Marek Piwnicki via Unsplash
Mark Huey delivers the August 2021 Outreach Israel News update.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!” (John 8:32).
Once again, this month, upon surveying the landscape of current world affairs, we are witnessing how the trials and tribulations of life are on panoramic display. In many regards, while still viewing life through a “glass darkly” (KJV) or a “mirror dimly” (TLV), attempting to precisely interpret all that is happening at any one point in time is impossible. The stark realization that finite human beings are unable to fathom the unknowable is humbling, until the veil of unbelief is removed, and the light of truth revealed:
“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Ruach ADONAI is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory—just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18, TLV).
Thankfully, at his Damacus Road encounter with the Messiah, the Apostle Paul was commissioned by Yeshua to take the good news to the world at large, “to open their eyes” so that people would turn from darkness to light, be forgiven, and made holy through belief in His sacrificial atonement for sins:
“I will rescue you from your own people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes—so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive release from sins as well as a place among those who are made holy through trusting in Me” (Acts 26:17-18, TLV).
The record of the Scriptures is that Paul took his assignment seriously, and continually offered up prayers for the people he ministered to:
“I never stop giving thanks for you as I mention you in my prayers—that the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, our glorious Father, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in knowing Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what is the richness of His glorious inheritance in the kedoshim [holy ones]” (Ephesians 1:16-18, TLV).
Additionally, the Lord used Paul to convey many spiritual truths through his letters, which instruct and affirm his understanding of God’s ways. When he communicates the essence of unconditional love to the saints in Corinth, there is a reminder that even mature Believers view life with corporeal restrictions, which impede precise visible understanding. In other words, even when the veil has been lifted and the eyes open to the spiritual world, visions are dimly lit and subject to a variety of interpretations:
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I own and if I hand over my body so I might boast but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not brag, it is not puffed up, it does not behave inappropriately, it does not seek its own way, it is not provoked, it keeps no account of wrong, it does not rejoice over injustice but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Love never fails—but where there are prophecies, they will pass away; where there are tongues, they will cease; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. But now these three remain—faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13, TLV).
This often-quoted Scripture at weddings is not exclusively for newlyweds. But is perhaps a confessional statement that reflects the Apostle’s acknowledgement that, despite his profound grasp of the Word of God and unique anointing and calling, he was humanly limited in his comprehension of all that was transpiring in his era on the planet. Due to those limitations, he rightfully concluded that when all is said and done, a Believer’s most critical responsibility is to extend God’s unconditional love received to all others. After all, there is nothing more intoxicating than receiving the unmerited forgiveness and love of God by His beloved mortal representatives on Earth!
In a like manner, it is incumbent upon the faithful today to take this profound and insightful instruction to heart, even though it has some challenges because of our inherent nature, clouded and sometimes veiled perspectives. This dilemma has become abundantly clear to me, while prayerfully trying to be like “the sons of Issachar—men who know how to interpret the signs of the times to determine what Israel should do—200 chiefs with all their kinsmen under their command” (1 Chronicles 12:32, TLV). For most assuredly, “God is love” (1 John 4:8), but He is also the Almighty One, who executes righteous judgment over His created order: “God will bring every deed into judgment, including everything that is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14, TLV). Of course, His judgment will be beyond reproach and absolutely just, “You are to do no injustice in judgment. You are not to be partial toward the poor nor show favoritism toward the great, but you are to judge your neighbor with fairness” (Leviticus 19:15, TLV), “Do not judge by appearance, but judge righteously” (John 7:24, TLV).
Nonetheless, because the desire to comprehend what is happening in the here and now—to prepare for future events that may or may not impact our lives and the lives of our loved ones—glimpses, or perhaps “prophecies in part,” are occasionally revealed to supplications answered by the Spirit of God. Such was the case for me back in April of this year, when envisioning a “pregnancy of truths” coming to the surface following an electoral impregnation in November 2020, after nearly a year of battling an invisible virus with deadly consequences. The facts of the matters were finally being exposed by diligent souls tasked with and positioned to share their findings. It was a much slower process than many wanted, like waiting for a child’s arrival from the womb, but the inevitable evidence of malfeasance on both fronts was being revealed. This caused much consternation! But as the ancient adage goes, “The mills of justice move slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.”
However, because the Holy One is ultimately in control of timing for His Divine purposes, we can faithfully hope it will be sooner than later. In my analogy to a pregnancy, as the womb continues to expand and the visible evidence of carrying a child comes forth, the eventual contractions and birth pangs of movement occur toward the delivery date. Hence, it is possible that the birth of revelation will take place in August or September, some nine plus months after the conception. But things will not take place without some serious cultural pangs, that could create considerable turmoil in the American society, already reeling from other severe symptoms of misguided maladies fomenting multiple existential constitutional crises.
Nevertheless, since the American nation was founded and codified on the Judeo-Christian principles found in the Holy Writ, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and based on the rule of law—there are some consequences if righteous judgment for crimes is not enacted. Specifically, a nation will reap what it sows, and if partiality, bribery, corruption prevail, then possession of the “land” is in jeopardy, according to this Scripture:
“Judges and officers you are to appoint within all your gates that ADONAI your God is giving you, according to your tribes; and they are to judge the people with righteous judgment. You are not to twist justice—you must not show partiality or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. Justice, justice you must pursue, so that you may live and possess the land that ADONAI your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20, TLV).
Providentially, the Shoftim or “Judges” Torah portion (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9) that will be contemplated and examined on August 14, 2021, just happens to begin with these verses. Does that mean that something will happen during the middle of August? Hard to say, because as noted above, looking through a “glass darkly” does not give anyone absolute clarity of vision, even after the veil of unbelief has been mostly removed. Nonetheless, as the saying goes, “We will see what happens!”
In the meanwhile, by following and studying the Torah reading cycle for the year, coupled with the traditional Hebrew calendar connections and the Fall holidays or appointed times (moedim), the season of teshuvah or return commences when the sixth month of Elul begins on August 8. Historically, many religious Jewish adherents and a growing number in the Messianic community of faith take the thirty days of Elul and the first ten days of the seventh month of Tishri to prepare for Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. This forty-day period is reminiscent of many other forty-day periods referenced in the Holy Scriptures. The forty days of rain for the Flood (Genesis 7:4,12, 17; 8:6), the two times Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai to receive the Decalogue (Exodus 24:18; 34:28), the forty days the spies searched out Canaan (Numbers 13:25), the forty days Elijah fasted on Mount Horeb before hearing the still voice of the Lord (1 Kings 19:8), and the forty days that Yeshua fasted before the temptation by the Devil (Matthew 4:2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2). Hence, the thirty days of Elul are combined with the first ten days of Tishri, which are traditionally known as the Ten Days of Awe, prior to the Tenth Day of Tishri or Yom Kippur, that make up the forty-day season of teshuvah.
Therefore, in the revealed or unveiled light of the perplexing times the world is currently enduring, perhaps it would be an excellent time to enter into a personal time of prayer and fasting—in order to seek the face of the Almighty for mercy and grace on many levels! This would include any personal issues that need to be confessed and repented of to freely receive the Lord’s forgiveness, restoring peace and relationship with any known offended people. Ask the Lord to provide wisdom to those in leadership positions, whose decisions and judgments can impact the direction of the world.
Interestingly, since the number forty has had some very significant events associated with it in the Bible, one can understand why the Jewish people typically study and reflect upon the Book of Jonah during this season, and why many synagogues read and contemplate it on Yom Kippur. After all, the people of Nineveh were mortal enemies of Israel, who for many years savagely marauded the land during the spring and fall harvests. Thus, one can easily see Jonah’s reluctance to give these worshippers of false gods a warning of the judgment to come. But when Jonah eventually approached the Ninevites, the warning that God was going to judge that nation in “forty days” came forth:
“‘Rise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out to it the proclamation that I am telling you.’ So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of ADONAI. Now Nineveh was a great city to God—the length of a three day journey. So Jonah began to come into the city for one day’s journey, and he cried out saying: ‘Another forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown!’ Then the people of Nineveh believed God and called for a fast and wore sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. He made a proclamation saying: ‘In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, herd or flock, may taste anything. They must not graze nor drink water. But cover man and beast with sackcloth. Let them cry out to God with urgency. Let each one turn from his evil way and from the violence in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent, and turn back from his burning anger, so that we may not perish.’ When God saw their deeds—that they turned from their wicked ways—God relented from the calamity that He said He would do to them, and did not do it” (Jonah 3:2-10, TLV).
The good news is that God responded with mercy to the broken and contrite population of Nineveh, that had turned from its wicked ways. God’s merciful heart noticed the prayers of the people, their fasting, and even the decree of the king and his nobles (the leadership elite), and relented of the calamity that would have come to ravage, if not destroy the pagan city and its inhabitants.
One must remember that the Holy One of Israel is the God of “Justice, Justice,” that He sees all, knows all, and is perfect in meting out justice to all that deserve it, which the Ninevites certainly did. But the Almighty One is also a God of mercy, and the Holy Writ, as communicated by James the Just, reminds the repentant and returning saints these profound truths about mercy:
“For judgment is merciless to the one who does not show mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13, TLV).
However, never take words like this for granted. It is better to err on the side of humble confession and repentance, than expect God to wink at the iniquities that are rapidly filling up the cups that just might contain His wrath. After all, He is the Righteous Judge of Judges! Instead, may the golden bowls filled with the prayers of the saints be poured out to bring salvation to a world that is spinning out of control! When that happens, God will rightfully receive all the praise, honor, and glory that He alone deserves, from the countless souls covered by His love.
As always, Outreach Israel and Messianic Apologetics greatly appreciate your prayers and financial support for our efforts to minister to the Body of Messiah in a variety of ways. We are especially mindful of the turbulent times, and believe that a new season of ministry is readying to commence, as the dust settles on the turmoil currently plaguing the world. We are willing and able and simply want to do what the Lord’s next assignment is! Thank you for your intercession for these coming months of sorting through the turbulence.
May God bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you and turn His countenance toward you, and give you His peace…
Until the restoration of all things…
Mark Huey
