Category: Repentance

He carrys our inequities...

3/10/2022

What is unlimited, #eternal, merciful, sacrificial love? It is #found in #Jesus alone. #Christ Messiah suffered unbearably, and accepts the sufferings #willingly. (“Because he himself desires to bear them… and we esteemed that he would not take them himself but that he was stricken, smitten by God. But when the #time comes that he will be #revealed in all his majesty then all will #see and #understand how great is the strength of the one who suffers torments for that generation.”) Zechariah and Isaiah prophecies that the Messiah will die by the piercing or the stabbing of his body, and in his death, he will take our transgressions upon himself; [“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of #grace and pleads for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”] “They shall look unto me’, for they shall lift up their eyes unto me in perfect repentance, when they see him whom they pierced, that is, Messiah, the Son of Joseph; …he WILL *take *upon *himself *all the *guilt of Israel.” [Zechariah12:10] God, when He #created the Messiah, gave him the -choice- whether to accept the sufferings for the sins of Israel- Jesus replied, “I accept it with *joy, so that *not a single *soul of Israel should perish.” [Jesus is the most well-known Jewish figure in all history and yet He was rejected, humiliated, and crucified. He is a Messiah with whom (historically) Jews can #identify, for their people were also rejected, humiliated, and (almost) destroyed]. The #goodnews is that God’s Word -doesn’t end- with the suffering and death of the Messiah, because in his #resurrection from the dead, we were given #complete #forgiveness, a new life with his holy spirit, sparking regeneration through the body of christ for ALL in the Messianic Age. The gospel is a message of #redemption on numerous coexisting levels, yet the ultimate redemption of the Gospel message lies in Israels #return to Gods #dwelling place.

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Elijah "Yahweh IS God.'

2/8/2022

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Elijah (Elias or Elia, Hebrew Eliyyahu), Hebrew prophet who ranks with Moses in #saving the religion of #Yahweh from being *corrupted by the nature -worship- of #Baal (idols). Elijah’s name means “Yahweh IS my God” The story of his #prophetic career in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reigns of Kings Ahab and Ahaziah (1Kings17–19, 2Kings1–2). Elijah claimed that there was no -#reality- except the #God of #Israel, stressing monotheism to the people with possibly unprecedented emphasis. The Israelite king Omri had *allied himself with the Phoenician *cities of the *coast, and his son Ahab was married to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel, with her Tyrian courtiers and a -large contingent- of -pagan- priests and prophets, #propagated her native religion in a “sanctuary” built for -Baal- in the royal city of Samaria. This meant that the Israelites -accepted- Baal as well “as” Yahweh, putting -Yahweh- on a “par” with a -nature-god- whose “supreme manifestations” were the “elements and biological fertility, celebrated often in sexual immorality.” Jezebel’s *policies- intensified the *gradual #contamination of the religion of #Yahweh by the Canaanite “religion of *Baal,” a -process made easier by the weakening- of the Israelites’ “faith in Yahweh.” Elijah was from Tishbe in Gilead. The narrative in (1Kings) relates how he suddenly appears during Ahab’s reign to proclaim a #drought in “punishment of the cult of Baal” that Jezebel was -promoting- in Israel at “Yahweh’s expense.” Later Elijah meets 450 prophets of Baal in a contest of strength on Mount Carmel to determine which deity is the true God of Israel. “Sacrifices” are placed on an altar to Baal and one to Yahweh. The pagan prophets’ “ecstatic appeals” to Baal to kindle the wood on his altar are #unsuccessful, but -Elijah’s prayers to Yahweh- are #answered by a fire on his altar. This outcome is taken as decisive by the Israelites, who slay the priests and prophets of Baal under #Elijah’s #direction. The drought thereupon ends with the “falling of rain” symbolizing #repentance and #redemption.X

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN ARAB PREACHES JESUS IN ISRAEL?

12/31/2021

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Compelled by the Holy Spirit, he jumped up on the table, microphone in hand, and began to preach about Jesus. But what happened next amazed us all!
In Haifa, northern Israel, there’s a multicultural neighbourhood called Wadi NisNas. Each year they throw a “Holiday of Holidays” for all three faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam and believers make the most of the golden opportunity to share the good news of Jesus. And so it was that Carlos Damianos, an Israeli Arab, was presented with an unmissable chance to make Jesus known.

Filled with love for the Israeli crowd, Carlos spoke with earnestness about the Messiah in a way Jewish people could understand, pleading with them to accept Yeshua as their Lord and Savior.Here’s what he said: Moses. The most revered prophet in the Bible. Moses, when he went and killed the Egyptian, someone came and asked him, “Who are you? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” After that, Moses ran away for forty years. They rejected Moses, but he became the leader of the entire Jewish people. Joseph. They sold Joseph, but he became the leader not just of the Egyptians but the savior of many nations. Brothers and sisters, this picture recurs throughout history also in our days. Jesus.Yeshua who is called today “Yeshu” (a curse: “May His Name and Memory be Blotted Out Forever) is Jesus is the Messiah! He’s the Son of God that has been rejected by you. He’s been rejected for 2000 years. And today we, as a people – today the one thing that unites us is that we all oppose Jesus!We sold Jesus. But Jesus is like Joseph. He is our Savior. He’s our blessing!

And so like the ten brothers who went to Egypt to be saved from death they were horrified to see the person standing before them was the brother they sold years ago – Joseph. And the day will come. Jesus the Messiah will be revealed before the whole house of Israel.Don’t get caught out like Joseph’s brothers! So that you won’t be ashamed on the Day of Judgement put your trust in Jesus so you won’t be caught out. Because now there is grace all who believe in Him will be saved. Everyone who puts their trust in Him will be saved on the basis of the blood that was shed for us on the cross.Brothers and sisters, I implore you read the New Covenant – the New Testament. Jeremiah the prophet said that God would make a New Covenant different to the Old Covenant. The Sinai covenant judges us. It judges you! Because no one can measure up to its standards.

The New Covenant was also given by God’s grace. A gift we didn’t deserve. The first covenant was given at Sinai and was written in blood, but in the blood of animals. The New Covenant also had to be written in blood – not the blood of animals, but the blood of the Messiah, the Son of God – because through His blood we can become children of God. And this is not just for Jewish people also for Gentiles! A New Covenant was made for us – as promised by the prophets Today I bring good news. Friends, brothers, we all live here and we face the same future, but the good news is that through this blood that was shed on the cross, we can receive God’s promise to our Fathers and receive status as his children and receive God’s Spirit as Ezekiel the prophet promised. We are accepted by faith. Dear brothers and sisters, come, through Jesus we have eternal life peace with God. Not to be religious, but to have a living relationship with God. We’re not asking you to become religious – just to repent!

Check out the prophecies for yourself and return to the God of your fathers. Put your trust in His sacrifice for you who was slain on the cross 2000 years ago, and then you will receive forgiveness for your sins and also status as God’s child. Give him a chance – he’s been pursuing you for 2000 years! Don’t harden your heart or rebel against him as our fathers did. Give him the chance – accept him. Don’t turn your back on this good news! Look at the prophecies so that you can enter into the blessing that the Patriarchs yearned for. They longed for this blessing: the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. So this Covenant is given to you and to your children through the Holy Spirit that was given after Yeshua gave Himself on the cross and rose on the third day. Today we bring good news in his name. Do not harden your hearts! Don’t rebel against him!It’s time to stop being stiff-necked the way the Bible has described us! Let’s change our hearts, our attitude, back towards the God of our Fathers.

Several Israelis accepted Yeshua on the spot, right then and there, including a prominent member of a local synagogue.Another Jewish man cried out, “I feel my heart burning with fire! What can we do to fix all the injustice we’ve done to Yeshua?” Here is Carlos explaining the answer to that question after his bold message.

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Israel facing God

9/1/2020

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“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV).

The key to understanding any verse of Scripture is context. There is the immediate context—the verses before and after it, as well as the larger context of Scripture—how the verse fits into the overall story. There is also the historical and cultural context—how the verse was understood by its original audience in light of their history and culture. Because context is so important, a verse whose meaning and application seem straightforward when quoted in isolation may mean something significantly different when it is taken in context.

When approaching 2 Chronicles 7:14, one must first consider the immediate context. After Solomon dedicated the temple, the Lord appeared to him and gave him some warnings and reassurances. “The Lord appeared to him at night and said: ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.’ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:12–14).

The immediate context of 2 Chronicles 7:14 shows that the verse is tied up with Israel and the temple and the fact that from time to time God might send judgment upon the land in the form of drought, locusts, or pestilence.

A few verses later God says this: “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them’” (2 Chronicles 7:19–22).

No doubt Solomon would have recognized this warning as a reiteration of Deuteronomy 28. God had entered into a covenant with Israel and promised to take care of them and cause them to prosper as long as they obeyed Him. He also promised to bring curses upon them if they failed to obey. Because of the covenant relationship, there was a direct correspondence between their obedience and their prosperity, and their disobedience and their hardship. Deuteronomy 28 spells out the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. Again, divine blessing and divine punishment on Israel were conditional on their obedience or disobedience.

We see this blessing and cursing under the Law play out in the book of Judges. Judges chapter 2 is often referred to as “The Cycle of the Judges.” Israel would fall into sin. God would send another nation to judge them. Israel would repent and call upon the Lord. The Lord would raise up a judge to deliver them. They would serve the Lord for a while and then fall back into sin again. And the cycle would continue.

In 2 Chronicles 7, the Lord simply reminds Solomon of the previous agreement. If Israel obeys, they will be blessed. If they disobey, they will be judged. The judgment is meant to bring Israel to repentance, and God assures Solomon that, if they will be humble, pray, and repent, then God will deliver them from the judgment.

In context, 2 Chronicles 7:14 is a promise to ancient Israel (and perhaps even modern-day Israel) that, if they will repent and return to the Lord, He will rescue them. However, many Christians in the United States have taken this verse as a rallying cry for America. (Perhaps Christians in other countries have done so as well.) In this interpretation, Christians are the people who are called by God’s name. If Christianswill humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face, and repent, then God will heal their land—often a moral and political healing is in view as well as economic healing. The question is whether or not this is a proper interpretation/application.

The first problem that the modern-day, “Westernized” interpretation encounters is that the United States does not have the same covenant relationship with God that ancient Israel enjoyed. The covenant with Israel was unique and exclusive. The terms that applied to Israel simply did not apply to any other nation, and it is improper for these terms to be co-opted and applied to a different nation.

Some might object that Christians are still called by God’s name and in some ways have inherited the covenant with Israel—and this may be true to some extent. Certainly, if a nation is in trouble, a prayerful and repentant response by Christians in that nation is always appropriate. However, there is another issue that is often overlooked.

When ancient Israel repented and sought the Lord, they were doing so en masse. The nation as a whole repented. Obviously, not every single Israelite repented and prayed, but still it was nationalrepentance. There was never any indication that a small minority of the nation (a righteous remnant) could repent and pray and that the fate of the entire nation would change. God promised deliverance when the entire nation repented.

When 2 Chronicles 7:14 is applied to Christians in the U.S. or any other modern nation, it is usually with the understanding that the Christians in that nation—the true believers in Jesus Christ who have been born again by the Spirit of God—will comprise the righteous remnant. God never promised that if a righteous remnant repents and prays for their nation, that the nation will be saved. Perhaps if national repentance occurred, then God would spare a modern nation as He spared Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah (see Jonah 3)—but that is a different issue.

Having said that, it is never wrong to confess our sins and pray—in fact, it is our duty as believers to continuously confess and forsake our sins so that they will not hinder us (Hebrews 12:1) and to pray for our nation and those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1–2). It may be that God in His grace will bless our nation as a result—but there is no guarantee of national deliverance. Even if God did use our efforts to bring about national repentance and revival, there is no guarantee that the nation would be politically or economically saved. As believers, we are guaranteed personal salvation in Christ (Romans 8:1), and we are also guaranteed that God will use us to accomplish His purposes, whatever they may be. It is our duty as believers to live holy lives, seek God, pray, and share the gospel knowing that all who believe will be saved, but the Bible does not guarantee the political, cultural, or economic salvation of our nation.

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Who is a God like You? Micah;

6/9/2020

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There is nothing “minor” about the prophet Micah other than the length of the book. In Micah, we find a beautiful path to repentance, restoration, and a promise of the birth of Christ. We know when and where he prophesied, and the effect his prophecy continues to have on us today. His power as a prophet and call to turn away from sin and towards the Savior continue to bring us hope, and shape who we are as believers. His name itself becomes a meaningful, as he summarizes his prophecy in Micah 7:18: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” Micah’s threats are directed against idolaters, those who oppress the little man, priests and prophets who use their profession for financial gain, and leaders who pervert equity and abhor justice. The promises emphasize the importance of Zion, where Yahweh or his royal regent reigns over a kingdom of peace, and of the return from exile for Israel as well as for Judah. The book’s central theme is a concept borrowed from preexilic prophets that salvation will come to Judah and Jerusalem only when the people turn to Yahweh. Then they will not only receive divine favour, but the land itself will become fertile. we can draw a few conclusions about Micah’s self‑understanding and his relation to his fellow countrymen. The outline of his profile is the sharpest where he confronts his opponents: “But as for me, I am filled with authority, justice, and courage to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” (Micah 3:8) What a testimony to fearless self‑assurance! Nothing in the other prophets comes close to it! One might suspect that this expresses the strained self‑glorification of a person obsessed with power. we are warned against such a misinterpretation by the commentary — like gloss which states that he possesses these gifts only along with “the Spirit of the Lord,” by virtue of the special divine authority which completely fills him. At the center of his gifts (between the gifts of “authority’ and “courage’) stands, according to his own statement, justice (that is, his view of justice).

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