SHABBAT 04.11.2023 By Raphael ben Levi
A post by Daniel Stern’s daughter Shirel:
“I just want to say, that within all this darkness, I found something beautiful. Pride. For the first time in my life, I am truly, unashamedly, proud to be part of the Jewish community.
And we are a community—a strong community of brave, smart, kind, and bold survivors. We haven’t been handed a challenge that we could not overcome. Yes, it took work. Yes, we’ve lost so many of our brothers and sisters on the way, but we survived. And we will keep surviving.
Because we have each other, and we have pride, and we love each other. Through the last two weeks, I have gained so many Jewish followers, all people who I never thought I’d be mutuals with, but who inspire us to be proud of our Jewish Heritage. Who I know I can trust to understand my pain, and who I can put my life in their hands, and I know it will be safe.
I am part of the Jewish community, and it’s something I am proud of because we are survivors.”
On October 7th Israel declared war on Hamas and divided as they were the day before, the nation came together as one. It is something her enemies cannot comprehend because for the Jew every life is sacred – everything else is secondary.
For the first time in history of any country, more people came into a war zone than fled. Reservists flew in from all over the world.
Everybody’s playing their part. Those not in military uniform are volunteering with the war effort distributing, networking, cooking for the soldiers etc. And people in the centre of the country are opening their homes for evacuated families from the border villages – both North and South.
Israel is being flooded with help from abroad including our little congregation of Mekudeshet with funds, equipment, clothing for soldiers, gear etc. So you are also part of the incredible support for Israel both spiritually and practically! Many people have told me they wish they could do more. But all God is asking us as individuals is that we walk in obedience to Him according to our several abilities – not more nor less. The battle is fierce but God is on the throne! “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” – 2 Cor.10:3-5
This is not likely to be a short war and the needs will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Families are displaced, schools are not functioning, parents are unemployed and face daily traumas of bombing and loved ones serving in the army.
For me, one of the most shocking things for those who look on as spectators in the outside world is the ready acceptance of buying into the hatred for the Jewish people often dressed up in fake intellectualism. Many of the universities and colleges today have become breeding grounds for this, resulting in some of the most ugly and violent demonstrations calling for the annihilation of the Jewish people, something I have seen in my entire lifetime that is reminiscent of the Nazi era – unrestricted with participants from every strata in society, world-wide.
It sends shivers through me as I recall growing up with parents who were survivors of the Holocaust, reliving the trauma through them, and now reliving it once more as a reoccurring nightmare and then discovering that it isn’t a nightmare but something that is real. The statistics regarding anti-Semitism speaks for itself – In 2023, South Africa it increased over 500%, USA,1350% with Europe not far behind!
This is what I have been reflecting upon as things are unravelling as I wrote on our Mekudeshet WhatsApp asking myself whether I am over-reacting and struggling alone with all the horror we are witnessing?
We intercede day and night for our beloved Israel and Jewish family world-wide and are physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted as we carry the burden the Lord has placed upon us at this pivotal time in history. Yet it’s a privilege to share in the Fellowship of His Sufferings as we stand as watchmen on the walls in the knowledge that our God is fully in control and is fully in control even when we are surrounded by chaos! So we must stand and having done all, to stand! (Eph.6:14)
I want now to turn to Amos 9:13-15
“Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” Says Adonai. “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel:
“They’ll rebuild their ruined cities.
They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine.
They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.
And I’ll plant them, plant them on their own land.
They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them.”
God, your God, says so.”
Amos was referring to a future restoration for Israel. Up to this point he was prophesying doom and gloom, but now we see a whole paradigm shift. Divine judgment is replaced by blessing at a point where such a thing was an impossibility.
This specific prophecy was fulfilled instantaneously (Isa. 66:8) as a “suddenly” event when Israel was reborn as a Sovereign state in 1948. But not all prophecies are “suddenlies”, some are progressive. The “suddenly” which occurred on May 14th, 1948 saw the rebirth of the state of Israel where she defeated her enemies against impossible odds. But this momentous prophetic event carrying earth shattering implications also heralded the beginning of something containing equal significance which is still unravelling concerning the last generation.
And at the climax of history – at that moment of completion when imminent annihilation stares Israel in the face at the end of the Tribulation period, again our “suddenly” God will intervene as described in Zech.12:10 when the surviving remnant will turn to Yeshua: “I will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son.”
David’s dynasty will finally be re-established at the return of Yeshua, when together with His bride He shall rule and reign against every failed theocracy throughout history, God has promised in (Jer.33). “14 Behold, the days are coming”—it is a declaration of Adonai— when I will fulfill the good word I spoke concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of Righteousness to spring up for David, and He will execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days will Judah be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the Name by which He will be called: Adonai our Righteousness.”
In these current times, many believers are facing unprecedented ‘crises’ in every shape and form but He is calling us to be faithful and steadfast because the battle tis the Lord’s!
Now just a few words on last week’s Torah portion that ties in to what I have been sharing. It begins with an astounding promise from God to a person named Abram contingent to his obedience regarding the command of God: “Lech Lecha” – Go! It was a command that seemed to come out of nowhere; from a person who was nameless and faceless yet from that command emerged a person who became the Patriarch and father of many nations. What did Abram do? He simply responded to God’s Word in faith and his obedience was counted for him as righteousness: “Get yourself out (‘lech lecha’) of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.” (Gen.12:1)
Through Abram’s one act of obedience was birthed a new nation. This occurred shortly after the nations rebelled against God and chose to become gods unto themselves. Of course they failed miserably. This makes the whole scenario with Abram so remarkable since here was only one person among the many who chose to walk God’s pathway instead of his own.
And so, God is calling us as His remnant to “Lech Lecha” and walk faithfully in obedience to His promises for us His redeemed. Abram placed his trust in the One true God against everything that ran contrary to a world filled with evil and self-interest. Unlike Noah whose descendants were righteous and provided him with a godly example such as with Methuselah and Enoch, Abram had no-one.
God was in full control at every step of Abram’s life no matter how hard Satan tried to hinder him. In fact all that Satan sought to use to destroy God’s eternal plans was turned against him! This principle is exactly what Paul stated in Rom. 8: “Everything works together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes!”
Abram took God at His word and ‘crossed over’ into the fullness of his destiny. Not only he, but all of his descendants became inheritors.’He became the first person attributed with the name ‘Hebrew’ (Ivri) meaning, ‘ one who crossed over. ’ Yeshua made this explicit in John 5: “… whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life!”
The portion of ‘Lech Lecha’ spanned Abram’s life between the age of 75 to 99. For most of his life Abram’s destiny was hidden until God revealed it to him through a covenant that led to a name change, Abram to Abraham (Gen.17:5). And even then he had to wait a long time before he would even begin to see its fulfilment it all occurred in God’s perfect timing through a son whom he named Isaac. It’s never too late!!!
At the age of 100, God provided Abraham with a son out of which was birthed the people of Israel. “You shall call his name Isaac and I shall establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”
We may experience occasions in our lives where we have faced impossible situations and things may not always be as we had hoped. And life is not something we can build a theology around whereby we can manipulate God to get our own way. Whatever we are facing right now, God is faithful to provide us with His very best. So much of our walk with God pivots on recognition of this one thing. He is the Resurrection and the Life and when we embrace this reality we will never again remain the same!
