfeited the right to the land covenanted to the patriarchs? Why did the early Church Fathers introduce teaching which so twisted and perverted the plain statements of Scripture, robbing them of their clear and unambiguous meaning?

By the end of the second century, the Church had become largely Gentile, influenced by the Greek philosophy of the Roman Empire and becoming separated from her Jewish roots.

As early as 160 A.D. Justin Martyr was viewing the Church as the new Israel. In his ‘Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew’, Justin he declares to Trypho that the Hebrew Scriptures are “not yours, but ours” (chapter 29:2), while in chapter 82 he says, concerning the writings of the Hebrew prophets: “For the prophetical gifts remain with us [ie the Church], even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to us.”³

By the third century, early Church theologian Origen of Alexandria was teaching that the correct way to understand the Scriptures was by spiritualising the text and treating it as allegory.⁴

There is a profound difference between the Hebraic method of literal interpretation of Scripture at its face value and the Greek method, which tends to the error of taking the literal words and treating them as if they were simply allegorical. Consequently, where for the Hebrew mind the Word of God determines the doctrine, the Greek mind tends first to form the doctrine and then where necessary, to distort (or totally ignore) the word so as to make it fit.

The Spirit of Anti-Semitism

However, behind this erroneous way of interpretation and consequent false teaching lies a darker force. It is the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism, which is rearing its ugly head yet again in great strength and virulence in our own days. The Gentile Church Fathers were influenced not only by Greek thinking and philosophy, but also by increasing prejudice against the Jews as being a race of unbelievers who were responsible for deicide and had become rejected and cursed by God, the satanic lie which would lead to centuries of persecution and ultimately to the Holocaust.

"Behind this erroneous way of interpretation and consequent false teaching lies a darker force: the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism."

What accounts for the phenomenon of anti-Semitism, which has pursued and persecuted the Hebrew nation throughout their long history? What strange hatred led, for example, to the mass slaughter of all male Hebrew infants in Egypt (Ex 1:15-22); or to the thwarted desire of Haman (Est 3:8-15) to perpetrate the genocide of all the Jews in the province of Persia; of to the massacre at Herod’s command of male infants in Bethlehem (Matt 2:16-18)?

The root cause of the mysterious undying purpose of anti-Semitism to exterminate the Jewish people is to be found first in Genesis 3:15, where God declares that the seed of the woman will crush Satan’s head. Secondly, in Genesis 12:3 and 22:18, His promise to Abram is that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you”.

The recognition that this meant that Messiah, the promised seed of the woman, would arise from the offspring of Abraham brought the inevitable consequence of continued satanic attempts to prevent the fulfilment of the Word of God, first by destroying the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so as to make impossible the first coming of the promised Messiah; and when that had failed, to destroy Jesus during His earthly life and ministry.

Following that failure, the object became to prevent His promised return by continuing attempts to destroy all Jacob’s descendants, so as to make impossible their prophesied return from exile among the nations to the land given by God’s covenant promise (eg Gen 15:18) to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, summarised in the words of Psalm 105: 8-11:

He remembers his covenant forever...the covenant he made with Abraham…He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.’

The 20th Century and Today

This satanic determination to prevent the word of God from coming to pass has had tragic but inevitable consequences for the Hebrew nation through many centuries. It reached a climax after the Balfour Declaration in 1917 (affirmed at the San Remo Conference of 1920) was enshrined into International Law in 1922, by the League of Nations’ Mandate to Great Britain to oversee the re-establishment of the Jewish homeland in the land called Palestine by the Romans, but now the sovereign state of Israel.

That series of events aroused the spirit of anti-Semitism to a new level of activity, resulting in Hitler’s attempted 'Final Solution', the Holocaust; and since 1948, in continual attempts to separate the restored Hebrew nation from the land of Israel by any and every possible means.

The prophecy of Daniel (9:26) concerning Jerusalem is that “war will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed”. The spirit of anti-Semitism will continue to stir up strife and destruction against Israel, and against all Jewish people throughout the nations, until Scripture is fulfilled in the return of Jesus the Messiah to save His people and to establish His rule on the earth.

"Unless we believe and teach that the Word of God means what it says, none of us is exempt from falling into error."

The anti-Semitism which continues the hatred and persecution of Jewish people wherever they may be, and the anti-Zionism which rages against the very existence of the State of Israel, are of one and the same antichrist origin and purpose. The unbelieving world cannot understand this, but the professing Church believes and teaches the anti-Semitic doctrine of Replacement Theology at its peril, for by so doing it is denying the Word of God and encouraging hostility against His people and His stated purposes. If we do, we fall into the trap of cursing the descendants of Abraham and consequently bringing God’s curse upon ourselves (Gen 12:3).

Unless we believe and teach that the Word of God means what it says, none of us is exempt from falling into error. The warning contained in Romans 11:17-21 is as valid today for us, as Gentile believers, as it was for the first hearers to whom Paul was writing: “Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches…Do not be arrogant, but tremble.” The covenant which God made with Abraham remains guaranteed by the unchanging character of God, and He will remain faithful to fulfil all that He has promised concerning the descendants of Jacob.

References

1 Hedding, M, 2006. Standing with Israel Today, ICEJ Word from Jerusalem, May/June edition (first published in The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, March 2006).

2 Rom 11:1, New King James Version.

3 Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. 2nd Century AD, transl. George Reith.

4 Eg On First Principles, Book IV.