Favor of Zion

Friendship with Israel requires passion!

Ever had a friendship that couldn't be conquered by distance?  If you have, you know the joy of getting to be with that person--seeing how such opportunities would be scarce.  You treasure every moment together.  You can't wait to see each other again.  You know that when you do reunite, it'll be as though you'd never parted company.

That's how it feels to be in Israel.  If you're Jewish--or if you are a Gentile who follows the Jewish Messiah and loves His people--you are connected to the Land of Israel.  If you're Jewish, your connection to the Land is your inheritance--and has been for centuries.  If you're a Gentile who loves Israel, your connection to the Land comes through your connection to Abraham, Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles.  Either way, it's a heart connection that cries out for you to be in the Land at some point.  And then, after you've been once, you can't wait to be there again!

But friendship with Israel isn't like just any friendship.  It requires you to make a choice.

For one thing, traveling to Israel requires money.  Unless you know people there, your first trip may well be a tour that will cost $3000 per person at minimum.  That's not easy for most of us to come up with even in good economic times--let alone the times we are currently experiencing!  You'll have to sacrifice.  You'll have to commit to putting money aside.  You may even have to ask friends and families for help.  You will likely have to step out in faith and trust that God will provide the means for you to go.

Traveling to Israel requires courage.  Though the Land is normally safe to travel in, let's face it:  Israel is surrounded by enemies committed to her destruction.  Scenes from the evening news don't help--especially when the only mention of Israel is in connection with wars, intifadas, and bus bombings.  Even in times of peace you may get hit with questions from well-meaning friends and loved ones about why you'd be so crazy to "such a dangerous place."  (Never mind that Israel is by and large much safer than the average U.S. interstate!)

And that's where the main ingredient comes in:  PASSION!  Israel both arouses and requires passion.  She arouses passion because the God Who gave birth to her arouses passion.  Why else would she be so hated by many--and yet be loved by many at the same time?  Likewise, she requires passion because her God requires passion. 

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"?

Israel for the brokenhearted

Do you really want to carry God's heart for His chosen people?  Do you really want intimacy with Him at the same time? 

If yes, then I say: come to the Land.  But be warned: you will truly never be the same.  Your heart will, as the saying goes, become broken with the things that break His heart.

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 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.

Israel's God--and yours

Do you ever feel small, weak, and with little or no influence?  If you do, let me encourage you to consider Israel.

Israel is one of the tiniest countries on the face of the earth (click here for details).  Well, despite the fact that it is smaller than 99 other nations, it: produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation in the world; has the 2nd-largest number of startup companies in the world (bested only by the U.S.--a nation 768 times larger than her); is a world leader in technologica and scientific advances to fight water shortage, viruses, smallpox, high blood pressure, paralysis.  And this is just a tiny sampling of all the incredible contributions of this tiny nation.

The Jewish people are one of the tiniest clans on the face of the earth, numbering roughly .2% (that's 2/10 of 1%) of the entire earth's population.  Yet from her ranks have come 23% of Nobel Prize winners since 1901.  Roughly 20% of all Ivy League students are Jewish.  8% of the current U.S. Congress is comprised of Jewish representatives and senators. 

And you think YOU'RE small and insignificant?

Listen to these words:  "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.  The LORD your God chose you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.  The LORD did not set His affection on you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But it was because the LORD loved you, and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers."   (Deuteronomy 7:6-8--emphases mine).

These words capture why it is that Israel and the Jewish people wield such disproportianate influence in our world.  They also capture why it is that Israel and the Jewish people capture such a disproportionate amount of hatred in the world as well.

If you are a follower of Israel's God, you are NOT small and insignificant.  You wield influence--and capture hatred--disproportionate to your numbers.