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Crisis? What Crisis?
Politicians are missing the point on climate change.
The New Religion
Christians, be wary of the green lobby.
Our Debt to Israel
Christians called to support Jews in every way they can
Breaking the Chains
It is time to face the legacies of British injustice – and take action.
Jeremiah 12
Jeremiah's insight into the Father's heart.
“I myself said, ‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation’. I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 3:19-20)
This is another lament expressing the grief in God’s heart as he reflects on the history of the people of Israel, from the time he made a covenant with Moses, drawing together the tribes of Israel into a special relationship with himself.
That special relationship was, “I will be your God and you will be my people”, and from that time they became a family created by God, with a beautiful land in which to live together with a rich inheritance. Every true family has a father to whom they look for love, protection and provision. In the same way, God expected the people of Israel, his family, to regard him as their Father, so that he could treat them like sons.
Sadly, they had turned away from the truth that he had presented to Moses for their health and security, and to enable them to follow him so that he could work out his purposes for the world through them. Israel had never been faithful: they had never fully put their trust in God and, like an adulterous marriage partner, they had been unfaithful to him, causing untold grief in God’s heart.
Idolatrous, Unfaithful Israel
This is what Jeremiah discerned in his times of entering into the council of the Lord and he broke entirely new theological ground in daring to put words into God’s mouth, “I thought you would call me ‘Father’” (v19).
None of Jeremiah’s forebears – the 8th-Century-BC writing prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Nahum – would have dared to make such a statement. Priests and prophets alike in pre-exilic Israel/Judah all avoided the word ‘Father’ in relation to God, because of their fear of idolatry. The Canaanites had introduced Israel to the Baals (local gods who supposedly owned the land) as the fathers of the people, who had to be worshipped in order to produce the fruits of the soil upon which the people depended for their sustenance.
Jeremiah broke new theological ground in daring to put words into God’s mouth, “I thought you would call me ‘Father’”.
Many of the local shrines, under groups of trees or on high places in the countryside, were occupied by altars to Baal. For the sake of peace and harmony, many of the priests of Israel and Judah practised at these shrines, offering thanksgiving to the God of Israel but also paying respect to the local Baal. It was against this practice that Amos was sent to protest at Bethel, where Amaziah ordered him to leave:
Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy any more at Bethel, because this is the King’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom. (Amos 7:12-13)
Jeremiah saw exactly the same thing happening in the countryside of Judah that had been denounced by Amos: the mixing of Baal worship with the worship of the God of Israel. He spelt out his complaint in one of his earliest statements: “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced – they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. They say to wood, ‘You are my father’, and to stone, ‘you gave me birth'” (Jer 2:27).
The Abomination of Syncretism
Jeremiah continued this theme when explaining why there was a drought covering the land of Judah in the late 7th Century BC (this has enabled us to date this pronouncement to early in Jeremiah’s ministry): “You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen” (Jer 3:3).
In the next verse he spelled out the theological error that was being encouraged by priests and prophets: “Have you not just called me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue for ever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can”.
In these words, you can feel the horror that Jeremiah was experiencing, perhaps reflecting his own suffering at the hands of his father, brothers and sisters, who had publicly denounced him and were even threatening his life. He saw the people, and probably some priests from his own family, officiating at the shrines on the high places where they were actually offering sacrifices to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, on an altar dedicated to Baal.
Jeremiah’s horror at what God was experiencing was reflected in his own suffering at the hands of his family.
It was the abomination of people publicly acknowledging a pagan god as the father of the nation that Jeremiah found almost beyond description. It caused him so much grief because he himself had come into such an intimate relationship with God, the Creator of the universe, who was the true Father of the nation of Israel and his own precious Heavenly Father.
Our Father in Heaven
Jeremiah was the first in the history of Israel to recognise the Fatherhood of God. None of the pre-exilic writings in the history of Israel mention it; the other references are all post-exilic, such as Isaiah 63:16 and 64:7, and Malachi 2:10.
This is why Jeremiah was such a theological giant. Not only was he the first to recognise the Fatherhood of God, he was also the first to hear God’s plan to create a new covenant relationship with the houses of Israel and Judah (Jer 31:31) that would one day be extended to people of all nations through Messiah Jesus.
This is why there is such affinity between the ministry of Jeremiah and the ministry of Jesus, who sometimes quoted Jeremiah word for word, such as when he said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest your souls” (Matthew 11:29, from Jeremiah 6:16). Much of John’s Gospel is about the Fatherhood of God, first revealed to Jeremiah, especially Jesus’ teaching at the Last Supper (John 13-17), which centres around his statement, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
Jeremiah’s Personal Anguish
It may have been because of Jeremiah’s own experience of rejection by his own family, and the intense sorrow that this brought to him, that he was able to perceive the depth of suffering in God’s heart at his own ‘covenant people’ being so unfaithful to him. Jeremiah’s personal anguish came tumbling out of his mouth a number of times when, in mid-flow, he was describing the terrible consequences to the people of Israel of deliberately turning away from God and forfeiting his covering of protection.
Not only was Jeremiah the first to recognise the Fatherhood of God, he was also the first to hear God’s plan to create a new covenant with Israel, and with all nations.
A good example of this is Jeremiah 15:10 where, in the midst of describing what was going to happen to Jerusalem, he suddenly broke off and proclaimed, “Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed yet everyone curses me.” In the very next verse, Jeremiah returned to the theme of declaring God’s willingness to protect his people from disaster and drive out their enemies, if they would only repent and return to him.
It is Jeremiah’s own close relationship with God, reflected in his affliction even more than in his bold and fearless declarations of the word of God, which makes his teaching of such value for us today. He reflects to us the grief in God’s heart at those who have his truth but deliberately reject his word, thereby forfeiting the wonderful benefits of God’s loving intention to treat us as precious sons and daughters in his own special family.
This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.
News in Brief, 3 May 2019
A selection of the week's happenings for your prayers.
Jewish Hopes Fulfilled
Paul Luckraft reviews ‘What’s a nice Jewish girl like you doing in a church like this?’ by Lynne Bradley (Instant Apostle, 2015).
Promises and Conditions
Torah portion: Exodus 13:17-15:26; Numbers 28:19-25
Pesach 2
Passover brought deliverance for Israel but judgment on Egyptians who did not fear God, in spite of the plagues which testified to His power. The shortest route for the newly-freed slaves would have been the road through Philistine country, but God knew that Israel was not yet ready to fight. At that point, such opposition would have made them turn round to return to Egypt.
Instead, the Lord led them into another apparently impossible situation and worked a mighty miracle: He made a way through the Red Sea. It was so unmistakably a work of God that His name was revered throughout surrounding nations and the story has gone down in history the world over.
Deliverance and Healing
The Lord led the fleeing Israelites by the pillar of cloud and fire to separate them from the pursuing Egyptians. Moses had spoken with authority that they only needed to stand still to see the deliverance of the Lord, but God challenged Moses to stop crying out to Him - for it was time to move (we, too, can be in situations where we are praying earnestly, believing that we can trust the Lord, but also need to recognise when we need to act on this faith).
Freedom for Israel meant destruction for Pharaoh’s army, and in response the people feared God, putting their trust in Him and in His servant Moses. There was great celebration and praise. However, after three days travelling without water, there was grumbling. The water they did find at Marah was undrinkable – another test of their faith - until the Lord intervened.
In healing the waters, the Lord revealed to Israel that He would be their Healer, but there were conditions: listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees. Then the Lord would meet their needs, they would be recognised as distinct from other nations and the Lord’s name would be glorified.
The Lord’s Conditions
When Yeshua was about to fulfil Passover by offering Himself at the Cross, He gave final instructions to His disciples, again with promises and conditions:
- “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples; if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
- “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15)
- “If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit: apart from Me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
- “This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” (John 15:8)
- “…you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19)
As Israel was brought out of Egypt, so we have been chosen out of the world to live a life set apart for the Lord. If we listen carefully to His voice with a willingness to obey what He says, He will meet our needs as He provided for Israel in the desert.
Let us not complain when we face difficulties - but trust in the Lord and remember that He “is able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20).
Author: Catharine Pakington
Massacre of the Innocents
We must face the truth about Islam.
How are Christians to understand the merciless slaughter of those who were celebrating the Risen Christ in churches last Sunday? Is there anything in the Bible that leads us to an understanding of what is happening in our world today? We will come to this in just a moment - but first look at how the events have been reported.
The terrible attacks on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka are still very much in our minds, but it is notable how quickly they disappeared from the Western media or were relegated to personal stories of those who lost family members. It took a long time for major news agencies to report that those who were responsible for these terrorist attacks were Islamic fanatics – NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) - and our leaders and reporters have generally been reluctant to call the attacks what they were: Muslims attacking Christians.1
Getting the Balance Right
By contrast, the Western media maintained focus for many days upon the Christchurch mosque murders carried out by a white Australian. He was heavily denounced as a white supremacist whose views were not representative of any mainstream Western institutions.
Photo: Alan Hamilton
The Prime Minister of New Zealand went to great lengths to identify herself with Muslims, declaring how she had abandoned her Mormon religion because of their narrow views.
Churches across the Western world also went out of their way to declare their love for their Muslim friends and neighbours. Churches in Luton still have posters such as that to the right in front of their buildings.
Our leaders and reporters have generally been reluctant to call the attacks what they were: Muslims attacking Christians.
Of course, it is right that we should love our neighbours, including those who hate us. The teaching of Jesus is unequivocal – “You have heard that it was said, ‘love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:43-44). But this does not mean that we should be unaware of the dangers that face us in the modern world as we try to live our lives in accordance with Kingdom values, rather than those values forced upon us by our secular humanist politicians.
The fact of the matter is this: despite the heavy focus in our media and culture on Islamophobia, Christians remain the most persecuted religious group2 – and the vast majority of the persecution they face comes from the Muslim world.
Avoiding the Truth
Yet, Western political leaders will go to any lengths to avoid criticism of Islam. The British Government downplayed criticism of Saudi Arabia’s mass beheading of 37 members of the Shia minority this week, probably to protect oil interests. The Western mainstream media regularly portray Muslims as the victims rather than the aggressors.
They avoid the simple truth that suicide bombers who indiscriminately slaughter Christians and any others who may be around them are carrying out the commands of Muhammad in the Qur’an, who tells them in numerous places to kill ‘infidels’, especially Christians and Jews.
Young Muslims are brainwashed with this teaching by fanatical imams who quote passages in the Qur’an such as Surah 9:111 and tell them that they go straight to paradise if they lose their lives by killing Christians. Such a promise is attractive to young people growing up in poverty who see little prospect of improving their life chances, but the Sri Lanka bombers are reported to come from wealthy, middle-class families. Their hatred obviously goes much deeper.
Western political leaders will go to any lengths to avoid criticism of Islam.
Christians are facing danger in every part of the world, because these beliefs are fundamental to Islam. They are not just the beliefs of a small fanatical minority; they are the teaching of the founder of Islam and are inseparable from the religion and its texts.
It is, of course, a fact that most Muslims choose to ignore the jihad passages in the Qur’an and live their lives peacefully, accepting Jewish and Christian neighbours and business associates. But until the Muslim scholars and imams declare that the jihad teaching is no longer valid for today, all Muslim communities potentially present a risk.
Persecution Foretold
How should Christians understand what is happening in the world today? Regular readers of Prophecy Today UK will be familiar with the prophecy in Haggai 2 that speaks of God shaking all the nations and even the natural environment. We are certainly seeing evidence of that today.
The next book in the Bible is Zechariah, who was a contemporary of Haggai. He had a vision of four horses sent from Heaven and going throughout the earth. That vision was picked up by John in the revelation given to him when in exile on the island of Patmos.
John foresaw a time coming upon the earth when there would be great turmoil, warfare, famine, disease and death. The fourth horse of the Apocalypse was a pale horse that brought a spirit of death that would lead to a time of great persecution of Christians with an increase of martyrdom – many being killed for their faith in Jesus.
Blessed Assurance
The 20th Century was the bloodiest in the history of humankind, with more people dying in warfare and political upheavals than at any previous time. But what we are seeing in the 21st Century is not so much open warfare as political, economic and social upheaval bringing enormous uncertainty, instability and fear for the future.
Cyber-attacks, terrorist bombs, vast changes in technology mixed with economic volatility, political corruption and social upheavals have created a climate of chaos and confusion. Changes in the weather and reports that the future of the earth is threatened by climate change add to the general sense of unease in the world.
On the island of Patmos, John foresaw a time of great persecution of Christians with an increase in martyrdom.
But God has sent us forewarning of these times, which will intensify as we get nearer to the return of the Lord Jesus. The message in the Book of Revelation is one of woe to the great city of Babylon with its wealth, power and corruption that human beings love. But for Christians there is the firm assurance that believers in Jesus will never be separated from him in life or death and that God’s good purposes will triumph over evil in the end, when there will be great rejoicing in Heaven as the multitude of believers join in singing ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns!’
Yes, we can expect plenty of difficulties ahead for Christians: but the firm promise of God is that “nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39).
References
1 E.g. see articles from Maajid Nawaz at LBC and Rod Liddle for The Spectator (£).
2 According to figures from the Pew Research Centre. Read more here. Open Doors estimates that violent attacks on Christians doubled between 2017 and 2018.
Captives Released
Burqa-clad woman tells of her new-found freedom
Amidst all the unprecedented shaking of our troubled world, especially in the wake of the terrorist attacks on churches in Sri Lanka, it was wonderful to be reminded over Easter of the greatest truth of all – that Jesus is risen! Not only that, but he is also coming back in glory to judge the living and the dead.
We were attending a joyful Passover celebration with friends in a community hall near Sheffield when this truth was driven home afresh. It was explained that in Jewish tradition, when a guest who had left the table for some reason wished to indicate that he was coming back to finish off his meal, he would fold the napkin beside his plate.
In the same way, when the stone was rolled away on that first Easter morning, the burial cloth that had covered Jesus’ head (also translated ‘napkin’) was folded up by itself, separate from the rest of the grave-clothes (John 20:7), which was perhaps another way of saying: “I am coming back!”
Expressions of Freedom
The emphasis of the entire Passover feast was one of freedom, powerfully re-telling the message of how the Jews were freed from their slavery in Egypt through carrying out God’s instructions in daubing the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the doorposts of their houses.
All the guests had done the same – figuratively speaking – by marking the blood of Jesus, the ultimate Passover Lamb, on their hearts. The freedom from being enslaved by worldly passions felt by all of us was palpable, and was also expressed exuberantly through music and dancing.
Amidst the unprecedented shaking of our troubled world, it is wonderful to be reminded of the greatest truth of all: that Jesus is risen – and is coming back in glory!
Fear and Hatred
This is a freedom open to all who embrace what Christ has done for us on the Cross – including ‘A’ (name withheld for her protection) who caused quite a stir when she addressed an Israeli congregation in a black burqa with just a small opening for her eyes.
You could have heard a pin drop as she began to tell her story: “I was born and raised in a Muslim country. The word Yehudi [Jew] was instilled in me as a bad word, a cuss word. The Yehudi should not exist…they should be killed. I never thought to question why.1
“I was with my father on one occasion as a crowd gathered and we were pushed to the front. I saw a woman tied up, sitting on a box. A man pulled out a long sword and beheaded the woman. My legs were shaking, my heart beating fast, and my father said, ‘If you don’t listen to our teaching, this will happen to you one day.’
“I was a broken person. In my prayer time I lifted up my hands and cried out to Allah for help. ‘Please help my father stop beating my mother. Please help my father stop beating me.’ But no help came.
“Eventually our family went to America, and when my grandmother died of a heart attack, I was devastated. I lost my best friend. I was hurting so much only crying helped. A woman called Paula asked me if I was OK, and I started to cry. She put her arms around me and gave me a hug. Then she said, ‘Would you like to go to church with me?’
Love and Acceptance
“When I walked into this church I experienced love and acceptance from these people like I never had before. For the first time in my life I heard a message from the Bible. It was about Yeshua [Jesus], how he read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, give sight to the blind, and to proclaim liberty to the captive.’
“It was the first time I heard words of freedom and healing. I was blinded with so much hatred in my heart and I was desperate to be freed. I knew the decision to leave Islam was a big one. But I was desperate to know a living God.
There is freedom available to all who embrace what Christ has done for us on the Cross.
“The day I gave my life to becoming a follower of Jesus I said, ‘God, forgive me. I did not know I hated your people.’” And taking off her burqa, she announced to the congregation: “Now I don’t need this anymore.”
She explained: “I love the Jewish people because it is their God and their Messiah I’m following and he told me to love them. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the nation of Israel is God’s heartbeat.
“I had never heard about the Holocaust, and now I meet with Holocaust survivors. I hear their stories and I share mine with them, saying: ‘Your Messiah changed my heart; he rescued me and brought joy in my life again. I’m a blessed woman.’”
The Golden Gate
The sealed Golden Gate awaiting the triumphant return of the Messiah. Photo: Charles GardnerAnother reminder of the Messiah’s second coming is the Golden Gate, regarded as particularly sacred as it is said to be close to the site of the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple, where the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of bulls and goats on the ‘Mercy Seat’ to atone for the sins of the people.2
The gate was sealed shut in 1541 by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to prevent the much-anticipated entry through this portal of the Jewish Messiah. And to make doubly sure it could never be fulfilled, the Turkish occupiers established a Muslim cemetery in front of the gate, knowing that a Jewish priest would not be able to pass through it.
Jesus is thought to have passed through this gate on Palm Sunday, when he came down from the Mount of Olives and entered the Temple (Luke 19:28-48). Once in the city, he said he would not be seen again until Jerusalem recognises him as Messiah (Matt 23:37-39).
According to Zechariah, his feet will one day touch the Mount of Olives, after which he will liberate the city from her slavery to sin and strife and bring lasting peace to both Arabs and Jews.
References
1 News & Views, newsletter of CMJ Israel. Testimony also available on YouTube courtesy of One for Israel.
2 Israel Today, April 2019.
