Summary…contd…

     It is clear also that the churches have a God-given function or office with respect to the Jewish people, and it is to be the “shamash”, – the ninth and central candle on the hanukkia, the nine branched candelabra, which is symbol of Israel’s faith in God. The ninth light is the servant light from which all the other candles are ignited. The churches are in that privileged position of being able to display the True Light “ which gives light to every man” – Jesus the Light of the World. The real and desperate but unspoken need of the Jewish people is to see the True Light shining out for them from our churches to guide the blind out of darkness into the new and living Way .

    Jesus the true Messiah came with the mission first to seek and to save “ the lost sheep of the house of Israel” –(See Matthew,ch,10,v.6; ch.15,v.24; Romans ch.1,v.16 and Jeremiah ch.50,v.6; Ezekiel ch.34,v.6) The churches if they are to remain faithful to their calling from God must lead the people of Israel with “cords of human kindness, with ties of love.” (Hosea,ch.11,v.4) and remind His people that God has made a “ new covenant with the house of Israel” for He has “  made the first one obsolete ; and what is obsolete and ageing  will soon disappear.” That new covenant of grace is offered to Israel and all peoples ; it is a salvation by grace alone, not on account of any human merit, or by virtue of any human suffering or trial. Eternal salvation is offered to all  men by God’s grace through faith in the sacrificial, substitutionary and vicarious death of Jesus Christ.

      This present generation of “ liberal “ and nominal Christians who thrive in some churches seem to be unconscious or forgetful in regard to the church’s debt to Israel. They are also indifferent to the need to support Israel in its fight for survival in the midst of many hostile neighbours.This is not a call to endorse all the policies and political activities of the government of Israel. Strangely, also many churches have fallen into a state fond forgetfulness in regard to the collective responsibility for the historic abuse heaped upon the Jewish people. The true church of born-again believers is one invisible and indivisible body, whether parts of it lived in the first, tenth or twentieth centuries. That church should now bring before God a plea for pardon for the past mistreatment of His chosen people by those who in the past claimed to be Christians.

   By way of conclusion it can be said that the response of Christians today should be : repentance towards God and the people of Israel, acceptance of Israel as His chosen people, intercession for that people, and an active Christian outreach to them.

   Any Christian could become prolix at this point, and I believe that the final words in this brief discussion are best left to the “ unacknowledged legislators of the world” and the true prophets of this present age ,- the poets and hymn-writers, some of whom are quoted below .

    “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah. “Here is your God  !”  His NAME IS JESUS.  YESHUA HA MASHIACH.

    ( Isaiah ch.40,v.9 )

 

       “NACHAMU, NACHAMU, I- MI “ ( literal translation :- “Comfort, comfort My people with Me.” –Isaiah ch.40.,v.1)

Summary…contd….

    “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion, “ declares the Lord.” (Jer.ch.51,v.24.)

   “There I will enter into judgement against them ( all nations,) concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land.”( Joel,ch.3,v.2.)  Most of the nations,even now, are intent on “ dividing up” the land of Israel among her Arab neighbours !

   “I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added  to the calamity.”(Zech.ch.1,v.14-15)

    “I was angry with My people and desecrated My inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy….A  calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom.”( Isaiah,ch.47,v.6, & 11)

      Basilea Schlink has reminded everyone :” Israel is, and always will be the first-born son. Though the Jews have been two thousand years under God’s chastening hand, they were no less precious to the Father during this time of judgement…. And if in the trials of the Dispersion it appeared that the Jews were no longer beloved by God, in actual fact such times were a proof that they were dearly beloved as the chosen ones of God.  Only because God loved them did He chasten them.” ( “Israel, My Chosen People;” p.74; Kanaan Publications ,2000)

      The Holocaust seems to point up and crystallise the essence of all the sufferings inflicted upon the Jewish people over many centuries, and it now presents a fourfold message to all European Christians. If we now fail to respond to that message it may be that the revival or spiritual awakening which these same Christians are dreaming of will be withheld from us by the Judge of all the earth. European “Christianised” culture is the beneficiary of many centuries of Biblically inspired law-making,devotional and expository scholarship,hymnody,liturgy,traditions, revivals and missionary outreach to the ends of the world, and yet it is now lapsing into spiritual impotence and complacency as the Christians living in the third-world lands suffer persecution and oppression. Even more harmful is the accommodation and compromise with alien religions, and with the mores and culture of this present evil “world.”

 

(TO BE CONTINUED…)

Summary… contd.

     It is evident that  Christians and Jews share a common base in the Old Testament scriptures with its promises, commands and admonitions , but they are united also throughout history in the bond of suffering for their faith and its traditions.  The numbers of Jewish people who have suffered in Europe in massacres, pogroms, torture, expulsions, forced baptism and expropriation of goods is quite unknown, apart from he six millions who died in the Holocaust. The proportion of Jews who have died is far higher than that among Christians , although it has been estimated that during the two millennia seventy million Christians have died for the name of the Lord Jesus.Even in the twentieth century forty-five millions have suffered for His name, and each year from 2000 at least 200,000 Christians have been martyred ( according to the Voice of the Martyrs, Christian Solidarity  Worldwide and Release International.) In the 1970’s about 400,000 died for their faith  during the brutal tyranny of Idi Amin in Uganda. During the recurring persecution of Armenian Christians in the old Turkish empire the sufferings of that small minority during jihad against them are unimaginable. The figures do not convey the realities: 1894-96….150,000 died; 1908-09 …..30,000 died; 1915… 800,000 died ; 1916-1918… 300,000 died; 1919-22… 250,000 died. The Turkish authorities and many other governments fail to recognise these atrocities, and the Turkish government does not admit their failure to protect these minorities.