In Spite of Toxic Religion, God is Still God

Can you imagine that despite the arrogance of some prominent preachers, there is still a good God?

In the Bible, I read about many false prophets, but the few true prophets wrote the Bible with God's inspiration.

In the Bible, we see the sad story of the sins of the Jews, and the history of the Christian church is no better.

Nevertheless, I do not want to focus on the sins of the Jews and Christians, but on the wonderful role models, the heroes of faith and the many believing Jews and Christians in the Bible who have shown us the way to God and still do.

Have you ever thought that despite all the scandals in the churches, Jesus is there and loves you?
Everywhere we look, we see pornography, sexual perversion, abuse and rape. Nevertheless, I know that sex is good.

Despite all the perversions of religion, despite hypocrisy, self-righteousness and
know-it-all attitudes, I still believe in God.

Do you want to invest your money? There are scams everywhere, but do you want to bury your money in the garden or keep banknotes under your bed?

A clever person wants to invest their money in productive projects.

A wise person is not interested in toxic religion, but they are also not satisfied with this world.

Are you disappointed by religion? Don't give up though. Where there is counterfeit money, we can often also find the real thing.

God is real. God is your creator. God loves you.

Jesus said:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NIV

A young atheist felt the emptiness in his soul. He saw a church and went in, where he observed pious worshippers.

He began to address God in his own way.

God, if you exist, and I don't believe you do, then I don't think it's my duty to believe in you. On the contrary, it is your duty to reveal your existence to me. If you do exist, then let me find you.

In a remote village lived an old man who loved Jesus. He prayed for years that God would help him to bring a Jew to faith.

One day, the young atheist, who was Jewish, was travelling. He sought shelter in the village and the old Christian welcomed him.

He gave him a Bible to read. As the young man read the Testament, he felt the love of God like fire in his heart and he believed.

The young atheist was of Jewish origin, but only when he met Jesus as his Messiah did he find the God of Israel.

Are you Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist? It doesn't matter. Jesus was born a Jew and lived on earth as a Jew, but he died on a cruel cross to suffer the punishment for our sins.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

An Atheist Finds God

Perhaps you think you cannot believe. If you want to believe, God will help you to come to faith.

A young atheist felt the emptiness in his soul. He saw a church and went in, where he observed pious worshippers.

He began to speak to God in his own way.

God, if you exist, and I don't believe you do, then I don't think it's my duty to believe in you. On the contrary, it is your duty to reveal your existence to me. If you exist, then let me find you.

In a remote village lived an old man who loved Jesus. He prayed for years that God would help him bring a Jew to faith.

One day, the young atheist, who was Jewish, was going on a journey. He looked for accommodation in the village and the old Christian welcomed him.

He gave him a Bible to read. As the young man read the Testament, he felt the love of God like fire in his heart and he believed.

The young atheist was of Jewish origin, but only when he met Jesus as his Messiah did he find the God of Israel.

Are you Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist? It doesn't matter. Jesus was born a Jew and lived on earth as a Jew, but he died on a cruel cross to suffer the punishment for our sins.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God has not Forgotten You

 Are you at the end of yourself? Has God forgotten you?

In the Old Testament, the Jews were desperate. They had gone wrong. They still believed in God to some extent, but they had not taken God seriously.

God had commanded:

“You shall have no other gods before me. Ex 20:3 NIV

God had strictly forbidden the worship of idols.

But those who trust in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame. Is 42:17 NIV

Apostate kings in Jerusalem had worshipped idols since Solomon's time, and the people copied the sins of their neighbours.

Many believed in the god Baal and the goddess Asherah, Baal's supposed wife. This religion was all about sex and fertility. The priestesses of Asherah were prostitutes. The men worshipped the goddess by visiting these prostitutes.

This also happened in God's temple. This was supposed to make the land fertile so that they would have a good harvest.

It's a bit different here today. Sex is worshipped, but not fertility.
Exactly the opposite. We want to have very few children, and there are no longer enough young people in Western Europe.

The Jews in the Old Testament cruelly slaughtered their children in order to gain the favour of the pagan god Moloch.

Abortion is sometimes needed to save the life of the mother but millions of unborn babies are killed for all kinds of reasons.

God's prophets had warned again and again, but most people did not want to take the warnings seriously.

The people had surrendered to the rule of the cruel false gods. Finally, they had to reap what they had sown.

At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it … 2 Kings 24:10 NIV

Nebuchadnezzar's army conquered God's people and Jerusalem was occupied.

The Jews were deported en masse to Babylon, where many were enslaved.

But what does this ancient history have to do with us? Does slavery exist today?

You can find drug dealers everywhere. If you have an addiction, you are enslaved. Many young women end up in prostitution to buy drugs.

There are boys on the street who spend the night with gays to avoid freezing on the street.

When people are exposed to such terrible alternatives, we can speak of slavery without exaggeration.

How can God allow such suffering? God has given us free will as human beings. We can suffer because of our own flawed choices, or often because of the evil choices of others.

One of the young Jews who was taken away by Nebuchadnezzar was Daniel. He was very intelligent and of noble birth. Even as a teenager, he was enslaved and castrated.

But God loved Daniel and all the deported Jews. In the prophetic book of Isaiah, we see God's heart for the suffering Jews.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Is 49:14–15 NIV

Daniel was determined to remain faithful to God in his miserable circumstances.

God sees your heart and His heart beats for you, as it did for Daniel. Daniel became the administrator of the government under Nebuchadnezzar and one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament.

Are you in a mess where you can't see a way out?

God has not forgotten you. He loves his suffering daughters and sons, just as he loved Daniel.

God's love never gives up.

God is calling Failures. Start again.

 Perhaps you have failed and lost all hope.

Perhaps you have dared to do something for God, but you have failed, or other Christians have betrayed you. Maybe you are disappointed with your marriage or with your children. That really hurts.

But right now, God wants you to know that He still has a purpose for your life.

God wants to restore his disappointed children. God will transform failures in this season to do great things by His grace.

HERMANN ZAISS

Hermann Zaiss (1889 - 1958) was an outstanding German evangelist.

In 1924 he suffered terrible disappointments. His wife suffered a total nervous breakdown and became chronically mentally ill.

His marriage failed and he was misunderstood by Christian congregations and condemned by many.

He was so traumatised that he gave in to despair and told God he wanted nothing more to do with Him. But after 20 years, God would call him again if it would please God.

In the meantime, he remarried and God called his new wife to a living faith.

During the Second World War, they suffered bombing raids from the British and Americans. His wife wanted to start a Bible study group, but he didn't want to.

Then in 1944, exactly 20 years after leaving God, he and his wife knelt together and gave their lives to God's service.

They started a Bible study group that became a church of 120 and then a group of 250 after the war.

People from all over Germany and other countries came and experienced miraculous healings.

A German Jew in the British Army of Occupation came to faith and his hatred of Germany was transformed into a deep love.

A fanatical SS officer was transformed and he became friends with the newly converted Jew.

If you are disappointed with your life, let Jesus take on your disappointments.

He suffered and died on the cross to save you from your disappointment.

Jesus stands by your side now and he calls you as he once called Peter, Peter the failure who became Peter the apostle.

… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Heb 12:2–3 NIV

Personal Love of God

 In the Old Testament we read how God loved Israel.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Is 49:14–15 NIV

Who is God talking about here? God speaks of his love for Israel, for the Jews. If you are Jewish, you can understand this declaration of love very personally.

But I am not Jewish and probably neither are you. Jesus loves us no less than the Jews.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God loves the whole world, but what does that mean for you?

God loves everyone, but you are not just a specimen of humanity. God loves you personally.

God loved Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, John and Paul personally, but you are not a shining saint, are you?

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 Jn 3:1 NRSV

If all genuinely converted Christians are children of God, then as a follower of Jesus you are also a child of God.  

Then you can understand all of God's declarations of love in the Bible as His love for you.
Of course, when God explains how He loves the Jews, He is talking about the Jews.

But God loves you no less, because God is love.

It is often said that God has no favourite children.
Is that true? No.

Every child of God is His favourite child.

I am God's favourite child and you are also God's favourite child.

God also wants to bless you, help you, heal you when you are sick, because you are his favourite child.

Jesus took the punishment for all your sins on the cross. When we entrust our lives to Jesus, he no longer sees our sins.

For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us! 2 Cor 5:21 (Today's Living Bible)

Shortly before his death on the cross, Jesus told his disciples:

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Jn 15:9 NRSV

And Jesus loves you with the same love.

Finding your Way to Faith

 Preachers often talk about faith. They didn't invent it. It was a favourite topic of Jesus himself.

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Jn 6:28–29 NIV

For Paul, faith was just as important.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Eph 2:8–9 NLT

Maybe you have a longing for God, but you look into your own heart and you see doubt. You see uncertainty. You have questions, but you may not be satisfied with the answers you hear.

In some Church meetings, rituals are offered to guarantee salvation.  

Many are baptised but do not experience new life.
Many say a prayer of commitment, but afterwards they remain uncertain and inwardly unchanged.

You cannot deceive God. He understands your thoughts from afar. Even if you try to deceive yourself, God loves you as you really are. He wants to create a new life in you, not an outward form of religion.

Jesus explained the way that is necessary for many.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NLT

Before the war, a young Jew lived in Romania.
He was an atheist, but his worldview gave him no comfort.

One day he saw an old Orthodox church and he stepped inside. He saw old people kneeling before an old man. He didn't believe, but he felt the emptiness in his soul.
 
He began to pray.
 
``God. I maintain that you do not exist. But if you do exist, I am not obliged to believe in you. It is your duty to reveal yourself to me.
 
Later he went to the countryside. He was poor and he walked. The sun was setting and he sought shelter in a village.
 
There lived a deeply devout Christian who had been praying to the Lord for years to win a Jew for Jesus.

The young Jewish atheist was warmly welcomed. The host gave him a Bible. When he read the words of Jesus, flames of love were kindled in his heart.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 NRSV

From that day on, his life was completely new. Jesus was his best friend and faithful companion in life.

It is better to talk to God yourself, to speak the thoughts of your heart openly, than to say some formulaic prayer.

You can also pray sincerely:

‘If this message is indeed true, come into my life and change my heart and soul. I don't have a firm faith, but I want to believe if you really are as the Bible says.’

Blessings Break Curses

 Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch woman who loved Jesus. During the Nazi occupation of Holland, her family provided a refuge for Jews.

Her family was betrayed and she and her sister were deported by the Nazis. She was in Ravensbrück concentration camp in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. A very hard fate.

She began to encourage the other prisoners with her biblical faith. She held fast to St Paul's admonition to be thankful for everything.

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Th 5:18 NASB95

What, really? For the disgusting food? For the cold?

She began to speak aloud an unthinkable thanksgiving. ‘Thank you for the bedbugs.’

But after saying this nonsensical prayer, she had a revelation.

Because of the bedbugs, they were not bothered by the cruel guards in their unsavoury dormitory. The guards wanted to avoid these disgusting vermin at all costs.

She also had to pass another tough test.

She had to overcome her hatred. Jesus taught that we must love and bless our enemies.
Her beloved sister became seriously ill and died in the concentration camp.

Then Corrie was allowed to leave the concentration camp. That was a miracle. Someone in an office in Germany had made a mistake, and she was released from the concentration camp early because of it. That was a miracle from God.

But she had suffered terribly and lost her family.

After the war, Corrie became a travelling preacher.
God also sent her to minister in Germany, which was also a hard test for her.

After a sermon in Germany, a guard from the concentration camp approached her and asked for forgiveness.

Corrie was frozen with shock. Traumatised.

But she forced herself to shake hands.

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Lk 6:28 NIV

Corrie was a victim of the Nazis, but she refused to take upon herself the identity of a victim.

Are you perhaps a target for cruel attacks in your family or at work?

God forbid, but it may also be happening in your church. In the Bible, the Pharisees were not nice people, but not all Pharisees are Jews. Unfortunately, there are also Christian Pharisees.

You can get used to expecting bullying. You can be despised and then start to disrespect yourself.

That's a false identity. You are not that person, no matter how many times you have failed.
God is your creator and he made you good.

It could be that your family were Nazi criminals, or persecuted Jews. I met a wonderful preacher who had been a gangster and a pimp. I know a lovely Christian woman who was a prostitute.

No matter where you come from, God has made you good. God has a good plan for your life, and He wants to fulfil His plan.

But you must recognise yourself as God's good creation.

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Lk 6:28 NIV

You know, those who are used to being despised and cursed often learn to despise and curse themselves.

You must learn to bless your tormentors, but also to bless yourself.
Start saying blessings over yourself.

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Num 6:24–26 NIV

God Rescues Ruined People

There are terrible people who repent and God forgives them.

Hermann Zaiss was a very blessed German evangelist at the end of the war. As early as 1945, thousands and thousands of people from all regions of Germany and other countries came to his meetings.

Many gravely ill people were miraculously healed, but these were not the greatest miracles.  

He was a young soldier in the British army of occupation. He had a burning hatred of the German people.

His commander was a Canadian officer who looked upon this young man with Christian compassion because his uncontrollable bitterness was poisoning his own soul.

This young man was no monster. A Jewish child from Germany, he had found refuge in England, but his entire family was murdered by the Nazis.

The Canadian officer brought the emotionally wounded young soldier to the meeting where the German evangelist was preaching.

Also among the audience was another seriously injured man. He was a hardcore Nazi from the Waffen SS, a loyal disciple of the Führer.

In the last days of the war, he was hit by an artillery shell explosion.

When he woke up from a coma, he saw a black American nurse smiling at him with Christian compassion.

He no longer understood the world. One of his legs had been torn apart, and he was permanently crippled.

The helpless SS officer and the embittered young Jew listened to the sermon, saw the healings, and felt the presence of God with his love and mercy.

Then their hearts became warm and soft. They turned to Jesus and testified of their experience.

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. Ps 147:3 NASB95

Then the most amazing of all miracles took place. They became firm friends.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 1 Jn 3:14 NRSV

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Rom 5:1 NLT

Friendship with God

 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them. Ps 25:14 NRSV

There are Christians who do not take God's holiness seriously, but they approach Jesus as if he were their mate who should tolerate all their excesses.

Real friendship with God looks very different. Jesus said we must trust God like little children.

A Jewish girl grew up in a strange family. Her parents were active in a conservative orthodox synagogue. Her father behaved like a devout Jew, but at home he was a dogmatic atheist.

This was difficult for the girl to understand, but God had a plan to reveal his love to this girl. The girl had a secret. Even her parents didn't know about it.

This girl had secret conversations with her invisible friend. She believed her friend was God.

In her adolescence, she experienced traumatic disappointments, and she no longer believed in God.

As a teenager, she loved horses, but she experienced a tragic accident. The horse she was riding fell on top of her and crushed her.

She had a near-death experience and her soul left her body. In the heavenly world, she met Jesus, who spoke to her with love. She recognised him as the secret friend from her childhood. When doctors revived her, she remembered her encounter with Jesus, and she firmly believed.

Jesus wants to be your friend, but not your mate, who is comfortable with the bad stuff in your life.

We all have serious faults. God loves you anyway, but he wants to restore and purify your life. He doesn't want to condemn you, but like a real friend or therapist, he wants to help you so that God's image can shine through in you.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16–17 NIV

God Changes Everything

 When Jesus appeared in Israel, he was the saviour for many. Prostitutes were freed from their torment and shame. Lepers were healed and the blind were able to see again.

But through the presence of God's Son, many prominent leaders also failed.  

The official leaders of the Jewish religion were not interested in the Son of God. The self-righteous Pharisees and high priests were rejected by God. At the same time, God raised up a new leadership.

Scholarly rabbis and priests failed to recognise their Messiah and God appointed unknown fishermen as apostles.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, Lk 2:34 NIV

The official leaders of the Jewish religion had gone astray. God had to establish a new order.

When Jesus gave his life on the cross, religious leaders scoffed, but a Roman soldier believed.

Then God changed everything. Before the cross, non-Jews were allowed to come to God, but they had to submit to the laws that God gave through Moses. They had to become adopted Jews.

After the cross, non-Jews could be saved by putting their faith in Jesus. Jews could not be saved through Moses. They had to trust Jesus as the Son of God.

Before Jesus appeared, the Jews had expected their Messiah, but they could not imagine that God would transform everything so completely.

In recent years, many Christians have been praying for a mighty worldwide move of the Holy Spirit, but we can't imagine what God's new order will look like.

The mighty manifestation of the Holy Spirit in these last days will deeply shake the order in this world, but not only the order in the world, but also the traditional order in the Christian religion.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Eph 3:20 NLT

Are you hoping for a miraculous revival? God will work far beyond your wildest dreams, but God will also often intervene in a completely different way than you expect.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Is 55:8–9 NLT

The Future will be Different

 We are in a kind of no man's land, a waiting time.

We are waiting, but we don't know what lies ahead. The future will be different from the past, but we don't know what will come and when it will come. We have promises from God. We may expect revival, but what will revival look like in the unknown future?

The revivals of the past often appeared unexpectedly. We read history, but we know the world of yesterday is never coming back.

We are like Abraham in the Bible who set out on a pilgrimage not knowing where God would lead him. Abraham went from his homeland to a completely different destination. We stay where we are, but the world is changing around us.

Abraham and Sarah had to trust God for their unknown future, just like we do today. 

Abraham really had to trust God because he was 75 years old when God promised to give him a son. He had to wait about 25 more years until Isaac was born.

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. Rom 4:19 NRSV

We often get tired of waiting and with many trials. I am sure that Abraham and Sarah were sometimes tired and discouraged.

But God wants to encourage us. He gives us his word and his loving promises.

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
 
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;

but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isa 40:29–31 NRSV

We are in an unprecedented global crisis. In such times can expect God's miraculous intervention. Millions are sick and yet millions are cowed in the shadow of death. So many are dying.

The Second World War was also a terrible crisis. Millions died and but millions were sick, injured and traumatised.

Shortly after the war, God was at work with great mercy. Great revivals appeared in different countries. Evangelists appeared in America and thousands of seriously ill people experienced miraculous healings.

In Solingen in Germany, a German evangelist emerged who exercised amazing healing gifts. 

Hermann Zaiss was a very gifted German evangelist at the end of the war. Already in 1945 thousands and thousands from all regions of Germany and also from other countries came to his meetings. Many seriously ill people were miraculously healed, but these were not the greatest miracles.  

There was a young soldier in the British occupation force. He burned with a terrible hatred against the German people. His commander was a Canadian officer who regarded this young man with Christian compassion because his uncontrollable bitterness was poisoning his own soul.

This young man was not a monster. As a Jewish child from Germany, he had found refuge in England, but his entire family was murdered by the Nazis.

The Canadian officer brought the traumatised young soldier to the meeting to hear the German evangelist.

Also in the audience was another badly injured man. He was a hard-core Nazi from the Waffen-SS, a devoted disciple of the Führer.

In the last days of the war, he was hit by the explosion of an artillery shell. When he awoke from a coma, he saw a black American nurse smiling at him with Christian Mercy. He no longer understood the world. One of his legs had been torn apart and he was permanently crippled.

The bewildered SS officer and the bitter young Jew listened to the sermon, saw the healings and felt the presence of God with His love and mercy. Then their hearts became warm and soft. They converted to Jesus and testified of their experience.

Then the most amazing miracle of all occurred. They became firm friends.

In dark times we can expect amazing miracles.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
God's love never changes. God is love. 1 Cor 13:7 NLT

God's Future Plan for Israel

The Jews, in spite of everything, remain God's chosen people.

What does it mean that God has two peoples, the Jews and the Christians?
What does Jesus say?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16–18 NIV84

Jesus died on the cross to forgive all people and give them eternal life. But this gift is not unconditional. Each person must believe in Jesus and be willing to embrace a new life with God.

It is not enough to agree with the Bible's teachings. Nor is it enough to strive to live a virtuous life.

You and I are invited to experience a supernatural personal relationship with the eternal Son of God.

We are invited to be inwardly transformed by his Holy Spirit in communion with God himself.

It makes no difference whether you are Jewish or not. It is only a matter of trusting God through his Son, who is also the promised Messiah of the Jews.

Some then ask if the Jews as a people still have a role in God's plan.
Most Jews in Israel today do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. According to Jesus, they should not expect a heavenly home without faith in God's Son.

Are we still to recognise the modern Jewish nation as God's work and God's nation?
Has God Himself restored the Jewish nation in Israel in our time? And why?
Does this Jewish nation have a role in Bible prophecy?

In Revelation we find a mysterious prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled.

Revelation 7:3–8 NIV84
(A mighty angel said) “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

What do we learn from this text regarding God's future plans? It is puzzling. Many Bible teachers like to explain a simple theological system. Bible passages that do not fit into this system are ignored or superficially explained away.

We will not understand many prophetic Bible passages accurately in this life until they are fulfilled, but we must not therefore lightly throw them overboard.

Paul taught that the time will come when a whole Jewish nation will be visibly visited by Jesus and all the Jews who then see Jesus will repent, believe and be saved.

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. Romans 11:26 NIV84

Here it is not only Israel that is being spoken of, but the descendants of Jacob, that is, the Jews. Is Paul speaking here of all the Jews who converted to Jesus in all generations?

No.

Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children. Isaiah 66:8 NIV84

In Isaiah and in other prophetic writings in the Old Testament, we see many Bible passages that tell of a future Jewish nation in Israel where the Messiah will rule Israel and the whole world.

There are theologians who understand these passages as symbolic, who teach that God is speaking of the Church.

I see no reason not to understand these prophecies literally. That is, clear prophecies of a future Jewish nation after the return of the Messiah.

In this matter, Luther and Calvin misled the Christian world.

God sees you as a Jewel

 The high priest in Israel wore a breastplate. On this breastplate were 12 precious stones. Each gem represented one of the tribes of Israel. This meant that the high priest had all the tribes of Israel on his heart.

Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;

in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald; Exodus 39:10–11 NIV84

Not all high priests were good men, but Jesus is now our faithful and loving high priest in heaven.

Jesus carries not only all Jews on his heart, but all people. Every person who trusts and loves Jesus is a jewel in God's heart.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 NASB95

And the people who are lost? The atheists, Hindus and nominal Christians?

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NLT

No one is excluded from God's loving heart.

You are like a precious stone in God's eyes. You can also pray for your family and your adversaries as well. God loves your enemies too.

Expect Breakthrough at Pentecost

At the first Passover, the Hebrews were not in a temple or at large events. They were in family homes. They were sheltering from a deadly plague.

A few weeks ago the Jews celebrated Passover and the Christians celebrated Easter at home. The old story repeated itself. We have found refuge from the epidemic at home.

Jesus was slaughtered as the Lamb of God. When was that? Exactly at the same time when the lambs were slaughtered for the Passover.

It was at the time of Passover that Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross.

After this terrible time, the disciples withdrew from public ministry. When Jesus came back after His death, He spent 40 days, almost 6 weeks, in private fellowship with His chosen disciples.

Then Jesus returned to His Father in heaven. We call this the Ascension.

Not long after He said this, He was lifted up to heaven before their eyes and disappeared in a cloud.

While they were looking at him, two men dressed in white suddenly stood with them.

They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven.

"One day he will come again just as you saw him go away." Acts 1:9-11. Jesus will surely come back from heaven. The time is getting closer every day.

The disciples prayed in the temple for a while, but then they withdrew again and waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were already saved, believing and faithful, but they were waiting for a great turning point from God.

We can read in Acts chapter 2 how the Holy Spirit came upon them, how they were filled and transformed by God's Spirit.

They delivered prophetic messages in languages they had never learned.

The Jews from different countries understood the messages in languages they knew, and 3000 Jews came to faith.

In 2020 we experienced something for the first time in 3220 years. Jews and Christians celebrated in private homes and found refuge from a terrible epidemic.

50 days after the first Passover, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

50 days after the death of Jesus on the cross, God did not give the law, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for all believers.

Today 2200 years later we have a new day of Pentecost.
Millions expect a new dramatic turning point in this time of crisis.

God will give many believers a dramatic breakthrough today.

Many will receive supernatural wisdom and revelation.

Many will be freed from fear, confusion and uncertainty.

After the resurrection 500 disciples saw Jesus, but only 120 were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

Let’s expect God's intervention today. Why not follow the example of the 120 in the Upper Room?

THERE MUST BE SOMETHING MORE

There are deep longings inside you. There must be something more to life. Something in you says: 

“Is that all there is?”

Here and there some light bursts through the clouds of routine life and daily frustrations. Music lifts you up; a friend cheers you up; you enjoy some breakthrough or achievement; you fall in love or you have a baby. 

But then the daily wear and tear returns and in some quiet moment the voice inside whispers again: 

• “Is that all there is?”

Where does this question come from? 

• Where did you get the idea that there could be something far better than what you experience and what you see around you? 

Every day you see unbearable tragedy. It is on the TV news every evening. You watch it but you only feel a little of the agony. 

We are numb. Death is always there but we push it away. It is somewhere else. It is someone else. 

From time to time we go to a funeral. 

Somehow we feel there must be another world. That loved one must be somewhere up there looking down. It is so hard to believe in a final end.

“Dust to dust, ashes to ashes..” and that little voice asks again, 

“Is that all there is?”

Some people try very hard to believe there is actually nothing more. 

They make up a new religion called “ATHEISM.” That means NO-GOD-ism. 

• It is so hard to believe in nothing but atoms and things, so hard that those people cannot find words to define their belief without using that word GOD, the God who loves them, the God they don’t want to believe in.

There was a young Jewish man in Romania. He was an atheist. 

The faith of his forefathers made no sense to him. But he had an empty place in his soul. He had a spiritual hunger inside. One day he saw some traditional Christians in a church service and something inside him was drawn like a magnet. He joined the praying believers out of curiosity, or so it seemed to him. 

Then he prayed, if you could call it prayer.

• “Oh God. I don’t believe you exist but if you do exist, it is not my duty to believe in you but your duty to make yourself known to me. If you exist, please show yourself to me.”

He went his way, with his lonely heart still unsatisfied. That question was at the back of his mind.

“There must be more than this. Is this life all there is?”

He didn’t hear the voice but somewhere in his unconscious mind he felt it.

One day he was on a journey in the country. He stopped in a village and looked for a place to sleep. He asked an old man who invited him to stay with him.

This old man deeply loved Jesus and for years he had cried out to God. He had prayed over and over for the blessing of leading a Jewish man to faith in the Jewish Messiah. 

• When he discovered his young guest was Jewish, he burned with excitement. He treated his guest with the respect and kindness due to a king or to his own son. Then he gave the young man a Bible to read.

When the young man read the Bible, he felt such a love and such a spiritual power that he could not stop weeping. Jesus appeared in the stories as the most wonderful person he ever knew or could ever know. 

If you have some doubts about God, why not challenge God Himself to make Himself known. 

• If you are sincerely hungry for reality, he will hear you. 

Are you willing to let the reality of God change your life? That is the question.

Jesus said:

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 (NIV)