Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored..The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
As we are about to step into the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths, or Sukkot), the last of the Lord’s Feasts known as Seasons (Mowed), meaning divine appointment with God in Gen 1:14. These Appointments were further clarified by God to Moses in Leviticus 23 as Holy Convocations (Miqrah). These prophetic dress rehearsals foreshadowed God’s redemptive plan before God created man.
Jesus fulfilled four of the seven feasts. Passover – When He died on the cross. Unleavened Bread in the tomb. First Fruits – in His resurrection. And finally, Pentecost. The first Pentecost was the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was fulfilled by the giving of the Holy Spirit in the upper room.
Now Trumpets– Jesus’s return, Atonement– judgement, Tabernacles– millennial rest remain. That Jesus fulfilled the first four gives us assurance that He will fulfilled the remaining three.
For those Christians who question the role of Israel and the Jews in God’s redemptive plan, Romans 11 makes it clear that God has in no way rejected them. We gentile believers are grafted in.
do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Romans 11:18
Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Romans 11:25
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:28-29
If Israel has accepted their messiah when He came, there would have been no opportunity for gentiles like me to be saved. Hence, God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
In the meantime, I am supposed to provoke the Jews to jealousy so that they might know their Messiah and be saved. Sounds like a great plan.
However, enemies of the Gospel translates to
“They want me dead.”
They want me dead, just like they wanted Jesus dead in Mark 3.
Even more confusing is the prophetic conclusion of Isaiah 19.
In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
Isaiah 19:24:25
If Israel is God’s chosen people, then why does He call them the third?
When I read the Sermon on the Mount or John 3, it seems to me that God wants to reconcile Abraham’s broken, dysfunctional family. That means Issac and Ishmael, not just Isaac. Wasn’t it Abraham to whom God said, ‘He would bless those who bless Him and curse those who curse Him’ in Genesis 12?
And who exactly was Jesus referring to as the least of His brethren at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount in Mathew 25? Do we really believe He was thinking of addicts and inmates? Or was He referring to the Jews who were about to demand His crucifixion and eventually the death of His followers?
As we enter into the dress rehearsal of God’s coming rest, I am struggling. I am struggling with the political propaganda consumed by Western Christians who conflate the utter atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon. Granted, most of their opinions are shaped by internet algorithms. Still, it’s not hard to find videos of young Israelis and Israeli soldiers mocking children they have killed because even babies are Hamas. There is a new film, not yet available in the US, made by Israeli whistleblowers regarding the genocide in Gaza and now in Lebanon.
Does that mean I am on the side of Hamas or Iran? No! I can’t make sense of how or why anyone would think that the political nation of Israel is any better. As Christians, do we really think that God is pleased with all the killing?
There’s another thing that I find confusing.
When we were in Israel for Purim in 2018, I was so excited to visit as an American friend of Israel. We stayed in a hotel full of Orthodox Jews celebrating God’s saving hand in the Book of Ester. Imagine my surprise when I found them to be the rudest and meanest people I encountered in Israel. Ironically, the Muslims and Palestinians we met were the friendliest. For the record, I hadn’t yet studied Romans 11 in depth, and I was truly taken aback.
To date, approximately fifty thousand of the seventy-three thousand deaths in Gaza have been civilians. In Lebanon, approximately one thousand of the four thousand deaths are civilians. And yet I see here Christian pastors justifying and even celebrating the actions of the state of Israel because God is on their side. Was God on the side of Ahab and Jezebel simply because they were Israeli?
Really?!
Can you please cite a scripture in the New Testament, The Gospel of the Kingdom whose founder and King said,
My Kingdom is not of this world. If it where my followers would fight for me.
John 18:36
As for those who quote Jesus in telling the disciples to bring a sword to the Garden of Gethsemane, He rebuked Peter for using it, Luke 22:52, Mathew 26:53.
“No more of this!” Meant exactly that!
Why does this matter? Because countless people are rejecting Jesus because of the words and actions of ill-informed Christians who have conflated the earthly behavior of the Israeli government with the will of Jesus. They look at the church and see the justification, if not the celebration, of genocide. Political influences mock people like me as rejected by God because I reject the behavior of politicians and soldiers
I don’t hate Israel, Jews, Palestinians, Iranians, Chinese, or any other person on earth. Not because I am loving. But because God is loving. I endeavor to obey God because I fear Him.
As the Feast of Tabernacles begins tomorrow, September 25th, I am stepping out of any temptation to pick a side in any earthly conflict. I will not celebrate the death of any Muslim or Arab—Palestinian, Hezbollah, or Jew or any other human being on earth. I will not root for any side in a conflict against another. I will not be a hackable animal programmed by a sewer-stream media psyop.
Chew on that!
