Subject: God and Israel - Part I Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 22:58:42 +0000 To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: Luana Fabry <sos@fan.net.au> To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com Subject: God and Israel - Part I I recently wrote a couple of articles (lengthy) which I haven't uploaded to our website yet. They are my understanding of who the "Bride" is. The second article follows the first, but I will send it on a separate email. This is the first one: ISRAEL MY GLORY "He said to me, `You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified'" Isaiah 49:3 There is no other witness that God is present in history, but in the history of Israel and the Jewish people. Where else do we hear of Him? Where else do we know of His works, His character, His Torah? Where else is it written concerning the mighty works of God? Only in the Bible and the histories of Israel. These speak of God as being ever active, ever present and ever involved in the Israel's history. God Himself made this statement when He says in Isaiah 43:12b, "You are my witnesses,' declares the LORD, "that I am God". Israel is the witness that her God is GOD. God took for Himself a bride to whom He gave His name and through whom He would reveal His splendour and glory. Israel has on the most part not lived up to that Name. Often it has seemed that God gave her His Name in vain. She has misused it, abused it and profaned it among the nations. But God has not changed His mind. He said concerning Israel: "And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, `These are the LORD'S people, and yet they had to leave his land. I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone." (Ezekiel 36:20,21) So what does God do? Does He choose somebody else to carry His Name? No. Let's keep reading verse 22-23: "Therefore say to the house of Israel, `This is what El Shaddai says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name which you have profaned among the nations... Then the nations will know that I am the LORD when I show myself holy through you before their eyes." Rather than permanently rejecting Israel and choosing someone else to bear His Name, He takes on the task of cleansing and restoring her. Verses 24-28: "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land of your forefathers and I will be your God." God has not given His name to another. He is a monogamous God - He has only one wife. He will as He promised, display His splendour through Israel - the betrothed of YHVH. God is the perfect Bridegroom who sanctifies his Bride and makes her holy, set apart unto Himself. Because of the promise God made to Abraham, "Through your seed, all nations on earth will be blessed", those gentiles who were once foreigners to the Covenants and Promises, can now be joined to the Household of Israel. The "Seed", Yeshua, has made a way. All the blessings God gave Israel, (Romans 9:3-5) - "the covenants, the promises, the law, the temple worship, the divine glory and the Messiah", have been extended to all who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those who say "yes" to YHVH's Covenant of Betrothal given at Sinai and acknowledge the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua, become a part of Israel - the Household of God. Many believe that Yeshua started something new. But in fact, he didn't. He simply validated that which God had already chosen through which to glorify Himself. Others say that Biblical Judaism is no longer valid because the Temple and sacrifices no longer exist. Its quite the opposite - Yeshua's atonement made it possible for Biblical Judaism to continue, regardless of the destruction of the Temple and the end of sacrifices, because HE fulfilled the sacrificial system "once and for all". And it was all done before the Temple was destroyed! It is important that we understand that the true Messianic Community is within the Framework of Israel and Torah, not apart from it. It is for the sake of this remnant, and the already established root, that Israel will one day be nationally `saved' (Romans 11:11-26). Despite all odds throughout history, Israel has survived. She has outlasted every civilization; she has survived every battle launched against her. The Jewish people have survived more continuous persecution and slaughter than any other race in the history of mankind. They have been expelled from every country in which they lived and still they exist as a witness to the God of History. This alone tells the world that the God of Israel LIVES! He has kept her in the shadow of His wings because she belongs to him. He has done this for no other people, no other nation. Israel cannot exist without God. Neither can God be glorified without Israel. This is the path He has chosen: "You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified." Israel is God's vision, His ministry. God's vision of Israel came first and only then did she come into the world. Though some of her children have gone astray, Israel remains the Bride of God and we cannot hate what God loves. Once the gentiles were foreigners, excluded from citizenship in Israel. But because of Yeshua, "consequently you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's household" (Ephesians 2:2-19). Israel is the tree; it is in clinging to the stem and being nourished by the root that keeps us alive. What greater blessing, than to be part of the vision and Household of God! There is no greater destiny than the destiny of God and His people. And this destiny is that the God of Heaven and Earth will glorify Himself through Israel. We have seen the miracles of the past. We have seen the tremendous labour pains the Jews went through in birthing the Nation in 1948, and the continuing struggle of holding on to it. The Rabbis call this the "birthpains of Messiah", in which the Jewish people share. Yet as Paul says in Romans 8:18: "...The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Israel is the Bride of YHVH. She continues to bear His name, for He has redeemed her. Like Hosea, YHVH waits for His Bride. He waits for the day that she realizes that there is no other Bridegroom, no other Lover, no other Redeemer than the LORD. On that day, the fulness of Israel's salvation will come. "No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation (Yeshu'ah) and your gates Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory." Isaiah 60:18 Luana Fabry Beit Y'shua Ministries http://www.fan.net.au/~sos/beit.htm ***********************************************************************