Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Listen to the story of how one young couple experienced amazing inspiration in choosing a name for their newborn son. A true testament to the unity of the Jewish nation.
For those who subscribe to the false teaching of Replacement Theology (RT), God is not only still hiding His face from the Jewish nation, but they will never see it again. Even their miraculous return to the homeland after 2000 years of exile was not considered a game-changer. For them, the Church is the only apple of God’s eye now. Physical descent from Abraham no longer matters.
But the truth is, even though God’s face had been hidden for so long, He never rejected the Jewish people: “For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). And for those with eyes to see, the reestablishment of the Jewish state has signaled a paradigm shift in God’s relationship with the sons of Judah. Though the nations may still rage, it is obvious God is clearly standing with Israel. His face may not be in full view yet, but even the most cynical of Israelis sense He is smiling again.
But still we must ask, what provoked this centuries-long banishment of the Jews from God’s favor? There’s no question the national rejection of Yeshua as Messiah precipitated it. But that is not the whole story. For God’s judgment of hiding His face from Israel began long before they said “no” to Yeshua. What’s more, His ‘hiddenness’ was destined to fall not just upon the Jews, the descendants of the House of Judah – but upon all Israel.
The national sin that provoked this awful punishment actually started way back in Egypt. That’s where Jacob’s family first became addicted to the idolatry that quickly manifested itself in the golden calf at Mount Sinai. The Almighty, knowing this sin would continue even after they entered the land, prophesied of a future judgment through Moses, saying, “I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do” (Deut. 31:18).
That judgment fell first upon the northern tribes of Israel when Assyria removed them from the land for their apostasy and turned them into goyiim. But Judah was given a pass at that time, even though God revealed she was even more sinful: “Samaria did not commit half of your sins” (Ezek. 16:51). A hundred years later Judah would be exiled to Babylon, but God never totally hid His face from her. He continued to encourage and chastise her through the prophets, restoring her to the land seventy years later.
Then Yeshua was born. And even though unbelief would bring on the beginning of sorrows for Judah – it was the end of God hiding His face from the northern tribes now assimilated among the Gentiles! For in Yeshua, God’s face of mercy had shined forth, just as Isaiah had foretold: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light” (Isa. 9:1).
Tragically, when we came to the light we showed we had not learned very much from the years of exile due to the sins of our forefathers. For just as the nation had reverted to Egyptian paganism as soon as Moses was out of sight, so did we. Within four centuries of Yeshua being taken up to Heaven we allowed the High Priest of Rome, Constantine, to incorporate the Christian faith into its idolatrous religious system. It was an apostasy that plagues us to this very hour. It is only by the grace of God that a remnant has finally begun to come outside this religious camp and to turn their faces towards Jerusalem.
So where are we today? Drawing closer to the moment when all Israel, a remnant of both Judah and Israel, will again experience the glorious unveiled face of our God. Soon these words of Isaiah will resound within the hearts of all God’s people: “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you, says Yahweh your Redeemer” (Isa. 54:7,8).
JERUSALEM, Israel -- In just a few days, Jews in Israel and around the world will gather with family and friends to retell the story of their deliverance from slavery. As they observe Pesach (Passover) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, many will turn their hearts toward God.
While everyone celebrates, Israelis soldiers will guard the northern and southern borders. In the north, Lebanon and Syria transfer weaponry across their borders, as Hezbollah fights alongside Bashar Assad's troops. In the south, the Hamas terror group openly speaks of Israel's destruction.
Meanwhile in Switzerland, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the P5+1, are about to give Iran the green light toward nuclear weapons and regional dominance, though they're not explicitly saying it. Iran reportedly has not backed down from any of its "red lines," including all the components of uranium enrichment.
And in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian Authority-controlled cities in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), leaders of the P.A.'s "unity" government praise acts of "resistance" against the Israeli "occupiers."
Instead of sitting down with Israel to come up with a workable solution, P.A. leaders travel around the world convincing others Israelis are the problem. And they've been pretty effective in Europe and other parts of the world.
The P.A. wants the international community to force Israel back to the 1948 armistice lines, once called "Auschwitz borders." It also involves uprooting more than 350,000 Israelis from their homes and communities.
In 2005, under then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the government bulldozed 21 thriving communities in the Gush Katif Settlement Bloc and four in northern Samaria, uprooting some 10,000 people. Instead of moving the peace process forward, Israelis were bombarded with thousands of rockets.
The story of how God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land is one of miracles, obedience, and blessing. At the center of everything is God's desire that people know who He is.
Not long after the multitude walked out of Egypt, they heard the rumble of Egyptian chariots. They felt the ground shaking. After a long trek on very little sleep, they came to a seemingly insurmountable barrier: the sea. They despaired, some crying out they would have been better off serving the Egyptians alive.
But God had a different plan and Moses knew He hadn't brought them this far to abandon them.
That message is as relevant today as ever. As the world spins rapidly out of control, God hasn't changed one whit.
That's why Moses instructs the people to teach their children what took place then and to observe Pesach from generation to generation.
"And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.' It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year." (Ex. 13:8-10)
With today's challenges no less daunting, the recounting of the exodus can help people remember that God has not and will not abandon them either.
A group of young Israeli believers in Yeshua (Jesus) have started an online media campaign aimed at driving home that point that they remain an integral part of the Jewish nation and state.
Under the banner “We Are Israel,” the group has published a Hebrew-language website explaining why “a Jew who believes in Yeshua is a Jew, period.”
“Does the faith in the Jewish Jesus of Nazareth cause [Jews] to switch to another religion?” the group asked. “The project ‘We are Israel’ was born to answer this question and more, to present Jesus of Nazareth in a concrete historical and vivid picture.”
To kick off the launch of the campaign, “We Are Israel” posted a YouTube video of reenactments based on actual events.
Watch now (Hebrew dialogue with English subtitles):
Want more news from Israel? Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.
The idea that God is finished with the Jewish people as a nation and that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan is not only a serious theological error. It is a deadly one as well.
It was this false theology that helped fuel the fires of Jew hatred in one of the early church’s most respected leaders, John Chrysostom (347-407), who once said, “God hates the Jews, and on Judgment Day will say to those who sympathize with them: ‘Depart from Me, for you have had intercourse with My murderers!’ Flee, then, from their assemblies, fly from their houses, and hold their synagogue in hatred and aversion.”
Without this erroneous theology, the Crusades would never have taken place 700 years later.
It was this false theology that helped fuel the fires of Jew hatred in the great reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546), who gave this counsel to the German princes of his day: “First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools. ... Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. ... Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. ... Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb.” (For many more examples, see my book Our Hands Are Stained With Blood.)
Luther’s murderous words were put into action by none other than Adolph Hitler, beginning the night of Nov. 9, 1938, which is called Krystallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when, according to Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, “815 [Jewish] shops [were] destroyed, 171 dwelling houses set on fire or destroyed ... 119 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76 completely destroyed ... 20,000 Jews were arrested, 36 deaths were reported and those seriously injured were also numbered at 36.”
This is a direct result of a theology that was dead wrong helping to justify deadly actions. (The Nazis were obviously not true Christians, but it was centuries of “Christian” anti-Semitism in Europe that helped make the Holocaust possible.)
To be sure, there are fine Christians today who embrace this same theological error (called replacement theology or supersessionism, meaning that the church has replaced or superseded Israel), and they are absolutely not anti-Semites and they would never sanction the persecution of the Jewish people in Jesus’ name. And they totally repudiate hateful quotes like these just cited.
But the sad fact of history is that it is this very theology that opened up the door to centuries of “Christian” anti-Semitism in the past, and it is threatening to open up that ugly door once again in the present.
In light of the third “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference that just took place in the ancient city of Bethlehem, where issues like these were anything but theological abstractions, it’s important to remember how wrong theology leads to wrong actions.
According to Acts 1, after the disciples had spent 40 days with Jesus after His resurrection, speaking to them “about the kingdom of God” (v. 3), His devoted followers wanted to ask Him one question before He ascended to heaven.
They inquired, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (vv. 6-8).
In other words, that’s a good question, and it certainly makes sense in light of everything we’ve been talking about, but the timing of when that will happen—when God will “restore the kingdom to Israel”—is not of your concern right now. You must concentrate on fulfilling the Great Commission with the help of the Spirit’s power.
But that’s not how John Calvin interpreted Jesus’ reply. As noted by Dr. Paul R. Wilkinson in his book Understanding Christian Zionism, Calvin stated that there “‘were “as many errors ... as words’ in the disciples’ question concerning Israel’s restoration. This, he believed, showed ‘how bad scholars they were under so good a Master,’ and therefore ‘when he [Jesus] saith, you shall receive power, he admonisheth them of their imbecility.’”
Wilkinson also notes, “At the 5th International Sabeel Conference in 2004 [this is an anti-Zionist conference], Mitri Raheb denounced the disciples as ‘very narrow-minded,’ ‘nationalistic,’ and ‘blinded’ for asking such a question.”
To be candid, interpretations like these are nothing more than exegetical nonsense, standing the biblical text on its head.
For example, if the disciples had said to Jesus, “Lord, is this the time for us to take up swords and behead our enemies?” He would not have replied, “It’s not for you to know the time for beheading that the Father has determined. You just concentrate on preaching the gospel.”
Hardly! Instead, He would have rebuked them in no uncertain terms.
But that’s not what He did here, despite the fact that His words are constantly interpreted as if He had said, “You idiots! Don’t you know that I’m through with Israel? Don’t you know that the church has replaced Israel? Have I been with you so long and you still don’t get it?”
Instead, He simply told them it was not for them to know exactly when the Father would restore the kingdom to Israel (something that Jesus and Peter and Paul affirmed; see Matthew 19:28; Acts 3:19-21; Romans 11:28-29; 15:8); their mission was to be His witnesses.
Unfortunately, in our day, as we are seeing an increasing number of Christians turning against the modern state of Israel—and I don’t simply mean that they are criticizing Israel when Israel deserves criticism but that they are rejecting it as a prophetic fulfillment in any sense of the word, also embracing the Palestinian narrative of Israel as an evil occupier and claiming that no prophetic promises remain to the Jewish people as a nation—we are seeing the seeds of Jew hatred being planted again in the hearts of many of these believers. Their hostility to Israel is hardly a secret.
Be careful, people of God!
History could well repeat itself—to the reproach of the name of Jesus, to the disgrace of the church, and to the spiritual and physical harm of the Jewish people—unless we get our theology right.
1. THE LARGEST STONE IN THE KOTEL IS 44 FEET LONG AND WEIGHS 570 TONS. IN COMPARISON, THE LARGEST STONE IN THE GREAT PYRAMID WEIGHS 11 TONS.
(The Western Wall tunnels)
2. THE WESTERN WALL IS NOT THE HOLIEST PLACE IN THE WORLD FOR THE JEWISH NATION. THE FOUNDATION STONE, WHICH IS BENEATH THE DOME OF THE ROCK AND WHERE THE HOLIEST PART OF THE TEMPLE WAS, IS STILL THE HOLIEST PLACE IN THE WORLD FOR THE JEWISH NATION.
3. THE ORIGINAL HEIGHT OF THE WESTERN WALL WAS ABOUT 60 METERS OR 200 FEET. TODAY WE SEE IN THE PLAZA ONLY 19 METERS OR ABOUT 60 FEET WHICH IS ONLY A THIRD OF IT'S ORIGINAL HEIGHT!
4. IF YOU DECIDE TO WALK INTO THE KOTEL, STRIP NAKED, AND LAY DOWN IN THE MEN'S SECTION MUTTERING TO YOURSELF, YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY BE SENT TO A MENTAL HOSPITAL (YES. THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN 2007.)
5. FROM THE MID-19TH CENTURY ONWARDS, ATTEMPTS TO PURCHASE RIGHTS TO THE WALL AND ITS IMMEDIATE AREA WERE MADE BY VARIOUS JEWS, BUT NONE WERE SUCCESSFUL.
(Taken in 1891, from the book "A Month in Palestine and Syria." )
6. AFTER THE 1948 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, THE WALL CAME UNDER JORDANIAN CONTROL AND JEWS WERE BARRED FROM THE SITE FOR 19 YEARS UNTIL ISRAEL "CAPTURED" THE OLD CITY IN 1967.
(This famous photo from June 1967, capturing the IDF soldiers first look at the Wall was taken by David Rubinger. Read the incredible story behind this photo here.) 7. ALTHOUGH JEWS GOVERN JERUSALEM ITSELF, MUSLIMS CONTROL THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER IT, EITHER SECULAR OR SACRED.
You can see the Western Wall LIVE on our Kotel Cam for free!
