In a spirit of reverence, we loose the shoes from off our feet, part the veil and enter onto the sacred ground of the holy of holies to gaze upon the small golden ark of the covenant.
Here in Israel believers experience much discrimination. We are reminded of what the Lord endured and when He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
If I had been asked to write the epitaph of Moses, I would have written something like this: “Moses, God’s lawgiver, is dead,”’ or “Moses, God’s miracle-worker, is dead,” or “Moses, God’s statesman, is dead,” or “Moses, God’s judge over Israel, is dead.”
The multicolored veil embroidered with the images of cherubim hung elegantly between the holy place and the holy of holies separating the priest from God’s glorious presence.
The situation over here is difficult as usual, and it seems to become more complex by the hour. What appears to be peace with Egypt can easily turn into a real nightmare within hours.
We have a new law here in Israel which says that Hebrew Christians are now to be called simply Christians. So was the recent decision of the courts in Israel, and it cannot be changed.
Two days after President Carter’s dramatic trip to Israel in March and the announcement of a peace breakthrough between Israel and Egypt, I had dinner and an extended conversation with Mr. Harry Hurwitz. Mr. Hurwitz
Juma was beginning to get nervous. Some of the goats he had been tending were climbing too high up the cliffs. He decided to show his own nimbleness and climb the cliff face himself to bring them back.
Israel is a small country and at times we feel as if we are sheep among wolves. Even though we are small, we remain strong because the Lord is with us.
I suppose most of us have our own idea of what Paul looked like. Presumptuous perhaps, but I think I’ll recognize him in heaven – even before being introduced.
The whole world has been aware of the historic series of Begin/Sadat meetings that have been occurring since November, 1977 when President Sadat made his historic visit to Jerusalem.
Light from the golden lampstand illuminated the table of showbread causing it to sparkle with a dazzling beauty as the small ornately tooled table stood stately on the right side of the holy place.
God’s man was on the ground. The bolt of light that put him there made the high noon of a brilliant Syrian sky look like midnight by comparison.
Their mood was somber. The small lamps flickering from the table top and about the room seemed to have difficulty dispelling the darkness invading the scene. This should have been a festive, happy occasion.
Man is never sure of himself. What he says today, tomorrow he changes his mind about. Some people are sorry for this fault, and that is good.
On May 14, 1948 at 4:30 p.m. a dead nation was resurrected — Israel was reborn. Many predicted and millions more hoped that she would be stillborn. Four wars and thirty-one years later…
The struggles and sufferings of the Jewish people are well documented by history. No other people on the face of the earth have survived the face of persecution, the storms of world opposition…
Have you ever leaped out of bed in the morning, showered, dressed, felt the warm sun flooding through the window, contemplating your pleasant appointments for the day and then…
Cleansed after washing at the brazen laver the priest reverently made his way a few feet towards the tabernacle entrance. His heart pounded with…
Recently I had a conversation with the young men of the Yeshiva, which is a school for the most religious Jews. The young men devote their time to studying the…
The image and likeness in which man was created was threefold – God gave to man a mind with which he could think God’s thoughts after Him; He gave to man a…
The years were written in the lines on the ashen face of the old priest. He stood in the place he and his neighbors usually used for a market. There would be no…
With hands splattered with blood and with feet soiled from the dust of the tabernacle court, the priest moved quickly but reverently…
The people here are now preparing for the feast of the New Year, followed by the greatest feast of all, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, or as it is called…
The place was Shushan, the capital of Persia. The time, about 480 B.C. The atmosphere, critical. Under the influence of Haman…
The careful reader of the book of Esther will see beneath the historical events a beautiful and, I believe, intentional presentation of the Gospel.
“May I have a bagel and cream cheese?” was my request to the waitress. “What’s a bagel?” was her reply. “It’s a doughnut-shaped roll,” I answered….
“If what we have seen of Christianity over the past two thousand years is the best it has to offer, I don’t need to hear anything you have to say; I am not interested in your Christ.”
I am sure that if Moses and the Old Testament prophets of Israel were alive today and were as outspoken about the moral and spiritual condition…
The tabernacle stood in all its pristine glory with the twelve tribes camped around it. How inspiring it must have seemed to the Israelites as they…
Mankind is racing madly, unconsciously and unalterably toward ARMAGEDDON. Political paralysis, moral excess, economic chaos and spiritual deadness – these are not ominous clouds on tomorrow’s horizon, but today’s present realities.
Nathan excitedly jumped out of bed and quickly dressed. His mind raced through the activities he would be experiencing this day. Like other boys his age he had spent a number of years preparing for this special day.
“I’ve been to the mountain, and I have seen the glory of the Lord,” would be the testimony of Moses if he were here today. Just think of the piercing words Moses heard when God thundered from Mount Sinai, “. . . Come up to me . . . .” (Ex. 24:12).
Recently I have been working near the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and sometimes I have contact with the students there. They try to act very intelligent, because they are studying at such a fine school.
To the Jew of the first century, these words were saturated with great significance. For the Christian of the twentieth century, far removed from the historical context, it is often read over quickly as part of a cumbersome and boring genealogy.
The year was 1938. Hitler’s armies were marching through Europe. His plan to annihilate the world’s fifteen million Jews had begun. Most were blind to the conspicuous handwriting on the wall.
So you went and did it! You married a Gentile. Your family, friends, and maybe even the rabbi warned you about all the problems that would arise from the marriage.
In preparing for my trip to the United States, I had matters to attend to at the American Consulate here in Jerusalem. While at the consulate, I talked with some of the religious Jews.
Four thousand years have extended their span between Israel’s birth, demise and rebirth as a modern state in May of 1948. This prophesied rebirth is unparalleled in all the annals of recorded history.
Under international law no Arab state, not even Jordan, has “rights”. Nor do they in any other part of Western Palestine. It was British Mandate.
Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.
A surprising number of phrases and expressions and everyday sayings are derived from the Old Testament and are used over and over by the man in the street without being aware in most instances that he is using Old Testament language.
In May, 1948, defying both the natural and reasonable, Israel became a living reality. During the following thirty years little David fought Goliath on four separate occasions.
The term Messiah (Heb. Mashiach) means “anointed one.” It was customary for Jewish people to consecrate their priests and kings by pouring anointing oil over them (cf. Aaron, Ex. 30:30; Saul, 1 Sam. 10:2; David, 1 Sam. 16:13).
All of the provisions which God made with Israel were made for the ultimate benefit of the whole earth. This required the coming of a Messiah to offer the supreme sacrifice for sin; once for all;
If Shakespeare is right, a name cannot change the natural quality of an object. He wrote, “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet.” Whatever one chooses to call a rose, the fragrance remains.
And the Lord shall scatter you (Israel) among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other; and there shall you serve other gods, which neither you nor fathers have known, even wood and stone.
Three streams are cutting deep channels through the processes of human history. The origin of each is faithfully related in the Holy Scriptures. Furthermore, their ultimate destinies were penned by inspired writers millenniums ago.
On May 14, 1948 Israel declared her independence as a sovereign nation. The next day six Arab nations struck against Israel with only one motive, “to push her into the sea.”
For centuries men have thirsted after a utopian society – an era when peace, righteousness, justice and equity would exist for all men. Mankind has feverishly endeavored to purge the world of war, famine and sickness.
In every nation and even in each community, there are certain people who are honored for their past contributions to society. After these pioneers pass on, people often honor their descendants out of respect for the heroes of the past.
The rock Masada is an austere natural fortress located at the eastern edge of the Judean desert. Its extended summit mounts sheer inclines which rise abruptly to an imposing height thirteen hundred feet above the western shore of the Dead Sea.
The forty years Moses spent on the back side of the desert had not been wasted years. Invaluable lessons had been learned. Moses needed the weary discipline of those quiet years before he could obey the high vocation and ministry to which God was now calling him.
From the top of the Mount of Olives Jesus would have a panoramic view of the spectacular and familiar surrounding landscape. Five miles to the south and snuggled in the Judean hills lay Bethlehem – city of His birth.
For reasons not fully known to us, and in an unprecedented move to seek a solution to the Mid-East unrest, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt has broken from the league of Arab nations.
In 586 B.C. the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jewish people were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. During this captivity the people met in the home of an elder or prophet for the purpose of prayer…
Now we are near the Passover, and the people are beginning to clean their homes of leaven or yeast which is a symbol of sin. While I was visiting in the home of a fellow worker, who is very religious, he and his wife inquired…
Among all the major biblical personalities only of two can it be said there is no recorded failure in their lives. For instance, Abraham had lapses of faith; Moses disobeyed; David indulged; Peter denied; Paul persecuted.
As this Christmas season approaches, men the world over will look back two thousand years to the Incarnation of the Son of God. But for more than four thousand years men living on the other side of the Incarnation looked forward to that same event.
The radio voice was polished and persuasive — it was also disseminating theological absurdities. Upon listening, one would chuckle were it not for the fact that this revival of prophetic gobbledygook called British-Israelism has captivated the minds of so many people.
I praise the Lord for my children! They are good, and the Lord has blessed them. Not a day goes by that they do not read and study the Bible together. When I come home from work and see this, it makes me very happy.
Six weeks ago I sat across the table from an official of the new Israeli government. He shared with the small group of those present his government’s concern that the United States was making a major shift in its Middle East policy.
It was a cold wintry night. I could hear the wind whistling through the trees as I walked my post. What I wouldn’t have given for a little warmth and a hot cup of coffee. Guard duty in the army can be a very lonely experience.
In a few days I will finish my current tour of duty in the army. This has not been a pleasant period for me, and I will be glad to get home to my family, but still I am happy. This was an important time in my witness for the Lord.
If I had been called upon to write the epitaph of Moses, I probably would have written, “Moses, God’s lawgiver is dead, or Moses, God’s statesman is dead,” or “Moses, God’s miracle worker is dead.”
When I went to the polling place to vote in the recent national election, I met several people I work with. Immediately, some of them wanted to know whom I was going to vote for.
Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth, “But we preach Messiah crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock … “(I Cor. 1:23). The stumblingblock the Jews…
The term “Christian” means “one who is a follower of Christ or Messiah”. As the title “Messiah” or “Anointed One” is a Jewish term…
It has been more than a month since I began working in Tel Aviv because there is no work here in Jerusalem, but I am with the same company….
The Bible is direct — It gets right to the point. In its use of language, it uses great restraint. In one brief, almost fleeting, sentence it records the…
The land and people called Israel comprise a major unifying theme running through the Scriptures. It was Israel the PEOPLE whom God chose…
One day a few weeks ago my son went to his music school to be tested on the saxophone, which he had only been playing for one month…
One day, perhaps soon, a man is going to appear on the stage of human history. He will successfully navigate a meteoric ascendency to international power…
Many Christians ask, “What do rabbis believe concerning the Messiah?” It would be easy to answer this question, but I thought you might be interested in hearing…
There is a book in the Bible which is all about the rescue of the Jewish people from a threatened massacre. The villain is a man named Haman, who wanted to…
A long time ago I had a discussion with some people about the question of a new life after the earthly body dies. Recently I was very surprised to see…
Ten words – that’s all the Wise Men used to ask one of the most searching and provocative questions of all…
This is an age of humanism. Men are trying desperately to deny God and to deify man. The truth of God is being rejected for a lie, and men…
Syria and Egypt are allies now – but such was not always the case. In 168 B.C., the infamous Antiochus Epiphanes, Ruler of Syria, came down…
Recently we spent an evening “celebrating” with a dear friend in his home. This man was very ill and had been in the hospital. He had cancer and…
Someone has suggested that SILENCE IS NOT ALWAYS GOLDEN; SOMETIMES IT IS PURE YELLOW. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the area of personal evangelism.
His arm moved slowly, deliberately toward the purple, blue and scarlet veil. For a brief instant he paused, just long enough to gaze at the beautifully embroidered cherubim.
Many of us remember the proclamation made by the 93rd Congress of the United States calling for a national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. Congress called on the people of this nation to humble themselves before their Creator…
I have a sixty-year-old uncle who lives in Haifa. When he learned that I had received the Lord as my Saviour, he wanted nothing more to do with me.
Someone has aptly suggested that “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” God never intended that His children be like spineless jellyfish, or fluid Jell-O, that adapts to the most convenient mold available.
A minister and a lawyer were discussing crime and the basis for dispensing justice. The pastor argued for stronger implementation of the law. He called attention to the fact that most courthouses use the symbol of a woman…
We have all called a loved one “the apple of our eye”. This term of endearment is used to express how precious this loved one is in our sight.
Recently, an exciting report from one of our missionaries, Mr. S. Francis Doss in Bombay, India, caught my attention. Mr. Doss spoke of an encounter with an honest-to-goodness “shochet”…
This week three of my children told me they were going to a hospital for old people, to play their instruments for them. I told them I would have some free time that evening and I would go with them.
The day started typically enough. There was no hint that an encounter was about to take place — an encounter which would touch thousands of lives. I was mature for my thirteen years of age.
I remember being in my tank on the way from Jenin to the Jordan. It was Wednesday afternoon at four o’clock. I was resting, drinking some water, when someone opened the wireless.
Here in Israel the situation is very stressed. The Arabs want to show themselves strong against us. They have much people, and it is nothing for them to have a million killed. For us it is not so.
I was lost – really lost. The sergeant had taken me deep into the woods and left me there. His final words: “You have two hours to find your way back to the base. Use your equipment and your training.”
When the Jews, exiled from their land in the seventh century before the Christian era, sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept, but also prayed and sought ways to go home, that was already Zionism.
My mind quickly focused on the ministry of Jewish evangelism. I asked myself the question, “Do we have to use Madison Avenue gimmicks to win Jewish people to the Messiah?”
The Jewish feast of Passover commands respect of all enlightened people. It stands in stately, majestic solitude as the oldest, continuously observed holiday upon the face of the earth.
Now we are near the Holiday, but we can feel that the people are tense and extremely nervous. This is partly due to the economic situation. When I try to speak with them…
If Shakespeare is right, a name cannot change the natural quality of an object. He wrote, “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet.” Whatever one chooses to call a rose, the fragrance remains.
The corridors of the United Nations have once again resounded with withering oral fusillades against little Israel and Zionism. The latest outrage, calling for a racist label to be affixed to the nation…
Here in Israel the people are very tired of war, and I am, too. Russian immigrants living in Israel ask how we can live in this country so long without peace. “Don’t you grow tired?” they asked.