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What happened Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., was quire heart-breaking to Americans and people all over the world. A heart-searching question we need to ask ourselves is, “Where do we place your hope and trust”? We may agree or disagree with how far people went in protesting the November presidential election and some of the reprehensible behavior that resulted from it — killing and injuring police and protesters, threatening lawmakers gathered inside, vandalizing the Capitol building. But the inspiration for the gatherings that day was, “We want to be free.”
The history of Israel as well as the history of the United States of America reminds us that we have to be extremely careful as to how to “take the land” or “take back our country.”
Promised Land or Deserved Land?
When the Israelites refused to trust in the One Who freed them from bondage in Mitzraim and miraculously protected the people from their captor’s pursuing army and perishing from thirst and hunger, the LORD told that generation that they would rather wander in wilderness outside the Land until they died off (Numbers 13–14). Their children would enter instead.
“Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey — I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.”
Numbers 14:30–32 NASB
On hearing that judgment, that generation of Israel changed their minds and tried to go in to conquer the Land. Moshe warned them that the LORD wouldn’t be with them, so they would be utterly defeated (Numbers 14:39–45). And they were.
How the people of God persisted until each tyrant desisted
Israel also lived under their unfair share of tyrants. When Yosef died, the king of Egypt enslaved the children of Israel, but in God’s time, God brought Egypt down. Pharaoh thought he had the high ground, but God brought him low.
Even after Israel entered the Land, they lived through periods when they were oppressed by the Philistines, the Edomites, etc. Those nations are gone, but Israel survives to this day, even though large remnants have broken off over the millennia, including when the 10 Northern Tribes were broken away. Yet, Israel still lives.
Daniel achieved high office during the reign of several very atrocious tyrants….Esther also was able to rule and even thrive under the thumb of Xeres and protect her people. Esra and Nehemia brought a remnant of Israel back to the promised land under Cyrus. Israel still lives.
Mattias and Judah Maccabee unified many faithful Jewish people against the oppression of the Greeks, and they were able to miraculously deliver them from the oppression of the Seleucids and restored the Temple to the worship of the One who gave Israel its mission statement and its meaning. Israel still lives.
A century after the restored freedom of the Maccabees, Rome was brought in as an ally of one faction of Israel and later a “protector” of the people Judea. That resulted in more oppression, and the Messiah of all Israel came to Earth to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven and set the foundation for its establishment in the Land. Those faithful to Yeshua were persecuted and oppressed, yet Israel still lives.
Yeshua warns us in Matthew 24 that a great persecution will come on the people of God. Yeshua tells us that we should pray that we will not have to flee in the winter or on Shabbat. This warning harkens back to the Maccabees. they had to finally make a decision whether it was permissible to defend themselves if attacked on Shabbat. Their enemy knew that Shabbat was the perfect time to attack because they would defend themselves because wielding a sword would be “working on the Shabbat.” The Maccabees had to acknowledge very quickly that the Shabbat is not a suicide pact to defend themselves against a lethal attach, even on Shabbat, would preserve the Shabbat, not desecrate it.
The people of Israel are lived and survived under many brutal foreign regimes from Egypt, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome, etc. So the powers that have fought against Israel throughout time, when they think they have the high hand, will be brought low. Even when the people were sent into exile, they still survived while those nation who sent then into exile are no more. These regimes are long gone, but Israel still lives. עם ישראל חי Am Israel Chai!
Israel survived and thrived because of all of them. God always saves a remnant of His people, even if he has to cut off some of the natural branches and make room for wild branches (Romans 11).
For those who have grown in respect for the Hebrew Scriptures, their learning curve is not as steep as those who did not grow up in that ancient tradition, but they still have to dive into all of what Yeshua has shown us. While those who grew up with great respect for the New Testament and for Yeshua’s kingship have a steeper learning curve as they learn to appreciate the depths of the Torah.
Those who decide to cling on to God, they will be grafted in, they will be grafted into the family and all that the heritage of Israel is about. But those who are grafted in must never have an arrogant or envious attitude towards the natural branches.
And one of the key reasons why is those who are born into the family of God and with a deep knowledge of the oracles of God throughout the Torah, the prophets and the writings. The natural branches don’t have as steep of a learning curve as the wild branches. The wild branches need to respect the wisdom of the natural branches.
Regardless of whether we are natural or wild branches in the olive tree of Israel, we all have to cling deeply to Yeshua to learn about who He is.
Hosea 12:1-10 gives a message to both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel.
As we study the precursors to Israel’s exiles (of the northern tribes by Assyria and the southern tribes by Babylon), this self-sufficiency is one of the things that begin the downfall of the nation. When they forget how they because blessed and special. If the people decide they no longer want to follow the One who blessed them so abundantly, He disciplines them, many times by another nation. If the nation that God uses as the punishment gloats of their oppression, God punishes them as well.
Learning to see ‘to infinity and beyond’
Pixar cartoon character Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase of heroic bravado is, “To infinity and beyond!” While that could be dismissed as trite heroic bravado, it actually points to a frequent Hebrew phrase in the Bible that describes the domain of the Holy One: לעולם ועד l’olam va’ed (example: Ex.15:18, after the LORD opened the sea to rescue Israel). That phrase is usually translated as “forever and ever,” but it literally means “to the world and further.” That could be rendered “to the horizon and beyond,” in other words, beyond where we can see.
The lesson from that phrase is that part of trusting the LORD is trusting that Heaven can see things we can see and instructs humanity accordingly. So, we need to have the kind of vision that God has. God sees the future and has given us insights into it.
It may appear like Heaven isn’t paying attention to the suffering of mankind, acting like an “absentee landlord,” as the polemic goes. We see in the Torah that the LORD “remembered” Noach, his family and the creatures in the ark during the Flood, but considering all the work of Heaven before and during the Deluge, we see that it was active remembering — memory that takes action.
The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.”
Exodus 3:7 NASB
The LORD not only sees and hears of their oppression, but He is also with them through their oppression. And He will also be with to lead them to freedom. That’s part of the annual memorial of Pesakh (Passover).
Freedom with direction and purpose is the sign of God’s presence with His people. Freedom without direction or purpose can easily lead toward libertinism (“everything is permissible”) then nihilism (“everything is meaningless”).
‘Show me Your glory’
This conversation between Moshe and the Lord here is that, let me know your ways that I may know you.
How do we know who the Lord is not just an idea that we kind of come up with a cute little Hallmark card version of who the Lord is? The Lord reveals who He is, and describes Himself, shows Himself in the Scriptures. He makes promises to His people and follows through on His promises.
So, when Moshe asks God “Show me Your glory,” the Lord replies by telling Moshe that He will proclaim His name. What Glory did God proclaim to Moshe?
“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”” (Exodus 34:5–7 NAS95)
God’s lovingkindness and truth are the light of the world. Those who seek the light appreciate these things. Those who want to move away from sin, transgression and iniquity will be drawn to His light and receive these things. Those who love the darkness will not be drawn to His light, and they will drag down society into darkness with them — for a time. (John 3:19–21)
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
Revelation 11:4–5 NASB
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:1–5 NASB
God has had to give Israel “timeouts” (aka exiles) from time to time, but He is always with the people of God. Yeshua tells us that we are to “occupy until I come” (Luke 19:13 KJV). All of us have spheres of influence. We can carry the memorial of the LORD’s character, great works and deliverance with us as ambassadors of the Messiah. We can give testimony on what He has done for us, our families and our friends with us everywhere we go, whether in person or virtually. As His reputation (name) reveals to us, God has shown up, does shows up and will show up.
Summary: Tammy