A word from David Noakes.

It is not just Christians who can see that the nation is in trouble. Everyone can see that things have not been going well in Britain recently. The terrorist attacks, the Grenfell Tower inferno, and the hung Parliament all confirm that something is wrong in the nation.

Many Christians know that as a nation we have rejected the word of God in many ways which has resulted in Britain being no longer under God’s cover of protection, prosperity and blessing.

‘Confusion’ is one of the signs of judgment upon a nation, according to Deuteronomy 28:20. But Jeremiah 18:7 reminds us that even when things go badly wrong, if we repent of our wrongdoing and ask for God’s help, things would quickly improve. Through Jeremiah God says:

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.

God still speaks to us today so that we can understand what is happening and how he is working out his purposes. This enables us as Christians to speak to others, Christians and non-Christians, reassuring them of God’s love and his desire to bless the nation, restoring peace and prosperity.

The latest word received by my colleague David Noakes (we have worked together since 1984) brings this reassurance. We reproduce it below noting that we do not claim that modern prophecy carries the same authority as the Bible. But God does speak to those who are listening to him, although we express what we are receiving in our own human language and understanding. It is for each of our readers to weigh this prophecy.

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Prophetic word, first given at East Grinstead (17 June 2017)

David Noakes

Beloved, you are living in momentous days. These are truly the days of a turning point in the affairs of your nation. It is a time of my appointing. I have allowed you to go your own way but I have never let go of you.

There are many voices in your midst which are full of pessimism and I understand that if you look upon your circumstances, pessimism is often the outcome. But I want you to perceive as I perceive.

Beloved, when there is turmoil and upheaval, do not look upon it with dismay; do not look upon it with foreboding; do not look upon it with fear. But look upon it with eyes turned to me with a questioning heart: a heart questioning what your God is doing in the midst of it. For beloved, all these things taking place are under my hand. I have brought about a remarkable work in your nation in recent times. This is not accidental, nor is it sudden, but has come about at my appointed time.

I do not have accidents; I do not have coincidences; I do not have sudden unexpected events. I have appointed events, at appointed times, and I am the one who is seated in the heavens and does whatever He pleases. Do not lose heart, because I am in charge. My hand is on your nation and I have not given up my purposes for you.

I have blessed your nation in the past and truly you have been faithless; but beloved, I have remained faithful. Your enemy has done much to sow lies, to sow false doctrine, to try to bring down all that is good and all that is of God. But I have kept for myself a remnant. My Word remains true for all time and all eternity and I will fulfil my purposes.

This is a time of turmoil and upheaval because your adversary is in great rage and great fear. He is in great consternation that I will use your nation to tear his purposes apart. But that is exactly what I intend to do. I intend to bring his purposes crashing down. There will be turmoil and upheaval; there will be blood in the streets; there will be anxiety amongst those who do not know that God is in charge and do not understand what I am doing.

Beloved, there cannot be victory in war without war taking place; and war is indeed taking place, because I have joined battle. I have joined battle against the forces of darkness which desire to bring your nation to nothing and I have declared I will not have it so. My purposes for you are from all eternity. I have known exactly what I will do at this time. I have known exactly what I will do in the future and I purpose to glorify my name through your nation once again.

Therefore do not be disheartened. Do you think of yourself as being just a little flock? Truly there is only a small remnant who hold fast to My word. But beloved, continue to hold fast to my word and pray that the purposes that I have begun to reveal will come to fruition and fulfilment, and I will visit you afresh with my Spirit.

I will visit you afresh with my Spirit that you may be empowered: Not for your glory, but for Mine. Not to build empires but to build my Church. I desire also to visit you with my Spirit that you may be instruments in my hand to go into the fields which are ripe for harvest, and bring in a harvest; for there is a harvest waiting to be brought in.

There are many in fear and trepidation and utter confusion, and I want you to be a people who know their God and do exploits. I want you to be a people of compassion; not of judgement; not of condemnation. Judgement is mine, I will repay. But I ask you to be a people of love and concern; of compassion for the lost, and of deep desire that the truth should be brought to many who will understand it and be saved. For surely there are those whom you think are your enemies, who are longing for truth.

Do not be down-hearted, therefore. Do not be dispirited. Yes, I know all too well that you are surrounded by those who wish you ill. Beloved, do not heed them but look to your God who wishes you well. Look to your God who wishes them well. I desire a people who are willing to bless their enemies and to do good to those who speak evil about them.

As you do this they will see your light. Many will reject, but many will see the light in the darkness and will desire the only light they can see. For all their plans and schemes will have fallen to the ground and then they will turn to the only truth.

Do not give up therefore. Hold fast. Hold fast to Me. Hold fast to My Word. Hold fast in love and unity, to one another. Be loyal and faithful to each other. Forgive each other all offences and stand together, that as one you may show the character of your Lord and Saviour. Beloved, understand that I have not given up, and I say to you: do not give up either, but look to Me and hope in Me that I will do what I have planned.

About the author: David Noakes was a solicitor in London until he joined Clifford Hill’s ministry in 1984. He has been part of the Prophetic Word Ministries/Prophecy Today team since that time, although he has also exercised an independent ministry speaking at conferences both in Britain and overseas. He has visited Israel many times and until recently was chairman of Hatikvah Film Trust, working with Hugh Kitson making films about Israel. He is a well-known Bible teacher with an established ministry and remains an official advisor to Issachar Ministries (Prophecy Today UK's parent charity).

In the first of a series on the non-writing prophets, Chris Hill looks at Elijah.

Ahab was without doubt the most evil king to rule the northern kingdom of Israel. Nearly one third of I and 2 Kings is devoted to his reign and that of his two sons. A period of 34 years.

Prompted by the influence of his pagan wife, Jezebel, Ahab had led God's people into grotesque idolatry. The Canaanite gods of Baal and Asherah had been installed and were being worshipped as Israel's redeemer.

Yet, strangely, vestiges of the old faith were still around. Ahab had named two of his sons Ahaziah (which means ‘the Lord grasps hold of’) and Joram (‘the Lord is exalted’). The confusion in his own mind had had a knock-on effect in the nation. King and people alike were in a terrible state of indecision (not unlike our own leaders and people today), limping between several opinions as to who was the true God.

The Lord has always hated such syncretism — the ’blending’ of false religion and biblical revelation. He still hates it. Syncretism invites his wrath just the same now as it did then.

The Lord has always hated syncretism — the ’blending’ of false religion and biblical revelation. He still hates it.

To look at Israel in the ninth century BC, you could be forgiven for thinking that Jezebel’s annihilation of the Lord’s prophets and servants had been so thorough that there was no voice of protest left in the land. That would be a mistake. 1 Kings 18:4 indicates that one man alone, Obadiah, had sheltered a hundred of the Lord's prophets from these purges. The Lord himself later says that there were seven thousand people in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).

These are extraordinary statistics. To see the state of the nation, you would never have dreamt these anonymous people existed. They must have been active at some level, in spite of the prevailing conditions, but their impact upon society was nil. No-one heard the word of the Lord because the Lord's people refused to speak it out.

It took a man of singular faith to change things. That man was Elijah from Tishbe on the eastern side of the Jordan river.

The Representative Prophet

EIijah was more than ‘an average prophet’. It is significant that when our Lord was being prepared for his passion (Luke 9:31), he was ministered to by Moses (representing the law) and Elijah (representing the prophets). It was not Isaiah or Jeremiah, Ezekiel or Joel, but Elijah. This would seem to be confirmed by the attitude of the angel towards John the Baptist, who came "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). A view later reflected in our Lord's own words (Matt 11:14).

Thousands of the Lord’s people remained in pagan Israel – but no-one heard the word of the Lord because they refused to speak it out.

It is important, at this point, to note that there is no biblical warrant for saying that the ministry of prophecy in the New Testament is any different from that in the Old Testament. Consequently, the ministry of Elijah, who we may regard as the 'representative prophet’, should act as an indicator of the nature of prophecy today.

In common with his fellow prophets, Elijah was a communicator of the mind, will and heart of God. He was, we might say, a ’law enforcement officer’ and a ‘guardian of the covenant’. He spoke forth the word of the Lord to his people, and his heart beat with the heart-beat of the Lord for his people.

We see this demonstrated in three ways.

1) Elijah was jealous for the Lord (1 Kings 19:10)

The Hebrew word may be translated as ‘zealous’ or ‘jealous’. Both were true of the genuine prophet. To be filled with zeal for the Lord is to be wholeheartedly for Him. Elijah was jealous for the Lord. Jealousy is a virtue and not a sin. Otherwise, the Lord could not reveal himself as "a jealous God" (Ex 20:5).

To be ‘envious’ is to want what belongs to someone else, but to be ‘jealous’ is to want something back that is truly mine, but which has been taken away from me. Elijah felt what God felt. His heart beat with God’s heart-beat. He put God’s interests above his own, even though it would threaten his very life.

The true prophet of the Lord is not interested in his own reputation or the popularity of his message because he values God above all else. He is the messenger of the Lord and in consequence communicates the heart of God as well as his word. When God's prophet brings a blistering tirade to God's people, he does so with tears - tears for the people and tears for God. God's prophet longs to see repentance and reconciliation where there is rebellion and estrangement.

Elijah felt what God felt. His heart beat with God’s heart-beat and he put God’s interests above his own.

2) There was a reason for Elijah's confident prophesying (1 Kings 17:1)

It takes a remarkable kind of faith to enable a man to stride into the audience chamber of a pagan king and state unequivocally that it will not rain for the next few years. We can but wonder at the profound certainty (or folly) of such a move. It seems to leave Ahab speechless. The question is: how did Elijah know that God was actually saying this? How did he know he had a prophetic word to give?

ln these ‘enlightened’ times we might suppose that Elijah had an 'inner witness’, a nervous twitch, or maybe a sudden sense of warmth and an increase in heart-beat. Perhaps he had an uncontrollable urge to rush into the king‘s presence and say the first thing that came into his mouth.

None of these is correct. There is only one reason why Elijah spoke those fateful words. It may be found in Deuteronomy 11:16-17, which states:

Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them [an apt description of Israel under Ahab and Jezebel]. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.
(emphasis added)

Elijah’s confident announcement was made on the basis that he was thoroughly familiar with his Bible (or rather those parts God's word which had been committed to writing in his day). He knew that the secret of prophecy is simply this: if the conditions fit the situation, God is saying now what God has always said in his word.

Elijah knew the secret of prophecy: that if the conditions fit the situation, God is saying now what God has always said in his word.

True prophets have a deep understanding of Scripture. They understand that to test what they believe God is wanting them to say, they must be entirely convinced that this is in complete accord with his word. They understand that without a profound grasp of the scriptures they must not dare to speak out as it they have a word from him.

The prophet recognises with holy awe that if any part of his (or her) utterance is not in accordance with the Bible then to that extent he is prophesying falsely. Such a challenging matter should not deter but rather drive him to read the word.

3) Elijah prayed earnestly (James 5:17)

It is inconceivable that a true prophet could be anything less than a 'prayer warrior’. The question is how did Elijah pray?

James 5:17 says that in consequence of his praying it did not run for “three and a half years”. The reference in 1 Kings 18:1, however, appears to indicate only three years of drought. There is a six-month difference. What are we to make of this?

It looks as if there was already a six-month drought before Elijah prayed that it would not rain. In other words, Elijah prayed that the situation in the land would get worse.

This is odd. Most of the modern ’prophets’ prophesy nice things, and this is what we are used to. Any ‘prophet’ prophesying and praying that things in the nation (or church) might get worse would be considered in most Christian circles as unloving, insensitive, and not communicating God's word, let alone his heart!

The truth is that Elijah prayed the way he did because he loved the people and wanted to see them brought back to the Lord. It broke his heart to see the estrangement between God and Israel. He prayed that the drought would continue in order to bring the people back to their faithful God.

Most modern ’prophets’ prophesy nice things - any who prophesy that things might get worse would be considered in most Christian circles as unloving or insensitive.

What does the Lord think about us? What does he feel about us? What does he want of us and how does he want us to be? These are the matters which Elijah dealt in, the essence of the prophetic ministry.

The well-known prophecy of Joel 2:28-32, quoted in Acts 2:17-18, indicates that the last days will see a release of the prophetic ministry. As surely as John the Baptist spoke the word of the Lord at his first coming, so we shall see the release of the 'spirit and power of Elijah’ as his return approaches. Many believe we are well into those days. Jesus is coming soon. The mantle of Elijah will cost us what it cost him — complete faithfulness to God because we love him and complete faithfulness to his people because we love them. Courage to tell it like it is — in love, integrity and vibrant faith — come what may.

First published in Prophecy Today, 1997, Volume 13(4).

David Sudlow examines God's prophetic timeline for Israel.

Understanding God’s prophetic timeline for Israel is key to understanding his plans and purposes for the entire world, especially as the return of Jesus Messiah draws near. But Scripture often communicates this timeline to us using language and imagery that is mysterious.

In this article, David Sudlow, former Director of Christians for Israel (USA), offers his perspective on two such chapters - Ezekiel 38 and 39 – in relation to the current world situation.

His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Prophecy Today Editorial Team, but we believe it is important to open a debate on this subject – so why not discuss David’s article and contribute your own ideas by posting below?

Almost 70 years ago, on 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that called for the creation of a Jewish state. Since then, there has been a converging of events bringing new relevance to many Old and New Testament prophecies.

God is faithful to all His covenant promises to Israel, the Church and his Creation. Great days are ahead for the fulfilling of the Gospel of the Kingdom. As we see God’s great covenant promises coming to pass for His firstborn, Israel; we are assured that our redemption is certain - the Lord’s coming is very near:

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thess 5:2-3)

The fulfilment of any prophecy, however, is dependent upon God’s timing, in his step-by-step master plan of creation and redemption. It is truly a progressive vision. This was true of my heritage as a 5^th-generation Christian Zionist. In the 19^th Century, my forefathers prayed for and then recognised the beginning of the re-gathering of the Jewish people to their historic land of Israel. Today, we see God bringing his prophetic word to a new maturity and we are called afresh to stand for God’s promises for Israel.

But for what are we watching and waiting? What is next on God’s timeline for Israel – and how does that relate to the current world situation?

Stages of Fulfilment

Just as they have been through history, the Jewish people are again at the epicentre of controversy and increasingly are becoming the scapegoat for the world’s woes. Also within this epicentre are Christians, with over 900,000 killed in the last ten years¹ in an increase in persecution which points to the Great Tribulation.

It is evident from the scriptures and recent history that the restoration of the Jews to their own land is to happen in successive stages. We have witnessed the first stage taking place before the second coming of Christ, with a partial restoration: Jews have returned in great numbers to the Land, but not knowing Jesus and facing the evil hatred of their enemies.

The next stage will be total, by the mighty hand of God, and will take place in the final act of Christ’s second coming. Then will Israel be converted unto Him and “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” and believe that Jesus is the Lord (Zech 12:10).

As we see God’s great covenant promises coming to pass for His firstborn, Israel; we are assured that our redemption is certain.

Gog and Magog War

Through the Prophet Ezekiel, the Lord foretold with remarkable clarity what we have seen this century in the re-birth of the Israeli state. From the 36^th chapter of Ezekiel to the end of the book is one great prophecy concerning the restoration of the Jewish nation.

It is in the middle of this prophecy that we see ‘Gog’ coming up against the Jews whilst they are already living in their land. In Ezekiel 36:2, we see the boast of Israel’s enemies: “the high places [that is Jerusalem and the land of Israel] are ours in possession”. Ezekiel 38-39 prophesies a confederacy of nations coming against Israel, in what has become known as the ‘Gog and Magog War’.

But who is Gog, and what is his goal and the goal of those in league with him?

Many ‘end times’ theologians agree – and I would concur - that Russia will be the leading source of the Gog confederacy, while ‘Magog’ refers to the lands from which they come. Using their historic names, Ezekiel clearly describes Russia, Iran, Turkey and others aligned with them in this anti-Israel alliance: “Gomer and all his bands, the house of Togarmah of the North quarters, Persia, Ethiopia and Libya, and many peoples with them” (Ezek 38:5).

Please don’t misinterpret the current crisis in the Middle East as mere political moves. The ‘Gog and Magog War’ appears to be in the birth throes of fulfilment, right before our eyes.

It is evident from the scriptures and recent history that the restoration of the Jews to their own land is to happen in successive stages.

Final Victory

We also know from Ezekiel that Gog will come up against Jerusalem and be defeated by the righteous judgment of God: “Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I AM the LORD” (Ezek 38:23).

But this prediction concerning Gog has more to it than just the judgment of God on the armies Russia will bring against Israel.

This war for Jerusalem contains within it a description of the final destruction which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will execute upon the last enemy that comes against Israel in their own land: the final Antichrist, who will be leader of a confederacy of all nations. He will not only be head of the lands depicted as ‘Magog’, but also be in control of all the area which was previously occupied by the four great monarchies foretold by Daniel (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) (see also Joel 3:1-2; Rev 19:17-21).

The US and Europe

Will the USA and Europe be part of this soon ‘Gog and Magog’ war? The United Nations and the European Union are already complicit by their actions against Israel, so it is not hard to contemplate their potential involvement. Their leading role in the recent UN 2334 vote (led by the US) is all the proof one needs.

The word of the LORD is sure and modern Israel is proof that he will stand with his covenant people against all odds. Since their War of Independence, every time their enemies have attacked them with the goal of destroying them, Israel has received more of their biblical land inheritance. Our God will get all the glory in this war and Israel will be miraculously saved - like they were in 1948, 1967, 1973 and have been ever since.

Will the USA and Europe be part of this soon ‘Gog and Magog’ war?

Israel and Donald Trump

Where does President Trump come into this? Most conservative American Christians supporting Israel voted for Trump. For us, he was the best choice for America, compared to a continuation of Barack Obama’s policies if Hillary Clinton was elected. Many of us are thankful for the outcome of the election and believe God heard our prayers of repentance. We believe that in Trump, America and Israel have been given a reprieve from the diabolical anti-Christian and anti-Israel policies enacted by Barack Obama.

Yet many Christians, including myself, have good reason to be cautious and are not letting down our guard.

Donald Trump is a man of great human pride and he does not represent a revival. Those who are wondering about where Israel may end up with a President Trump peace plan should take heed. His ‘America first’ and prosperity message are a big part of his popular appeal. In turn, he has gathered around him many Christians, some of whom hold to Dominion Theology ideas which teach deceptive interpretations of Scripture.

The main error of Dominionism affects how one views Christ’s Second Coming (and therefore all the scriptures previously mentioned concerning Israel). It promotes the old idea that the Church will take control of the nations and then Jesus will be able to return.

Will President Trump successfully move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and will God allow Trump’s policies in the Middle East to put off the Gog and Magog War to a later time?

The word of the LORD is sure and modern Israel is proof that he will stand with his covenant people against all odds.

Mix that with Trump’s deal-making expertise and we may end up with a modified plan for a two-state solution. Trump really believes he can bring a lasting peace. He has appointed Jared Kushner to be a senior cabinet advisor with the job of brokering a new peace agreement; Kushner is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who went through a vigorous conversion in 2009 in order to marry Mr Kushner, an Orthodox Jew. They observe Shabbat, keep Kosher and worship at an Orthodox synagogue in New York City. President Trump said to Kushner, “If you can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can.”²

We can reply that a lasting peace will not come until Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, reigns from Jerusalem.

Need for True Repentance

The prosperity and safety message of the Trump presidency and the national stirrings within the nations of Europe are not enough to deter God’s righteous judgments. There has only ever been one message that brings genuine revival and that is our turning back to Christ in true repentance.

The truth is, the anti-Christ crowd is re-grouping and will march again with a vengeance in the near future. Meanwhile, we the Church are not facing the real issues of our departure from God. It is obvious that many in the Western Church are more ready to welcome Christ’s greatest imposter than our Saviour Jesus. We have left the Lord and His principles and are asleep to our real situation – we are the epitome of the Laodicean church.

Prayers for the Peace of Jerusalem

The Lord Jesus Christ is coming “as a thief in the night” and great judgments are on the horizon for all those who ignore God’s promises for Israel and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The promise of peace and safety can lull us to sleep unless we stay spiritually alert. During this time of reprieve, it is important that we redeem the time in prayer and dedication for God’s work. While we pray with the spirit, we have to pray with the understanding also, and our attitude and behaviour must make God’s answer possible.

It is sure that the enemies of Israel and the Church are not going to be silent. The United Nations’ anti-Semites are always looking for their next attack. Israel knows this full well; it is never the question of IF there will be another attack or war, but WHEN. We as the Lord’s watchmen must keep vigilant with the same alertness.

In view of all this, how then should we pray?

Prayer Points for the Peace of Jerusalem:

• To speak the truth in love as we speak up for Israel and the hope within us.
  
• To stand firmly for the Jewish people and their returning to Israel.
  
• For the Lord to confuse world leaders who ignore God’s promises for Israel.
  
• For Christians and Jews to see the folly of a two-state solution for peace.
  
• For the Lord’s grace and protection for Palestinian Christians.
  
• For God’s mercy on today’s Laodicean church that we may find true repentance.
  
• For God the Father to send His Son, Jesus Christ.
  

OUR REDEMPTION DRAWS NEAR. In the blessed hope - for the peace of Jerusalem.

References

1 Smith, S. Over 900,000 Christians Martyred for Their Faith in Last 10 Years: Report. Christian Post, 16 January 2017.

2 Tibon, A. Trump to Kushner: If You Can't Produce Middle East Peace, Nobody Can. Haaretz, 20 January 2017.

About the author: David Sudlow and his wife Nita are married for 29 years and live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where they have been raising their ten children. His formative years were in Philadelphia where he worked as a carpenter. In 1995 he was instrumental in the formation of Christians for Israel in the USA and Canada and served as Director and Editor. He has worked with a number of ministries as a layman and traveled in 25 countries. David worships with his family in the Reformed Episcopal Church.

Paul Luckraft interviews the author of ‘Signs: The Significance of Biblical Prophecy’.

How does a retired Brigadier come to write a book about the signs of the end times? To find out, I went to visit Neil in his home and learn about his background, calling and how this particular book emerged.

God’s Guiding Hand

Neil would not describe his early life as particularly ‘Christian’, certainly not in the sense of being born again. At boarding school, he experienced the typical way in which ‘church’ was part of school life but there was no personal commitment.

In 1965 he joined the Royal Signals and began a career in the Army, travelling the world and soon rising to the rank of Major. Then in 1987 he decided to leave to enter the world of finance, but this was a bad time for such a move. This was the year of the ‘great crash’ and it was soon apparent there was no future for him there. Looking back, Neil can sense God’s hand in this, directing him back into the Army where God’s plans could more easily be fulfilled.

Amazingly he was not only accepted back with his old rank but was quite quickly promoted to Brigadier, taking on various roles in the Royal Army Pay Corps and the Adjutant General’s Corps. This was the time when the army was downsizing and one of Neil’s tasks was to help army personnel with redundancy packages and pensions. In that sense he was in both finance and military service. God always knows what he is doing!

Breakdown and Breakthrough

However, some aspects of his new role disturbed him, especially when he was asked to teach a certain course that he found difficult and ill-prepared to deliver. His self-confidence, developed and strengthened through his time at school as well as his army days, was being undermined and challenged. A significant change was about to happen. Neil describes this time as one of “breakdown and breakthrough”.

No longer able to cope with life in the way he was used to, he felt desperate - even slightly frightened. He could no longer sleep properly and became ill as a result. One night he knelt by the bed and cried out to God, that if he was really there to reveal himself and help him. After just two hours sleep he woke up feeling refreshed and clear-headed. A change had begun.

During a time of ‘breakdown and breakthrough’, Neil became desperate and cried out to God.

Neil realised that any semblance of Christianity in his life up to that moment (his 50^th year!) had been nominal and self-serving. He had been living a self-centred life and expecting God to be part of that. But in a few short weeks, with the help of a house church leader that Neil knew, a spiritual transformation occurred, involving conviction, repentance and being baptised in the Spirit. No longer would God have to serve Neil - Neil would serve God!

Neil's book Signs, reviewed on Prophecy Today earlier this month.‘Active Service’ in Retirement

His new joy led to a renewed confidence, no longer in himself but in God, who told him to stay in the army as a witness. In his remaining years there, God honoured him with more promotions. Becoming a Brigadier actually gave Neil more opportunities to share his faith and even pray for people.

Once he retired in 1998, God found more ‘active service’ for Neil. After two years as a school bursar in the Lake District, he moved to Edinburgh, the home of his late wife. Sadly, she died of cancer shortly after their arrival. Neil stayed in Scotland for a few years, becoming an elder in the Church of Scotland. After remarrying, he ran a Healing Room before returning to Hampshire and joining the Winchester Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

He has served at ‘WinVin’ for some years, including as a trustee, and it is there he started to teach and preach. So how did writing a book become part of his life?

Discovering Bible Prophecy

Neil offered to teach on the end times at WinVin but was initially turned down. However, six months later the leaders changed their mind and approached him to put on a course. This he did willingly, not because he knew all about it but because he was intrigued by the topic and wanted to find out more. Prophecy was a key part of Scripture, so why was it either ignored or badly understood?

Neil already knew the Bible was God’s truth and his regularly study in the Word (with the help of Grudem’s Systematic Theology, among other aids) had given him the grounding to tackle something as daunting as the end times.

Neil’s new joy led to renewed confidence – no longer in himself but in God.

Neil also already had a significant advantage, namely a clear understanding of the Jewishness of Jesus and the importance of Israel and the Jews. He had no need to repent of Replacement Theology or re-adjust his thinking in this respect. God’s word had spoken to him and Neil knew what had to be taught.

After 18 months of teaching through the various topics on the end times, Neil realised he now had a wealth of material, both on his computer and in handouts. What to do next with all this? Why not write a book? He had written articles before for a military magazine, so he had some experience in this field, but this was a new venture altogether. However, he believed this was what God wanted, so in 2012 he started turning what he knew into book form. Focussing on writing for just one day each week meant it took him 18 months to produce the first draft. But then what?

Completing the Journey

God had it all in hand, and led Neil to the right people to help him, from editing the first draft through to the final process of publishing. After being rejected by one publisher, he decided to go down the road of self-publishing, choosing Kingdom Writing Solutions as the means of doing this, and Amazon for the sales side via print-on-demand and an e-book. This all worked out smoothly, which was a great blessing.

Would he write another book? Perhaps, but only if it was clearly what God wanted. Meanwhile, Neil does continue to teach his course, or a revised shorter version of it, on a regular basis. His story is a further example of someone being led by God through life and finding new fruitfulness in the latter years, an encouragement to us all.

Find out more about Neil’s book ‘Signs’ by clicking here.

What is the significance of the High Court Judges' decision that Brexit cannot be implemented without the approval of Parliament?

Clearly this could result in long delays, with both Houses of Parliament locked in debate over the minutiae of each detail of the negotiations. It creates another element of uncertainty which is damaging both for the economy and for Britain's future standing in the world.

Is this just another tactic by those who, like Tony Blair and many others, want to reverse the 23 June Referendum decision of the British public and keep us shackled to the European Union? In this magazine our primary purpose is not simply to join in a political debate but to ask the fundamental question: does God have something to say about this situation?

Britain's Divine Purpose?

The biblical position is that God has a purpose for each nation within his overall international purposes of bringing his truth to the whole of humanity. Paul referred to this when addressing the Areopagus, the Council of Philosophers in Athens. He said:

From one man he has made every nation of men – that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. (Acts 17.26-37)

Of course, Paul had seen geographical boundaries change as the Roman Empire expanded, so what was the truth he was seeking to convey? It was surely about national identity and the unique purpose that God has for each community of people.

God has a purpose for each nation, within his overall purpose of bringing his truth to all humanity.

43 years ago, Britain moved its God-given boundary stones and joined a man-made institution specifically designed with the humanist intention of removing national sovereignty and borders to prepare the way for global rule by a political elite with one currency, one army, one set of regulations and values, and one religion. It was the outcome of their man-made solution to the problem of squabbles between the nations of Europe that had resulted in the two world wars of the 20^th Century.

On 23 June, God gave Britain the opportunity of rediscovering its national identity, uniqueness and place within the purposes of God. Of course, as was to be expected by all those who have spiritual understanding, this decision was going to provoke a furious backlash. Today, there is a great spiritual battle raging in the heavenlies over this nation and it is going to become increasingly intense.

Brexit is by No Means Won

I referred to this in a speech on 29 October at a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Emmanuel Centre Westminster, which was full for the occasion. It was led by Barry and Batya Segal who have a great ministry in Israel through the Joseph Storehouse that serves both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs.

During the meeting, I said that the battle of Brexit is by no means won. This was clearly endorsed by those present. When I was speaking, I had a strong sense of a word from the Lord and I wrote it down after the meeting.

This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of Brexit, the battle is not yours but mine. I guided the vote to leave the European Union - the Union that denies its heritage of truth that your forefathers fought and gave their lives to maintain. It is a union that has brought darkness to the people and now it is a Continent that is walking in darkness. But you my people are the ones who have seen a great light and yours is the task to open eyes that are blind and ears that are deaf to the truth.

Those who have seen the light will witness to those who walk in darkness and are bound by the power of Satan, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and be set free from the powers of darkness. It is not the politicians who will set the people free but it is those who have seen the light. They will be used as a mighty army of prayer warriors to support and direct the way of those who hold political power so that when the great shaking of Europe begins and the towers of mammon fall, Britain will stand firm and will be a witness to the world.

I believe that God is not only looking for his people to pray, but also actively to be his witnesses. This means every Christian speaking the word of the Lord in their family and among their friends and neighbours – boldly but lovingly speaking truth into our nation where there has been so much compromise and distortion of the truth.

There is a great spiritual battle raging in the heavenlies over this nation and it is going to become increasingly intense.

Arise, Church!

I believe God is saying that the time has come for Christians to confront the forces of darkness that have been destroying family life, promoting secular humanism and allowing the spiritual forces of evil to corrupt our children.

The Church has been silent for far too long, compromising with the world. If the Lord is to use Britain as a witness to the world at the time when the European Union collapses and all the institutions of power crumble, there has to be repentance in the Church and a new openness to the Spirit of God. Then he will be able to bless the nation, giving protection and prosperity in the time of great shaking that is soon to encompass all nations.

Each of us has a specific and vital part to play in this. Will you join us in praying for our nation and seeking the Lord for guidance, conviction and courage in the days ahead, that each of us might respond in the way he desires?

Patricia Higton looks at the Prophet Daniel.

Daniel and his three friends, Jews of the nobility in exile, had been chosen for high position in the service of Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan Babylonian emperor, who autocratically ruled the world of the Middle East.

It would have been understandable if the four young men had curried favour with the king, who had power of life and death over his subjects and captives. The first test came early on in their training for service, when food from the royal table was set before them. Every good Jew knew that this raised issues of defilement and idolatry.

It would have been so easy to compromise, but Daniel clearly realised that here was a question of lordship -was he primarily a servant of the emperor, or of the God of Heaven and Earth? He passed the test, perhaps with no idea that God was training him for higher things.

Sadly, many fall at the first hurdle and can only limp along after that unless they repent and seek the Lord afresh. So few Christians, who are highly placed in government, or the world of business and finance, or senior positions in the professions, make a real impact for the Lord. Doubtless those who do make choices early on to follow God's way, resisting all pressure to compromise, let alone conform to our post-Christian society.

God Honours Obedience

In two later, separate, incidents, it seemed that all was lost for Daniel and his friends. Their contemporaries must have wondered what was the point of sticking to principle, if the end was to be a den of lions or a fiery furnace. But the words of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego echo down through the centuries: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Daniel's first test came early on in his training for service: was he primarily a servant of the emperor, or of the God of Heaven and Earth?

In their case, one "like a son of the gods" first came to them in the midst of the furnace, before they were rescued from it (Dan 3:17, 18, 25-28). In the New Testament account of the early Church and in stories of persecuted Christians down to the present day, there have been similar tales of deliverance. There are also accounts of many thousands who were not delivered in this life, but whose sacrifice was not in vain. The blood of the martyrs has continually been the seed of the Church.

Although we know from Scripture that God always honours faith and obedience, he never blesses compromise. It is a cause for shame that there are so few Christian leaders, particularly in the comfortable Western Church, who are prepared to uphold biblical principles, even at cost to their reputation and aware that there may be no vindication until the next life.

God's Sovereign Purpose

The principal theme of the book of Daniel is God's sovereignty over the rise and fall of kings and nations. It is helpful to question why God should have given such highly detailed and accurate messages about the future, either to Daniel directly, or to the emperors for Daniel to interpret. The answer must surely be that these powerful rulers were being given an opportunity to revere God, who so impressed them as "the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries" (Dan 2:47). God is a God of mercy and compassion, who withholds just judgment when men repent.

Later, Paul was to take the Gospel of salvation to the Roman Empire, though it would be nearly 300 years before an emperor responded positively. For since the time of Christ, God's purpose has been that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matt 24:14). Primarily, the world needs the message of the Gospel of salvation and judgment.

Contemporary prophetic messages will be delivered principally to the Church, and will be concerned with the Church or the world. But the days are coming when it will be important for prophets to interpret to the world as well as the Church prophecy in Scripture as yet unfulfilled, including that found in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

We know from Scripture that God always honours faith and obedience, but he never blesses compromise.

As we see nation after nation in the post-Cold War world now threatened less by nuclear annihilation than by terrorism or internal disintegration, we learn from the book of Daniel that God has been and is totally in control of all historical and future events. He knows the end from the beginning. Events which may seem arbitrary to us are turned by the Creator, Saviour and Judge of the whole world to serve his purposes, whether of salvation or judgment.

Belshazzar, who set himself up against the Lord of Heaven, was weighed on the scales and found wanting. His kingdom divided and given to the Medes and Persians (Dan 5:26-31). Nebuchadnezzar, on the other hand, was told that his kingdom would be restored when he acknowledged that heaven rules (Dan 4:26).

Daniel's Intercession

God's intention was not for his people to stand by, helplessly watching events unfold. We have a significant part to play. Daniel was used by God to challenge those in authority, not only in the gifts of interpretation and prophecy, but also in intercession, to pray prophetic scriptures into being. He had been in training, praying three times a day (Dan 6:10) even at risk to his life (Dan 6:13), but it is in chapter 9 that we see the depth of his intercession.

This impassioned prayer of penitence and petition undoubtedly played a part in the eventual deliverance of Daniel's people from exile. Many praying people have since taken up his cry, "O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name" (Dan 9:19).

But intercessory prayers can be less effective if they are not based on a true diagnosis of the severity of a situation leading to confession of corporate sin. By contrast, Daniel's prayers were so effective that Gabriel himself was sent to answer them.

The End Times

Much of the book of Daniel is taken up with prophecies about the empires of Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. But throughout it all is woven amazing insight about the rule or kingdom of God, which begins as a hewn rock but becomes a huge mountain, filling the earth (Dan 2:35).

Even as we have been made aware of the sovereign rule of God over nations, so from first to last the message of Daniel is that God's sovereignty, far from being limited to the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms (Dan 4:32), in fact extends to the establishment of a Divine kingdom that will never be destroyed (Dan 2:44). It is an eternal dominion, enduring from generation to generation (Dan 4:34-35).

Although believers may now be marginalised or even persecuted, the future holds out the certain hope that "the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heavens will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High" (Dan 7:27). Again, "The saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it for ever" (Dan 7:18). Sadly, this will come about only after a time of intense persecution and seeming defeat by "the horn" (Dan 7:21), a prophecy which many believe to have had an initial fulfilment in the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes (168-164 BC) who tried to destroy the Jewish religion.

God's intention is not for his people to stand by, helplessly watching events unfold. We have a significant part to play.

The Book of Daniel helps us at this point to understand that there is frequently both a partial fulfilment of prophecy which is now history, and one which is yet to come. This comprehension helps us in interpreting, for example, the predictions of Jesus or those in the Book of Revelation. We learn that a time of distress or tribulation is yet to come, before the end of all things, when "multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake: some-to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt" (Rev 12:2).

Yet to Come

We would be foolish to ignore any prophecy as yet unfulfilled, because those which have come to pass show the predictions in Daniel to be astonishingly accurate.
Unable to believe in such accurate prophecy, some argue for a late date for Daniel but cannot actually push that date to later than the mid-second century BC. That still leaves such sceptics to explain prophecies about the Roman Empire and, of course, about Christ. There is an amazing prophecy about his coming and his death. Many scholars believe that the timescale incorporated in this prediction is literal, not symbolic, and was perfectly fulfilled (Dan 9:24-26).

There is also a specific prophecy of the second coming in Daniel 7:13, where we are given an awesome glimpse of the future:

In my vision of the night, I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Finally, we may note a verse that can encourage us today to witness to our faith as much as it did nearly 2,500 years ago: "Those who lead many to righteousness" (Dan 12:3) will shine "like the stars for ever and ever."

Originally published in Prophecy Today, Vol 12 No 1, January 1996. Revised November 2016.

In the next part of our series on the message of the Old Testament prophets, Gary Clayton looks at the Prophet Jonah.

Jonah (the name means 'dove') son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher (2 Kings 14:25), was a native of Galilee. He lived, it is thought, around the time of Jeroboam II, during the seventh or mid-eighth century BC.

The Historical Background

Under Jeroboam II (793-753 BC) Israel and its capital, Samaria, flourished. The king "restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah" (2 Kings 14:25), recovering Israel's northern borders. Lucrative trade pacts were signed with the Phoenicians of Tyre and wealth flooded into the now prosperous kingdom.
The people, it was no doubt said, had never had it so good - though discrimination and injustice were rife. It was into this situation that the prophets Amos and Hosea were to speak.

Jonah, however, was given a different message. He was told to "go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it" (Jon 1:2). Founded by Nimrod the hunter (Gen 10:8-12), Nineveh became one of the richest and most powerful cities in the world.

From the eighth century BC to its destruction in 612 BC, it was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and was situated on the left bank of the River Tigris, just 280 miles north of Babylon.

Nineveh was a rich and powerful city – the stronghold of a warlike people who massacred and mutilated those they defeated.

Mosul, Iraq, is modern-day Nineveh.Protected by a wall seven and a half miles long and 100 feet high, Nineveh was defended by 1,500 towers, each of them 200 feet high. It was the stronghold of a warlike people who massacred and mutilated those they defeated, believing themselves to be engaged in a cosmic battle on behalf of Ashur, their god.

Already, by the time of Jonah, the Assyrians represented a formidable threat to Israel's security. Indeed, in 721 BC Sargon II occupied Samaria, deporting 27,210 Israelites to Assyria for slave-labour.

Jonah: A Good Example?

Despite God's commission, Jonah fled to Joppa (modern day Jaffa) instead. Whether he did so in a fit of pique or from fear, we do not know.

In many ways, however, one could regard Jonah as an example that many believers might do well to follow. He not only believed in God, but was willing to testify to his existence (Jon 1:9), regardless of the consequences (Jon 1:11,12). He also took time to listen to his Maker and obviously heard his voice clearly (Jon 1:1; 3:1; 4:4; 4:9-11).

Another point in Jonah's favour was his willingness to address God in prayer and communicate his concerns (Jon 2:1-9; 4:2-3; 4:8-9), as it says in 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Like Nathanael in John 1:47, Jonah was a man without guile, "in whom there is nothing false". He 'tells it like it is.' Whether in anger, discomfort, frustration or distress, he brought his hurts before the Lord, just as Elijah and Moses had done centuries earlier.

Jonah was brave too, in his way (Jon 1:12), as well as honest (Jon 1:10). Indeed, he would make an almost entirely admirable character if, having received his instructions from God, he had responded by setting off in the right direction.

God Will Always Triumph

As it is, oblivious to the truth of Psalm 139:8-10, "If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast", he set sail for Tarshish (in what is now southern Spain) thinking that he could escape God. It was as far from Nineveh as one could possible get in the ancient world.

In many ways, Jonah was an example we would do well to follow.

God, however, had other ideas. Jonah may have been the right man for the right time, but he was certainly in the wrong place, thus prompting some Divine intervention in the form of adverse weather conditions.

Everyone (it would seem) was afraid - except Jonah (Jon 1:5-6) who, asleep and apparently oblivious to the sea raging around him, knew how best the storm might be stilled, albeit by somewhat dramatic means (Jon 1:15). At fault though he was, Jonah was willing to be thrown overboard, rather than allow those on the ship to perish (Jon 1:12).

Although Jonah refused to go to Nineveh, no doubt hoping that the Assyrians would die in their sins rather than repent and live (Jon 3:10), God had other ideas. Romans 8:28 tells us, "In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

As with Joseph's brothers in Genesis 50:20, what Jonah intended for 'harm', God planned for good, with Jonah's attempt at escaping from God resulting in the salvation of those heading for Tarshish (Jon 1:15,16). The book teaches us that we can run from God, but we cannot hide. Ultimately he will have his way, whether we co-operate or not.

A Light to the Gentiles

Jonah, however, had yet to learn that not only could merchants and seafarers turn to the Lord, but so could the violent and rapacious Assyrians (Jon 3:5-9). So it was that, having had his life miraculously preserved by the fish, Jonah ended up vomited onto dry land (Jon 2:10), though nowhere near Nineveh (Assyria is not on the coast).

What Jonah intended for harm, God planned for good, resulting in the salvation of those on board Jonah's ship.

The miraculous events of Jonah's ministry foreshadowed the death, resurrection and preaching of the Lord Jesus centuries later (Matt 12:39-41; 16:4; Luke 11:29-32). However reluctant, Jonah represents one of Scripture's earliest recorded instances of the Jews acting as a light to the Gentiles, bringing salvation and blessing.

A Second Chance

Once on dry land, the word of the Lord again came to Jonah. Not surprisingly, he obeyed. The calling and gifting may have been there from the start, but the initial motivation was clearly lacking. A storm at sea and a three-day sojourn in the belly of the fish, however, must have concentrated his mind wonderfully! So Jonah set off to land-locked Assyria, preaching repentance to a city of over 120,000 souls.

It has often been said that 'there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole'. Whether in time of flood, famine, earthquake or calamity, when disaster threatens, people cry to the Lord. In Psalm 107 we read, "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress," while "those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs" (Jon 2:8).

The Ninevites, however, took God at his word, accepting Jonah's message and acting upon it (Jon 3:7-9). The result: repentance and revival.

A Fishy Tale – or Historical Fact?

Although it is not so unusual for fishermen to tell tall tales about 'the one that got away', in the book of Jonah we learn of a prophet and evangelist - a fisher of men, if you will - who got away, having been swallowed by a fish.

There are those, however, who dispute whether, shaken and possibly stirred, he actually physically emerged from a large fish, maintaining that the account is an elaborate allegory or fairy tale. Accounts of similar occurrences do, however, exist:

1. Apparently swallowed by a harpooned sperm whale in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands in 1891, James Bartley was said to have been found in the whale's stomach, unconscious, some three days after the creature had been caught, killed and cut open. The man, it is alleged, was successfully revived, though his skin had been bleached white by the whale's gastric juices. The case was recorded in the Princeton Theological Review of 1941, though some have questioned the story's veracity, their criticisms of that particular account themselves conflicting.
2. In The Harmony of Science and Scripture, Dr Harry Rimmer (DD, ScD) tells of personally meeting a sailor who was swallowed by a gigantic Rhincodon whale shark and was subsequently revived, though suffering from shock. Exhibited in a London museum at a shilling admission, the sailor was billed as 'The Jonah of the Twentieth Century'.
3. It is a fairly common experience today for fishermen, on cutting open a whale, to discover that it has swallowed a shark or large fish the size of a man.

According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Paternoster Press), "It is possible to identify the revival at Nineveh with the religious reforms brought about by Adadnirari III circa 800 BC," noting that if Jonah had arrived in Nineveh during the reign of Assur-dan III, "he would have found the city psychologically prepared for a total catastrophe, since a plague had swept the city in 765, an eclipse of the sun had occurred in 763, and a second plague had followed in 759 BC."

God's timing is, of course, perfect. Whatever the historical circumstances, God knew that, were Jonah to preach to the Ninevites, they would fast, repent and be spared. As 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us, "The Lord...is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance," for he is "a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity" (Jon 4:2).

Jonah is one of Scripture's earliest examples of the Jews acting as a light to the Gentiles.

The Message of Jonah

In a perverse and sinful generation, however, there is a tendency for God's followers, like Jonah, to be more concerned with their own safety, comfort and reputation (Jon 1:3; 2:2; 4:1-3; 4:8-9) than with the salvation of those around them (Jon 4:10-11). Philippians 2:21 notes, "For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ."

The lesson Jonah needed to learn, having experienced God's loving care for him through the incident with the fish (Jon 1:17) and with the vine which sheltered him from the heat (Jon 4:6), was his need to forgive the Assyrians, as the Lord forgave him (Col 3:13). This is the message that lies at the heart of the gospel, the good news, for if we forgive people when they sin against us, our heavenly Father will also forgive us (Matt 6:14,15).

Moreover, in accepting God's forgiveness, we are to offer that forgiveness to others through the preaching of the word, in season and out of season, whether - like Jonah - we feel like it or not.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 11 No 5, September 1995. Revised October 2016.

Paul Luckraft reviews 'Outcast Nation: Israel, the Jews...and You' by Steve Maltz (2012)

This book, subtitled The COMPLETE story from Abraham to Armageddon, is indeed an epic, almost encyclopaedic, account of Israel and the Jewish people. It traces the sweeping story of God's covenant people from Bible times, through European history, up to the current situation in the Middle East and (using Bible prophecy) beyond.

Originally two separate and now out-of-print books, The Land of Many Names and The People of Many Names, the material has been amalgamated and updated. The style is typical Maltz – lively and entertaining, while also very informative and challenging. The '...and you' of the title is no accident. The whole narrative is designed to change your thinking and impact your theology.

Act 1: Covenant

The book is in three 'Acts', titled Covenant, Exile and Return. The first of these is largely a re-telling of biblical history, tracing the outworking of God's covenants with his ancient people. It will be familiar to most Christians who read the whole Bible. However, there is plenty here to help cement our understanding as the author shows how a bunch of slaves became a kingdom of priests. There is a good explanation of the relationship between the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, and also of the central importance of Jerusalem to the entire story that will unfold.

To help us understand the areas of debate and dissension, Maltz introduces two characters, Mr Roots and Mr Shoots, who keep appearing throughout the book. Mr Roots takes the plain literal meaning of the scriptures and accepts that the promises made to Abraham and his descendants still apply. Mr Shoots looks for symbols and allegory and would say that now Jesus has come, there is no role for the Jewish people or the land of Israel in the Christian age. Overall, Maltz's approach works well. It is not too intrusive and will help some people identify their own position on such matters.

This book is an epic, almost encyclopaedic, account of Israel and the Jewish people.

Act 2: Exile

Act Two opens with a brief (perhaps too brief) section on the period between the Testaments before we reach the fulcrum of history: Jesus of Nazareth. There is also not much detail here but this is reasonable as "all we are doing here is to examine the effects that his life had on the Jews of his day" (p127).

The main thrust of the central Act of the book is what the Jews call 'Galut', which we know of as diaspora or exile. How did this happen? How could this happen to God's chosen kingdom of priests? This is an excellent section in which we travel through history with them. The author provides many extra details that may be new even to those well-read on these topics.

There is a good historical survey of the Muslim period and its relationship to Jerusalem and the Jewish people. Equally enlightening is the examination of 'Christian' anti-Semitism and what the author calls 'the longest hatred' (chapter 11). He poignantly asks, 'Why are the Jews still hated?'

Act 3: Return

Act Three maintains the high standard of writing and analysis as the emphasis shifts to the rise of Zionism and the return of the Jewish people to the land. Certain key figures are highlighted for their 'philo-Semitism'. These righteous Gentiles include Corrie Ten Boom, Balfour, Shaftesbury, Churchill, Orde Wingate and William Hechler. Here we have some excellent cameos of those who were instruments in God's hands. This is followed by a full chapter on the writing and teaching of JC Ryle and his prophetic insights.

There is much of great interest for us to learn as we are taken through the period from 1882 onwards, including the time of the British Mandate leading up to the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Mr Roots and Mr Shoots re-emerge at this point to demonstrate the various viewpoints on the significance of this event and the miracles that followed concerning the continuing survival of the Jewish people. Here we find a severe critique of those who hold that Israel is just another country in our modern world, with no Divine purpose attached to their existence.

While some sections are brief, in others the author provides many extra details that may be new even to those well-read on these topics.

More recent times are also analysed with clarity and insight, especially the truth regarding the refugee situation. This will be particularly illuminating to those who get their information purely from modern media sources.

The Jewish People

Maltz also demonstrates there is indeed 'something special about these folk' by listing their achievements and contributions to humanity across several different fields. Most people would not recognise a lot of these achievements as coming from Jewish people. Maltz adroitly comments that those who today advocate boycotting Israeli products might not want to give up all the benefits that have come from these remarkable people.

When it comes to matters of salvation, Maltz is clear that it is only as a people that God has promised certain things through the covenants. Each individual Jewish person must find salvation in the same way as Gentiles: through Jesus. To spell it out he uses capitals! He states, "INDIVIDUAL JEWISH PEOPLE ARE NOT SAVED UNLESS THEY ACCEPT JESUS AS THEIR MESSIAH" (p308). This distinction between the Jewish people and a Jewish person is constantly re-asserted in the pages that follow. Here is no automatic place in heaven for anyone just because they are born a Jew.

Your Story

Overall, this book contains a very thorough exploration of this kingdom of priests in terms of its origin, development and eventual destiny. It also offers explanations for both the survival and success of this Outcast Nation. Such a comprehensive book could do with an index, though it is always a lot of extra work to produce one. It does however end with some recommended reading and a list of organisations working for Israel and the Jewish people, as well as a liturgy of reconciliation adapted, with permission, from Fred Wright's book Father, Forgive Us.

This book contains a very thorough exploration of this kingdom of priests in terms of its origin, development and eventual destiny.

Once you have read this book and considered all it has to say then you are left with the '... and you'. Now what do you make of it all? It is part of your story too, but what you do with this information is up to you. The author is modest enough to say that "Whether you consider the subject material of this book relevant to your lifestyle is not important" but adds that "What is important is that the story of the Jews serves to help you realise that there's more to this World than what you can see, hear, touch, smell or feel." (p347-8).

Outcast Nation (384 pages) is available from Saffron Planet Publishing for £10. Click here to purchase and also for a short video from Steve Maltz about the book.

John Job explains the great modern relevance of Jeremiah's message and notes strong links with the life and teaching of Jesus.

Jeremiah's message was inextricably linked with the history of Israel in his day. He first addressed the North, with a plea for unity with the Southern Kingdom. Then, when his word to his own people was rejected with the burning of the first scroll (Jer 36), he moved to the theme of inevitable judgment and finally to a message of hope beyond the end.

Throughout his long ministry, optimistic prophets kept building up false hopes in the people by parroting "Peace, peace" when the situation was hopeless. Jerusalem's demise was long and drawn-out; but by refusing to heed Jeremiah's call for repentance and turning away from idolatry and corruption, the fate of the city and its people was sealed.

Conflicting Interpretations of Scripture

Jeremiah's conflict hinged on the interpretation of Deuteronomy: the 'Book of the Law' found during the repair of the Temple early in Jeremiah's lifetime (2 Chron 34:14). This book was the address by Moses to the Israelites on the threshold of the Promised Land.

Jeremiah's optimistic contemporaries saw the book as promising that the crossing of the Jordan and occupation of the Promised Land was a drama to be re-enacted as they regained independence from the Babylonians on their God-given soil.

Jeremiah, by contrast, saw it as a warning of three interlocking aspects of sin in response to which God was sending the Babylonians to bring judgment. Chapter 11:1-17 is particularly instructive as a parody of the nationalistic hopes built on Deuteronomy.

Jeremiah's contemporaries saw the Torah as promising liberation from Babylonian rule – Jeremiah knew that it was a warning of judgment.

Deuteronomy summarises human duty as to love God (Deut 6:5). Though Jesus included "and your neighbour as yourself" taken from Leviticus 19:18 (Matt 22:39), there is plenty of evidence in Deuteronomy that this is a major implication of loving God. Jeremiah's indictment, then, can be seen under three headings: failure to love God was idolatry; failure to love others was immorality; failure to change was rebellion.

Idolatry and Immorality

Idolatry is criticised as ingratitude (Jer 2:13) and as folly (Jer 2:27). Idolatry led to alliance with pagan powers, which amounted to reliance on their gods (Jer 14:10). Drought was seen as the penalty for misconceiving Baal as the source of fertility. Beyond all else, idolatry amounted to slighting the true God.

Spiritual adultery, as often in the prophets, was depicted as sexual immorality (Jer 2:20). But there is also a reference to failures in the area of justice, especially for the poor (Jer 5:26-28; 21:12; 22:13). The prophet inveighed too against commercial malpractice, and in the same passage, slander, which he himself suffered (Jer 9:3-4).

Rebellion

These first two areas of Jeremiah's teaching echo Amos and Hosea. But his emphasis on rebellion is his most distinctive perception of his people's predicament. A long sequence of pictures make this point:

1. The uncircumcised ear cannot hear (Jer 6:10);
2. No soap can wash away guilt (Jer 2:22);
3. Refining is futile when no precious metal underlies the dross (Jer 6:27-30);
4. The people are like a she-camel on heat, enslaved to instinct (Jer 2:24);
5. They are like a common harlot who legally (Deut 24:1-4) cannot, and practically will not, return to her husband (Jer 3:1-3);
6. They compare unfavourably with the swift and wryneck, mere birds well aware of the time for returning (a verb which in Hebrew also means 'repent') (Jer 8:7).

The sweep of the book makes the point more forcibly still: events and reality constantly vindicated Jeremiah; but he was ignored for 25 years. Why, though, was it so wrong to resist the Babylonians? Why was the situation so different from when the Assyrian Sennacherib threatened Jerusalem a century earlier? The answer must be that, however unwisely, the Judeans had made a covenant with Babylon.

Most distinctive about Jeremiah's teaching is his emphasis on rebellion.

Here, then, lay the great irony - Deuteronomy was itself couched in the form of a 'covenant document', and those who made their covenant with God needed to be the first to keep covenants with others. Deuteronomic condemnation of the stubborn and rebellious son (Deut 21:18ff) is referred to in Jeremiah 2:14-19, and the incorrigible son breaks the most fundamental covenant of all.

With Jehoiakim's burning of the scroll, Jeremiah's stance changed. This is reflected in the reversal of some of Israel's basic and most cherished spiritual convictions.

The Reversal of the Exodus

Jeremiah may have thought of himself as the prophetic successor to Moses, mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15 (Jer 1:4-10; 15:16). But he was told not to pray for the nation (Jer 7:16; 11:14; 14:11). It was not for him to stand in the breach (cf Ps 106:23) as Moses had done over the Golden Calf: he actually prays for judgment (Jer 18:21f). In the end he goes back as a prisoner to Egypt, from which Moses had led the people from slavery into freedom.

The Reversal of Holy War

The original invasion of Canaan was a 'holy war', in which the Israelites were God's agents to punish the Amorites (Josh 5:1). Often in the story of Judges, God instils panic into Israel's enemies: now the opposite happens; God fights against Israel (Jer 4:9; 6:24) and they are driven out of the land.

The Reversal of Creation

The account of Creation in the Old Testament embodies two themes. The first is the notion of order rather than chaos (Gen 1:1-2). The second is the provision of a garden for human beings to live in (Gen 2:4ff). The first theme is linked with the turning of a motley collection of slaves into an organised community; and the second with their settlement in the garden-land of Canaan.

Jeremiah implied (Jer 4:23-28) that all this was to be undone. The salvation oracle was turned on its head (Jer 12:5). The Abrahamic promise was reversed (Jer 15:8).
Those who make their covenant with God need to be the first to keep covenants with others.

Close study of Jeremiah's ministry reveals strong resemblances to that of Jesus:

(i) Conflict with the 'Establishment'

In both cases this is centred on the interpretation of Deuteronomy - in Jesus's day this was the text-book for hopes of national autonomy (defeat of the Romans) and renewed national greatness. It is no accident that Jesus's three answers in the desert to satan, who represents these Jewish aspirations, come not simply from Scripture ("It is written"), but all from Deuteronomy (Luke 4).

(ii) 'Another Moses'

The Messiah was expected to be another Moses. Indeed, this was how New Testament writers saw Jesus. But like Jeremiah, Jesus also prophesied national disaster. The cross exposed the spirit of nationalism which was doomed to be broken on the wheel of Roman power. In just the same way, Jerusalem's nationalism was broken by Babylon in Jeremiah's time.

It could be said that both Jesus and Jeremiah were Moses' successor. But this has to be re-appraised in the light of the great contrasts between the way in which God carries out his purposes of salvation in Jesus and what had happened in Old Testament times.

(iii) Undeserved Suffering

Jeremiah could describe himself as a lamb led to the slaughter and together with the well-known passage in Isaiah 53, this paved the way for the widespread use of the lamb metaphor in the New Testament, notably on the lips of John the Baptist (John 1:29), and no fewer than 31 times in Revelation.

Striking too is the same misunderstanding and rejection within the family of Jeremiah and Jesus (Jer 12:6, cf Mark 3:32).

(iv) The Destruction of the Word

The desecrating act of Jehoiakim was for Jeremiah what the cross was for Jesus: the final act of the rejection of the covenant relationship with God. In Jeremiah's case it was confined to the Jews, but through the crucifixion of Jesus, guilt was extended to all mankind.

(v) The Emergence of Hope Out of Disaster

Jeremiah did not pray for his people (Jer 7:16) and Jesus did not pray for the world (John 17:9). The demise of the Jewish state in Jeremiah's time points to the doom of non-Christian society in its alienation from God. The only hope for the world is for those who become 'unworldly' by refusing to live according to worldly values.

Jeremiah spells out his hopes of a 'new covenant' (Jer 31:31) and the New Testament sees in Christ's death and resurrection a fulfilment of this promise (most explicitly in Hebrews 8 and 9). Just as the Babylonian sledgehammer's demise is part of Jeremiah's optimism, Revelation, depicting Rome (in the guise of the scarlet woman of Babylon), spells out in her doom the end of worldly corruption.

The desecrating act of Jehoiakim was for Jeremiah what the cross was for Jesus: the final act of the rejection of the covenant relationship with God.

Our Society the Same?

Our society is not unlike that which confronted Jeremiah. The point is made by Jesus in the parable of the 'Rich Fool' (Luke 12:13), who epitomised both self-help and idolatry. For him, death played the same role as the destruction of Jerusalem played for the Jews.

Jesus had a long struggle with a people determined to go their own way, and Jeremiah's teaching is parallel to the message of Jesus, which says 'You cannot save yourself! You cannot engineer a solution to sin, or to your present problems, or save yourself from death'.

It is common to see some code of ethics comparable with Deuteronomy as a 'ladder' or 'lever' for making oneself acceptable to God. No doubt Paul took lessons from Jeremiah as well as from Jesus in seeing that God's law is neither ladder nor lever, reaching the conclusion that through the law we become conscious of sin (Rom 7:7). Yet Jeremiah's teaching on the new covenant enables us to anticipate God's judgment, and begin a new life; to echo Paul and say, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I: Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20).

Flouting of God's Word

Jeremiah's catalogue of sins is closely matched by our society. In his book about the Bible (The English Bible and Seventeenth-Century Revolution, Penguin, 1993), Christopher Hill shows that behind the theological divergences in Cromwell's day, the notion that Protestant England could be modelled on Old Testament Israel and see itself as a Christian nation in covenant relation with God was generally accepted. We need to be careful not to exaggerate the extent to which English history follows that of Judah, but some comparisons can safely be made.

Our society is not unlike that which confronted Jeremiah.

In recent years we have seen erosion of respect for the Ten Commandments as a summary of divine law - notably in the increase and supposed trivialisation of adultery and homosexual practices, the advocacy of euthanasia and abuse of abortion.

We have also seen sentimentality about disciplining children and decay of truthfulness in public life. The message of Jeremiah challenges us to look at the sins of our own nation. Are we not in danger of the same judgment that Jerusalem suffered in his day? Has not the church also sadly missed its way and followed the ways of the world?

It may not be easy to tell when God's word has been nationally rejected as finally as with Jehoiakim's burning of the scroll, but Godly standards are being flouted. There is a need for a prophetic call to repentance and warning of the inevitability of disaster if this call is rejected.

Hope Beyond the End

Even in the worst scenario, Jeremiah's message, seen through New Testament eyes, holds out today the same hope beyond the end. To those who have kept Christian faith in a watertight compartment away from politics, Jeremiah is a model for courageous interaction in the life of the nation.

In a sense his ministry was entirely fruitless. But he has been vindicated, not only because the preservation of his words in Scripture testifies to the fact that he was right and his opponents were wrong, but also because the resurrection of Jesus points to a world where the truths he stood for are, and always will be, upheld.

To that realm Christians already belong, and to that extent are impervious to the worst that this world can do to them.

First published in Prophecy Today Vol 12 No 2, March 1996. Revised September 2016.

In exciting confirmation of the words brought recently in Chichester and by David Noakes, we review words given at an intercessory prayer day held in Somerset in July.

Across Britain, God is speaking to those who will listen. Just because you pray alone or in a small group, it doesn't mean that God will not speak words of national significance to and through you! He is simply looking for dedicated servants who will spend time in his presence, learning his word faithfully and listening to his heart.

Issachar Ministries has been running a number of intercessory events around the country in recent months, gathering local prayer groups together to intercede for the nation and listen to what God is saying. Last week we reported on their Chichester meeting – this week we bring further news from a similar event held in July, near Wells in Somerset.

Those in attendance gathered themselves into small groups to spend time listening to the Lord, taking notes and feeding back afterwards to the rest of the gathering. Below we have written up the main points and themes that were shared – see if you can spot the similarities to those shared at the Chichester meeting a couple of weeks ago!

Opportunity in Difficult Times

First, many people felt strongly that difficult times lie ahead for Britain, but that in this the Church will have great opportunity for witness.

Warnings were given that our withdrawal from the European Union will not be easy, and that the enemy will try to fight against what God has done. There will be a great need for mature Christians, interceding for the negotiations, helping others to understand God's purposes in Brexit and being directly involved in the business and politics of the exit process. "Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Heb 5:14).

Words were also given about the degree to which Britain has abandoned her Christian heritage – and how the Church needs to recognise this, and grieve it as Jeremiah grieved over Jerusalem (e.g. Jer 4:19).

Yet, groups also heard that in the difficult times ahead there will come great opportunity for sharing our faith with an unbelieving world. Christians need to arise, pray and actively help others to recognise Jesus – including young people who receive no Christian input in school or at home.

Israel and the Middle East

Some groups were led to pray about the situation in Syria. They fed back that God is weeping over the destruction in that nation, desiring all people to know his love and mercy. It was also felt that Christians should be actively watching what God is doing so that they can explain his purposes to unbelievers.

A number of groups had words about Islam, that God is at work across the Muslim world setting people free from darkness and giving Christians opportunities to witness about their faith. Christians also need to pray for those who come out of Islam into Christianity.

Trusting in the Lord

There were also many encouragements to trust and hope in the Lord, so that the testing times ahead will bear fruit and cause the Church to grow. "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (Lam 3:25-26). "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength" (Isa 30:15). Finally, it is essential that we become a listening people (not just interceding), so that we are able to proclaim the word of the Lord that he is speaking to his people today.

The teaching of Jesus is that Christians are those who have "crossed over from death to life" (John 5:19). This is the good news that we have to share with others!

By the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses...

You may notice, reading the above, a close congruency with the words shared last week from the Chichester meeting, and also with the word published the previous week from David Noakes. Please note that the Somerset meeting was held in July – well before these others were given or published!

It is wonderful to have such a confirmation of God's 'now' word for Britain, being given through ordinary Christians gathering in different areas across the nation. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established" (2 Cor 13:1, NKJV).

The Lord is speaking – we hope you will be as encouraged by this as we are, especially if you regularly pray for the nation and/or are part of a local prayer group!