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 TEMPLE MOUNT POWDER KEG
 Has the fuse been lit?

 

 

I have just been sitting out on my balcony enjoying the crisp, fresh air and the first of our winter rains here in Jerusalem. Living in the Middle East I have learned to appreciate rain, something that in my native land, New Zealand, always seemed more of a curse than a blessing. Rain there was the thing that ruined sports events, picnics and outings. Here, however, after 8 long months of cloudless, blue skies and unrelenting heat, the first rain comes and we all heave a deep sigh of relief. You can almost hear the trees singing along with the joyful chorus of the birds, and the children dancing in the streets. The streets of the city get a much-needed scrubbing, as does the very air we breathe. The land starts to live again. One of the cactus plants in my balcony garden has suddenly, literally overnight, sprouted masses of bright pink flowers. In a few days the brown, barren earth will  start to turn green again as the tiny, sprouts of grasses and annual flowers emerge from the soil.
 



Clouds from my balcony

I was enjoying watching the tall, cumulonimbus clouds racing by and I noticed that those that had already passed  were bathed in sunlight and looked so beautiful, all bubbly and bright. In contrast the cloud that was  immediately overhead was dark, chaotic, threatening, ragged, and even a little ugly. And yet it was this cloud that was bringing the rain. I thought how like it was to our lives so often. Our present circumstances often feel chaotic, formless, ugly, dark and threatening, and when we are in the midst of them, we do not see the blessing they bring. It is not until after they have passed, and we gain the perspective of time and distance, only then do we see the beauty, the blessing they have brought into our lives. 


 

Even on the greater scale of history the same principle is evident. We are living in terrible times, when ugly, chaos, turmoil and darkness threatens us all, but the time will come, when these days have passed, we will see that they have birthed the eternal beauty of God's redemption in the Universe.

 

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.   Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.   And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.   And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

Revelation  21: 1-6

 Redemption will come, but first we must pass through a time of birthing pain, a time of great turmoil, darkness and violence. Jesus warned his disciples that leading up to his second coming, there will be such a time as this.

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows. 

Matthew 24: 4-8

 



I awoke Thursday morning this week to the sound of helicopters circling overhead, a sure sign that something was amiss in the city. I later learned that the previous evening an Arab from Abu Tor in East Jerusalem, Muataz Hijazi,  had attempted to kill right wing Rabbi Yehuda Glick, by firing 3 bullets into his body from a motorcycle outside the Begin Heritage Center, where Glick had been attending a conference. When police tried to arrest Hijazi he fired on them from the roof top of his home, and he was consequently shot and killed.  This dangerous escalation in the already tinder dry atmosphere of Jerusalem, could be the lit fuse that could send the city, and indeed the whole world, up into a conflagration of violence.


Rabbi Yehuda Glick looks out over the Temple Mount
http://images.smh.com.au/2014/10/30/5934921/Article%20Lead%20-%20wide6280162611e8byimage.related.articleLeadwide.729x410.11e21m.png1414639495609.jpg-620x349.jpg

Rabbi Yehuda Glick is still in a critical condition in hospital fighting for his life. When shot he was attending an  'Israel Returns to the Temple Mount' conference organized by the      Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement. Known more commonly as the Temple Mount Faithful, this organization is an orthodox Jewish group which has the stated goal of

"... the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in our lifetime in accordance with the Word of G‑d and all the Hebrew prophets, and the liberation of the Temple Mount from Arab/Islamic occupation so that it may be consecrated to the Name of G‑d."      

They believe that  "Only when the G‑d of Israel dwells in the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem will evil be defeated and will real peace come to the entire world", and that this must be done urgently "before the darkness and inhuman evil completely covers the life of all mankind".
http://templemountfaithful.org/

Glick is the head of head of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, and he worked in the past as the executive director of the Temple Institute, an organization that prepares vessels and garments for a future Jewish temple. Currently Jews are forbidden to pray or carry out religious rites on the Temple Mount for two reasons: one, because the Mount is considered defiled by the presence of the Muslim mosques and two, because the presence of Jews praying there would offend the Muslim world, which considers the Mount theirs by right of occupation and the status quo. Glick has been the highly visible leader of those Jews who are striving to restore the right of Jews to worship there, in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah and the building of the Third Temple.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/yehudah-glick-shot-in-jerusalem-works-for-jews-right-to-pray-on-temple-mount/#ixzz3HiqGyPBV

At Hijazi's funeral, one of his family members was quoted as saying this, "We are proud of anyone who wants to kill a [Jewish] settler...I am the first to take an M16 rifle to kill them. The war between Jews and Arabs is a religious war, so I'm not surprised Glick was shot." One of Hijazi's neighbours, Ayman Shweki, remarked,  "Why do [Jewish] rightists enter Al-Aqsa every day? It's a Muslim mosque, no Temple Mount or anything. What kind of stories have you been telling yourselves? Don't get near Islam's holy places, it's playing with fire. We were here from before Israel was established, this is our land."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4586479,00.html

Fearing an increase in tensions and violence following these events, the Jerusalem police closed the Temple Mount for all visitors, Jew, Muslim and Christian alike. The last time this happened was in the year 2000 when Benjamin Netanyahu, now our Prime Minister, went up onto the Temple Mount sparking off the Second Intifada. On that occasion it was the Waqf (the overseers of the Muslim holy sites) that called for the closure, but this time it was the Jerusalem police.  Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President responded to Thursday's  closure by saying, "This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nation". http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4586184,00.html. The resident Imam at Abbas's headquarters in Ramallah echoed the President's words, saying the closure had been a "declaration of war... to Muslims across the world" and calling for people to "defend" Al-Aqsa. http://news.yahoo.com/israel-reopens-al-aqsa-mosque-ahead-muslim-prayers-075340031.html Jordan's government spokesman  also announced that Jordan's  treaty with Israel was under threat, should Israel continue its 'violations of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount'.

 

Meanwhile the time for Muslim Friday prayers was approaching so, not wanting to exacerbate the situation further, the police reopened the Temple Mount  early Friday morning and allowed Muslim men over 50 years of age, and women, to go up to the Mosque to pray.  In the mosque, Azzam Al Khatib, head of the Islamic Waqf, gave a  sermon, calling Thursday a “black day” and a “catastrophe”.http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/west-bank-clashes-after-israel-allows-restricted-access-to-al-aqsa The heavy police presence and tight surveillance (helped perhaps by the heavy rain that was falling) prevented any large scale outbreak of violence at the Mount on Friday, but isolated rioting occurred in various parts of East Jerusalem and on the West Bank.

 

An Israeli vehicle burns after being torched in Abu Tor Friday
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Hamas-Islamic-Jihad-call-for-Palestinians-to-step-up-resistance-against-Israel-after-shooting-380370

 

 

In Gaza, the picture was different.  Thousands, holding up pictures of Hijazi and burning Israeli flags,  answered the call of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to demonstrate their support of Hijazi's action and stand with the Arabs of Jerusalem waging 'the battle of Al Aqsa'.

 

Muslim religious and political leaders have not been slow in making good use of these events to fan the flames of the libel that Israel is plotting to destroy the Al Aqsa mosque and build a Jewish temple in its place. Such accusations are nothing new. Already in 1929 the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, provoked the Arab population to fierce anti-Jewish riots by claiming that the Jews were threatening the mosque. http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Palestinian/Pages/Palestinian-incitement-on-the-issue-of-Jerusalem-Oct-2014.aspx In the decades following this libel has been promulgated all over the Arab world so that in the minds of almost all Muslims it is believed as fact. This is well documented in these websites:

http://jcpa.org/al-aksa-is-in-danger-libel/

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=771

http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Palestinian/Pages/Palestinian-incitement-on-the-issue-of-Jerusalem-Oct-2014.aspx

Here is an example of a TV cartoon made by Hamas for children:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4lBqIXaU0

 Below are some cartoons that have appeared in Middle Eastern newspapers: Clockwise from top-left: Ad-Dustur (Jordan), Ar-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Al Hayat (PA), Falestin (Hamas) - http://jcpa.org/al-aksa-is-in-danger-libel/#sthash.JLDNJzrC.dpuf

 

 These accusations are very far from the truth. In fact, Israel's Declaration of Independence guarantees the freedom of faith and worship for all religions represented in the city. In Jerusalem, Israel constantly works to protect the free worship of Muslims and Christians in their respective holy sites, and only restricts access when  it is considered essential to preserve public safety. Archaeological digs around the Temple Mount have to meet stringent guidelines which protect the integrity of the existing buildings on the site. Ironically it is the uncontrolled excavations of Solomon's stables carried out by the Muslim Waqf , converting them into a huge underground Mosque, that threaten the foundations of  the  buildings on the Temple Mount.

 

On the other hand, the Temple Mount Faithful were once considered a small, radical fringe group, but their views are gaining ground amongst the mainstream religious community. More and more rabbis are permitting their followers to ascend to the Temple Mount. This trend is feeding the growing extremism amongst the Palestinians, and both sides are pushing us all towards a very dangerous conflagration.

 

Some are predicting the outbreak of a third Intifada. Over the recent months, and especially during the recent Gaza war,  Hamas and other terror organizations have been calling for an Intifada, but these calls have gone unanswered, except by the small numbers of disaffected youth that are carrying out the present relatively small-scale riots. I believe that the vast majority of Palestinians do not want another Intifada, as it would bring them only more grief. and undo the economic progress they have achieved since the end of the second Intifada.

 

Of more concern is the risk that any perceived threat to the Al Aqsa Mosque would cause many  of the presently warring factions in the Arab world to unite in order to destroy Israel. Just two weeks ago, the Ynetnews carried this headline " Powder Keg on Temple Mount" and one of their reporters, posing as a tourist, filmed the daily tensions on the Mount.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4580661,00.html.  This footage illustrates the tensions there and how little it would take to escalate the situation into a major confrontation. A few days earlier, on the 13th October, Arab youths stockpiled Molotov cocktails, rocks and fireworks inside the Mosque for a planned attack on a group of Jews, lead by the Likud MK, Moshe Feiglin, who were visiting the Mount. Tipped off, the Jerusalem Police barricaded them inside the Mosque for several hours, preventing their attack on the Jews. Imagine what might have happened had any of those incendiary devices ignited burning down the Mosque.

 http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Police-lock-rioting-Arabs-inside-Temple-Mount-and-clear-site-for-visiting-Jews-378707

 

The Bible does say that at some time in the future, in the 'latter days', there will be a third Temple in Jerusalem.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
² Many nations shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

 Micah 4: 1 -2

Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. ² But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.

Revelation 11:1-2

The Bible however does not say how the Third Temple will be built, the precise time it will be built, nor how the Islamic presence on the Mount will be removed. I know of Christian believers who support the work of the Temple Mount Faithful and are actively working towards the rebuilding of the Temple. I think great caution is needed in this matter. The fact that prophecy indicates that something will happen, does not necessarily mean it is right that it will happen, nor that we should participate in making it happen. God does not need our help to bring about the fulfillment of prophecy.  Since Yeshua (Jesus) paid the full price for our sin and opened the way of all believers into the spiritual Holy of Holies, we no longer need the sacrificial system nor the priestly order of the Temple worship. The Temple of the LORD is within each one of us (II Corinthians 6:16). We are his living temple. Indeed in the New Jerusalem there will be no temple.

 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God...

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

Revelation 21: 10- 11, 22 



.


The Temple Mount, the Western Wall and the Mount of Olives
http://jcpa.org/al-aksa-is-in-danger-libel/