Chanukah in John Pt.4. The Second Light.

Now I'm catching up with myself. Another re-posting from a year ago. Be blessed.

This is a passage packed with revelation.

The Second Light reveals three of the Titles of Jesus. To wit, Son of God, King of Israel and Son of Man. Two of them are revealed to Nathaniel by the Holy Spirit ( Direct Revelation) and then Jesus increases the blessing with the third. Not bad going for a man sitting under a fig tree.

John 1:43-51

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

 Why was Nathaniel so privileged? According to Rabbinic teaching, a fig tree is a good place to read and meditate on the scriptures. Jesus told Nathaniel what Nathaniel had been reading. If you read Genesis 28:10 - 17 and compare it with the above passages you will see the references. Jacob was known, not entirely fairly, for his guile. Israel was his covenant name and the name of redemption. Jesus pays Nathaniel a great compliment by calling him a true Israelite. He then goes on to identify Himself with Jacob's vision. In short, Jesus is the LORD of Israel.

____________________

Another secret of the Chanukah menorah. The candles are placed from left to right, but are lit from right to left. This is to show that no one day is more important than another. I also take this to signify that no one witness is more important than another. God blesses and uses all His people. I also take it to mean that the Jew, who reads from left to right, and the Gentile, mostly right to left, will all be enlightened by the Messiah.

Copyright G.I.Goodson 2013.

Hanukkah is a time of miracles. The great miracle of God's provision at the Temple and the greater miracle of God's provision of the Messiah at the Incarnation. I hope and pray that you will be emboldened to seek a miracle of God's provision in your life. Not a 'name it and claim it' greedy prayer but a prayer of faith, humbly seeking more of God's grace to revealed to you as He may choose.

The LORD bless you.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Gossip - not such a little sin.

 First the bad news.

Why write about gossip? On Saturday two churchwardens known to me had just come away from their church, when they stopped to greet a member of the congregation. One saw it as an opportunity to get to know a brother in Christ a little better. He did get to know him a little better, but he didn't like what he learned. The brother was a gossip. The brother spent, what felt like an hour but was probably about twenty minutes, bad mouthing their vicar. Their vicar is on holiday. A good opportunity to spread a little malice with no-one to gainsay it with facts.

According to the gossip, the vicar is driving everyone away, the young people in the community hate the sight of him etc. etc.  The gossip attends church and is checking everything the vicar teaches watching for false teaching! Not much chance of success there, I can promise you. It's poison and it's false witness. That's the sound of a commandment being broken and it most certainly is not loving your neighbour as yourself.  This isn't just a little peccadillo.  We're into serious sin here.

I have seen idle and ill-informed gossip destroy a business which would have benefited the poor of Zimbabwe. It still grieves me when I see artefacts similar to the ones we were hoping to sell on their behalf.

I have seen malicious gossip seek to destroy someone's livelihood. It failed, but the target later resigned and the community centre he was running then went from profit to loss and, eventually, was taken out of the community's control.

I have seen malicious gossip by a sick woman destroy two friendships and a ministerial team because the lie was believed and they failed to abide by biblical principles.  1Timothy 5:19; Deuteronomy 19:15 and Matthew 18:16.That church never thrived as it should have done and has since fallen into the hands of  a 'word of faith' style ministry. Most of the original members have left and gone elsewhere, including the original ministry team.

I have seen malicious gossip destroy another church that was close to revival and being the sort of church that would have been a model for everyone. It was evangelical, charismatic, socially active and multinational. It saw miracles, deliverances, conversions, sound gospel and bible preaching, it made a difference in the community but lies destroyed it. It is now a shadow of its former self.

False witness isn't just lying in court. It is any kind of slander or libel and it is also gossip. 

We live in a society full of gossip. It fills our newspapers, there are magazines devoted to it, there are whole websites and so-called 'social' media that are nothing but havens for idle and malicious gossip. These websites destroy lives and reputations.Other websites have to be set-up to counter the lies.

Then there all those lies about Israel occupying Palestine. This also destroys lives and not just Jewish ones. 

There's the atheist lie, there's the lie about Jesus not being the Messiah, there's the lie that another saviour is coming who is not Jesus, there are the lies of false religion and on and on. Lies destroy lives and send people to hell.

I nearly forgot, Satan accuses the brethren. Gossip does the Devil's work.

Now for the good news.

There is a God, Jesus is the Messiah. Because of His atoning death even gossips and liars can be forgiven if, like the rest of us sinners, they repent, believe in Jesus, are baptised and seek the Holy Spirit's help to cease from sin. 

God is still building His Church, He is still keeping Israel even though neither institution deserves such gracious mercy. He will vindicate His Name and His servants which brings me full circle to our little bit of local gossip.

On the Sunday morning a new family arrived in that church,  they will possibly stay and they know the vicar. In the evening, two teenage girls enquired about confirmation and they also know the vicar. 

As I have just written, God will vindicate His Name and His servants. One day, He will do it permanently and forever, but in the meantime, if we pay attention, He does it more often that most people realise.

Jerusalem, not just a city...

From the ever interesting,  and often excellent, Israel Video Network, is the following musical video. I love it.


Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

And the peace of Jerusalem is the coming of the Messiah. That much Jew and Christian can agree on!

If Jesus was so Jewish, why do Christians worship on a Sunday?

Actually, it's not anti-Semitism; although it became a distinguishing mark in the same way as the Sabbath was for Jews. 

Did you know that "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy" is the only one of the Ten Commandments that is not repeated in the New Testament? That should keep some Christians busy for a little while. I have put the references below this post but without links.

And don't take this out of context, Jew or Gentile, and use this to have ago.

Nevertheless, it does seem strange that a faith that is certain that the Jew Jesus is the Christ (Yeshua ha Moschiach) doesn't worship on a Saturday. What happened to change things; when and why did this happen?

I will explain, but firstly, I want to deal with the Christian variations on this issue.

Sabbatarianism  

This has got to seem offensive to Jews, but it is about our attitude to God's Law and not about having a dig at Jewish custom and practice. It refers to those Christians, Jewish and Gentile, who are convinced that it is necessary for Christians/Messianic Jews to observe the Sabbath with varying degrees of strictness and, in some case, rivalling the ultra-orthodox.

The Seventh Day Adventists are the best known example of this, but recently there have been those who have made Sabbath Day observance a condition of salvation. They are no longer saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone but also by the addition of earning your place in Heaven through Sabbath day observance.

If we could perfectly keep the Law we could enter heaven freely and without hindrance. We cannot. In the Old Testament, God provides a whole system of sacrifices to deal with our sin and failure. In the New Testament, the Perfect Sacrifice has arrived. But we still need the sacrifice because we cannot keep the Law in this fallen body of ours. We still need the Grace of God, a true faith (read the prophets) and the Messiah.

They have forgotten that the Sabbath seems to be strangely missing from the New Testament.  

Some Sabbatarians focus on Sunday as the Sabbath! Yes, really.

Lord's Day Observance Society

The LDOS are not as misguided as the Adventists and others. When they argue for the blessings and benefits of observing a day for worship, rest, family and fellowship they do well. When they move towards a requirement of faith, albeit for Sunday, they are mistaken.

Keep Sunday Special  (Not an aberration)

Keep Sunday Special are arguing for a special day of worship, by custom and practice, Sunday. They are not legalists but advocate a practical application of Christian understanding and witness. They are witnessing to the need for worship, rest , family and fellowship. Many atheists and agnostics can support most of the aims of KSS - apart from the religious stuff.

Christians recognise that it is practical and godly to have one day in seven set aside for worship, rest, family and fellowship. 

So what happened to Saturday?

Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. It was the barley harvest on the 16th Nisan. Being a good Jew he rested on the Sabbath and began the New Creation on the same day as the old creation began. Sunday. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost/Shavuot; again, a Sunday. These are days of New Creation.

As He was the Perfect Sacrifice, all those who put their faith in Him, a believing and transforming faith, enter into the Sabbath rest. The New Creation is the ultimate fulfillment of ALL the promises and covenants in the Tenach. However, it is not yet fully realised. God has begun the process of forming His New and Perfect Creation from the Remnants of the Old. This is not to say that the Church is perfect, far from it. It is to say that the greater Sabbath Rest of which the Sabbath is picture, has been obtained for us by faith in Jesus, the Perfect and acceptable sacrifice Who rose from the dead.

Sunday is NOT the Christian Sabbath. The Sabbath day looks forward to the perfect  Sabbath Rest which is given to those who put their faith in God's Messiah. Sunday celebrates the new creation and the achievement of that rest by Jesus. All days are part of the Great Sabbath, but while we wait for the full establishment of the Kingdom, Sunday is a good day for worship, rest , family and fellowship.

There was also a practical matter for the nascent gentile church. A lot of its members were found among the poor, the outcast and the slaves.A day of rest on any day was never going to be easy. The churches met before or after work, sometimes in secret and in hiding, whenever they could.

How we got the weekend.

Over the course of time, as the number of Jews who were followers of Jesus dwindled, then Sunday turned into a quasi-Sabbath for the Church. It then served as a distinguishing mark and a means of separation from the very nation whose Messiah had won salvation for us and brought the light of the gospel to the gentile world. 

Sunday became a day of rest for the Christian world. 

Usury laws applied to the Christian as much as to the Jew. The work-around for this was to encourage the Jews to lend to the Christians, by fair means or foul. This form of casuistry worked for a Church that had lost sight of the gospel as well as for the Jew - at least some of the time. This gave rise to the banking houses such as the Rothschilds and others, as well as to the myth that the Jews ran everything. Of course, it didn't stay that way, but the banks closed on Saturday and that tradition continued until, eventually, we had a weekend for the upper classes which slowly, very slowly, percolated down to the masses, partly through the influence of schools. Of course, there were many other factors as well but this is where it all started.

This unwitting collusion by Jew and Christian gave us the great blessing of the weekend. How much greater would the blessing be if we could actively work together? It would mean life from the dead, according to Paul.

Where to find the Commandments in the New Testament.

The truth is 9 of the 10 commandments Ex.20:3-4 are repeated and incorporated in the New Testament epistles but the 4^th one is not.

The 1st and 2nd commandment- which prohibit the worship of other Gods (50 times) and idols are repeated (12 times) Acts 15:29, 17:16: Rom.1:25; 1 Cor.6:9-10, 10:14: 1 Jn.5:21: Rev.21:8, 22:15.
The 3^rd commandment of reverencing his name not to take it in vain (4 times ) Ex.20:7 is also repeated in the New Testament  Mt.5:33;  James 5:12.
The 4^th commandment- ? Where do the apostles teach to keep the Sabbath? Its missing even for the Gentiles who had no concept of the Jewish laws would need to be instructed.
The 5^th commandment- to respect your parents is also repeated (6 times) Mt.15:4-9: Eph.6:1-3 and Rom.13:1-7.
The 6^th commandment- of forbidding murder Ex.20:13 is in the New Testament (4 times). Rom.13:9; Mt.19:18 and the true intent is explained in Mt.5:21-22
The 7^th commandment- prohibiting adultery and any sexual sin Ex.20:14 is also found ( 12 times) in Acts.15:20; Rom.2:22, 13:13: 1 Cor.5:11, 6:9, 13,15, 18: 10:8: Eph.5:3,11-12.
The 8^th commandment- forbids one to be dishonest, stealing,Ex.20:15 is found in the New Testament (6 times) Rom. 2:21 Eph. 4:28: 1Thess.4:6: Jms.5:4; Mk.10:19; Lk.18:20.
The 9^th commandment- condemning a false witness, to lie Ex.20:16 is found in the New Testament (4 times) Mt.15:19,19:18; Lk.3:14 and 1 Tim.1:9-10.
The 10^th commandment- tells us not to covet Ex.20:17 is repeated (9 times) in Mk.7:21-23; Lk.12:15,33-34; Rom.1:29, 13:9 1 Cor.5:11; 6:10; Eph.5:3.

Part 4. Developing Christian Zionism, my next steps. Between the wars, '67 - '73.

In 1967, I was a young Christian who had much to learn about the scriptures and even more to learn about Israel and Zionism. I would not have used that term then, but as I have already indicated here , the basics were already in place. I still had to survive school, a gap-year, discover what I really wanted to do and get into college. It would be misleading to say that Israel was at the forefront of my thinking.

For me, as for many, it is only when those years were looked at in retrospect that we realised what had been happening. What seemed like an intensely personal journey, which it was, turned out to be road on which many others were also travelling. Sometimes called 'The Jesus Movement' what had happened was actually a unique form of revival. In the past, Christian revivals have always been associated with places and spread from there. This time it took place across a generation. Roughly between the Israeli wars, a generation came to faith in Jesus Christ in a radical (proper sense - not political), evangelical and charismatic way. Denominational barriers came crashing down, and were viewed by many as irrelevant. 

In 1967 a great many Christians were looking at their Bibles and wondering what is was they were witnessing. For me, as for many, these words of Jesus were taking on a new significance: “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 

Now there are many who argue that is nothing to do with current day Israel and some of them are conservative evangelical Christians. But there were and are a great many Christians who looked at the state of the world and began to wonder if these were truly the end-times.

(Before anyone posts saying the last days started with Pentecost, I know that. The question is are we reaching the end of the last days?)

We had only just begun to emerge from the shadow of WW2, the Korean War had ground to a halt, the Vietnam war was rumbling on and we had survived the Cuba crisis. Most people of my age were too young to understand the Cuba crisis, but everyone a few years older and paying attention was scared witless.

The vast armies and massive devastation of the apocalyptic books of the Bible began to look a lot less symbolic.

We were beginning to realise that we were looking at a series of 'firsts'. For the first time in history we had the capability of destroying not only ourselves but everything else as well. The end of the world was suddenly nigher than we wanted it to be. For the first time we had the ability to translate the scriptures into every language on the planet and for the first time the gospel could be preached to every nation even without going there by Radio and TV.  (The internet was in its infancy so very few knew about it and the Web was decades away.) 

And of course, the big first, the clincher for many bible-believing Christians, was the emergence of the Nation of Israel in the Land and it kept on surviving wars where human reason expected that it would be destroyed. Not only that, Israel was gaining territory!

Then, we began to hear of Jews coming to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. I know that Jewish readers will have their own opinions about this last one and I will have to examine it another time.  Suffice it to say, for the moment, that the Early Christians (all Jews) decided that Gentiles did not have to become Jews in order to join the Church. Similarly, there is no reason why a Jew should magically cease to be a Jew when joining the Church. After all, Jesus is a Jewish Messiah.

Of course, it didn't work out like that historically and there are knotty issues even today. I will explore these in other posts.  

Finally, those Christians who take an interest in such matters began to realise that devout Jews were beginning to look for the coming of the Messiah. We were beginning to see some sort of understanding, a lessening of hostility and a common hope. The only difference was over one word. Christians are also looking for the (second) coming of the Messiah. 

Unpacking that one word should be interesting.

Post Script 

Shortly after the '67 conflict, I read Obadiah as part of my daily devotions. As a result, I concluded that some sort of conflict in Lebanon was to be expected. That one is still working itself out! I still think that Israel will have to create some sort of protected zone for the Lebanese people who want to live in peace and are also in danger from Israel's enemies, rather like the Kurds were given in Saddam's Iraq.


Part 1; Part 2, Part 3,
 

Archbishop Cranmer savages Church of Scotland report

The ever excellent Archbishop Cranmer has posted a scathing rebuttal of the 'theology' underlying a Church of Scotland report. The report recommends a theological position that states,

"Promises about the land of Israel were never intended to be taken literally, or as applying to a defined geographical territory. They are a way of speaking about how to live under God so that justice and peace reign, the weak and poor are protected, the stranger is included, and all have a share in the  community and a contribution to make to it. The ‘promised land’in the Bible is not a place, so much as a metaphor of how things ought to be among the people of God. This ‘promised land’ can be found – or built – anywhere."

  Cranmer clearly understands what I am trying to do here at The Almond Rod. To wit: demonstrate that a living faith in Jesus the Christ must accept that God's promises to Israel are essential to our understanding of Jesus as Messiah.

He cites an article in the Jewish Chronicle and also lists an extensive range of facts about the history of the Land. Cranmer's final paragraph reads as follows:

God promised Abraham that his descendants would have a land, and would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Israel is a fulfilment of that promise. We thank the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the restoration of the Jewish people to their land, because it was a promise that He would so. And if that was not a promise, then Jesus is not the long-promised Messiah, and our promised salvation is nullified in a myriad of meaningless metaphors.

Amen to that Your Grace, amen to that.

I nearly forgot. He precedes his report with a superbly ironic image from the days when the Church of Scotland was doctrinally sound and fervently Zionist.

It is the the motto of the Church of Scotland. The image is instantly recognisable as a representation of the Burning Bush and the Latin 'Nec tamen consumebatur' translates as 'Yet it was not consumed'.  If Moses hadn't believed God literally, the Israelites would still be in Egypt!

First steps in Zionism - Part 3: 1967 and all that!

These are my memories of what it was like to be 14, at school, discovering a personal faith, discovering the Bible and being confronted with the amazing feat of arms that was the Six-Day War. It's my history as I remember it. I will try to be accurate but it's not journalism or general historical analysis. It's about how I became/discovered I was a Christian Zionist.

It's worth remembering that in 1967 many people still had personal memories of WW2. Grandparents and some parents had served in the Forces. Most had done National Service and nearly all had lived through the War. We knew what the Germans had done. Back then we were less fussy about German /Nazi distinctions. We knew that the Jews deserved a homeland and we knew, to some extent, the Bible.

The Four 'Rs were reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic', and religious instruction. This latter meant Christianity and, because Christians revere the Old Testament/Tenach, there was some familiarity with Judaism and with the Geography etc. of the Holy Land. We knew things that these days some people actually question, such as the reality of the Temple in Jerusalem until AD 70. I'll post later on the change in terminology and the undermining of Christian Education in the latter half of the 20century. (Not a thesis, just a blog-post!)

For those who want a timeline and a history of the build-up to the war, I suggest that you go here . It's quite amazing how different political attitudes were then.

I vaguely remember Nasser taking the straits of Tiran (Gulf of Aqaba). Everyone knew that a regional war was was imminent. What no-one expected was a different kind of Jew.

The school I attended had a Combined Cadet Force. The best in the North-East, then and now. US reader, please do not make the mistake of interpreting this as being the same as your ROTC. It's very part-time, more fun, more relaxed, less intense, in short, more British. It's not full-volume, buzz cuts, calling sergeants 'sir' (good grief!!!) etc. Voice of command, yes on parade, hair - just above the collar, and our lot were so arrogant ( I'm sorry to say) that we never saluted anyone under the rank of Major. I'm not sure how we got away with it. The point being we appreciated the feat of arms that was the Six-Day War.

Instead of Saul cowering in his tent, or the dreadful images of the Holocaust, we had an army of Davids, young, fit and victorious.

Some of us thrilled to see this, and when we saw those same soldiers reunite Jerusalem and praying at the Western Wall, it felt like we were watching the Bible come to life.

And then, as part of my growth as a Christian, I discovered Obadiah. to be precise 1:20 . Zarephath, half-way between Tyre and Sidon. I wondered if we might see conflict in the Lebanon in that area? Obadiah got that one right, but possession is yet to come. Given the persecution of non-muslim Arabs, I still expect to see them look to Israel for protection.

To summarise, at this point I believed that:

The Jews had a right to live in their historic homeland;
They had a right to self-determination - rule themselves;
And they had a right to self-defence.
This made me a Zionist, if I but knew it.
It also made me a patriot as every nation has these rights.

I also believed that I was seeing the fulfillment of prophecy .
This made me a religious Zionist.

Finally, it seemed to me that this heralded the return of the Messiah.
And this made me a Christian Zionist.

Nothing, that I have learned since, has changed these basic convictions.
There is much more to come, but these are still my first steps in Zionism.

Learn more about these pictures here.