Christine Burden reviews 'In Time with God: Daily Devotional Bible Readings in Accordance with the Biblical Hebrew Calendar' by RK Bamber (2012).

This book is not your usual daily devotional resource. It does not begin on 1 January but instead at the start of the Biblical New Year, which begins with the month of Abib (or Nisan).

In the introduction, Bamber states: "The aim of this book is to give you scriptures and 'daily devotionals' which are related, as much as possible, to the actual day on which you are reading..." (p9). The biblical calendar is a lunar calendar; it is not the same as the Gregorian calendar that we normally use, which is a solar calendar.

This may seem confusing, but the author carefully explains how the reader can accurately find the passage appropriate for any given day of the Gregorian calendar, so there is no need to worry. One can also purchase a dual calendar with the book, and additional website resources for navigating between the calendars are also provided. It is not a problem but an education!

The book devotes a page for each day. Included on this page are the biblical date, titles and a portion of Scripture accompanied by helpful teachings and explanations. At the end of the page there is a question or personal challenge for the reader, followed by references that one might wish to follow up by way of further study.

Attention to the Feasts

This is a devotional that is well-researched, is challenging and has invaluable teaching on the Hebraic roots of our Jewish Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).

Bamber includes helpful explanations of how Yeshua (Jesus) fulfils the feasts. Yeshua "fulfilled the prophetic meaning of the feasts on the actual days that they occurred" (p9). For example, The Feast of Passover falls on the 14^th day of the first month (Lev 23:5) of the lunar calendar, when the moon is full, and not on a fixed date of the Gregorian calendar. It was on Passover, when the blood of a lamb was shed for redeeming the Israelites, that Yeshua died.

Incidentally, on the 14^th day of any month in the lunar calendar there will be a full moon; one has only to look up at the sky (provided that it is a clear night) to see when we have reached Day 14.

There are also detailed and interesting charts for each month beginning with the first month of Nisan (referred to as the month of Abib in the Bible). These charts are nicely set out, providing an overall view of the book. In addition to the feasts, the charts include information and Bible texts on a varied selection of other biblical topics. For example, one topic covered is 'The Seven Species of Israel', with days each devoted to a different botanical species mentioned in Scripture. I would say there is something here for everyone who enjoys God's word.

This book is not your usual devotional resource - it works to the Hebraic lunar calendar.

Difficult Topics

The author does not shy away from difficult topics such as the Lord's plan for Israel, anti-Semitism, Replacement Theology or end time topics.

There is a discussion on Israel's enemies (p386), where the text from Numbers 24:20 looks at the words spoken by Balaam about the Amalekites, Israel's enemies. The author traces the lineage of the Amalekites, beginning with their putting fear into 10 of the 12 spies sent out by Moses, right through to modern times in which, she states, "Amalek is the spirit which tries to thwart God's plan of redemption". We are reminded that Haman (who was an Amalekite) tried to destroy all the Jews in Persia, as recorded in the book of Esther (incidentally, ancient Persia is today's Iran, a very present threat to modern-day Israel).

Care and Dedication

I found as I read this book that there was an anointing on each page that brought me the peace and comfort of the Lord. On one page the author talks about 'The Prepared Bride' (p300). Here, discussion centres around the woman who was forgiven much "for she loved much" (Luke 7:47). The reader is challenged by the author who states that the woman's great love for the Lord is a picture of the Church, the Bride of Yeshua.

I love the care, dedication and attention to detail that has gone into the writing of this book. After following it daily through a whole year I have found that it has become a favourite that I return to often for spiritual refreshment. This is an excellent book for these times as the Church continues to re-discover its lost Hebraic roots.

As I read I found there was an anointing on each page that brought me the peace and comfort of the Lord.

In Time With God (414 pages, In Time With God Publications) is available from Rosemary Bamber's website, www.intimewithgod.com, which also contains further information about the book and navigating between the lunar and solar calendars.

Rosemary Bamber studied Theology at Avery Hill College, London and spent four years studying and serving in Jerusalem, where she was inspired to write this book.

Clifford Denton asks: is there something special about the year 2015? What should we make of the large number of anniversaries celebrated this year? Are they just 'coincidences' - or is Almighty God speaking to us through them?

Looking back while going forward

It is a biblical principle to constantly look back and remember what God has done for his people. This is the basis of the Passover when, once a year, the families of Israel were to gather round the meal table and recount their deliverance from Egypt so many years ago. This was also the opportunity for the baton of remembrance to be passed on to each new generation, as the youngest child asked the father, "Why is this night different from other nights?"

If we do not take steps to remember then we easily forget.

More positively, to look back and remember God's faithfulness helps us to step forward in faith into an otherwise uncertain future.

To look back and remember God's faithfulness helps us to step forward into an otherwise uncertain future.

History is littered with metaphorical ebenezars – our stones of remembrance (see 1 Samuel 7:12). So, in 2015 it is good for us to pause and consider where we have come from and how God has helped us. The United Kingdom, despite all its faults, has much that is good to remember this year.

A Long List of Anniversaries

Earlier this year the Daily Telegraph published English Heritage's 'Top Ten Anniversaries for 2015'. Each has brought with it some form of significant celebration across the nation, including:

1. 800 years since the signing of Magna Carta
2. 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo
3. 600 years since the Battle of Agincourt
4. 100 years since the beginning of trench warfare of the First World War
5. 70 years since VE Day marked the ending of the War in Europe
6. 50 Years since the death of Sir Winston Churchill
7. 750 years since the first English Parliament
8. 700 years since the Siege of Carlisle by Robert the Bruce
9. 1000 years since the Viking invasion of England by Cnut
10. 75 years since the Evacuation of Dunkirk in the Second World War

It is difficult to know where to draw the line on our celebrations of the past. An extreme example is a list of '4000 newsworthy items' occurring in 2015, many less well-known than others but some of major significance to add to our list of 10 (or 20, or 30) or so anniversaries already noted in the news and elsewhere.

Celebrating Major National Landmarks

Every week this year seems to bring a memorial or celebration of yet another major milestone in our history.

For example, on the day that I drafted this article (15 September) there was a memorial flight of a large gathering of Spitfires and Hurricanes across the south of England - perhaps the greatest number seen over our shores since the Battle of Britain, which began on this date 75 years ago. Millions watched the television coverage of this event.

Just over a fortnight ago, amidst much national and international jubilation, the Queen became the longest serving monarch in British history.

Around the same time, in the regular yearly celebration at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms the promenaders burst forth in song with 'Land of Hope and Glory', 'Rule Brittania' and even 'Jerusalem', with keen nationalistic fervour (perhaps the stronger this year because of its many historic reminders). Perhaps this is over-enthusiastic - and yet there is much in our history to stir such sentiments.

All this in a world which is beginning to shake in fulfilment of biblical prophecies pointing to the soon return of Jesus the Messiah.

Rejoice, Repent...or Both?

Could it be that it is no casual coincidence that our nation is remembering so much in one year – but that it is of God? Are we reaching a point where such reflection should lead us to repentance and trust in God for the last few years of this era of human history? This may seem a bleak sort of question to ask of a nation that is celebrating good things, but could this be God's purpose for us (the opposite of what some might think)?

Any one of the major celebrations tugs at the heart. World conflicts where millions of men and women once struggled for survival; major landmarks of the formation of Britain's constitutional principles settling a balance of freedom in which we could be a nation under God; our long-living monarch who made a solemn vow to God to maintain his laws and the true profession of the Gospel.

If we examine the dates closely we find not only political and military milestones but also significant dates of the formation of missionary movements, reminding us how our nation was used by God to send the Gospel to many Gentile nations. Layer upon layer of wide-ranging history is before us this year. It is time to pause and think – and to pray.

Man's Point of ViewFlypast for Battle of Britain anniversary, 2015. See Photo Credits.

Many of the celebrations this year have been accompanied by Church services. This, on the face of it, brings some encouragement. Yet, if we dig a bit beneath the surface there is a tendency for two points of concern. One is that services are increasingly multi-faith – a heritage of Empire perhaps, when we failed to sufficiently emphasise the Gospel at the time of our greatest opportunity, majoring instead on trade and political influence. Now we reap some repercussions as our nation struggles for identity, when biblical principles are gradually compromised in a multi-cultural, multi-faith society.

Secondly, there is a growing tendency to remember what men and women did, rather than what God did for us. Of course there has been much human effort to bring our nation through its developing history, and much human sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Yet we did not do this alone and we must balance our view of man's contribution with a clear understanding of how God has helped us – perhaps more than we think.

God's Point of View

Has God sent us a clear word during this year of celebration that draws our attention to his own perspective and his own call to our nation? Surely this is the opportunity for us to seek him and ask him. Throughout our history the hand of God has been on our affairs. If there is anything good then it is he who brought it about. At our best we realised this, but the memory soon fades.

For example, in the hours of our greatest need in the Second World War, the King called the nation to prayer. When victory finally came, after many a miraculous deliverance, the first thing that Prime Minister Winston Churchill did was lead the entire body of Parliament to St Margaret's Church in Westminster to give thanks to Almighty God.

We are in a different war now. It is more in the spiritual domain. This is the time of rising deception, false prophecy and false messiahs (among other things), as foretold by Jesus himself (Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13). Is this why we are looking back so significantly to the ebenezars (stones of remembrance) of our history?

Is God himself wanting us to pause and consider our history from his perspective and not our own? How much time do we have? Perhaps this year, perhaps the duration of our Queen's reign, who knows? Is this why there is so much emphasis on looking back all in one year – to make the point most strongly?

Days of Prophetic Fulfilment

It is interesting that there was another year of significant memories not long ago - the year was 1988. Then, we recalled such things as:

• 450 years of the availability of the English Bible in every parish
• 400 years since the defeat of the Spanish Armada
• 350 years since the National Covenant in Scotland
• 300 years since the 'Glorious Revolution'
• 250 years since the conversion of the Wesleys
• 150 years since the abolition of slavery in the British Empire;
• and - still of great and central importance - 300 years since the Coronation Oath Act.

1988 was another significant year to reflect as a nation.

Around that time a number of Christian ministries came to prominence; among them was the Prophecy Today. Having been launched in its print magazine format in 1985, in 1988 the Prophecy Today team undertook a national tour with large meetings around the country, declaring the word of the Lord for our times.

Now, at the time of this second wave of significant memorials, Prophecy Today has been re-launched. The first editions of the earlier magazine brought warning. Now we are at a time of fulfilment. Perhaps 2015 marks a decision point for our nation in greater ways than most of us have realised.

It is time for us to pause and consider so that we might, in a meaningful way, turn to prayer. It is a poignant, God-given moment in our history where, in the context of present crises among the nations and with weak international leadership, we can recall what God has done for us in the past, and ask him what he has to say to us today. This is true for both the Christian Church and the nation as a whole.

This year is an opportunity for both church and nation to pause and consider what God has done for us in the past, and to ask him what he has to say to us today.