Our spiritual enemy does not want the truth to be heard.

Some years ago I belonged to a church congregation in which some of us suspected the influence of witchcraft.

It was in an area of the country where witches’ covens met in secret. We believed that we had identified at least one person who belonged to such a coven who had also become a member of our congregation. We saw this as an attempt to infiltrate and bring down the congregation.

Strangling Prayers

I met regularly with a prayer partner to pray about many of the concerns of the day and for the witness of the Gospel to overcome the darkness all around. On one particular evening, we met specially to pray concerning the witchcraft that we perceived to be in the area.

As I began to pray, immediately I had a powerful sensation as if someone was seeking to throttle me. It was as if unseen hands took hold of my throat in order to prevent my speaking out the prayer. The pressure got more intense so that I could barely speak and the only way to utter my prayer was to attempt to shout it out at the top of my voice, thus overcoming the choking sensation.

It was only when I was able to verbalise my prayer in this way that the choking sensation disappeared. It was a real physical manifestation of the power of evil at work, linked to the witchcraft in the area.

As I began to pray, I had a powerful sensation as if someone was seeking to throttle me: as if unseen hands took hold of my throat to prevent my prayer being spoken out.

Shutting Down the Gospel

I remembered this last week when I read about the Australian rugby player Israel Folau being dismissed from the national rugby team, and being denied the completion of a prestigious and lucrative career. He is one of the foremost rugby players in the entire world. Nevertheless, he is willing to give up his career because he will not be quenched of his bold assertion about what the Bible says concerning the ultimate destiny of those in unbiblical sexual relationships.

He said that his Christian belief was more important than his career when it became a matter of asserting the truth. A second rugby player, who plays for the England team, Billy Vunipola, was given a formal warning for speaking in support of Folau.

This is a very prominent case of the way the powers ruling this world are seeking to quench anyone speaking against the new unbiblical norms that have crept into society. We hear, for example, of street preachers being confronted by police in the UK, accused of disturbing the peace, this being a false accusation to prevent the speaking out of the Gospel message.

There are spiritual powers behind these world systems that are seeking to quench the word of God, subtler but equally as powerful as that choking grip that I experienced to prevent my prayer against witchcraft.

Fearing to Prophesy

It is not my purpose here to discuss the merits of any individual case, but to highlight a growing trend. We have entered an age in which there seems to be a move towards the one world system spoken about in the Book of Revelation, which will seek to quench any dissenting voices that speak against the system or speak truth within the system.

This is truly a spiritual battle that is intensifying daily. We will be left alone only if we compromise to the system, and at a time when believers should be speaking up on many vital issues of the day, the Christian voice has indeed become muted.

The spiritual battle is intensifying daily – and at a time when believers should be speaking up, the Christian voice has become muted.

It says in the Book of Zechariah that a time will come when there will be fear among those given to prophesy. In Zechariah 13:3-5 the picture given is of those who are given prophetic words but who are afraid to speak them and end up pretending that they are not prophetic at all. The context of this happening is the soon return of the Lord, the time-frame that we believe we are in, in our day.

A Time to Speak

On our yearly calendar, this is the season of Passover and Easter, a time to remember when there was a mass turning against the Lord Jesus. Why? Because for corrupt reasons they wanted silence him, by taking his life. They could not silence him, because he left both his words and his witnesses – people like you and me – to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

What, then, shall we do in this day with the signs of powers, both spiritual and temporal, increasingly seeking to quench the word of God through compromise, exclusion or legal action? Now, more than ever, it is time to seek the Lord for what he would say to the world around us and to carry that message fearlessly to whom it is being sent, not fearing to speak up against the tides of wickedness rising around us.

And, of course, this weekend we celebrate not only his death but also his glorious resurrection! Jesus lives, and all our efforts are focussed on bringing his own living word to this generation. More than that, he will return: the Word of God incarnate will come back to judge the living and the dead. All truth and holiness, embodied in him, will be alive and supreme for all eternity.

Let us take courage from this when we, as he commanded, use bread and wine like he did at the Last Supper to remember his death until he comes.

Testimony: The harvest is ripe in our schools. Following Charles Gardner’s report last week on the positive response of schoolchildren in Doncaster to the Easter story and the Gospel message, we copy below a testimony from David and Jean Foster at the Manor Park Christian Centre in London, celebrating a similar openness in schools in Newham.

From David and Jean Foster

On the same note as Charles Gardner’s article, we have been astounded at the openness of the primary schools here in Newham to hearing about Christianity and the Gospel. Back in December, we had a primary school contact us (Manor Park Christian Centre) about sending 180 children before Christmas in order to share with the children the story about why Christians celebrate Christmas.

At the end of each two-hour session (the children were split into two groups of 90), we presented every classroom a copy of ‘The Christmas Story’ by J. John and gave every teacher a copy of the Gospel tract ‘Why Christmas’. During both of the sessions, I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we had 300 children come from three different primary schools over a two-day period to do ‘The Easter Experience’, promoted by the Christian organisation Faith in Schools. We offered six workshops for the children, all of which told the reason that Christians celebrate Easter. In one workshop, for instance, the children made an Easter garden while two of our ladies told them about the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus. We gave all the classes a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John and every teacher and many of the children took away the Gospel tract ‘Why Easter’. At the end of each of the four two-hour sessions (75 children in each), I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

98% of the children coming have never been inside a church building. The majority of the children come from families of Muslim backgrounds. I had one Muslim trainee teacher come up to me after I had prayed for the children and beg to also have a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John that I had given to every class.

Last week I had another primary school ‘begging’ me to allow them to bring their children to hear the stories about Jesus. So on 8-9 May we will be having another 90 children coming to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is quite obvious that the Lord, in his timing, is at work across the UK amongst the children and planting a hunger within their teachers to find out more about Christianity and this Jesus whom we worship.

God bless,

David

Please keep David, Jean and these school visits in your prayers.

Dr Clifford Denton reviews ‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel’ by Rivi Litvin (Milestones International Publishers, 2017).

Raised in an Orthodox Jewish community, Rivi Litvin was shocked upon coming to faith in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to discover that many Christians believe that God has now rejected Israel and replaced her with the Church.

With access to sources of Rabbinic Judaism as well as the opportunity to consult with the most prominent scholars, she and her husband Danny began a quest to help others understand Yeshua in the context of God’s purposes for Israel.

After her husband’s sudden death in 1986, Litvin (a third-generation Israeli) continued with this work in Israel before later relocating to the USA, keeping her home in Migdal, Galilee, as a base for teaching.

She now has a worldwide itinerant ministry helping believers to recover the true roots of the Christian faith.

Israeli Rivi Litvin was shocked, upon coming to faith in Jesus, to discover that many Christians believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church.

Multitude of Insights

At last Litvin has found time to put her multitude of insights into a series of books, of which this is the first volume. She could have taken a thematic approach, applying her Hebraic knowledge to topics like the biblical feasts, the Sermon on the Mount and so on – but instead, she has chosen to write a commentary on the Gospels.

Inside this first volume, the reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts, including the answers to questions such as:

• What happened historically that caused the world to see Jesus as a son of Greece instead of an observant Jew?
  
• Who were the mysterious shepherds present at his birth?
  
• Were the wise men really Babylonian sorcerers - and how did they recognise the birth of the King of the Jews?
  
• Why are the Gospels so silent regarding Jesus’ Jewish education?

Divided into two main sections, the first covers the early life of Yeshua, while the second focuses on Yochanan Ha-Matbil (John the Baptist). In addition there are two appendices, one on the Tzadokim (Sadducees) and one on the Perushim (Pharisees).

Litvin’s choice of title is apt. In presenting Jesus specifically as the Son of Israel, extra light is shed on the Gospel accounts. Litvin also includes useful word analyses throughout the book, allowing those with limited knowledge of Greek or Hebrew to understand what is often missed in English translations.

The reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts.

Highly Recommended

I highly recommend this book for those already some way on with their studies of the Hebraic foundations of the faith. For those who are just beginning, it is recommended with some qualifications. Litvin’s breadth of reading and depth of knowledge are welcome – but newcomers to such studies may well be daunted by some of the conclusions she draws. While some are enlightening, others contrast those of other reputable scholars and may not sit well.

She also seems at times to call into question the accuracy of the gospel writers in places where the biblical text is seemingly at odds with other Jewish literature. Her strong desire to consider other rabbinic sources means that a mature and discerning mind on the part of the reader is required.

That said, this book is surely a major resource for the Christian Church to reconnect with the Jewish roots of the faith and the continuity of God’s covenant plan.

‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel: A Jewish Commentary on the Gospels, Volume 1’ (paperback, 237pp) is available on Amazon for £12.90. Also on Kindle.

 The broken covenant.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant – the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.' (Jeremiah 11:1-4)

This is one of the earliest of Jeremiah’s pronouncements - despite it being in chapter 11 (which illustrates the complexity of dealing with the Book of Jeremiah!).

This word is dealing with the terms of the ‘Book of the Covenant’ that had been discovered during the repairs to the Temple initiated by King Josiah, about the year 621 BC.

The Covenant Renewed

The account of the discovery of the scroll in the Temple is found in 2 Chronicles 34. When it was found, the Prophetess Huldah was consulted. She confirmed that the scroll was genuine and added:

This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people – all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’

Huldah added a lot more, which led the king to call the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to meet him in the Temple, where the words of the Book of the Covenant, (parts of the Book of Deuteronomy) were read aloud. Josiah then renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord, promising to follow the commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and soul.

The record in 2 Chronicles 34:32 says “Then he made everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.” Josiah went on to remove all the ‘detestable idols’ from right across the land, doing everything in his power to enforce obedience to the covenant.

Josiah renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord, promising to follow the commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and soul.

The Price of Disobedience

The covenant, in its simplest form, was the promise of God given to Moses: “I will be your God and you will be my people”. But this was accompanied by a considerable amount of teaching given to Moses that included the Decalogue – with a special emphasis upon the first two of these ten commandments:

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. (Deut 5:7-9)

The Book of the Covenant found in the Temple evidently included the blessings and curses recorded in Deuteronomy 28. It was these curses, that would come upon land and people if they were disobedient to the terms of the covenant, which terrified the king and caused him to call together the elders of the people and to make his own solemn promises before the Lord.

But it is noted in 2 Chronicles 34:32 that Josiah made everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to the terms of the covenant. That kind of authority in commanding obedience to moral and spiritual regulations simply does not work. You cannot successfully command people to change their heart attitudes. All the historical evidence shows that despite the efforts Josiah made in destroying the idols and commanding obedience to the covenant, the spiritual lives of the people remained unchanged.

It was not long after Josiah’s untimely death that altars to foreign gods appeared on the street corners of Jerusalem and the high places the countryside reappeared. The spiritual life of the nation was unchanged, despite the promises made by the king and the elders of the people.

Despite the efforts Josiah made in destroying the idols and commanding obedience to the covenant, the spiritual lives of the people remained unchanged.

Listen!

Jeremiah evidently perceived the spiritual reality underlying the apparent change in the nation following the formal declaration of obedience to the covenant. The word he received from the Lord was to remind the people of the curses that would come upon them if they disobeyed the terms of the covenant, as their forefathers had done.

He was told to,

Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: listen to the terms of this Covenant and follow them. From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying ‘Obey me’. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. (Jer 11:6-8)

This may have been the first time that Jeremiah called the people to listen and pay attention, but this was to remain his constant theme for the next 40 years, until the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Here in chapter 11, Jeremiah may already have perceived the future tragedy to befall the stubborn people who had been given the truth, but who blindly turned away and followed their own evil desires.

The tragic history of Israel is summarised in Psalm 81 (vv8-14), where God says:

If you would but listen to me, O Israel! You shall have no foreign God among you…but my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So, I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!

This may have been the first time that Jeremiah called the people to listen and pay attention, but this was to remain his constant theme for the next 40 years.

Peace Like a River

God’s plea to his people, time after time, was to listen to him and to obey his commands. Why is it that even today we have not learned the lessons of history?

When we turn away from the truth and forsake the ways of God it always leads to misery and disaster, both in our individual lives and in the life of the nation. But our loving Father continues to call to us as he did in Jeremiah’s day and in Isaiah’s day: “I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river” (Isa 48:17-18).

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

Torah portion: Leviticus 14:1-15:33

Metsora (‘one being diseased’)

Once, when Yeshua was in one of the towns, there came a man completely covered with leprosy. On seeing Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged him, “Sir, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Yeshua reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” Immediately the leprosy left him. Then Yeshua warned him not to tell anyone. “Instead, as a testimony to the people, go straight to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded. (Luke 5:12-14)

In Jewish tradition a leper was known as someone permanently smitten by God (though that wasn’t always the case; see for example, Moses in Exodus 4, Miriam in Numbers 12, Naaman and Gehazi in 2 Kings 5).

Leviticus 14, this week’s Torah portion, tells us what Moses commanded with regard to someone who had been healed of leprosy – something that could only happen through divine intervention.

The leper, who should have been living outside of the camp, was required to be seen by a priest, who would check him over and confirm that divine healing had taken place. The healed man’s response to this divine intervention was to undergo a ritual purification process.

Responding to God’s Healing

Stage 1: The priest ordered two live, clean birds and associated items be brought. Outside the camp, blood of the first bird was sprinkled on the healed leper seven times and then the second bird was set free, carrying the man’s leprous impurities away.

Stage 2: After washing his clothes, shaving and bathing, the healed leper was considered clean and could come into the camp. But still a contamination risk, he must remain outside his tent, separate from his family, for seven days.

Stage 3: On the eighth day, after repeating the washing, shaving and bathing process, the healed leper was considered clean and could enter his tent to re-join his family.

Stage 4: On the same day he should bring various sacrificial offerings to the entrance of the tabernacle, where the priest would make atonement for him before Adonai. Thereafter, the healed leper was considered completely clean and able to re-join the community in worship of Adonai at the tabernacle.

A Picture of Our Purification

I suggest that this process in Leviticus, which Jesus taught about and affirmed through healing the leper in Luke 5, is also implicit in Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which the Apostle teaches about the Gospel and our rescue from sin.

Stage 1 (Romans 3:23-25): We learn that we’re all sinners (lepers), as able to save ourselves as a leper is able to heal himself. But by an act of God we can be cleansed: Yeshua replaces the birds of stage 1 with His own bloody, sacrificial death, taking our sins (leprosy) far away from us.

Stages 2 and 3 (Romans 6:3-4): We are immersed, thereby acknowledging what Yeshua’s sacrifice has done for us. Then, as Yeshua was raised from death, we are raised from baptism into new life and can join the fellowship of believers, growing ever-closer to them and the Lord by being sanctified by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit (see also Eph 5:26).

Stage 4 (Romans 6:19 and 6:22): As in stage 4 where the healed leper brought his offerings to the entrance of the tabernacle, so begins our new life: making thank-offerings of righteousness that honour the Lord and contribute to our being made holy, set apart for Him.

Let us, together with the Apostle Paul, say, “And the end result is eternal life!”

Author: John Quinlan

Torah portion: Leviticus 9:1-11:47

Shimini (‘Eighth’)

On first sight, our portion this week seems to concern the long-past sojourn of the Children of Israel through the wilderness, with little relevance or application to today. We could easily skim-read it, thinking to spend our time better in the New Testament. This would be a mistake.

We learn much about God that is still relevant today from these portions of the Torah. Malachi 3:6 is one of the Bible texts verifying that whatever we learn of God from the ‘Old’ Testament is valid for all time: “I am the Lord, I do not change…”

Approaching God

This is what the Lord said of himself:

By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified… (Lev 10:3)

Our portion covers the beginning of the ministry of the Levitical Priesthood who, in an ordered way, were invited into the presence of God within the Tabernacle.

As part of this Thought for the Week series, we have considered in recent weeks how the Tabernacle was a type and shadow to help us understand how Yeshua later opened the way for fellowship with God. We are the royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9) and we are told to “enter boldly into the Most Holy Place” (Heb 10:19-22).

The ministry of the Priesthood is defined in Leviticus 10:8-11. The Priests were to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, and between the clean and the unclean, in order to teach the statutes of God to the Children of Israel.

It was failure of this ministry that later led to the judgment of God and contributed to Judah’s captivity (Ezek 22:23-31). The fiery judgment on Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, for offering profane fire, gives the judgment on the Priests highlighted in Ezekiel 22:31 an extra significance: “'I have poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,' says the Lord."

Our Calling and Responsibility

In consideration of these things, what might be our prayerful meditation this week? We have not yet seen the fire of the Lord descend on the ungodly of our generation, but that should not lessen our desire for the holiness of God to be manifest in our families, our fellowships and in the world around us.

We, as Priests of the New Covenant, are as much responsible for the condition of the Church in our day as were the Priests of the Old Covenant for upholding the holiness of God among the Children of Israel.

There is, unfortunately, much that should cause us to be concerned in both Church and nation at this time. Let us therefore meditate on this and turn our concerns into intercessory prayer that God will forgive us our sins and cleanse us once more.

Author: Clifford Denton

Torah Portion: Leviticus 12:1-13:59

Tazria (‘she conceives’).

Sir James Simpson may not be a name from history with which we are familiar. But all of us should be extremely grateful for the medical work that he carried out back in 1847. It was then that he discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform. This meant that surgery (and dentistry!) could be carried out painlessly.

Notably, Sir James was a committed Christian and his pioneering research was undertaken in the area of obstetrics. However, this meant that there was potential opposition from Christians who challenged such treatment on the grounds that the Genesis account of the Fall included birth being undertaken in “painful labour” (Gen 3:16). Sir James’ rebuttal of that view was robust. He pointed out, among other things, that agriculture was also supposedly to be carried out in “painful toil” yet no one questioned the use of horses to draw ploughs - or that God had caused Adam to fall into a “deep sleep” before removing a rib, from which Eve was created.

The work of Sir James and other believers in pioneering medical care reminds us that God is concerned and involved in our physical wellbeing. What is striking about these two chapters in Leviticus (12 and 13) is the precise detail which God laid down regarding practical action concerning both childbirth and skin conditions. It is a reminder, necessary in these times, that science cannot operate (excuse the pun!) without the spiritual dimension, which should be integral to medical treatment.

God’s Involvement

Some time ago a television documentary depicted the work carried out in the Royal London Hospital around the 1900s. Obviously there was a huge difference in medical practice and understanding compared with today. But what struck me particularly was the fact that at the beginning of the morning there would be a corporate act of prayer on each ward. Staff and patients would literally kneel (if possible) before God, acknowledging His involvement in what was to take place in the hours ahead.

This act of worship of over a hundred years ago contrasts markedly with current attitudes. Medical science is held as supreme and God is discarded. But these chapters in Leviticus show that God desires to be fully involved and acknowledged in medicine, from diagnosis to treatment.

We know this from the prominent and clearly prescribed medical role given to priests. As well as carrying out a form of medical examination, there was a particular task the priest was required to undertake. It is described at regular points throughout this series of divine directives and constituted the words: “...and the priest shall pronounce them...” (see Leviticus 13:8, also verses 11, 17, 20, 22, 25, 27, 28, 34, 37, 44; emphasis mine). Appointed and authorised by God, the priest would bring a verdict that would determine the person’s future.

The Final ‘Say’

The problem that we face in contemporary secular society is that we are constantly bombarded with the ‘pronouncements’ of many qualified experts. These may be, no doubt, grounded in good empirical research and experience. On that basis we probably find ourselves accepting their findings unquestioningly.

But these verses in Leviticus show us that it is God who has the final ‘say’ in our lives (including our health). The words that God pronounces are the ones we need to hear and take on board, even if they are contrary to modern understanding. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus brought His pronouncement of life and healing, together with hope and affirmation, to those whom everyone else had ‘written off’.

What aspect of your life do you need to bring to God in order to hear His pronouncement, in contrast to the godless and humanistic viewpoints of this world?

Author: Stephen Bishop

Our present chaos and our future hope.

“Write down the revelation” is a word from Habakkuk 2:2 that strongly came to me 40 years ago and resulted in me writing the book Towards the Dawn which changed the direction of my life, leading me to apply academic sociological concepts to contemporary issues in a new way. The new way brought together my training as a sociologist with my biblical theology, seeking understanding of how God was working out his purposes through the forces of social change that have been driving Western civilisation.

The book was written in 1979 – 40 years ago! It’s been long out of print and I’d not looked at it for decades, but last week I felt a strong urge to take my solitary copy off the shelf and read it again.

The book looked at the situation in Church and State, where we had largely turned away from biblical truth since the 1960s. Listen to this from page 72: “There are no certainties, no yardsticks, no basic principles to provide a compass point of reference by which the changes occurring in society can be evaluated and on the basis of which they can either be rejected, modified or accepted. Without such a yardstick all is uncertain and the result will be chaos.”

State of Chaos

Looking ahead to the future, I said: “With no certain basis to the values of society and an ever-increasing rate of change, the end result in terms of mounting chaos, normative anarchy, the breakdown of social organisation and the final disintegration of the entire social system is inevitable.”

This, of course, is exactly what we are seeing today. It is not only our Westminster Parliament that is in a state of chaos: the social scene is also chaotic with knife crime, gang warfare, drugs, domestic violence, school exclusions, family breakdown, mental health problems, fatherlessness, homelessness and thousands of other symptoms of a sick society.

But my purpose here is not simply to recount daily news items that you can see on TV, on social media, on websites and in the newspapers. I want to offer an answer to the questions in the minds of millions in Britain today – why is all this happening? What has gone wrong and is there anything we can do about it?

It is not only our Westminster Parliament that is in a state of chaos: the social scene is also chaotic.

Pulling the Linchpin Out

The simple answer is that we have rejected the basic standard of truth, and therefore we have no yardstick by which to measure the changes in the value system upon which all our personal and corporate behaviour is based.

The linchpin that held the whole of our civilisation together was the Bible, regarded as the revealed word of God, the Creator of the universe. Basic biblical truth provided us with our personal and social values of faithfulness, integrity, loyalty and trustworthiness which determined our relationships with other people in our families, workplaces, neighbourhoods and nation. When you pull out the linchpin everything collapses; which is what we have done.

The bad news is that even more danger faces us because our chaotic Parliament has announced its intention to change the divorce laws – legalising ‘no-fault divorce’, which will have a devastating effect upon marriage and family stability in the nation.

The State of Marriage in Britain

A new analysis of national statistics data published last month shows that marriage is already in a bad way in Britain. Only half of today’s teenagers will get married, in spite of survey evidence showing that the vast majority of teens want to get married.¹

Marriage trends follow family tradition: where there is divorce or family breakdown in a family, the next generation usually follows the same example. Whereas 91% of women and 86% of men in their 60s have been married at some point in their lives, current research projects that only 57% of today’s teenage girls and 55% of teenage boys will marry.

The linchpin that held the whole of our civilisation together was the Bible, but this linchpin has been removed – and so everything is collapsing.

Marriage of under 25-year-olds has virtually disappeared. In 1970, 81% of women and 62% of men had married by the age of 25: today, only 8% of women and 4% of men have done so. Marriage before the age of 30 has fallen from 85% to 21% for men and from 91% to 30% for women.

In Defence of Marriage

Nevertheless, study after study shows that marriage is the only relationship that provides a stable, happy and successful family life for children. Couples who marry are significantly more likely to stay together than those who don’t. Marriage provides the best outcomes for children. Teenage self-esteem is boosted in families with married parents and this affects their education and life chances. Teenage mental health is best protected in families with married parents.

All other types of family, especially re-constituted families bringing together children from different relationships, negatively affect the mental health of children, especially teenagers. Even in intact families, having married parents (cf. cohabiting) has a unique protective value on the mental health of young people, especially teenage boys.

Despite all this massive evidence in favour of marriage, our confused politicians in this chaotic Parliament are likely to nod through with little informed debate this new legislation for ‘no-fault divorce’ (which is being welcomed almost universally in the press), making it easy for people to break their marriage vows of lifelong fidelity and commitment to each other.

But on the subject of finding fault, it is not just Brexit that has produced this Parliament of 650 individuals who cannot find any agreement with each other on the most fundamental issue affecting the future of the nation for decades to come. It is we as a nation, who elected them - and we as a nation have despised our biblical heritage, casting out truth from national life.

Marriage is already in a bad way in Britain – and the Government’s plans to introduce ‘no-fault divorce’ will only make things worse.

Time for Fresh Vision

But there is still a remnant of Bible-believing Christians scattered across the nation – many thousands meet regularly in small groups for prayer and Bible study.

This remnant has undoubtedly been galvanised by Brexit, but it is surely God’s intention to rouse, organise and strengthen us further, not only to fervent prayer but to make our voices heard and to declare Gospel truth into the nation, for the sake of our children and grandchildren and their future!

We need to catch a fresh vision for the testing season ahead, seeking the Lord for what each of us should be doing. If the remnant began by petitioning their MPs to vote against this diabolical divorce bill, it might make them start to think about the real issues in the nation!

Moreover, regarding Brexit, while the rest of Britain remains ‘in purgatory’, seemingly until October, what is the Lord calling believing Christians to do? Ought we to march on London demanding that our MPs fulfil the declared wish of the people? We certainly ought to be reminding ourselves just why Brexit is so worth defending (I warmly recommend my friend Nick Szkiler’s short film on this).

Action and Prayer

Now is the time for action, as well as for prayer! I am reminded of Jean Darnall’s vision of the myriad prayer groups across the nation as little lights shining in a dark place, gradually becoming brighter as they link together and as the darkness intensifies. The little lights become a great light shining across the nation that overcomes the darkness and brings light, truth and salvation to Britain – even flooding across to the continent of Europe.

Although I do believe that things are going to get darker for a season, I also believe Jean Darnall’s vision will one day be fulfilled, because God still has good purposes for Britain.

References

1 Benson, H. Unfulfilled aspirations: Half of teens will never marry. Marriage Foundation, March 2019. All subsequent statistics taken from this document.

God's plans for the faithful remnant.

The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Go, proclaim this message towards the North: ‘Return, faithless Israel’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry for ever. Only acknowledge your guilt – you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favours to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me, declares the Lord.’” (Jeremiah 3:11-13)

This pronouncement is said to have been given to Jeremiah “During the reign of King Josiah” (Jer 3:6) which makes it one of the earliest words given to the Prophet, as Josiah died in 608 BC when Jeremiah was still a young man, probably in his 20s.

If we compare this word to that given in the year 587 BC, more than 20 years after Josiah’s death, we find Jeremiah still talking about a promise of restoration to Israel, the Northern Kingdom. That promise was given when Jeremiah was being held in the gatehouse of the guard (Jer 33:14) just before the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar’s army, which reveals the life-time commitment of Jeremiah to the message of restoration and to unity between the two houses of Israel, North and South.

Calling Back the Remnant

This message is all the more remarkable when we remember that Jeremiah never knew the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which had been destroyed by the Assyrians about one hundred years before he began his ministry.

The city of Samaria had been destroyed and the whole Northern Kingdom of Israel overrun by the Assyrians who carried out ethnic cleansing, deporting whole communities and resettling them in different parts of the Assyrian Empire, while replacing the Israelites with people from Babylon and other parts of their Empire (2 Kings 17:24). Historically this began the formation of the mixed-race people known as the Samaritans, who were still around at the time of Jesus.

Jeremiah had a life-time commitment to the message of restoration for both houses of Israel, North and South.

Jeremiah firmly believed that it was God’s purpose at the end of a period of exile to bring together the remnants of both peoples, those of Israel and those of Judah, who were scattered around the old Assyrian and Babylonian empires. They would be brought back to the land originally promised to their forefathers, but there would no longer be any tribal differences: they would be one people in a covenant relationship with God who declared “I will be their God and they will be my people” (Jer 31:33).

Message of Hope

This word from the Lord pronounced by Jeremiah must have come as a wonderful message of love and mercy from God to the remnant of Israel still in the land. They must have felt lost and abandoned after the disaster that had befallen Samaria and the whole Northern Kingdom. It appeared that God had deserted them and that there was no hope of redemption from the yoke of Assyria. But this beautiful word of hope from Jeremiah would have brought them great joy.

A similar word was given in Babylon to the remnant of Judah, to whom Isaiah was sent by God with a message of restoration: “‘For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger, I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer” (Isa 54:7-8).

This is similar to the promise given in Isaiah 49:15: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hand.”

The promise of restoration given to Jeremiah was conditional upon the response of the faithful remnant. He was told to go and proclaim the message towards the North: “Return, faithless people, for I am your husband. I will choose you – one from a town and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer 3:14-15).

The promise of restoration given to Jeremiah was conditional upon the response of the faithful remnant.

Preserving a Remnant

This promise is of great significance for us today. When a nation comes under judgment or grave misfortune that has been brought upon them by their own foolishness or falling away from the truth, everyone suffers – the righteous and the unrighteous, the guilty and the faithful. But God recognises that there is always a faithful remnant, even in times of judgment and national catastrophe.

They are the ones who provide the seed of renewal, the hope for the future – the tiny number of faithful believers who have not surrendered to foreign gods but who have remained faithful to the God of their fathers, the God of the Bible who gave his word of truth to Moses.

This promise says that God would summon “one from a town and two from a clan”: these precious individuals who had remained faithful to God, he intended to bring together into a new relationship with himself (the fulfilment of the New Covenant given first as a promise to the house of Israel and the house of Judah in Jeremiah 31 and opened to Gentiles through Jesus).

This faithful remnant would be used by God for the salvation and restoration of the whole nation – for a fresh outpouring of his cleansing, refreshing and empowering Holy Spirit that would bring resurrection life to the nation.

Sowing Life

While these promises were originally given to Israel and Judah, we can learn important principles from them that apply to us today. God loves to use small numbers for carrying out his purposes as he used Gideon’s 300 to save the whole nation. In the same way, God preserves a small number in every generation who remain faithful through the darkest days.

At the right time he turns to them and uses them as the seedbed for sowing life into the soil of the land; as the kindle for lighting the fires of revival that spread across the countryside from village to village and town to town, until all the people lift up their heads again and come to Zion, to the God of Creation, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He is the One who has given the true faith for all time: who so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever shall believe in him will have eternal life.

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