Comfort My people

 

Is 40:1-2

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.

The book of Ruth is a prophetic revelation of the relationship between Jew and Gentile – what it was, what it is, and what it is supposed to be. It is a love story, telling of a love between a Jew and a Gentile. But when we understand the prophetic application of who the characters represent, it becomes a telling of epic proportions, involving God, the nation of Israel, and all believers in Jesus Christ.

The story begins with a Jewish woman, called Naomi, who follows her husband, Elimelech, to live as a stranger in a foreign land. Naomi represents the nation of Israel, Elimelech means my God is King, therefore their union shows that Israel is in a covenant of marriage with God. Naomi’s husband dies there, and she has to live in this country of strangers in great sadness and tribulation, which is the picture of Israel as a nation living without their God because of their idolatry and having to live in foreign countries in great pain and sorrow. Enter Ruth! A Gentile woman who marries Naomi’s son, thereby being accepted and spiritually joined to the nation of Israel. She becomes the adopted daughter of Naomi – prophetically representing the church of Jesus Christ becoming the daughter of Israel, adopted into the family of God. Fast forward to the end of the story – through Naomi, Ruth meets her Jewish kinsman redeemer Boaz, and after their marriage a child is born, who is a huge blessing to Naomi. So also, our Redeemer was Jewish here on earth, and through Jesus we as Gentiles were brought near to God, forming one new man with our fellow Jewish believers. What great spiritual blessings are being shared with us! We are now positioned to return blessings back to the Jewish people, just as Ruth blessed Naomi with a grandson.

And this is why we need to heed the above quotation from Isaiah. It is time to comfort the Jewish nation and speak tenderly to her. Paul counsels us in Rom 15:26-27 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.

Pearls to ponder:

We are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6), but we have an obligation to go one step further – to bless those who live there in tangible ways! Let us ask Holy Spirit in what practical ways we can be a blessing to our Jewish brothers and sisters – we could contribute financially to the various organizations in Israel who distribute food and clothing to those in need? Or take one Jewish family living in our area under our wing, showing them love and consideration, protecting them against antisemitism? We could be a voice protesting the same in our media? We could go to those special services where a local synagogue occasionally invites Gentiles to attend, and build relationships there?

A blessing for Israel

In remembrance of Me

 Luke 22:19

He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

God knows our human weaknesses so well. He knows that we need physical reminders of spiritual truths to help us stay true to the path He modelled for us through Jesus.

 Judaism therefore has many remembrances, for example, the Passover is a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. The fringes on the corners of their garments are a remembrance of the commandments of the Torah. There are also many rituals associated with the Feasts, all to remind Israel of her covenant with her God Yahweh.

But did you know that the Bible also speaks about remembrances for God? We read about God “remembering” Noah – it means that He acted on the promises He made to Noah and brought an end to the flood. He “remembered” Rachel, and she conceived. It is not as if God forgot Noah and Rachel. No, when He remembers someone, it means that He fulfils His promises to that person.

Sacrifices placed on the altar were referred to as a remembrance- the smoke of them rose before God as a remembrance of the person bringing the sacrifice. The high priest wore the names of the tribes of Israel on his breastplate and on his shoulders as a remembrance before the Lord (Ex 28:12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance.)  In other words, when the priest entered the presence of the Lord, he continually reminded God of His covenant obligations to Israel.

This means that the giving of the bread and wine as New Covenant signs at Jesus’ Last Supper, has a deeper meaning than only serving as reminders for us of what Jesus has done for us. It also has the significance of bringing His death and atonement to remembrance before God – it ‘petitions’ God to remember the suffering Jesus had to endure and His death that has earned us the forgiveness of our sin. This is why Jesus asks us to proclaim His death in the presence of God (1 Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.), reminding God of His covenant relationship with us, brought about by the death of Jesus!

Pearls to ponder:

Just as the high priest facilitated atonement for Israel by displaying their names in God’s presence, so through communion we are displaying our covenant status with Him in His presence, which Jesus gave us through His death on the cross. Let us think about the awesome implication of this when next we partake of communion!

In remembrance of Me

We have restraining to do

 

Revelation 13:3-4

I saw one of his heads which seemed to have a fatal wound, but his fatal wound was healed; and the entire earth followed after the beast in amazement. 4. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

We so easily read over these verses without understanding the real impact of them. If we exchange the words of verse four with who/what they actually refer to, it reads like this: People (the entire earth as stated in verse 3) worshiped Satan because he had given authority to the Antichrist, and they also worshiped the Antichrist ….

And there you have it – global satanic worship. This will fully deploy at about the time that the Tribulation that John speaks about in Revelation commences, roughly a seven-year period during which Antichrist, as global political leader, will start to reign on earth. He will start out as part of a ruling faction of ten, but in the middle of that time will emerge as a dictator (Dan 11:21-23).

We know that he has a set time to appear, and that he is being restrained by the presence of Holy Spirit in believers on earth at the moment. (2 Thes 2:6-8). Even so, we can already see an alarming increase in openly satanic rituals across the globe - from Olympic Opening ceremonies to the ceremony opening the Gotthard Tunnel. Recently also the displaying of a pentagram and a tifo (visual display by supporters in the stands of a stadium) of the Devil emerging from the pentagram at the German Kaiserslautern football match, to name but a few.

The question we have to ask of the church is, why? Why is this increase allowed? What would the result be if there were multiple protests against such blasphemous behaviour; if millions of Christians the world over would regularly gather for prayer meetings to counter the enemy’s influence; if there were voices going up at ground level all over the world to stem the tide of evil infiltrating our schools, our municipalities, our government, our churches even?

Are our ministers urging us to become part of our community and be the voice of our God there - joining school governing bodies/neighbourhood watches/municipalities? Or are we silenced by the notion that standing up to evil is not showing love to others?

Pearls to ponder:

When we look to Jesus to model our behaviour on, we see that He was never naïve. He discerned the hearts of men, knowing who were sincere and who only wanted to use and manipulate Him. He quickly corrected the Pharisees; He overturned tables in the Temple. He instructed His disciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves – soft hearts but sharp minds. Let us ask Jesus how to stand up to evil in our environments. We have restraining to do!

From Me to you