(Before proceeding to read this week’s email, we encourage readers to read Issue #7: The Significance of Israel in the Coming Era as a refresher and to help set the context for today’s content.)
“Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will listen and hear for the time to come?”
(Isa. 42:23)
When the Lord began shifting the focus of His people globally towards Israel between 2020–2022, and when He spoke to us in 2021 His summons from Isaiah 42:23 (issue #7), little did we foresee the crisis and war that Israel would find herself in today!
The surprise October 7 2023 attack by Hamas has deeply shocked and traumatised the nation of Israel. More Jewish people were killed on that one day than on any other since the Holocaust. As believers, it is one thing to read in the Bible and know in our minds that Israel will undergo attack and persecution. It is another to see it happening right before our eyes.
Through this escalation of global antisemitism and hostility towards Israel, God is highlighting and trumpeting His Isaiah 42:23 divine summons.
As Gentile believers:
What do we need to pay attention to?
What is God summoning us to?
And most importantly, how do we as His people respond?
“This” and “The Time to Come”
With Isaiah 42:23, the Lord highlighted especially “this” and “the time to come”. He was directing us to pay attention to the scriptural context of the verse, which prophesies of a time when Israel would be “utterly plundered” and Jewish people would go into hiding because of their enemies (Isa. 42:22, 24–25). The October 7 attack is simply a foretaste of what is ahead.
If this is true, where else does Scripture speak prophetically of this coming time?
Psalm 2 and Isaiah 19 both point to Israel and the Middle East as a vortex in the coming End-Time drama. Intense persecution of Israel will be part of the Psalm 2 crisis, and Isaiah 19 highlights how Egypt and the Middle Eastern nations factor into God’s End-Time plan. (We will elaborate on Psalm 2 here and cover Isaiah 19 in a subsequent issue.)
God has highlighted Psalm 2:1–3 as a lens through which to view this decade of historic transition (issue #2). However, there is more that this psalm alludes to than just the rapid erosion and decline of morality. Right now, nations are casting away His laws, and they will come to a place where they blatantly rage against God, and come against God’s chosen nation, Israel, and His chosen Messiah, Yeshua!
What is God’s response to the rebellion of the nations against Him, His choice of Yeshua as King, and Jerusalem as the capital city of Yeshua’s millennial reign? The Father declares unequivocally: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:6). And He does so in His “wrath” and “deep displeasure”.
Woah! As people of God, we had better pay attention to what provokes such intense emotions in our Lord!
What is God Summoning Us To?
While part of this divine summons is certainly a call related to Israel, at the root of it, it is a call to extravagant devotion for Jesus. It is the “Mary of Bethany” call (Lk. 10:39,42).
Why? Because the call to “give ear” and to “listen and hear” (Isa. 42:23) is firstly one of expressing our love and devotion to Jesus our Bridegroom. Just like how Mary of Bethany cared enough about what was on Jesus’ heart to make time to sit at His feet, the Lord is calling us to express our love for Him by doing likewise in this time of historic transition.
It is out of this place of sitting at His feet and hearing His heart, that we will be prepared and strengthened to stand with Him in all things, even in the issue of Israel.
The Holy Spirit is summoning us to:
- Hear — This will cost us time and energy as we prioritise listening to Jesus and His Word. However, as we do so and express our love for Him, He delights in our response and will give us the grace to sit long at His feet.
- Prepare — Just like how God gave Isaiah an encounter that overwhelmed him with His glory unto commissioning him as His voice (Isa. 6), this is a season of preparation unto commissioning of many voices for the time to come. Let’s expect encounters with the Lord in this season of open doors.
- Stand with Jesus — Jesus is ultimately looking for friends. Just like how John the Baptist was a “friend of the Bridegroom” at Jesus’ First Coming (Jn. 3:29), the Holy Spirit is calling and raising up many in the generation of the Lord’s return, who will faithfully stand with Him and not waver in the midst of pressures.
- Tell and speak — As we listen and hear, the Lord will commission us to speak as His voices to both Israel and Gentile nations. Many will speak comfort to Israel in the midst of her troubles (Isa. 40), and also call God’s people and nations to align with God’s End-Time plan for Israel and the world.
- Bear the stigma — There will be a stigma associated with standing with God with regard to the issue of Israel. It will be unpopular in the face of global antisemitism and thus we will have to bear the stigma of being His voice.
- Share in the fellowship of His sufferings — This refers to a deep level of intimacy with Jesus where we share in the suffering of His heart. This is multifaceted when it comes to Israel. Yeshua grieves over the sin and rebellion of His people. Yet His heart also churns with sympathy when He witnesses the suffering that His brethren, the Jewish people, go through (Matt. 23:37).
A Response of Extravagant Devotion in this Wartime Hour
A 7-year travelling exhibition on the Holocaust began in late 2017 and has been making its way to cities around the world. To us who are aware of God’s Biblical narrative, its name — “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” — is so unintentionally prophetic!
This is an uncanny and potent reminder of the greater intensities of what is coming soon for the Jewish people that will far surpass that of the Holocaust during World War II.
Indeed, we can no longer view “the time to come” as something distant. Surely, “the time to come” is nearer than we think! We are no longer in peacetime but in a wartime framework! It is high time for us to awaken to the intensity of the spiritual warfare around us and respond to God in the way He is looking for.
This will require us to take time to listen and hear His heart. We will need to seek out the Lord’s heart and will regarding Israel, especially from His Word. It will also require us to tune out the “noise” of what we hear in the secular media regarding Israel so that we can better align our hearts and perspectives with God’s.
Certainly, we are not saying that God does not love the Palestinian civilians. Neither are we saying that God agrees with everything that the current State of Israel does. (In fact, there are many times in Scripture where God does not because of her rebellion towards Him.) God’s heart is that He desires all people, including Palestinians, to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus (2 Pet. 3:9). However, as people who call the God of Israel our God, we are called to align with Him with regard to the issue of Israel, the apple of His eye.
Lest we think we have an option, the Sovereign Lord is making it clear that we do not. He is slowly but inexorably shifting the world’s focus to Israel and the Middle East. Scripture has always prophesied such, and now we are seeing it happen right before our very eyes.
In this hour of intense escalation and acceleration, may we give ear to our Lord Jesus, and hear what is on His heart and His mind. May we arise as His friends who stand with Him in all things, including the nation of Israel, until the end!
The Book of Zechariah | Teaching Series
In early 2023, the Lord directed us to revisit the Book of Zechariah in order to understand His End-Time plan for Israel. We invite you to watch and listen to the series, especially sessions 10 to 13.
Introductory Series on Understanding Israel
For an introduction to the topic of Israel, what Scripture says, and how Gentile believers are not to be ignorant about this mystery, watch our Introductory Series on Understanding Israel.
Preparation for the Times (Intro)
Sign up for the PFFT CONNECT ZOOM session on 17 February 2024!
The purpose of the quarterly ZOOM sessions is to connect, pace and spur all who have signed up for this course to keep going!