THE TREASURY OF SNOW

20 February 2015
 

God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’...

Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God...

then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

... Have you entered the treasury of snow...

 

Job 37: 5-6,14, 38:1,22



The Temple Mount in the snow today (20 Feb 2015)

Here in Jerusalem today, and indeed in much of the country, we awoke this morning to a white world. As I write the thunder is rolling around the hills, and flashes of lightning are illuminating the heavy snow that is falling.  We have about 30 cm on the ground in Jerusalem, and all the city has ground to a stop. Most roads are impassable, buses and trains are not running, schools are closed and very few shops are open. A hush has fallen as we contemplate the majesty of God, his power and our puny impotence in the face of a snow storm. There is an air of celebration and wonder. Who cannot be moved by the beauty of snow? The whole city is like a scene from a Christmas card. Here are some photos:

 

My cat investigates that cold stuff on the balcony



The view from my balcony

In the yard of our building



 

My street this morning

In the passage quoted above it mentions the 'treasury of snow'. Why a treasury? How is snow a treasure? If you live in the US you might not be seeing snow as a blessing right now, but here in Israel every drop of precipitation, be it snow, or rain or even dew, is seen as a blessing and a gift from the Lord. Snow is especially precious as it melts slowly feeding water into the soil and refilling the underground aquifers. This year we have had plentiful rain and snow with most parts of the country exceeding the annual average rainfall already. Coming after last year in which we had less than 1/3 the annual average here in Jerusalem, we are rejoicing in every drop of rain or snow.

 

Snow is mentioned many times in the Bible and clearly it is an image that was familiar to the people during the Biblical period. Snow is a reminder of the power and bounty of God's provision, and also that every word He has spoken will certainly come to pass.







For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

 

Isaiah 55: 10-11

 

Last night as I was watching a news report about the snow, one of the commentators said that we are all glad of the snow as it allows us to escape from thinking about all the threats that so concern us, at least for a little while. I think there was some truth in what he said.

 

A temporary escape is sometimes healthy and necessary, but the continued denial of reality can be dangerous. I just heard President Obama say, " The notion that we are at war with Islam is an ugly lie". What a shocking statement. I am sure if you asked the Islamic State fighters they would have no hesitation in saying that they are at war with the West in the name of Islam, and Iran has repeatedly and openly stated that it intends first to destroy the 'little Satan' (Israel) and then the 'big Satan' the USA and the Western World, and again all in the name of Islam.  It seems to me that Obama is taking political correctness to a dangerous level in an effort to appease the Islamic world. One must ask why? Although it is true that not all of the Islamic world nor that all Muslims support the actions of the Islamic State or Iran, and many oppose them, nevertheless the actions of the Islamic State and Iran are based on the Koranic injunction for Jihad, that is, the conquest of the world for Islam and in the name of Allah.

 

Just this last week we saw 21 Egyptian citizens being beheaded in Libya by Islamic State fighters, simply because they were Christians who refused to denounce their faith. If this is not a religious war, what is? 

 

http://i0.wp.com/the-american-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ISIS_Butcher_Coptic_Christians_Libya.png?resize=940%2C474
 

The Islamic State released a video entitled "A Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross" and then showed the beheading of these men, some of whom were seen mouthing the words "Lord Jesus Christ" moments before they were murdered.

 http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/02/21/coptic_church_recognizes_martyrdom_of_21_coptic_christians_/1124824

 

I would challenge Obama to look in the faces of the wives and children of these Coptic Christian martyrs, and say this is not a religious war.

Although I normally steer clear of getting involved in politics, it seems irresponsible at this point in time to not speak out against the policies of the Obama administration, which is exhibiting what, from our perspective, seems at best incredibly naïve, or at worst, knowing complicity with the sworn enemies of Israel, the USA and the Western World.

This latter possibility is explored in some depth in an opinion article in the Jerusalem Post which raises the question thus:

Why does US President Barack Hussein Obama so desperately want a deal with Iran? Why is he so fixated on a grand bargain with the Islamic Republic, the world’s biggest killer of Americans? What explains the president’s passion to embrace the radical mullahs of Tehran, despite the fact that all America’s traditional allies in the region are calling for him to check Iran’s advances? Why the deferential approach that seeks Iran’s partnership, instead of its isolation? The question becomes even sharper when you consider the fact that Iran is patently not seeking integration in the Middle East or reconciliation with the West, but rather obviously domination of the region and apocalyptic victory over the West."  http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Know-comment-What-explains-Obamas-zeal-for-a-deal-with-Iran-391602

It well worth taking the time to read this whole article. It comes to the conclusion that Obama's excessive political correctness does not come so much from the recognition that the USA has overstepped its moral prerogative in interfering in world affairs, particularly in the Middle East, as has been suggested by some commentators, but rather that " Obama’s fervor for Iran lies somewhere much more fundamental: In a deep-seated ideological belief that Islam has a rightful leadership place in the world". In other words, it puts forward the suggestion that Obama is, deep in his heart,  in agreement with the Islamic goal of Jihad. I don't know if this is so, but it would explain his otherwise inexplicable stance, and also his deep anger with the upcoming speech of Netanyahu to the Congress on the 3rd of March.

 

Against the background of Obama's policies in the Middle East, and particularly those regarding a deal with Iran, which are seen in Israel as endangering our very existence, I feel that Netanyahu's speech is crucial and essential at this juncture. The reality of the situation in the Middle East must be exposed or we all stand at terrible risk, not just Israel but the entire Western World. Netanyahu put it this way:

"I am going to the United States not because I seek a confrontation with the President, but because I must fulfill my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country,” http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/26028/Default.aspx?article=popular_posts

Please lift up Netanyahu as he prepares his speech as it may be one of the most pivotal speeches in all human history. Pray that he will speak truth, and only truth, and that his words will be guided by the LORD God.

 

Please also pray for the outcome of our elections, just over 3 weeks away, that the Lord will overrule, and the right man or woman, will be raised up as our Prime Minister and the right people sit in the Knesset. I think most Israelis are fed up with all the political mudslinging and corruption in our government, and long for leaders of moral  integrity and who have the best interests of the Israeli people foremost in their hearts. However only God knows who is for the best, and we need to cry out for his mercy and favor in the elections, as in all other things.

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;

Daniel 2: 20-21 

 

THE CAIN PRINCIPLE

 

After a couple of weeks of warm, spring-like weather, winter returned to Israel this week with a vengeance. On Wednesday the whole country was blanketed in a very dense cloud of dust, courtesy of the Sahara. Late in the afternoon it began to rain lightly here,  coating everything in a thick layer of sticky mud. Only the car wash people were rejoicing! That night and over the next couple of days heavy snow fell in the Golan and northern Galilee, but none here in Jerusalem. Along the coast heavy rain and hail brought flooding in some areas. Again here in Jerusalem, not a drop in spite of the bitter cold and heavy cloud cover. Last night there may have been a shower here. I hope so, as the trees badly needed their leaves washed before summer sets in.

Sunset in the dust storm on the Sharon coast
 

 

 





North Golan Heights (Photo: Avihu Shapira)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4625804,00.html












Alonei Habashan (Photo: Yaske Dekel)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4625804,00.html

In spite of this week's wintery spell there are many signs of spring around. I am sitting on my balcony and in the yard below I can see the birds sipping the nectar of the blossoms on our almond tree. Last weekend I joined thousands of Israelis on our annual 'pilgrimage' to the countryside to see the beautiful displays of wildflowers.  

 

 



Anenomes at Gal Ed

Don't think you are 'getting away from it all"! Note the cars.



Cyclamen at Rakefet Mountain

 













 



THE CAIN PRINCIPLE

In my last blog I spoke about how  Israel is more and more being accused of being the root of the problem in the Middle East, the cause of all the violence. This is a Lie being spread by the Enemy and one that needs to be countered and rejected, especially by those who believe the Word of God, as revealed in the Scriptures.

The State of Israel is not the 'problem'; the problem is man's rebellion against God and His plans for redemption. Indeed, far from being the 'problem', the people and nation of Israel is very much a core part of the solution. It is through the people and nation of Israel, and the Messiah born of that nation, that God is working the ultimate redemption of the whole world.

The hatred and violence of her neighbors against Israel goes far back in history, and we can see its roots in the account about Cain and his brother Abel (though one could argue it goes back even further, to the rebellion of Adam and Eve). In the story of Cain and Abel however we can see a fundamental principle revealed - the one I call the Cain Principle. Below is an excerpt from a book I am currently writing about this very subject.

After Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, Eve gave birth to two sons, Cain the elder and his brother Abel. Abel grew up and became a keeper of sheep and Cain was a farmer, a tiller of the ground. In due course, they brought offerings to the LORD. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel brought of the first-born of his flock, and we are told that God respected the offering of Abel, but not that of Cain. Understandably perhaps, Cain felt rejected and angry, but God came to him saying, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4: 6-7).

 

In these words lies a fundamental principle, which underlies all God’s dealings with man and which underpins all of human history. Cain brought an unacceptable offering to the Lord. He had not done well, and his offering had been rejected by God. At first glance it seems that Cain had been treated unfairly by God. How was Cain to know what would constitute an acceptable offering? It is not totally clear in the Scripture, but some say that Cain should have known. In Genesis 3:21 we read that after Adam and Eve had sinned and become aware of their nakedness, God had killed some animals and made them tunics of skin. This is the first time that we see in Scripture the necessity of the shedding of blood for the covering of sin. This happened before Cain was born but he would surely have known about it. Perhaps therefore he should have understood that the shedding of blood was required. Be that as it may, there can be no argument that Cain chose to do things ‘his way’ and not God’s way, whether knowingly or not.

 

From the passage quoted above it seems to me that Cain’s incorrect sacrifice was not counted as sin at that point, and God gave him an opportunity to correct his mistake. Cain still had the choice whether or not to let sin enter into his life. He could have simply brought to God the correct sacrifice and found full acceptance. However he chose otherwise. He allowed jealousy and anger to rule over him, and this ultimately led to the murder of his innocent brother.

 

Even after this terrible act, God gave Cain one last chance to repent, when He spoke with him saying, “Where is your brother Abel?”, but Cain refused to take responsibility for what he had done and lied to God (Genesis 4:9-10) thereby increasing the trespass even more. Consequently God cursed him saying, “So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand”. The word, ארור, here translated as ‘cursed’ implies that the very nature of something has changed. It also carries a sense of finality. There will be no more chances. Now Cain has so hardened his heart against God he will no longer listen to Him, nor even to his own conscience. Interestingly enough, if we continue reading in Genesis 4 we see that one of Cain’s descendants, Lamech, was also a murderer and even presumed to claim the ‘mark of Cain’ to protect him from vengeance ‘seventy seventy-fold’ (Genesis 4:23-24). If we harden our hearts against God there is a tendency to slide ever deeper into sin and this tendency is very often passed on down the generations.

 

Incidentally, we are told that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 4:16). This passage does not say that God cast him out from His presence. God had merely told Cain that he would be cursed from the ground, which would no longer yield its strength to him and he would become a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. Yet Cain exaggerated the situation, and added his own interpretation, saying “I shall be hidden from your Face… and it will happen to me that anyone who finds me will kill me”. His anger and his sense of rejection caused him to perceive his punishment as being worse than God intended, and this just fueled his indignation and intensified his anger. It was this that drove him out from the presence of God. Thus it was Cain who rejected God, not the other way around.

 

Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod to the east of Eden (Genesis 4:16). Where was the land of Nod?  We are told it was east of Eden and some believe it to have been the Arabian Peninsula. The land of Nod may not have been an actual place since this phrase could also be translated as the land of wandering, an allusion to the type of life Cain and his descendants would experience as fugitives and vagabonds.

 

As we continue to read through the historical books of the Old Testament we see this pattern, repeated again and again. Every individual and every nation faces exactly the same choice, then as it is today. Will we do it God’s way, or rebel and go our own way? Will we choose obedience or rebellion, love or murder? Will we accept God or reject him? Will we cooperate with him towards redemption or will we fight against him?

 

This is what I have called the Cain Principle and it underlies all of human history, from the time of the Fall until now. We can see it at work on many levels, but especially we can see it as it relates to the chosen line of the Messiah. The Enemy, Satan, works through mankind trying to bring to naught God’s redemption plan. If he, Satan, can arouse our jealousy and anger towards God’s chosen, he can lead us to murder. This is the root of the ancient enmity, towards God’s chosen, both Israel and the saints in Yeshua (Jesus).

 

Satan, by causing Cain to murder his brother and to go out from the presence of God, tried to break the line of descent that would lead to the Messiah. God however raised up a third brother, Seth (Genesis 4:25), to replace Cain and Abel.  Seth was the beginning of a line of descent through which the promises of God for redemption would be carried until it gave rise to the Messiah, Yeshua (Genesis 5, Luke 3:23-38). At various points of history, Satan tried to break that line in an effort to derail God’s plan. After the Fall in Eden, the next major attack came during the days of Noah....

This is why we are exhorted to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for in Jerusalem and in God's chosen people, Israel, lies all the hope of the world. The people of Israel are as sinful as any other nation, but they are still the chosen of our God. That has never changed in spite of what the preachers of replacement theology claim.

The Apostle Paul addressed this issue very clearly:

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.  God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew....

 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.  Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,  if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.  For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
 For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”

 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

  Romans 11: 1-2, 11-15, 25-27, 29 

 We need to pray for Israel, that they may be saved, for as Paul says, their acceptance into the by God into the Kingdom will bring forth life from the dead, the final resurrection and the redemption of the world. Herein lies our only hope.

Sunrise over the mountains of Edom from my balcony

THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS



Sunrise from my balcony this week

“For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch.
² But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
³ You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts

 

Malachi 4: 1-3

The balcony of my apartment faces southeast directly towards Basra, once the capital of Edom, and from whence will come Yeshua on the Day He judges the enemies of Israel (Isaiah 63:1). I have always felt it significant that the Lord has placed me here, watching and praying for the coming of the Lord. I do not know when that will be, but the signs are that it could be soon, very soon.

The tide of darkness around us is gathering strength. The enemies of Israel are preparing a monstrous arsenal of weapons for the coming war and boasting of Israel's imminent destruction. To the east the forces of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) this week reached a new level of depravity and barbarism when they released on the social media footage of the burning to death of the captured Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh

Moaz al-Kassasbeh in the cage in which he was burned to death

As if that wasn't monstrous enough, they then executed by firing squad two Imams, and beheaded in public four Syrian civilians who dared to condemn the immolation of the Jordanian pilot. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2940990/ISIS-beheads-four-Syrians-took-Facebook-condemn-burning-Jordanian-pilot-death-two-Muslim-clerics-criticised-murder-shot-firing-squad.html

To the south, the "State of Sinai", a jihadist group linked to the Islamic State and previously named Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, targeted 10 Egyptian military installations in three different cities, El Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, at the same time, leaving more than  35 military personnel dead and 70 others wounded.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/02/04/violence-escalates-in-sinai-as-isis-linked-group-attacks-kill-dozens/

 http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/egypt-sinai-wilaya-attacks-army.html##ixzz3QxBdXqfT

Meanwhile also in the south, Hamas is preparing for the next round of aggression against Israel. Last week some  10,000 youngsters, aged 15 -21,  graduated from a week-long military camp run by the al Kassam Brigade, the Gaza based military wing of Hamas. These youths underwent intensive military training, including the use of sniper rifles, simulated tunnel attacks, physical combat training and naval commando operations. The minds of the next generation have already been poisoned with hatred and violence.


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4619982,00.html

In the north, Iran backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon are busy amassing rockets and missiles, including long-range missiles capable of hitting any target in Israel. Last week two Israeli soldiers, Captain Yohai Kalangel and Sergeant Dor Nini, were killed and 7 injured when Hezbollah fired a rocket at their unarmoured vehicle on Mt Dov in the Golan. This attack was in revenge for an earlier attack, attributed to Israel, on a convoy bringing missiles from Iran to Hezbollah killing 12, including Jihad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's commander of the Syrian Golan sector and the son of master terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, Imad Mughniyeh Mohammed Issa, the head of Hezbollah's operation in Syria and Iraq, along with five other Hezbollah fighters and six Iranian military personnel - including Iranian General Mohammed Ali Allah Dadi of Iran's Revolutionary Guard (see my previous blog page). 

The commander of Iran's Basij force, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Reza Naqdi, has been quoted as saying that Israel should await a crushing response from Iran and that "they [the Zionists] should remain fully alerted until complete annihilation of the Zionist regime.”
This week an Iranian website, Shia Online, this week published an article calling for the assassination of the sons of Benyamin Netanyahu, Yair and Avner, and also the sons of former Prime Ministers, Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iranian-website-threatens-top-Israeli-officials-posts-family-pic-of-PM-389204
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2931549/Iran-encourages-terror-groups-assassinate-children-Benjamin-Netanyahu-following-Israeli-airstrike-killed-key-Hezbollah-leaders.html


On the stage of the world's press Israel is more and more being scapegoated as the cause of the turmoil in the Middle East. Israel is being blamed for everything from the 9/11 attacks in the USA, the recent attacks in Paris and even the Ebola outbreak in Africa!   Iran's Press TV reported the  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a meeting this Monday with Jordan’s new ambassador to Tehran, Abdullah Sulaiman Abdullah Abu Romman, saying  that the Israeli “occupation” of Palestinian territories is the root cause of problems in the Middle East.http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iranian-website-threatens-top-Israeli-officials-posts-family-pic-of-PM-389204.  This Lie is gaining strength everywhere and hardly a day passes where it is not expressed in the Press somewhere.  Sadly even in the Church worldwide many are buying into this Lie.  

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a local and relatively minor component of the wider unrest in the Middle East. Historically the conflict with Israel is not based so much on the geo-political  Palestinian issue but on a much deeper clash between Islam and the Judeo/Christian world view.

Although some Muslim clerics, notably Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hussaini, claim that the Koran legitimizes Israel's rights to the Holy Land, the mainstream Islamic view is that it rightly belongs to the Muslim Waqf, an inalienable religious endowment,  and therefore no non-Muslim can be permitted to buy or otherwise usurp that land from the hegemony of Islam. That is the crux of the issue. According to Islam, the purchase of land by Jews from Muslims is anathema. The very existence of the Jewish State is anathema. The Muslim world as a whole does not really care about the plight, tragic as it is, of the Palestinian people themselves.  One could ask why the Palestinian refugees of 1948, and their descendants, are still living in refugee camps in spite of the billions of dollars of aid that has been donated to better their lives. It suits the cause of Jihad to use the Palestinians cynically as a publicity tool and a justification for attacking Israel.

Apart from that, much of the current turmoil is being generated within the different factions of Islam itself, especially between the so-called moderate mainstream and the radical, fundamentalist jihadis. In addition there remains the age-old violent enmity between the Sunni and the Shiite streams of Islam. One could also argue that the so-called Arab Spring, the overthrow by popular uprisings of the regimes set up after WWII , such as that which occurred in Egypt, is the result of misrule and corruption by the leaders of those countries and the consequent poverty of a large discontented underclass - nothing to do with Israel at all.

The Middle East is an incredibly complex region with a long history of violence and warfare going back far into history, and beyond. To try and blame Israel for the current violence is simplistic and not based on any historical or current reality, much less a Biblical perspective. It is rather a resurgence of the type of anti-Semitism that lead to World War II and the Holocaust. Many of the Nazi leaders fled to the Middle East after the fall of the Third Reich and their influence can be seen in much of the rhetoric coming out of the Muslim world. Even the cartoons are adapted from typical Nazi propaganda.

We, who are followers of Yeshua, need to have His perspective on events. To get that we need to study the Bible and ask Him to interpret it to us through the Holy Spirit. We need to be lovers of the Truth and actively pursue Truth. We need to test everything we are taught by man (including every word I write in my blogs), or read or hear, to see if it is truly of the Truth and measure it up against Scripture, for if we do not love the Truth, we may be caught up in the Lie. Yeshua himself spoke of a falling away in the end times, because 'they believed the lie':

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,  not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.  Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,   who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  

 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.   For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.   The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,  and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.   And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,   that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

    2 Thessalonians 2: 1- 12