Praise God!
God bless you all as you celebrate Messiah our Passover, who rose from the grave, and is now seated at the right hand of God, the Earth being His footstool!(1Cor 15:12-23)
Our Passover celebration seder (special order of the meal) was not a traditional telling of the great foundational event of YHVH God’s intervention to do what no other god so-called has done: to demonstrate His faithfulness to His people and nation and family with great power and an out-stretched hand by rescuing them out from another land and nation where they had been living for 400 years, most of them in hard labor as slaves. YHVH made His name great (until even today!) among the gentiles and among His own Israel/Jewish people by what He did to Pharaoh and to Egypt. Rahab the harlot testified to this very thing when the two Israeli spies came to her house. We focused on the ongoing out-working of the significance of the blood of the Passover lambs which the children of Israel needed not only to slaughter and eat, but also to sprinkle its blood on the doorposts of their homes. It required faith in the word of the LORD to the people through Moses, and also obedience to the word, lest they suffer the same death sentence of the first-born of the Egyptian families and of the animals.
This is true for us as believers in the Lamb of God, Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on the cross for us in order to be forgiven and saved from the judgment of eternal death and separation from the one true God, but which blood we must apply to our own hearts and minds by obedience to the faith in order to be passed over when the judgment day of the Day of YHVH (the Day of Atonements/Yom haKippurim) comes. The bitter herbs of life under war, suffering, death, disappointment, grief, trauma, oppression is mixed with the sweet good things of life which God our Father in Heaven bestows upon the both the good and the evil. Our outlook by living faith and hope in the gospel is for that which is perfect to come beyond the temporary suffering of this present evil age. (1 Cor 13:8-13)
We celebrated by the mercies of God in Beer Sheva without any alerts or sirens of incoming ballistic cluster bomb missiles or rockets from Iran, or from Yemen, or from Lebanon. This was not so in the center and the north of Israel. Our two daughters and their families came down from the center, and we also invited some “alone” brothers and sisters from Nachalat Yeshua/Yeshua’s Inheritance Congregation to join us. It was a very hopeful memorial celebration (like the Lord’s Supper is intended to be), and we told our children and our childrens’ children and the Gentile Christians with us of our great God and Savior for His chosen people and nation, and for those among the nations who are called by His Name, and enter into His plan of redemption along with the Jewish people.
The ongoing war with Iran by the United States and Israel (plus, for Israel, against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas’ efforts to regroup in Gaza) has brought accolades from at least the American government as to the strength and capabilities of Israel’s military forces, especially the Air Force, which is most engaged in this war till now. Israel is being ranked as the world’s second most powerful military, behind America, of course. Israel is very proud about this: a ragtag group of slaves brought out of Egypt about 3470 years ago (1446 BC); 10 of its 12 Tribes exiled by the Assyrians about 2750 years ago (722 BC); the Jewish people of Judah taken captive by Babylon for 70 years until 536 BC; the Romans taking most of the remaining Jewish people captive in 70 AD, lasting officially for about 1800 years until the first wave of immigration back to the Land of Covenant Promise in 1882; the Nazis wiping out 2/3 of European Jewry during the Holocaust in WWII; YHVH God keeping His covenant faithfulness to return His scattered people back to His land despite their present unbelief and unrighteousness — ALL THIS under the sovereign direction of the Creator and Redeemer — becoming reckoned by the world’s current idealized superpower as the second mightiest military in the world, and a willing and capable partner in helping fight the enemies of the Judeo-Christian people and civilization!
What an accomplishment! What respect! So what! Just to continue to find itself set up for a huge let-down that always comes after the pride of self and of life? Such are the ways of the holy and righteous God we know and serve. God has not called His people to be like the Gentiles, but to be a holy nation for His glory. Nonetheless, Israel is YHVH God’s earthly army, and He has made the descendants of those dry bones brought out of the Holocaust into “an exceedingly great army”. (Ex 7:3-5; Ezek 37:1-10) He is using this small-in-size Jewish military (army, navy, air force, intelligence, cyber) to demonstrate to all that HE is in this people, and HE is stirring up the envy and hatred of them by their successes in every field of endeavor; not only surviving but thriving, which His and their enemies cannot abide. The Judge will judge Christians for their attitude and actions towards His chosen “least of His brethren”; He will judge His Jewish brethren in the flesh for their continuing unbelief in Him, and their own attitudes and actions towards Christians — spiritual seed of Abraham through having the faith of Abraham in the true God, the Creator, who is also the God of Israel; He will judge the nations and Gentiles-at-large for their attitudes towards the nation of Israel and the Jewish people living among them. No one is hidden from His sight, with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:11-16)
In these last days heralds and trumpet calls are going out calling all people everywhere to repent, for the Kingdom of God/Heaven is at hand! (Mt 19:23-26) To friend and foe, to Jews and non-Jews, to white and people of color, to haves and to have-nots, to religious, to philosophers, to barbarians — this message is the same: “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
This current war with Iran, Hezbollah, Houthis is already a cause of far-reaching consequences for the world’s economy and food supply. In the God of Armies/Hosts knowledge of war and peace, He is overseeing all things in order that the Scriptures will be fulfilled precisely according to His written Word and will. There are indications leading towards fulfilling Dan 8: a resumption of daily sacrifices by Daniel’s people (8:8-14), which probably necessitates a strong right-wing religious nationalist government in Israel, and an exceptional treaty, or agreement of one already existing. (Dan 9:27); and, where Iran attacks its Islamic neighboring countries (which it has already been doing in this war), and no one can stop it — not the US and not Israel, nor any other “animal”. (Dan 8:4)
I could be off the mark, but I do believe we are moving into unprecedented times which will be very challenging for us, and our love relationship with the Lord will be paramount to overcome what has not been before.
We pray and hope that the circumstances of the current situation will improve so that the Home Front Command can issue updated directives allowing for a congregation our size to meet, whether or not there is a secure shelter near enough for everyone to get into it safely should there be an incoming missile attack. Such is life in the “Holy Land”! We have six mothers-in-waiting, and thanking God for the fruitfulness and additions. Prospects of dying and living all around us. Bitter herbs with the sweet mixture.
In His joy of the hope set before us by the Author and Finisher of our faith!