...And Then There Was Silence 

     Waking up Sunday morning, October 8^th, 2023, I began preparing for a somber church service where prayer would be lifted up to a Holy Righteous God for the families of the horrendous event that had occurred in Israel the day before on October Seven.  The morning’s church service began as usual where hands were lifted up in prayer for our friends and loved ones who were not yet saved.  Prayer was given, praise and worship came and went and the sermon was completed.  Yet, not one word of the horrors from the day before were mentioned.  I concluded that it could be possible that the incident had somehow been missed – yet, by the entire staff!  Still, the benefit of the doubt had been given. 

     The following Sunday, I fully expected some acknowledgment of the murder, killing and kidnapping of innocent civilians – including many US citizens by Hamas.  To my amazement – nothing.  Week after week the stillness continued.  It was a chillingly eerie unsettling silence for the people and the nation that God had called to be His chosen people in a land unto which He will soon return fulfilling all of the promises that He made to them thousands of years ago.  Even though He has not and never will forget this people, it seems that we have done just that. 

     Nearly a year later, October 1, 2024, Iran launched approximately 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli targets.  To the consternation of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, no actual Israeli citizens were killed.  However, one Palestinian near Jericho was killed by shrapnel as pieces fell from one of the rockets after being intercepted and destroyed.  This was yet another failure as a previous attack using 300 drones in April 2024 was thwarted with minimal damage.  In retaliation, Israel then launched very specific and very accurate airstrikes destroying an Iranian air defense radar site guarding the Natanz nuclear facility.  Clearly God seems to be protecting His people and land. 

     On Sunday, the day before the one-year anniversary of October 7^th, church service began and ended again as usual – in silence.  The following day, Hamas supporters protesting in our nation’s cities were rampant.  College campuses were overflowing with outraged young adults - not in sympathy for grieving families of slaughtered children, mothers and fathers, but that the very existence of the Israeli nation remained.  Unfortunately, these protestors are comprised of mostly misinformed and mistaught kids.  Yet, how could so many teens and young 20-year-olds be so completely ignorant of historical as well as biblical truth?   

     Silence.  It is the nearly complete silence by the few actual Christian educators left in our school systems.  Those who remain need to be courageous enough to speak truth.  It is the silence by mothers and fathers who proclaim to be Christ followers.  Most are not equipped, having very little knowledge of Biblical history regarding Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and of how Israel came into existence as well as why God will never abandon them.  Then there is the silence by Christian leaders, which is the deadliest of all.  It is very reminiscent of the cowardly silence in Nazi Germany that allowed a nation to murder millions as Hitler attempted to fulfil his satanically inspired final solution of eliminating all of the Jews.   

     Adolf Hitler failed as will the Anti-Christ when he arrives because God is not done with Israel.  All that has ever transpired with the Jewish people has occurred with God’s foreknowledge of the outcome.  Nothing surprised or surprises Him.  He called this people out for a purpose and it's all about Jesus.  Even before the creation of this planet and mankind, God knew that through the lineage of Abraham the Messiah would need to be born, with full intentions of dying for our very sins.  Even the sin of Adam did not surprise God.  He told us in Genesis 3:15 that (paraphrasing) a child would one day be born that would be wounded by Satan’s plans (crucifixion), yet in that wounding, Satan, sin and death would be crushed.   

     God set in motion a chain of events that led from Adam and Eve straight to Jesus, through a man He called out from the gentiles with which He created a new race of people.  Abraham was promised that his descendants would be given a land as an everlasting possession through his children’s lineage of Isaac and Jacob – renamed Israel.  Through the circumstances of Jacob’s son Joseph and his brothers that later led to Egyptian enslavement, God called His people out from Egypt to a land that He promised them.  All events eventually led to a city that He loves, Jerusalem, and the Mount Moriah upon which He bled and died as the sacrificial lamb atoning for our sins.   

     God, through His foreknowledge, showed us that very plan for the salvation of mankind when He led Abraham and Isaac to that very Mount telling Isaac to sacrifice there his one and only son.  Abraham obeyed and trusted God who then provided a ram (lamb) instead for the sacrifice.  And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided (Genesis 22:14).  God orchestrated this whole scenario in order to show us that it was all in His plan and control that Jesus the Son of God, His only Son, would provide Himself a sacrifice for our sins on that very same mount more than 2000 years later.

     God then told Abraham that, …because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice (Genesis 22:16-18). 

     God made promises to Abraham regarding his Jewish offspring and Israel as a nation.  God is faithful to keep His promises.  It does not matter how many times these people down through the generations disobeyed and were subsequently punished by enslavement and dispersion. Mankind will never be faithful but God cannot break His Word.  This people and this land will never be annihilated.  Even though many have tried, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek as well as Roman, Spanish Inquisitions, Ottoman Empires and German Fourth Reich’s, none have fully succeeded and never will – including Hamas, Hezbollah and modern-day Persia – Iran. Why?  God is true and faithful to His promises.  The coming Anti-Christ will also fail as a remnant will remain when finally calling upon Jesus as their Messiah who will conquer and reign as King of the World - …and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this (Isaiah 9:6-7). 

     The Christian Church is not a replacement for Israel as many denominations and religions teach.  Even if you don’t explicitly believe in replacement theology and you do not feel that you have cursed Israel, you may still be doing just that – in your silence, in your lack of prayer and in your lack of support and/or national support.  The Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3)." 

     Be a Church and a body of born-again believers who will boldly proclaim the everlasting promises of God for a people and a nation – the Jews of Israel.  Never again let there be Silence. 

     For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this (Isaiah 9:6-7).

     Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). 

 

Genesis 22:1-18

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

² And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

³ And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

⁵ And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

⁷ And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

⁹ And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

¹⁰ And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

¹² And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

¹⁵ And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

¹⁶ And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

¹⁷ That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

¹⁸ And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

© 2024 G. R. Workman  

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