As someone born in a post-WWII world, the nation of Israel has always been part of my internal encyclopedia. I imagine the same is true for most people who grew up during the 1950s and onward. Back in 1995 (yes, that is before I was born; I’m sorry), Fran Fine and the Sheffield clan stayed on an Israeli kibbutz in an episode of The Nanny. Public awareness of the nation of Israel by that point was common, and as a kid watching reruns a decade later on Nick at Nite, Fran’s Israeli adventures, while entertaining, didn’t seem extraordinary.
Everything I’ve known about Israel and the Jewish people came from a mix of Bible-based Christian upbringing, news reports throughout the years, and, yes, healthy doses of The Nanny and Yentl. And over the past several years of learning more about Bible prophecy and modern history, I of course have since realized that while Israel has been a normality during my lifetime, it was nonexistent as a nation for nearly two millennia. And by going on the LFBI Israel trip in November, I learned a great deal about what God has been doing amidst his people for the last 2,000 years, and particularly the last 71.
Since coming back from the trip, I’ve been asked what the most amazing thing I saw was about 87 different times. But the answer I’ve been giving is that, while seeing all the old buildings and biblical places was great, that’s not what was the most impactful to me.
…the Spirit of God isn’t resting in a physical temple or remnant thereof but within me,
I don’t mean to say that visiting locations written of in the Bible wasn’t worth it. Seeing places like Caesarea (where Cornelius received the Holy Ghost and where Paul wrote from prison) and Capernaum (a place where Jesus spent a great deal of time and healed many, including the woman with an issue of blood) brought me to thankful tears without fail. But these places have all been ravished by war and time. There is very little left of where Abraham, David, Jesus, Paul walked and lived. And even if Solomon’s palace were standing today, it would just be an empty building belonging to a dead man.
Many often call Israel the Holy Land, but I’m not sure all of us really understand what that means. Sites like The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall are revered and said to have a special spiritual presence. In fact, the Western Wall—a structure built by a murderous Roman ruler, Herod the Great—has signs posted outside the entrance declaring that the wall is home to the Divine Presence. But the truth is that all of these locations and monuments, whether Jewish or Catholic in origin, hold no special power.
Nazareth is where Jesus grew up, but it’s now a modern city with not much more than a first-century winepress to show its age. Mount Carmel is where Elijah called down fire from Heaven, but now it’s just a tall hill with a monastery on top of it. Even the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus laid down his will and became obedient unto death for my sake, is just a small grove of olive trees with about 800 tourists crowding around the gate.
Deep below the modern streets, at the base of the Western Wall, Jewish people pray in near-darkness at a spot which is the closest they can get to the no-longer-existing Holy of Holies, which was destroyed in 70 AD and replaced by a Muslim shrine in the year 692, nearly 1500 years ago. An orthodox Jewish museum guide told us that the spot is thought of as having the best “reception” for prayers, that God hears them best from that spot. And yet, I’m told in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that the presence of the Spirit of God isn’t resting in a physical temple or remnant thereof but within me, and within every other person who places their trust in Yeshua as Lord and Savior for the pardoning of their sins.
…the only thing that makes a shred of sense: that God keeps his promises.
God is not limited to a place; John 4 tells us that the time was coming and now is that God doesn’t have to be worshipped in a certain mountain or even in Jerusalem. No; the time now is that God is worshipped in spirit and in truth. From Jerusalem to Judea to the uttermost parts of the earth—Fiji, Ecuador, Kansas City—the mighty Yahweh is worshipped in spirit and in truth, without regard to a city or a building. And 1 John 5:14 tells me that my prayers are heard with no interruption here in my basement bedroom, 6,575 miles from the Western Wall.
The buildings have all been destroyed. And even if they stood, the Divine Presence is not dwelling in an earthly location, but inside every believer in Jesus Christ. So why call Israel the Holy Land if none of the places hold any special spiritual presence? Let’s visit what God told Abraham:
Gen 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
The Lord made an everlasting covenant with Abraham and his descendents, that the land of Canaan would be their everlasting possession. Though they began as strangers—and though throughout history they have often been so—God was and is always drawing them to a physical location, a place of provision and rest.
This is why this family of tribes has been brought back to the same place time and again for thousands of years. They dwelt in the land, became bound in Egypt, and were brought back in after a few hundred years. They dwelt there, established a kingdom, and were carried away into Babylon for nearly a century. And then, after having rebuilt the temple and re-establishing their nation, in 70 AD they were torn away from their land for 1,878 years. Yet this little nation of strangers keeps finding their way back to this very specific land.
You could chalk it up to tenacity, but I’ll look at the miracle and attribute it to the only thing that makes a shred of sense: that God keeps his promises. This parcel of land about the size of New Jersey was promised to Abraham and his seed some 4100 years ago. God set it apart as a possession for him. And if you’re a Bible student, you’ll know that holy really just means set apart, separate, or dedicated unto.
The land of Israel is not the Holy Land because there is some magical value to it; it is holy because God has set it apart as a place for his chosen nation to give him the glory due his name (Isa 43:21, 44:23).
The ancient ruins are dead, but the Spirit of God is very much alive in the Jewish believers in the Holy Land.
We could say, therefore, that the land itself—especially the broken-down ancient structures and well-maintained Byzantine churches—isn’t what needs to be our focus. After all, God wasn’t as concerned with where the Israelites were, but rather who they were. This is why we see God remove them from the land over and over again (Deu 28:15-68). Though he desired them to be holy, set apart for his glory, they continuously chose disobedience and wickedness. Yet, because of God’s goodness, every time they have repented and called upon him, he has brought them back into their land from the places they had been scattered (Deu 30:1-3).
And now, after their longest bout of exile, the nation of Israel has been brought back into their land for the last time before Jacob’s trouble. God heard the cries of his people scattered among the nations. He saw their affliction and the wickedness perpetrated against them. He was mighty to save.
Psalm 147:2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
And though Israel as a whole is living in a national blindness (Rom 11:25), God is still moving among his people. The ancient ruins are dead, but the Spirit of God is very much alive in the Jewish believers in the Holy Land.
From our tour guide to the various church and ministry leaders we met, each of the believers we fellowshipped with showed us just how faithful God is to those who trust in him.
Hatikva Project, a dental clinic serving the poor in the name of Yeshua, is meeting the needs of and giving the gospel to people every day. What’s more is that they are actually endorsed by the national government, something otherwise exceedingly rare for ministries declaring the name of Yeshua. And ministries like Dugit are reaching the young and often very secular Jews of Tel Aviv.
God is not only working in the lives of Jewish believers, however. Churches in Muslim-majority cities like Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jericho are preaching the name of Yeshua for salvation, abolishing the enmity and bringing true peace between Ishmael and Isaac in the way that only the blood of Christ can (Eph 2:13-18).
…you can do anything you want, be whoever you want to be. But you can’t believe in Jesus.
And yet at the same time, we were also witness to the very blindness I’ve read about in my Bible for years.
Each of the Messianic Jews we met expressed the carefulness they must use when speaking of their faith in Yeshua. While they are not afraid of man, they must also use wisdom and caution in order to protect their families and ministries. Though God is gracious and has shielded the ministries we visited, the national hatred of Yeshua is very real.
At one point in our trip, our group was able to have a Q&A with an Orthodox Jewish woman living in a Jewish settlement. The settlements we discussed are open to all Jews, whether secular or religious and regardless of their lifestyles. When one of our members asked if a Jew who believes in Yeshua would be able to live there, the woman responded without hesitation, “Well, no, because they are not a Jew.”
A Messianic Jewish couple who spoke to our group explained that to many Jews, particularly those who are Orthodox, for a Jew to believe in Yeshua is to kill their soul. By believing in him, they lose their Jewishness; they have betrayed their birthright. A few different people we met on the trip, and even a friend on the trip who grew up Jewish, all corroborated the same mentality they were raised to believe: you can do anything you want, be whoever you want to be. But you can’t believe in Jesus.
Some American Christians may hear of Israel’s rejection of Jesus and become indignant against the nation. I’d first like to remind them that Jesus was only the Savior of the Gentiles after he was the Messiah to the Jews. And even in this parenthesis that is the Church Age, he is still and will always be the King of the Jews. And that very King who has adopted us uttermost Gentiles into his family has given us a command:
…he is very much alive and at work among his people in the Holy Land.
Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
God has commanded that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We ought to pray that God would give peace to the Israeli people in this present time, for safety and protection and rest. We must also pray that the Prince of Peace of Jerusalem would be preached and accepted among God’s chosen nation. If we fail to pray for their peace, and if we fail to love the Jewish people, we must reckon with the converse of Psalm 122:6 and ponder whether we will prosper.
God loves the nation of Israel, and he has been working for thousands of years to draw her into a holy and loving relationship with himself. He is by no means finished with the Jewish people. What God promises, he fulfills.
To me, visiting Israel was less about seeing a set-apart land and much more about learning directly from the set-apart people who dwell there. I do think that every believer in Jesus Christ who has the opportunity to visit Israel should do so. Seeing the places God talks about in the Bible truly has given my understanding of his word a certain vividness that was not quite there before, and to be in the same places where my savior walked did fill me with a unique quietness and soberness. But my savior is not in those places. He is not in Bethlehem or Nazareth or Jerusalem. In the synagogues and the tomb he is nowhere to be found. Yet he is very much alive and at work among his people in the Holy Land.
For over 4,000 years, Jehovah has been calling out to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to dwell in their possession, be holy unto him, and give him the glory due his name. The precursor to this national worship is happening as we speak. And one day very soon, all of God’s Holy People will worship him in their Holy Land, while the whole earth sings alongside them that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
If you are interested in the welfare of Israel and current events concerning the nation, check out this episode of the Postscript with Pastor James Fyffe.
Melissa Wharton is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple. She serves on the Living Faith publishing team and is a member of Temple Worship.