Yesterday, the eighth and former President of the State of Israel, Moshe Katzav, was convicted as a rapist, sexual harasser, perjurer, and an obstructer of the judicial process. http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=201648
While this reflects favorably on the Israeli system of law — that no one is officially above it — it also demonstrates the sad state of affairs in a country which would allow such a man to rise to such a position of power and influence over a period of many years. Not only is rape, sexual harassment, and adultery too often dismissed in this generation and society — placing many victims into the position of feeling like the perpetrators, which sometimes may also be the common truth — but a nation which has been called and chosen by the Creator and Redeemer of the Heavens and the Earth to be a holy people continues to dimly reflect this reality.
It is often said that Israel is called to be a “light to the Gentiles”, but the Scriptures actually show that the Messiah Himself — the true Servant and Elect One who embodies all that Israel is to be — HE is the One given as the Light:
Is 42:6-7 I, YHVH, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people (Israel), as a light to the Gentiles; to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
Is 49:5-6 And now YHVH says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of YHVH, and My God shall be My strength), indeed He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the Earth”.
The whole of the Bible shows clearly the spiritual condition of God’s people — whether Israel/Jews or the Church/Christians — and our need of repentance unto salvation and/or unto humble obedience in the fear of God. Israel’s democracy is flawed, as are others who consider this form of government to be the ideal. Yet God has not called Israel to emulate the Gentiles, but to be a kingdom of priests, and to return unto His righteous rule, with YHVH Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) being her King in truth. The ignoble conviction of Israel’s “Public Citizen #1” only further testifies to that.
Israel is in need of new birth, not merely correction and fixing. She is in need of healing, not outwardly and physically only, but inwardly and spiritually. She needs a new heart and a new spirit, even the Spirit of the God and Savior who still loves her for His holy name’s sake, and for the sake of the fathers — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel.
Israel’s reflection of the true light is dim indeed: she has preferred the works of darkness, rather than come to Him who is the True Light, whose life is the light of men. All of her contributions to the benefit of the world’s peoples are as dead works, since they are done for her own praise and not for the praise of Him who has enabled her. The former glory is fading and passing away, that the true glory may shine in its eternal fullness!
2Pt 1:19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Yesterday’s harsh verdict against the former Israeli President, Moshe Katzav, is a self-indictment: we can not save ourselves however we may wishfully hope. God has made it profoundly simple: there is only one name by which anyone can be saved — Yeshua/Jesus! Thank God for His love and faithfulness to keep His covenants, and may this next year see many more Gentiles and Jews come to His Light, shining like the sun in its strength.
