Clifford Denton strips difficult topics back to their biblical basics in a new teaching series.
What the Bible Says About...
3. ...Suffering
4. ...Family
5. ...Education
Weekly Passages: Ki tisa: Exodus 30:11-34:35; 1 Kings 18:1-39; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18.
This question sounds rhetorical, but it has much to say to us. It would seem that Jesus answered it clearly when He said God is spirit (John 4:24), and that no-one has ever seen God (John 1:18). The Greek word for 'seen' used here (horao) means 'to stare at' or 'discern clearly' – it refers to a visual experience.
The writers of the Hebrew scriptures also reflect this. Jacob and Moses both admit to having 'seen' God 'face to face' (panim-el-panim, Gen 32:30; Ex 33:11), but when Moses asks God to show him His glory, God tells him even in this closeness: "You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live" (Ex 33:20). God says to him, "I will put you in a cleft in the rock, and cover you with My hand until I have I passed by...and you will see My back" (Heb. raita look after Me, what is behind Me, ie My glory). Isaiah also says of his vision of the Lord: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [Heb. ra'a] the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train [shuwl, something that hangs down, like the long train of a bridal gown] of His robe filled the Temple" (Isa 6:1). This too was a vision of God's glory.
The Hebrew word ra'a has a common use for simply seeing with the eyes (either directly, or towards something), but it has many extended meanings. One can 'see' as in understanding God's word – 'I see what you mean' - and to harden the heart is to shut the eyes (Isa 6:10). We can 'see' to something as an act of provision – 'I'll see to it'. When God spoke to a prophet, He made Himself known through a vision, to enable the prophet or seer, to 'see' or hear, and proclaim His words. Yet to Moses, who was very humble, God spoke even 'mouth to mouth' (Hebrew peh-el-peh, Num 12:3-8).
God reaches out to His people beyond simple visual revelation: He also speaks, that we might discern and believe His Son.
What Do We Learn?
Two things become apparent. First, God's communication with His people goes beyond simple visual revelation. He also speaks to reveal Himself, as He did with Moses to proclaim His Name (His character and nature): "The LORD, the LORD God, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth [Hebrew chesed v'emet], maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished" (perfect justice) (Ex 34:6-7). Moses desires to 'see' God's glory but is given (hears) God's Name. He thus 'sees' God's steadfast faithfulness, truth and compassion.
Visual revelation can be sudden and dramatic, as we are hearing from many testimonies of Muslims to whom Jesus has revealed Himself. But verbal revelation is a process, a developing relationship. This intimacy is what God desires for His people, to bring them to Himself (Ex 19:4). It is also recorded in His word for future generations, that they too can be a witness to His chesed.
Verbal revelation is a process, a developing relationship that involves intimacy with God – what He desires for all His people.
Second, because man could not survive a vision of God Himself, He makes Himself known through dialogue, through Torah and the prophets, through how He acts, and in His perfect timing through the gift of His Son Yeshua (Jesus), who is the one Lawgiver and Judge who embodies all God's attributes. Because He kept and fulfilled (correctly interpreted) Torah, He is the living Torah. Yet He tells us that the pure in heart shall see God (Matt 5:8) and His servants in the new Jerusalem will see His face (Rev 22:4). What joy that will be!
Today, Choose to Hear God
We cannot yet see God, but we can hear Him - through both His written word and His spoken word - so that we might believe in Him. The Holy Spirit warns us of times when there was rebellion and unbelief in His people (in the exodus from Egypt and in the early church, Heb 3:7, 4:1). In these times, there were those who hardened their hearts (or who shut their eyes) so they could not 'see' Him.
In our time too, God says urgently: Today (while it is still TODAY), exhort one another daily, so that none are hardened through sin's deceitfulness so that we cannot 'see' God's grace and truth in Jesus (Heb 3:13). Blessed is he who holds steadfastly to faith in Christ, and hears and does his Lord's will.
Gaze Upon Him
If we cannot look at the sun in its fullness, how much less could we look at God Himself, who is pure light? And yet we are invited to gaze upon Jesus, who is the brightness of the Father's glory, to receive life. For as Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole after snakes attacked God's rebellious people in the wilderness, and anyone bitten by a snake who looked (intently) upon it would live (Num 21:9); in the same way, Jesus was lifted up on the cross, so that anyone who 'sees' (looks to Him) and believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:14-16, 6:40).
The word for us is: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." Let us not follow idols as the prophets of Baal did, which Elijah showed to be false and dead. Time is short. God brings us the same choice today: If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. Elijah demonstrated clearly who is the true and living God (1 Kings 18:21-39).
We face the same choice today as the people did in Elijah's time: if the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.
The gospel of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. This good news is not inscribed on tablets of stone - even by the finger of God (Ex 31:18) - but by the Spirit of the living God on tablets of human hearts (2 Cor 3:1-18). Here is our answer as to whether we can (or by choice, will) 'see' God.
Author: Greg Stevenson
The subject of God's judgment is a tricky one for Christians and as such it is often avoided - but what does Scripture teach us?
The subject of judgment is a tricky one for Christians and as such it is often avoided, lest we put people off God by positioning him as vindictive, just waiting for an opportunity to trap us in our errors and pour out his wrath.
The Bible teaches us that God is pure and holy and unable to compromise - yet also full of compassion and love. He will shake the nations if necessary - or leave us to our own devices, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son. Yet, also like this father, he mourns for his child and desires redemption and restored relationship.
Through a full and balanced reading of Scripture we come to know the emotions of our God that bring mercy balanced with justice in the context of judgments that can shock, punish, bless or restore individuals and nations.
Judgment in Hebrew: mishpat
When we talk of 'judgment', what do we actually mean? The Hebrew word for judgment is mishpat. It is a word with legal connotations, meaning a verdict (either favourable or unfavourable). Judgment of God is not only associated with woe and punishment – it can also be to do with blessing. Simply put, biblical 'judgment' refers to the judicial decisions God makes as he interacts with mankind. Our closest analogy is a court of law where a judge sums up the evidence and makes a decision concerning right and wrong, justice and mercy.
This, however, is an insufficient picture, because it sets God into a framework of constantly presiding over a law court. His relationship with mankind is deeper than that, being founded on pure love and desire for fellowship with the people he created. God as judge is active in his responses to the world situation - not passively judging from afar.
The Hebrew language is more verb-orientated than noun-orientated - the Hebrew words for judging and judgments imply action. Unlike human judges, who endeavour to stand back from the circumstances presented to them in order to make an impartial decision, God interacts with his creation with his own righteous agenda, working to bring about his own purposes.
Nevertheless, it is important for us to know that judgments of God can be favourable or unfavourable, depending on the circumstances of our walk with him.
God is active and involved in the world situation, not passively judging from afar.
Judges Appointed by Moses
God also gives his people some responsibility to make judgments themselves. For instance, Moses appointed judges. The Hebrew word for these judges is shophatim, derived from the same root word as mishpat. Exodus 18 contains the account of the appointment of these first judges from the elders of Israel.
Moses was to "teach them the statutes and laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do" (18:20) and the elders were to "judge the people at all times ...every small matter they shall judge...the hard cases they brought to Moses" (18:22, 26) who stood before God for the people (18:19).
Some disputes were to be settled as in a court of law, but this was just a part of the picture. The main purpose of the judges was to help the people of God to understand how to walk with him, according to his teaching (Torah). The picture is of people desiring to have a close walk with God and wanting to get it right. The elders settled the simpler interpretations of Torah and Moses, who was the intercessor for the people, took the hardest cases to God.
In Moses' time, judges were appointed to help the people understand how to walk closely with God. They wanted to get it right.
With this picture in the background, we can begin a balanced study of what else the Bible says about the judgments of God. We can also form an idea of God's vision for justice and mercy for all nations.
The Big Picture
God's first decision (judgment) regarding the world was to create it! Into the world he placed people with free wills. How he weighed up the risks and the consequences is not in our ability to understand, but his decision was made with the logic of Heaven.
The first consequential judgment came at the Fall, when God judged to send mankind forth from Eden into this imperfect world environment. Our need to struggle against sin and to experience sickness and all other evils is a consequence of God's judgment on Adam's and Eve's sin. Additionally, that same satan that tempted Adam in the Garden of Eden and Jesus in the wilderness (Matt 4) is allowed by God to tempt us too (James 1:13-15, 4:7-10, Luke 22:3, 22:31).
God has decided that this will remain the condition of the world until the time he returns and brings in a new heaven and a new earth, as described in the Book of Revelation. We may not understand this fully, but we must accept the nature of this world's imperfections, both physical and spiritual, and – crucially - discover God's purposes in them. Indeed, how mankind responds to these circumstances gives rise to further judgments from God.
The Great Flood
The Great Flood at the time of Noah indicates the seriousness of our need to seek God and follow his ways. The consequences of mankind using their free will to walk away from God brought the judgment of the Flood.
Yet what was in God's heart when he "was sorry that he had made man on the earth" (Gen 6:6)? Scripture says that "he was grieved" (Gen 6:6). This is the same God who looked on his creation and judged "that it was very good" (Gen 1:31). The judgments of God well up out of the emotions of his pure heart. The results can be catastrophic - but God suffers too.
God's judgments well up out of the emotions of his pure heart. The result might be catastrophic for humans – but God suffers too.
Covenants and Conditions
When God made covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, and through Jeremiah, he established parameters for his judgments.
One of the 'biggest' words in the Bible is if. God's covenants with Noah and Abraham placed responsibility upon God himself. There were no ifs. God's decision (judgment) was to ensure seedtime and harvest for all generations so that he could draw a covenant family to himself, whatever it would take for him and for us to accomplish this.
Yet conditions for human beings were also made clear within this overall plan - especially in the covenant made with Moses – conditions not for ensuring its ultimate fulfilment (God's responsibility), but laying out the consequences for their obedience and disobedience within it. So, up until the coming of Messiah, Deuteronomy 27 and 28 were the conditions for God's covenant with Israel. These passages are full of ifs: blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience.
Studied carefully, we can discern that God will bring about growing hardship for his people if they disobey the terms of the covenant, bringing initial signs in the physical environment and eventually, if necessary, even removing them for a time from their Promised Land. Later, the Prophets were sent to remind Israel of the covenant and interpret the signs of judgment around them (eg see Amos 4, which can be read alongside Deuteronomy 27 and 28).
In the Mosaic covenant God laid out conditions for his people – blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
Yet, always remember the heart of God for his people. It was not with a vindictive attitude that God sent his people to exile in Babylon. The tears of Jeremiah over fallen Jerusalem (read the Book of Lamentations!) are a prophetic insight into the sadness of God. This sadness can be contrasted with the joy of God over his people when his judgments have brought blessing (reflected wonderfully in many Psalms and in the Song of Songs).
Removing Protection
When God sent Israel into captivity, he took away the nation's protection and allowed their enemies to prevail. He always takes responsibility (read Habakkuk, for example); he ensured that those who were used to sift Israel were themselves to be judged (see, for example, Ezekiel 35). But this principle of taking away protection is a key to understanding many of God's corrective judgments in the world today, as well as in the history of Israel (eg Num 14:9; Ezra 9:9; Ps 64; Isa 25:1-4, 30:13).
If we reject the protection of God, or if he himself removes it, we are vulnerable to the dangers of the world and of our unseen spiritual enemies, and also the consequences of our own sin and foolishness.
The judgment of God, therefore, is often outworked when he takes his protection away, so that we discover our need of him. We are in a fallen world, subject to temptation and the results of evil all around – but remember that this is the world where God sent Adam and Eve because of their own rebellion against him. In a way, then, we can bring judgment on ourselves by rejecting the protection of God. This applies to belief in Jesus too, and the invitation to eternal life through faith in him (John 3:18).
Conditions for Israel
There is always a way back - even for a nation. It is not God's desire to punish, but to redeem. Solomon prayed to God when the Temple was consecrated; God answered and gave conditions for the restoration of Israel, even if they were scattered across the earth. The prayer and God's response (2 Chron 6-7) should be read in full - carefully.
There is always a way back – even for a nation. God's desire is not to punish, but to redeem.
The verse that is well-known is 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land." The history of Israel (whether within God's blessings or curses) depends on their living by faith and obedience according to the Torah given through Moses. Yet, even at the extremity of God's judgments, God has covenant promises which means he will never abandon them completely.
Though the above show God's character, compassion and forgiveness and therefore give hope to any nation, the context of the passage is a promise directly for Israel as God's chosen nation. Sometimes we of another nation would like to read it as directly to us, but that would mean that we have a covenant with God like Israel has. We must not take this lightly or become fanciful and confused. The principles for any nation are found in Jeremiah 18.
Conditions for Any Nation
Jeremiah was shown at the potter's house that, like a potter re-modelling clay, God could re-model even a Gentile nation. The promise was similar to 2 Chronicles 7:14 but subtly different. We might think that we could read 2 Chronicles 7:14 as being that if Christians pray earnestly then God would heal their land. However, Jeremiah 18:7-10 requires that the nation as a whole repents and seeks God. Of course Christians can intercede, but ultimately the nation must come to God as a whole.
Rather than 2 Chronicles 7:14, it would be more realistic for Christians to place their hope in and quote "If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring on it" (Jer 18:8).
Nevertheless, the God of judgment is also a God of redemption and signs of his judgment always come with hope. Indeed, we can see God's judgments as having the purpose of redemption, being designed to turn hearts back to him.
God's word contains promises of hope to both Israel and to Gentile nations – his judgments always have the purpose of redemption.
Favour Before Woe
This is "the year of the Lord's favour" (Isa 61:2; Luke 4:18-19) and not yet "the day of vengeance of our God" (Isa 61:2b). This is the period of God's covenant purposes when he is holding out a hand of mercy to all that will turn to him from any nation.
When this phase of God's purposes for redemption is over, his promised judgments will be termed woes because they will have the purpose of punishment rather than refinement. This is what we find in Revelation 18. Though this day will come we are not there yet! This is important to remember because the way we understand the judgments of God influences the way we understand his character.
Justice and Mercy
The weeping of Jeremiah over Jerusalem, recorded in the Book of Lamentations, is echoed in the weeping of Jesus over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) and is to be borne in mind as we read Luke 21 and Matthew 24. The judgments of God, first on Jerusalem in 70 AD, and on Israel in exile since then, and the mighty signs and judgments in the world and on all nations are necessary. They are in the context of a gathering from all nations of God's covenant people as the Gospel goes out. James understood the balance in God's heart when he wrote "mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).
This points us to the Cross of Jesus Christ where, in the judgment of the Father, the Lord took all the pain of the sin of the world upon himself. (Selah – pause and reflect)
Furthermore, the immense happenings in this world described by Jesus in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 are not so much judgments, but signs of the Lord's return (Matt 24:3). We draw near to the momentous climax of this world's existence – no wonder there is such a shaking! Such is needed to draw mankind's attention to God and his covenant purposes.
The immense shakings going on in the world are not so much judgments as signs of the Lord's return.
Without compromise God is moving through history, gathering his community who will experience the reverse of the Fall, whilst the wider consequences of human sin bring us to the climax of history - Jesus' return and God's final judgment of all people.
The Prophetic Task
So what is God doing and why? Well, we need only glance at current world affairs to know that God is not careless about our world and is working out his own purposes – including his chief goal of preparing a people of his own for the time of Jesus' return.
Though his ways are beyond our full understanding, we can gain insights that are sufficient for our day-to-day lives. Let us as a prophetic people be sure to understand the heart of our God so that we can truly understand the times and know what must be done.
Linda Louis-vanReed challenges us to understand better the power we have in Christ - and to not be easily overwhelmed by worldly displays of strength.
Although day to day, life appears to be returning to normal here in Ferguson, Missouri, there is a war going on - and it isn't about race.
It's about power.
System in Need of Reform
In March 2015, a report issued by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) was critical of Ferguson's police practices and its 'profit-driven' municipal court system which relied heavily on revenue from traffic tickets to fund the city and its resources (two things which, I regret to say, are not uncommon in the smaller cities and suburban communities of the United States). Negotiations between the DOJ and the city government in Ferguson ensued.
Public meetings were held where, many times, voices promoting peace and reason were drowned out by those whose purpose was to foment dissent, mainly for the benefit of a restless media. Most of those voices were not residents of Ferguson. Nevertheless, they were loud, they were present and they were perceived as powerful.
Clash of Authorities
After seven months of talks, a 407-item consent decree outlining a top-to-bottom re-shaping of basic police practices – everything from how to conduct traffic stops to when to utilise force – was submitted to the City of Ferguson. The caveat was that, should Ferguson refuse to sign the decree as it was, the DOJ would file suit.
Last Tuesday the City of Ferguson agreed to sign the decree, but only if the DOJ agreed to seven 'conditions of acceptance' tailored by the City in an effort to make the extra costs associated with implementing the items within the DOJ document financially bearable.
The following day the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Ferguson. The 'powers that be' prevailed.
Crippling Costs
As for Ferguson, the cost of implementing the reforms spelled out in the consent decree with the DOJ approach around $3.7 million in the first year alone.
Other cities that have entered into a similar consent agreement with the DOJ have been forced to incur costs into the millions to implement similar reforms. In 2015, the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico agreed to a settlement following an investigation that determined a pattern of use of excessive force. The first year of reforms could cost the City of Albuquerque up to $6 million.
In Ferguson, reforms being imposed by the Department of Justice will cost the city a quarter of its annual operating budget.
In Cleveland, Ohio, an agreement with the DOJ which requires a new use-of-force police policy and enhanced officer training could cost the City of Cleveland at least $10.6 million in the first year and $7 million for each of the subsequent four years.
But Ferguson, with 21,000 residents and a total annual operating budget of $14.5 million, is smaller by far than either Cleveland or Albuquerque — and its residents are far less able to absorb costs in the millions. Already Ferguson suffers a $2.8 million deficit since the incident occurred.
Costs to cover overtime pay for police and emergency personnel, vehicles and equipment during protests, loss of sales tax revenue from businesses damaged by fires and looting, legal fees, and lost income from municipal court reforms already in place have all but knocked the lock off the city treasury. Jobs are on the line, as power grabs are being made just to be the one on top when the legislative smoke finally clears.
Concern on the Ground
Attorney General Loretta Lynch responds to questions in the wake of the DOJ's lawsuit announcement.
In April the city will be asking its voting residents to approve increases to their property and sales taxes. All this at a time when Ferguson businesses are in their first real year of recovery, and property values - according to Breitbart.com - have dropped by 45-50%.1
Many of the people are concerned. Some are frightened that the City of Ferguson could possibly be legislated into a financial crevasse so deep that the only outcome could be the dissolution of its city charter. They feel helpless and overpowered by a system much larger than they can either understand or affect.
Yet, the majority of residents here are not willing to allow their city to remain broken and tarnished by media reputation, nor by outsiders who come not to visit, but to foment unrest in this historically peaceful, suburban community.
In spite of all the hype, population statistics current for 2015-16 show that Ferguson actually has more residents now than in 2013.2 It isn't because families cannot afford to leave – it's because they do not desire to do so.
Working to Rebuild
In the year and a half since the Michael Brown incident I have watched the people of Ferguson work together to rebuild this community, and have been involved personally. People of every colour and background have pooled their money, lent their tools, fed one another, prayed together, traded skills and hired one another to repair fire damage.
Many of the people feel frightened and overpowered by a system much larger than they can either understand or affect. Yet, they are not willing to allow their city to remain broken.
Although an altercation between protesters and one of the vendors on site forced the Ferguson Farmer's Market to close, it is now open and running stronger than ever after just a few months. Drive down the streets and every few buildings have construction projects going on. New facades are being erected, giving the entire community a facelift. People are donating their time and resources to conduct personalised studying sessions for those who dropped out of school and want to re-enter to receive their degree.
Churches Stepping Up
Churches in the area are stepping up in remarkable ways. Through a contact within its body of believers, one church is working with a local company who made 24 permanent positions open to people who are homeless and have no vehicle. Not only did the church use its building to house the job fair for this company, but it also allowed a follow-up hiring workshop, and provided clothing and bathing facilities. Now every morning, those two dozen new employees walk to the church where, for $7 per day, they are bussed to and from their new jobs.
First Baptist Church of Ferguson opened its doors for kids at Christmas so those who attend the Crisis Nursery (an organisation that helps kids and mothers in crisis) could meet Santa, have lunch and receive Christmas gifts for the kids. Over 500 mothers and children attended. I was thrilled to see 64 children receive books from our library that they could keep.
Although so many of these activities seem small in the face of government action and financial ruin, they are examples of people using whatever power they possess to effect permanent change from the ground up.
In the face of government action and financial ruin, ordinary people are using whatever power they possess to effect permanent change from the ground up.
Feeling Vulnerable?
So many of us (if we will admit it to ourselves in those rare moments of self-honesty) feel small, soft and easy to kill. We feel vulnerable to ourselves, vulnerable to one another, to forces of nature, forces of man, to God.
When we turn our eyes away from our Father, from Truth himself, to focus on ways in which we can take our lives and futures into our own hands, we invent whatever facade we believe will best protect us - and we are dismayed when it fails. Like a suit of armour, it is only a hard shell built to protect that which is soft and vulnerable.
As people who serve God, we often get sidetracked into using those human survival skills we have been taught since childhood. We have never given thought to whether or not we, as individuals, possess a proper understanding of 'power.'
True Power
Galatians 2:20 defines it with eloquence and brevity:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.3
This is our power - this freedom that Christ offers us through him, by his sacrifice for us. When we apprehend that we died with Christ and rose with him to eternal life, when we understand that we are now heirs to the Kingdom of God through his atonement - and as such, we have access to all to which he has access - we understand that we, through Christ, are not disenfranchised.
The freedom offered to us through Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection means that we are not disenfranchised - we are heirs to the Kingdom of God!
We have the power to open our hands to God, with all our deepest desires and best-kept secrets (even about him), and to ask our Father to help us know him, his voice, his words.
We have the power to live our life through his.
We have the power of choice – to not worry, not argue, not indulge our personal strongholds that separate us from God, but to allow ourselves to be open to becoming the son or daughter that God intended us to be.
We have the power to pray, and through that one simple act, we have the power to turn a nation.
References
1 Nolte, J. Months of Media and Protests Devastate Ferguson Property Values. Breitbart, 16 March 2015.
2 Population Demographics for Ferguson, Missouri in 2016 and 2015. Suburban Stats.
3 The Oxford Annotated Bible, RSV
Last week, global 'Israeli Apartheid Week' was celebrated in cities across the UK. Charles Gardner helps dismantle the hype surrounding this increasingly common vilification of Israel.
As British cities took part in 'Israeli Apartheid Week', which rallies people to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and which has been gathering momentum year on year, hundreds of London Underground trains were plastered with ads depicting Israel as a vile apartheid state. They turned out to be illegal fly-posters and were duly removed - but not without the intervention of authorities alerted by the Israeli Embassy.1
Because the issues surrounding Israel are highly complicated and controversial, some are frightened off taking any view at all, while others fall for the temptation of over-simplifying things, which is why those determined to vilify Israel latch on to the emotive 'A' word.
Israel Not Perfect
Of course Israel is far from perfect, and there are areas of discrimination - like restrictions on land access for Palestinian citizens. But as Benjamin Pogrund wrote in The Guardian last year, the situation in Israel cannot and should not be compared to apartheid South Africa – and he should know, since he was a correspondent there for 26 years, and has been living in Israel for 17 years.
"The Arabs of Israel are full citizens", he wrote. "Crucially, they have the vote and Israeli Arab MPs sit in parliament. An Arab judge sits on the country's highest court; an Arab is chief surgeon at a leading hospital; an Arab commands a brigade of the Israeli army...Under apartheid, every detail of life was subject to discrimination by law...Israel is not remotely like that."2
Because the issues surrounding Israel are complicated and controversial, people often over-simplify things, with those determined to vilify Israel latching on to the emotive 'A' word.
Elsewhere, South African Olga Meshoe, daughter of African Christian Democratic Party president Rev Kenneth Meshoe, has called designations of Israel as an 'apartheid' state "an absolute lie" which "trivialises" what happened in South Africa.3 She is now campaigning worldwide for Israel to be treated more fairly and intelligently.
Discrimination – or Self-Preservation?
Much of what is perceived as discrimination in Israel is driven by the need for security. For example, the disputed West Bank (still known to Israelis as Judea and Samaria and claimed as their biblical heartland) is not part of modern-day Israel; so when people cross over into Israel, they are effectively crossing an international border, where you would normally expect checkpoints.
But in the case of Israel, such controls are doubly necessary due to the constant threat of terrorism. I was stopped at a checkpoint myself while travelling with friends up the Jordan Valley to Galilee. And when armed Israeli soldiers asked for my passport, I was unable to oblige, having left it behind at a Jerusalem guesthouse. But after some anxious moments, my driving licence was deemed sufficient and we were waived through.
The security fence was erected after nearly 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed by suicide bombers in the five-year period to 2005. And it has worked. Even Palestinian terrorists have admitted it is a deterrent.4
Arab Palestinians visit Israel for work every day from the PA-controlled West Bank and are searched, as you would naturally expect on passing through customs. However, there are some Palestinian areas from which Jews are altogether banned!
Distorted Narrative
While acknowledging that Israel isn't perfect, Pogrund concludes that her critics "exaggerate and distort and present an ugly caricature far distant from reality". Many want more than an end to the occupation; they want an end to Israel itself, he says, asking: "Why is Israel the only country in the world whose very right to existence is challenged in this way?"5
Much of what is perceived as discrimination is driven by the need for security. The security fence was erected after nearly 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed by suicide bombers between 2000 and 2005.
It's worth pointing out that apartheid in South Africa finally collapsed when the structure upon which it was built – a false understanding of the scriptures – fell apart. This happened when leading Afrikaner clerics confessed that they had been wrong.6 In fact, the Church as a whole played a leading role in ensuring a relatively peaceful transition from white minority to black majority rule. In matters of politics in other parts of the world, we still need the Church to lead with this kind of repentance and wisdom, which can only come from God.
I'll let America's legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King have the last word. In a letter to a friend who claimed to be 'merely anti-Zionist', not a Jew-hater, he thundered:
Let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews...Anti-Semitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind...And what is anti-Zionism? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa...7
This article is an extension of our current 'Israel Q&A' series.
Notes
1 Anti-Israel Ads Plaster London's Underground. Bridges for Peace, 26 February 2016.
2 Pogrund, B. Israel has many injustices. But it is not an apartheid state. The Guardian, 22 May 2015.
3 BDS claims make mockery of SA struggle, says Olga Meshoe. Gateway News, 3 March 2016.
4 David Soakell, Watching Over Zion newsletter. Christian Friends of Israel, 18 February 2016.
5 See note 2.
6 A key influence in this was evangelist Michael Cassidy, whose biography you can read here.
7 This I believe: selections from the writings of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, New York, 1971, pp234-235. Thanks also to Saltshakers, the website of author Steve Maltz.
Prophets of the Old Testament often experienced confusion as they tried to understand circumstances in the light of God's word. What can we learn from them?
It should not surprise us that the prophets of the Old Testament were often perplexed. In the conduct of their ministry it was necessary for them to spend much time both with their God and also with the people to whom they had been sent. What they heard in God's presence was often very different from what they heard in the conversation of their everyday world.
In this study we shall meet some of these perplexed prophets and, as God's prophets today, learn how to prevent ourselves repeating their mistakes.
Moses
When the 12 leaders returned from their exploration of the Promised Land, it was seen that only two were in favour of going on to possess it. The Israelites grumbled and were about to stone Moses and Aaron. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting. The Lord said to Moses:
How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me...? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you [Moses] into a nation greater and stronger than they. (Num 14:11-12)
What an offer! But was it a privilege? Moses must for a while have been greatly perplexed. On the one hand God's tremendous promise - on the other the people's rejection. But he quickly came to an understanding of the situation, and began to reason with the Lord. That would not be right, he said. "Then the Egyptians will hear about it!...if you put these people to death all at one time the nations...will say 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised...so he slaughtered them in the desert'" (Num 14:1-2, 10-16).
What prophets hear in God's presence is often quite different from what they hear in the conversations of everyday life – which can cause confusion.
Moses was concerned about God's name and reputation. Are we today more concerned with getting into the upper echelons of prophetic ministry, or are we determined that all we do shall enhance God's reputation among us?
Elijah
After Elijah's announcement that there would be a serious drought in Israel, he went to stay in the house of a widow in Zarephath. God provided them with a jar of flour and a jug of oil every day. But their peace was about to be disturbed by the sudden death of the son of the house. The prophet's perplexity is evident from his words, "O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" (1 Ki 17:20).
One testing experience through which prophets and other believers may have to pass occurs when people or resources which we have come to rely upon are suddenly removed.
One testing experience which we may encounter occurs when people or resources we rely upon are suddenly removed.
Job
Here is a man who had to face tremendous perplexity. His book begins by recording a series of catastrophes directly involving him. His donkeys were seized, his sheep and their shepherds were struck by lightning, raiding parties carried off his camels, and to cap it all his children were killed in a hurricane. Even so he did not charge God with wrongdoing.
Then the Evil One was given permission to test Job on a personal level, and as a result his body was covered with painful sores. But still Job did not sin by what he said. Certainly, he cursed the day he was born and groaned under his calamity, but he still did not speak out against God, even when his wife suggested that suicide was the best way out (Job 1:13-22, 2:7-10).
His three friends held forth on Job's situation but were to prove "miserable comforters" (Job 16:2). Their current theological theories did nothing for the sufferer. Their concept of God had collapsed because it was too small. In the end Job was content not with a perfect explanation of the suffering of the righteous but with the greatness of his God.
Job had to suffer tremendous perplexity – in the end he was contented not with a perfect explanation for his suffering, but with the greatness of his God.
It is still true that godly men and women have to face the perplexing question of why God allows them to suffer as he does. Meanwhile Job's book is a resounding protest against current teaching that a God-fearing life inevitably brings success and prosperity.
Hosea
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife...because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord" (Hos 1:2). Did God actually tell Hosea to take to himself as his wife a woman who was already an adulteress? It seems more likely that Gomer was chaste at the time of her marriage and that only later did she leave Hosea for someone else. This would fit the symbolic use God makes of the prophet's domestic situation, for he refers to the days of Israel's youth as a time when Israel was pure in her relation to Yahweh (Hos 2:15).
But however we understand the time of Gomer's immorality it must have perplexed poor Hosea and may have exposed him to the judgmental reactions of other prophets. His only consolation was the assurance that Yahweh himself also suffered intensely when Israel proved unfaithful to him.
It was Hosea's privilege to let his unchanging love for Gomer be a picture for all time of the 'love that will not let us go'. Let all prophets know that they have the understanding and compassion of God himself where his servants have to experience the continuing sadness of life in a broken home or unstable family environment.
Hosea's suffering was a picture of the suffering God himself went through with Israel – so Hosea always had the consolation that the Lord understood what he was going through.
Jonah
There is one thing of which we can be certain: Jonah did not like the people of Nineveh! After receiving his original commission to preach to them, he ran away. It took a strange encounter with a great fish to persuade him to obey the instructions he had received and "Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh" (Jonah 1:1-3, 3:3). Once there, his prophetic preaching was so effective that God's offer of mercy brought the whole nation to its knees in repentance. "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened." (Jonah 3:10).
One would have thought that the prophet would have been thrilled with such a positive response to his message. "But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry" (Jonah 4:1). This was the reason he refused to go to Nineveh and ran away to Tarshish: he believed that if he preached they would repent and that God would then forgive them, and he did not want that to happen.
We may be certain that Jonah laid on heavily the message of judgment, but probably did not encourage the Ninevites in repentance. Today's prophets need to ask the Holy Spirit to help them put forward a presentation of their message in which judgment and mercy are balanced against one another. Jonah made the terrible mistake of begrudging them the mercy that they so much needed. This was the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees in the time of our Lord when they grumbled at Jesus for entertaining publicans and sinners to a meal. "If I have the gift of prophecy...but have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor 13:2).
Habakkuk
The branch of theology called 'theodicy' was at the heart of Habakkuk's perplexity. The term is made up of two Greek words theos (God) and dike (justice) and it refers to the vindication of God's character despite the existence in the world of physical and moral evil. It all began when Yahweh told Habakkuk: "For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people" (Hab 1:5-6).
At the heart of Habakkuk's confusion was the question of how a righteous, holy God could allow evil in the world.
God created perplexity in the prophet's mind when he went on to say that he would use the Babylonians to punish his own people Israel. 'How could God do such a thing?' was the anguished cry of the prophet. "Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" (Hab 1:13). The problem of 'theodicy' does not exist among those who have gods whose morals are little better than those of sinful men and women. But those who believe in a holy and righteous God are shocked and upset by some of the actions and decisions of the only living and true God.
What can a prophet do - whether living in ancient Israel or in our modern world? Like Habakkuk, it is right to take the problem to God and to wait until he answers (Hab 2:3). Meanwhile the righteous shall live by faith (Hab 2:4). Ultimately all perplexities will be resolved.
Jeremiah
No-one transcends Jeremiah in the depth of feeling in which he expresses his perplexity:
O Lord, you deceived me and I was deceived, you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long...the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, 'I will not mention him or speak any more in his name', his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (Jer 20:7, 9)
Here is a prophet who has every reason to resign his prophetic mission. After all, he had been beaten and put in the stocks (Jer 20:2). We see here plainly the personal cost of continuing to speak God's word, but Jeremiah could not restrain himself. The Lord's message was burning in his heart and he could not remain silent. How much the church of today needs prophets who will get into the counsel of God and then will speak out fearlessly what he wants them to say, whatever the cost!
Jeremiah spoke God's message fearlessly and suffered greatly for it. How much today's church needs prophets who are willing to do this, whatever the cost!
Ezekiel
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord upon me. I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar river. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days – overwhelmed. (Ezek 3:14-15)
It would appear that the seven-day period during which Ezekiel remained silent was an expression of his sense of bereavement and perplexity. The silence, the location of the event, and the period involved (cf Job 2:13) conveyed his deep empathy with his people in their affliction. Undoubtedly his silence gave emphasis to the words he was later to utter.
Today's prophets need to give time to the true situation of the Lord's people, instead of shooting off superficial words that carry no weight because they do not have the heart-cry of the totally perplexed behind them.
Whatever perplexities prophets have to face, let them learn that they may complain to God, but they must beware of complaining about him.
Whatever perplexities prophets have to face, let them learn that they may complain to God, but they must beware of complaining about him.
First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 7 No 3, May/June 1991.
Paul Luckraft interviews Michele Guinness, whose latest book on the remarkable life of Grace Grattan Guinness has just been published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Have you ever had a chance discovery that has delighted and enthralled you? Have you ever got round – at last! – to clearing out the attic, and found something from the past that has intrigued you and set you off on a new path?
A Captivating Discovery
Such an experience happened to Michele recently when, preparing for her husband Peter's retirement from his parish, she discovered in the attic a trunk of letters, diaries, journals and notebooks (some over a hundred years old) which had belonged to Grace Guinness, her husband's grandmother. Not only did these documents provide an illuminating insight into the life of an exceptional woman of the period, but they also shed further light on her better-known husband, Henry Grattan Guinness, the renowned speaker and evangelist.
Michele described how she was captivated and enchanted by what she read. These were not dusty old relics but fascinating accounts, written in an engaging and often humorous style. Suddenly, part of her family history came to life in an unexpected way.
The documents Michele discovered provide an illuminating insight into the life of an exceptional woman of the Edwardian period.
An Unconventional Marriage
Grace was born in 1876 into a strict Brethren family – her father was Charles Hurditch, a gifted speaker and evangelist. But she soon developed a mind of her own and a rather rebellious streak - though in a godly way! She was never going to be conventional, hence her very unconventional marriage to Henry Grattan Guinness, the great revivalist preacher and one of the leading lights of the evangelical awakening of 1854-56. When they married, she was just 27 and he was 68! How did this happen?
Henry's first wife, Fanny, had died and in his loneliness he regularly prayed for a new companion. God answered his prayers in a remarkable fashion. One night Henry dreamt of a young lady who came and sat on his knee and kissed him! Perhaps nothing unusual there – but in his case it actually happened! The young lady in question was Grace, and they soon married.
They only had a few years together. Henry died in 1910, aged 74, but not before two sons had been born, John and Paul, when Henry was aged 70 and 72 respectively.
Ahead of Her Time
After Henry's death, Grace remained devoted to his memory and never remarried, instead she struggled to support herself and her two sons. She had no fortune so had to find work which would never be easy in a society that frowned upon a well-bred single mother going out to work. Here her rebellious streak came to her aid. Ever-defiant of social customs she became a businesswoman who ran her own hotel and engaged in other activities previously thought unsuitable for an Edwardian lady. In many ways she was ahead of her time.
Grace was never going to be conventional – that shone through in her marriage and came into its own after her husband died, leaving her as the sole provider for two young boys.
Henry was one of leading lights in the historicist school of prophecy, meaning that he looked for the actual fulfilment of prophecy in historical events. Finding Henry's old Bible, full of written notes on Daniel and Ezekiel, showed how seriously he took such prophetic portions of Scripture. From this understanding he saw ahead to the key years of Israel's re-establishment, 1917-1948, though he did not live to see it. However, Balfour, whom Henry had met, was an avid reader of his work, and no doubt influenced by it.
At the time of their marriage he was writing one of his most famous works, The Approaching End of the Age: Viewed in the Light of History, Prophecy and Science. Grace became his amanuensis, even though she had to admit she found it difficult to spell apocalypse!
A Life of Devotion
Michele is very enthusiastic about what she has learnt from Grace's life and devotion. She lived through exciting and changing times and met several outstanding Christian leaders of the day, but there were many hardships too. She never grumbled about her struggles over money and work, or having to bring up two sons on her own. Her thankfulness and faith shine through - as does her humour, which kept her going in all she did.
Grace lived through exciting and changing times with many hardships, but her memoirs are full of thankfulness, faith and humour.
Grace was also a great reader and remained open to learning new things, even into her seventies. She constantly read the Bible and heard God's voice through this. But she also read The Times daily, and at least one book a week, keeping herself well-informed on current affairs and her mind active. She could comment eruditely on several topics, including science, music and literature, as well as theology.
Curiosity Sparked
Michele has come to appreciate Grace in a new way. Little was known of her until her writings came to light – inevitably, the main family interest had been in Henry. But once Michele realised what treasures had fallen into her lap, her curiosity was sparked and it became clear that this unique collection of writings should become better known.
The book is based upon memoirs, letters and diaries, but written up by Michele in the first person, weaving them into a narrative of her life. Grace was a woman who wrote in a frank and (for her time) sometimes risqué way about her life, love, hopes and fears. Michele's book captures all of that, as well as providing an interesting cultural and historical look at the lives of the Guinness family of that period and the background of the many Christian organisations that began at the time.
This book captures something of Grace's fascinating life and character, as well as providing an interesting window in on life in the Edwardian period.
Click here to read our review of Michele's book.
Ian Farley reviews 'Grace' by Michele Guinness (2016, Hodder & Stoughton, 380 pages, hardback, available from Amazon for £15.90)
It is often commented today that we are in a world which is changing rapidly and dramatically, especially in the field of technology. But Grace Grattan Guinness, born in the first rush of railways but when the horse was still the main form of transport, and yet dying after international flight had arrived, surely saw unimaginable change throughout her life.
Grace lived through the struggles of the Suffragettes and witnessed great changes to women's education and birth control. Also living through the height of the British Empire, she died in 1969, in the throes of its dismantling.
So how did a child raised in the revival of the mid-Victorian era, who lived through two world wars and on into the swinging sixties, actually think? What of faith when you are widowed after only seven years of marriage to a great evangelist and have two little boys to bring up alone? What of life when you need to do a day job and a night job in order to survive, especially in an era when well-bred women did not go out to work?
This is a marvellous book. Michele Guinness writes in the words of Grace herself and very successfully brings her to life. One can but weep with her as she struggles in her loss and laugh with her in older age as she surveys the antics of the modern world.
Depressed by the climate of Scotland and wondering how anyone can thrive in Leeds, Grace is not some pie-in-the-sky Victorian hero - she is a real woman, who faces real life in both joy and hardship and through it all finds God at her side. Her life is worth knowing. It can only cheer you on the way.
You can read more about Grace's story in our interview with her granddaughter-in-law, Michele Guinness.
The Prime Minister has fired the starting gun: what he calls 'the debate of our lifetimes' has begun. Politicians on both sides of the Referendum debate have been falling over themselves to give TV interviews and write newspaper articles.
With the date now fixed as 23 June 2016 we face something like 120 days of wrangling, during which the public is likely to get bored - especially if the debate descends into personal abuse similar to the Presidential Election Campaign in the USA.
In this magazine we have already raised a banner stating our belief that the Referendum offers a unique opportunity for Britain to take a bold step of faith in shaking off the shackles of the European Union and regaining our ability to shape our destiny as a nation.
One thing we do promise our readers – we will not be trotting out the same old arguments week after week, or entering into the minutiae of 'The Deal' negotiated by David Cameron, or debating whether in fact Britain will be 'safer, stronger and richer' by staying in the EU.
No Real Reformation
We acknowledge that the PM has worked extremely hard for many months in trying to persuade the leaders of all the European States to back his proposals. We do not doubt the PM's sincerity and commitment, but in his reports to the House of Commons and numerous other statements it cannot be claimed that the EU have made any significant concessions that could justify asking the country to endorse an agreement with a 'Reformed' European Union.
There does not appear to be any significant reformation! There is no change to the Common Agricultural Policy which is strangling the life out of British farming, such that farmers have the highest rate of suicide of any occupation and the dairy farming industry is likely to be wiped out.
There is no change in the Fisheries Policy which forces our fishermen to throw thousands of fish back into the sea in order not to exceed their quotas, whilst we buy fish caught by foreign fishermen in our own waters. Britannia certainly does not 'rule the waves' around our shores since we gave away our sovereignty to the EU. And there is no change in the predominance of the European Court of Justice, that takes precedence over our own legal system (itself developed over the past 800 years, since Magna Carta).
In this magazine we have already raised a banner stating our belief that Britain should take a bold step of faith in shaking off the shackles of the European Union.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/Press Association ImagesMichael Gove said last week "EU rules dictate everything, from the maximum size of containers in which olive oil may be sold (five litres) to the distance houses have to be from heathland to prevent cats chasing birds (five kilometres)."1
He said, "Individually these rules are comical...As a Minister I've seen hundreds of new EU rules cross my desk, none of which were requested by the UK Parliament, none of which I or any other British politician could alter in any way and none of which made us freer, richer or fairer".2
Speaking of his personal frustration with the restrictions placed upon us he said "Every single day, every single minister is told: 'Yes Minister I understand, but I'm afraid that's against EU rules'."3
Our Greatest Concern
Our greatest concern in this magazine is with the spiritual state of the nation and whether or not decisions regarding its future destiny are in line with the word of God and are likely to have his blessing.
We were greatly concerned during the prolonged negotiations leading up to the Maastricht Treaty, when there were a number of attempts to get some reference in the Treaty to the centuries-long Judaeo-Christian tradition shared by all the nations of Europe. This was vehemently resisted by the secular humanists who have gained power among the unelected officials in the European Union.
Attempts to get the EU to recognise the continent's Judaeo-Christian heritage have long been resisted by secular humanists.
Their atheist values have had a fundamental effect in promoting the secularisation of Britain. A recent example is a 2010 case law challenge to the EU 'Charter of Fundamental Rights' (that became binding in December 2009) from Austria which, though unsuccessful, did lead the European court to affirm same-sex relationships as a valid form of family life protected by fundamental human rights:
61. Regard being had to Article 9 of the Charter ["The right to marry and the right to found a family shall be guaranteed in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of these rights"]...the Court would no longer consider that the right to marry enshrined in Article 12 must in all circumstances be limited to marriage between two persons of the opposite sex...4
This opened the door for a challenge to the law in Britain restricting marriage to persons of the opposite gender, paving the way for the Same-Sex Marriage Bill.
UnGodly and Repressive System
When nations deliberately reject the truth of God's word, they put themselves outside the blessing and protection of God. This is what has happened in Europe, which has gone from being the most Christian continent in the world to the most secular.
Today the nations of Europe are facing multiple problems as they struggle to cope with a vast influx of migrants, high unemployment and growing social discontent, compounded by the desperate attempts to maintain the Euro (which are causing incredible suffering to the poor in countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal).
Of course they all want Britain to stay to help prop up this ungodly and repressive system, which is why all the leaders spent so much time trying to shuffle together a few crumbs for our Prime Minister to take back to London and claim it as a new deal in a "reformed Europe". This is so far from the truth as to be laughable if it were not so serious.
The Prime Minister's 'new deal' is so far from genuine reform as to be laughable – if it were not so serious.
Politicians and leaders of big businesses are combining to try to scare the voting public into remaining in the EU. But the greatest fear is not in leaving, but in staying within a failing organisation. The warning signs have been there for a long time. Now we have the opportunity of escaping before the collapse comes - like Lot getting out of Sodom, or Abraham leaving Ur.
Of course it leads us into unknown territory, but this is where trust in God is far more important than making pacts and treaties with other nations. Jeremiah had to warn the politicians in his day that making treaties with other nations would lead to disaster. He said "The Lord has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them" (Jer 2:37). Sadly, the leaders and the people refused to listen and only a few years later Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians who had invaded the land.
The big question facing us today in Britain is whether or not there is sufficient trust in God for him to be able to lead the nation into ways of righteousness and prosperity.
A Faithful Remnant
God is not dependent upon numbers! He loves to work out his salvation with just a handful of people who are totally committed to him like Gideon's 300; and like the 120 disciples on the Day of Pentecost who shouldered responsibility for the 'Great Commission', taking the message of God's salvation to all the world.
God is mobilising the faithful remnant in Britain today to intercede to save the nation. As the prayers of the faithful saved the nation at the time our soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk and our airmen won the Battle of Britain against the might of the Nazi war machine, so too faithful believing prayer has the power to influence the destiny of the nation.
God is mobilising the faithful remnant in Britain today to intercede to save the nation.
We are being offered just such an opportunity to put our trust in God. Even though we will be treading unfamiliar paths; if we are doing this through trust in God, he will respond and ensure that blessing will come upon the nation.
God is Faithful
The God of Creation, who holds the nations in his hands, is faithful to keep his promises. He says:
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. (Isa 42:16)
He also promises when we put our trust in the Lord, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way; walk in it'" (Isa 30:21).
The faithful remnant of believers in Britain today have the opportunity to bless the nation through their prayers and through their witness; that if we put our trust in the Lord he will lead us, not only into ways of righteousness but into times of prosperity and happiness.
References
1 Apps, P, EU Referendum: Michael Gove's full statement on why he is backing Brexit. The Independent, 20 February 2016.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (case), European Court of Human Rights. A summary can be found on Wikipedia.
Paul Luckraft reviews 'When a Jew Rules the World' by Joel Richardson (WND Books, 2015)
From its intriguing and somewhat provocative title to its final sentence (in which the author expresses his personal longing for the day when indeed Jesus will rule the world) this is an impressive and wide-ranging book on the topic of the role of Israel in God's plan.
The author demonstrates a powerful theological and historical argument for God's sovereign election of Israel and his eternal purposes for them, guiding the reader through the history of the Jewish people and their all-important role in God's future kingdom, when Messiah Jesus will be in complete charge.
He is thoroughly convinced that if the church "is to ever regain the clarity and prophetic spirit it needs to navigate the dark days ahead" then it must reject the false doctrine of replacement theology and begin the process of cleansing "by acknowledging Israel as the essential thread that runs throughout the Lord's unfolding promise-plan of redemption" (p6). He hopes this book will help to combat the ignorance and arrogance whose consequences have been seen throughout history and which are likely to be repeated in the days ahead.
This is an impressive and wide-ranging book which guides readers through the history of the Jewish people and their role in God's future kingdom.
Surveying History and Theology
The book is in three parts. The first outlines what the Bible says about Israel in the plan of God, including a discussion of each of the main covenants found in the Old Testament and a look ahead to what is promised in the new covenant, including the restoration of the Jewish Kingdom.
As he examines the Biblical covenants with Abraham, Moses and David, he doesn't shirk the issues of land and what this will one day mean when Jesus rules the world. Overall in this section he provides a very helpful analysis of the distinctions between these three covenants - and condemns those who blur them into one 'old' covenant.
The second part is an historical survey of what he calls 'Jew-hatred', a term he prefers to 'anti-Semitism' as it is more specific. He asserts that replacement theology, or 'supersessionism' (again, his preferred terminology), is at the heart of this Jew-hatred, being both its foundational principle and constant driving force. The details here are largely familiar and are found in many other similar works of this kind, but it is an essential part of his overall thesis. He tackles the atrocities in their usual chronological order, from 115 AD and the early Church Fathers, via Constantine and onwards to Luther and the Reformation, the Russian pogroms and finally, of course, the Holocaust.
Richardson examines the distinctions between God's covenants with Abraham, Moses and David, condemning their blurring into one 'old' covenant.
The third section is largely a consideration of Biblical prophetic passages. Richardson's conviction is that we must take the Bible literally wherever possible and that these things will happen. As a consequence of this belief, Jesus will one day rule from Jerusalem. The only way to avoid this conclusion is to spiritualise the promises God gave to Israel, and create a preterist or amillennial theology (these terms are clearly explained!). The author declares that the only way to combat the errors of replacement theology is by advocating a thoroughly restorationist, futurist, pre-millennialist position (again, all is made clear early on, in chapter 2).
The author attacks logically but lovingly those who distort clear biblical truth. He is prepared to name them while recognising that they do hold their beliefs most sincerely. However, he points out that "even the most brilliant mind is at a profound disadvantage when defending something that is not true" (p62). A gifted eloquence is no substitute for truth.
The book analyses what the Bible says about Israel - including its future - and surveys anti-Semitism through the ages.
Islamic 'Replacement Theology'
His book includes an interesting chapter on Islamic supersessionism, showing how Islam has embraced its own form of replacement theology over both Jews and Gentiles. Within this he remarks how the Islamic view of the end-times changes the role of Jesus on his return from that of Jewish King to Muslim preacher and judge - no longer a Jew ruling the world but an advocate of Islam!
There is a very good section on many of the great teachers and preachers who predicted the re-establishment of Israel, such as JC Ryle, Charles Spurgeon and David Baron. He also upholds Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Corrie Ten Boom as two shining examples for our day.
Towards the end he issues a warning to those interested in biblical prophecy and apocalyptic matters that it is so easy to approach all this "in a factual, yet deeply detached and emotional manner" and forget that we "are speaking of real families, real people, real lives. If discussing these things does not fill our hearts with sorrow or drive us to our knees in prayer, then it is clear that we are not seeing them through the eyes of the Father or His Son, Jesus" (p234-5).
Excellent from start to finish - thoroughly recommended to anyone who wants to understand better the relationship of Israel to Bible prophecy.
Thoroughly Recommended
Here is a well-informed approach to the topic - clear and very readable. Richardson knows what needs to be said and how to say it for our benefit and edification. His book has good endnotes and a general index, though not a bibliography or scripture index. Clearly he has thought through in detail what it means to believe in a Jewish kingdom within the Millennium, and he is able to reassure us that the olive tree into which we are grafted is not dead or uprooted.
Excellent from start to finish, this book is thoroughly recommended to anyone who wants to understand better the relationship of Israel to Bible prophecy.
Hardback, 273 pages, available from Awesome Books for £13.43 + P&P, or from Amazon for £18.58.