“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief
                   and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another
                   place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet
                   who knows whether you have come to the kingdom
                   for such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14

The story of Purim, which records the deliverance of the Jews, from certain genocide, by Esther is an interesting one indeed. We of course have this record preserved for us in that book of the Bible that goes by Esther’s name. Given that the festival of Purim has just been celebrated by the Jewish world it is worthwhile to meditate on a few things concerning this story.

Some things are unaltered.

As it was in Esther’s time, the hatred of Jews and Israel continues as an evil phenomenon. The Festival of Purim is taken from the word Pur which actually can be interpreted as, those who cast lots (vote for) the destruction of the Jews. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discern that this evil desire has not gone away. In one sense Haman lives on today.

Just think of the following:
There has been in one year a 34% rise in anti-Semitism in the UK alone. The Jews of France, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands are constantly being subjected to anti-Semitic attacks of one type or another and then in recent weeks the Jewish community of America has been consistently targeted by anti-Semites who have desecrated Jewish grave yards and community buildings and have consistently threatened their schools with bomb attacks. Israel, the “collective Jew”, exists under the constant threat of attack from the north, south and east. All of this just seventy-five years after the Holocaust.

Some things are unusual.
Esther was the Queen of a Gentile Media-Persian King, the truth is she had held her Jewish identity a well kept secret. It also means that to a great degree she had assimilated, and thus in every way she had lived like a Gentile. How else can one explain the fact that not even the King knew of or suspected her Jewish identity and yet God had planted her at the very heart of the kingdom? The God we serve does unusual things in terms of His protection of Israel and the Jewish people. Even now He has Esthers planted in the right places of power and prestige in order to save His people. Joseph is another example of this; he dressed as an Egyptian, worked as an Egyptian and even looked like an Egyptian but he was a Jew sent before his people to save them from starvation and extermination. This is indeed unusual. Ruth, a Gentile woman, is another example of this and she gave hope to Naomi, saved her from poverty and shame and then took her place in David’s lineage.

Some things are unexpected.
Mordecai said to Esther, “…you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” Most Christians understand this coming to the kingdom as referring to the kingdom of God. This is not true and is a violation of the context. The “kingdom” to which Esther came was the pagan kingdom of the Media-Persian empire. In other words she had been cunningly placed by God, Who in fact is not referred to at all in the book, in the heart of this pagan empire so as to use her influence in it to save her people.

In like manner, we all have a sphere of influence in the world and we must use it to defend Israel and the Jews and in fact to proclaim the Gospel. Our ” kingdom” is our place of influence in an ungodly world.

Some things are undecided.
Giving verbal support to these things is not good enough and thus it remains undecided whether we will arise like Esther and use our position in the world to defend the purpose of God and even risk our lives for the Church and the Jewish people. There comes a time when having meetings and even praying is not enough to please God, we have to act. The book of Esther is about action and this is why God is not mentioned in the book but His purpose is clear and it needs defending!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the now famous Lutheran Priest, fled Germany just before the Second World War as he wished to escape from the tyranny of Hitler’s Reich. He thus went to New York. One day, as he stood gazing at the Hudson River, he heard the voice of God say to him, “Who are you and what are you doing here.” In short, God was saying to him, “What are you made of and why have you abandoned your sphere of influence?” Consequently he went back to Germany and in his ministry stood up against Nazism. He embraced his sphere of influence that he had abandoned and eventually gave his life for it as the Nazis hanged him just before the war ended. The lesson is, as it was with Esther, will we decide to take the challenge and embrace our world of influence? Mordecai knew, when he spoke to Esther, that the issue was undecided and therefore he told her that if she didn’t rise to the challenge someone else would. This challenge applies to you and me today and the outcome remains undecided!

Malcolm Hedding

“For behold, I create new heavens and a

new earth; and the former shall not be

remembered or come to mind. But be

glad and rejoice forever in what I create;

for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing,

and her people a joy.”

Isaiah 65:17-18

The world we presently live in has been subjected to futility and consequently decay and death are everywhere evident (Romans 8:18-22). Even we are “trapped” by physical death that, while having no sting because of what Jesus did for us, nevertheless still holds a certain foreboding in all of us. Then there is the raging of the ungodly that brings misery, sorrow, destruction, persecution and war to our earthly experience. This should not be because a lonely cross set on a hill in Jerusalem defeated these things 2000 years ago but it remains ignored and even mocked and so the rot continues.

The good news is that God is going to make all things new again! This is His promise and indeed it is required because of what Jesus did; the cosmos must be set in order (Ephesians 1:9-10). A “new creation family” must have a new world to live in and in this world they will shine like the sun (Daniel 12:3; Matthew 13:43). So, the final two chapters of the book of Revelation tell us about the coming:

New World Order (Revelation 21:5)

For those who overcome there will be a new order that is truly beyond description. It will be the inheritance of those who have embraced Jesus as Lord and who, in their lives on the present earth, have honored God with transformed lives and deeds of righteousness in the face of great and overwhelming challenges (Revelation 19:8). They have “overcome” this evil age and have become what God wanted them to be by the power of the cross (Galatians 1:3-4).

This new order will be characterized by:

1. A new heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21:1)

The beauty and glory of this coming creation will be amazing because it will not be retarded by the principles of death and decay. These will be things of the past.

2. A new city (Revelation 21:2)

The great Patriarchs of our faith went out in pursuit of God because they were given a glimpse of the City of God (Hebrews 11:10; 13:14). Indeed, like them we too abandon the “attraction of the earthly city” because God has something better for us. The eternal City of God will be 1500 miles wide, long and high; its glories are indescribable but John does give us a description of them (Revelation 21:10-21).

This city will have Jewish under-pinnings thereby eternally memorializing the particular role that Israel has played out for the redemption of the world (Revelation 21:12-14) Jesus recognized this when He said, “Salvation is of the Jews”(John 4:22).

3. A new relationship (Revelation 21:3-4)

God Himself will be visible and amongst His people and He will personally remove the “former things” from them. What a glorious day this is going to be! This embodiment of the divine presence will find its full expression in the person of Jesus. The passage tells us that He:

• Will be the joy of the city (Revelation 21:9)
• Will be the desire of the city (Revelation 21:22)
• Will be the light of the city (Revelation 21:23)
• Will be the door to the city (Revelation 21:27)
• Will be the life of the city (Revelation 22:1)
• Will be the King of the city (Revelation 22:3)

4. What is absent? (Revelation 21:8; 22:15)

This list is challenging because it tells us that those who:

• Worship themselves or things other than God
• Reject the sexual boundaries created by God
• Practice the occult in rebellion against God
• Habitually lie and contradict the character of God…and,
• Take life and thereby dishonor the image of God……………

Will go to hell! They will find themselves “in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

The abiding expectation and longing that God’s new people have is for the coming of Jesus. We should constantly hold this before our spiritual eyes as it is certain and it constitutes a blessed hope that will keep us true to our confession of faith in Him. “Behold, Jesus says, “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:7, 12,16, 20)

“Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Malcolm Hedding

“Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s

           house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation;

           I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a bless-

           ing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who

           curses you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1-3

“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him,

           ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are-

          northward, southward, eastward and westward; for all the which

          you see I will give to your descendants (seeds) forever.”

Genesis 13:14-15

“In your seed (singular) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

           because you have obeyed my voice.”

Genesis 22:18

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does

           not say, ‘And to seeds’, as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your seed”,

          who is Christ.”

Galatians 3:16

“For if the inheritance is of law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave

           it to Abraham by promise.”

Galatians 3:18

“And this I say, that the law, which was given four hundred and thirty

           years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before God

           in Christ.”

Galatians 3:17

“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear

           by no one greater, He swore by Himself…………Thus God, determining

           to show more abundantly to the heirs (seeds) of promise the immuta-

           bility of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable

           things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong

           consolation, who have fled for refuge  to lay hold of the hope set before

           us.”

Hebrews 6:13,17-18

Recently, in response to one of my weekly devotionals, an individual claiming to be Christian accused me of deception, of misleading the people of God and warned me that Jesus was going to judge me for these things. He thus presented himself, very proudly I might add, as my prosecutor, judge and jury. He pressed the case, judged the case and gave his verdict. For him the modern state of Israel is an accident of history, is antichrist and guilty of apartheid.

He states these things as a Christian and all because at the root of it all he subscribes to Replacement Theology which considers the Abrahamic Covenant to be either abolished or adjusted. The result of this re-arrangement of the Abrahamic Covenant is that the modern day restoration of Israel enjoys no biblical significance. It is, as I stated above, a mere accident of history and indeed an immoral one. But is this true? Of course not as it is all based on the false exegesis of scripture.

The passage of scripture this person used to bolster his claims was that found in Galatians 3 where Paul, commenting on the covenant that God made with Abraham, stated that the promises of God were not made to many but to one proved by the use of the word seed as in singular (one person) and not seed in the use of many. So, for this person this proves that the covenant has now been adjusted or indeed abolished as it is all fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Jews therefore no longer have a claim then to the land of Canaan.

The truth is, Paul is not here adjusting anything and he is certainly not addressing the land issue of the Abrahamic Covenant at all. Actually he is addressing the contentious issue that arose in his time between law and grace. That is, are we saved by the keeping the law or by the grace of God brought to us by virtue of Christ’s death on the cross?  This is the only context of the passage in question. He is in fact just stating what the Abrahamic Covenant stated in its original form and thereby demonstrating that the covenant in its original form promised that salvation would come through the nation of Israel in the form of a seed, a single seed. It will be by this seed that all peoples, Jew or Gentile, would be saved. This promise Paul says was given 430 years before God gave the law to Moses and he then reinforces the immutability of the Abrahamic Covenant by staying that it can never be annulled in its original form. In other words the law of Moses has not replaced it.

It is this Covenant that not only promises the coming of a “Seed Savior” but which also bequeaths the land of Israel to the Jewish people (the seeds as in plural) as an everlasting possession and which promises a blessing and a curse depending on how people or nations respond to it. It is one Covenant with a number of components and Paul is only appealing to one of these components to prove his point; namely that salvation will not come to the world by the keeping of the law but in fact by exercising faith in the redemptive work of the “Seed”. The subject of Galatians 3 is that only of law and grace and Paul’s punch line is, “The law is our teacher to bring us to Christ” (3:24) since by hanging on a tree He became a curse for us. The law Is not not our savior but the way to the Savior (the seed) as it convicts us of our sin (Romans:3:20).

Here Paul is actually upholding the veracity of the Abrahamic Covenant not disavowing it. Hebrews 6 asserts that God will remain faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant because it is ratified by His word and character, two immutable things by which it is impossible for God to lie. My detractor is indeed challenging God’s immutability and thereby accusing Him of lying. For him God is actually not faithful to His covenant with Abraham and therefore does mean what He says!

The Abrahamic Covenant is both conditional and unconditional in that it was conditional only upon Abraham’s obedience. Genesis 22, dealing with the “binding of Isaac”, demonstrated Abraham’s faithfulness and obedience to God resulting in the promise that a “seed” would come through the nation (the seeds) who would bless the world with salvation. There is no adjustment here to any part of the Covenant as this promise is made in its original form and therefore it is a part of the whole. This “whole” vouches for the fact that the land of Canaan is the everlasting possession of the Jewish people. The Covenant, according to Paul, will never be annulled, not in whole or in part, and therefore the modern day restoration of Israel to the land of Canaan is evidence of God’s faithfulness to it. Just as Israel’s restoration to the land after the Babylonian exile also was.

This is no different to a binding contract made today in that these have many clauses or components to them and sometimes one or two of these have to be defended to ensure compliance with the whole contract. Paul in Galatians 3 is doing only and just that, nothing and more and nothing less.

This is the truth of God’s word and it is the truth that many of God’s great servants believed on and acted upon including the first century church leaders, John and Charles Wesley, the Puritans, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Bishop Ryle of Liverpool, Derek Prince, Jack Hayford, Franklin Graham and presently the world’s greatest expositor of the Bible, David Pawson. This is just a very small selection of well known and proven teachers of God’s holy word who support the biblical position I have set forth above. I will be most happy, as my detractor has asserted, to be scrutinized with the Wesleys and Charles Spurgeon on that great day when Jesus comes again.

As a biblical Christian Zionist I want to encourage all of you not to be deterred by those who assert that God has no destiny for the Jewish people in the land of Canaan. They are wrong and will be proved to be wrong as they have no biblical grounds for their assertions. Least of all any support for them from Galatians 3. Finally, the Bible teaches that when the Messiah comes again in great power and glory to the Mount of Olives He will do so to defend His people Israel and a Jewish Jerusalem. I pray, please tell me why He would defend, what some assert to be, a political accident!

Most of all dear friends, God’s faithfulness to every part of the Abrahamic Covenant is held up before us by the writer of the book of Hebrews as undeniable proof that the God of the Bible does keep His promises and especially all those made to us in the New Covenant. You can trust His word because He does not lie!

Malcolm Hedding

Jerusalem, by its very name, is the city of peace precisely because the city is an imperfect replica of a heavenly one; which scripture terms as, “The Jerusalem Above” (Galatians 4:26). This heavenly city will be the eternal home of the redeemed of all ages and but the present earthly Jerusalem is the “gateway” by the cross to that perfect heavenly and eternal abode. Singular and crucial to this story of epic proportions are the Jewish people who have been designated by God to be the custodians of these treasured truths! (Romans 3:1-2)

1. The Eternal Purpose of God
   

This may be defined as: That divine initiative to gather a holy family from all the peoples of the earth by which the heart of God will be rejoiced and the purpose of God through the ages will be fulfilled. This truth is reflected in Paul’s second letter to Timothy when he writes:

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our

                         Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the

                         sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

                         Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not

                         according to our works, but according to his own

                         purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus

                         before time began.” 2 Timothy 1:8-9

To achieve this divine initiative the God of the bible made a remarkable choice.

2. The Amazing Choice of God

• Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). God called this unique gentile into a special relationship with Himself. This would be for the saving of the world.

• Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Acts 3:13). The patriarchal structure of Israel reflects the eternal purpose of God. That is, He is a God of promise or covenant (Braham), a God of atonement or sacrifice (Isaac) and a God of change or transformation (Jacob).

• Abraham’s Covenant that is eternal, unchanging and guaranteed by the immutability of God Himself. (Hebrews 6:13-18). This means that in all aspects, including that of the land of Canaan nothing will ever change. God Himself declares that He is the Lord and He does not change. Numbers twenty-three and verse nineteen states, “God is not a man, that He should lie…”

• Abraham’s children; the vehicle of world redemption. (John 4:22; Romans 3:1-2; Romans 9:1-5) Everything we have as Christians is Jewish, even our Messiah.

3. The grave warning of God

 “Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with

  fury, a continuing whirlwind; it will fall violently

  on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the

  Lord will not return until He has done it, and until

  He has performed the intents of His heart. In the

  latter days you will consider it.” Jeremiah 30:23-24

The construction of the Bible is such that it begins with an emphasis on the serious consequences of sin and rebellion against God. The heart of man has become “desperately sick and wicked above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9) and deserves nothing less than the thundering of God’s anger and wrath (Hebrews 12:18-21). We downplay our depravity to our spiritual loss! (Hebrews 10:26-31) This is especially true because God has determined in Christ to reach out to us and save us from our sins. He did this through the Jewish people and their eternal city Jerusalem! In short, by Jesus’ death in Jerusalem we are “saved from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Moreover, since Israel has been the means by which God has brought His love and gift of eternal life to us our dealings with her and with her eternal city will determine whether we are blessed or cursed (Genesis 12:3).  This is no small matter and we “laugh it off” to our peril. Balaam, who set out to curse Israel, was restrained by the Holy Spirit and instead declared, “Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you” (Numbers 24: 9) This applies to the Church and to the nations of the world. We have been, a long time ago, warned of this:

“And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem

                        a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave

                        it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of

                        the earth are gathered against it.” Zechariah 12:3

                        “For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; though I

                         make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered

                         you….” Jeremiah 30:11

It is interesting that we are presently witnessing a concerted effort by the world community to wrest Jerusalem from Israeli control. This warning is clear; in doing so they will rupture themselves!

4. The Final Battle of God

 “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil

 will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the

 nations against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the

 houses rifled and the women ravished. Half of the city

 shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people

 shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will

 go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in

 the day of battle. And in that day his feet will stand on

 the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.”

                                                Zechariah 14:1-4

The final and great battle of world history will be over the great city of Jerusalem. The “powers” of evil, both seen and unseen, will increasingly seek to dismantle Israel and disinvest her of her Capital, Jerusalem. In doing this they are, as they have always done throughout history, attempting to frustrate and liquidate the purpose of God on the earth. A Jewish Jerusalem is the platform, and thus the destination, of Jesus’ return to the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  All the scriptures pertaining to the visible second coming of Christ portray Him as returning to a Jewish controlled Jerusalem.  In fact Jesus comes to defend His people living there! (Zechariah 12:8) This amazing day will be and is being resisted by all the powers of darkness and so we have to choose on what side of this battle we are going to stand? Will we risk persecution, demonic resistance and unpopularity and side with Israel or will we side with the Devil and his hordes, the Bible calls them the “sons of tumult.” (Numbers 24:17)

To be honest this great day of the battle for Jerusalem has already begun. It has accelerated and escalated in recent weeks by the UNESCO decision to designate Jerusalem “Islamic”, by resolution 2334 at the UN that seeks to remove Jerusalem from Israeli sovereignty and now by the “Paris Conference” that sought to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. In short Israel is on a collision course with the world but the world is on a collision course with Jesus! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Malcolm Hedding

Of late I have been spoken to and touched by a wonderful verse from scripture. These words have made me think, meditate and consider my response to them. I therefore share this verse with you in the hope that it will do the same for you. I sum it up as:

The Desire of God

“Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of
Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord- for wheat
and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and
the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden,
and they shall sorrow no more at all.” Jeremiah 31:12

In its immediate context this verse is referring to a glorious day of redemption that is coming to Zion. The chapter tells us that it will spring forth because God will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and by it they will come to have a personal knowledge of God Himself (Jeremiah 31:31-34). So, clearly the verse in context is teaching us about the blessings of being redeemed in Christ Jesus by virtue of His finished work on the cross. In this regard, it therefore applies to us; a fact that Paul confirms in his Roman letter when he writes that Jesus was sent to confirm the promises that God had made to Israel and to save us Gentiles by God’s mercy and grace. (Romans 15:8-9)

What caught my attention is the fact that God, by His goodness, gives His flock three things:
1. Wheat
2. New Wine…. and,
3. Oil
Wheat is a symbol of God’s precious Word; it is the very bread of life and God has given it to us. The blessedness of the Bible is beyond our ability to appreciate and we should always remember this. It is a veritable treasure that can transform our lives if received properly (James 1:21) As far as Paul is concerned the Word of God is to be “rightly divided” (2 Timothy 2:15) and held in reverence (respect) because it is fully inspired (2 Timothy 3:16). The challenge from heaven is to so take hold of the pages of this book that you begin to live it as a walking picture of it! (2 Corinthians 3:1-3) We must be “living epistles’ being read by all men. I fear that not too many of us have embraced “the wheat of God” in this way.

New Wine is a symbol of a life that is filled with the very purpose of God. We can so easily get caught in a form of devotion and practice that is formal and routine. God wants us to have “New Wine.” That is, something fresh, joyful and infectious. This means that our Christian walk is attractive and thereby elicits questions from those who do not know Christ. Jesus spoke of this when He called our attention to the principle of “new wine” which essentially challenges status quo Christianity. In fact, the “new wine Christian” has to very often seek new fields of witness and practice as the old formal expression of following Christ cannot cope with it! (Matthew 9:16-17) Only a living relationship with Jesus will impart this new wine to us.

Oil, as we all well know is a picture of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is this that sets us apart as Christians. That is, we are anointed ones just as Jesus was the Anointed One or Christ! Paul exhorts us to be filled with the Spirit and thereby baptized into a world of the supernatural. (Ephesians 5:18) We are to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), give expression to manifestations of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7), and we are to build ourselves up by praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20). Jesus warned that when He comes again He might not find His people filled with His “oil.” (Matthew 25:1-13) We should take this very seriously!

Now then all this brings us to the most important part of all of this. That is, our text says that as a consequence our souls, “shall be like a well-watered garden.” This is truly a wonderful picture of spiritual health. I am an enthusiastic gardener and recently my garden was designated “The Garden of The Quarter” by the Trustees of our sub-division. This is not to brag but rather to say that I know something about a well-watered garden in that, if is well irrigated, properly prepared and then ready to be watered, it will spring into life with a beauty that is truly therapeutic. The result is one of freshness, beauty and enjoyment. There is nothing better. Now hear this, God wants our souls to be well-watered gardens and this will only take place when we ensure that our lives are being nourished by wheat, new wine and oil. Moreover, it is God Himself that delights in the well-watered garden of our souls for He visits “our garden” and rejoices in its beauty and fragrance:

“Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon
my garden, that its species may flow out. Let my beloved
come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.” Song of Solomon 4:16

If then you have any desire for the days that are ahead let this desire be to embrace the desire of God. Let the breath of Christ blow upon the well-watered garden of your soul. You cannot aspire to anything better.

Malcolm Hedding