Pedro Lima via Unsplash
J.K. McKee delivers the September 2022 Outreach Israel News update.
If your personality is anything like my own, you like to have everything planned out and regimented. You like to anticipate as many possible scenarios as you can. You like to have every possible contingency thought through. You have your routine throughout the day, and when completed, you feel satisfied that you were able to take care of everything on your checklist. You do not like drama of any kind. And, you like to make sure that you can prepare for the future.
Not everyone I know thinks this way. In fact, the majority of people I know and consider my friends, do not think this way! Because they are not always of the discipline of going before God every day, asking Him to show them the things which they need to be working through or working toward—the Lord has to intervene in significant ways, to get their attention.
I have raised this point numerous times: the last several years should have been a time when the Lord has gotten our attention in a very unique way. While it is true that there have been different people who have spoken presumptuously on various matters, including dates—we can no longer afford to act as though life is normal, and things are going to be as they always were. Things have changed in the world, and we have made some significant leaps forward, to the Second Coming of Yeshua the Messiah! This should affect a great deal of how we look at what is taking place around us, the work that we should be performing for God’s Kingdom, and how we prioritize various matters in our lives.
Very soon, we will be remembering the Fall High Holidays, for the calendar Year 2022. Frequently, the symbolism of the Fall High Holidays tends to be associated with future events, as they involve the return of the Messiah, the defeat of His enemies, His return to Jerusalem, and the establishment of His reign on Planet Earth during the Millennium. These themes, regardless of how close we may think they are—are to invoke a severe demeanor of seriousness and sobriety. While there are many important traditions and liturgical prayers associated with the Fall High Holidays in Judaism, which today’s Messianic movement widely incorporates—what are some of the specific things which we should be praying about, as we remember the Fall High Holidays this year?
What do you do during the Fall High Holidays?
The Fall High Holidays of Calendar Year 2022 marks twenty-seven years since our family was called by the Lord into the Messianic movement (1995). Like so many non-Jewish Believers, we got started by observing the appointed times or moedim. Because we have moved around a great deal, and currently interact with people all across the Messianic spectrum—we have witnessed a great deal of variance regarding how the Fall High Holidays are remembered. What have we seen over the years?
Two of the main reasons there is diversity, in the broad Messianic community regarding the Fall High Holidays, is that (1) there is diversity among the major branches of Judaism, and (2) there are many Messianic people without a local congregation or assembly. The Messianic Jewish movement, for certain, is not uniform in its observance or remembrance of various traditions witnessed in the Synagogue, from the customary foods to the liturgical prayers. It is seen, though, that Messianic Judaism would not typically be at an Orthodox Jewish level of high holiday observance, but one more typical in Conservative or Reform settings. Many Messianic people, though, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, sometimes do not have a local congregation to be a part of, so the high holidays may be remembered at home or in small, informal fellowships. While this actually can have the advantage of people exploring various traditions and customs associated with the high holidays, without a central authority such as a rabbi, it can also lead to there being a diverse number of opinions and unnecessary divisions over minor matters.
While we have not witnessed uniform observance of the appointed times, most of our family experience has been centered around the Fall High Holidays in a local Messianic congregation. A fair, but not extreme, amount of traditional Hebrew liturgy has often been employed for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh HaShanah has been remembered with the traditional apples, honey, and honey cake—and of course, the blowing of the shofar. Yom Kippur has been a time for the fast, and for focusing on a repentance of sin, and resolution of one’s unfinished business with both God and members of the faith community. In our time in the Messianic movement, we have seen Sukkot always remembered as a time when a congregational sukkah has been built. Frequently, Messianic homes will have a sukkah in their backyard. It has also become commonplace for many to camp out at a Sukkot gathering, although many choose to keep Sukkot a local matter for family. We have always stressed that the Fall High Holidays are to be a special time for all of us to participate in and experience the love of the Lord—and the great mercy which He has shown each and every one of us!
What have you anticipated happening during the Fall High Holidays?
Many of us, remembering the Fall High Holidays of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, tend to bring some significant level of anticipation or expectation. Our weekly routine is altered as we take off various High Sabbaths. If attending a congregational service, we recognize that there are specific features which make the worship somewhat different than a weekly Shabbat service, such as the Hebrew liturgy or how some people are dressed in all white. Others, having just started a new school year, are looking for a special word or encounter with God. With the Jewish community beginning a new civil year, the Fall High Holidays can be a time to likewise begin some new things.
I remember the first time when I fully participated in the Fall High Holidays. It was 1996, and there was an intense amount of end-time prognostication going on, with some predicting various events to take place sometime in the Spring. In the previous year, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin had been assassinated, and the Israeli election saw a new, more hawkish prime minister come into office, Benjamin Netanyahu. The Russians had just reelected Boris Yeltsin as president. Election 1996 was on, with Bill Clinton’s reelection a certainty. There was some early talk about this Y2k thing coming in 2000. But more than anything else, as I think frequently happens at many Messianic Jewish congregations in the Fall: many people believe that Rosh HaShanah will be the time when the pre-tribulation rapture will come, and then the Seventieth Week of Daniel will begin.
When I participated in my first full round of Fall High Holidays, I remember some of the new Hebrew liturgy, the reverence, but also the undercurrent of “something has to happen.” So while I was paying attention to many of the traditions being observed, I was actually more interested in talking to all of the new people I was meeting, and for getting a feel regarding where they stood concerning the world. Less than a year earlier, after conducting some personal Bible study, my position on eschatology had shifted away from pre-tribulationism, to a more post-tribulational scenario. This was not an easy transition, as my emerging end-time model would involve having to remain on Planet Earth through the difficulties of the end-times—and all the while hoping and praying that God would preserve and protect us, as He did the Ancient Israelites while in Egypt.
I have a feeling, that while your remembrance of the Fall High Holidays is likely different than my own—that you still have approached this season, year after year, with questions regarding what the next year is going to bring. Have you actually wondered, at this time of year, if you were getting ready to enter into the difficult parts of the Last Days? If you have, our family has certainly been there! This can overshadow some of the intended themes of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot: hearing the shofar blast to call God’s people to attention, individual and corporate repentance before God, and God desiring to dwell with His people. At the same time, recognizing some of the end-time themes often associated with the Fall High Holidays: the return of the Messiah, the judgment and defeat of God’s enemies, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom from Jerusalem—should help each of us press into the Lord, and pray for specific matters. And, it should go without saying, there are many things which today’s Messianic people need to be praying about.
The Issues of Our World
When entering into the Fall (Autumn) High Holidays, Rosh HaShanah is to call us to attention, the Ten Days of Awe are to be a significant period of preparation, Yom Kippur is to be a time of fasting and corporate repentance, and then Sukkot is to be a time when we dwell with our Creator in a unique and special way. For certain, each of us brings particular expectations to this season. Prayer is a significant part of this time. And one of the first, and most obvious things we should all be praying about—both individually and corporately—involves the issues of our world.
Perhaps we each need to be starkly reminded how the wisdom of God is not the same as the wisdom of the world. For, as Paul put it, “None of the rulers of this age understood it—for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8, TLV). Ultimately, the people of God find themselves at odds with the forces of the world. While this has been something present with the righteous for millennia, it is safe to say that the past several years have brought this to significant light.
None of us over the past two to three years (2020-2022) can say that we have not uttered words such as: upset, disappointed, angry, depressed, saddened, confused, or afraid. All of these terms have come as a direct consequence of what has been happening since the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns, social distancing, riots, and political upheavals. God has used the difficulties of the past several years to get the attention of many people. What is happening in the world? What changes are in store? Are these going to be changes for a greater good or a greater evil? Will some of us even make it through to the other side of these changes?
One of the major prophetic themes of Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, involves the return of Yeshua to establish His reign from Jerusalem. During the Millennial Kingdom, Sukkot will be observed worldwide (Zechariah 14:16-17), even with severe consequences for those who do not observe it (Zechariah 14:18-19). While we commonly think of Sukkot as a special time of the Lord wanting to dwell intimately with His people, prophetically Sukkot also involves the initiation of the Messiah’s reign over this planet, where all of the evil and insidious forces which presently malign themselves against us, will be dealt with.
At any of your High Holiday gatherings or worship services, people are going to pray. People are going to pray for Israel and/or their native countries. It is also logical to assume that people are going to pray for the world, the lost, and for peace. Hopefully, at this year’s Messianic commemorations of the Fall High Holidays, asking the Lord to actually show us what is going on in the world, will also be a major petition! Many of us entered into the decade of the 2020s expecting some kind of 20-20 vision or clarity regarding how God was going to move, and how all of us were going to be blessed in some way. As things stand with Calendar Year 2022 closing, the 2020s have been a nightmare to many, and certainly an elongated period of distress to most.
Let each of us make sure that we press into the Lord this Fall High Holiday season, decisively asking for the clarity that we need, regarding what is happening on Planet Earth today. All of us have been swayed, by one voice or one popular figure, regarding what is to take place. Not enough of us have come together in unison, and simply asked God: What is happening? We need not be afraid if the answer we receive is not what we were originally expecting or anticipating. Frequently as it concerns matters of this age, what the Lord tells us is going to be different than what sensationalistic Bible teachers are going to say. But we all need to cut through some of the false words, false hopes, and false declarations and prophecies we have been subjected to. We instead need clear answers from our Heavenly Father regarding our world, and what we need to be doing.
The Issues of Our Messianic Community and People
Many of the people in today’s Messianic faith community believe that the Messianic movement is going to emerge into something very significant in the Last Days, which will be able to see the Romans chs. 9-11 trajectory of salvation history come to pass. This will involve a major salvation of the Jewish people, corporately acknowledging Yeshua of Nazareth as the Messiah. It will also involve the co-participation of many non-Jewish Believers, who have been Divinely called into the Messianic community, as though they were Ruth joining the community of Ancient Israel (Ruth 1:16-17).
Every religious group in the Calendar Year 2022 is experiencing issues. The definition of what it means to be an “evangelical” is certainly in flux, with many anticipating that American Protestantism, at least, will have entered into a post-evangelical phase by the end of the 2020s, and with it many central doctrines of the faith discarded. The effects of LGBTQ, Wokeism, and a generational divide and schism—perhaps like what we have never seen—are contributing to the astronomical rise of apostasy (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3). This should be very disturbing for many people within today’s Messianic Jewish movement, for sure, as American evangelicalism has been not only a firm supporter of the State of Israel and Jewish people, but the main avenue for financial support of Messianic Jewish ministry.
The sad truth is that today, in 2022, the Messianic Jewish movement is largely not growing, and in too many places it is getting smaller. Important questions about why the movement is not attracting a sufficient number of Jewish people, who need to come to salvation in Israel’s Messiah, are not being asked to the degree that they should be. Further questions about why the independent Hebrew/Hebraic Roots movement is at least fifty times larger—and how some of those people could, if they are willing to make some changes, come over as allies and supporters of the Messianic movement—are often not even permitted to be asked. A significant matter, which has only been highlighted that much more by the COVID-19 pandemic, is how far too many Messianic Jewish congregations have no succession plan in their leadership. In too many Messianic congregations, if there were, God forbid, to be any debilitating health issue with the main rabbi or leader, such an assembly could very well dissolve within two to three years following.
This Fall High holiday season, each of us needs to seriously pray about some of the issues facing the Messianic community and its people! I believe, like so many of you, that the Messianic movement has some important work to perform in the days to come. Yet, I do not see this important work being accomplished unless we change some of our ways, adapt some of our message, and also be willing to recognize that more has been taking place—which a number of people have decided to summarily dismiss, in too many cases.
For some of you, praying about the concerns and needs of the Messianic movement at large, might seem a little too much or daunting, and that is completely understandable. So instead, as your local congregation or fellowship assembles together for the Fall High holidays, use this as a time to go before the Lord in corporate prayer, and ask Him how well your local group of Believers is accomplishing the Messianic mission. What do you need to adapt, modify, change, or integrate in the coming year? How sensitive are you to the will of the Holy Spirit? How much fear or anxiety does your local assembly need to overcome? The worldwide Messianic community is made up of individual Believers, Jewish and non-Jewish, and of congregations and fellowships of those Believers. Start out locally, and then pray that the Lord does His work through other groups across the world.
Issues For Yourself
While there are certainly big things for all of us to be considering, as they may concern the prophetic importance of the Fall High Holidays, things unfolding in our world, and things involving the Messianic movement we all know and love—each of us has things which we need to take care of, during the High Holiday season. The words of Psalm 51:10 cannot be repeated enough: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (NASU). While issues pertaining to what is going on “out there” can seem rather impossible to influence, each of us as individuals definitely needs to be spending some time, going before the Lord in prayer, and finishing up any business which we have before Him.
What are the kinds of things which you as an individual should be considering during the Fall High Holiday season? Paul’s statement of Philippians 2:12, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (NASU), is something which each of us needs to be taking into some serious consideration. While we should be praying for the salvation of the lost of Planet Earth—and as Messianics most especially for the salvation of Jewish people who need to know their Messiah—what of the condition of our own salvation? Salvation in the Lord is something which is to involve far more than any of us simply being forgiven of our sins and spiritually regenerated; salvation in the Lord is to also involve each of us growing in His love, grace, and mercy. A huge theme of the High Holidays is forgiving other people. Psalm 79:9 exclaims, “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; and deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake” (NASU). Yeshua Himself directed in His Lord’s Prayer, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, NASU).
Looking through the events of the past several years—whether it be the pandemic, lockdowns, riots, political or economic factors—every single one of us has carried, or is still carrying around, some kind of baggage resultant of how we have responded to world events. Many of us, when witnessing some of the negative circumstances of the past two to three years, have probably directed some profanity at different people—be those people in political leadership, or people we believe have been doing things wrong. Many people, because of the various tensions which have existed, have not responded well to schisms which have manifested between acquaintances, friends, extended family, or close family. We have all said things in haste, in the heat of the moment, which are not becoming of rational human beings—much less people who are supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit and operating in the love of God.
One of the things which I can personally attest to, from over the past several years, is that if you let unfinished matters continue to pile up and pile up—the Lord will have a way of making sure that you take care of them. The period of Rosh HaShanah, the Ten Days of Awe, and Yom Kippur is an ideal, annual review, of your own personal spirituality. There are plenty of things which each of us can certainly be considering, as we look at the previous year, and contemplate the next year—as well as the different hopes, dreams, fears, and anxieties which we all have—which need to be taken before God in prayer. It is entirely understandable, as our limited humanity is a theme of these Fall High Holidays, for us to tell the Lord, “I do not know everything that is going to happen!” But we also need to be able to honestly pray, “Show me the areas of my life which need to change!”
One of the most important aspects, of the Jewish theological tradition, is understanding the corporate identity of the people of God. The Messiah, for example, did not just come to individually save you from your sins, and offer you an eternity with Him in Heaven. The Messiah is also coming to restore the Kingdom to Israel (cf. Acts 1:6), gather the exiles of Israel home to the Promised Land, see the Torah of Moses declared to the world from Zion, and see worldwide peace inaugurated (Micah 4:1-3; Isaiah 2:2-4). These are all things which, certainly if you are a part of today’s Messianic movement, you are to be working toward in your contributions to God’s Kingdom. The more attune a man or woman is—not just theologically, but also spiritually—the more effective he or she will be. The Kingdom of God corporate is made up of redeemed, mature individuals.
What are some of the areas of your life, which need to be placed before God’s Throne of Grace? What are some of the things, which you would like to see Him perform for you in the coming days? How do you expect God to empower you for deeper and more significant levels of service for the Kingdom? How can you help the purposes of the Kingdom of God in the future?
One Last Matter to Pray For
Traditionally during the week of Sukkot, the Book of Ecclesiastes and the sayings of Qohelet are considered. One of the most perplexing statements which he makes is, “Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor” (Ecclesiastes 2:9-10, NASU). Qohelet became great, Qohelet advanced in wisdom, and then Qohelet indulged in all the pleasures available to him. At the very least, upon encountering this, we should be aware of how simply being granted important information, skillful abilities, and/or material resources by God—does not necessarily mean the best employment of these assets. Yet, many of us do believe that there are those who indeed sincerely ask: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5, NASU). Not all who ask for knowledge, wisdom, and wealth are going to misuse them.
Many are convinced that in spite of the difficulties of the 2020s thus far, that we are indeed going to see a significant victory of obvious good over obvious evil, and that the Body of Messiah is being readied and prepared for a last, final harvest for the Kingdom. I do not wish to speak presumptuously, but I do believe that whatever the next phase is going to be: today’s Messianic people have to play a very assertive and vital role in it. Throughout a great deal of my family’s experience of participating in the Messianic community of faith, this movement has been called the “end-time move of God.” This means that we have an important part to play as we approach the return of the Messiah. But it also means that we have to enter into a new and interesting next chapter of development. So what is one last thing which we should be praying for during the upcoming Fall High Holidays?
Why do we not pray for this? May the Lord give us the ability to expect unexpected and unknown things, and be able to help others through them. Many of the expectations of Second Temple Judaism regarding the Messiah were not accurate. Many Jewish people expected the Messiah to be a military leader who would overthrow the Romans and restore the Davidic throne. Instead, Yeshua of Nazareth was executed by the Romans—yet He was resurrected from the dead (Romans 1:4). This meant that various Messianic expectations had to be reevaluated. In a similar way, many people not only have various expectations of the Messiah’s Second Coming, but even various timeline charts they have put together. How many of these expectations will need to be reevaluated, because of other factors, which have either been overlooked or deliberately left out?
