by Arni Klein in the Galilee
April 24, 2019 | Our last writing included
a section dealing with some issues surrounding Brexit. Since then a remarkable
piece of the puzzle has been added. The powers in the EU have given the British
Prime Minister a final date by which this matter must be settled…October 31,
2019. At first glance, most will associate the date with Halloween. Given all
the occult elements associated with the EU, how fitting that they would choose
the one day universally connected with the world of darkness. There is,
however, another side to the picture. October 31st also commemorates a
convergence of three world-changing events of a very different nature.
-
On October 31,1517 Martin Luther stood against the prevailing religious
system and re-established the fact that salvation is obtained through what
Yeshua did and not by works. Luther’s
actions put Yeshua, the Son of God, into His proper place before the Church. In
that same year, the Ottoman Turks took control over the Land of Israel.
- On October 31,1917, exactly 400 years to the day from the Reformation,
the ANZAC (Australia/New Zealand Army Corps) Light Horse Brigade overran the
Turks at Beer Sheva, opening the way for the return of the Jews to the Land.
- On October 31,1917 the British Parliament approved the Balfour
Declaration, calling forth the establishment of a national Jewish homeland in
“Palestine.” They paved the way for
Jewish aliyah (immigration). On this
very same day, the legislators passed the edict and the military opened the
door.
-
Also, for the record… on October 31,1940, the British victory over Nazi
forces was the first major German defeat in World War II and a crucial turning
point in the conflict.
On what we might term an initial level, the UK
coming out of the EU is about preserving Britain’s sovereignty and identity.
It’s about getting out of a bad social and economic situation. Such is the
perspective held by the Brits desiring to leave. (Our British friend has produced
a second video that is perhaps even more
stirring than the first, which received 110,000 views.
Looking from a spiritual standpoint reveals quite another dimension. We suggest that it was not by the will of men that
the League of Nations entrusted the British with a mandate to oversee
Palestine. Neither was the Balfour declaration conceived in the heart of man.
Considering that the presence and influence of the British Empire covered about
one third of the globe, it gives cause to wonder that all the above was planned
and orchestrated by God.
If so, then by Divine choosing Great Britain
was positioned, equipped, called and commissioned to be the agency among the
nations to facilitate the return of the children of Israel from exile to their
ancient homeland. Sadly, in 1939, by the will of man, the mandate expressed
in the Balfour Declaration was set aside as the British government preferred
that the land bearing God’s name would be occupied by the children of Ishmael.
The result of their choice meant that immigration to Palestine was not to be an
option for the multitude of Jews fleeing Nazi gas chambers. Who can know how
many could have been saved? Taking into account all the British protectorates,
it could have been millions. From this point the history of Great Britain took
a sharp downward turn.
For
decades the German people and government have borne the weight of
responsibility for the Holocaust. Four generations later, German youth
still identify with the shame of their ancestors. Their response has been
decidedly more than emotional or symbolic. German youth have the option of
doing their required national service in Israel. More than half of all
non-Jewish volunteers come from Germany. This is not surprising, given the
history.
In recent years God has been
stirring believers in the UK to recognize and own the deeds of their ancestors. A simple fact that many have not yet realized is
that the current darkness sweeping over their nation is simply reaping what has
been sown. Not only is the Empire long gone, but the British Isles and London
itself are currently being overrun by the very people and spirit to which they
chose to give God’s Land. Is this not the epitome of Divine reaping and sowing?
Until the root has been healed the tree will continue to be filled with rotten
fruit.
In
the past few years, as we have personally engaged with brethren in the UK, we
are impressed that a growing number are aware of the importance of Israel and
are waking up to the need to set things right. Though Germany’s part in the
war understandably overshadows whatever anyone else did or didn’t do, much
remains to lay at the feet of other nations. It seems that among that group,
the UK might just occupy the top slot. If the UK had remained faithful to the
spirit and promise of the Balfour Declaration and their Mandate, perhaps a
million Jewish lives would have been saved. One British friend put forth the
matter quite simply. Who is worse? The one that set the house on fire, or the
one that locked the door?
Coming back to the October 31st deadline with the thought that it was God that chose the
date, there is a striking similarity to former events in Germany. The
Holocaust was set into full motion on November 9, 1938 when a word went
forth out of Munich’s City Hall for Nazi troops to destroy Jewish property all
throughout Germany. It became known as “Kristallnacht" -- the night of
broken glass. Years after the end of the war, a wall was erected dividing east
and west Germany. Whatever the political
reasons might have been, its crippling of the nation was seen by many as God’s
judgment for Germany’s actions in the war.
On November 9, 1989, as a result of a misunderstanding on the part of a Russian border guard, the Berlin Wall was suddenly opened, and the country was reunited. German believers acknowledge the hand of God. If so, it was surely done for a reason. Why would God choose a day whose mere remembrance elicits such pain and sorrow to reunify the nation? As it was a most unlikely day for such a thing, and the occurrence was rather supernatural, we are given to conclude that God wanted to give an unmistakable message to the German people as to the purpose for which He was reuniting the nation.
Undoubtedly it had to do with
Israel. It was a call to the German people to go beyond asking forgiveness out
of guilt and shame. It was a rhema declaration of Isaiah 62:1-7 -- to give themselves no rest until Jerusalem
is a praise in the earth. In that light, we believe that God chose October
31st for the final execution of Brexit to give the Body of Messiah and people
of the UK a message. His purpose in delivering the people of the UK from the demonic,
anti-Semitic, controlling influence of the EU is that Britain might be free to
fulfill its Divine mandate to facilitate the return of the Jews to the Land of
Israel.
Exodus Then and Now | The Exodus of Israel from
slavery was also about more than being delivered from a bad situation. God
chose to bring them out in a moment determined by factors apart from their
suffering. He had told Abraham, “Your
descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve
them, and they will afflict them four hundred years…. But in the fourth
generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet
complete.” (Gen.15:13,16) The deliverance would come when the iniquity
of the inhabitants reached the point of judgment. God was bringing them
into the Land to prepare it for His dwelling place. They were to cleanse the
Land of the iniquity of the Canaanites and fill it with praise and worship.
Unfortunately, it was evident from the way the Israelites acted that they
thought that He was doing it for them and consequently they did not fully
cleanse the Land.
The
dynamics of the birth of the nation of Israel relate to our born-again
experience individually and corporately. The importance of having the right
perspective cannot be overstated. The way we perceive our salvation, whether we
see it moving in a particular direction or as something static and complete in
itself essentially determines how we will relate to what follows for the rest
of our life -- namely, whether our central reference point will be God or
ourselves.
However we might relate to Israel’s failure to complete what they were given to do, the fact is that it still remains to be done. For the last 2000 years, the focus of those that call on His name has basically been about individuals being saved and growing in the knowledge of God. It seems we have missed a particular aspect of being grafted into the cultivated olive tree and partaking of the commonwealth of Israel. Some, however, have recognized, as written in Romans 11:11, that the gentiles became custodians of the revelation of salvation for the ultimate purpose of the salvation of Israel.
The
Israelites had grown up in Egypt. It was all they knew. As hard as their life
was, it was likely they wouldn’t have been particularly excited to head out
into the desert with three million others. There is no way they could fathom
finding enough food and water. For some, anything was better than slavery. For
others, not so. Having witnessed God’s miraculous acts did not translate into
knowing God and having an assurance for the future. Their orientation was set
in the frame of coming out. They were understandably not tuned to what they
were being brought into or why. Consequently, as they stood at the entrance to
the Land, they were not prepared or able to enter.
God’s ultimate purpose is the
same, whether pertaining to individuals or nations. It has not changed since the beginning. His calling
on the nations is connected with His calling on Israel. The meaning of being
grafted in, becoming part of the commonwealth of Israel, i.e. commonly sharing
and bearing all things with them is clear and simple enough. We are created to
be and prepare a dwelling place for Him. Individually it’s about our heart, and
corporately it’s about the place He has chosen -- the Land He gave to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob and their descendants -- the Land of Israel.
Germany and the UK have this message engraved
and woven into their national histories. Please do not mistake the emphasis we have
placed on these two nations. We cite them as examples, and not as those having
a different calling. In Isaiah 62:6-7, God is speaking to the whole of the
gentile body of believers. Perhaps the message is more timely for the UK in
this moment. As the British believers are looking to God to bring them out,
perhaps their lining up with God’s purpose might have a bearing on the outcome.
Is it not high time that we all get beyond what we have been saved from and
enter into what we have been saved for? What might true repentance look like?
Beyond
absolution from guilt, the goal is nothing less than to right the wrong,
wherever possible. Germany and Great Britain are directly responsible for
decreasing the number of the children of Israel. If not for their actions and
inactions, the Land of Israel would have many more souls praising and
worshiping preparing the way of the Lord. There is a gap to be filled. This
fact is not just for the Body of Messiah in the two nations mentioned. It is an
awareness to be held and responded to by all those who are called by His name.
Arise
therefore, you who have been grafted into Zion. Step into the gap and close the
breach. Make up for what is lacking. For the sake of His name, even in the
name of those who perished, present yourselves as living sacrifices. The
passage in Romans 12:1-2, which perhaps is the foremost call to worship in the
New Testament, is written to be the response to Paul’s greatest exposition and
exhortation on the place of Israel and the calling of the nations. Therefore,
he says, in light of what you have just read, present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord. This is your reasonable service of
worship.
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