No more pretending: MPs’ desire to thwart democracy is open and obvious.

Today, Friday 29 March 2019, was the day scheduled to be ‘Brexit Day’ – the day Britain left the European Union. Instead of being a day of triumph it has become a day of shame.

On Wednesday, our Members of Parliament decided to take matters into their own hands and take control of the business of the House. They spent the day debating a series of propositions designed to show the will of the House and finding a way through the impasse of Brexit.

At the end of the day when the votes were taken, not one single proposition was passed, not even the one that was whipped by the Opposition and was said to be Labour policy. The result was derisory! Not only did it fail to produce a shared vision, but it demonstrated to the world the ineptitude of our politicians who, left to themselves, without any Government direction, could not find any agreement on anything! They ended the day as they began – directionless, divided, disgruntled and dismayed – the laughing stock of the world.

Confusion and Obstruction

Certainly, all 27 members of the European Union are falling about laughing that the British could tie themselves into such knots and create such confusion.

The nearest any of the propositions got to acceptance was one that called for another referendum, going back to the people - which evidently sounded like a good idea to some MPs. Having completely run out of ideas themselves, they thought it would be a good idea to consult the people in the hopes that the close verdict of 2016 might swing the other way and enable Britain to stay under the umbrella of the EU, which is the real desire of some 500 of our MPs.

Our Parliament is directionless, divided, disgruntled and dismayed – the laughing stock of the world.

At last, the phoney war is over, whereby the majority of our MPs have hidden their real desire to remain in the European Union by opposing the terms of the Prime Minister’s deal. At least we now know that we have a Parliament that is incapable of delivering what the British people voted for in 2016; to leave the European Union. The vast majority of our MPs are opposed to this and are dedicated to obstructing the will of the people who elected them. This is a strange anomaly for a democratic nation with a long history of law and order.

The Battles Intensify

All 500 Remainers, however, recognise that, having triggered Article 50 to leave the European Union, the default position was that we should have left today, without a deal. Having asked the EU for an extension, we are now in their hands to set the date and terms of our leaving.

This is complicated by the European Parliament elections due in May: the EU want us to make up our minds, either to remain and thereby to participate in the elections, or to make a clean break and not disturb their election plans which already look threatened by populist parties gaining ground in many member nations.

Many in the EU would simply like Britain to disappear over the horizon as quickly and soundlessly as possible so that they can put their own house in order. But back in Britain, our MPs are concerned for none of these things. They each have their own agenda and, now that Mrs May has indicated her intention of early resignation, the leadership battles on the Conservative benches to grasp (or avoid!) the poisoned chalice have intensified.

Confession Vital

Will Brexit in any form take place? This is the question hovering over the nation today, which is being observed as a day of prayer by large numbers of Christians throughout the land. How should we be praying? We have said many times in these editorials that for our prayers to be effective, we need to understand what God is doing and how he is working out his purposes, to ensure that we do not pray against God.

Clearly, our prayers have to begin with a confession that we as a nation have turned away from our great biblical heritage and enacted many things in our Parliament that are directly against the teaching of the Bible.

The vast majority of MPs are dedicated to obstructing the will of those who elected them.

To mention just one issue: since legalising abortion in Britain we have killed nearly 9 million babies, thus filling the land with the blood of the innocent: every day a black bag filled with tiny babies is taken out of the back door of our hospitals after a day’s operations and thrown into an incinerator. In Jeremiah’s day they used to burn their babies in the Valley of Ben Hinnom just south of Jerusalem - it was called the ‘Valley of Slaughter’, which God condemned in the most forthright language (Jer 7:30-34).

But God is incredibly patient and lovingly forgiving when we come weeping before him confessing our sinfulness. There is a passage in Isaiah that beautifully expresses God’s attitude when we acknowledge that we have got things wrong:

This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 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, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Isa 48:17)

Lifting Our Eyes

At least today we know what we are facing in our Parliament. We know there is no rational solution to our problems. We need a miracle to make a breakthrough. Only God can do that, but we know that our nation deserves judgment rather than mercy, so we have to come before God in humility, confessing our sinfulness.

In the knowledge of God’s faithfulness in the past and in the belief that he has good plans for the future of this nation, we have to call upon him for his help: confessing that we do not know what to do, but that our eyes are upon him.

Will you join thousands gathering today to intercede for Britain’s future?

Today in Westminster, a capacity congregation is gathering in the Emmanuel Centre to pray and intercede for the nation, while others are assembling in smaller groups around the country.

While the entire Brexit process has been bathed in prayer by faithful intercessors since before the Referendum in 2016, the need for prayer has only increased as the spiritual battle has intensified. Today (Friday 29 March 2019) should have been an historic day of freedom for Great Britain – a sort of ‘independence day’. But instead, the long and drawn-out struggle for Brexit continues.

Battle-weary though many undoubtedly are, the need to come before God on behalf of our nation, ‘standing in the gap’ not only for our national self-determination but also for the millions in spiritual darkness across our islands, has never been greater. With confession and repentance our central themes, please join with us today in searching for the heart of God and praying in line with his will.

If you would like to pray according to the programme being used in Westminster, its details are below along with a link to download the full document. However you are led by the Lord to pray, our fervent hope is that today the hundreds in central London will be joined by thousands upon thousands of brothers and sisters across this land, raising our voices in chorus to Heaven in this dark hour, petitioning the Lord for the mercy we so little deserve, but so desperately need.

Day of Prayer for the Nation

Westminster schedule

From 9:00am              Registration

10:00 – 10:45am       Worship

10:45 – 11:25am       SESSION 1: Government and Brexit

11:30am – 12:10pm SESSION 2: Church

12:15 – 12:55pm       SESSION 3: Israel and Antisemitism

1:00 – 1:40pm           SESSION 4: Secular Humanism

1:45 – 2:25pm           SESSION 5: Life issues

2:30 – 3:10pm           SESSION 6: Families

3:15 – 3:55pm           SESSION 7: Global Sexual Revolution

4:00 – 4:40pm           SESSION 8: Education

4:45 – 5:25pm           SESSION 9: Islam

5:30 – 6:00pm           SESSION 10: Unity and Spiritual Awakening

6:05 – 7:30pm           Summary and Challenge

The full programme includes session comments and starter points for prayer: click here to download.

Freedom won’t be won without a furious fight

Watching the television news of teeming London crowds calling for a second referendum over Brexit sent my spirit plummeting towards despondency – until the Lord reminded me of the Exodus!

I saw that they were slaves in a foreign land who had become so moulded by subservience to godless ideologies imposed on them that they were blinded to the fact that they were in chains.

And this filled me with hope, as I realised that the deliverance from Egypt of millions of Jews after 430 years of enslavement was no quick-fix arrangement – just like the tortuous negotiations involved in extricating ourselves from Europe (and we’ve only been tied up with them for 45 years!).

Let My People Go!

Moses was called by God to demand that Pharaoh let his people go, and what followed was a protracted battle of frightening proportions. And the Lord was well aware of this, for he said: “I know that the King of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him” (Ex 3:19).

In the same way, a ferocious spiritual battle for the soul of our nation is being enacted before our eyes. Back then, it took a disastrous ten plagues for Pharaoh to act, and that is something of what we are experiencing now, certainly in the spiritual realm of a nation whose heart has become hardened to the Gospel and the blessing it has brought on Britain over the centuries.

Plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail and locusts were not enough to budge the king. The ninth plague – darkness – is perhaps where we are now in the UK with all the chaos, confusion and lack of clarity. But it’s also a sign of hope, as darkness eventually gives way to dawn, and it was the tenth plague that unlocked the door to freedom for the Israelites.

The deliverance from Egypt of millions of Jews after 430 years of enslavement was no quick-fix arrangement – just like the tortuous negotiations to extricate Britain from Europe.

The Sacrificial Lamb

The death of the first-born proved a step too far for the Egyptians, but what brought death to unbelievers was a lifeline for those who trusted in the God of Israel.

The Jews were instructed to daub the lintels and doorframes of their houses with the blood of a sacrificed lamb, and the angel of death would ‘pass over’ all who carried out God’s command. They were thus also able to pass through the Red Sea as on dry ground on their way towards the Promised Land.

The blood was the sign. Blood that had brought death to the Nile now brought life to all who trusted in God’s provision of a spotless, perfect lamb, prefiguring the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, who has taken away the sins of all who trust in him (Ex 12:13; John 1:29).

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who this week called on the PM to 'channel the spirit of Moses' and declare to Europe 'Let my people go!'Perhaps for Britain too, the Lord is looking for a Moses figure (not necessarily the Prime Minister, but who knows?) to lead us out of Egypt. We have worshipped Europe’s humanistic idols for too long. God has a destiny for Britain – in the past we have stood alone against tyranny and led the way in missionary zeal by taking the Gospel of Christ to the four corners of the earth. We even played a significant role in the restoration of God’s ancient people!

If we would only return to our first love for Jesus, and for the Judeo-Christian values which made our nation great, there is ‘a land of milk and honey’ within our grasp – of a people once again living at peace with each other, at ease with itself and devoted to the God of our fathers.

Miracle Needed!

Yes, there will be those who will long for the ‘leeks and onions’ – the way things were. But inheriting a land of promise will not come without a fight. Even after finally giving in to Moses, Pharaoh changed his mind and chased the Israelites all the way to the sea.

A miracle was still needed – and it came when Moses lifted up his staff and the waves parted. This prefigures the resurrection of Christ, on whom we once trusted as a nation.

That is the way out of the present stalemate – not a second referendum, or a half-baked deal. I like the way American preacher John Hagee put it when referring to Christ’s return on the TBN UK channel: “He’s not coming to say, ‘Let’s make a deal’. He’s coming to say, ‘This is the deal!’”¹

I also believe God is saying that at some stage we will be asked to ‘leave quickly’ (Ex 12:33) and that we should be ready to go at any moment (Ex 12:11), that we should not leave ‘empty-handed’ (Ex 3:21) and that, in some form, our eventual exit will have been the ‘long way round’ (Ex 13:17f). Or am I reading too much into these Scriptures? You decide.

If we would only return to our first love for Jesus, and for the Judeo-Christian values which made our nation great, there is ‘a land of milk and honey’ within our grasp.

Hope for the Future

Still on the subject of slavery, the late Selwyn Hughes pointed out that the abolition of the slave trade came about, not through the enslaved organising a revolt, but through the passion of a man set free by Christ to defy furious opposition over many decades in pursuit of his noble goal.²

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY: The verdant hills of Galilee. Photo: Charles Gardner

For all that we betrayed Israel in many ways over the past century, we did pave the way for her national restoration. But God was only able to use us in this way because of the biblical revelation of his purposes for the Jews given to faithful evangelical Christians of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Tragically, Christ’s first coming was met by a national rejection from his own people which led to their exile for nearly 2,000 years. Just as tragic is Britain’s current national rejection of Christ.

But think on this. That first Passover led to a national revival for Israel as they all trusted in God’s provision of a blood-soaked sacrifice, and prefigures a national revival still to come, predicted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, when “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26).

Could Britain also be blessed with national revival through trusting once more in the blood of Jesus for her redemption?

References

1 TBN UK, 24 March 2019.

2 Every Day with Jesus, 24 March 2019, referring to William Wilberforce.

How easy it is to forget God.

“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.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’” (Jeremiah 2:27)

Jeremiah always found it amazing that a nation such as Israel, with its long history of God’s provision in the desert and his loving protection over many generations, could be involved in idolatry as they were in the 6^th Century BC.

As a nation, Israel had been in a covenant relationship with God for centuries and they had benefited enormously from his faithfulness and his amazing good deeds: yet they ran after worthless idols, declaring that bits of wood and stone were their gods. It just didn’t make sense!

Forgetting God

They had as many gods as they had towns in Judah, and God had sent them many warning signs which had all been ignored; they simply did not respond to correction, which Jeremiah found utterly irrational and almost inconceivable. He said “Does a maiden forget her jewellery, a bride her wedding ornaments?” Yet God is saying “My people have forgotten me, days without number” (Jer 2:32).

It was beyond anybody’s imagination that a bride could possibly forget to put on her jewellery and ornaments in preparation for her great wedding day. But surely it was equally impossible for the people of Israel to forget the God of their fathers, who had revealed himself to former generations of their people as the God of Creation.

It was he who had flung the stars into orbit and who from the beginning of time had intended to raise up a people of promise through whom he would reveal himself and his plan of salvation to all nations.

Jeremiah always found it amazing that a nation such as Israel, with its long history of covenant relationship with God, could forget him and run after worthless idols.

Height of Hypocrisy

The greatest anomaly was that when they were in trouble, they turned back to the God of their fathers and cried out, “Come and save us!” Jeremiah saw this as the height of hypocrisy. They ignored God all the time that things were going well with them.

In times of peace and prosperity they turned their backs upon God and joined in all the exciting festivals and pagan partying of the Canaanites and their other idolatrous neighbours. They entered wholeheartedly into the orgies of self-indulgence, sexual excesses, feasts and revelries which were part of the religious practices against which Israel had been warned from the time of Moses.

Suddenly, however, there was a change of mood among the people. Rumours were running rife across the land from village to village, spread by the 6^th Century BC version of social media – the human tongue! Rumour had it that the Babylonian army was on the move. Whole towns in Syria had been sacked and the countryside raped.

The rumours lost nothing in bloodcurdling detail of what had happened to the people in the towns and villages the Babylonians overthrew. Fear began to grip the people of Judah. Widespread panic spread among all ranks of society – priests and people alike began crying out to God to come and save them!

The Prophet Jeremiah was not impressed. In fact, he was outraged! How dare the people call out to God for help when they had been running after idols for so long? Let them call upon their bits of wood and stone and see if they will help by coming to save them!

How dare the people call out to God for help when they had been running after idols for so long?

Sins of Omission

This is just the kind of thing that we all do. Even if we don’t get into the same kind of idolatry as the people of Judah did, we commit very similar sins – sins of omission rather than sins of commission. When things are going well in our lives and we are enjoying peace and prosperity we are less fervent in our prayers, less eager to seek the presence of the Lord. We don’t actually say that we don’t need God, although this must be how it seems to him.

Sadly, it is not only individuals but whole nations that have turned away from God – the one true God of Creation revealed in the Bible – in recent years. I’m old enough to remember the shock when John Robinson, Bishop of Stepney, published his book Honest to God in 1963. He said that Christians have outgrown the traditional version of Christianity.

He said: “The only way to be honest is to recognise that we have to live in the world even if God is not there. Like children outgrowing the secure religious, moral and intellectual framework of the home, in which ‘Daddy’ is always there in the background, God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get along very well without him” (pp38-39).

This began the great decline of the Church of England in Britain and it was soon followed by David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham, who said that the resurrection was “a conjuring trick with bones”. Once it became clear that the clergy and preachers no longer had confidence in the God of the Bible, faith in the nation rapidly declined. In Scotland last year, more marriages were conducted by humanists than by ministers in the Church of Scotland.¹

We worship our bits of wood and stone, yet when we are in deep trouble we cry out to God for his help. The time to call is not when disaster overtakes us, but every day, in the quiet times of reflection that we all need when we can review the past, remembering what God has done in the nation and seeing his hand in our own lives, and in humility confessing our needs. It is then that we feel his arms around us to comfort, to forgive and to love, unconditionally.

References

1 BBC Radio 4, Sunday Programme, 10 March 2019.

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

Simon Pease reviews ‘The Unseen Realm’ by Michael Heiser (Lexham Press, 2015).

In this extensively researched book, Dr Michael Heiser tackles the ambitious subject of explaining the entire biblical narrative in terms of the supernatural realm. Seeking to do so from the theological and cultural perspective of the original authors, he offers insights which have largely been overlooked by mainstream Christianity, stimulating interest in a neglected field of study.

According to Heiser, God has a “divine council” (Psa 82:1) of spiritual beings (elohim in Hebrew) who rule with him and are superior to the angels (who serve as messengers). God’s intention was always for his divine family to be mirrored on earth and for the two to live in harmony. The Bible charts the history of rebellion within this ‘divine council’, the corruption of humanity and God’s unfolding plan of salvation and ultimate triumph.

Thought-provoking Conclusions

Within this narrative, Heiser presents many thought-provoking, perhaps controversial conclusions. For example, he suggests that the serpent in the Genesis Creation account was a powerful spiritual being, not a literal animal.

He claims that humanity’s rebellion against God at the Tower of Babel provoked the Lord to split mankind into nations and subject them to the rule of the rebellious elohim, ‘disinheriting’ them and choosing to start afresh with Israel.

Dr Michael Heiser tackles the ambitious subject of explaining the entire biblical narrative in terms of the supernatural realm.

Joshua’s military campaign in Canaan was, in Heiser’s view, targeted specifically at eradicating the anakim, the surviving giant offspring of the union between elohim (the ‘sons of God’, Genesis 6) and women which started at Mt Hermon. As a result of this union, God’s spiritual ground had to be reclaimed, which is why Jesus was transfigured on this same mountain – in which vicinity he also described his followers’ mission as an assault on the “gates of Hell” (Matt 16:18).

Similarly, Jesus sending out the 70, the traditional number of nations in Jewish religious belief, signified the commencement of reclaiming the nations for Yahweh.

A Systematic Theology

At just over 400 pages, this is a big book in every way. Heiser holds a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages and is the academic editor for Logos Bible Software, but succeeds in making his research accessible to scholars and lay-people alike. Always keeping his overall theme in view, he builds his case in clear and logical steps, breaking down his message into groups of short chapters, each followed by a section summary, and assigning more academic content and references to footnotes.

The book proceeds chronologically and is split into eight parts. The first three establish Heiser’s overall view about God’s ‘divine council’ and the way the supernatural realm is structured, particularly with regard to Creation and the Fall. The second three sections consider the Old Testament narrative, from the calling of Abraham through to the Babylonian exile. The final two sections look at the New Covenant and the situation for believers today, including Heiser’s own interpretation of the end times.

Altogether, the book amounts to a systematic theology of the supernatural - and Jesus features prominently throughout (including in earlier chapters through his pre-incarnate appearances).

Some Problems

Heiser’s basic approach, outlined in the introductory chapters and epilogue, is to allow Scripture to speak for itself. He takes Zechariah’s prophecy of Jesus returning to fight at Jerusalem literally, and believes Armageddon is actually a reference to the city. However, these interpretations are perhaps surprising in light of his statement that not all prophecy is to be taken literally – as well as his apparent commitment to Replacement Theology.

According to Heiser, God has a “divine council” (Psa 82:1) of spiritual beings who rule with him.

For instance, he says that the “sordid” history (p216) of Israel (the Jews) has ended in “release” (p159), and that God’s eternal promise to Jacob concerning the Land is fulfilled by Jewish and Gentile conversion to Messiah. Heiser asserts that believers are now the “true Israel” (p158), meaning that Romans 11:28, which states that “all Israel will be saved”, can be interpreted in terms of the Church. His idea that Jesus’ incarnation and sacrificial death were only necessary because of Jewish failure to establish God’s kingdom on earth is more concerning.

Eye-opening Overview

Notwithstanding these points, the book contains much valuable and eye-opening material, providing a generally coherent and helpful overview of a complex subject and bringing to the fore the idea of God’s ‘divine council’ and its importance to the entire meta-narrative of Scripture.

Heiser is to be commended for the sheer scale and thoroughness of his research – the book includes a 12-page index of Scripture references. For the less ambitious reader, he has published Supernatural, a shorter version which he describes as including practical applications.

The author’s claims, though not always comfortable, deserve attention; The Unseen Realm will undoubtedly prompt widespread debate for years to come.

‘The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible’ (hardcover, e-book, audiobook, 413pp) is available on Amazon for £17.99 (hardcover). Find out more on the book’s companion website: www.moreunseenrealm.com.

Torah Portion: Leviticus 6:8-8:36

Tsav (‘command’)

This week’s portion of the Torah covers the Lord’s instructions through Moses to Aaron, the High Priest, concerning the five sacrificial offerings which the priests were to offer for the people before the Lord, on the bronze altar of the Tabernacle:

1. The burnt offering (which was totally consumed: a life for a life - complete surrender);
2. The grain offering (recognition of God’s goodness and provision);
3. The sin offering (confession, atonement for forgiveness and cleansing);
4. The guilt or trespass offering (restitution and cleansing); and,
5. The fellowship or peace offering (thanksgiving).

This ‘command’ (tsav) to Aaron is better understood as a charge or instruction from a loving father to his son (Gen 18:19), from a farmer to a co-labourer, or from a benevolent king to his faithful servant. In this case, God’s command was intended to set in place a complex series of actions required for the offerings, ordained as part of Israel’s firmly-structured society.

God wrote the first covenant with His people Israel on tablets of stone. His Torah was for their instruction, guidance, direction, protection and blessing, and to lead them to their Messiah (especially through the sequence of features of the Tabernacle, their Tent of Meeting). Yet, like many today, the Israelites did not listen, but followed the stubborn inclination of their evil hearts, and made gods of their own imaginations (1 Sam 15:23b).

God’s Plan of Redemption

In God’s plan of redemption for mankind, under the first covenant there was a gracious provision through these propitiatory offerings and sacrifices for the atonement, the covering, of human sinfulness. Thus, while still sinful themselves, His chosen people could survive in the sight of a just and holy God.

As His plan unfolded, when the set time had fully come (Gal 4:4), God sent His Son - The Anointed One (haMashiach) - to redeem those under Torah law. He sent the Spirit of His Son into the hearts of those who received Him (including us), to bring forgiveness. His new covenant therefore offers remission of sin, through repentance and faith in the effectiveness of Jesus’ death and shed Blood (Matt. 26:28). What a covenant gift!

The offerings on the altar in the Tabernacle were thus a type or shadow of the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord Jesus upon the Cross, for both Jew and Gentile, for this was Israel’s calling: to bring ‘My salvation’ to the ends of the earth (Isa 49:6).

Our Response

God blesses, and gives of Himself, to bring us into relationship with Him, that He may dwell in us. Our response is to worship Him alone and to share His gift with others. In this way we bless others in His Name (Deut 10:8; John 20:29), giving to those who will listen the words of our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus - the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

God’s estimate of value and having something to boast about is that all should understand and know Him, that He is the Lord (Jer 9:24). No wonder Paul considered everything a loss compared to the “surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” - to gain Christ and be found in Him (Phil 3:8-9).

May we desire to know Christ as Paul did! This season of Lent is a good time to start, and in God’s timing, Passover this year starts on Good Friday.

Author: Greg Stevenson

Torah Portion: Leviticus 1:1-6:7

Vayikra (‘And He called’)

While Moses was up the mountain, the Lord spoke to him from within the cloud. Now, the Lord called from the Tent of Meeting with instructions for the people on how to approach their holy God. We cannot come to the Lord while still in our sin and trusting in our own righteousness – there must be a sacrifice.

Directions for offering different sacrifices are given in this week’s Torah portion - usually in the format of presenting an animal that had to be killed before handing it over to the priest to be burnt. This was a physical and graphic illustration of the cost of sin, since the one making the sacrifice would have to choose the best of his animals to die in his place, the blood being sprinkled on the altar before the animal was burnt, to make atonement for his transgression. In the mercy of God, there was also provision for the poor to offer birds if they could not afford bulls or rams.

Perhaps it is hard for us to think of a burnt offering like this being a pleasing aroma to the Lord, yet this is what He repeatedly says, and what He commanded the people to do.

What Pleases God

Saul was chosen to be Israel’s first king, but he was selective in the way he carried out the Lord’s instructions because he was afraid of the people and gave in to them. Samuel told him that “to obey is better than sacrifice…for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (1 Sam 15:22-23).

The Lord has no need of a bull or goats, for He owns every animal of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:9-10). “He who sacrifices thank-offerings honours Me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God [Yeshua Elohim]” (Ps 50:23). Yeshua Himself commended the man who said that “to love [God] with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33).

The writer of Hebrews recognises this tension between what the Torah required and pleasing the Lord: “‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor were You pleased with them’ (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do Your will.’…And by that will, we have been made holy though the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:8-10).

So, “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:15-16).

Right Sacrifices

The sacrificial system was a costly and awe-inspiring experience for any individual who needed to make atonement for their sin, but sacrifices of animals could never achieve lasting salvation. They could only make people aware of their own sinfulness (Rom 3:20).

We have every reason to make the right sacrifices of thanks and praise in wholehearted devotion to God and care for our neighbour, because we know what Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, has accomplished through the sacrifice of Himself on the Cross. Yet perhaps we need to stop and consider: have we become casual in our approach to the throne of God?

However, “we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses” and so are invited to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).

Author: Catharine Pakington

Has God revealed a way forward for the nation?

Editorial introduction: While at Issachar Ministries’ recent prayer conference at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire, our Editor-in-Chief received a word from the Lord about the spiritual significance of the DUP. This word has been written out in letter form and sent today to Prime Minister Theresa May. In the letter, she is asked to consider praying with the DUP MPs for a way forward for the nation.

We copy the main text below and ask for your prayers that its message will be received as the Lord intends.

***

Dear Prime Minister,

A certain man walked through a nearby field and discovered a jewel of immense value. He sold everything and raised funds to buy that field. That was a parable that Jesus told about the Kingdom of God (Matt 13:44). You, Prime Minister, have within your grasp the precious jewel that Jesus described: it is the 10 MPs in the DUP, who are all committed Christians. They represent the only province in the United Kingdom which has adhered steadfastly to biblical standards on life issues.

They are despised and rejected by many of their fellow MPs in the House of Commons. But God loves to use those who are considered of no account. He raises them up to use them for mighty miracles, as is told in many biblical accounts. Gideon, for example, said that he was the least in his tribe, itself low-ranked by all the others – yet he was used mightily to save his own nation.

In numerical terms the DUP may not have much political significance, yet they are pleasing in the sight of God for their determined stand for biblically-based values – the true ‘British values’ that once defined our entire nation. I believe that this is why they have been elevated to the position of influence within the Government that they now hold.

The DUP represent the only part of the United Kingdom that has rejected the relentless advance of secular humanism and defended family values, for instance by refusing to allow abortion to pollute the land with the blood of the innocent. Northern Ireland has seen more than its fair share of the shedding of innocent blood through the years of the Troubles that divided the community and wreaked havoc in so many families and individual lives. Maybe it is because they have seen so much bloodshed that they defend fiercely the right to life of unborn children, and resist steadfastly the pressure to conform to postmodernist standards that have become the new normal in the rest of the UK.

Prime Minister, whether or not you personally support all of their political decisions, your Christian upbringing will have given you a knowledge of the teaching of the Bible which the DUP openly and publicly try to uphold. They are the priceless jewel that is within your grasp – the values of the Kingdom of Heaven which this nation so desperately needs.

Their value may not be recognised by most of their fellow MPs, but if you were willing to invite them into your home to spend time praying with you, I believe that you would immediately find the answer to the most intractable problems that you face.

There is a way through that will enable you to deliver Brexit to the British people, to whom you are utterly devoted. The DUP – this little group of Bible-believing Christians – are your jewel in the crown, given to you at this time, I believe, to help you find a way forward. Their value to you and to the British nation is priceless.

I’m sure you know the many accounts in the Bible showing that God loves to use those deemed small and insignificant to carry out his greatest miracles. In that way he gets all the glory, as happened with Gideon’s 300 and when Jesus used five bread loaves to feed 5,000. But this has also happened more recently, as I well remember from my boyhood. Prime Minister Churchill acknowledged that in the face of certain defeat, with our troops stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, our nation was only saved by the hundreds of little boats who responded valiantly to the call to rescue our men, accomplishing what the big ships could not.

In the current impasse, you truly need a miracle. But you have available to you a little group of Bible-believing Christians who represent the voters of Northern Ireland. I believe they hold the key to the conundrum that has defeated the finest brains in our Parliament. They bring a divine element of revelation into a situation that otherwise seems impossible.

Please allow them to sit with you, to pray with you and to seek the way of the Lord, to break through the impasse that has paralysed Parliament for far too long, as you yourself have acknowledged. Only through prayer and the power of God can our nation move forward into a new and blessed future – and in this regard, this small group of Northern Ireland MPs can help you in ways that no-one else can.

Yours sincerely,

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Editor, Prophecy Today UK / Director, Issachar Ministries