|
Israel’s True
Peace Partners
Brian Hennessy
It is a match literally made in heaven. One that would not have seemed
remotely possible even a few short years ago. But one that is now so
glaringly obvious to those who have eyes to see, it must be declared.
If we really want to see peace come to the Middle East, and indeed to
the whole world, Israel must switch partners and unite with the only
people on earth besides Diaspora Jews who have consistently supported
and defended Israel to the hilt. Namely the Evangelical/Zionist
Christians.
These Christians, who only have eyes for Israel, are a true, God-given
lifetime partner. But like a daytime soap opera, Israel continues to
pursue another suitor, one the watching world knows in their heart of
hearts is not for her. One who has made no secret that as soon as the
ink has dried on the contract, and the dowry of land acquired, the
marriage will be annulled. And Israel’s life will be in peril.
Therefore, if Israel ever hopes to live happily ever after, she must
cancel her internationally-arranged wedding with the Palestinian Arabs
and turn to the hundreds of thousands of Zionist Christians who have
said a thousand different ways, “We love you.”
Now before you think this is absolutely absurd, allow me to introduce
these Christian suitors, of whom I am one, who come seeking Israel’s
hand at this late date. For in spite of how it may seem, we are not
starry-eyed party crashers, but true family. “For if you belong to
Messiah, you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise”
(Galatians 3:29). The inclusion is physical, as well as spiritual.
“The spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual” (1
Corinthians 15:45).
It seems circumstances beyond our control separated our two families
many years ago. Eventually we lost touch, and we forgot even who we
were and where we came from. It is only recently in re-reading the
historic record of Israel in the Bible that we uncovered vital clues
leading us to reclaim our lost identity. This has caused us to reach
out with renewed affection for Israel and her people - hoping she
would receive us in return.
What is our story? If we are who we think we are, we grew up as
kissing cousins in the Promised Land long ago, having the same great,
great, great grandfather, namely Abraham. But our fathers had a
falling out and our two clans separated and didn’t speak again. Sadly,
our whole side of the family, who was named Ephraim by the prophets,
turned their backs on God and soon fell on hard times. When the
Assyrians invaded we lost everything. Not only our land and homes, but
even our standing as part of God’s chosen people. The Almighty’s
crushing words of divorce, delivered by the prophet Hosea, must have
rung in our fathers ears till their deaths: “You are not My people,
and I am not your God” (Hosea 1:9).
Dragged away in chains, our family was transferred to other cities. In
time we must have moved on, intermarried, and assimilated among the
nations. We became as prodigal sons tramping across the world’s byways
and highways, “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to
the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in this
world” (Ephesians 2:12).
Then God sent us a lifeline. One day a man was born in Israel, a son
of David from the town of Bethlehem, who made it his mission to go and
find us and redeem us from our centuries-long banishment. We didn’t
know that the sacred writings of Israel prophesied that he would come
one day, and that we would be found and restored to God and to our
homeland. Because for the most part we never read the Bible. And those
who did read it never put two and two together to realize it was
speaking about us.
You see, by then we had been adopted by another family. Our name was
now “Christian,” and we practiced a different religion. We knew about
Israel, but we didn’t know we were relatives. In fact, for many years
we looked down on her people, and mocked and tormented them. Something
for which we are now deeply ashamed.
But today we are awakening to who we truly are, and to who we are not.
And the more we awaken the more we want to come home. As descendants
(based on Galatians 3:29 and 4:28) we believe we have a far more
legitimate claim to the Land than the present suitor and his
relatives. For the very territory they falsely claim to be their
homeland, known as the “West Bank,” is the heart of our God-given
ancestral lands from which our fathers were forcibly taken centuries
before.
It was on the very mountains of Samaria that our people lived and
tended sheep and harvested their grapes. And it was on the banks of
the Jordan River where they fished and performed their mikvehs. Even
the Golan and the Galilee were our old stomping grounds.
But maybe you are thinking, suppose we are who we say we are, what
guarantee do we offer that we will be a true peace partner to Israel?
Only one: the Scriptures declare it.
They tell us over and over that the only way true peace will ever
prevail in the Holy Land is when the descendants of Abraham associated
with the northern kingdom of Israel return and reunite with the
descendants of Judah, the Jews. The Scriptures tell us that when we
finally put aside our ancient feud and come before God as one people
in the land, peace will finally come!
Here is the promise as spoken by the prophet Ezekiel:
“Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold I will take the stick of Joseph,
which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his
companions; and I will put them with the stick of Judah, and make them
one stick in My hand....And My servant David will be king over them,
and they will all have one shepherd...and they shall live in the land
that I gave to Jacob My servant... And I will make a covenant of
peace with them; and it will be an everlasting covenant.”
(Ezekiel 37:19-26)
It was our forefather’s rebellion against Judah’s king that created
the whole problem. They thought the latest ascendant to David’s
throne, Solomon’s son Rehoboam, was a jerk. And he was. His
pronouncements drove our fathers to break off from the House of David
and go their own way. But as we later learned, God was behind the
schism all along. It seems neither of our families had been walking
according to His righteous ways, and He wanted to get both our
attentions. Still, as the Chronicler sadly noted centuries later,
“Israel [speaking of our side of the family] has been in rebellion
against the House of David to this day” (1 Kings 12:19).
We believe we have now reconciled with David’s House when we submitted
our lives to Jesus/Yeshua, whom we see as his righteous descendant. We
just want to reconcile and reunite now with our brethren, the tribe of
Judah, realizing that for the reunion to be complete God must impart
to them also the grace to see Jesus is Messiah. And He will. For
Zechariah prophesied, “I will pour out on the house of David and on
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on me whom they have pierced; and will mourn
for him as an only son” (Zechariah 12:10).
When this reunion is complete a profound supernatural peace will
descend upon the region that will not only subdue all our enemies, but
even the animal kingdom.
“And I will make a covenant of peace with them ...and they will no
longer be prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not
devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them
afraid.” (Ezek 34:25-28)
Then the whole world will be purged of its rebellion against God and
will also know true peace. “And the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9)
So if peace is what Israel wants most – which surely seems the case
–it is to her Christian friends whom she must now turn. And God will
do the rest.
Shalom aleichem.
January,
2011
|