Times the Prophets Longed to See

By Tzippe Barrow

CBN News Internet Producer - Jerusalem

Friday, August 14, 2015

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Biblical historians say Luke is one of the few non-Jewish authors of the Bible, with both the Old and New Testaments almost exclusively written by Jews.

In his Gospel, Luke writes about the life of Yeshua (Jesus), and in the Book of Acts, we learn how his disciples fared after His ascension.

When God chooses Jeremiah, He tells him He’s watching over His Word to perform it (Jer. 1:12).

It certainly appears His plan is moving right along.

To better understand today’s headlines, the biblical prophets are a good place to start. After all Jeremiah lived in politically turbulent times, especially for the Jews.

Today, the Jewish people are returning to their biblical homeland. Since the late 1800s, there’s been a steady stream of returnees. On May 14, 1948, Israel officially became the modern nation-state of the Jewish people.

Aliyah -- immigration to Israel -- is increasing again, partly because of rising anti-Semitism, but also because Diaspora Jews are beginning to realize if they’re not in Israel, they’re in exile. They are returning to the place where a lot of promises to them as a people will be fulfilled. And they’re wonderful promises!

For the first time in nearly 2,000 years, there’s an indigenous Israeli Body.

Estimated at about 15,000 and growing, it’s part of this regathering. And its diversity reflects Israeli society as a whole.

Set in a Jewish Context

While Luke may not have been a Hebrew, his writings mirror the Jewish context of God’s plan of salvation for all mankind. Yeshua was born, lived and died a Jew.

You can’t separate Israel’s Messiah from Israel. Edith Schaffer was right. Christianity is Jewish.

Yeshua said, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22)

So here’s some very good news.

God is raising up an indigenous Body in Israel. These young believers have grown up in a tough little country. They’ve served in the IDF, they’re pursuing their education and careers, meeting their mates, getting married and starting families. These young people are PRAYers and DOers. Corporately and individually they’re products of prayer. In short, they make our hearts smile.

Those with the gift of evangelism are sharing the Good News with Israelis who for the most part never heard it or heard it in a cultural context they couldn’t relate to. The biblical comparison is Joseph’s brothers not recognizing him because he looked like an Egyptian. In the end they find out he’s their brother. So it will be when the Jewish people come to know their Jewish Messiah.

Click here to see “The Forbidden Chapter in the Tenach.”

As latent anti-Semitism raises its ugly head yet again, God is raising up a generation of Israelis equipped to share the Good News with the Jewish people.

Prayer and More Prayer

Now is the time to undergird the Israeli Body in prayer. God is moving in Israel. It’s very exciting and at the same time challenging to be here at this point in time.

The prophet Zechariah foretells that God will pour out a spirit of grace and supplication on Israel and simultaneously remove the veil that has prevented His covenant people from seeing the One they’re awaiting for thousands of years.

Jews will see they are not outside God’s plan of salvation. In fact, the Bible states in more than one place, “to the Jew first and then the Greek.” Israel as a nation will understand and it will bring us to national repentance and salvation. We will be saved as a people, as it is written, “all Israel will be saved.”

And the world can hardly stand it. God’s enemy, the prince of the power of the air, the one who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, whose only interest is to steal, kill and destroy, is more intent than ever to wipe out the Jewish people.

Iranian Nuclear Deal

The US-brokered Iranian nuclear deal is a prime example. Sadly, the Obama administration has been a tool in the enemy’s hand to stir up anti-Semitism wherever it may be found. His vendetta against Israel and its prime minister is palpable. Many of the world’s largest news agencies are simply pawns in the hands of “the prince of the power of the air.”

There is nothing Elohei Yisrael, the God of Israel, doesn’t know about. He is omniscient, omnipotent and allows what He allows for His purposes.

So while Israel and the Jewish people face increasingly difficult times, God is moving. Along with praying for the peace of Jerusalem, ask God to pour out His spirit on His people (Zech. 12:10).

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

End of End Days

It’s coming. It’s closer and closer. When all the nations of the world come up against Jerusalem, Yeshua himself will save us.

It’s time to dig into the Word of God more than ever. Ask God to open it up to you. Ask for your marching orders. Listen and obey.

These are exciting times, ones the prophets would like to have seen.

He is coming in the clouds! Two millennia ago Yeshua said he was coming quickly. A day is as a thousand years. It won’t be long now.

He will save us! To him be glory and dominion and power forever and ever! Amen.

Liberman: American Jews face ‘demographic catastrophe’ - The Times of Israel

Liberman: American Jews 

face ‘demographic catastrophe’ 

The Times of Israel

FM tells US Jewish leaders of imperative to fight assimilation, says he plans to encourage 3.5 million Jews to immigrate.

BY RAPHAEL AHREN February 18, 2014


Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman speaks to Foreign Ministry staff on November 12, 2013 for the first time after being reappointed 

(photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

WRITERS

Raphael Ahren Raphael Ahren is the diplomatic correspondent
at The Times of Israel.

Jewish continuity, not the Palestinian issue or Iran’s nuclear program, needs to top Israel’s agenda, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday.

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Addressing American Jewish leaders at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Liberman said that he plans to devote hundreds of millions of dollars to establish a global network of Jewish schools and bring 3.5 million Jews to Israel within a decade.

“I would like to state my firm belief that the biggest threat to us as Jews, both in Israel and the Diaspora, regardless of background, is the demographic problem currently facing world Jewry,” Liberman said. “It must become the most pressing issue on the global Jewish agenda. More pressing than the Palestinian negotiations or the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Speaking to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is currently holding its annual Israel Leadership Mission to Israel, the foreign minister quoted a long list of statistics to support his thesis that “the Jews of America are facing nothing less than a demographic catastrophe.”

The recently released Pew survey on American Jewry makes “for pretty depressing reading,” he said. The survey’s findings show a significant rise in those who have little or no Jewish content in their lives, marry outside the faith and are not raising their children Jewish, he added.

“It is my strongest belief that the antidote to this rising assimilation, intermarriage and disengagement is education,” Liberman told the American Jewish leaders. “Today, unfortunately, Jewish children are being kept from Jewish classrooms because of the exorbitant and prohibitive costs of Jewish education in the US. It cannot be, it should not be, that a Jewish child will not be able to receive a good Jewish education because of financial reasons. This should be unacceptable to all of us who care for the Jewish future.”

The situation is similar in various Jewish communities across the globe, he said. “If this situation persists, we will lose another six million Jews in a generation or two,” he warned.

The foreign minister noted that 90 percent of the Israeli diplomats he meets abroad send their children to American or international schools, even when there are local Jewish schools, mostly because they are considered better.

“This is unacceptable,” he said. “We need to ensure that Jewish schools will be among the best in the world.”

Liberman then called for the creation of a “global network of Jewish schools that are superior in standard to the American and international school network.” To reach that goal, he said, the Israel government should dedicate $365 million per year, which he hoped Jewish communities in the Diaspora would be willing to match.

“These funds will be found in our budgets; it is just a matter of prioritizing Jewish education above all other issues. This must become the most pressing issue on the global Jewish agenda,” he said. “From my point of view, this is more pressing than any other issue, including the Palestinian negotiations or the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Furthermore, Liberman aims to convince 3.5 million Diaspora Jews to immigrate to Israel over the next 10 years, “so that the Jewish population in Israel will exceed 10 million,” he said. “I know this might sound unrealistic to some, and others will say that it is merely a slogan. However, I say: ‘If you will it, it is no dream.’”

Read more: Liberman: American Jews face 'demographic catastrophe' | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-jewish-continuity-not-iran-our-greatest-concern/#ixzz2tmVwQ5vu
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