|
SELAH 3
Why do the nations rage .... I have set My King on My Holy Hill ...
Readers will recall an earlier `In Brief' and our reply to the remark made to us `We must pray for Brexit'. You may also recall what appeared to be our somewhat curt reply, `Why'. This reply was not intended to be offensive but only to encourage our sister to stop and consider the implications of what `we must pray' for. We were aware that many repeat ad- nauseum what various `ministries' are saying, with often lurid stories to shock the mind, as at that time we were ourselves gathering our thoughts together for a longer-than-usual `Church Letter' - which may be sent out at some time in the future. As there seems to be a very `divided camp' among Christians as to what we must or must not do over Brexit we recall a remark of a wise man, now in Glory and at his rest. He once said, `We only read articles and commentaries written by people who agree with our opinions' - and so we write this `In Brief' to add to the divided camp!
We ourselves take the position that what we call history is really His-story concerning His Chosen People Israel, as He works in and through the nations of the world to care, protect, guide and chasten where necessary to bring them into the fulness of what the Lord has intended for them. Any actions involving these nations of the world have this overriding purpose and are certanly not intended to bring about a Staus Quo Ante, nor is it because these nations were once used to further His purpose. Therefore to exhort Christians living in Great Britain that they `must pray for Brexit' must surely have this in mind, and anything less could well bring forth another seemingly curt question, `Why'? Furthermore we write on the basis of there being only one Israel, one Chosen People - the `broken-off branches' who have refused to accept Jesus as their Saviour, and the Redeemed Israel, the `grafted and re-grafted-in branches' of those who have. Both are within God's purposes as He works through the nations to bring `all Israel to be saved'. As we approach the End of the Age we know that following the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in AD 70 the Great Diaspora of the Jewish people occurred, and even with the establishment of the political and secular State of Israel in 1948 this is still the case for the majority of the broken-off branches of Israel. This indicates that what is happening in the political affairs of the nations, including our own Brexit, has within them the purpose of God in His Redemptive Plan for all His people. Our prayers concerning Brexit must therefore have within them this understanding.
With this in mind we are considering three momentous events concerning Jerusalem which spanned one hundred and fifty years and were set within Scriptural cycles of the Jewish Year. During the long centuries of the Great Diaspora the central hope of the Jewish people was a return to their Promised Land and for a Kinsman Redeemer, who would establish the Kingdom of God in Jerusalem with a restored Temple where they could worship their God. But how could this happen as Jersualem lay `trodden down by the Gentiles' and its Temple was in ruins? Certainly in the 20th century Jerusalem lay under the control of the Gentiles, being no more than a run-down outpost of the decaying Ottoman Empire which was heavily involved in the 1914-1918 Great War, which at that time was drawing to a close. In 1917 the British General Allenby together with his troops stood at the very `Gates of Jerusalem', and on 11th December 1917 Jerusalem fell to the armies of General Allenby, breaking off the yoke of the Ottomans but leaving Jerusalem and the surrounding areas ravished by war. Our reader will recall that according to Leviticus 25 every 49 years the Israelites were commanded to declare a Jubilee Year on the following 50th year. However, although man counts in cycles of 49 years the LORD `counts' time in cycles of 50 years, with this last year layered onto the end of the 49th year and onto the beginning of the first year of the new cycle of 49 years, thus showing this 50th year to be the LORD's day of Redemption.
In the Jewish cycle of years 1917 was a Jubilee Year, in which according to Torah all possessions in the hands of others are returned to their original owners, and so here in 1917 Jerusalem was returned to the Jewish people as custodians, as promised by the LORD. Coinciding with this, the actual date on which this redemption took place was the beginning of the Festival of Hanukkah, which celebrates the earlier victory of the Maccabee family over the occupying Greek armies of the Selucid Empire under the leadership of Antiochus Ephipannes. It was he who defiled the Temple, seeking to destroy the Jewish religion and their worship of the One True God. In their victory the Maccabees believed that in throwing off the Selucid yoke they were at last establishing the Kingdom of God, free from all outside oppression and rule. Our reader will recall that during the Babylonian captivity the Jewish people, being without the Temple or the Ark of God's Presence, kept their trust and hope alive by focussing on the Menorah. Now the Maccabees, not knowing what to do, had stones from the desecrated altar prepared by the priests, and upon those stones they placed a Menorah of seven candles lit by an eighth Servant Candle. But as in those earlier Maccabeean times the Kingdom was not fully restored, so here in 1917, even with Jerusalem restored to the Jewish people on the Festival of Hanukkah, the Kingdom of God was still not established, for Jerusalem was to be kept under the control of the British Empire.
With that in mind we move on to another Jubilee Year of 1967, when following the `Six Day War' East Jerusalem was restored to Israel, now a unified Nation formed by world agreement in 1948. Following this war Jerusalem was declared by the Israeli Government to be the Eternal Undivided Capital of the Nation of Israel. In that same year of 1967 another `event' occurred which also involved the two halves of the one Israel - that is, the `broken-off branches' of unbelieving Israel and the `re-grafted-in branches' of Israel, those who had believed in and accepted Jesus as Messiah and Saviour. 1967 also saw the beginning of a Fourty Year Probation Period which was to be the testing of the belief and fidelity of those two halves of the one Israel. This Probation saw a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit all over the world, which was and still is today erroneously spoken of as `the Charismatic Movement' by the Western Church, and which is still being debated today.
But in the `Heavenly Jerusalem' the Lord had released more than a `movement'. This was a spiritual Declaration of the soon-return of Messiah Jesus to take up His Throne in Jerusalem. The release of the Holy Spirit in 1967 was the Enabling Power to bring His `broken-off' people back to the Land for them to understand that the long hoped-for Kingdom of God was close and for them to prepare for His Coming. That same Move of the Holy Spirit was to release the same enabling power to His `Redeemed branches' in prevailing prayer and proclamation for that Aliyah of His broken-off branches to be brought into glorious fulfillment before they, the Redeemed Israel, their work completed, would be `caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be with Him forever'.
We move into yet another Jubilee Year, that of 2017, where in early December of that year the President of the United States of America announced his country's acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and its plans to relocate its Embassy to that city. Later in that same month the United Nations Security Council debated a Resolution seeking to renounce and overturn America's Declaration. The Resolution was accepted by all the Security Council memebers, apart from America which used its veto to defeat the Resolution. And so in the 2017 Jubilee Year we see the LORD speaking through America of His Declaration concerning Jerusalem, and the world, speaking through the United Nations Security Council, seeking to overturn the LORD's Declaration!
We have set out three successive Jubilee years concerning the sovereignty of Jerusalem, with the spiritual understanding that a Kingdom yet to come has been declared in the Heavenly Throne-room of the LORD God of Israel - that its King is coming to take up His earthly Throne - and the world's openly defiant refusal to accept this, thereby invoking a judgement to come upon the world. Both the broken-off branches and the redeemed branches of the one Israel failed to fully understand the events of 1967, both revelling in their own `restoration' - which will be `shaken', for the LORD's purposes will prevail. Yet within those `two halves of the one' there has always been a remnant throughout the Ages, who through hope and trust were given an understanding of the Ages.
" Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing . . . . .
against the LORD and against His anointed . . . . . Yet I have set
My King on My Holy Hill of Zion . . . . . and blessed are those
who put their trust in Him. "
Selah!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
|
You may E-mail us at: derek@northernstyletrust.com or Telephone (01493) 444494 (UK)
Our Web Address: www.northernstyletrust.com
|
