Jeremiah's call to ministry.

“The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’” (Jer 1:4).

This was Jeremiah’s personal testimony which laid the foundation for his life’s work. His ministry was not a personal career choice; it was a response to the compulsion to declare the word of God, similar to that which Paul felt when he declared “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).

The phrase “The word of the Lord came to me” means ‘came into being’ or was ‘birthed’ within him. This birthing actually took place in the womb, where the Spirit of God began forming the word of God in the unborn child from the moment of conception. Before the tiny body of Jeremiah began to take shape within the womb of his mother, God was planning to use him as a prophet to the nation.

From the moment of conception, God was moulding the character of the man he was preparing for the most difficult and exacting ministry of any of the biblical prophets. Before he was born, Jeremiah was set apart for this special task of conveying the word of the Lord to the nation in the most critical period of its history since its formation in the wilderness, under the prophetic leadership of Moses.

A Prophet in a Priestly Family

Like the Prophet Samuel, whose mother gave him to the Lord while he was still in her womb, Jeremiah must also have had a special mother – a woman of prayer and faith. We know nothing about her except that she was the wife of a priest, a descendant of Zadok and Abiathar, whose heritage went back to the time of Eli and Samuel.

Like the Prophet Samuel, whose mother gave him to the Lord while he was still in her womb, Jeremiah must also have had a special mother – a woman of prayer and faith.

Abiathar had been King David’s chief priest. He was dismissed by Solomon in an effort to prevent opposition to his taking the throne from his older brother Adonijah who he murdered (1 Kings 2:25-27). Abiathar and his descendants were exiled from living in Jerusalem to live in the village of Anathoth. Although only two miles distant, it was a million miles away in terms of social influence. Jeremiah was raised far away from the aristocratic priestly families of the Temple.

Jeremiah’s family must have suffered from a strong sense of social inferiority which made them incredibly sensitive to having a pariah amongst them. The priest’s role was to maintain the religious traditions of the nation and to oppose any changes, whereas the role of the prophet was to challenge the status quo in the name of God. To have a prophet in a priest’s family would have been seen as a tragedy, and as Jeremiah notes, even his own family sought to take his life, but God revealed their plot to him (Jer 11:18-23). As Dean Inge once said, a priest is never so happy as when he has a prophet to stone!

God’s Creation from Conception

Jeremiah’s testimony that the word of the Lord was birthed in him from the time of conception is a recognition that the pre-birth period in the womb is of great importance for character formation. Yet in contemporary Britain, 8.7 million babies have been destroyed since the legalisation of abortion in 1967. We are a nation steeped in the blood of the innocent – throwing away as unwanted, unloved and uncared for, the most precious gift of life that only God can give.

The record of Jeremiah’s birth shows that God knows each one of those whom he creates in his own image from the moment of conception. At the end of every working day in our hospitals, a black bag full of babies is taken out of the back door and thrown into the incinerator. What is God saying to the men and women who care so little for the gift of each tiny life? How many great men and women who could have served the nation have been burnt in the fire – who could have discovered a cure for cancer, become a great preacher or a righteous Prime Minister? What if Jeremiah’s mother had aborted him?

The record of Jeremiah’s birth shows that God knows each one of those whom he creates in his own image from the moment of conception.

Jeremiah speaks of God’s horror at the detestable practices of burning babies in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom outside Jerusalem. He links this directly with God’s judgment coming upon the nation (Jer 7:30-34). This is a sobering thought for us today.

Only a Child

When the call of God came to Jeremiah, his response was “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said “’Do not say, “I am only a child”. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you’, declares the Lord” (Jer 1:7-8).

Jeremiah was probably still in his teens when this message came to him and he protested at his youthfulness and his inability to undertake such an enormous task. Yet, as the son of a priest he would have been schooled for the priesthood; an important part of which would have been learning the Torah – the teaching that God gave to Moses. He would also have been taught the history of the nation and would have learnt to understand God’s dealings with his covenant people.

Jeremiah’s training for the priesthood was part of God’s intended preparation for his prophetic ministry, despite the fact that his family did not know that they were training a prophet – not a priest! It was probably at this point, as a teenager, that Jeremiah began refusing to undertake the duties of a priest. The word of the Lord was already stirring within him, alerting him that he would not be taking his turn as a minor priest on duty in the Temple. He was destined to preach outside the Temple, not inside its precincts!

If this was the first time that Jeremiah had distinctly heard the Lord speaking directly to him, it was right that his reaction was that he was unfit for such a task. Like Isaiah of Jerusalem some 200 years earlier, who had felt his own inadequacy and cried out “For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips”, Jeremiah also recoiled from the awesome task of taking the word of God to the nation. But immediately the word came “Do not say, ‘I am only a child’. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.”

Jeremiah’s training for the priesthood was part of God’s intended preparation for his prophetic ministry

Trusting the Promise of God

Then came the promise in which Jeremiah was to trust for the rest of his life; “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you”.

The very fact that he was going to need divine power to rescue him must have been a daunting experience for the young man. Certainly, that promise would be put to the test as Jeremiah later faced angry mobs, or outraged priests, or a cruel king. But the God who had watched over Jeremiah’s earliest character formation in the womb was a God who keeps his word and never forgets his promises.

There would be many times when Jeremiah’s faith would be severely tested, but the strength of the Lord was always sufficient for him, even when he was in the stocks being pelted by a mob, or dropped down a well to sink in the mud. God never deserted him and always enabled him to bring the word of the Lord to a generation who had ears to hear but never heard, and who had eyes to see but never saw.

They had minds to understand, but were never able to interpret what they saw or heard because they rejected the word of God through his chosen one. This would eventually bring tragedy upon the nation.

What is happening today when God is clearly shaking the nations and the whole natural Creation? Will the prophetic word of God be heard in the land and heeded by men and women in time to prevent tragedy? Or, will our generation, like that of Jeremiah, live to see the warnings of God ignored and tragedy unfold?

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

The Prophet's message for our times.

The first in a new series looking at the lives and ministries of the Old Testament prophets, particularly in light of our situation in Britain today.

Jeremiah lived in a time of great turbulence, on both the international and the domestic scenes. Internationally, three great empires, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, were vying for dominance, while on the domestic front Jeremiah saw the reigns of five kings, bitter political rivalries and moral and spiritual decay.

In the 22 years from the death of Josiah in 608 BC to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, four kings reigned in Jerusalem, none of whom were godly men. Two of the four, Jehoiahaz and Jehoiachin each only reigned three months, while Jehoiakim and Zedekiah each reigned 11 years. The two short reigns were each the result of military conquest.

From One Tragedy to the Next

Josiah was killed in battle at Megiddo when the Egyptian army was passing through the territory of Judah en route to face the Assyrians. Josiah foolishly decided to oppose them, despite the fact that the Egyptians had said that they had no quarrel with Judah.

He lost his life in an entirely unnecessary battle and was succeeded by Jehoiahaz who, only three months later, was taken in captivity to Egypt. This was following the surrender of Jerusalem and the payment of crippling amounts of gold and silver, none of which would have happened if Josiah had not intervened in a dispute between the two empires.

The history of Judah, from that moment, went from one tragedy to the next until the final decimation of all its towns and cities and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 586 BC. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem throughout this time, witnessing each stage of the national tragedy. This is reflected in the account of his ministry recorded in the book that bears his name in the Bible.

Jeremiah lived in a time of great turbulence, on both the international and the domestic scenes.

Vassal Kingdom

Following Jehoiahaz’s short reign, Jehoiakim was appointed by the Egyptians, whose power was greatly weakened later on in the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. This had involved all three empires, with Babylon emerging as the strongest power. Judah was seen as a vassal of Egypt, which drew the wrath of Babylon. As their army approached Jerusalem in 598 BC, Jehoiakim died (or was assassinated).

He was succeeded by his 18-year-old son Jehoiachin, who reigned just three months until Jerusalem surrendered to Babylon in the spring of 597 BC. He was taken captive to Babylon, together with many thousands of the leading citizens of the land plus most of Judah’s army and the most valuable articles from the temple (2 Kings 24).

Terrible Destruction Foretold

Then, Zedekiah was put on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was a weak and foolish man who sought to enter into a conspiracy with the surrounding nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon – fiercely opposed by Jeremiah in chapter 27.

It was this act of treachery by Zedekiah, who had sworn allegiance to Babylon in the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, that enraged Nebuchadnezzar and caused him to come back ten years after the surrender of Jerusalem and this time decimate the whole land. He destroyed towns and villages, raped the countryside and laid siege to Jerusalem causing great suffering to the people, until the city fell in July 587 BC.

Most of the remaining citizens and many from the land were taken to Babylon in the second Exile. The great walls of Jerusalem were torn down; the Temple and the Palace and most of the great buildings were destroyed. Zedekiah’s family were murdered in front of him, then his eyes were gouged out and he was taken to Babylon as the prize exhibit in Nebuchadnezzar’s victory parade.

Jeremiah had foretold all these terrible events, more than once telling Zedekiah what his personal fate would be. But none of these things would have happened if the word of the Lord had been obeyed.

None of the terrible events foretold by Jeremiah would have happened if the word of the Lord had been obeyed.

Similarities with Today

If king and people had been willing to humble themselves and to put their trust in the Lord, they would have been preserved from destruction. God would have found a way of working out his purposes among the nations while preserving and protecting his own covenant people, among whom he had established his name and through whom it was his intention to reveal himself to the pagan nations.

It was God’s intention to use Babylon as part of his purposes so that for 70 years they would dominate the region. After that time, God would deal with the Babylonians themselves for their cruelty and arrogance, as Jeremiah records in 25:11-12. The Exile lasted until Cyrus the Persian overthrew the Babylonian Empire and took Babylon in 538 BC, when the people of Judah were released to return to their land and rebuild Jerusalem.

But the Exile would never have happened if the word of the Lord through Jeremiah had been heeded.

Forewarning

Jeremiah claimed that God had revealed to him the threat from Babylon and he gave clear warning of what would happen: “This is what the Lord says: Look, an army is coming from the land of the north [Babylon]; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, O Daughter of Zion” (Jer 6:22-23).

Jeremiah also knew that it was no use relying on either Egypt or Assyria to protect them from Babylon. He said “Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River? Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realise how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me, declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty” (Jer 2:18-19).

Sadly, the politicians, the religious leaders and the people ignored the prophet among them, continuing in idolatry and turning their backs upon the word of the Lord. In one sentence Jeremiah describes the spiritual condition of the nation: “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute” (Jer 2:20). Jeremiah knew that by turning their backs upon God, both leaders and people had put themselves outside the Lord’s protection.

Jeremiah knew that by turning their backs upon God, both leaders and people had put themselves outside the Lord’s protection.

Nevertheless, Jeremiah continued throughout his 40 years’ ministry in Jerusalem to call for repentance and returning to God as the only way, both to national safety and to salvation. He was still calling for repentance when the Babylonian army was surrounding the walls of Jerusalem, because he knew that repentance would immediately bring the forgiveness, restoration and protection of God. He knew that God had the power to send a plague through the enemy army overnight, as he had done in the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:35). But Jeremiah’s warnings were not heard or heeded.

This is the tragedy that history records - and this is why the Book of Jeremiah has great significance for the Western nations in the world today. They, like Israel, have had biblical truth for many generations and, like Zedekiah, have conspired with one another to reject the truth and follow other gods and philosophies and cultures, to their own harm.

In studying the Book of Jeremiah, we can see many similarities with modern history. This is why we are undertaking this study on Prophecy Today UK.

Next week we will begin our study of the ministry of Jeremiah by looking at his calling and some of his early words.

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

Is there any hope for Britain?

Over the New Year holiday, I spent some time seeking the Lord for his word to Britain and I was strongly led to what God said to Ezekiel at a time when Jerusalem was in turmoil. He said, “Son of man you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”

This message meant that people could not see what should have been blindingly obvious. The nation was facing disaster but her leaders, both religious and secular, were running around like headless chickens, fighting one another but not taking any positive steps to deal with the situation.

Jeremiah (unlike Ezekiel) was actually in the city. He was driven to despair. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you,” he said. “My people are fools…They have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good” (Jer 4:18-22). Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah knew that the nation was under judgment which the people had brought upon themselves by deliberately turning away from the truth of the word of God.

In Britain, we are in a similar situation. The scenes of turmoil in the House of Commons in the run-up to Christmas were a vivid illustration of the mood in the nation – it is a mood of dissatisfaction with everything; yet no-one has any idea what to do about it! It is in this situation of major disagreement among our political leaders that the voices of the mob in Westminster streets calling for a ‘people’s vote’ should be ringing alarm bells everywhere. Such a vote would spread dissension and conflict across the land.

People bring judgment upon themselves when they deliberately turn away from the truth of the word of God.

Social Problems Side-lined

The Brexit debates in Parliament for the past two months have been so all-consuming that major social issues affecting the welfare of the nation have been woefully neglected. A review of school exclusions was delayed which could have helped to deal with the crisis of knife crime that claimed the lives of more than a hundred young people on the streets of London in 2018.

The Green Paper on social care was also kicked into touch despite the crisis in the NHS, the shortage of beds and elderly people not being cared for in the community. Many other urgent social issues have been side-lined by the Brexit rows that have split the Conservative Party and exposed the weakness of the Opposition.

These are all signs of the serious moral and spiritual issues that underlie the great Brexit debate that is dividing the country. What is being exposed is the lack of an overriding standard of truth by which all issues can be judged.

It is because truth has been eroded from the public square and the forces of darkness have been allowed to spread deception that we are seeing the very thing that both Ezekiel and Jeremiah saw in Jerusalem. 500 years later Jesus saw the same thing when he wept over Jerusalem that both leaders and people were blinded by deceit. He said “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matt 13:13).

Good for Evil, Evil for Good

In Britain, we have not only abandoned truth, but we have actually embraced lies and deception. Even our language has changed to accommodate opposite values. Children and young people call good things ‘wicked’ and evil things that are harmful to them are celebrated as good. It is a rebellious generation that has no understanding of ultimate values. This is why we are seeing knife crime ruling city streets, as gang life is substituted for family life; loyalty to the gang for the love of parents and siblings.

Urgent social issues have been side-lined by the Brexit rows, which have split the country and exposed its lack of an overriding standard of truth.

Also driving society deeper into deception are the false values of LGBTQ+ that have been embraced by politicians from all our political parties. We are led by a Prime Minister who was the chief architect of radical changes when she was Home Secretary, driving the Same-Sex Marriage Bill through Parliament despite the opposition of more than a hundred MPs of her own party and all the warnings that were sounded across the nation.

That legislation, more than five years ago, marked a tipping-point in the nation: Britain went from at least nominally acknowledging the biblical foundations of its social value system to adopting a system based upon the total denial of truth. It was ignoring the clear warnings given in the Bible – “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20).

You cannot ignore fundamental standards of truth that are part of the creation of the universe without bringing disaster upon society. But this is exactly what we have done in Britain and this is the reason why we are seeing the turmoil in our Parliament that is reflected across the nation.

The plain fact is we have brought judgment upon ourselves, one of the consequences of which is listed in Deuteronomy 28:28 as “madness, blindness and confusion of mind”, which we can see clearly by watching the debates in Parliament.

Hope for the New Year

But the Bible does not only warn us of the consequences of rejecting truth. It also sets out the remedy. Jeremiah was given a promise from God that applies to any nation at any time: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer 18:7).

The circumstances of the giving this promise should give us great hope and encouragement as a message for the New Year.

You cannot ignore fundamental standards of truth that are part of the creation of the universe without bringing disaster upon society.

Jeremiah was told to go to the potter’s shop where he watched the potter at work. The clay he was using simply did not run in his hands so he was unable to form it into the shape in his mind. He stopped the wheel and Jeremiah probably expected to see him throw that obstinate bit of clay into the dust across the floor of his workshop. But instead, the potter patiently kneaded it back into a ball, put it on the wheel and carefully made it into a pot. It was not the beautiful vase he originally envisioned but it was a useful pot that would no doubt serve a busy housewife.

From this, Jeremiah learned a message about God’s love and forgiveness. We all of us mess up our lives at some point; but God never abandons us, in the same way as the potter did not throw away that bit of clay. When we confess our sinfulness and our need of his love, he immediately re-makes our lives, as the potter re-shaped the clay.

This is the message of hope that God wishes to convey to us for 2019.

European nations pay for defiance of God’s plan

As Christmas draws near, the gloomy prospects of Brexit proposals are somewhat overshadowing the bright lights of Britain.

Virtual civil war has broken out within the ranks of the political class, but there is a general blindness to the real cause of our troubles, which lies with our relationship – not with Europe – but with Israel.

Nations are trying to tamper with God’s dwelling-place on earth and are suffering serious injury as a result.

As writer and theologian Frank Booth reminded me, after Donald Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2017 in recognition of the obvious, European leaders May, Macron and Merkel joined the voices raised against the decision. Look at them now!

Zechariah 12:3 says: “I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock [or heavy stone] for the nations; all who try to move it will injure [or grievously hurt] themselves.”

And Booth asks: “How can anyone who knows the slightest thing about the history of Israel deny Jerusalem as her natural historic capital?”

Signs of the Times

In the bleak midwinter, a popular carol, seems an apt description of the view ahead of us in the UK. But the hymn should also remind us of what life is really about, especially of how – 2,000 years on – we are still profoundly affected by the Christ child who came into the world to save us from our sin.

Bethlehem may have been his birthplace, but Jerusalem – just six miles away – was and is the key to the world’s future. It was there that our Lord died as the perfect sacrifice for sins, where he rose from the dead three days later, where he subsequently ascended to Heaven after appearing to more than 500 witnesses, and where he will return - probably in the very near future judging by the many signs of his coming already being fulfilled.

Nations are trying to tamper with God’s dwelling-place on earth and are suffering serious injury as a result.

The most obvious of these has been the re-birth and rise to prominence of the State of Israel, symbolised in the Bible as the fig tree (see Matthew 24:32-34). The blossoming of the fig tree has come about as a result of the return of Jews from every corner of the world to the land promised them some 4,000 years ago. All the world has witnessed this phenomenon, fulfilling an abundance of ancient prophecies (e.g. Jer 23:7f; Jer 31:16f; Ezek 36:24; Isa 43:5-7).

But as the scriptures also predicted, they would not be welcomed back to their homeland by their neighbours – hence the current upheaval in the Middle East.

So how does this affect the UK and why is this issue – and not Brexit – the source of our difficulties?

Britain’s Capitulation

Britain has been granted the inestimable privilege (by God himself and through international treaties) of facilitating Jewish repatriation. This was thanks to godly men like Wesley, Wilberforce and their evangelical successors, whose influence caused the Government of 1917, led by David Lloyd George, to issue a promise to do all it could to make this possible through what came to be known as the Balfour Declaration (signed by Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour).

Despite later reneging on this pledge and betraying the Jews – even refusing entry (to then British-controlled Palestine) to thousands of would-be immigrants trying to escape the Nazis – we at least got the ball rolling which enabled a reborn Israel to rise from the ashes of the ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ (Ezek 37) that was the Holocaust.

But as we kept caving in to Arab intimidation, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict worsened and our great empire – on which the sun never set – began systematically to fall apart in direct fulfilment of Genesis 12:3, promising blessing to those who bless the seed of Abraham and cursing to those who don’t.

In addition, Joel 3:2 guarantees judgment on the nations that have scattered his people and divided up their land. All the talk now is of a ‘two-state solution’, carving up territory designated (both by God and international treaties) as belonging to the Jews.

Jerusalem the Key

Jerusalem is the key to all this. Plans for dividing the city into east and west in order to achieve peace are actually a recipe for further bloodshed, as Israel’s enemies want all of it.¹ The last great war, the Bible says, will be over the status of Jerusalem, not Europe or the Far East.

Australia’s lukewarm attempt to please both sides of the divide by only recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and holding off acceptance of East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital until a two-state solution is found, will cut no ice with God, who spits such lack of commitment out of his mouth as English folk might do with tepid tea (see Rev 3:16).

Australia’s lukewarm attempt to please both sides of the divide will cut no ice with God, who spits such lack of commitment out of his mouth (Rev 3:16).

While this position might be seen as a step in the right direction, Australia’s Pentecostal Christian Prime Minister Scott Morrison should note what has happened to Britain, Germany and France since Donald Trump’s brave decision to move his embassy to Jerusalem.

Taking their cue from the politically correct secularists, May, Merkel and Macron defiantly refused to follow Trump’s example, and all three are now in grave difficulties.

Open warfare over Brexit threatens to bring further chaos to Britain including the distinct possibility of a Government led by Jeremy Corbyn, an ally of terrorist groups wishing to obliterate Israel and who shows no sign of lancing the boil of anti-Semitism within his party.

Merkel, meanwhile, has a fragile hold on power as Germans express great frustration with the problems caused by mass immigration, and deadly street riots – led by a movement reported to be grossly anti-Semitic – have erupted in Paris in protest at Macron’s ‘reforms’.

Reaping the Whirlwind

Such a triple calamity can be traced back, quite simply, to defiance of the God of Israel and of his commandments which have formed the basis of Western civilisation.

We are reaping the whirlwind of anti-Semitism and godlessness after shamefully turning our backs on the God who bought our redemption when his Son was brutally murdered in his very own city (Ps 48:1-3).

The Bible is clear that our security as nations and individuals depends on our attitude to Jesus, to the Jews and to Jerusalem (John 3:16; Gen 12:3; Ps 122:6).

References

1 See also Senior Palestinian negotiator: all of Jerusalem on table, World Israel News, 18 December 2018.

Amidst all the hatred, God has not forgotten his people.

Against the shameful background of blatant anti-Semitism at Britain’s annual Labour Party Conference, Jews everywhere are being reminded of where their help comes from.

As tens of thousands descend on Jerusalem’s Western Wall complex to receive the priestly Aaronic blessing during the Feast of Tabernacles, they hear afresh those solemn, soothing words of comfort: “The Lord bless you and keep you…” (Num 6:24).

Nazi Threat

But at Liverpool, home of The Beatles, some Labour delegates were not singing All you need is love, but joining in a chorus of hate-filled messages directed at the state of Israel, calling for an arms embargo and provocatively waving Palestinian flags.

One prominent Member of Parliament stayed away altogether, and said she was glad she had done so when it emerged that Jewish MP Luciana Berger had to be accompanied to a conference rally by two police officers. And a colleague even warned that the anti-Semitism crisis could fuel the rise of Nazism in Britain.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy told the rally: “Nazism doesn’t turn up fully formed, wearing shiny black boots and black shirts and goose-stepping. It builds bit by bit, it gains little by little, it paints itself as the victim – it paints its victims as the enemies, as traitors, the ‘other’, with dual loyalty.”¹

God with us

But the seven-day Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (also known as Sukkot) reminds us that God, not politicians, will have the final say on Israel’s future. It recalls how he miraculously provided for them and protected them in the desert over 40 years when they lived in temporary shelters, ate manna from heaven and water from the rock.

He still promises to provide all their needs, especially in the face of fiery opposition. Psalm 27, traditionally recited during the feast and written by King David, notes:

When the wicked advance against me to devour [or slander] me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall…for in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock…Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. (Ps 27:2, 5, 12)

The feast celebrates the time God came down to ‘tabernacle’, or live, amongst his people. And this is also what Jesus did some 1,500 years later when, as the Apostle John put it, “the word became flesh and dwelt [literally, tabernacled] with us” (John 1:14). Jesus was also described as ‘Emmanuel’, meaning ‘God with us’ (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:23).

The seven-day Jewish Feast of Tabernacles reminds us that God, not politicians, will have the final say on Israel’s future.

Jewish people believe that when Messiah comes, it will be during this feast. And there is good reason to believe that Jesus was actually born at this time of year, not at Christmas as is generally supposed. For one thing, the shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks by night – the lambs were still kept outdoors during the feast, but would have been kept indoors in winter.

For another, Sukkot is a festival of joy – rabbis apparently teach that it is a sin to be miserable this week – and the angel announcing Messiah’s birth said: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy…” (Luke 2:10).

Streams of Living Water

The site of the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem’s Old City, where water was drawn for the Feast of Tabernacles. Photo: Charles Gardner

The feast also played a crucial role in Jesus’ ministry, for it was on the last day of Tabernacles that he stood up to declare: “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inmost being shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37f).

The background to this is that, traditionally, on each day of the feast, the High Priest took a golden pitcher and filled it with water drawn from the Pool of Siloam, and it was poured out on the altar as a thank-offering for rain.

Jesus now promised a spiritual ‘rain’ that would never stop flowing for those who trusted him. And in the light of dark threats here in Britain, and elsewhere, consolation can surely be taken from the feast’s association with the “last days” when Jesus returns, once again to tabernacle with his people, after which all nations will be required to make an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to celebrate Tabernacles – and those who refuse to do so will be denied rain (Zech 14:16-19)!

The Blast of the Shofar

One school of thought teaches that when Jesus returns as King of Kings, he will be hailed by the blast of the shofar (ram’s horn) on the Feast of Trumpets (marked earlier this month at the start of the autumn feasts). Then, all Israel would recognise him as Messiah and enter into national mourning over the One they have pierced (Zech 12:10; see also 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thess 4:16).

What a glorious prospect!

References

1 Daily Mail, 24 September 2018.

I am also indebted for some insights to author and Hebraic teacher Fred Wright and to David Soakell of Christian Friends of Israel.

Reclaiming the noble description of God’s holy city.

As Jews across Europe come under increasing fire, and the scandal of anti-Semitism continues to wreak havoc in Britain’s Labour Party, there is an ever-present danger of misunderstanding as to what it’s all about.

Why have Jews, and Israel in particular, become the focus of so much vilification? And what on earth is ‘Zionism’, a catch-all word generally being used in a disparaging way by opponents of the Jewish state?

Among the many unsavoury allegations of anti-Jewish sentiment surrounding Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn, he was recently cited as having said in a 2013 speech that Zionists in the UK had “no sense of English irony”, which critics said implied they weren’t fully British.¹

Quite apart from the patent untruth of Corbyn’s nasty slur – for British Jews have surely been the most loyal of minorities, contributing hugely to our success in so many fields, not least the economy – let’s take a moment to unpack what exactly is meant by ‘Zionism’.

It’s a form of insult for some – we get that – meant as a kind of synonym to describe a ‘racist’ people accused of stealing Palestinian land. But the reality is very different, and we need to rescue the term from the skewed meaning it is often given in common use.

A Most Noble, Holy Concept

In truth, Zionism is among the most noble, holy concepts found in the English language (or any language) and those who take up its cause should be justly proud of doing so. For it is essentially a biblical reference to the place where we go up to meet with God to worship him.

Specifically, it refers to Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place on earth, also known as the “city of the Great King” (Ps 48:1f). It is a very special domain which God himself has chosen as a “resting place” (Ps 132:13f). So to use it as a form of insult virtually amounts to blasphemy because it involves denigrating something sacred to the Creator.

In the time of Jesus, Jews were expected to make a special pilgrimage to attend three major feasts a year – all in Jerusalem – when they would sing about going “up to Zion”. The Book of Psalms is strewn liberally with joyful expressions of the holy wonder of these regular journeys. The city is built on mountains, including Mt Zion, at an elevation of nearly 3,000ft, which thus requires a stiff climb of some 4,000ft within the space of just 30 miles from the Dead Sea – which, at 1,200ft below (normal) sea level, is the lowest point on earth.

Zionism is among the most noble, holy concepts found in the English language

Zion describes the City of Jerusalem (Isa 40:9) and the nation of Israel as a whole (Zech 9:13; Isa 60:14). And it is a place God loves (Ps 87:2f), having first assumed significance when King David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the stronghold of ‘Zion’, also named the ‘City of David’.

Similarly, Zion-ism is a longing expressed by Jews dispersed around the world for a return to their ancient land, encapsulated in the late 19^th Century by Theodor Herzl and his Zionist movement that propelled the initial waves of Jewish immigration to the Holy Land. For Jews everywhere, it is like returning ‘home’, even if (as in most cases) their ancestors have been exiled for nearly 2,000 years. It is a divinely appointed location, and Jews have a divine right to live there.

And so ‘Zion’, as a homeland for the Jewish people, has also come to describe their right to self-determination in the re-established State of Israel. After all, Jews have prayed towards Jerusalem for thousands of years. Even the Western Church, which has somewhat lost sight of its Hebraic roots, has traditionally built its altars facing east – towards Jerusalem!

Gentile Zionism

But there are also Christian Zionists, who support Israel’s right to exist and make every effort to help them in any way they can, including sourcing the documents and finance to enable persecuted Jews to make ‘aliyah’ by becoming Israeli citizens.

Christians United for Israel, noting the Church’s “deafening” silence on the anti-Semitism scandal, points out that an attack on Zionism is also an attack on Christians.²

Remaining silent because of fears of engaging in what is deemed a ‘political’ controversy “could be one of the biggest mistakes by the church so far this century” because it is central to Christian faith and theology and “has consequences that may only be realised when the church becomes the next target of the same ‘flames of hatred’ that have reappeared throughout Europe”.³

An attack on Zionism is also an attack on Christians.

Loving Who God Loves

In answer to the first question posed at the beginning of this article, well that’s a big subject that would best be tackled another day. But, in short, it is just because Jews are God’s chosen people that they are so reviled. It is a fit of jealousy on the part of all who rebel against God’s choice.

But those who love God will love whoever he loves, especially Israel, “the apple of his eye” (see Zech 2:8).

References

1 Metro, 31 August 2018.

2 Reclaiming the definition of “Zionism” – and why it should matter to Christians. Christians United for Israel, 4 September 2018.

3 Ibid. 

The dreadful consequences of touching the apple of God’s eye

As we once again recall with horror the terrorist atrocity witnessed by the whole world when New York’s Twin Towers were reduced to rubble in 2001, few will be aware of an earlier 9/11 that destroyed an entire city.

It happened on the night of 11 September 1944, when the German city of Darmstadt suffered a devastating air raid by RAF pilots sent out from my home town of Doncaster, headquarters of Bomber Command.

12,000 residents were killed and many more made homeless amid ongoing controversy even in Britain as to whether it was really necessary as the war was almost won by then.

But as fire swept through the smouldering ruins, a devoted young German Christian wept bitterly over her nation’s terrible sin against the Jewish people – she clearly saw the bombing as the judgment of God.

Sister Thekla (sitting) and Sister Glory pictured at Jesus’ Return, their home near London.Basilea Schlink determined to do something about it and subsequently founded the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, dedicated to confessing the sin of her nation and making restitution with God’s chosen people, chiefly by loving and serving them in whatever way they could.

Touching the Apple of God’s Eye

More than 70 years later, the order is represented in nations across the globe, including Australia and the United States, and I have just spent a weekend at their UK base near London where a coffee-table book on their history recalls that fateful night in Darmstadt:

For years our mothers had prayed for revival in the girls’ Bible study groups they led; now their prayers were answered – far differently than they had ever expected. That night the girls encountered God in his holiness as Judge and Lord over life and death…

Following that night of terror, there was a move among those young girls to bring sin into the light and receive forgiveness…God’s moment had come. Out of the ashes emerged new life.¹

Have we still not learned that there are shocking consequences for those who touch the apple of God’s eye, which is how the Bible refers to Israel?

Not surprisingly, the British-based sisters are deeply grieved at the rise of anti-Semitism all over Europe so soon after this terrible disaster caused by the Nazis’ sickening murder of six million Jews in the death camps of Poland and Germany.

Have we still not learned that there are shocking consequences for those who touch the apple of God’s eye, which is how the Bible refers to Israel (see Zechariah 2:8)?

When and Where to Flee

According to Alex Brummer in a Daily Mail article,² all the talk among British Jews is now focused on which country to flee to if Jeremy Corbyn gets into No. 10 as he has failed miserably to deal with the rise of anti-Semitism in his party, which has traditionally had the support of the Jewish community (and it now appears there has been a cover-up over party members allegedly involved in anti-Semitic hate crimes3).

According to my sources, many have already fled traditionally Jewish suburbs like Golders Green in north London in order to set up home in safer areas following a series of anti-Semitic incidents.

And although British Jews have become accustomed to bias against Israel in recent decades, “never before has a major political party in Britain regarded the creation by the post-war so-called Great Powers (including Russia) of the state of Israel in 1948…as an act of colonialist occupation”, Brummer writes, referring to Mr Corbyn’s stated beliefs.

“But that this [fleeing the country] is even being discussed, just 70 years on from the horrors of Auschwitz; that British Jews should be feeling so insecure in the country they love, is deeply disturbing,” Brummer adds.

And he pointed out that Israel wasn’t necessarily their first choice of destination, because some see it as a move from the frying pan into the fire. But I disagree with that. I go along with a participant on BBC2’s We Are British Jews programme⁴ who said that “It’s the safest place in the world to be”.

All the talk among British Jews is now focused on which country to flee to if Jeremy Corbyn gets into No. 10.

God’s Purposes

Yes, the Jewish state is surrounded by implacable enemies with an insatiable desire to wipe them off the map and, yes, they are threatened once more with annihilation. But Israel’s security is very tight – and effective.

In any case, should physical safety be their only consideration? Isn’t the safest place of all in the loving arms of God – the God of Israel? And his purpose is that they should return to the Land of their forefathers, the Land promised to Abraham as a permanent possession (Gen 17:8). After all, the Tenach (Old Testament) prophets foretold of a great ingathering of Jews from every corner of the globe.

Picture: Charles GardnerAlmost half of world Jewry are now living in Israel and, according to the Bible, it would appear to be God’s will that they should all return (Ezek 39:28). But don’t misunderstand me. I do not wish to encourage persecution so that they feel forced to flee. Jewish contribution to European societies has been priceless – without the ongoing input of their high achievers we would all suffer. But woe to those whose intimidation does cause them to leave; for they will come under a curse (Gen 12:3).

Nevertheless, it is God’s purpose that his chosen people should be back in the Land before Messiah returns. Yes, there will be a battle over Jerusalem, and the nations will come against it, but the Lord will intervene and defeat the enemies of Israel, once and for all (see Zechariah 12-14).

Messiah’s Return

When Jesus ascended to heaven as his perplexed disciples watched in wonder, angels explained to them that he would one day return in the same way he had left – and this took place on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem (Acts 1:11).

The Prophet Zechariah confirms this – that Christ will indeed place his feet on the Mount of Olives and that the Jewish nation will have their eyes opened as they recognise Jesus as the One they had pierced (Zech 12:10).

Almost half of world Jewry are now living in Israel and, according to the Bible, it would appear to be God’s will that they should all return.

The Messiah for whom Jews have longed will appear on earth, and they will acknowledge that he has been here before – as the suffering servant (Isa 53). Although they will mourn over what they did to him (we all need to confess our sin in order to be cleansed), their hearts will be sprinkled clean – and “all Israel will be saved” (Ezek 36:25; Zech 13:1; Rom 11:26).

Jesus is coming again – and the establishing of the people of Israel in their Land is a major sign.

References

1 A Celebration of God’s Unfailing Love, published by the Evangelical Sisters of Mary.

2 Daily Mail, 30 August 2018. According to a Jewish Chronicle poll, almost 40% of UK Jews would ‘seriously consider’ leaving if Corbyn became PM (Times of Israel, 5 September 2018).

3 Daily Express, 5 September 2018.

4 A two-part series screened last week (on 4 and 5 September).

Prince William’s vehicle stoned by children taught to hate

As support for the Palestinian cause drops even in the Arab world, news that Australia has cut a $7 million ‘lifeline’ to a PLO death-cult is welcome indeed. Maybe it’s also time for Britain to get real – especially in the wake of the barely reported stoning of Prince William’s vehicle – and acknowledge the need to stop encouraging terror with taxpayers’ money.

Australia has decided to discontinue direct aid to the Palestinian Authority because it suspects the cash is freeing up funds used to back political violence.¹ And we have recently learnt that the UK gave £20 million in aid to Palestinian schools, where they teach children to hate Jews and Jihad (holy war) and martyrdom.²

Learning to Kill

A report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education reveals that the PA school curriculum “utilizes a variety of tools to convince children – mostly boys – to risk their lives and die as martyrs”.

The UK has given £20 million in aid to Paestinian schools, where children are taught to hate Jews.

It goes on to highlight some of the lessons being funded by British aid. For example, a science textbook explains Newton’s second law of physics – on power, mass and tensile strength – by using an image of a boy with a slingshot targeting soldiers.

Meanwhile jihadists continue their desperate attempts to engage Western sympathy by stoking up further flames in Gaza, sending burning kites to destroy Israeli crops while also trying to force their way through the border fence in order to kill Jews.

Arab Leaders Losing Patience with PalestiniansJerusalem

The Saudi Crown Prince and heir to the throne indicated something of current Arab frustration with the Palestinians by saying that it was about time they accepted offers of peace and agreed to come to the negotiating table “or they should shut up and stop complaining.”³ Mohammed bin Salman, during a meeting with American Jewish community leaders, stressed: “There are much more urgent and more important issues to deal with – such as Iran.”

Clearly, the riots in Gaza are designed to provoke Israel to war, which would inevitably draw further criticism of the Jewish state for what the world is expected to regard as disproportionate response. And this would in turn elicit fresh sympathy for the Hamas intention of destroying Israel.

PLO Support Crumbling

But as a 46-year-old Palestinian put it: “Most people want nothing to do with the riots at the border fence. Hamas does not care how many Palestinians perish. What’s important to them is that the media continues to cover it.”⁴

Bassem Eid, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian and political analyst, speaks from experience when he says that Israel “was the only nation that had given us a chance of a better life. In my opinion, the Palestinian cause has nearly reached its conclusion…I am calling on my Palestinian colleagues to wake up to the truth. The time has come for us to value life over death.”⁵

Some Palestinians are bravely speaking the truth and calling on their colleagues to wake up to it.

United Nations Blamed

Col Richard Kemp, a former British Army commander, laid the blame for Gaza bloodshed squarely with the United Nations when he addressed that body in May, saying: “Your failure to admit that Hamas is responsible for every drop of blood spilt on the Gaza border encourages their violence and use of human shields. It makes you complicit in further bloodshed.”⁶

The self-inflicted wounding of Palestinian aspirations – caused by stubbornness to recognise Israel’s right to exist – will no doubt be reflected in President Trump’s much-heralded peace deal.

Prince William’s Car Stoned

The stoning of Prince William’s vehicle during his visit to PA headquarters in Ramallah may perhaps jolt British officials into some sense of reality. The children responsible for the outrage are taught to hate Jews and to blame Britain for handing ‘their’ country over to ‘infidels’ (non-Muslims).

Britain has consistently been a soft touch for Arab terror – riots and threats of mayhem have led successive Governments to capitulate to pressure and deny justice to Israel in the process. But a first-ever official visit to Israel of a British royal is surely time to repent of reneging on our Balfour⁷ policy of supporting the Jews, which brought blessing upon our nation (Gen 12:3).

Britain has consistently been a soft touch for Arab terror.

The Prince Promises Support

During his tour Prince William told the story of how his great-grandmother Princess Alice selflessly saved members of the Cohen family from the Nazis. He said it was “a matter of great pride” for his whole family. And after being horrified at what he witnessed during his visit to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, he said: “I am well aware that the responsibility falls now to my generation to keep the memory alive of that great crime as the Holocaust generation passes on. And I commit myself to doing this.”⁸

Israel is currently surrounded by implacable enemies committed to condemning them to another Holocaust. It’s not just a memory we need to keep alive – it’s also today’s Jewish people who are under increasing threat from anti-Semitism. We need to wake up as a nation and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Word of God commands us (Ps 122:6).

References

1 World Israel News, 2 July 2018
2 Torch magazine, Christians United for Israel, June 2018
3 Israel Today magazine, June 2018
4 Ibid
5 Ibid
6 Torch magazine, June 2018
7 Balfour Declaration of 1917 through which Britain promised to do all in its power to create a homeland for the Jewish people
8 Jerusalem News Network, 28 June 2018

Britain and the West succumbs to brainwashing on an unprecedented scale

We are currently witnessing a worldwide battle of the ages between truth and lies. And in recent days much of this has been focused on Israel – specifically at a conference in Jerusalem called GAFCON and on the northern borders of the Gaza Strip.

At the Global Anglican Future Conference, attended by nearly 2,000 Anglican leaders from around the world, a British evangelist warned of the Holy Spirit departing from the traditional Anglican Church if it continued to despise the authority of Scripture.

Rico Tice was giving an interview at the third such convocation of this body since its inception ten years ago for the purpose of maintaining the truth of the Gospel in the face of growing apostasy, including support for same-sex relationships.

Another Battle

Not many miles away, on the borders of Gaza, another battle for truth is being waged as the media is largely determined to spew out lies and propaganda in support of the Palestinian narrative.

It was reported that Israeli soldiers had killed a baby caught up in the riots over the alleged right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel. But it later emerged that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had paid a Gazan family to lie about eight-month-old Leila al-Ghandour dying from tear gas inhalation rather than from a pre-existing medical condition.¹

The Global Anglican Future Conference was set up ten years ago to maintain the truth of the Gospel in the face of growing apostasy.

Readers may well wonder how Palestinians, or anyone else, can get away with so much deceit. But as Israel Today journalist Ryan Jones puts it, “many, if not most, Palestinians have no problem telling bald-faced lies in order to smear Israel and advance their own nationalist agenda. This is because Muslims are permitted to lie to ‘infidels’ in service to Islamic causes, a concept known as taqiyya”.²

The Prophet Isaiah spoke of such wickedness when he wrote: “…Justice is driven back and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey” (Isa 59:14f).

Heading Towards a Sterile World

What a shoddy business. And the same people who are so ready to condemn Israel for defending her right to exist are engaged in the wicked brainwashing of Western nations on an unprecedented scale into believing that same-sex relationships are perfectly normal.

LGBTQ+ supporters in Australia.Nazi Germany’s lies about the Jews led to the systematic murder of six million people. With few exceptions, the German people blithely accepted the doctrine that Jews were a cause of all their economic and other problems, partly due to the intimidating nature of rule under the Third Reich. It was a doctrine, much like today’s new teaching on sexual ethics, that brooked no dissent, with the result that those who objected often paid with their lives.

Today, going along with the gay agenda is seen by most as the only way to maintain respectability and acceptance in social circles. This is why, in Australia, where they held a referendum on the issue, same-sex won the day. But if all those who voted for it practised what they preached, that great southern continent would soon become extinct!

The 1930s propaganda of Josef Goebbels seeped through the German national consciousness, almost without a whimper of opposition, just as the same-sex issue has done in Britain and the West where the general populace is bombarded with stories and images on national television and elsewhere glamourising, justifying and sanctioning homosexual behaviour.

Same-sex propaganda has seeped through British national consciousness, as the general populace has been bombarded with stories and images glamourising, justifying and sanctioning homosexual behaviour.

And even our church leaders have succumbed to it, undermining the authority of God’s word in the cause of breaking down boundaries of decency and propriety that have underpinned our civilisation for centuries. We are fast heading for a sterile world where the traditional family is a thing of the past and where the future holds little hope.

Hopefully the world will soon wake up in shock at the devastation it has caused, and no-one will be able to say they didn’t know what was going on.

A Different Religion

At GAFCON, meanwhile, Rico Tice, a gifted evangelist on the staff of All Souls, Langham Place, and co-author of the much-acclaimed Christianity Explored course, revealed he had resigned from the Archbishops’ Evangelism Task Group because it meant having to submit to the authority of a Bishop – Rt Rev Paul Bayes of Liverpool – who validates same-sex.

“It’s a different religion”, he said, adding: “I think it’s a great wickedness to tell people who are on the road to destruction that they are not.”³

He went on: “There is no power in evangelism unless you’re submitted to Scripture.” And he suggested that God would remove his power from the institutional Church, as he did in the days of John Wesley, if there was no repentance.

He admitted that the problem had been compounded by Christians who have changed their position for emotional reasons because family members had turned gay.

The Truth Brings Freedom and Peace

Meanwhile the Archbishop of Uganda has threatened to boycott future meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Stanley Ntangali said:

Unless godly order is restored in the Anglican Communion, we shall not attend other meetings invited by Canterbury…The church of Uganda is an evangelical church, and we obey Christ and the authority of the Bible, and the apostolic faith. So we have no apology for the stand we have made and will continue to proclaim the gospel of Christ to the nations, uncompromisingly.⁴

The conference has written a Letter to the Churches challenging the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak the truth about the Gospel and human sexuality clearly and publicly and to discipline those within the Anglican Communion who have abandoned it.

In a similar way, lies about Gaza stir up trouble and strife in the Middle East which could erupt into a major war. Lies destroy society whereas truth brings freedom and peace, both among families and the wider world. Spreading lies about human sexuality could well cause as much, if not more, damage to the world at large than the tendency for Arabs to be economical with the truth.

Lies destroy society whereas truth brings freedom and peace, both among families and the wider world.

Appeasement Will Not Succeed

Prince William, on his tour of Israel, will hopefully have learnt from his visit to the Holocaust Museum that the anti-Semitism displayed by Palestinian Authority politicians has all the hallmarks of another attempt at genocide. After all, that is the oft-stated aim of Israel’s opponents.

The Prince’s great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, took sides in a previous conflict by hiding Jews who would otherwise have been murdered by the Nazis. Will the British Foreign Office allow him to take sides when Jews, now living in their own land, are equally threatened?

He says he wants peace – most of us do – but Neville Chamberlain’s experience should be a lesson to us all.

Notes

1 Jerusalem News Network, 22 June 2018, quoting Ynet News.

2 A Nation Reborn, Charles Gardner (Christian Publications International), p93.

3 Christian Concern, 19 June 2018. Click here to watch the full interview.

4 Ibid.

Jews teach the Church what is really important

With anti-Semitism on the rise, and Jews under threat as never before, it is astonishing that the Government is again allowing the staging in London of Sunday’s annual Iranian-backed Al Quds parade.

What sense does it make that, in a country where ‘hate speech’ is supposedly illegal, a march fronted by the Hezbollah terrorist group – committed to the destruction of Israel – is free to spread its poison?

Among the cheerleaders, and one of the speakers down to address the rally, is Rev Stephen Sizer, who has already been severely reprimanded for his anti-Semitic views by his own Church of England.¹

The whole scenario is an absolute disgrace. And yet Israel’s greatest need is not protection! Bear with me as I will explain in due course.

Pentecost: Passé?

You will no doubt have heard talk of how we are now said to be living in a post-Christian era, with British society largely having rejected biblical values of the past. But I also detect a very worrying trend in the Western Church towards a kind of post-Pentecost line of thinking that appears to relegate its teaching as ‘passé’.

As the disciples of the Lord Jesus were empowered on the Day of Pentecost to spread the Gospel throughout the world, giving life to what is now known as the Church, does this mean that the body of Christ is now in its death-throes?

I detect a very worrying trend in the Western Church towards a kind of post-Pentecost line of thinking.

I have just reviewed the most brilliant book I have ever had the pleasure to read – RT Kendall’s Whatever Happened to the Gospel? – and hereby offer this piece as a brief postscript to the much-beloved preacher’s latest volume.

Whatever happened to Pentecost? Many British churches seem to have stopped celebrating the day, or even mentioning it, although it’s much more than a day anyway – it’s an experience. Even Pentecostals and charismatics, who supposedly base much of their theology on this vitally important feast, seem largely to have abandoned it.

The need for believers to be emboldened with power from on high, for which the resurrected Christ commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem, is rarely discussed. And we wonder why there is a lack of power in our witness.

The Meaning of Pentecost

The Bible feasts, which include Passover and Pentecost (also known as Shavuot), are meant to be celebrated to remind us of key truths and of God’s great bounty and deliverance. Pentecost comes 50 days (or seven weeks) after Passover, is also known as the Feast of Weeks, and is a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest – specifically wheat, the main ingredient of bread.

Jews also mark the occasion to celebrate the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai. And Jesus, the ‘bread of life’ born in Bethlehem (literally house of bread) is the fulfilment of the Law (Matt 5:17). And thus Pentecost is a fulfilment of Passover. Jesus, who died for our sins of which the Law convicts us (Rom 7:7), sends his Holy Spirit to empower us to keep a Law that is now “written on our hearts” and not just on tablets of stone (Ezek 36:26; Rom 2:15; 2 Cor 3:3), thus enabling us to witness boldly for the Gospel.

And so it was that, on the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 souls were added to the body of believers. We absolutely cannot do without Pentecost. Jesus paid a very high price for it. It cost him everything.

Jews for Jesus

Britain is proud to have produced one of the outstanding preachers of 20^th Century Pentecostalism, Smith Wigglesworth, who was illiterate prior to his conversion and subsequently only ever read the Bible. He took the message of the Gospel around the world and raised 14 people from the dead in the process – a modern-day apostle if ever there was one.

Yet today, Pentecost is largely forgotten and considered almost irrelevant; something of an embarrassment even. To their credit, the Anglicans, who in some ways are leading the march towards apostasy, still hold on to the feast.

The need for believers to be emboldened with power from on high is rarely discussed. And we wonder why there is a lack of power in our witness!

But Jewish believers are doing much more than that. No doubt partly due to their awareness of the festival’s roots going back thousands of years in their history, they are taking Jesus’ words seriously, and literally, as – empowered by the Holy Spirit – they share the good news, beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8).

Jews for Jesus had specifically chosen the feast of Shavuot to preach the Gospel in the streets of Jerusalem, just as the apostles had done 2,000 years ago. And while they are not claiming that 3,000 souls responded, dozens decided to follow Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) as they learnt how he had fulfilled Messianic prophecies in the Tenach (our Old Testament). And hundreds more were willing to discuss his claims to be the Messiah of Israel.

One woman, when reminded of what happened in Jerusalem with Jesus, was shocked, and said: “I need to read those prophecies about the Messiah as soon as possible, because although I always believed in God, I did not know about them.”

The general openness was apparently profound, as I have experienced myself. David Brickner, of Jews for Jesus, wrote in their June update:

Of course, the key to success for those first disciples who began in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago was the power of the Holy Spirit. That is still true for Jews for Jesus and anyone else who wants to do God’s work in His way…I don’t know how much more time we have before the return of the Lord, but just like those first Jews for Jesus, we cannot just stand gazing up into heaven (referring to Jesus’ ascension).

Israel’s Greatest Need

Al Quds rally in Tehran, Friday 8 June. London's counterpart rally is due to be held on Sunday 10 June. See Photo Credits.

Israel is currently surrounded by implacable enemies who have vowed to bring about their annihilation. This is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the target of a recent assassination plot, is warning Theresa May and other European leaders of the danger posed by Iran.

Yet their greatest need is not defence. For God, who brought them back to the Promised Land in fulfilment of ancient prophecies, also plans to restore them to a living relationship with him. And when they are back with their Lord, the Lord will come back to the world (Zech 12:10, 14:4).

Indeed, as Israel comes to know that he (Jesus) is the Lord, the nations too will understand this truth (Ezek 36:23). And none of this would happen without Pentecost.

References

1 Anti-Israel vicar, Stephen Sizer, to speak at London’s pro-Hezbollah Al Quds rally. Christians United for Israel, 4 June 2018.