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Learning to see over the horizon gives us insight for today (Exodus 3)
What happened Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., was quire heart-breaking to Americans and people all over the world. A heart-searching question we need to ask ourselves is, “Where do we place your hope and trust”? We may agree or disagree with how far people went in protesting the November presidential election and some of the reprehensible behavior that resulted from it — killing and injuring police and protesters, threatening lawmakers gathered inside, vandalizing the Capitol building. But the inspiration for the gatherings that day was, “We want to be free.”
The history of Israel as well as the history of the United States of America reminds us that we have to be extremely careful as to how to “take the land” or “take back our country.”
Promised Land or Deserved Land?
When the Israelites refused to trust in the One Who freed them from bondage in Mitzraim and miraculously protected the people from their captor’s pursuing army and perishing from thirst and hunger, the LORD told that generation that they would rather wander in wilderness outside the Land until they died off (Numbers 13–14). Their children would enter instead.
“Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey — I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.”Numbers 14:30–32 NASB
On hearing that judgment, that generation of Israel changed their minds and tried to go in to conquer the Land. Moshe warned them that the LORD wouldn’t be with them, so they would be utterly defeated (Numbers 14:39–45). And they were.
How the people of God persisted until each tyrant desisted
Israel also lived under their unfair share of tyrants. When Yosef died, the king of Egypt enslaved the children of Israel, but in God’s time, God brought Egypt down. Pharaoh thought he had the high ground, but God brought him low.
Even after Israel entered the Land, they lived through periods when they were oppressed by the Philistines, the Edomites, etc. Those nations are gone, but Israel survives to this day, even though large remnants have broken off over the millennia, including when the 10 Northern Tribes were broken away. Yet, Israel still lives.
Daniel achieved high office during the reign of several very atrocious tyrants….Esther also was able to rule and even thrive under the thumb of Xeres and protect her people. Esra and Nehemia brought a remnant of Israel back to the promised land under Cyrus. Israel still lives.
Mattias and Judah Maccabee unified many faithful Jewish people against the oppression of the Greeks, and they were able to miraculously deliver them from the oppression of the Seleucids and restored the Temple to the worship of the One who gave Israel its mission statement and its meaning. Israel still lives.
A century after the restored freedom of the Maccabees, Rome was brought in as an ally of one faction of Israel and later a “protector” of the people Judea. That resulted in more oppression, and the Messiah of all Israel came to Earth to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven and set the foundation for its establishment in the Land. Those faithful to Yeshua were persecuted and oppressed, yet Israel still lives.
Yeshua warns us in Matthew 24 that a great persecution will come on the people of God. Yeshua tells us that we should pray that we will not have to flee in the winter or ...
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By Hallel FellowshipWhat happened Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., was quire heart-breaking to Americans and people all over the world. A heart-searching question we need to ask ourselves is, “Where do we place your hope and trust”? We may agree or disagree with how far people went in protesting the November presidential election and some of the reprehensible behavior that resulted from it — killing and injuring police and protesters, threatening lawmakers gathered inside, vandalizing the Capitol building. But the inspiration for the gatherings that day was, “We want to be free.”
The history of Israel as well as the history of the United States of America reminds us that we have to be extremely careful as to how to “take the land” or “take back our country.”
Promised Land or Deserved Land?
When the Israelites refused to trust in the One Who freed them from bondage in Mitzraim and miraculously protected the people from their captor’s pursuing army and perishing from thirst and hunger, the LORD told that generation that they would rather wander in wilderness outside the Land until they died off (Numbers 13–14). Their children would enter instead.
“Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey — I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.”Numbers 14:30–32 NASB
On hearing that judgment, that generation of Israel changed their minds and tried to go in to conquer the Land. Moshe warned them that the LORD wouldn’t be with them, so they would be utterly defeated (Numbers 14:39–45). And they were.
How the people of God persisted until each tyrant desisted
Israel also lived under their unfair share of tyrants. When Yosef died, the king of Egypt enslaved the children of Israel, but in God’s time, God brought Egypt down. Pharaoh thought he had the high ground, but God brought him low.
Even after Israel entered the Land, they lived through periods when they were oppressed by the Philistines, the Edomites, etc. Those nations are gone, but Israel survives to this day, even though large remnants have broken off over the millennia, including when the 10 Northern Tribes were broken away. Yet, Israel still lives.
Daniel achieved high office during the reign of several very atrocious tyrants….Esther also was able to rule and even thrive under the thumb of Xeres and protect her people. Esra and Nehemia brought a remnant of Israel back to the promised land under Cyrus. Israel still lives.
Mattias and Judah Maccabee unified many faithful Jewish people against the oppression of the Greeks, and they were able to miraculously deliver them from the oppression of the Seleucids and restored the Temple to the worship of the One who gave Israel its mission statement and its meaning. Israel still lives.
A century after the restored freedom of the Maccabees, Rome was brought in as an ally of one faction of Israel and later a “protector” of the people Judea. That resulted in more oppression, and the Messiah of all Israel came to Earth to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven and set the foundation for its establishment in the Land. Those faithful to Yeshua were persecuted and oppressed, yet Israel still lives.
Yeshua warns us in Matthew 24 that a great persecution will come on the people of God. Yeshua tells us that we should pray that we will not have to flee in the winter or ...