Favor of Zion

Israel is for lovers

Israel is for lovers.  Passionate lovers.  Lovers of her God.  Lovers of her people.  Lovers of her heritage.  Lovers of her destiny.

Take a moment to drink in God's passion for His Land and people with these words:
"'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness'" (Jeremiah 31:3).
"'When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son'" (Hosea 11:1).
"'Therefore I am going to allure her...and speak tenderly to her...then she will sing as in the days of her youth'" (Hosea 2:14).

These are all statements written by the Hebrew prophets as they heard, through the Holy Spirit, God reveal his heart toward Israel.  Can you hear the pathos in these words?  Can you feel the heartthrob?  Does this sound like a dry doctrinal treatise on "God's love for Israel?"  Or does it, as one Israeli author has stated, sound like "a hot-blooded Middle Eastern love story--a divine "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights"?

What's So Special about Israel (part 7)

You invite me over to your house.  I accept the invitation, and upon arrival am struck by the gorgeous paintings you have on your wall.  You graciously offer to let me borrow a few--and even give me info on where I can pick up some originals of that same painting for a discounted price.

I take you up on your invitation to let me borrow some of the paintings.  I bring them home and put them up on my wall for display, so that all who pass through my front door are led to believe they belong to me.  Never once do I mention who I got them from.  Never once do I consider buying the originals for myself and returning the ones I have to their rightful owner.

What chance do you think I have of ever being invited back to your home?  What chance do I ever have of coming in contact with you ever again--except in the courtroom?

What's So Special about Israel (part 6)

"Theirs is...the Temple worship." (Romans 9:4)

A friend of mine who has a heart for seeing Jewish people acknowledge Yeshua was once asked by a Jewish person, "Are you trying to convert the Jews?"  His answer was so precious.  In so many words, he said, "Of course not!  If anything, we Gentiles are the ones who need converting.  If it weren't for the revelation that came from the Jewish people about the one true God, we'd still be worshipping sticks and stones!"

Tell me something: have you ever come out of a worship setting and thought, "Wow, the presence of God was really here"?  If you have, then you know what it's like to be "close to the Fire"--that is, close to the very Presence of the Holy One of Israel!  Imagine being part of not just a congregation, but an entire nation that experienced His Presence!  Imagine being part of an entire nation formed by Him, married to Him, directed by Him, and commissioned by Him to reveal Him to the other nations!  Imagine being part of a nation that has God-ordained priests ministering before Him day and night!

Now consider the nature of this calling: It is irrevocable (Romans 11:29).  No matter how far she has strayed--no matter what her track record through history has been--this calling has not been taken away from her.  She is still called to be a light to the nations.  The Fire is still waiting to burn through her to light up the whole world.  The revival that so many of us have longed for--that so many of us have prayed for--will come only to the extent that Israel is revived.

The ability that you and I have to worship God in the splendor of His holiness, whether alone or in a corporate setting, stems from the revelation He gave of Himself to and through the Jewish nation.  What we know about worship, comes through the Jewish nation.  Without this revelation, we would have no knowledge of Him.  Period.

According to Paul, Israel "holds the keys" to Temple worship.  When we think of the ancient Temple, what comes to mind?  Incense?  Blood altars?  Levites singing Gregorian chants?   

According to Ephesians 2:16, we who are called out by Yeshua are His Temple.  And concerning ancient Israel, I find it interesting that, in the Mosaic books and afterward, the Israelites were constantly referred to as a "congregation."  If I put all this together, I realize that the ancient Temple was not so much a building as it was a place for God to dwell with His congregation.  THIS is what He wants to restore in Israel...and through her to the rest of the world.

What's so special about Israel (part 5)

"Theirs is...the receiving of the Law."

"Oh, how I love Your law!  I meditate on it all day long" (Psalm 119:97).
"I would not have known what sin was except through the law" (Romans 7:7).
"Love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10).
"I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds" (Hebrews 10:16).

What does the concept of law stir up in your mind?  Police cars?  Whippings (or worse) at the hands of authority figures?  Courtrooms?  An angry Moses coming off of the mountain ready to kill the people because of their sin?

Perhaps no issue arouses more controversy in Christian circles than the issue of the Law.  It stirs up more negative emotion in many of us than perhaps any other theological matter.  The notion of law has stirred up so much "angst" in the Body of Messiah that we have elevated our "not being under Law" to being an 11th Commandment! 

How's that for irony--making "not being under Law" a law of its own!  More on that in a few moments.

What's so special about Israel (part 4):

"Theirs...(are)...the covenants" (Romans 9:4).

Just this morning, in my prayer room, I was reminding God of several promises He has made in His Word concerning my wife and I.  Now mind you, our names are not in print in The Book...but they are!  For whenever we see a promise in The Book that pertains to those who fear the Lord, that promise is ours!  Our God is a covenant-keeping God.

But there's a catch...and the catch is found in the phrase quoted above:  "Theirs...(are)...the covenants."  Theirs?  Whose? 

What's so special about Israel (part 3):

"Theirs is the divine glory" (Romans 9:4)

This morning, a friend of mine confided in me that she used to be a "glory chaser."  I knew what she meant--going from conference to conference and movement to movement "chasing the glory"--chasing the signs, the wonders, the healings, and other manifestations of God's power and splendor.  I could relate; there was a time when I went from meeting to meeting "seeking the glory" myself. 

So what does it mean to really "have the glory?"  And what does it have to do with Israel?

What's so special about Israel? (continued)

"Theirs is the adoption as sons."  (Romans 9:4)

As I muse on the subject, "What's So Special About Israel?," my mind goes in many directions.  There's so much I can say on this topic--which is why I'm going to be writing on it for the next few weeks (up to Purim on March 10).  I chuckle as I write, knowing that me calling Israel special is like me calling myself special.  In fact, that's exactly what I'm doing--since I'm a Jew.  But you know what?  I'm calling you special, too.

What's so special about Israel?

What's so special about Israel?  Why do the nations all want "a piece of the action" in determining her fate?

Politically, there may be many answers to this.  Spiritually, there's only one answer--jealousy.

Jealousy is what inspired Haman the Agagite to plan what would have been the first Jewish holocaust some 2400 years ago.  Listen to his justification to the King for the planned mass murder:
"There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them" (Esther 3:8). 

Compare this with the words of the most famous anti-Semite of our day: 
"...there lives amongst us a non-German, alien race which neither wishes nor is able to sacrifice its racial character or to deny its feeling, thinking, and striving....Through thousands of years of the closest kind of inbreeding, Jews in general have maintained their race and their peculiarities far more distinctly than many of the peoples among whom they have lived" (Adolph Hitler--September 1919).

Fast-forward to today.  The Jews now have a homeland.  How do the anti-Semites react?  By claiming the land doesn't belong to the Jews!  Consider these words from Israel's "neighbors" as recorded on Palestinian TV:
"The Islamic Land of Palestine is one and cannot be divided. There is no difference between Haifa and Nablus, Lod and Ramallah, Jerusalem and Nazareth or Gaza and Ashkelon. Palestine is Wakf land that belongs to Moslems throughout the world...Palestine from the sea to the river is Islamic...The Jews gathered from all ends of the earth in our beloved Palestine."

Israel--more than a prophetic timepiece (part 2)

Rejoice greatly, O Daugher of Zion! 
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

This morning, while spending time in prayer, I began to meditate on the scene from that Spring day in Jerusalem some (nearly) 2000 years ago...right before the beginning of the annual Passover celebration.  As Yeshua's young Jewish disciples witnessed Him entering into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, it likely triggered their knowledge of the prophecies taught them as children.  Oh, how their hearts must have jumped, as they say the fulfillment of this word from the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 9:9) coming to pass before their very eyes!  Their long-awaited time of deliverance was immediately at hand!

But wait a minute...stop the music...stop the celebration...for the words out of Yeshua's own mouth as He entered the city paint a different picture:  "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace---but now it is hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42).  What followed was the crucifixion of Jesus at the direction of Jewish leaders, followed by the rejection of the Apostles, followed by the destruction of the city, followed by nearly 1900 years of exile.

Israel--more than a prophetic timepiece

The clock is ticking.  Israel has just engaged in another war.  Her elections are coming up in another week.  The newly-minted Obama administration is turning up the screws on Israel (click here to read more on that). 

I get many inquiries from friends regarding Israel.  Most of them are inquiries about my opinion on Israel's political situation.  Many of them are inquiries into my view about where we are on the end-times prophecy chart vis-a-vis Israel. 

Few people ask me what God's heart is for Israel.  Yet when all is said and done, this is so much more of a crucial issue than politics or prophecy.  To be direct, it is not a crucial issue--it is THE issue.