The mystery that is Israel

 

Gen 15:18

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

There it is. Clear and precise. God’s promise to Abram that the physical land which today is known as Israel, is only a small piece of the greater landmass that God actually gave to Abram’s descendants, forever. And no, this does not include his offspring through Keturah (Gen 21:12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.) His descendants through Isaac are the people we know today as the Jews.

The country Israel makes the whole world feel uneasy and unsettled, and when people are asked why this is so, they will generally mention, politics, war, settlements, borders. But the truth goes much deeper - it lies not in what Israel does, but in what Israel is.

Israel is roughly the same size as the Kruger National Park; has no oil like many of its near neighbours; has a population barely even the same number of citizens living in some cities in the rest of the world. They are surrounded by bitter enemies; hated in the United Nations; boycotted; slandered; and attacked both physically and verbally. And still, they thrive! In technology; in security; in agriculture; in intelligence; in morality; in medicine; in military – the list is endless. They took a land that existed mostly of swamps and desert and turned it into fertile farmland. They have survived wars that should have wiped them out, and not only survived them, but won.

The world witnessed all these things since ages past and cannot understand any of it. The people of Israel were supposed to disappear a long time ago, as always happened with exiled, enslaved and hated minorities throughout the centuries. But against all odds they returned, revived their language and rebuilt their land.

Israel in the natural does not make any sense. How do you explain a people who had to endure the Babylonians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Inquisition, the pogroms and the Holocaust, and yet are still showing up to work on Monday mornings in Jerusalem?

And what drives the world crazy is the knowing that if this maligned nation is somehow still chosen and protected by God and even thriving – then maybe God is not a myth after all. Maybe Israel is the testimony He chose them to be. Maybe their survival is divine. And this is what they are raging against – it is much easier to slander and ridicule Israel than to admit that God is real and keeps His promises!

Pearls to ponder:

One day, nations will be judged on how they treated Israel (Matt 25:32-46). Are you fervently standing in the gap and repenting on behalf of our leaders who are taking action against Israel and the Jewish people?

Israel - Land of Promise

A prophetic worm

 

Ps 22:6

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

When Jesus was nearing His death on the cross, He uttered these words:

Matth 27: 46  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

He was quoting directly from the first verse of Ps 22, validating the fact that it is a prophetic Psalm describing the agony that He had to endure there. What He experienced then was so dark and complex and extreme, it must have been beyond any emotional comprehension for someone who had already suffered the physical and mental torture that He had had to go through. For not only did He have to experience the withdrawal of His Father’s loving presence, but He also had to face God’s wrath being poured out on Him as He took our sin upon Himself.

In our quoted verse above, David refers to a worm. The word used is “tola”, or scarlet worm, and it is from these worms that the scarlet dye that they used to colour the Temple curtains, was made. We can easily see the symbolism of the sacrifices and spilled blood that was necessary for the Israelites to meet with their God here.

But there is much more. The lifecycle of the tola worm hides an incredible story – the story of our redemption! When the mature worm is ready to give birth, it climbs a tree, attaches itself to the bark and makes a cocoon for itself. After the baby worms hatch, they start feeding on the living mother for three days. The mother then dies, turns into a waxy white shell which falls to the ground, leaving a scarlet stain on the tree.

As David prophetically calls himself that particular worm, we can see Jesus being nailed to the wood; giving up His life so that we may be born again; dying in our place so that we can be seen as whiter than snow – sinless - before Abba; and His blood leaving a scarlet stain on the cross.

We can but stand in awe of the way in which God built the prophetic signs of His plan of redemption into nature itself!

Pearls to ponder:

We need to learn how to see and not just look; how to listen and not just hear. It is only then that these incredible pearls will be revealed to us. God sustains life on earth through a finely tuned interconnected set of complex systems. Choose an activity that will expose you to them, e.g. take a walk; visit the zoo; read a travel or nature magazine; do a Google image search for something basic like flower or mountain; look up intricate maths formulas that are inherent in nature. And fall down in worship before Elohim, our great Creator God that invites us to call Him Father!

The Beauty of God

The redemption price of the firstborn

 

Numbers 3:46-48

There are 273 more firstborn sons of Israel than there are Levites. To redeem these extra firstborn sons, collect five pieces of silver for each of them (each piece weighing the same as the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs). Give the silver to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for the extra firstborn sons.”

According to the instructions the Lord gave Moses at Sinai, the firstborn of the womb of both animals and humans were considered holy and belonging to the Lord. Firstborn lambs specifically were to be offered as sacrifices; and the firstborn sons of Israel were to belong to the Temple and assume priesthood. Remember this, it becomes important later.

The Lord then said to Moses that He would claim the Levites as a substitute for the firstborn males of Israel, in other words take them to minister to Him instead of the firstborn males. When the two groups were counted, they found that there were 273 more firstborn sons than there were Levites. These extra firstborn sons were assigned a value in money (five pieces of silver each) and this money (to redeem them) was paid to Aaron and his sons. They were then free of the obligation to become priests. The total amount of that first redemption of sons came to 1 365 shekels – a number I will refer to later.

This practice continued throughout the years, with fathers of all firstborn sons paying a redemption price of five silver coins to the priests of the temple, to free their sons from mandatory priesthood.  

Now fast forward to the time of Jesus, and the priests of the Temple plotting his death. They were going to use the silver coins from that very Temple treasury into which all the redemption silver coins were paid over all these years, and with these coins purchase a human life back – the life of the firstborn of Joseph and Mary, Jesus the Firstborn of God. Giving these coins to Judas means the redemption fee is returned, and this means that the Son now assumes the role of priest. But more than that, as the Lamb of God He now has to be sacrificed! (Acknowledging Jonathan Cahn)

That number I referred to earlier – the number of years from when the first redemption of firstborn males occurred until the birth of Messiah, was 1365 years! He was the fulfilment of the redemption!

Pearls to ponder:

Jesus is our Redeemer. He paid the full purchase price for you – freeing you from the power of sin and death, freeing you from all religious obligations. Live in gratitude as someone that is free indeed!

Forgiven