The Levitical fall feasts will soon be upon us as we usher in the Jewish civil calendar year 5787 with solemn celebration. On Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets), also known as Rosh Hashanah, shofars will blast across Israel and the Jewish diaspora, awakening and summoning the sons and daughters of Jacob to a period of repentant self-examination. Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) will follow ten days later, and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), five days after that. The ten days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are known as Ten Days of Awe. Various traditions are associated with them, as we’ve shared in the past.
Yom Teruah falls this year on September 11, a watershed date that 25 years ago plunged the US into what some call the inception of World War III. The last time Rosh Hashana fell on September 11 was in 1768. That year is called a tipping point in US history due to events that culminated in the American Revolution.
In this extremely rare convergence of dates, we cannot help but believe God is awakening American Christians and Jews to the reality that their (and our) nation has reached a–perhaps even the–spiritual tipping point. He is summoning us back to Him, urgently. And He is exhorting us to stand firm in love and truth regarding the Jewish nation and people.
This year, as we discern heaven’s kairos message through the ancient shofar blast, we hear more than an invitation to observant Jews and Messianic believers. We hear a distinct call to Gentile Christians like many of you–those who have stood with Israel, prayed for her, defended her, and loved her when it was neither popular nor easy.
The call we hear is a holy invitation to the next level of mature Christian Zionism, reflecting a Christlikeness in both the fullness of His love and beauty of His truth.
The shofar summons us all to honest confession in humble forthrightness. Now, to be forthright, Israel is a nation that is lost in her sin, like every other nation. The Jewish state has not yet submitted to God as Scripture promises she one day will (Zechariah 12:10, Ezekiel 36:25, Romans 11:25-27). Added to the distress of her waywardness is the reality that since October 7, 2023, when Hamas viciously invaded her, she has become the target of global hate and antisemitism as never in history. Much of the world would like to see the Jewish people and state gone.
As a result, and as many of you know, Israel is traumatized and war-weary. A tiny country that must fight endlessly simply to survive, she cannot help but feel–daily–the fiery hate of satan and much of the world, including that of increasing numbers of Christians. God gives her (and us) hope, strength, and courage, as well as gracious dimensions of protection and victory. But any tiny country engaged for three years in existential battle on multiple fronts, and finding itself the target of unrelenting cursing, would be prone to make mistakes and susceptible to sin.
To be sure, because of the hardship, a good number of Israelis are sincerely turning to God through traditional Judaism. A surprising number are coming to faith in Yeshua. At the same time, however, some events taking place in the Holy Land by some of our people are increasingly quite unholy; namely, so-called settler attacks.
Until recently, we could say that all or virtually all the anti-Israel hate was based on devilish distortions of facts, fake news, or outright, blatant lies. We are grievously sad to say that in past months, some of the bad news about Israel’s bad behavior appears to be true.
Although every nation makes mistakes and sins, when those mistakes and sins are committed by Israel, they are maliciously magnified to the whole watching world–a world that is neither fair nor honest in how it perceives and portrays any wrongdoing committed by Jews. Disingenuously depicted or not, unjustly exaggerated or not, some of what is being exposed in Israel as we write this letter is real.
The exposure of unrighteousness is calling Israel to repentance. It is also calling believers who love the God of Israel, and therefore love Israel, to new and even greater levels of Messiah-like maturity. For decades, we have taught this day would come, and it seems the year 5787 could mark its arrival.
In past months, some renegade Jewish settlers and their supporters in the Israeli government have resorted to unjustified attacks against Palestinians. You have probably heard about these events. We want to explain the situation to you, and ask you to pray for our people who desperately need the forgiveness and peace of Messiah.
What is actually taking place on the ground and why? For years, many of us have supported Prime Minister Netanyahu because we believe God raised him up for such a time as this, to lead Israel through what may be the most difficult chapter of her modern history. That conviction has not changed. But governing a fractured nation in wartime has required Netanyahu to build and sustain a coalition that includes extremist right-wing, ultra-Orthodox, and ultra-nationalist parties. These parties make radical demands which, in order to keep the government operational, he has at times felt politically forced to accommodate. Among those accommodations has been a permissiveness toward maverick Israeli zealots who have violently attacked some innocent Palestinian villagers. There have been injuries and presumed deaths (though fewer than commonly reported). Homes have been besieged. Israeli soldiers and police have stood by, watching but not intervening.
To be sure, such acts have been at the hands of a tiny activist minority that mistakenly believes it is doing and enforcing God’s will. The overwhelming majority of Israelis strenuously oppose the violent attacks.
For context, the zealots are reacting to near-relentless Palestinian terror and global castigation of Israel. Statistics reflect that since October 7, 2023, unprovoked Palestinian attacks on Jewish settlers and other Israelis have been many times greater and deadlier than attacks by Jews. Some Israeli platforms report that Palestinians are initiating many of the recent, so-called “unprovoked” attacks. As of now, the narratives compete. It is difficult or impossible to fully discern all the details. What is discernible, however, is that relatively few Jewish settlers have violently and viciously assaulted or terrorized apparently innocent Palestinian villagers. As we write, the government has not yet curtailed the terror.
A recent UN Security Council investigation into the matter was denounced by the Israeli representative who attended it. He pointed out that Palestinian terror attacks have made up the majority of attacks in Judea and Samaria–which the UN has not condemned. He concluded the Security Council was “focusing on one side of the violence while ignoring the other. Jews have never been … ‘settlers’ in Judea and Samaria,” he said. “Those committing violence are a tiny fraction of the people living there. When speakers use the term ‘settler violence’, it denies our connection to the land of Israel, detracts from constant terrorist attacks against Israelis and collectively labels entire innocent communities for the crimes of the marginal extremist minority.”
In any event, because there has in fact been a verifiable wave of attacks by Jews on Palestinians, and because this wave will probably not be Israel’s only wrongful and globally exposed misdeed in the near future, how are believers who care about Israel to respond?
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee recently called out the settler-zealots’ misconduct. An outspoken Christian Zionist at genuine personal cost, Mr. Huckabee has defended the Jewish state theologically and politically for decades. Having earned the right to speak words of correction, he strongly urged the Israeli government to take swift action and arrest the renegade wrongdoers. Then he gently but firmly rebuked the zealots for violating God’s laws. Without mincing words, Mr. Huckabee spoke in genuine love. His response not only reflects an expression of mature Christian Zionism; it models for us how we might bless Israel when she is clearly in the wrong.
As you know, a mature Christian Zionism does not give blind support to every Israeli policy. At the same time, it refuses to let Israel’s mistakes and sins diminish its expression of heartfelt love for the Jewish people. A mature Christian Zionism compels us to stand firm in Messiah-like, unconditional covenant-based love. It compels us to pray for the Jewish nation. Then, if the Holy Spirit gives us a clear opportunity to speak truth, we share it courageously, sensitively, and with agape-based empathy. In so doing, we refuse to succumb to disappointment, anger, or resentment common among Israel’s detractors, and thereby contribute to the spiritual stronghold of antisemitism.
At this season when the shofar’s awakening blast ripples across heaven and earth, God is asking if you will choose the way of mature love and truth. Will you affirm His ongoing, unconditional covenant with the Jewish people, share His heart for them, and prayerfully defend Israel’s existence? Will you stand against escalating, murderous antisemitism? At the same time, will you care enough to share truth with Jewish people you may know? For most of us, sharing truth in love will simply–but powerfully–take the form of not withholding the gospel from our Jewish friends. The result will be the attaining of the “fullness of the Gentiles” that leads to all Israel being saved (Romans 11:25-26).
“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is Christ” (Ephesians 4:15, NIV).
In 5787, God will use Israel as a refining tool of humanity. Nations, people groups, churches, and more will be tested and judged based on their treatment of His chosen nation. But God does not test us to torment us. He tests us to conform us to His will and to the likeness of Messiah in order to posture us for blessing. He tests us to refine us and prepare us for eternal glory. That glory may come at a temporary cost. For some, the cost may be great. But the reward will be much greater, and it will not be temporary.