The Spirit of God and Israel (1990)

[00:00:00] If you will turn with me to a very. To some of you a very well known part of gods. Word in Zechariah, chapter twelve. [00:00:11] Zechariah, chapter twelve. Im not going to read all of it. Im going to read part of it. [00:00:17] Zechariah, chapter twelve. We begin at verse one. The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus saith the Lord who stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about. And upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. Verse nine. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great morning in Jerusalem as the morning of Hadad Rimon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn. Every family apart. The family of the house of David apart and their wives apart. The family of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart. The family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart. The family of the Shimeites apart and their wives apart. All the families that remain. Every family apart and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. [00:02:40] I have been asked to speak to you on the subject this evening. The spirit of God and Israel. [00:02:49] And I am well aware that many christian theologians do not believe that the spirit of God has anything whatsoever to do with the modern state of Israel. They do not believe that the spirit of God, in fact, has had anything to do with the last 2000 years of jewish history. [00:03:10] They believe that if individual Jews should be converted and become Anglicans or Catholics or Baptists or Pentecostals or brethren or Methodists or whatnot, that that is the work of the holy Spirit. [00:03:24] But the modern state of Israel, we are told, is something political. And in the eyes of many Christians, a political accident. [00:03:36] It should never have happened. It is in their eyes an imposition upon the Middle east. And thats why we have all this problem now. I find this prophecy of Zechariah very relevant. First of all, it is a chapter that even christian theologians well versed in theological acrobatics have never been able to spiritualize. [00:04:07] They have always had to accept that this particular chapter is apparently literal. [00:04:17] And it is even more so when we come to Zechariah 14, where we are told of the last great battle of world history, and we are told in that day his feet shall stand upon the Mount of olives which is east of Jerusalem. The spirit of the Lord kindly locates this mount of olives just in case anybody should try to spiritualize it. [00:04:46] It is a literal, a prophecy concerning a literal place and a literal coming of, of the messiah, his feet literally standing again upon the dust of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. [00:05:08] Now if that is so, I find some incredibly relevant material in this prophecy. [00:05:19] First of all, we are told that this is a burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. [00:05:29] Then the prophet goes on by the spirit of God to say, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about. And then a very strange little phrase, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples. All that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. Now, I dont know whether im being fanciful, but I have the stronger suspicion that we are in the fulfillment of these verses. [00:06:22] We have seen an Israel recreated in our day and generation, a literal Israel. The same Israel that was in the same territory 2000 years ago has reappeared in the most miraculous form back in that territory promised to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob and to their seed for an everlasting inheritance and possession. This is a miracle that almost defies words to describe these people have been dispersed into the ends of the earth from 93 different nations. They have miraculously been drawn back to the very territory from which our people were first dispersed some 19, 1970 years ago. [00:07:29] Now, my dear friends, if that is so, we can understand the next point in that day I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples. Roundabout what does the Lord mean? There was no Israel there. [00:07:52] A century ago. [00:07:55] Even 50 years ago, there was no Israel there. Now there is an Israel there. And interestingly, the capital of that sovereign, recreated jewish state is this Jerusalem. [00:08:13] And the Lord says that he will make this city of Jerusalem with all its sin, with all its transgression, with all its unbelievable history. He will make this city of Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples, roundabout, as I have often said to folks, and many of you will have heard me, this phrase, a cup of reeling, sounds so poetic, but it means a goblet of wine into which has been secretly introduced a poison. [00:08:47] And that is exactly a description of what has happened to all our neighbors in the Middle east. Whether it is the Lebanon, whether it is Syria, whether it is Jordan, whether it is Egypt, whether it is Libya, whether it is Iraq, whether it is Iran. All our neighbors have reeled by trying to meddle with the destiny of Jerusalem. All of them have come against Jerusalem as being jewish. They will not accept that that city should be the capital of a recreated jewish state. They will not accept the jewish state, let alone Jerusalem as its capital. But in so doing, in seeking, as it were, to meddle with the divine destiny for Jerusalem, they have taken a drink of wine into which God himself has put a drug, a poison, and these otherwise reasonably sensible nations have become quite insensible. [00:09:56] Their economies have been ruined. [00:09:59] The whole last 40 years has been a story of blight, paralysis, of being centered on terrorism, on war, on violence, on hatred. And it is all centered in this city of Jerusalem. According to the prophet Zechariah, he says, and this marvelous little phrase, and upon Judah also, shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem? Could this possibly, and I only speculate, could this possibly be something to do with the confusion in Israel at present? [00:10:43] Is this what is happening? Not only all our neighbours reeling under the impact of God's judgment because of trying to meddle with Jerusalem, but Judah herself, to a certain extent, befuddled, confused, should we take the risk or shouldn't we take the risk? [00:11:11] Is this a historic opportunity for peace to come to the Middle east? Will our arab cousins love us if we will only give them their independent Palestinians state? [00:11:28] The prophet goes on, by the spirit of the Lord, to say, in that day, I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples. All that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded. Again, the phrase is very poetic in its King James version, but actually it means a stone that if someone feels it's in the wrong place and they lift it from that place to another position that they think would be better for it, they will rupture themselves in so doing. And when you've had a hernia, you don't lift anymore. That is God's promise for every nation, whether it's Britain, whether it is the United States, whether it is the common market or whatever other nation or ideology seeks to interfere with the divine destiny of Jerusalem. They will find that by trying to take it from one place and put it in another direction they have ruptured themselves. They don't cease to exist, but they cease to lift anything anymore. [00:12:39] And then we have this unbelievable comment of the prophet and all nations shall be gathered together against it. And I have often said to you, and this is only an introduction to what I really want to say, but I have often said to you in these times and elsewhere where you've heard me, I mean, how could anyone understand this prophecy a hundred years ago? What in the world would all the nations be gathered together against Jerusalem? Paul in 1890, Jerusalem was a flea bitten, fly blown, unhygienic glory hole of dust and disease and poverty. 15 to 20,000 inhabitants buried in a city living on an antique glory glorious past in the judean hill country of the syrian province of the Ottoman Empire. What in the world would nations be gathered together against such a city? For it was the capital of nothing. [00:13:44] What would they want? Why would they come? Yet Zechariah said 2600 years ago there will come a day when Israel will once again be in her territory, when Jerusalem will be her capital and when all the nations of the earth will come against it. Now it doesn't just mean in war, it can also mean just against it. They will isolate Israel they will be alienated from Israel, they will condemn Israel they will denounce Israel they will in the end probably place sanctions on Israel. They will come against Israel. They will not understand the divine destiny for Jerusalem and for Israel. [00:14:33] Here it is in a prophecy in your Bible, in the Old Testament 2600 years ago. [00:14:49] And then there is something also thats extremely relevant in verse nine. [00:14:56] In that day, says the Lord, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Now whatever you may feel about that word of the Lord to Abraham, those that curse you I will curse. And those that bless you, I will bless. There are those who believe that that is a promise that comes right down to the very seed of Abraham right away for all time. Others who don't, the fact remains that here in this prophecy we have a word that nations will be judged according to their attitude to Jerusalem and to Israel. Now that is a somber and solemn word. Where, how else can you understand this word I will seek, says the Lord in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Isn't that cause for prayer? Isn't that cause for prayer for the United Kingdom that she delivered from any action that is against Israel? Isn't it the same for so many other countries? [00:16:09] I gave a report at the beginning of this day together and that by its very nature had to be rather sombre and gloomy. [00:16:22] But I must tell you, when people tell me, well, I'm not going to come on holiday this next year to Jerusalem, or they say to me, some who are living in Israel, that they feel maybe they should get out and stay for a while outside of Israel and all the rest of it. I want to tell you that I think it is much safer for me to be in Israel than it is to be elsewhere. [00:16:56] At least we have the word of God concerning Israel, that the Lord will not forsake her, that he will defend her, that he will deliver her. And even in the very last battle of world history, then and only then, will half of Jerusalem be taken, and that will end in the coming of the Messiah. [00:17:17] So, my dear friends, I have much greater fear for the United Kingdom, for the nations of Europe, for the north american nation, north american nations and others, because the Lord clearly says, in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. What does he mean? Does he mean economically destroy them? Does he mean ecologically destroy them? Does he mean militarily? Destroy them? What does it mean? We don't know. [00:17:52] Only that the word of God says absolutely clearly. It is not that the jewish people are all good and all righteous, that Israel never does anything wrong. [00:18:06] The Israel defense forces are filled with angelic men and women through whose little heads no evil thought ever flips, that every israeli cabinet meeting is a prayer meeting and that the prime minister spends his time in Bible studies. I mean, this is, of course, nonsense. It is nonsense. But God says this I had I will lead the blind by a way that they know not, in paths that they have not known will I lead them. I will make darkness light before them and the crooked places straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them. God has brought back our people in transgression, in sin, and in blindness back to the land. In his everlasting and abounding grace, he has preserved us in five wars, 42 years, three of which should have been our liquidation. But for his grace and his mercy, he has preserved us economically, facing the most unbelievable problems he has enabled us to absorb. Aliyah after Alia after Aliyah and now, the largest of all, all these things the God of Israel has done because of his covenanted word and his covenanted grace. [00:19:39] But, my dear friends, the reason God judges the nations is because they are coming against his word and the fulfillment of his word. They are coming against the divine program for the nation and against its fulfillment. And any nation, any superpower, any ideology that comes against the word of God will be broken on the word of God. [00:20:20] Now, I say that's all introductions. [00:20:28] So I want to just say another word on this matter and then get down to the real subject. [00:20:39] Everything in the divine program is, at present, on time. [00:20:48] Don't be fearful. [00:20:51] Don't be afraid. Don't even hold your breath. For Israel, everything is on time. [00:21:00] Even the confusion in Israel, even the economic problems, even the intifada, even the military threats, the growing military power of a nation like Iraq, it's all on time. It is not a minute behind. It's not a minute before. It is absolutely on time. [00:21:24] In the midst, let me give you the example, and I've already mentioned it earlier, but in the midst of all these problems that Israel is at present facing a continuing intifada with violence and hatred and antagonism, a growing isolation and alienation of Israel, even from her closest allies in the world, family of nations. The economic problems of Israel, which are dire and desperate, the government problems of finding a stable, substantial, authoritative government. [00:22:08] All these things, the iraqi threats to incinerate us, to gas us and to incinerate us, the threats of president Assad of Syria to continue a holy war eternally until Israel is no more. [00:22:30] All these things in the midst of these things, suddenly, unexpectedly, repeatedly, almost unpredictably, the greatest aliyah in jewish history has taken place, and we are in the midst of it right now. [00:22:52] It is the most amazing thing. When it began in January and began to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow, until el al had the biggest problem, finding planes to bring people and finding the places where they could gather together in safety and then be brought, it is the most amazing thing. At the same time, the remnant of ethiopian Jewry and the remnant of romanian jewry have all expressed their desire to come back to Israel. And what has happened in all our neighbors, they have gone berserk. [00:23:29] They were the ones who started the intifada. They were the ones who said that they were going to rebel and shoot and murder until we were humiliated and brought to our knees and from a position of weakness, we would have to negotiate our own suicide. [00:23:48] For, make no mistake about it, an independent palestinian state will be the beginning of a national suicide as far as Israel is concerned. [00:24:02] My dear friends, here in the midst of this, God himself, I think of that wonderful second psalm. Why did the nations rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of themselves, of the rulers set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed, his Christ, his messiah, saying, we will cast their bonds asunder. He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh, he will have them in derision. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. [00:24:39] It is marvellous to me. Here is all this foment and confusion even amongst ourselves. And I must say that even amongst messianic believers is nearly as much confusion as there is in the nation. It is unbelievable. Shall we be one with our other brothers and sisters? And that means we can't pray for the israeli government. We cannot mention Mister Shamir by name because he's an ex terrorist and all these other kind of things. I'm in the confusion, I don't know what it is, it's unbelievable everywhere. And he doesn't unnerve the Lord, he doesn't even have perspiration, he doesn't sort of get sort of excited about it all said now what am I going to do? They're all getting into a mess down there. He laughs, he laughs. [00:25:22] And then he blows upon Poland. [00:25:28] And something starts to happen in Poland and a miracle happens. Poland gets an observant Catholic, believing catholic prime minister. And Poland begins to talk about repentance for its past. It's even talked about the Kilsea pogrom, in which Mister Shamir's father died in 1946, having survived the concentration camps, gone back to his home, been murdered by Poles. [00:25:58] They're going to put a plaque up in Keelsey commemorating the Keelsea pogrom. And then it goes from Poland they even allow a march of life, 24,000 jewish young people marching as a testimony that the Holocaust did not succeed. [00:26:22] Israel is alive. [00:26:26] And then from Poland it goes. I've said it all to you, this earlier today. From Poland it goes to Hungary. From Hungary it goes to Bulgaria. From Bulgaria it goes to eastern Germany, from east Germany goes to Czechoslovakia, each one more difficult than the one before. And finally it ends in Romania. Well, Romania hasn't got over her problems yet. [00:26:46] But then we see the whole Kremlin wobbling. [00:26:50] Lithuania starts, then Latvia, then Estonia, then Byelorussia, then Moldavia, then the Azerbaijanis, then the Georgians, and then the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyzstan. So it goes on and on. And then believe it or believe it not. The greatest, the greatest republic in the Soviet Union of republics. The russian republic says that its law will overrule all soviet law. [00:27:21] It is unbelievable. [00:27:23] It is unbelievable. And suddenly that word of the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, I will say to the north, give up is fulfilled. And the doors of the monolithic Soviet Union that has trapped within itself, millions of men and women ground them to death. [00:27:49] Suddenly the doors open and floods of Jews want to get out. [00:28:05] Who, may I ask, is responsible for this? [00:28:12] Certainly not the world's honest organization. [00:28:16] I. [00:28:17] I. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not talking against the world's honest organizers. They have done a marvelous job. But I know quite a number, I know this, that those poor men have torn their hair out almost in my presence over russian Jews. [00:28:35] They have said, what's wrong with these russian Jews? They're not even interested in Judaism. They're not even interested in their history. They're not interested in their origins. They don't want to come to Israel. They want to go to the United States, to Canada, to Australia, anywhere but Israel. [00:28:52] And then suddenly, suddenly they all want to come to Israel. [00:28:59] Isn't that interesting? Well, now, who's responsible? [00:29:05] Well, maybe it's the PFI. [00:29:15] It's certainly not the jewish agency. It's certainly not the world's zionist organization, nor even many of us. I haven't been myself, but many of my friends and colleagues have gone on journey after journey to the Soviet Union to try and quicken interest amongst soviet Jews in their own identity, in their history, and in their destiny. But it never has happened. And then suddenly the Lord blew on the whole thing. And within weeks, the whole situation changed. Not years, not decades, but within weeks, the whole situation changed. When I was sitting in the home of the israeli ambassador to Finland, he said to me, do you know that in the last two months I have received over 6000 applications from Jews in Leningrad to emigrate to Israel? [00:30:09] Now, that was right. Back in November, December. [00:30:15] My dear friends, I say, this is the spirit of the Lord. [00:30:22] This reminds me so much of that great prophecy of Ezekiel when he saw that great valley filled with dry bones. [00:30:31] And then the word came to him. The spirit of the Lord came to him and said, son of man prophesy over these dry bones that say they have no life and no hope and that there is no future for them. And Ezekiel said, and I went, boy, it must have been very strange, he said, I went. And I stood in the midst of all these dry poems. I felt like that sometimes in christian meetings. [00:31:04] Ay, he said he stood in the midst of this great valley of dry bones, and he prophesied the word of the Lord is that you dry bones, will live. And suddenly there was a terrible noise, and bone came to bone. It must have been a sight. I would have loved to have seen it. All whips flying backwards and forwards, and fingers and hands all being attached away another. But there was no spirit of the Lord in them. [00:31:36] We have seen the miracle of God bringing back the bones, bringing back bone to bone into skeletons, clothing them even with flesh. Weve seen it in miracle after miracle, from the first alia in 1880 to the weakness fertilizing of the land itself with forest and orchard and field and vineyard. Weve seen it in the recreation of the jewish state. But still there is no spirit in the house of Israel. [00:32:16] Thats where we are. [00:32:19] Dont say to me that this, that we are witnessing and experiencing at the present time is not the work of the spirit of the Lord. [00:32:32] It is the work of the spirit of the Lord. [00:32:37] It is an amazing work of the spirit of the Lord. You see, dear friends, the Holy Spirit's work is to watch over the word of God and the purpose of God to fulfill it. That is his supreme work. [00:33:00] He has as his vocation, if you like. He has as his calling, the watching over the word of the Lord, to perform it, to fulfill it. And if this word of the Lord that they will come from the north country, that this exodus will be greater than the exodus from Egypt, if the Lord has said they shall come into the land again and shall repeople the land, and they will multiply within the land, then it is the spirit of the Lord who is watching over this word of God, this purpose of God, this program of God, to fulfill it. [00:33:46] Now, my dear friends, that leads me to say here within this chapter we have an infinitely more wonderful prophetic promise than even those others about Jerusalem being a cup of reeling, about Jerusalem being a burdensome stone, about the nations being gathered together against it, all these things, they may be wonderful and miraculous in their fulfillment. But far the greatest miracle is in that day, says the Lord, I will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they shall look unto me whom they have, and they shall mourn for him as for an only son, and be in bitterness for him as for a firstborn. [00:34:48] Here, as far as I can see at the time that Israel becomes a sovereign state, at a time when Jerusalem becomes the capital of that sovereign we created state at a time when Judah is confused, at a time when the nations will be gathered against Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. [00:35:18] At that time, the Lord says he will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And in that day they will see the messiah of Israel, and they will see him as the pierced one. [00:35:42] They will mourn. Why? [00:35:45] Because of national history. [00:35:49] Not the remorse that led Judas to suicide, but the repentance that led Peter to become the first apostle. [00:36:10] My dear friends, I don't have much doubt about this. When I look at it, will you please see? I don't understand, or to say it straight away, maybe someone can and take me aside and instruct me more fully on this. And there were quite a few who tried to do it all the time with letters, articles, tapes, and I don't know what I could fill a library as large as the British Museum library. I reckon with some of the articles I get from folks when I'm supposed to read them. I don't know, but I'll do my best. But if anyone can give me some light on this, I'm perfectly prepared. I do not understand why the King James the authorized version, followed by nearly all the modern versions, other than the good old revised version of 1881 and the american standard version of 1902. I don't know why all these versions translate the Hebrew here like this, and they shall look on me, whom they have pierced, because in the Hebrew, it is perfectly right. You could push it and say, look on me. But the word in Hebrew is toward me, unto me. And I want to suggest that it's a quite different thing to look on someone and look toward them. If I were today at the two ping of the color and looked on Queen Elizabeth, it could mean only one thing. If I said I looked on Queen Elizabeth and saw her riding on the horse, or whatever it was, it can only mean one thing. I saw her physically. I literally saw. But supposing I said I look toward Queen Elizabeth, doesn't that have within it the feeling of some kind of respect, of some kind of honor, of some kind of understanding of her position, of her status? Do you see what I'm trying to say? You see, with this teaching went a whole big thing, that the Jews were going to be saved when they saw the Messiah. When Jesus comes, then the Jews would actually see him and looking on him, they would wail and be saved. [00:38:24] But if I understand the prophecies of Zechariah aright. All this happens before the Messiah come. [00:38:32] Chapter 14 and verse one to four is all consecutive with Zechariah twelve, as I understand it. Which means that here in Zechariah we have the most marvelous, the most glorious, I would almost say the most incredible promise that in the midst of all the conflict and of all the antagonism towards Israel, of Israel's growing isolation, her economic problems, in the midst of it, God will take away the veil on the jewish heart, and they will look unto him whom they pierce. Oh, my dear friend, this doesnt mean that the whole of Israel will become Anglicans overnight, or Catholics or anything else. I want to let you into a secret. They will remain Jews, absolutely Jews, and good Jews, as I see it is here in this book. Now, my dear friends, I don't want to contradict anybody, especially those who ought to be my mentors anyway, from their understanding. But I must say that however the Lord does it, and he may do it, I don't think that this conversion can take place in one day for one reason. [00:40:13] Here it tells us about all these families, husbands and wives apart. And for most christians, it must be the most extraordinary paragraph, with very little meaning or significance. Here they suddenly read, and the morning in that day will be as great as the morning in Khadad, in Megiddon. This was the great national mourning over the death of King Josiah. It's a reference. But then it says, and every family in Israel will be apart in their mourning, husbands and wives apart. The house of David, the house of Nathan, the house of Levi, the house of the Shumites, all of them will be. Nobody can understand, they say. What does it all mean? I've never heard a sermon on it. Have you? I've never heard a sermon on it. I mean, most Christians are very clever at getting something out of these things, and sometimes it's very good. But I've never heard a sermon on this thing. Why? Because I don't think anybody understands it. This is a reference. This is a reference to jewish funeral or burial customs. When a person dies in a jewish home, from the moment they die, the whole of that family's life is turned inside out, upside down, becomes totally abnormal. For seven days, husbands and wives don't sleep in the same bed. You don't cut your hair, you don't cut your nails. You don't see on ordinary chairs. You sit on small stools, all kinds of things. I won't go into it all, but what it means is this, that for seven days, the whole of a family life is totally disrupted. Then for 30 days, you return a little to normal life, but it's still abnormal. And then after 30 days, you return a little more to normality. But still for one whole year to what is called the Yarizite is over. [00:42:06] You're still not completely normal. Now, doesn't this mean that this work of the spirit of the Lord. When this spirit of grace and supplication is poured upon the inhabitants, the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem? It's not in a moment. It's not in a day. It's over a period of time when the spirit of the Lord will begin to work in the most magnificent and marvelous ways. In doing something in the jewish heart. And bringing multitudes and multitudes and multitudes to know him well. My dear friends, that's how I understand Matthew 23 39. Those wonderful words of the Lord Jesus, so terrible looked at from one point of view. And so marvelous looked at from another point of view. Your house is left unto you desolate. [00:43:10] He'd never called the temple your house. He'd always called it my father's house. Now for the first time, just before he was betrayed, the day before he was crucified, he said, your house is left unto you desolate. You shall not see me henceforth. [00:43:32] How many christian preachers have stopped there. [00:43:36] Pontificating on the judgment of God upon the jewish people? [00:43:42] That the Lord did not stop there? [00:43:45] He said, your house is left unto you desolate. You shall not see me henceforth till you shall say, blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord. You know what it is in Hebrew, don't you? Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai. Now here is the wonderful thing that in modern Hebrew, Baruch haba means welcome. And if you want to be very religious, Baruch Ababashem Adonai means welcome in the name of the Lord. Something Jesus said. You're not going to see me again. Your house is left to you desolate. You will not see me again until a miraculous revolution takes place within your whole attitude toward me. And you yourselves will say, welcome in the name of the Lord. Surely this is Zechariah's prophecy. When the spirit of grace and supplication is poured upon the jewish people and multitudes and multitudes shall look unto him whom we pierce. [00:45:05] If that was the only other scripture in the New Testament, it would still be enough. [00:45:11] But, my dear friends, there are more. [00:45:16] Listen to this. In a chapter that you know I know so well. In Romans chapter eleven. And from verse twelve. Now, if, therefore, is the riches of the world and they're lost the riches of the gentiles how much more their fullness. So in the very same breath in which the apostle by the spirit of God speaks of the fall of the jewish people and the loss of the jewish people he speaks of their coming fullness. And then he goes on to explain it even more wonderfully. Now if the casting away of them is the reconciliation exiling of the world what will the receiving of them be but life from the dead? [00:46:04] What is this life from the dead? [00:46:07] What is this life from the dead? If the casting away by God of the jewish people resulted in all the gentiles coming into the salvation of God being reconciled, reconciled to God through the finished work of the Messiah Jesus what will the receiving of the jewish people be but abounding resurrection life and power through the person of the Holy Spirit? [00:46:35] In other words, as I see it, it's another Pentecost. Because what was Pentecost? Pentecost was the resurrection life and power of the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God being brought into 120 human beings on earth in the person of the Holy Spirit. [00:46:57] And then 3000 got saved. So there were 3120 and they all had a similar experience. And within a few weeks there were 5000 and within a few more weeks, 8000. And a great company of the Levites and the priests. [00:47:15] Oh, my dear friend, I was asked to speak on the spirit of the Lord in Israel. [00:47:25] Here is the future work of the Holy Spirit and Israel. Isn't this marvelous? Isn't it marvelous? How near are we to it? Well, I daren't predict. [00:47:39] But I must say this. Israel is back in place. [00:47:45] The whole world knows about it. [00:47:48] Jerusalem is a cup of reeling to our neighbors a burdensome stone to everybody including the United nations or anybody else who fiddles with it. [00:47:59] Judah is confused. [00:48:02] The nations are being gathered together against Jerusalem in increasing ferocity and power and almost unanimity. [00:48:10] So, my dear friends, it seems, I know that with the Lord a day it is a thousand years but it seems we must be much nearer to it than we were. [00:48:27] I suspect that it is the next really major development other than war. [00:48:39] Now, my dear friends, it's not that this word about life from the dead is just one off, a one off phrase. [00:48:49] Have you ever noticed the marvelous prophecy of Joel concerning Pentecost that Peter said on that day? Pentecost. This is that which the prophet Joel spoke about. [00:49:05] When you look at it in Joel, if you can find Joel, you will find in Joel. Chapter three. Now I'm taking it. You all know Joel. Chapter two. From and it shall come to pass in that day that I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh and all the rest of it, you know. And then it says, the sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood before that great and terrible day of the Lord come. [00:49:37] And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Chapter three, verse one. Remember, these chapters werent in the original. For behold, in those days and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. So apparently we are somewhere there where this marvelous word that was that began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost and has yet to see its final consummation. [00:50:15] We must be very near to it, in my estimation. Now, I might be wrong, but and since I'm being recorded and videoed, it'll all be a delight to those who will be able to tell me later how wrong I was. But I can't help feeling that we're very near to this thing. [00:50:34] Because when the Lord said he would pour out his spirit on all flesh, he then spoke about the sun and the moon and the stars and pillars of smoke or cloud or fire on the earth. [00:50:55] Well, that didn't get fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. The first part, yes, but not that. So apparently we have something in between. And is it possible that this consummation of Pentecost may be the receiving of the jewish people? [00:51:21] I don't know how to put it, really into words. I only know that the heart of God is so involved in this matter. He has had such problem with his jewish people. They have been so difficult all down through the years that I just cannot but believe that when finally it happens, the Lord himself will do a jig all round the halls of heaven, if you understand what I mean. And don't say, oh, that's very irreverent, because it's exactly what the prophet Zephaniah says. I will joy over you with shouts of joy. [00:52:01] It says, the Lord himself will do a dance, figuratively. [00:52:14] My dear friends, I think we could be very near to that. [00:52:24] Now. I want to say just a few words about the hidden work of the Holy Spirit. And finally, I want to say just a few words about the present work of the Holy Spirit. [00:52:37] There are those who believe certainly that there may be a future work of the Holy Spirit. But they don't believe there's been any hidden work of the Holy Spirit. But I want to tell you, I don't agree with many christian brethren and messianic, my messianic jewish brethren as well, who tell me that the spirit of the Lord been pretty well absent from jewish history from some 1900 or more years. I cannot accept that. When I have gone, studied jewish history, I found some of the prophecies of our old rabbis, going right back to the 6th and 7th and 8th century. When I read some of their descriptions of the Messiah, which I've never been able to understand, how they couldn't see Jesus, for they described him perfectly as the messiah who was coming. When I think of the old rabbi, who in Yemen in the 7th century, in the service in the synagogue, stood up and prophesied, there shall come a day when the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob will transport us all back to the promised land on the wings of a silver bird. It became legend in yemeni jury. And it was exactly fulfilled in 1947, when ancient Dakotas silver, in the first airlift ever of a whole community, airlifted the whole 43,000 yemeni Jews from the Yemen to Israel in the first of the modern aliyah. [00:54:19] My dear friends, and I think I know some christians are very much against Kabbalah and Kabbalism, and there is an occult side to it, but there is also in the Kabbalah, very much that was of God, as those rabbis in the inquisition, and under the terrible pressure of suffering, with people dying on all sides of them, considered and meditated on the word of God and saw things which to this day are being fulfilled. [00:54:53] I say this is the hidden work of the holy spirit. He never forsook our people. He never finally gave them up to suffering, they were given to hardness, they were given. To dispersion. They were given to exile. They were given to blindness. They were given. But the spirit of the Lord never left them. [00:55:24] There are those christians, including, I say, my dear messianic brethren, some of them who rant and rave about Kashrut, the Kashrut law, that is the kosher law, and about what they call talmudic practices. [00:55:37] But, my dear friends, I wanted to go on record that I thank God undisguisedly for the Kashrut law. And furthermore, I thank God undisguisedly for the talmudic form of the Kashrut law. Now, you say to me, now, just wait. Just wait. What are you talking about? This is not biblical. It has nothing to do with the word of God. I want to tell you that it was the spirit of the Lord who led those rabbis in between the third and the 6th century to evolve the Kashrut law in such a way that our people were kept separate and distinct through all the centuries. They would have assimilated. They would have disappeared entirely. But the Kashrut law and the talmudic interpretation of the Kashrut law, it kept the jewish people absolutely distinct and identifiable people all down through the years until the miracle of the return could take place. Now, whether you want to argue about cash root law, now, that's a different thing. But I'm just saying, when I hear some of my dear brethren pontificating on the Talmud and saying how dark it is and evil it is and all the rest of it, I just cannot go along with it. I say this was the hidden work of the Holy Spirit, keeping the jewish people defined, keeping them separate, keeping them distinct, keeping them, as it were, preserving them from assimilation right down through the years with the most glorious end in view, redemption. [00:57:25] Then someone will say to me, then, what will happen to all those Jews who have died in all those preceding years, who never found the Lord? [00:57:36] And I answer by saying, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? [00:57:44] Is the Lord less merciful than I or you? [00:57:55] I leave it with the Lord, how he will sort out all these problems. [00:58:01] I only know how the Lord has been gracious to me, and I only know how the Lord has been faithful to me, and I believe that he will never do wrong. [00:58:14] Now, my dear friends, that brings me to say there are some marvelous things in this hidden work of the Holy Spirit. I could go on all night, but of course you can't. But, I mean, I could go on all night talking about various scriptures. I could take something like this. Isaiah 60. [00:58:34] Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath believed such a thing? Shall a nation be born in a day? Shall a land be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. My dear friends, that happened on the 14 May 1948. In that one day, a state was born. In that day, a nation took its place in the the register of sovereign nations, of the earth. Its name was Israel. [00:59:05] I could explain to you how I see that word. For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. She had not travailed for many, many centuries, because we'd been taught to accept the exile until suddenly in the last century, with the arrival of a man called Theodor Herzl and a few others. Some religious rabbis. Zvi, Rabbi Kalisha and Rabbi Alkali, these men began to stir up everything. [00:59:37] But I won't go into all that. Some of you know anyway, much about it, but the fact of the matter is, who fulfilled this? [00:59:46] Who fulfilled it? Who manipulated the circumstances? Circumstances, who brought about the situation? [00:59:56] Who made the soviet union from voting against it? Vote for it, so that there was a two thirds majority resolution recognizing the right of the jewish people to sovereignty. [01:00:13] My dear friends, I say it is the Holy spirit, or I take another wonderful word. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. If we see this literally in this great. In gathering of jewish people from every corner of the earth, north, south, east and west, who has done it? [01:00:39] There has never in the whole history of mankind been such an amazing example of people being drawn from the ends of the earth back to a territory that they were first dispersed from only Israel twice in her history, once from Babylon, and secondly from the ends of the earth. Who did it? [01:01:06] Or I think of another marvelous word of Ezekiel. And you, o mountains of Israel, you shall shoot for forth branches for my people. For Israel, my people, Israel that are about to come. [01:01:21] What an extraordinary phrase. And you owe mountains of Israel to shoot forth branches. I mean, when you consider that every single pilgrim to the holy land spoke of its aridity, of its erosion, of its waterless wastes, of its swampland, of its treelessness. [01:01:40] Mark Twain says he traveled a whole day in daylight, from sunrise to sunset, and never saw a tree. [01:01:48] Could he be describing the land I live in? [01:01:53] I don't doubt that they were accurate. But, my dear friends, there are miles and miles and miles of forest, mountains that shoot for branches. I can take you just a few minutes from my home to great forests that look like southern Germany or parts of Austria. [01:02:15] Who did this? [01:02:18] Oh, you see. Well, you see, it was the British. They started a mandatory reforestation scheme. It is perfectly right. And you say to me and Juno that scientists say that when they started the reafforestation in 1922, the latter rains came back. Because, you see, it was associated with the trees. They created mist and cloud, and that in turn brought rain. Oh, I wonder who put it into the heads of the british mandatory authorities to do this thing. [01:02:54] They're not always so clever. [01:03:00] No, my dear friends, it is the spirit of the Lord watching over his word to perform it so I could go on and on and on. [01:03:14] When I think of Zionism itself, when I think of Theodor Herzl, an agnostic, an assimilated Jewish from a middle class banking family. And when I read in his journal, when he was so utterly disillusioned by the trial of Alfred Dreyfus and the corruption that was in it and the wickedness of the verdict, that he went out into the Tuileries gardens in Paris, and walking up and down, he wrote in his journal that night, it was as if heaven opened and I saw a vision of a recreated jewish state. [01:03:57] From that moment, he gave all his energies, all his time, all his life. And it was a short one to the formation of that state, my dear friends, who gave him the vision in a moment of supreme disillusionment. I think of Eliezer Bernie Khuta. [01:04:22] I think of him walking in Paris, in the Sorbonne, another agnostic. [01:04:28] And then he says, it was like a trumpet in my ear, a trumpet in his ear. This is an agnostic speaking. It was like a trumpet in my ear, saying, the renaissance of the jewish people upon their own and ancestral soil, speaking their own mother tongue, Hebrew. [01:04:48] And he gave himself for the rest of his life, a one man crusade to the recreation of an ancient language which had not been spoken for 1700 years. It had been, of course, horribly spoken in the liturgy of the Ashkenazi synagogues. But it was not the Hebrew that was spoken in old time. [01:05:19] You have no example anywhere in world history of a language that ceased to be spoken for 1700 years as the language of a home, the language of the street, the language of the market suddenly being recreated. Who spoke into the ear of Eliezer ben Yegoda when he was an old man? I knew both his daughters, Dawla and Ada. [01:05:47] They told me that when he was an old man, he sat in the great synagogue destroyed by the Jordanians in 1947, in the jewish quarter of Jerusalem in 1922, with tears running down his face as he heard the chief Ashkenazi Rabbi proclaiming officially that the longest exile in jewish history was terminated. [01:06:12] And he heard it in the melodious sephardi pronunciation of a recreated Hebrew. [01:06:24] Who did it? [01:06:27] I say, this is the spirit of the Lord. I think of David ben Gurion, who always said he was agnostic. He didn't know whether there was a God or not, but he thought there was. He said, a great student of his Bible, and he said one day, he is not a realist who does not believe in miracles. [01:06:52] I remember the time I was with the mayor of Ashkelon, and he was showing me around the town, and we went to the little square in Afridan, there in the rock inscribed in Hebrew with the words of Zephaniah the prophet. And they in the evening, the remnant of the house of Judah shall lie down in the houses of Ashkelon when I restore their captivity, says the Lord. [01:07:19] He read it out to me and I said to him, do you believe it? [01:07:25] Because I knew he was responsible for it being put there. He said, no, no, he said, in a very embarrassed way, I don't really believe it at all, I don't believe in God. He said, but then I said, why did you put it there? Well, he said, it is rather remarkable, isn't it? [01:07:46] Oh, my dear friends, I think of David Ben Gurion in 1948, couldn't decide on what should be the national emblem of Israel. There were a whole lot of ideas he had as to what should be the national emblem. He didn't know what it was. And finally, now listen to this carefully. Finally he decided he would take the words of Zechariah the prophet in chapter four, not by might, no. Do you remember now? He didnt take the words. What he did was he took the menorah and he put on either side the two olive branches. [01:08:29] Have you got it? [01:08:31] He was going to choose the lion, the lion of Judah. But then he thought, no, we will take the menorah because the menorah includes everyone, not just Judah, and we will take the two olive branches on either side. Now, there is a very ancient jewish tradition that when Zechariah had that vision and saw the menorah with the two olive branches in the flame of the seven lamps, he saw one hebrew word which in English is many more, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. And this became the emblem of the recreated jewish state. And without even realizing it, they had chosen as an emblem that with the inference, not by my, not, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. But now I must finish, I always say this every year, as you know, thats the past work of the Holy Spirit, thats the hidden work of the Holy Spirit. [01:09:47] I think were seeing it now I want to just say a few words about the present work of the Holy Spirit. [01:09:57] All over the world, Jews are finding the Lord Jesus. [01:10:06] I don't want to pour cold water on anything that what you want to do, but all I want to say is this. [01:10:14] I believe that if people prayed five times more than they worked, you might see some more results. [01:10:25] Jewish work has been in my estimation, plagued by a form of legalism. You've got to shove new Testaments into people's hands. You've got to plaster them with pamphlets. You've got to shove books into their hands. Now, we heard this afternoon the story of the way it all ought to happen, because God has to work each one. It was God who blinded our people. [01:10:54] You cant unblind them, not until the Lord wills it. [01:11:00] God hardened them. You cant melt that hardening. Not until the Lord wills it. My dear friends, we have to walk so senseless with the Lord in this way. [01:11:14] I do wish we could see this. All over the world, people, jewish people, are coming to the Lord Jesus, and for the most part, they are coming by direct revelation. [01:11:27] I could keep you here for hours, but I'm bound to silence because all the stories I know, I cannot tell. [01:11:37] I wish I could tell you them. They are so exciting, some of them people high up in diaspora who found the Lord staying within the synagogue, now coming out. I have two rabbis that come regularly to my home, both of them still rabbis, both one of them leader of yeshiva, both of them know the Lord. [01:12:03] Long curls, stockings and all the rest of it. I once took my life in my hand because they're my rabbis. I mean, they're the ones that come in and do everything. You know, when they saw the Christmas tree, they blessed it, sort of thing. [01:12:19] Pardon that, but I mean, you know what I mean. They advise us on everything, but, you know, it's the most amazing thing. I once took my life in my hands. I said, don't you. Dont you ever get told by those who know that you believe in Jesus, that you should let go of all that uniform and so on? Yes, they said, but whats the point? [01:12:37] What shall we join? [01:12:40] We let go of it. What shall we join? Wouldnt it be better for us to stay where we are until the Lord does the work in the house of Israel? And then when the Lord does the work, were there and ready. [01:12:51] I say, that is, is the spirit of the Lord at work? [01:12:58] By dream, by vision, by direct revelation? [01:13:03] Dear people of God, this is the challenge. The Lord is at work already, it seems to me, the first drops of that great downpour that's coming. Then he pours the spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. We've already seen the first drops of the coming thunderstorm. [01:13:33] Monsoon. [01:13:36] It's coming. [01:13:37] It's coming. [01:13:40] My dear friends, that is the present work of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord help us not to get in his way. [01:13:47] There are so many people, they want to be in on this kind of thing. They say, oh, I must be in on this. I want to be a channel by which many jewish people find the Lord. I want, my dear friends, first learn to walk with the Lord. [01:14:04] You've got to learn to be so sensitive in this matter. [01:14:07] God give you a heart burden for intercession, and once you become an intercessor, you will become sensitive. [01:14:20] No true intercessor I have ever known has not been sensitive. [01:14:28] So may the Lord help you in this marvelous work that he is doing. [01:14:36] We need a heart burden like the apostle had my heart's desire. My burden is for Israel that she might be saved. When it's in the heart, it's safe. [01:14:51] When it's in the head, it's a problem. [01:14:57] So, my dear friends, here then, is the challenge of this present work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is at work. And I believe that Israel needs intercessors more than she has ever needed them in the past 43 years. [01:15:15] We are now facing a situation so grave and so dire and so dangerous, only the Lord can bring us through. We need those who will pray for Israel. Those who will pray Israel through. There will be times when youll have to pray for economic things, for political things, for military things, for moral issues, because otherwise the enemy will see to it that there is no Israel to be saved. [01:15:42] She will be incinerated. She will be gassed. She will not be there for the last miracle. [01:15:52] Thats why youre called to prayer. May the Lord help you. May I end where I began. [01:16:00] Everything in the divine program is, at present, on time. [01:16:07] But now I want to ask you a question. [01:16:10] Are you on time? [01:16:17] Are you on time? [01:16:19] Are you hearing what the Lord is saying? [01:16:22] Are you walking in step with the Lord? [01:16:26] Are you on time with the Lord? [01:16:32] That seems to me to be the challenge, the spirit of the Lord and Israel. I don't know what this year holds for us. Things are moving so fast now that it's hard to keep up with them. I said to you last year, if I'd been a real prophet, I should have said to you, and within a month or two, something is going to happen in Poland, and it will go from Poland to Hungary, and from Hungary to Bulgaria, from Bulgaria. Wouldn't it have been lovely? I would have been so big headed this year? I would have come back and said to you all, I hope you heard my word last year, or I might have been a little more humble and not put it quite that way. But I would have said, as we were saying last year, my dear friends, we don't know what this year holds, except that everything is speeding up. [01:17:30] Things are happening fast in the same unbelievably sudden and speedy manner in which the whole of eastern Europe broke free from a yoke that had kept it in an enchained for over 40, 50 years. [01:17:50] So this work for the redemption of the house of Israel could begin suddenly, within jewish circle, our great Messiah will put all the Egyptians out of the house. [01:18:06] And somewhere in some yeshiva, in some synagogue, in some corner of jewry, perhaps somewhere in Israel, he will reveal himself. [01:18:20] I am Jesus, your messiah, whom you rejected. [01:18:31] And in that day, there will be a reconciliation and a marvelous melting of the hardening of impart thats befallen Israel and a turning of the blindness into radiant sight. [01:18:48] And then there will be 10,000. Helen Shapiros.