Paul Luckraft reviews ‘The Appointed Times: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel’ (DVD, 2013, Day of Discovery).

There are many books available to help us understand the importance of the Feasts of Israel not only to Jews but also to Christians seeking to incorporate these ‘Appointed Times’ into their walk of faith. But here is a DVD that will act as an excellent introduction to anyone wondering if this is really something they want to investigate further.

It is also a very useful resource for home study groups and will provide openings for further discussion and teaching.

Four Main Sections

The DVD is divided into four sections, each of 25 minutes. Part 1 is an overview entitled Rest, Remembrance and Renewal, and the following three parts cover Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles in turn.

What makes the DVD very watchable is that we are taken to the Holy Land itself and watch three presenters (Michael Rydelnik, Avner Boskey, Michael Brown) in conversation with each other, sharing what they know and understand both from the Scriptures and their own experiences.

The visual production is of a high quality in all the various settings and locations, and the interaction between the three presenters maintains our interest, even though we know it is largely staged for our benefit!

A highly recommended resource that can be used over and over again.

Prophetic Significance

The value of the teaching in the DVD has many aspects. Not only does it investigate the importance of the Spring and Fall Feasts to Israel and describe the historical, agricultural and sacrificial aspects of these holy days, it also reveals their prophetic significance.

Most importantly, we see how these Appointed Times reveal Jesus as Messiah and the focal point of God’s redemptive plan, and learn how they are fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. In addition, we are shown how the Fall Feasts point to the promise of his return.

A highly recommended resource that can be used over and over again.

The Appointed Times (100 minutes) is available from Discovery House for £9.50 + P&P, where you can also watch a trailer. The DVD includes closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts’ by Richard Booker (Destiny Image, 2009).

This is another excellent book on Jesus and the Jewish Feasts. Clearly written and well set out, the aim is to enable Christians to discover the significance of these Feasts within their own individual walk with God. As such it is conceived as a personal study resource with practical guidelines at each stage.

The author recognises that in recent times God has been doing a new thing, “breaking down the walls of hatred and misunderstanding that have divided the Jews and Christians” (p8). He believes that celebrating Jesus in the Feasts has many benefits which include a fuller comprehension of God’s plan of redemption and a renewed passion for Jesus. He explains that when Christians celebrate Jesus in the Feasts they are not putting themselves under the Law or trying to be Jews, they are “simply expressing their desire to return to the biblical roots of the faith” (p10).

Personal Challenges

The Feasts are designed to be visual aids, pictures of deeper spiritual truths, and once we see them as God’s special Feasts (appointed times), rather than merely ‘Jewish’ Feasts, then those deeper truths start to emerge.

Chapter One outlines the biblical Jewish calendar which is the correct setting for the seven Feasts in their seasons. Chapters Two to Eight then take each Feast in turn, from Passover (the longest chapter) to Tabernacles. The structure of each chapter is the same: Historical Background, How Jesus Fulfilled the Feast, and Personal Application.

The Feasts are visual aids – pictures of deeper spiritual truths.

The intention of the book becomes clear at the end of each chapter where there is a Personal Study Review which checks your understanding of each Feast and also issues a specific challenge. The reader is asked to describe the seasonal aspect of the Feast in question and to say how Jesus fulfilled this Feast. The review also asks how the Feast as revealed in Jesus applies to our lives today, and concludes with the exhortation to ask God to give you a personal encounter with Jesus as the spiritual reality of this Feast.

Highly Recommended

The next two chapters cover Purim and Hanukkah, which although not part of the mo’edim or appointed Feasts, are significant national holidays and are well worth including in a book of this kind. The structure of these chapters has to change slightly as Jesus did not fulfil these, so as well as the Historical Background and Personal Application as before, there is a section on Purim (or Hanukkah) in the New Testament.

The final chapter acts as a summary of the main purpose of the book by stressing again how Christians can celebrate Jesus in the Feasts. The author realises that people need guidelines and ideas to get them started and so offers many useful suggestions. Within this chapter there is also a section on ‘counting the Omer’, with a Scripture reading plan to cover these 50 days between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost).

The author offers people useful suggestions and ideas to get started celebrating Jesus in the Feasts.

The author has clearly gone on his own personal journey through the Feasts and is excited about sharing it with others. His book is highly recommended and well worth putting alongside others on this topic.

Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts: Discovering their Significance to You as a Christian (224 pp) is available in a newer expanded edition (2016) from Amazon for £12.99 (£7.12 on Kindle). Older versions also available.

Clifford Denton addresses common misunderstandings about Torah.

In the last article we considered the subject of halakhah. Now let us consider Torah, on which halakhah is founded. These are Hebrew words, which will need some fresh investigation by many Christians, especially since some confusion has entered our Christian experience because of translation of these key words into other languages.

Our English Bible translations use the word ‘law’ where the Hebrew reads ‘Torah’ in the Old Testament. The New Testament manuscripts came to us in Greek rather than the Hebrew language. The word nomos is used rather than Torah or halakhah, again resulting in the word ‘law’ in English translations. This adds to our difficulty in re-thinking the relationship between Torah and halakhah because of the connotations of the word law in our lives and culture today.

This problem is increased because of the way Judaism has put the concept of halakhah into legalistic terms, further leading to many Christians rejecting serious studies of both Torah and halakhah, seeing law and grace as mutually exclusive.

We must look into the heart of God’s intent, and beyond legalism of either a Jewish or a Christian kind, to discover God’s purpose for all the family of faith. That is why we first of all, in our previous article, established that the Hebraic lifestyle was always intended to be a walk with God – the true interpretation of halakhah.

So now let’s put Torah into right relationship with this walk with God.

We must look beyond both Jewish and Christian legalism, to the heart of God’s intent for Torah and halakhah.

Compiling the Torah

It is instructive to consider the historical development of the Bible. The first five books of the Bible are called the Books of Moses. Before Moses’ time, oral tradition was the means of transmitting what was later to become the written word, recorded by Moses.

Enoch, Noah, Abraham and others learned to listen to God and walk with him. Then, when Israel was to become a nation within their own land, God caused Moses to record what is now the first five books of the Bible. This contains relevant earlier history, an account of the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land (itself a walk with God) and also the instruction that God gave by which Israel was to live. This included the Ten Commandments and a wide variety of requirements by which God’s chosen people should live as a nation, incorporating also the yearly cycle of Feasts of the Lord and the Sabbath Day.

The record of Moses came to be known as Torah. This word does not mean ‘law’. It means ‘teaching’ or ‘instruction’, drawing on the entire content of the first five Books of the Bible. God’s purpose was not to cause law to replace the foundational principle of walking with him in personal and corporate relationship.

Considered as God’s teaching programme, Torah was to be in balance with halakhah. This was the approach to be made in families, where children were to be taught by example and through parental guidance (Deut 6) and for the entire nation, for whom elders were appointed to interpret Torah on the walk of faith (Ex 18).

The Writings and the Prophets

Torah became Israel’s Bible, as it were. Other written records were compiled later, including the history of the nation, the Psalms and the Proverbs, which together were grouped as Ketuvim, the Writings. The Writings came out of a nation that was seeking to live in relation to God and to interpret his teaching as the foundation of that relationship.

When Israel fell away from God, their fall could be assessed by how far they had departed from Torah. The Prophets came along to point Israel back to God through reference to Torah. The third set of written material thus emerged which was called Neveeim, the Hebrew for ‘Prophets’.

The record of Moses came to be known as ‘Torah’, but this does not mean ‘law’.

Thus emerged the priority for the Hebrew Bible. With Torah (the five Books of Moses) at the foundation, Neveeim and Ketuvim were compiled with it, to make what comes to us as TaNaK, or the Tanakh (Old Testament).

Torah: Lost in Translation?

The true meaning and significance of Torah must be untangled from the concepts of English ‘law’ and Greek nomos if we are to re-connect with our Hebraic heritage. The key is in the Hebraic background of teaching, expressed as well as translators could in Greek, English and other languages.

The Greek nomos has shades of meaning that fit this original Hebraic background, but the English ‘law’ can easily be misinterpreted in our day, when it is connected with crime and punishment so readily. Yet, ‘law’ does also imply rules to bring safety and structure to the life of a community, and if we re-connect the concept with education we are not completely divorced from the original intent of the scriptures.

With Torah, interpretation was always necessary. Generation after generation of Israel’s elders and teachers, including rabbis in the Jewish tradition, helped the community of Israel to interpret Torah into a way of life. The call was not to make individual believers dependent on them, but to help them to be dependent on God. It is this link between Torah and halakhah that is so important.

This applies to the Christian world as much as it does to the Jewish world. Indeed, if we re-connect more firmly to the continuity from Old to New Covenant days, both Jews and Christians have the same objective – a walk with God as disciples, learning all that God wants to teach us.

Torah must be untangled from the concepts of English ‘law’ and Greek nomos and re-connected to our Hebraic heritage.

Yeshua Upholds Torah

During his Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua (Jesus) said that he had come to rightly interpret Torah (Matt 5:17). He confronted the religious teachers of the day for their controlling traditions and wrong interpretations (Matt 23). Moses’ seat, referenced in Matthew 23:2, was the seat in the synagogue set aside for a teacher to bring interpretations of the Torah.

Seen through these eyes, we see that much of the ministry of Yeshua was concerned with establishing the true foundations of halakhah through correctly interpreting Torah. He attacked dry ritual and challenged the attitude towards the Feasts and Sabbath (e.g. Mark 2:27-28). He showed that Torah was given by God to strengthen relationships between mankind and God and between men, women and children within Israel’s community (Matt 22:37-40) – the priority being for how we walk out our life in this world whilst also walking with God – halakhah.

Ritual Halakhah

By contrast to the true purpose of Torah, Jewish halakhah has become a form of legal interpretation of 613 dos and don’ts that have been identified in the written Torah.

Many of these commands, taken in a literal sense, are strengthened to give a margin of error so that the actual law will not be broken. This is called a fence around the Torah. However righteous the fence around Torah might seem, it carries with it the potential of robbing a person of their walk with God. Torah is deeper than this and more spiritual in application.

Further, if Torah is separated from the life and sacrificial death of Yeshua it will also lose its true purpose, because only through faith in Yeshua can one achieve the relationship with God that was always the goal of Torah.

Jesus’ ministry was concerned with establishing the true foundations of halakhah through correctly interpreting Torah.

Christians can also be found guilty of falling short of the purpose of what the Bible teaches, as Paul’s letter to the Galatians pointed out. On the one hand there is the possibility of misunderstanding Torah as law in the legal sense and so missing the true purpose of God’s teaching. Many Christians have thereby detached themselves from serious study of the heart intent of Torah foundations, misinterpreting Galatians 3:13. Yeshua (Jesus) took away the curse of Torah (the ‘law’) in that he took the punishment for sin away on the Cross for those who believe. He did not take away Torah itself.

On the other hand, in seeking to restore Torah observance, some Christians have taken a legalistic route, similar to that found in Jewish halakhah.

In Light of the New Covenant

Our challenge, therefore, in re-connecting with the Hebraic background to the Christian faith, is to be serious students of the entire Bible, re-establishing Torah foundations in New Covenant terms, helping one another secure a walk of faith in relationship with one another and with God and not being so legalistic as to spoil that walk, whilst learning together how to let our freedom in Messiah be submitted to the will of the Holy Spirit.

It must be said that the evidence is that it is far easier to slip into legalistic interpretations of Torah, leading to bondage to ritual more than freedom to walk with the Lord – something that takes a lifetime to learn in reality.

Take Psalm 119 as an illustration of where to start. Picture the author carefully constructing his psalm to express his delight in Torah. The psalm has 22 sections, each linked to one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses of a section commences with a word beginning with that letter, aleph, beit, gimmel and so on.

The number eight in Scripture represents new beginnings, possibly new life, so this symbolism is wound into the construction of the psalm. Perhaps there are other symbols too, along with the emphasis on the alphabet.

Our challenge is to re-establish Torah foundations in New Covenant terms, helping one another secure a walk of faith in relationship with God, while not slipping into legalism.

Considering all this, we realise that the psalmist took great care in expressing his love of Torah. Every letter of every word was to express his love of God and recognition of the power of Torah to transform, protect and guide a person.

This same inspiration can be carried over to New Covenant love of God’s teaching. Do we love God’s teaching through his Holy Spirit in such a way that we respond to it with the same heart as the psalmist? How many Christians have seen it that way? Torah was always spiritual and with the gift of the Holy Spirit to write it on our hearts, we are in a privileged position to live a Torah lifestyle - free of bondage, free to learn, discovering how heart manifestations of Torah principles are intended to guide and strengthen our individual and corporate walks with God.

Next time: Some illustrations from Torah

Israeli backpacker finds Yeshua in far-off New Zealand.

An Israeli backpacker had to travel to the other side of the world before finding the Jewish Messiah no-one had told him about at home.

Born and raised in a secular kibbutz (and knowing almost nothing about Jesus), Omri Jaakobovich was taken aback when the Dutch-born host of his hostel in Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, kept referring to him as one of God’s ‘chosen people’.

Like most Israelis, he had been horrified by the relatively recent assassination of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Orthodox Jew in the name of God.

So he challenged his host: “What’s so chosen or so much better about us Jews?” adding that for the first time in history a Jew had killed the chosen leader of the Jewish nation.

But he was shocked by her reply: “It’s not the first time that the Jews have killed the chosen leader of the Jewish nation.”

“What are you talking about?” he wondered.

“This is what you did to Yeshua,” was her response.

Realising that Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) was a Jew like himself, Omri’s interest was piqued: “Were they trying to hide something from me?” he pondered. “How come they told me absolutely nothing about him in Israel?”

Having wrestled since he was a child with the question, ‘Why was I born if one day I have to die?’ it now seemed logical to him that, ‘if Yeshua has been raised from the dead, maybe I too can be resurrected.’

The Veil Lifted

A chance meeting with another Israeli backpacker who had a Tanach (what Christians call an Old Testament) among his belongings led Omri to start reading its prophecies.

And seeing Yeshua in every one of them, he became convinced beyond any doubt that Yeshua was indeed the promised Messiah – though at this stage he thought he was the only Jewish believer in Jesus as he didn’t know of any others!

A Christian Omri met then read 2 Corinthians 3:14 to him, which says that only when Jews turn to Christ will the veil (of understanding) be lifted from their eyes.

There was no voice from heaven, he recalls, but he realised right then and there that he needed to start telling his people about it. So he began sharing his faith with every Israeli who came to the hostel. And within just four months, the man who gave him the Bible also came to faith.

HIT’s Impact

Omri subsequently founded a unique travel programme aimed at offering cheap accommodation for young Israeli backpackers and at the same time giving an opportunity for Christians to express their indebtedness to Israel for the Bible, salvation and, above all, their Saviour.

Host Israeli Travellers (HIT) has since provided inexpensive rooms in a friendly home environment to more than 15,000 youngsters touring the world after their demanding stints in the Israeli Defence Forces.

Beginning in New Zealand, which has become a favourite destination for young Israelis, it has now also spread to Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong and the UK.

HIT membership cards are available for a nominal fee and most hosts make only a small charge of up to £5 a night to cover overheads, though many still prefer to offer rooms free.

“One of the most significant developments over the years has been the ever-increasing openness of these young people to spiritual matters,” a spokeswoman said.

And Omri is now encouraging the Church to take up its calling to provoke the Jews to jealousy by sharing the Gospel with them (Rom 11:11, 14; also Rom 10:14).

To learn more, or to sign up, visit www.hitinternational.net.

Paul Luckraft reviews 'The Returning King: Is God Preparing Israel for the Messiah?' by Claire Lambert (Instant Apostle, 2015)

This is a delightful and well-written book, wonderfully descriptive and full of rich phrases which keep you turning the pages from the sheer pleasure of reading. It comes from the heart and tackles the topic of Jesus' return not as a deep theological analysis but as a personal narrative, which nevertheless shines a light on the role of Israel and the Jews in the future plan of God.

Journey to Jerusalem

The author states the main purpose of the book is "to open eyes to God's current and future intentions for Israel" (p13), but the way this is done is quite special and possibly unique. The book is in two sections and the first of these, Walls of Revelation, contains six chapters of "personal context which serves as a framework for all that follows" (p13). This is a testimony of how Clare came to a personal revelation of what she is about to share and how her perspective was radically altered regarding the Jewish people.

As the wife of a Baptist minister in a suburb of North-West London, Clare had contact with many Jewish families in the neighbourhood but admits that her particular brand of Western-based Christianity was devoid of the Jewish-rootedness that might have had an influence. Then one day she received an invitation to go on a study tour based at Yad Vashem and, encouraged by her husband who had enthusiastically returned from a previous tour, she set out on a journey of discovery and transformation.

This is a delightful and well-written book, wonderfully descriptive and full of rich phrases.

The key moment was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Among the towering stones of that great city surrounded by Orthodox Jewish women clutching scriptures and muttering prayers, she experienced a divine encounter. Clare relates it "was as if I had pressed my palm against His cheek and He held me there with his gaze...[then came] just a whisper, a fleeting thing, but there was nothing more real to me in that moment...the glimpse of God's heart in these simple words: 'I love these people. I love this place'" (p20).

From that moment of revelation came a whole new perspective and a deep conviction that Jerusalem is being prepared for a homecoming. Its King will return one day.

Preparations for His Return

After sharing more details of her personal awakening and what this would now mean in terms of her ministry and calling, Clare spends the rest of the book encouraging us to anticipate Christ's return and to recognise God's preparation of the Jewish people to receive him as their King. Her use of Scripture is accurate and helpful. In all her writing she has a gentle approach, reminding us of basic biblical truths rather than being demanding or insistent.

In one chapter she starts to unpack what God is doing in the Islamic nations. "All the while that God is...opening eyes to the importance of Israel, He is newly awakening a group of people who have been imprisoned in darkness for too long: the Muslims" (p95). She recounts how all across the Middle East and North Africa Muslims are having dreams and visions of Jesus in what she calls "a wave of God's saving power" (p95). This cannot be coincidence! Her analysis of this significant move of God (a rescue mission) is clear and firm.

Clare's use of her own personal testimony is a special and possibly unique way into looking at God's purposes for Israel.

Clare also wants us to be aware that what she is writing about falls into the sphere of spiritual warfare and that there is a need for watchmen (and women). She talks also about the Jew-hatred that is spreading across Europe and exhorts us as Christians "to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters, advocating on their behalf, standing against the propaganda and lies that muddy the waters and blind us to the anti-Semitism that underpins much of this distortion" (p116).

Inspiring and Heart-warming

Finally, she encourages the Church to restore its Hebraic roots and explore its Jewish heritage, especially the biblical feasts. As always there is a sensitive though forthright consideration of what needs to be done to make a real difference.

This may not be a theological book full of doctrine but it is biblical, embracing many prophetic scriptures, and how she came to believe them – and why we should too! Her testimony is inspiring and heart-warming. After her life-changing trip to Israel she acknowledges a remarkable shift in her heart, impacting her emotions as well as her thinking. It is this she wishes to share, and through the pages of this book she has indeed done this extremely well. Highly recommended.

The Returning King (160 pages) is available to purchase from CFI for £9. Also available from Amazon.

Clifford Denton considers Jesus' teaching on the end times - and how it sheds new light on Old Testament prophecy.

Messianic expectation is a thread that weaves its way through the entire Old Testament. However, until Jesus the Son of God came to earth, the Messianic scriptures were open to interpretation - as were the scriptures that described the world situation at the end of time.

The interpretations of the chief Rabbinical schools could be so wide of the mark that the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection after death (Matt 22:23). There was much down-to-earth expectation that the prophetic scriptures would be fulfilled on this earth.

For instance, many would have wondered if the occupation of Israel by Rome was the fulfilment of many of the end times passages in the Prophetic books, including the last chapters of Ezekiel and Daniel. This strong belief contributed to Jesus being rejected as Messiah and crucified as a false prophet.

Before Jesus, scriptures about the coming Messiah were open to interpretation – as were those about the end times.

New Light on the Prophets

In the plainest of language, Jesus' explanation of the signs of his return (recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21) sheds new light on the end time prophetic scriptures. Christians tend to read these scriptures in a forward-looking way, but the first disciples would also have looked back to understand in a new way what the Prophets had spoken. So in speaking of the signs of his coming, Jesus prompted his disciples to reconsider the Tanakh (Old Testament) in a new way and a new context.

It was at last possible to interpret the Old Testament prophecies with clarity and connect them up with New Testament prophecy. This is profound! It is as profound as the re-interpretation of the Passover from the exodus out of Egypt to the new birth of the New Covenant. It is as profound as an interpretation of end time scriptures from a focus on an earthly Kingdom in this age to the coming Kingdom of God in a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Connecting Prophecy Across the Testaments

Ezekiel 37-39, for example, can be re-read in the context of Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. For some Israelites these chapters built an expectation of fulfilment at the time of Rome's rise to power under the Caesars, their world Empire and their domination of Israel. Israel's Messianic expectation was for release from this dominant world empire.

The same is true of Daniel 11-12. Whilst the rise of the abomination of desolation of Daniel 11:31 might once have been attributed to Antiochus Epiphanes, the Hellenistic Seleucid conqueror of Israel, Jesus pointed to a greater fulfilment yet to come (Matt 2:15).

With Jesus' revelations, it became possible to interpret the Old Testament prophecies with new clarity.

Within the command to watch and pray would be the expectation that Jesus' disciples would continue to seek understanding of the times when all these prophecies would be fulfilled.

How far removed Jesus' disciples were from this understanding can be seen in Peter's suggestion when Jesus was transfigured (Matt 17:4) that three tabernacles (sukkot) be constructed, one each for Jesus. Moses and Elijah. He seems to have thought that this was the time of fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles - the time when Messiah would come to rule on earth.

Thus Jesus' answer to the question about the signs of his coming (Matt 24:3) would have put a context to all the Messianic scriptures and their fulfilment. While the message of the biblical prophets was couched in mystery, Jesus made their interpretation plain, and caused the disciples to begin to read them afresh and look forward to what would come upon the earth.

Jesus Interprets the Prophets

God prepared the way in the prophecies of the Old Testament for what would come upon this earth at the end of time – and Jesus made these earlier prophecies clear. The events that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24, all in the context of Old Testament prophecy, are:

• Times of deception (24:4)
• False Messiahs (24:5)
• Wars and rumours of wars (24:6)
• Famines, plagues and earthquakes (24:7)
• Great tribulation upon Jesus' disciples and upon his people (24:8-9)
• Division, hate and betrayal (24:10)
• False prophets (24:11)
• Lawlessness (24:12)
• Lack of love among people (24:12)
• A call to endure through these trials with promised salvation to those who hold firm to the end (24:13)
• The Gospel being preached to all nations prior to the end and prior to Jesus' return (24:14)
• A warning sign of the abomination of desolation (24:15)
• Continued warnings of troubled times and how to respond to them (24:15-28)
• Post-tribulation signs in the universe (24:29-30)
• The sign of the Son of Man (24:30)
• Post-tribulation gathering of the elect (24:31)
• Parable of the fig tree, symbolic of the restoration of Israel (24:32)
• Some taken and some left (24:36-42)

Jesus also made it clear how his followers are to behave in the midst of these events, emphasising the importance of watching (24:42) and of maintaining faith, persevering through trials (24:42-49). He also emphasised the surprise element, explaining that nobody will know the exact time of his return – only the signs (24:42-44).

In summary, Jesus told his disciples clearly what to expect and how to respond to the circumstances coming upon the world. He did not give them a time-line so much as a set of events - some of which overlap, others of which are in sequence. Verses 3 to 14 contain the first statement of the events. Verses 15 to 28 address those same events and (following the therefore in verse 15) show us how to respond when a specific sign is seen.

Jesus told his disciples clearly what to expect and how to respond – but he did not give them a time-line.

Verse 29 indicates that Jesus will not return until after this great tribulation. At that time, it will be comparable to the time of Noah (24:37) and this is the time that some will be taken and some left on the earth.

We know from God's covenant with Noah that there will not be a judgment by flood (Gen 9:8-11), so we are left to wonder what the fate of those left on the earth might be.

End Time Fulfilment of Old Testament Prophecy

Our first priority in reading Matthew 24 is to relate it to what the Prophets had already said about the end times. Later, after Jesus had left to be with the Father, further prophecy was given to John, recorded as the Book of Revelation. Just as Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 interpreted prophecies of the Old Testament, so they also interpret Revelation.

This gives us a method of reading Revelation - reading it in the context of both Jesus' clear description of the events of the end times and also what the Old Testament Prophets revealed.

With markers in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and by cross-reference to the prophecies of the Old Testament, we see how the mysterious visions of John echo what Jesus had already told his disciples in the context of what the entire Bible says.

Read the Book of Revelation for yourself and let's look at it together next time.

Next time: Comparing the Book of Revelation with Matthew 24.

Clifford Denton begins a new teaching series on this controversial topic.

Much is said of the end times, and rightly so. Whether in veiled terms or in clear statements, the theme runs right through the Bible. We must study what the Bible says about the coming days as we seek to obey Jesus' command to watch and pray.

But the other side of this coin is that we must carefully and continually test our understanding. Often pre-emptive judgments about how to interpret some passages lead people to suggest watertight formulae for every step through the last years of Earth's history. The conflicting perspectives, timelines and interpretations have made the topic of the end times very divisive, segmenting Christians according to their views on pre-, post- and mid- tribulation rapture, the place of Israel, and questions about the millennial rule of Jesus. All this when events are rapidly proceeding in the world around us!

Whether in veiled terms or in clear statements, the theme of the 'end times' runs right through the Bible.

Careful Focus Needed

This division often means that the subject is relegated to the background. Instead, emphasis is put on other fundamentals of the faith which unite us all, including the task of evangelism we all must accomplish together.

Yet, as the days move forward and evident signs of the end increase, it is surely time to find a way to walk in unity into that future, not compromising but watching and praying together. Peter's question, asked so long ago, is still relevant today: "Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God...?" (2 Pet 3:12)

In this new series, we will seek to contribute to the task of establishing a careful focus on this subject. We invite our readers to take this journey with us and join in the discussion, praying afresh for the Lord's own guidance in this important matter.

Before we begin, it is important to establish our prime focus.

The Return of Messiah

With the biblical prophets to study, including the Book of Revelation, we can soon be immersed in discussions about the various signs of the times, their ordering and how they will impact our lives on Earth and beyond. But this is not the central issue.

When Jesus' disciples talked with him on the Mount of Olives prior to completion of his earthly ministry, they asked this question: "What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matt 24:3).

The conflicting perspectives, timelines and interpretations have made the topic of the end times very divisive – but no less important to study.

These were the men who had been with the Lord for the years of his earthly ministry and had grown to love him and rely on him. They realised that he was about to leave them and they did not want him to go. We all have this sort of experience when a loved one departs from this world, a bereavement, a deeply emotional time of personal loss, a desire to continue to be with the one we love.

Or we have the experience of a friend going somewhere else in this world, perhaps a family member leaving home or a friend moving away. We desire them to come back to us and renew those activities we love to do together. We hope for special times of coming together in the future, to share holidays or family times together around the meal table.

This helps us to understand what was in the heart of Jesus' disciples when they were soon to be left alone. They did not ask for a theology of the end times - but how they might be helped to prepare for the return of their Lord and Saviour – and personal friend.

This should be our priority too, as we study the end times. There will be enormous disruption both in this world and in the universe as a whole, but the focus is on the wonderful expectation of the Lord's return. The enormity of the signs that will precede the Lord's coming is the way God has chosen to emphasise the event of all events.

Jesus' disciples did not ask for a theology of the end times – their heart was to prepare for the return of their Lord, Saviour and Friend.

Getting Our Priorities in Order

Over the series we will be considering some of those signs and expectations – but before we begin, let us pause and ensure we have this priority in view. It is the same priority that lies at the heart of sharing the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper together – to remember his death until he comes (1 Cor 11:26). Nothing could be more central - and keeping our priorities centred on this will naturally keep us in focus on all other things.

The Lord's return is likened to the coming of a bridegroom. For those of us who are included in this wedding party we have the most wonderful fulfilment of our lives in view. For those who are asleep and not waiting with anticipation, instead of joy there is warning (Matt 25:1-13).

Let us pray about this as we go on to study those Scriptures that talk of his coming. Let us ensure our priorities are in order. Do you sense a prayer welling up?

...Come Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:20)

Next time: How to approach Scripture relating to the end times.

For other articles in this series, click here.

Friend of Israel's hell-fire preaching lights up tranquil scene

Tucked away in a beautifully tranquil part of Suffolk, noted among art enthusiasts everywhere as Constable country, is an ancient stone church dating back 700 years.

There's nothing particularly unusual about that in England, where the sight of a glorious steeple piercing a canopy of trees and sky is the focus of nearly every village. But I was particularly drawn to this one, on the edge of the magnificent Helmingham Hall estate belonging to Lord and Lady Tollemache, whose fabulous gardens we had just visited.

It turns out that this aristocratic family has had strong connections with the church over the centuries and had been responsible for the mass of illuminated Bible verses inscribed on virtually every spare space inside the building.

Anyone who comes to church without a Bible has much of it 'printed in large type' on the walls, while the pulpit is graphically backed up by the text "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"

Intrigued to find out more of its history, I soon discovered that none other than John Charles Ryle (later to become the first Bishop of Liverpool) was Rector there for nearly 20 years in the mid-19^th Century (1844-1861).

But JC Ryle (as he was generally known) would in no way have been intimidated by such evangelical fervour. He would literally have basked in it, like a sun-seeker soaking up the warmth of its rays.

Pithy and Engaging

Gospel Sentinel: The parish church at Helmingham, Suffolk, where J C Ryle preached for 20 years.During his time at Helmingham, Ryle wrote over 80 tracts which were delivered to every door in the parish. He challenged the complacency of many who seemed disinterested in their spiritual state with prose that – unusually for the day – was both pithy and engaging. He mocked the notion that you should be thought very uncharitable if you dared to question whether a man was a Christian, thus:

The man's practice may be no better than that of a heathen: many a respectable Hindu might put him to shame – but what of that? He is an Englishman. He has been baptized. He goes to church, and behaves decently when there. What more would you have?

He reminded his readers that "sacraments, services and sermons may produce outward formality, and clothe us with a skin of religion, but there will be no life." Only the Holy Spirit could wake us from our spiritual slumber and save us from the "deep corruption" of our human nature.

He was particularly mindful of those who profess Christianity without backing it up by a transformed life: "Sin is plainly not considered their worst enemy, nor the Lord Jesus their best friend, nor the will of God their rule of life, nor salvation the great end of their existence." Urging us to receive the Spirit, he concludes: "You may not like the tidings. You may call it enthusiasm, or fanaticism, or extravagance. I take my stand on the plain teaching of the Bible."

Unlike some today, he emphasised that Christ is the "only way" to heaven and mocked those who treat the Bible as "a heathen idol" only to be brought out at christenings, or upon the arrival of sickness, the doctor and death.

Ryle's pulpit was backed up by the fervent text: "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"

Urgent and Uncompromising

His messages are urgent, passionate, blunt and uncompromising – and what a legacy he has left, for he still speaks, even though dead. He continues to be widely read, and there are many internet websites devoted to him.

Oh that today's bishops would speak with such directness and authority! With some notable exceptions, they seem to have had what many have dubbed 'the operation' to remove their spine.

But Ryle's passion for the gospel echoes down the ages, still addressing those lost in a sea of despair, confusion and hopelessness: "I fear lest you should live without Christ, die without pardon, rise again without hope, receive judgment without mercy, and sink into hell without remedy."

He was unequivocal in stating that "the Bible is all true, and must be fulfilled". For example, he firmly believed that the Jews scattered around the world for 18 centuries would soon return to their ancient homeland in fulfillment of many scriptures. And he encouraged Christians to work and pray toward that end.

Ryle's passion for the gospel echoes down the ages.

He said: "I believe that the Jews shall ultimately be gathered again as a separate nation, restored to their own land and turned to the faith of Christ (Messiah)."

And so it was, less than 50 years after he died in 1900, that the modern state of Israel was born! And a growing number have since acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah. Judge for yourself whether you think a man with such foresight was off the mark in diagnosing the spiritual health of his parishioners.

Fire from Heaven

He did not escape suffering himself – he was twice widowed while at Helmingham – but was not afraid to preach what many today would deem 'hell-fire and damnation' as he left his readers with this fiery challenge: "Where is the man that can hold his finger for a minute in the flame of a candle? Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"

That there was a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned was a fairly orthodox line taken by preachers of the day, but few even then had the courage to put it quite as bluntly as JC Ryle.

Thus galvanised by the gospel, Ryle lit a flame that time would not extinguish. My prayer is that readers will continue to have their hearts similarly warmed by fire from heaven.

'Why is this night different from all other nights?'

This is the question the youngest child in every Jewish home asks in song at Passover, as families gather to celebrate this ancient festival commanded by God in perpetuity: "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance" (Ex 12:14).

Jewish history and identity are rooted in this unique festival. Remembering God's deliverance of his enslaved people has been the glue holding the Jewish community together for centuries, enabling them to survive exile and persecution (click here for a longer study of Passover).

Yeshua (Jesus) used the setting of Passover (in the synoptic gospels) to announce the new covenant in his blood. Christian identity is therefore also rooted in this festival. Many churches now hold Passover celebrations, but it can be hard for Jewish people to understand why Christians want to celebrate Passover. Most perceive it as a celebration exclusively of Jewish freedom. Some are pleased by Christians' desire to mark this festival, while others are wary.

It is still primarily a festival of Jewish freedom. However, it is foundational to the identity of believers in Jesus, both Jew and Gentile. Exodus tells us that, "There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children", but also that "Many other people went up with them" (Ex 12:37-38). These would have been Egyptians. So Gentiles (non-Jews) were part of the Exodus.

Passover is primarily a festival of Jewish freedom – however, it is foundational to the identity of believers in Jesus, both Jew and Gentile.

The story has not changed. Gentiles still join the Jewish Exodus - through faith in Messiah. The blood of lambs is no longer daubed on homes, but the blood of the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29) is a sign carried in the hearts of believers in Yeshua. It is his blood that sets us free because "Messiah is our Passover Lamb" (2 Cor 5:7).

Gentiles do not replace Israel in the story; they join with Israel because the Messiah "is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14).

Why is This God Different From All Other gods?

Passover reveals the character of the God of Israel. Christians think of God's defining characteristic as being love. In the New Testament, John declares that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). Yet the word 'love' does not appear often in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. That is because another word is being used, which is hesed, meaning loving-kindness or mercy expressed in covenant faithfulness. The nearest New Testament equivalent is charis, meaning grace.

At Passover, the Lord demonstrated his unique redemptive power and faithful character. Miriam celebrates God's goodness in song: "In your unfailing love (hesed) you will lead the people you have redeemed" (Ex 15:13).

In the new (or renewed) covenant announced in Jeremiah, the Lord declared, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness" (hesed) (Jer 31:3).

We often talk about an angry God who must be appeased, but a capricious, angry deity is more in keeping with pagan ideas of God. The Lord's defining characteristic is hesed, loving-kindness expressed in covenant faithfulness. When we break his covenant, the Lord is righteously angry at sin, not angry with us, because we are loved, but angry at sin's power in us to hurt, defile and destroy ourselves and others. He must judge sin in us. However, he is not a God of justice one day and a God of love the next. He is both at once: justice and love co-existing without conflict.

Our God is not a God of justice one day and a God of love the next. He is both at once: justice and love co-existing without conflict.

His justifiably righteous anger at sin and his perfect justice are preceded by his love. So his love precedes justice and his justice proceeds from love. In other words, he must judge because he loves. How can he love and not judge on sin and injustice? How can he let those he loves be sinned against and not burn with justifiable anger? So he executes perfect justice in and from hesed, covenantal love and faithfulness. As we remember the events of Passover, let us remember in awestruck wonder the loving-kindness and sacrificial faithfulness that took our Messiah to the Cross to be our Passover Lamb.

Clifford Denton offers some reflections on Good Friday.

This weekend we will celebrate the most important event of all history, an event only to be equalled by the Lord Jesus' return to bring the Kingdom of God fully in. It is more important than the created universe (Luke 21:33). As deep as was the Flood to drown a sinful world, deeper still is the love of God who sent his own Son into the world to redeem from sin all who would believe.

The sky darkened, the earth shook, the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom and many saintly people rose from their graves as Jesus defeated the power of sin and death on that eventful day (Matt 27:45-56).

What Abraham Looked Forward to!

2,000 years before, Jesus' sacrifice had been foreshadowed when God said to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you" (Gen 22:2).

God had already, in the most dramatic way of cutting a covenant (Genesis 15), made a promise that depended only on his own faithfulness, that Abraham's offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and dwell in the land promised to them by God. Isaac was the son of promise through whom this line would come in the physical sense, yet God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son on a mountain in the Moriah range.

Just at the point of Abraham's making the sacrifice, an angel intervened and Isaac was spared. A ram was sacrificed instead (Gen 22:13). Under Abraham's knife was not just Isaac but all who would descend from his physical line. The ram was the substitute. The ram died and all the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were able to live. The principle of substitution began.

Abraham looked forward in faith to see how God would fulfil his covenant responsibility, spending his life living in tents but waiting "for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb 11:8-10).

When God provided a ram for sacrifice instead of Abraham's son Isaac, the principle of substitution began.

The Passover Sacrifice

The covenant pathway was never easy for Abraham's descendants, as Joseph found when he was taken captive to Egypt, followed by the entire family of Israel (Gen 37-50). 430 years later, when the nation of Israel had grown whilst in captivity, Moses was chosen to lead Israel out of Egypt.

On the night chosen by God, henceforward to be celebrated annually as Passover, one of the prescribed Feasts of Israel, God judged the sins of Egypt but preserved the Israelites who through faith, family by family, each sacrificed a lamb and painted their door-posts with its blood (Ex 12).

This principle of faith was to be engraved into the consciousness of all Israelites. They were soon to be taught what was right and wrong in God's eyes through the Covenant at Sinai, to know the path of forgiveness through the sacrifices of the Tabernacle and Temple ministries, though still to have no permanent remedy for sin (Heb 9:1-10).

A Temple on Mount Moriah

The City of Jerusalem was founded by King David when, about 1,000 years after Abraham, Israel had settled in their Land (2 Sam 5:6-10). Since then, Jerusalem has been the chief city in the world for God to centre his purposes. David longed for a Temple so that the ministry of the Tabernacle from the wilderness years could have a permanent centre.

He purchased the land on the same mountain range where Abraham had taken his son Isaac. This was the place where the angel of death was commanded by God not to destroy Jerusalem on account of David's sin in taking an unlawful census (2 Sam 24:16-17). David's son Solomon built the Temple on the threshing floor of Ornan (Araunah) on Mount Moriah (2 Chron 3:1). The worship and sacrifice centre of Israel was completed.

1,000 years after Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac on Mount Moriah, King David purchased land in the same area for the building of God's Temple.

It was destroyed at the Babylonian captivity in 536 BC, rebuilt by Zerubbabel on return from captivity, 70 years later, and modified by Herod into a more ornate structure. Central to the life and hopes of Israel for all these long years was the covenant with Abraham, the Feasts (including Passover) and the substitutional sacrifice for sin through the blood of the lamb.

Jesus the Messiah

Though there was an expectation for a coming Messiah to Israel, it was beyond human intellect to put all the prophecies together to see clearly how God would fulfil his promise to Abraham. A king from the line of David was eagerly awaited, with most Jews expecting a saviour to come in glory and raise an army against the occupying Romans of Jesus' day. Without the revelation such as Peter had at Caesarea Philippi (Matt 16:13), they did not understand that Isaiah pointed clearly to a suffering Saviour (Isa 53), accurately fulfilled by Jesus on the Cross.

He entered this world as God's only Son, echoing the experience of Abraham and Isaac so long ago. He grew up in the Jewish tradition, totally representing the nation, and ministered for three and a half years in fulfilment of all the scriptures pointing to Messiah. Then, riding on a donkey as a man of peace, with a clear climax to his ministry soon to occur, he descended the Mount of Olives and crossed the Kidron Valley to the City of Jerusalem.

With great expectation palm branches paved the way for the coming King of the Jews – as some recognised him to be. Yet only he knew how the rest of the scriptures would be fulfilled. He was, with the crown of thorns, the ram in the thicket that replaced Isaac, the saviour of Israel through substitutionary sacrifice. He came to be the Passover lamb that for all those years had pointed to him.

With the crown of thorns, Jesus was the ram in the thicket that replaced Isaac, the substitutionary sacrifice, the Passover lamb.

Perfect Sacrifice

He shared the traditional evening Passover meal with his disciples ensuring that they would remember that this was now to be shared as a memorial to him. The next day at the time of the Temple Sacrifice - one sacrifice for all the people - he willingly died on the Cross to release all who would accept his sacrifice for their sin – one Lamb for the entire family of faith.

The night before, in all Jewish homes there had been a service of remembrance of the first Passover and the atoning blood of the lamb. All history right up to that night prepared the way for the intercessory prayer from the Cross of the dying Saviour – "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) and his victorious cry of "it is finished" (John 19:30) that still echoes to us across the centuries. No-one knows the exact spot where it took place but this too was on the range of hills named Moriah.

Today

All over the world the Jews still celebrate Passover in the traditional way, ending the seder with "next year in Jerusalem". There is an ongoing desire for God to complete the promises made to Abraham. Those with eyes opened by the Spirit of God see how all the prophecies and the types and shadows of Israel's history were fulfilled in Jesus. It was far more than a release from the captivity of the Egyptians, the Babylonians or the Romans that he came to accomplish – it was freedom from the chains of sin that ensnare us all.

Those with eyes opened by the Spirit of God see how all the types and shadows of Israel's history are fulfilled in Jesus.

The Gospel went to the Gentile world and the Christian Church increased in numbers, fulfilling the promise to Abraham that his seed would be as countless as the stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. Grafted into believing Israel we too celebrate Passover whenever we take communion. It is unfortunate that Christians renamed Passover as Easter and moved the date slightly so that Easter always falls on a Sunday. Nevertheless, on Good Friday, as it is called, Christians around the world will be celebrating the Lord's death on the Cross once more.

Remember the history of it all as you pass around the bread and the wine reading Paul's injunction:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same manner he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. (1 Cor 11:23-26)