THE CHURCH AND THE ISRAEL OF GOD…..Introduction…continued….

   Is there any need to rehearse these written censures, calumnies and diatribes directed against the Jews ? Yes,-because nearly all the general and detailed histories of Europe either delicately ignore them or maintain a total indifference towards this ancient antipathy. Written hostility often a release or expression in the ill-treatment inflicted upon the Jews throughout their sojournings in Europe, in the form of expulsions,confiscation of property, pogroms and massacres.

    One instance will suffice: several excellent and well-researched histories of the Crusades have been published recently. None allude to the massacres and pogroms launched upon the Jewish communities in Europe. During the first Crusade 7000 Jews were lynched in the Rhinelands and 400 were murdered while sheltering in the synagogue in Jerusalem. There were massacres in England during the third Crusade; other massacres took place during the abortive Crusades of 1236 and 1309. During the progress of the “ Shepherds’ Crusade “ of 1320  at least 140 Jewish communities were destroyed in the south of France and near the Spanish frontier with the loss of 30,000 lives . Before the Crusaders set out to engage in murder and mayhem their recruiting cry was “God wills it !”  The spoken word unsheathed a thousand swords; the written word ignited a Holocaust.

    If I may pre-empt some part of my conclusion, may I then affirm that it is now more apparent than ever in this “end-time” for Christians to heed an urgent call to respond in Israel’s favour through prayers of intercession, by practical encouragement  as they face hostile neighbours, and by proclaiming the offer of salvation by the grace of God through faith in their true Messiah Jesus.

     In our recent history God is receiving the glory by His unambiguous fulfilment of prophecy by restoring Israel to its ancient land, and thus “ preparing the way for the Lord” and by “ making straight in the desert a highway for our God”. The faithful remnant of Israel and the Church can then unite in the final prayer of the Bible,-“ Amen, come Lord Jesus.”  Only at His coming in glory will true peace and justice be established in Jerusalem and throughout the world.

    It is therefore imperative now for all Christians to offer prayer and support for Israel, and so hasten the day when  “all Israel shall be saved”(  Romans ch.11,v26), which event will be the climax of our history and “life from the dead” for all peoples on the earth.