Some weeks ago, well before the outbreak of Israel’s war with Iran, I found myself seeking the Lord’s direction on whether to attend a particular event.
But He didn’t answer me, directing me instead to the passage of Scripture recording God’s call to the prophet Samuel. Something much bigger was about to happen, it seemed.
When Samuel, just a boy at the time, finally realised the Lord was trying to get his attention, he said: “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
And God said: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.” (1 Samuel 3:11)
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Clearly, the Lord is doing something spectacular right now that is surely ushering in the last days before Messiah’s return. The satanic serpent that has been poisoning the hearts and minds of the nations will soon be crushed beneath the feet of him who is, and who was, and who is to come (Revelation 1:8).
Israel herself is once again being battered and bruised in the process, partly no doubt in judgment of her sinful secularism alongside her reliance on “horses and chariots”. She is being sorely shaken so that what cannot be shaken will remain. But her enemies will be severely dealt with, and even now the Islamic foundations of the Middle East’s chief sponsor of terrorism are fast crumbling.
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It was heartwarming both to hear that the Israeli cabinet had prayed before deciding on the strike against Iran and Binyamin Netanyahu’s declaration that “King Cyrus freed the Jews; now we’ll free the Persians”.
But God has been working behind the scenes, specifically in the hearts and minds of Iranian Christians who – at great personal cost – have come to believe in the Jewish Messiah to whom they have been praying persistently to be freed from the oppressive regime. They have also been fervently praying for reconciliation with their Jewish brothers, considered their arch enemies by the ayatollahs.
Praying for redemption to our Heavenly Father at this crucial moment of history is surely the most significant and practical thing we can do. Call on him now; he is only a prayer away and longs to answer your cry for help.
Easy for me to say, I know, sitting here in the relative safety of the north of England. I say “relative safety” in light of the death blow we have been dealt by our Parliament who have voted, by a narrow majority, to legalise the killing of terminally ill adults (euphemistically referred to as “assisted dying”), placing us precariously on the slippery slope towards Nazi-style death sentences for all who are considered to be a burden to the state (or indeed their families). This on top of further liberalisation of the child-sacrifice (aka abortion) laws.
Yet even in Israel, amid all the noise of sirens, missiles and constant news updates, the safest place to be is in the will of God.
Corrie ten Boom, whose family hid Jews from the Nazis in occupied Holland, told of the time she couldn’t sleep amid the noise of aerial dogfights in the skies above Haarlem. Hearing her sister Betsie clattering about in the kitchen, she joined her. And when she returned to her room, she discovered to her horror that a sharp piece of shrapnel had landed on her pillow.
Betsie, however, urged her not to dwell on her narrow escape but to simply ensure that she was always in the centre of God’s will.
Elijah too had to learn that his ultimate redemption lay not in the earthquake, wind or fire, but in the still, small voice of God – or “gentle whisper” as some translations have it. As a result of which he saw the bigger picture – that he was not alone, for there were 7 000 others who had not bowed the knee to Baal. That is also some comfort here in the UK, bearing in mind that almost half our MPs (291) voted against the assisted dying bill with many having changed their minds of late.
In a similar way, many are rooting for you, little Israel, especially your Iranian friends who you will soon have the privilege of freeing. But the pressing need of the hour is to hear the quiet voice of Almighty God, saying: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” And the psalmist concludes: “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46)
Israel’s trump card is not the US President, but the Messiah, long hidden from their eyes. The times of the Gentiles will soon be over (Luke 21:24), with Jerusalem once more the undisputed capital of the Jewish nation.
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