Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour? (Zechariah chapter 3)

 OUT OF THE CHAOS: A study in the book of Zechariah

Chapter 3: Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)

Given 5 May 2023

By Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney, Australia

Shalom and welcome to our class today. We are continuing in this prophetic book written by a young Jewish man living in Jerusalem about 500 BCE as he writes to his people, those living there in Judah and also to those living in Babylon. To each of those groups, he has some clear words and I trust that those words he spoke 2500 years ago will speak to you and to me as we will consider what God meant as he used that young man. And we will try to learn what God has to say to us as 21st Century people. 

As per usual, my method will take us through a chapter each Friday morning, and then we will have plenty of time for discussion and questions in the final half-hour. If you are watching this teaching on YouTube after our class, please feel free to write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will try to answer queries if I’m able. 

If you don’t already receive the email invitations to join this class live, please enter your email address just now, type it into the chat box or write our office (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) and ask to be invited. Thanks. 

Also if you don’t mind, please read the chapter before you come to the class live, and if you are watching YouTube, pause your playback, read chapter 3 and then rejoin us. Thanks. Welcome back.

Let’s jump in. Today’s lesson is titled, “Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)” This is vision #4 of the night visions of Zechariah, bunched here at the beginning of his prophecy. And it features, unlike the previous three which left us with a desire to go rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, a person. The man Joshua, not the military conqueror and apprentice of Moses of the Torah, but rather a man who lived in those days and was the High Priest. 

It makes sense to me that when we consider the rebuild of the Temple that we next have to move to the next major resource and that is, who will serve there? The personnel that will make the Temple a safe and sacred space. So, we zoom in on Joshua, the main man. 

The rabbis teach that Joshua had sons who married Gentile women and thus brought shame and this filth (the Hebrew is pointed; it’s excrement) onto their father’s priestly garments. Most Christian interpreters see the filth as the result of the sins of the entire populace of the Jewish people. But the angel seems to be showing a more localized problem. Joshua has schmutzik clothing, filthy, dirty, and only can be cleaned by the removal of sin. See verse 4. Sin removed; garments cleansed. Simple. Only there is a problem. 

The Satan, yes, there is a definite article in every use of Satan in the OT (except in 1 Chronicles 21.1). It’s his calling card, what’s on his CV, his main duty—to accuse. Oppose. Resist. Be the enemy. In this case, the court has a prosecuting attorney and that’s the role he takes here. Accuse. 

I don’t usually use Wikipedia for a reference guide, but this one is worth reading and noting. It’s from an article written at the end of the 19th century in France. The setting is the miscarriage of justice about Alfred Dreyfuss.

I quote it in almost its entirety.  

"J'Accuse...!" ( "I Accuse...!") is an open letter that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper L'Aurore by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed the President of France Félix Faure and accused his government of antisemitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty a month later (on 23 February 1898.) To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.

Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include Bernard Lazare's A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair (November 1896). As a result of the popularity of the letter, even in the English-speaking world, J'accuse! has become a common expression of outrage and accusation against someone powerful, whatever the merits of the accusation.”

 

The reason I flashed back on that scene from 130 years ago is that I hear the word ‘accuse’ and most of us would see it as a legal term, as it is, and often in connection with Satan, we think it’s about wrong accusations. We remember Revelation chapter 12, and that Satan is introduced there again as “the accuser of the brethren.” (.10). And that we are able to ‘overcome’ the ministry of Satan by three things, “the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our life even when faced with death.”  But in both the injustice in the Dreyfuss affair and in the case of Joshua, the High Priest here, the accusations are accurate. So, we need to think rightly. The accusations are not misplaced, but well-placed. Even so, we need a fix, and thus we need a fixer. Schmutz can be overcome. Satan can be set down. How will that happen? We’ll get back to that.

Let’s talk a bit more about the Satan. He is a main player in the drama of the book of Job. There in chapters 1 and 2 he is introduced as able to stand in God’s presence and even carry on a conversation with the Almighty. He challenges the Lord and intimates that God is not playing fair. You might remember that story and that God takes Satan’s challenge and in the end, apparently Job and God win in the battle. 

Warren Wiersbe says this. “When Satan talks to us about God, he lies, but when he talks to God about us, he tells the truth.” (page 115) I like that. Satan is not a font of truth-telling. He seriously wants us to walk away from the Lord, AND he wants us to dismiss his own reality and his own personhood. 

Remember the book by CS Lewis called, “The Screwtape Letters?” There Lewis helps us see the inner workings of the Kingdom of Darkness and he highlights this in the preface where we read, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (the devils) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

I love this quote also in Screwtape’s 7th letter to Wormwood, “I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance about your own existence. …Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course, this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When human beings disbelieve in our existence, we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism, and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics - at least not yet.    I have great hopes that we shall learn in due course how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in us, (though not under that name), will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The ‘Life Force’, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work – the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits’ – then the end of the war will be in sight. In the meantime we must obey our orders.    I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping your patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” (Screwtape Letters)

When I speak today about Satan, I don’t want you to miss the overreach of the two prongs that Lewis highlights. Either a complete dismissal of the spirit world and the Devil’s capacities or a complete overindulgence and obsession with its realities. Keep your mind of Yeshua, and don’t be unaware of Satan’s (that’s the Hebrew word; the Greek is diabolos (or Devil))devices. (For those watching this on YouTube, please check the manuscript (link in the notes of the show) and you will find a long list of Bible verses related to the Satan and what we are to know about him and the kingdom of darkness. Now, back to Joshua.

Joshua is schmutz-covered. He is guilty. The Jewish people are in Babylon as a true carriage of justice. We are wrong. The scene is not necessarily on Yom Kippur, but it reflects it, to be sure. The accusation is accurate. What are we to do? This vision doesn’t look good.

Verse 2: God Himself enters the courtroom. He doesn’t rid the court of Satan because he likes the Jewish people, but because He has chosen the Jewish people. He calls his own election to the witness stand as the defense attorney would do, and he rebukes the Satan. Begone, as Yeshua would later say, time and again. God’s choice of the Jewish people (Deut. 7.7, Psalm 33.12, 132.13, etc) is fixed. He cannot deny himself so he has to act on our behalf for his own name’s sake. And with whom are we left?

Joshua, Zechariah, the Lord, and some angels. But Joshua still has filthy garments. The angel of the Lord speaks in verse 4, “Remove” The action required both a removal of the problem and a fixing again of the place of Joshua in the camp of Israel. Removal and replacement. But verse 4 makes clear that removal of the clothing and the accompanying smell was only part of the problem. The rest is titled ‘sin’ (note: not sins). Removing clothing without taking away the iniquity is a half-done job. It’s the same issue a rabbi asked me to explain last week. I’ll get to that soon.

I wonder if you have walked past homeless people and noted an odor on some of them. Even if they have new garments given them from the Vinnies or the Talbot? That’s because they need a scrub themselves. New garments without a bath are almost a waste, almost. 

The angel of the Lord wants Joshua to get a good scrub. Inside. Then when iniquity is removed, then the new garments (even the new turban as Zechariah reminds them in the scene) make sense. The turban is part of the high priest’s garb (Exodus 28.36-38, 39.30-31) and cried “Holiness to the Lord.” In other words, the completion of the task brought glory again to the Lord, the Lord of mercy and election, the Lord of love and the Lord of hosts. 

Not only did he suffer accusation, and find the answer in the forgiveness and reclothing of the angel, but Zechariah’s vision gave assurance to him, to Joshua, and dare I say, to us as well. Remember our title today included schmutz, Satan and a saviour. 

Verse 5 includes the verb “admonish” and thus Joshua is charged to represent well the Lord who cleansed and appointed him. Verse 6, two ifs (protasis) and three thens (apodosis). If you walk and perform, then you will govern, have charge, and have good access (goings) among those standing here. By the way, note how many folks are standing and to whom or against whom they are doing so throughout this chapter. Satan always stands to accuse, yet the angel of the Lord stands to oppose, like J’accuse was made by Emile Zola or Bernard Lazare back in the 1890s. 

I’m here because someone stood up to the wiles and devices of the enemy of God, stood tall, declared the blood of the Lamb and got me to have a word of testimony. But I advance this thought too soon.

God promises through the angel of the Lord to Joshua that he will have three results of his two conditional actions. Walk in God’s ways and perform God’s service. Simple. The rabbis teach that he instructed his own sons to divorce foreign wives and go back to Jerusalem. That’s not so clear in this text. What is clear is that Joshua is being given a glimpse into the character of a gentle and lowly God who cares about us and will come to defend us when required.

Look at the fulfilment promise in verses 8 through 10. The accusation is answered by an Advocate, and he gives both an assurance in the moment and an announcement of what or rather who is to come. 

Verse 8. The men/ angels who are there at this vision #4 are a symbol. That means they represent something else. And in this case, God says, “I am going to bring in…” which speaks to the future. Beyond this moment with Joshua and the garments. There is something or someone more. What? Branch. My servant. A person of significance. Like Jeremiah predicted decades before. (23.5-6)

Jer. 23:5    “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, 

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; 

And He will reign as king and act wisely 

And ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

6  “In His days Judah will be saved, 

And Israel will dwell securely; 

And this is His name by which He will be called, 

‘The LORD our righteousness.’

This stick, this branch of Jeremiah, is Yahweh or Jehovah our righteousness. He’s not a junior in the company; he’s God himself. The restoration and the promises God made 70 years before under Jeremiah, these are renewed in the night vision of Zechariah here in chapter 3. The Branch is the hope of Israel. That’s the real hope. 

And like the late-night infomercial, wait, there’s more. Verse 9, I have set on one stone 7 eyes. That means a complete view. Nothing will be left out. Seven facets with the engraved inscription, and it’s a promise of land cleansing. The Branch, or in this 2nd picture, the Rock, will cleanse the land of iniquity. God did that in Yeshua a few hundred years later in his dying for us on the cross. Calvary is the fulfilment of this promise. And in that day, the day of the death of the Son of Man, verse 10, we can have peace and hope in our own land. Under our vine and fig tree, in the place we have been promised. The result of this forgiveness is a looking forward to the work of Branch and the Rock, two great titles of our Messiah, who will bring in everlasting righteousness.

Last week a rabbi asked me a question about peace and the promise of messiah. He told me that since there is no global peace that Yeshua could not be the messiah. That’s fairly simple. But I answered with the old fable of the invention of sandals in Mongolia. You can make the world a calm place, but if individuals don’t take this peace on board, there remains internal strife and conflict. Without individual peace, global peace is never going to happen. Messiah had to bring peace to people, one by one, and when we take him on board as Messiah and SAVIOUR from our own sins, then global peace can eventuate.

Giving out new clothing without cleansing us on the inside… that never takes away the problem. We need an inside wash, then the world will work well.

Under your own vine, and your own fig tree. Do you want that?

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Remember, you who are watching today, if you are not yet a follower of Yeshua, and see his love for you, his kindness extended, his offer of forgiveness available, right where you are, submit to him, to his lordship, to his care, and your life will take on new meaning, new substance, and you will have mates on this call, and in your neighbourhood and wherever you travel… the Kingdom is advancing under the King. Chaos is subjugated, life is available. Pray and receive Jesus as your Messiah and Saviour.

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Resource on video

To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/

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Bibliography:

Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.

Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.

Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.

Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.

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ACTUAL TEXT

Zech. 3:1   Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

Zech. 3:6   And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here. 8 ‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you — indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 ‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 ‘In that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’”

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Other Bible references to The Devil:

Matt. 4:1   Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matt. 4:5   Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,

Matt. 4:8   Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;

Matt. 4:11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Matt. 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the 1end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

Matt. 25:41   “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Luke 4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and 1its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Luke 4:13   When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Luke 8:12 “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.

John 8:44 “aYou are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks 1a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of 2lies.

John 13:2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of bJudas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,

Acts 10:38 “1You know of aJesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for dGod was with Him.

Acts 13:10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

2Cor. 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Eph. 4:27 and do not give the devil 1an opportunity.

Eph. 6:11 aPut on the full armour of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

1Tim. 3:6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation 1incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

2Tim. 2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been bheld captive 1by him to do his will.

Heb. 2:14   Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, bHe Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

James 4:7 aSubmit therefore to God. bResist the devil and he will flee from you.

1Pet. 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil 1has sinned from the beginning. bThe Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

1John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

Jude 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “dThe Lord rebuke you!”

Rev. 2:10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. 1Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Rev. 12:9 And the great adragon was thrown down, the bserpent of old who is called the devil and cSatan, who ddeceives the whole 1world; he was ethrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Rev. 12:12 “For this reason, arejoice, O heavens and byou who 1dwell in them. cWoe to the earth and the sea, because dthe devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only ea short time.”

Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold of the adragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bbound him for a thousand years;

Rev. 20:10 And athe devil who adeceived them was thrown into the blake of fire and 1brimstone, where the cbeast and the cfalse prophet are also; and they will be dtormented day and night forever and ever.

Free speech: getting it so wrong

These two episodes are only representative of what will continue to find their way onto our screens and hopefully into our memory as bizarre and ridiculous. 

In the UK, a 71-year-old (like me) was arrested while speaking publically about religion and marriage. Covering the event, Sky News commentator, Andrew Bolt of Australia interviews the editor of Spiked online Brendan O’Neill.  https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/pastor-arrested-after-citing-biblical-marriage-definition-a-vile-attack-on-freedom-of-religion/video/adbf76bcdfc0e06de389a5743f84f70c This appears to have taken place 18 months ago. But wait, there's more. 

If that's not shocking enough, in the US state of Florida, the use of a New Testament Bible verse on a parking spot that had nothing to do with any other religion was cited as offensive here: https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/its-attacking-me-us-high-school-employee-complains-about-antijewish-bible-verse-on-coworkers-parking-space/news-story/c68470bcfc6325442e0dfb9058211d6e 

I'm all for calling out evil and especially anti-Semitic hate speech, but someone speaking about what they believe, quoting the Bible that informs them, and including NO REFERENCE to other religions... how is that inciting hostility? How is saying like the apostle Paul "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" indicative of anti-Semitism? Neither in its context in the letter to the Philippians nor in any sense of human conversation is there any hint of hostility to the Jewish people. 

Marina Gentilesco, who works at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Pasco County, Florida, said she has been angered every day she passed by her co-worker's parking spot that is painted with Philippians 4:13, which reads, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me," according to local Fox affiliate Fox 59.

Add that to the list. 

Remember earlier this spring when the Footy thought police prevented NAB executive Andrew Thorburn from remaining in the CEO role at the Essendon football club. Why? He is a member of an Anglican church that continues to believe and practice Christianity. Here's my blog on this evil lack of tolerance from October. https://bob-mendelsohn.blogspot.com/2022/10/andrew-thorburn-and-essendon-and-city.html

The madness will only continue until the reasoned people of Australia and really the world will stand up and decry such cancel culture. Be woke...call it out... we have to listen to each other or else we won't have civilization. What do you think of all this?

Fellow Jews: they keep coming after us

 The reality is that we are ever the scourge of the world. Kanye West let his hair down last week against the Jews, the ADL (anti-Defamation League) reported this 3 days ago:

"Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has recently used his media presence and social influence to espouse antisemitic tropes about Jewish intimidation, power and control. 

On October 6, Ye joined Fox News’ Tucker Carlson after his decision to wear a “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris Fashion Week garnered heightened media attention. During the interview, some of which was not aired on Fox that evening, Ye made a series of offensive and conspiratorial claims about Jewish people and Jewish identity. Ye claimed that Jews are actually Black people, saying that when he refers to Jews he means “the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are [sic],” and posited that Planned Parenthood was the product of a collaboration between the KKK and Margaret Sanger “to control the Jew [i.e. Black] population.” He also said that it is impossible for him to be fairly described as antisemitic because as a Black person he is actually a Jew.

Ye also told Carlson that he believed Jared Kushner only arranged peace agreements between Arab nations and Israel “to make money.” At another point, Ye stated that he wished his children had learned about Hannukah instead of “a complicated Kwanzaa,” because Hannukah would at least “come with some financial engineering.”

The next day, Ye shared screenshots of text messages on Instagram insinuating that Jews are using their purported control over his peers in the music industry to intimidate him and defiantly said that “no one can threaten or influence me.” The post has since been deleted.

Ye also said that Jewish people “toyed with” him and that they “tried to blackball anyone who opposes” their “agenda.” This tweet, in which Ye ominously referred to going ‘death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” raising the spectre of violence, was later removed by Twitter."

There is plenty to cry about and to decry. There is much the rest of the world should announce as wrong, but at this point, few non-Jews are joining the multitude of Jewish people who are notifying the goings-ons. 

What about the Labor party in Australia who announced on Monday that they would follow up on their campaign promise to reverse the commitment of the Morrison government to stand with Israel and its capital in Jerusalem? A few years ago then leader Bill Shorten made that a significant statement.

Back in 2019, the Times of Israel reported, https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-australia-heads-to-polls-labor-vows-to-reverse-jerusalem-recognition/ and Monday under new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Labor followed through. As a result there is no official statement currently on the Australian websites indicating a previous commitment to recognize the capital to be in Jerusalem. 

Does that change anything? It is often shown that an anti-Israel view links with an anti-Semitic one. That's not always the case, but it is often enough that mention seems appropriate. 

The capital of Israel is Jerusalem. When the world will set up there, and when the world's nations will recognize that, this will be significant. Then Zechariah chapter 13 will come into view and we are that much closer to the end of time. 

Jewish people and the Church: A colloquium and workshop

THIS Saturday the 9th of February here in Sydney's east, a group of thoughtful people will gather to discuss and workshop the ideas that this title engenders. And you are invited to participate.
What about the church would make Jewish people want to join? What about Jewish people causes the church to be apprehensive or reluctant or nervous about sharing what they believe? What about the history of anti-Semitism? Could a Jewish person be a member of the church and still be a good Jew? When we say "the Jewish community," what do we mean? And how can that be filled by most evangelical (read: individualistic) churches in Sydney?

These are but some of the topics we will discuss and address in the 5+ hours together this Saturday.

All the information to register is here.  Meeting at Church in the Marketplace, just 100 metres from the bus and train interchange.

Saturday 9:30 a.m. (morning tea and registration)/ Bookstalls open.
              10:00 a.m.. Session 0:  A panel of Christian pastors from the Eastern suburbs share their experiences
              10:30 a.m. Session 1:  Who are the Jewish people of Sydney? What do they mean when they say, "Jewish community?"
              11:00 a.m.  Session 2:  What are some of the objections to Christianity Jewish people raise
              11:45 a.m.  Table discussions

              12:20    Lunch (bring your own or grab something outside in any of the nearby eateries) Bookstalls open.
                1:00.   Session 3:  Testimony of a Jewish believer. Why would I ever want to join the church? Answering the objections to evangelism at all!
                2:00    Session 4: Anti-Semitism and more table discussions/ Summary
                3:00      Ending.  Bookstalls final sales.

Registration information here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/jewish-people-and-the-church-what-are-the-questions-tickets-54629622672

Giselle Bruce

           
Kon Michailidis

Paul Cohen

Join us this Saturday 9 February. 

PO Box 925

Sydney 2001

Stop by our shop:  58 Bronte Road, Bondi Junction 2022

Phone:  1.800. MESSIAH. (637.742)

Judas, Israel and Wentworth

Bob published this on his Facebook page on 

October 18 at 6:38 AM 

My reply to the noise from The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/shifting-the-australian-embassy…) : My response: "Tony Walker calls our PM’s discussion of moving the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem “opportunistic”, ‘craven’, ‘chicanery’ and ‘a cynical exercise in vote buying.“ In what other non-capital cities does Australia have our embassy? Jerusalem has been the capital, the focus of the Jewish people’s history there for 3,000 years. Jerusalem has been her national capital since 1949. The Knesset (Parliament) and Supreme Court have been there since the country’s founding. Recognising the capital of a country as the home of our embassy is the proper respectful decision we should have made decades ago"

On Monday, in answering the same Conversation AND ABC report, the Honest Reporting website offered this view about Judas and anti-Semitism. https://honestreporting.com/antisemitism-judas-slur-on-australian-jewish-voters-wentworth-tony-walker/

It will be interesting to see how far this goes, and whether the ABC or Conversation will apologise for this. 

We are glad to be watchdogs along with HR in this regard.

Cemetery vandalism… again!

by Bob Mendelsohn, JFJ National Director
Australia

PHILADELPHIA VANDALISM

Following are three reports of cemetery vandalism, in two different US cities. And all within a fortnight. And a conclusion which has hope and might surprise some of you. Concerning the cemeteries, what is sad is that none of the perpetrators have been caught, so far. What’s worrisome is that this appears to be a trend, and what that says about the US just now is troubling.

Police in Philadelphia are investigating a vandalism at a Jewish cemetery last weekend. This was the 2nd time in a fortnight that Philly cemeteries have had headstones knocked over and damaged.

At least 75 tombstones were overturned Saturday night at the Mt. Carmel Cemetery. The only targets were the Jewish graves according to Det. Jim McReynolds of the police department's Northeast Detectives Division. He said no damage occurred at the three neighbouring Christian cemeteries at Mt Carmel. Two weeks ago, a dozen headstones were damaged at a Catholic cemetery in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia mayor's spokeswoman Lauren Hitt reported.

That vandalism at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Cemetery didn't appear to target a specific group of people, Hitt said. The Catholic cemetery is about two miles away from the Jewish cemetery.

ST LOUIS LAST WEEK
The vandalism at the Jewish cemetery was especially worrisome because it comes less than a week after a similar incident at a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, said Nancy Baron-Baer, the Anti-Defamation League's regional director for the Eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware region.

"One stone in one cemetery being desecrated is one stone too many. We are talking about hundreds within a week," she said.
The ADL is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 offered a $3,000 reward for the same purpose.

SURPRISING HELPFUL HANDS
But there is hope. In a most unlikely show of support, after the Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was vandalised, Muslim-American activists Linda Sarsour and Tarek El-Messidi launched a fund-raising effort to help pay for the toppled headstones to be repaired. They set a goal to raise $20,000, but donors gave more than $130,000. El-Messidi wrote on Facebook that some of the extra funds would go toward the Philadelphia cemetery, and he visited Mt. Carmel on Sunday to help in the recovery efforts.

"Seeing this in person was very devastating," El-Messidi wrote on Facebook. "Many people there were embracing one another in tears due to what they saw."

"I want to ask all Muslims to reach out to your Jewish brothers and sisters and stand together against this bigotry," he said. Members of the Philadelphia branch of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, an American-Muslim organisation, also visited the cemetery and helped in the cleanup efforts, according to national spokesman Qasim Rashid.

Salaam Bhatti, another spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, told CNN there are as many as eight more members at Mt. Carmel cemetery Monday helping out with "whatever the cemetery needs."

"This attack is not just an attack on our Jewish brothers and sisters but on our common community," Bhatti said. "We believe we need to be protecting our fellow humans from this extremism."

MY THOUGHTS
I know some of our Blog’s readers will be suspicious of the kindnesses of these Muslims, but I reckon their words, their money and their personal attention to the cause of repair should all be highlighted more than their own religious persuasion.

If a person in time of need rejects the kindness of a neighbour, and fails to receive that measure of love, it says much more about the (non)receiver than about anyone else in the drama. The perpetrators of the evil in the desecration of the three cemeteries (and dare I add many more such desecrations worldwide in the last two years) will be caught in due course. God knows how to judge those who disparage his own people.

As northern Spring has begun, with the seasons of Easter and Passover to be celebrated in the next few weeks, may we pause and call to mind the harsh condition of the world in 1500 BC or 30 AD? May we remember that God heard the cries of his Jewish people and sent a redeemer to deliver us when Moses was born, raised in the royal comforts in Egypt, trained as a wilderness shepherd for four decades, then led us out of Egypt by God’s outstretched arm and mighty hand.

“Let my people go!” was Moses’ cry and eventually, and with regret, Pharaoh did let us leave slavery in Egypt.

1500 years later, God again heard the cries of the people, and in the darkness of Roman occupation of the land of the Jewish people, in what we today call Israel, God again sent a redeemer to deliver all people. Yeshua (some call him Isa or Jesus) was born, raised in Israel, trained as a carpenter at his father’s side, then led us out of slavery to sin by his death on the Roman cross and resurrection from the dead.

No one had an inside track on this redemption. In fact, the Good Books says of everyone on the planet, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Paul’s letter to the Romans 5.10)

So whether a Muslim, a Jew, a Catholic or a none-of-the-above, here’s God’s good news for you this Passover. “God loved the world so much that he sent his only son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3.16)

Removing enemies

By Bob Mendelsohn
Given in Lane Cove, NSW
From Judges 1-2, Joshua 23
25 October 2015

Introduction
Thanks to the band for great music today, and to Darren and the staff for allowing me to speak today. Those regulars here know that I have been with Jews for Jesus for a few decades, since 1979 actually and you will get a chance to support that missionary organization today and my work in it particularly using those white cards inserted in your news sheet, or donate up the back at the book/ resource table in the hall.

Music and rhythm
I really like the music of church, in fact, I like a wide variety of music, and find myself tapping along on the back of a pew or the steering wheel of my car quite often. It’s the rhythm which I pattern. The book of Judges has a rhythm all its own. Let me give that to you right away so you can recognize it throughout the teaching series at church, or whenever you read the book.
The rhythm is
1) Israel is disobedient
2) Israel cries out for help
3) God delivers us from our enemies by means of available men and women
4) We forget God and fall into sin again.

I’m sure you will meet that rhythm again and again.

When I think about Bible books that I like to teach in new situations, I always prefer John or Genesis, Proverbs or Revelation, you know, where God is active and teaching and helping us who want to learn about His plans. The narratives like John or Genesis where the storyline preaches even without much work from me and Revelation because it’s about so much of God and us together. Proverbs because it’s so informational and great in short thoughts to help us get through the days. But if there is a book I usually avoid, it’s Judges. You see, Judges is not only about good judges and we will study them over the next fortnight, but it’s also about disobedient and ever-stubborn Israel.

If I teach that to Jewish people I worry that they will think all I ever talk about is sin, and not about God’s faithfulness or such. If I teach that to Gentiles, like I am today, I worry that you might get an attitude of “Those stupid Jews who never get it right.” Anti-Semitism doesn’t need me to stoke its flames.

That said, the book of Judges IS in the Bible and IS useful and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3.16). So I will go there. And especially because the church staff have asked me to bat opener in this series on the book. Today then, we begin in learning this season of Israel’s history.

Removing the enemies: Military might
The book opens with military conquest. That should excite Marise Payne and Duntroon grads, and some of you historians. So Israel’s military victories should give us reason to rejoice in God and to honor Him as God our Saviour. We should memorialize our victories with piled stones and rocks, with trumpets and loud praises. And we should have completed our victories across the country, but if you read the text carefully, you will see some of these things missing.

In chapter one we conquered the enemies around us: Canaanites, Perizzites (v. 1-20) from Dan to Beersheba, including Gaza and Jerusalem. It was an amazing, quick and powerful overcoming. God was with the Jewish people. (.19)

Removing the enemies: Problem
Then the words drop like cannonballs on our text, “But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.” (.21) Living with the enemy was not God’s plan and that allowance, that permission, that disobedience would haunt Israel then, and honestly, to this day. (1.21-36) And the problem is like we see in other Bible stories, like Saul and Agag and the Amalekites, like Eve and a little disobedience, like Ananias and Sapphira, is that a little disobedience is a lot of trouble to the person then and to the people of God in the future. And the problem is not one of obedience first. It’s a matter of faith in God.

God wants to be in relationship with us and when we let the enemies live in the land, then their gods eventually become a snare and a trap. Look, I’m a golfer and I know a trap when I see one, and when I can, I avoid them at almost any cost.

So what is God saying? Get rid of the people who have foreign gods because if you don’t, your ball will fall into the snare and sand trap, into the golf water hazard, or in rugby into touch, you will fail. So the matter is not really one of obedience first, but rather faith. If God said something, if He tells me something to do, then I must first believe Him and then go to do it. Disobedience is foremost an unbelief issue. Does that make sense? And how do we enter into relationship with the Almighty? By faith and faith alone.

Removing the enemies: Purpose
Why did God want us to remove the Canaanites, Hittites, Jebusites, and all the other nations in the land of Promise? The idolatrous peoples of the land had heard about the Jews, and about their escape from Egypt. They could have turned to the Almighty for forgiveness, but did not. They chose to live godlessly and the Lord knew that if Israel had opportunity to stay with these nations that eventually even the Jews would turn away from Him. That was not good on so many levels and God’s plan was about keeping His people with Him, and thus away from the enemy nations.

I’m not saying 21st Century Australia is at all the same as 15th Century BCE Israel, but some lessons can be learned. Israel then was not allowed what we call multiculturalism. That was the beginning of woes in ancient Israel.

The danger was that Israel would imitate the nations around her. And by walking away from the Almighty, we would actually fail God’s promises, and God’s promises had never failed and never will (Josh. 23.14ff). We would comply with idolatrous nations and live their lives instead of ours. Isn’t this exactly what happened in chapter two?

An angel of the Lord shows up and reminds Israel to be separate from the seven nations in the land, and that God will keep His covenant. He tells Israel that it’s personal. How do we know it's personal? Look at the personal pronouns God uses in verse 1 and 2: I brought you up out of Egypt and I led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,...you have not obeyed Me;
We did not listen to His voice.

Removing the enemies: Thorns in your sides
Then the angel uses a phrase you might have heard before in the Newer Testament. The phrase, “Thorns in your sides” is sometimes the phrase we hear the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians
“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me — to keep me from exalting myself!” (2 Cor. 12.7) You may have been taught that the problem Paul had was something about blindness or weak eyes. You may have heard that this ‘thorn in the flesh’ was something physical. But the phrase is a clear reference to people. Consider the three times the phrase is used in the Older Testament.

Num. 33.55 ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.

Josh. 23.13 know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

Judg. 2.3 “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

Here we see God’s warning to the Jewish people in Moses’ day, in Joshua’s day and now told us by the angel of the Lord, that if we don’t trust God, and don’t remove the people from the land, that they, people, they will become like thorns in our sides. Therefore I conclude, in the same way, Paul had people who followed after him, centuries later, who told false gospels, who taught the people wrong things about Yeshua, legalizers, people who insisted that the people needed more than faith to find forgiveness. The thorns in Paul’s sides were people who taught wrong information about God.

OK, back to our story.
Chapter two verse 1, God’s longing is clear in the text. The angel of the Lord speaks and reminds them in terms of covenant: “I made a covenant with you and I will never break that covenant; you were to keep it; you were not to make a covenant with the other nations.” But what happened? We didn’t listen to him. The English text in our Bible says “obey,” but the Hebrew translates listen. The understanding is if you listen to God’s word, you will obey it.

The angel finished his commentary with the ‘thorns in your sides’ phrase and what was the result in Israel that day? Weeping. (.4) That’s why the town is called “Bochim” which is the Hebrew word for ‘weeping bitterly’ or ‘sobbing deeply.’ And I like that the word is not singular, but is written in the plural. Why? Because at least two are weeping; God and the Israelites. God joins us in our pains.

But even though that sobbing and the sacrifice that followed were genuine, and all Israel went home to their new land, after Joshua died, that sobbing turned disingenuous.

We read, “Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them” (2.11-12). The cycle and the rhythm of Judges begin again. Failure here is evident.

Removing the enemies: What do we learn?
1) God’s desire is for us to trust him, no matter what we see. Many often make the bulk of their study of the book of Judges into a mockery of the Jewish people, in our failures as followers of God to do just that. But the real story is the story behind the story, that throughout history, even this troubling history, God is ever reaching out to save us, to know us, to be in relationship with us. And He will do everything He can to ensure that we are brought into a place of decision. He may use enemies; He may use friends; He may use a Jewish man from the US, but He will get your attention, and His longing to be in relationship with you will be known by you. What you do with that longing…that’s up to you, isn’t it?

2) Victory is ours if we do trust him. He will cause us to walk in His ways and find delight in Him and in His plans. That’s the major reason to remove enemies. Throughout the book of Judges you will read of one military victory after another. I believe in our lives we can also have spiritual victory, if we win the battle of faith. The Centurion of Matthew chapter 8 is heralded by Yeshua as one whose faith outshone all the faith of all Israel. The Apostle John wrote, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5.4)

In my ministry with Jews for Jesus, the joy I have in seeing Jewish people come to faith in Messiah is unmatched. They can be the most righteous or the least righteous, the nicest or the most crooked, but when they listen to Henry David Thoreau or the Gospel itself, they win. Thoreau said, “If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.”

3) The world, the flesh, and Satan, summed up as The Enemy, want us to allow for him, to hang out with him, to live a double life. Compromise is easy in these days, but if we are victorious in our walk with the Lord, then the only way Satan can beat us is to cause us to pretend, to live sneaky lives and if so, two things are sure. One, we will get caught eventually and two, the enemy will have won if we continue. Yeshua said, “no man can serve two masters” (Matt. 6.24) and the book of Judges is calling us to wholehearted, single-focused faith in the Lord Himself.

4) When we fail, God will deliver us, if we call on Him and trust him.
That’s what I see as the overarching principles and lessons of the book of Judges. Each week for the next while the pastoral team will unpack specifics about this bible book. And what we read in the book of Hebrews, “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, And all these, having gained approval through their faith,” (Heb 11.32, 39)

Maybe next year before the Lane Cove Fair, we will re-read this sermon. And learn about going out to battle. We go to proclaim Jesus as Lord of Lane Cove and Lord of Heaven and earth. And we go, not in our own strength, but in that of our righteous Savior. We go because He went. And you can do that without a festival or a face-painting stall. Talk to your neighbour. Talk to your boss. Help kids at Scripture in school to get it. Tell people on the train and the bus. Let’s go there.

That’s what I tell my team of Jews for Jesus. We go to His own Jewish people because He did. We trust the Lord to give us people with whom to witness. And our victory is in trusting and knowing Him, and sharing Him with others. He loves them much more than we do. I think of Marvin, who got saved last month with me. His interest in God was minimal to say the least two months ago, but a weird vision in the night awoke him to the possibility of a real God, and within a month, this 32 year old Jewish man was not only professing Jesus as Lord, but I was baptizing him in Sandringham Beach with other believers watching. Or Naomi, the Israeli lawyer who while I was witnessing to her last year at a café in Quakers Hill gave her life to Yeshua and is living in His power today. Let us go in His name, no matter the cost, no matter the false teachers and other thorns out there. Let us go to proclaim Yeshua, Lord of all. And let’s see what victories God will give us. Amen?

Schaeffer on anti-Semitism

The Bible-believing Christian and the Jewish People
by Francis Schaeffer

   
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) was one of this century's most influential defenders of the Christian faith. He and his wife Edith founded the L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland in 1955 where, over many years, thousands of students found their questions answered, their doubts removed and their minds and spirits renewed through the gospel. Dr. Schaeffer's writings, notably The God Who is There, Escape from Reason and He is There and He is not Silent comprise a powerful critique of modern thought and a defence of biblical Christianity. The following article originally appeared in tract form and in the Autumn 1999 Herald and appears by the kind permission of Dr. Schaeffer's family. We live in an age in which anti-Semitism is a powerful force. In many lands it has resulted in the death of countless Jews. In our own land it shows itself in various guises from time to time, and even among those who call themselves fundamentalist Christians we find an occasional individual who spends a large portion of his time assailing the Jew.

Considering anti-Semitism, the first thing that fixes itself in my thinking is the fact that Christ was a Jew. When we open the New Testament to Matthew 1:1, we find the very first claim made concerning Christ is that he sprang from Abraham and was a descendant of David. The Bible does not say that Jesus just happened to be a Jew, but the Word of God emphasizes over and over again that he was a Jew.

Jesus was a Jew
When he was eight days old he was taken to the temple and circumcised, as was every Jewish male. Therefore, we must remember that Jesus bore in His body the physical mark of the Jewish people. At the age of twelve he was dedicated at the temple, again emphasizing that his Jewish identity and Jewish faith were not incidental to him but that from his early training they formed his vital human background. The Bible teaches that during his public ministry as an adult man, while repudiating purely human Jewish traditions, his life carefully conformed to Old Testament standards. In fact, he lived in such a way that the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled fully in Him. He was the Jew of all Jews. In His public ministry we find him dealing almost exclusively with the Jews. Hardly ever did he touch a Gentile life. The twelve disciples were all Jews. The earliest church consisted completely of Jews. It was Peter the Jew who spoke to the proselyte, Cornelius. It was the believing Jews, scattered abroad by the persecution that followed the death of Stephen who took the Good News to Antioch in Syria where the first Gentile Christian Church was formed. The missionary who opened up the heathen Roman Empire to the preaching of the Gospel was the Jew, Paul. And if we ask why it was that the Jews received such an important place in the early Christian Church, we must realize that it was not an afterthought in the plan of God. For two thousand years God had been working in history to bring forth this very fact. He called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees as the first Jew when the earth had completely apostatized from the living God. He promised him that the land of Canaan would be his, that he would have numerous seed and, above all things, that all the world would be blessed through him. God called Abraham forth for this specific purpose; that through him the Messiah should come. In the providence of God, for two thousand years the Jewish nation was the cradle of the coming Redeemer.

Before the Messiah
As we examine the history of that two thousand years, we find God constantly reaffirming his promise of the coming Messiah to the Jews, so that not only was the promise made to Abraham but also to Isaac and Jacob, and then it was narrowed down to the tribe of Judah, and then to the royal family — the family of David. As the years passed, God promised that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, that he would suffer, and also that he should rule in Palestine on behalf of His people, the Jews. In those two thousand years in which the way was prepared for the coming of the Messiah, but for the light that shone in Israel, all the earth was in a state of spiritual darkness. While our ancestors worshiped we know not what — but certainly not the living God — the Jews were called God's chosen people. They were separated from all other peoples of the earth. They were beloved of God, a kingdom of priests. In order that the Anointed One should come, even in their times of sin God kept His hand upon them so that a faithful remnant should be His. Jesus was not a Jew by accident, nor was it an incidental thing in the plan of God. According to both the Old Testament and the New Testament, if Jesus had not been born a Jew he could not have been our Saviour. As for the present time in which we live, Romans 11:17-24 teaches that we Gentile believers should not boast against the Jews, "the natural branches" of his Olive Tree, for if God spared not the natural branches, we are warned to take heed lest he spare not us. How clearly it is emphasized that if we who were "wild branches" by nature were grafted "contrary to nature" into the good olive tree, much more shall the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree. And what does Ephesians 2:14 stress to us but that by Jesus' death "the middle wall of partition" between Jew and Gentile was broken down. Not that the Jew should be cast aside, but that Gentiles should have place with the Jews by faith. Abraham is now our father and, as we Gentiles have put our faith in Christ, we are now spiritual Jews.

The Future of the Jews
The Word of God is explicit still about the future. In Romans 11:25 it is made clear that the blindness which now in part is happened to Israel is not forever, but "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in". And then what is to come to pass? The 26th verse tells us that "all Israel" shall then be saved when the Deliverer "will turn away ungodliness from Jacob". The 29th verse is one that Christians love and use for ourselves, "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." We may apply it to ourselves because God never breaks any promise but let us notice that the primary application in this place is to the Jew. God has promised great things for Israel as a nation, and the Word here tells us that he will bring them to pass. If he does not bring them to pass, then "the gifts and calling of God" are not "irrevocable". Clearly, again, in Zechariah 12:10 it is stated that the day will come when the Jews, "will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son." In the day when Israel shall be saved they shall look upon Jesus and know that in His first coming he was their true Messiah. Again, it is not only the Old Testament, which promises that the land of Palestine will once more belong to the Jews. In the New Testament, also, in Luke 21:24, we are told that, "Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled". The Word tells us that the day will come when "all Israel will be saved", that the Jews will "look upon" Jesus as their true Messiah and that the Promised Land will be theirs once more. It is not only for the past, not only for the present, but also for the future, that we who are now Christ's should love the Jew.

The Irrationality of Christian anti-Semitism
We cannot expect the Gentile, who merely uses the term "Christian" to designate the difference between Gentile and Jew and to love the Jew, but we who are Christians indeed, in that we have been saved through faith in Christ, should love his ancient people. Above all things in this regard we should keep constantly in our minds that our Lord Himself was a Jew — born a Jew, lived a Jew, and died a Jew. We should bear in mind also that the great majority of those heroes of the faith I long to see when I go to be with the Lord were Jews. I want to see Abraham, and he was a Jew. I want to see Isaac, and he was a Jew. I want to see Jacob, and he was a Jew. I want to see Joseph, and he was a Jew. I want to see Moses, and he was a Jew. I want to see Joshua, and he was a Jew. I want to see Gideon and the other judges; and they were Jews. I want to see the prophets — Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha and all the rest; and they were all Jews. I want to see Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah; and they were Jews. I want to see John, and he was a Jew. I want to see James, and he was a Jew. I want to see Peter, and he was a Jew. I want to see Paul, and he was a Jew. Those are only some of those I long to meet who bear the name of Jew. How could I hate the Jewish people? And if this were not enough for those of us who are Bible-believing Christians, let us note the command of God in Romans 11:31. He tells us clearly what our attitude in this age should be to natural Israel. We should show mercy to them and, my friends, mercy and anti-Semitism — in any form — do not live in the same household. We cannot seek to win the Jewish people individually to the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour if in our hearts we despise them as a people. Not long ago an influential Jew in New York City, the Labor Editor of one of the New York papers, quoted to me a little poem which he said was widely repeated among the Jews of that city. As I have considered this rhyme, I have found it to be more than an interesting jingle. It speaks wisdom concerning the man who bears the name of Christian and yet is anti-Semitic in his thinking.

    How odd of God to choose the Jews.

    But not so odd as those who choose

    The Jewish God and hate the Jews.

Is it a joke or what?

The umbrella body of the Jewish community in Sydney threatened to take action against a major newspaper for publishing a cartoon about Gaza that it claims “racially vilifies” Jews.

Yair Miller, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, wrote to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday claiming that the cartoon by Glen Le Lievre in the July 26 edition was in breach of the Anti-Discrimination Act.

“In our view this is racial vilification, not only in the sense of offending, insulting, humiliating and intimidating Jews as a group, but also in the sense of inciting third parties to hatred of Jews,” Miller wrote.

The cartoon, published alongside a virulently anti-Israel article by columnist Mike Carlton, showed a yarmulke-wearing Jew sitting in an armchair etched with a Star of David, using a remote control to detonate a collection of buildings, presumably in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation Commission of the B’nai B’rith also lodged a formal protest against the “anti-Semitic” image.

“This is the venomous propaganda of Der Stumer recycled for a modern-day audience,” fumed commission chair Dr. Dvir Abramovich. “The cartoon portrays not just Israelis, but all Jews, as heartless, cold-blooded murderers.”

The furor comes as an Islamic leader called for a ban on Australians who join the Israeli army. Samir Dandan, president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, claimed that Australians who fight in Iraq and Syria face prosecution whereas those who fight for Israel do not.

“It’s hard when you say something to one side and they look and say ‘how come we’re not being treated the same’ – it’s not fair,” he told the Australian Associated Press this week.

But Dr. Danny Lamm, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, told JTA: “The law is to prevent
 Australians from going to fight for proscribed groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, etc., who are trying to undermine established states or commit terrorist acts.”

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/203018/does-australia-gaza-war-cartoon-vilify-jews/#ixzz38wDMTOND

Anti-semitism in Paris

French parade 2014

January 27th was “International Holocaust Remembrance Day.” On the eve of that day, 17,000 people in France marched through the streets of Paris shouting: “Jews, out of France!” “Jews, France is not yours!” “The story of the gas chamber is bull***!” According to the article, “At one point, in a show of raw, seething hatred, the crowd simply spits out the word “Jew, Jew, Jew!” You can watch the march here: video

France has the third largest population of Jewish people in the world, so this is no small event. I spoke with a friend of mine who is a retired Marine officer and former strategic analyst, and he equated the parade in France last month to the “Brown-Shirt” marches in Nazi Germany. My friend said, "France today is Germany in 1933". In 1933, the Jews had about six years to get out of Germany, so how long do you think the Jews in France have today? Another friend, who leads a ministry that helps Jewish people return to Israel from the West, received a desperate letter from a rabbi in France pleading for assistance in bringing his family to Israel. We are actively working to help this man and his family, and to bring more awareness to the people in France of the danger they are in. They need help now, and we are working on a plan to do just that.

Queen Esther before the King

Queen Esther before the King, a photo by Lawrence OP on Flickr.

My friend and colleague Joe Bell in Eastern Tennessee (USA) wrote this for the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America website. It's too good to miss:

Purim: Remembering the Days of Queen Esther

By Messianic Rabbi Joe Bell

Dear friends,
According to the decree of Mordecai and Esther as recorded in Esther 9:20-32, the Feast of Purim was to be celebrated on the 14th and 15th of Adar, and it was established and confirmed that this feast should be celebrated and remembered throughout all future generations as a memorial of how the Jews were miraculously saved from the evil plot of the Jew hater, Haman!

To this day, Purim is still observed around the world by reading the scroll of the book of Esther (the Megillah), putting on elaborate comedy plays of the Esther Story, sending food gifts to one another, and making charity contributions. Mordecai said, "the celebration of Purim is the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presence of food to one another and gifts to the poor." (Esther 9:22)

This year, Purim falls on March 16th and 17th and Jews, Messianic Jews, and some Christians will be remembering and celebrating the incredible story of Esther and Mordecai during this time. It amazes me that in ancient Persia (which is modern-day Iran), a Jewish man arose to become the Prime Minister, even in the midst of severe anti-Semitism. 2,500 years ago, Mordecai the Jew became the Prime Minister of "Iran" and defeated the same diabolical political/spiritual force of anti-Semitism that we face in our world today.

The incredible story of intrigue and danger centers around another decree; a decree by Haman to destroy all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Miraculously, God lifted up Esther and her Uncle Mordecai to bring deliverance to their fellow Jews. When Queen Esther discovered the plot to destroy her people, she called for a three day fast and then hosted two banquets for the King and his chief advisor, Haman, the Agagite. During the second banquet, Esther stirred up her courage to inform the king of Haman’s wicked plan to destroy the Jews.

Initially, Esther resisted this call to act on behalf of her people. She was understandably afraid of the King. Nevertheless, her uncle Mordecai sent these famous words to her, exhorting her to step up to the challenge and to take action: “Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14).

Called to make a decision:
Queen Esther had to make a conscious decision to help her Jewish people. She knew that she could lose her life if she went before the king uninvited. Yeshua (Jesus) said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it,” (Mark 8:35). Answering the call of God for your life means being willing to lose your old life to follow Yeshua. "Not my will, Lord, Your will be done".

Helping God's chosen people today still requires a decision, a choice. There is no gray area. It’s black and white. Is God calling you to be an Esther, to help save the Jewish people in our generation?

Do the Jewish people need to be saved?
January 27th was “International Holocaust Remembrance Day.” On the eve of that day, 17,000 people in France marched through the streets of Paris shouting: “Jews, out of France!” “Jews, France is not yours!” “The story of the gas chamber is bull***!” According to the article, “At one point, in a show of raw, seething hatred, the crowd simply spits out the word “Jew, Jew, Jew!” You can watch the march here: video

France has the third largest population of Jewish people in the world, so this is no small event. I spoke with a friend of mine who is a retired Marine officer and former strategic analyst, and he equated the parade in France last month to the “Brown-Shirt” marches in Nazi Germany. My friend said, "France today is Germany in 1933". In 1933, the Jews had about six years to get out of Germany, so how long do you think the Jews in France have today? Another friend, who leads a ministry that helps Jewish people return to Israel from the West, received a desperate letter from a rabbi in France pleading for assistance in bringing his family to Israel. We are actively working to help this man and his family, and to bring more awareness to the people in France of the danger they are in. They need help now, and we are working on a plan to do just that.

In other recent Anti-Jewish news, the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he, “will not recognize Israel as a Jewish State and will not sign a peace deal that does not include eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.” To make matters worse, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry concurrently threatened Israel with a possible international boycott if Israel fails to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians.

Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s intelligence and strategic Affairs Minister said that, “Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with a gun to its head when we are discussing matters which are most critical to our national interests.” Naftali Bennett, the Industry Minister said, “We expect of our friends in the world to stand by our side against the attempts to impose an anti-Semitic boycott on Israel, and not to be their mouthpiece.”

What will You Do?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Friends, the politically correct new way to be anti-Semitic is to say one is anti-Zionist. They say, “Oh, I have nothing against Jews… It’s Israel I have a problem with". I’m sorry, but if you have a problem with Israel, you have a problem with Jews.

James wrote that, “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:20). Many people tell me they love Israel and the Jewish people, but what they do tangibly and the priorities they choose is the real testimony of their conviction. The Bible explains in Matthew 25:31-46 that God will judge all peoples based on how they treated the Jewish people. God says He will separate the sheep from the goats based on what each person did for even the least of Jesus’ brethren (the Jewish people). This passage is confirmed in Joel 3:1-2, “When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom I have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land…”

Nations of the world are threatening to boycott Israel if Israel refuses to divide the land including Jerusalem, the land God promised to Abraham (see Gen 15:18-21), and the land King David bought in order to build the Temple where the spirit of God rested for centuries.
What will you do? Will you remain Silent? The name of our ministry is taken from Isaiah 62, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a burning torch,” (Isaiah 62:1). At For Zion’s Sake Ministries we have helped bring millions of dollars’ worth of humanitarian aid for the needy in Israel through our efforts with The MJAA’s Joseph Project.

Tens of thousands of people in Israel, both Jew and Arab, receive the necessities of life because many of you contributed at one time or another. We face modern day Hamans and a look into the eyes of history repeating itself on the world stage. God promises that if we ACT on behalf of the Jewish people and share in the work of saving them physically and spiritually, greater riches will come to the world.

“But if their (the Jews) transgression means riches for the world, and their (the Jews) loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!” (Romans 11:12).

Friend, you have been called to royalty in Messiah Yeshua, and you are a child of the King of Kings for "such a time as this". Will you decide to act as Queen Esther did? The Jewish people and the land of Israel need real friends today. They need friends in Israel; they need friends in France. Our work is enormous and the job ahead is fraught with danger and sacrifice. Will you be one of those who, like Queen Esther, was not afraid to lay down her way of life and poured herself into the plan that God had for her generation? If you are one of those, I pray that all the blessings of Esther, beauty, favor, meekness, prosperity, wisdom, grace, love, courage and victory, will come upon you, and that God will lead you in what you should do.

In Yeshua’s love,
Rabbi Joe and Dawn Bell