Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is …
Loving greetings to each of you, precious to Him Who is Lord of lords and King of kings. THANKFULLY, He is really ABLE to keep us and present us safe in Him unto that day. Thank You Lord for Your grace, mercy and the provision of the Precious Blood!
I thought about you much on Jerusalem Day and wrote many things in my head. There is not much like a WONDERFUL one year old Granddaughter who is severely jet lagged to disrupt your life, unless it is an earthquake or a tornado. She’s such a joy and gift, but when she’s up at 2a.m., she has the power of all sorts of natural disasters, so we are all tired (and the older ones of us perhaps a bit more).
Yom Yerushalaym (Jerusalem Day) was this past Sunday. It is one of my favorite days, but I was surprised that already on Thursday, very large groups of youth were walking into Jerusalem singing and waving flags, dancing in the streets. They walk here from all over the country to celebrate the miraculous reunification of Jerusalem after 2,000 years of Jewish exile from her capital. This celebration marks the 48th year since her return in 1967. It definitely had some unique characteristics.
I frankly wondered what would happen at all. Since our elections and the establishment of a markedly right wing religious government, the left wing secular segments of our society, greatly supported by the network of social media world wide, have been waging a distortion, smear and hate campaign against every move they make. That included the usual Jerusalem Day activities. They called it a provocation and staged counter rallies calling for the cancellation of all celebrations and events and for the re-dividing of Jerusalem.
I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to take place, but to my delight the Jerusalem songs began to play and people began to wish one another “Joyous Jerusalem Day” and hang out Jerusalem flags. It was nice to turn away from the news media and look into the faces of the people, thankful faces of people who wanted to bless Jerusalem and The God Who said that He would put His Name here.
One of the more interesting chance observations that I made, was in the shuk – my favorite observation post.
I was passing two Arabs, one a vendor and another delivering something or other. The one spoke in Arabic but the vendor turned and answered him in Arabic accented Hebrew and from his answer I was able to gather the point of the conversation. Thanks to social media and many other instigators, there is active recruitment for ISIS here as in other countries. The gist of the Hebrew answer was, “What! YOU can go to Syria under Asad or those clowns if you want! I’m staying here! My life is far better then any of theirs!”
I love the shuk where Arab and Jew are together day in and day out and share a unique bond. When the intifada saw bombings at the shuk, both Arab and Jew suffered, and helped one another.
This morning I was meditating in Rev 6:4 –
“And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
And I began to thank The Lord for the OTHER PEACE that He has been speaking to my heart about: the Peace that is NOT as the world gives. Nothing in this world can take that Peace away. Hallelujah! Walking through…Looking away unto Him…letting the Peace that passes all understanding keep my heart and mind IN HIM. These seem to be my major focus as I live here on the rapidly changing front lines of things about to come. Funny how a snow ball gathers speed as it rolls downhill and grows bigger and heavier. So these days seem to be speeding up into a blur. I have thought about the horrors of the earthquake and avalanches in Nepal and how suddenly those were caught in it. When the disciples asked Yeshua, as recorded in Matthew 24
“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? It says: “ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.“
In other words…take heed to yourself…not to what is going on around you. Be sure that you are walking in The Truth and anchored in The Rock. Yes, we see the signs of the times all around us.
Jerusalem Day passed with no major disturbances, although many tried. The celebrations were joyful and again the promise went forth that “Jerusalem will remain the undivided capital of Israel.”
Oh well. Both the European Union chief and UN representatives are meeting here today to challenge that. They do keep increasing the pressure but they don’t honor the Word of God or The God of the Word. May He open their eyes in His mercy. With Him ALL things are possible.
And so we are now getting ready for Shavout (Pentecost). This marks the end of the Passover time and the end of the counting of the omer. It was the second of the 3 holidays where God commanded all Israeli men to come up to Jerusalem and make specific offerings at the temple. This is the FIRST FRUITS offering, the time of the early harvest of the grain, barley, wheat and the first of the bread to be offered in Thanksgiving. That is why all of the people were gathered at the temple on Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover of the crucifixion and the resurrection, when He poured His Spirit out upon the people in Jerusalem as described in Acts 2. The New Bread broken among the people – now able to offer true Thanksgiving from the heart.
Deut 26:1-10 is my favorite of the many shadow descriptions of Shavout…I say shadow’ because we know it now as a “shadow of things to come.”
Deut. 26:1-10 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lordyour God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 3 And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’
4 “Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. 7 Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”; 10 and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’
“Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God.
Today, for some reason that I STILL don’t understand fully, Shavout is celebrated with the eating of milk products and everyone dressing in white. It has to do with The Word of The Lord being pure and people stay up all night in large groups studying The Word and/or particular topics and subjects to be wrestled with until the understanding comes from God. Many do this before the Western Wall (considered the last standing wall of the original temple and the holiest place in Judaism aside from Temple Mount itself).
Thank you for baring with me through these rather poor offerings. And THANK YOU for your prayers for us, for my people by blood and for The Lord’s plans. May we be found standing in agreement with His Heart.
Lovingly,
your sis J in Jerusalem
Larry Who 