LEST THEY SHOULD TURN
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“To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that
‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.’”
Mark 4:11-12
Seeking to understand this I turned to the origin of Yeshua's quote from the Tenach (Old Testament) which can be found in Isaiah 6:
Also I (Isaiah) heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
“Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”
Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
And He answered:
“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So the holy seed shall be its stump.”
Isaiah 6: 8-13
Isaiah was called to prophesy at a time when God had determined to exile Israel from the Promised Land. The People of Israel had turned away from God and committed heinous sins in the worship of foreign idols. They had even burned their babies alive in the terrible worship of the bull god, Moloch, right here in the valley of Gai Hinnom (Gehenom) in Jerusalem. God needed to cleanse the land and the people and he would do this by the conquest of the Land and the exile of the people to Babylon. God knew already that the people would not listen to Isaiah's prophecies but He called him nevertheless, so that righteousness would be fulfilled. The people could never claim that they had acted out of ignorance. Rather they would chose not to listen to Isaiah's warnings and repent.
The people of Israel shut up their ears and closed their eyes and consequently bore the fruit of their rebellion. They were conquered and driven out of the Land for a time, until all the cities were destroyed and the land left desolate. Yet God kept a remnant, the stump, the holy seed, which in due course returned to the Land to repopulate it.
About 400 years later, Israel yet again turned away from God. They did not receive his Son, blocked up their ears and closed their eyes, and as a consequence were again driven away from the Land, this time by the Romans who destroyed every city. The Land lay desolate trampled under the feet of the Gentiles for two thousand years. Yet, even so, a 'stump' remained and the remnant of survivors has once more returned to the Promised Land.
Why did Yeshua allow this to happen? Why did he not, at the time of his first coming, open the eyes of all the people to understand and repent? Why did he not save them all when he came two thousand years ago? He knew their hearts. They were looking for a king, a conqueror who would free them of their Roman oppressors. They were not interested in repentance from sin and did not want to know God in any depth. So the veil that was laid on the People in the time of Isaiah has remained over the majority of the People of Israel until this day.
In the times of Moses and the Tabernacle, and later also in the Temples, the Holy Presence of God was separated from the People by a veil. This was for their protection. Sin cannot stand before a Holy God. A sinful person coming into the Presence of God would simply be annihilated. Only the High Priest, appointed by God, and covered by the blood of the sin offering, could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).
When Yeshua died on the cross, the veil of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Why from top to bottom? Because no human act could do that. Only God himself could tear down the veil from top to bottom.
Even so the New Testament tells us that a veil remains over the eyes of the People of Israel:
2 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3: 2-18
WE can see in this passage that though the veil remains there is hope, for the veil is taken away whenever one turns to the Lord, Yeshua. There is no true revelation without Yeshua, no remission of sins and no salvation. That is why Yeshua did not allow the people who had not yet received Him to have understanding. That is why He spoke to them only in parables. He is the 'door' and only through Him can entry to the 'sheepfold' (John 10: 1-4), the kingdom of God, be gained. First one must come to Yeshua and then understanding will be given.
Today the people of Israel cannot understand truly the Holy Scriptures, even though they might study and dissect them day and night (as do many of the religious). The truth is hidden under the veil. They will not find enlightenment until they open their hearts to Yeshua. This must come first. Full understanding does not come until we meet Yeshua, face to face, and invite him into our hearts. Then His Spirit will meet with our spirit and instruct us and lead us into Truth.
In the 30 odd years I have lived in Israel I have seen a wondrous thing take root. When I first arrived in 1979 there were only about 200 born-again believers in the Land. Now there are many thousands. No one knows exactly how many, but estimates range from 15-20,000 (1). Nearly every city and sizeable town in the Land has at least one congregation or house group that meets regularly. Some estimate that there may be as many as 150 congregations in Israel now.
At first we were nearly all immigrants, a polyglot collection from every corner of the earth. Now however a new generation of sabra Israelis (Israelis born here) is rising up into leadership, and establishing godly families in the Land. This generation speaks unaccented Hebrew as their mother tongue, and are part of the mainstream culture in a way we immigrants could never be.
For example, Kehila News, a Messianic online magazine, reported thus:
"A new and encouraging phenomenon is taking place among Messianic young people in Israel: Israeli students who are believers are openly sharing about their faith in Yeshua at their schools. This sort of boldness seems to have been unprecedented until now."
The article goes on to tell the stories of three young believers who openly taught the gospel to their classes at school. I would encourage you to read what they said - here is the link: https://kehilanews.com/2017/04/27/israeli-messianic-youth-take-a-stand-for-their-faith-in-school/
We Messianic believers still represent less than 1% of the total population, but there is steady growth as many of the young people are boldly speaking openly about their faith. There are many signs that the veil which has long blinded the people of Israel is at last, being lifted. In many circles Jews are reclaiming Yeshua as one of their own, perhaps partly a reaction to the way that the Palestinians have tried to claim him for themselves by rewriting history. Academics are beginning to study his life and teachings. At the same time the media is reporting on the activities of Messianic movement here in a much more positive light. Many Israelis, turned off by the extreme legalism and arrogance of orthodox Judaism, and the emptiness of secular materialism, are beginning to opening their hearts to seek something more real. We are now more generations separate from the Holocaust which is seen by many Jews (erroneously) as having been perpetrated by Christians. This belief has been a large part of the 'veil' blinding the eyes of my generation of Jews. Young people today are not so strongly influenced by this belief, though it still persists. Many Israelis today have been deeply impressed and touched that it is Evangelical Christians who have stood by them when it seems to us that the whole world is against us. Most tourists are Christian and tourism is one of our economic mainstays. There are also many Christian organizations that support Israel and help the disadvantaged in our society with outpourings of aid and practical assistance. These things do not go unnoticed. Seeds are being sowed, and I think the ground is getting softer.
Of course there is opposition. The latest edition of Kehila News reports how several ultra-orthodox Jews rampaged outside two homes of believers, causing damage to property and trauma to the children inside. They were protesting the opening of a new Messianic place of worship in the town of Dimona, in the south (2). This kind of thing is nothing new. There have been many such attacks and some much worse.
As the veil lifts and more and more people are saved by the preaching of the gospel we can expect more and more 'kickback'.
This past week I experienced something else which was of great encouragement to me. Some 600 or so Jewish and Arab believers met together for an evening of worship here in the heart of Jerusalem. For over two hours we sang together in Hebrew and Arabic with such a unity of love and fellowship. I found myself with tears streaming down my face. I could just feel God smiling. It was a taste of heaven to come, when all pain and suffering, hatred and violence will be gone and we will all worship Him as one. It also showed me that in spite of all that is taking place in the Middle East, the darkness, horror, violence and war, there is still a flame of hope burning, hope for real peace and real reconciliation. This can only happen in Yeshua by the indwelling Spirit of God. Only He can erase and heal the traumas, the mutual fear and hatred so prevalent here. Only in him can we forgive, and be able to love, one another.
Please pray for :
1. Continued and increased boldness among Messianic believers, especially the sabra youth, to preach the gospel openly.
2. Protection from those who oppose us
3. Healing and forgiveness amongst Jews and Arabs in Yeshua
