Friends,
Today is Yom HaShaoah--Holocaust Remembrance Day. Across Israel people are marking this solemn occasion remembering the deaths of over six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Across the nation, events large and small honor those who survived and remember those who were lost. There are still about a quarter of a million Holocaust survivors living in Israel. The horrors of this mass murder must never be forgotten. The same evil hatred that fueled Hitler's Holocaust is alive and well today, and we MUST stand against it.
As in the 1930s Jews and Christians today find themselves on the firing line facing widespread persecution around the world. Some of the first people to go to Hitler's concentration camps were Christians who opposed Hitler.
When Kallai government ordered the deportation of Hungarian Jews to the Nazi death camps, exceptions were made for Christian Jews who had been born to baptized Messianic parents. A young woman named Marica was one of these people. But she withheld the secret of her birth which would have exempted her from deportation She voluntarily reported to the assembly point. Marica wished to accompany the Jews to the death camp, so that she could bear witness of her faith to her fellow Jews. Marica survived Auschwitz and eventually went to Israel.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Luke 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
Luke 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
So why did God allow the Holocaust to occur. After all, the Jews are his chosen people.
God’s covenant with the Jews is based on blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deut. 28). In Leviticus 26:14-39 the Lord threatened escalating levels of judgment against His people as a punishment for disobedience. This included making them flee before their enemies and causing them to perish among the nations.
When they rejected the Messiah they committed the ultimate sin against Him and in calling for His death they said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt. 27:25) In the two thousand years since then they’ve never officially asked His forgiveness, even though He promised to grant it (Leviticus 26:40-42) and although countless numbers of Jewish people have come to Jesus for personal forgiveness, the national curse they spoke against themselves on that day has never been lifted.
During this time Satan’s primary strategy to thwart the will of God has been to completely destroy the Jewish people before they recognize Jesus as their Messiah and seek God’s forgiveness. The Holocaust was one of his major efforts in that regard and almost succeeded. The Great Tribulation will come even closer. But before they’re completely defeated the Jewish people will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah. God says in Zec 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Eventually, the Jews will seek God’s forgiveness and that time is not very far away. At that time, according to Joel 3:20-21 “Their blood guilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon” All will be forgiven, and they’ll live with Him in peace from that time forward.
God’s covenant with the Jews is based on blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deut. 28). In Leviticus 26:14-39 the Lord threatened escalating levels of judgment against His people as a punishment for disobedience. This included making them flee before their enemies and causing them to perish among the nations.
When they rejected the Messiah they committed the ultimate sin against Him and in calling for His death they said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt. 27:25) In the two thousand years since then they’ve never officially asked His forgiveness, even though He promised to grant it (Leviticus 26:40-42) and although countless numbers of Jewish people have come to Jesus for personal forgiveness, the national curse they spoke against themselves on that day has never been lifted.
During this time Satan’s primary strategy to thwart the will of God has been to completely destroy the Jewish people before they recognize Jesus as their Messiah and seek God’s forgiveness. The Holocaust was one of his major efforts in that regard and almost succeeded. The Great Tribulation will come even closer. But before they’re completely defeated the Jewish people will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah. God says in Zec 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Eventually, the Jews will seek God’s forgiveness and that time is not very far away. At that time, according to Joel 3:20-21 “Their blood guilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon” All will be forgiven, and they’ll live with Him in peace from that time forward.
Alan
No comments:
Post a Comment