| | | |  | The Jerusalem Prayer List – December 18, 2009by Joseph Shulam
Today is the last day of Hanukkah. The New Testament is actually one of the earliest places where Hanukkah is mentioned as a feast: “At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:22-30)
We see in this text that “the Feast of Dedication” is mentioned and that the season of the year is also mentioned, “it was winter.” In Hebrew “Dedication” of a day or a place or a building is called “Hanukkah.” Actually the celebration of Hanukkah is a celebration of the victory that the Maccabees, the sons of the Matthew, “Mattat-Yahu” in Hebrew (it means the same as the name John, and Nathanel, and Elhanan, and Jonathan, and Yohanan – they all mean a “gift from God.), from the city of Modein rebelled and decided not to bow down to the idols of the Greeks and to fight back. It was a war of the few against the many, and the week against the strong, and the Godly against the Ungodly, a war of light against darkness, and the Jews had victory. Hanukkah is actually a very classical Jewish Holiday and Feast. For Jews a Feast consists of a set formula: They hate us. They want to kill us. We had a war and we won the victory. Now let us eat! Hanukkah falls right into that same formula. There is one addition to Hanukkah and that is the eight candle Menorah. We light the Menorah each night and for eight nights we add another candle. We start with one candle on the first night and by the end of the eight night we light all the eight candles. Of course like all the other Biblical holidays we have a culinary tradition and Hanukkah is a Feast of oil and fat, we eat fatty foods like jelly filled donuts and potato pancakes fried in oil. This food does not do much for your diet, but it does taste good. When you celebrate the taste good is the main thing, is it not? Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah and I have just landed in Amsterdam, Holland, and am in the Holiday Inn Amsterdam writing this prayer list. God willing, tomorrow I shall attend and teach in Beit Yeshua Messianic Jewish Congregation. Next week I shall be teaching a kind of intensive course in Amsterdam on the topic of “The Torah Sacrificial System and the Cross of Yeshua our Messiah.” This course is intended to give a much deeper and better understanding of the Sacrifice of the Messiah on the Cross. The traditional position that most Christians have is very simplistic and it does not really make a clear moral sense to many Christians and much less sense to Jews and Muslims. In fact it is difficult to understand what and how the cross atones for our sins. If you actually look into the New Testament and look for the concept of Atonement you might be surprised. Here is a concordance picture of how the word “atone, atonement, atoning,” is used in the Bible (the New American Standard Version):
atone (3)
Deut. 32:43 And will atone for His land
2Chr. 29:24 their blood to atone for all Israel
Is. 47:11 which you cannot atone; And
atoned (2)
1Sam. 3:14 shall not be atoned for by sacrifice
Prov. 16:6 truth iniquity is atoned for,
atonement (88)
Ex 29:33, 36-37; 30:10, 15-16; 32:30; Lev 1:4; 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7, 30; 7:7; 8:15, 34; 9:7; 10:17; 12:7-8; 14:18-21, 29, 31, 53; 15:15, 30; 16:6, 10-11, 16-18, 24, 27, 30, 32-34; 17:11; 19:22; 23:27-28; 25:9; Num 5:8; 6:11; 8:12, 19, 21; 15:25, 28; 16:46-47; 25:13; 28:22, 30; 29:5, 11; 31:50; 2Sam 21:3; 1Chr 6:49; Neh 10:33; Ezek 43:20, 26; 45:15, 17, 20; Dan 9:24
atoning (1)
Lev. 16:20 When he finishes atoning for the holy
In the NIV Bible we also find these in the New Testament:
Rom. 3:25 “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished...”
Heb. 2:17 “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
Heb. 9:5 “Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.”
1John 2:2 “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
What do we see here that is very interesting? We see that there are very few times that the New Testament speaks of Atonement. This alone does not have so much significance because we have some very important teaching that relay only on one verse in the Word of God, but what is of significance is that we don’t have much spoken by Yeshua Himself on this topic that is so central and so important to all Christians. For this reason I believe that it is essential for us to understand the Torah, the Old Testament, on this concept and dig a little deeper to see how Yeshua's Sacrificial Death, atones for our sins. I pray that the good Lord will bless this week’s teaching and bring glory to His name and equip the people who are going to attend this seminar and help the Restoration of the Kingdom of God speedily in our own day as it was in the days of the Apostles.
One of the few pleasures in life that I find these days is to look at the Word of God with a new look and ask God to quicken and enlighten His Word to me with a fresh anointing. I have been a student of God's Word for 48 years now and I feel now a fresh hunger and thirst for God's revelation and fresh wind to give me and others a new lease on faith and practice of His Word. I ask you all to pray not only for a physical healing for the sick brothers and sisters but also for a healing of our walk with God and our spirits. What good is it for us to have healthy bodies and sick spirits and what good is it for us to go through the motions of faith and attend services and sing and worship and study and be paralyzed by human traditions and burdens that God did not put on us. I would like to see a fresh anointing on my own life and ministry. I hope that you pray for me and also for yourselves to have new eyes to see the goodness of God in yourselves and a new spirit and strength to do His will and keep His commandments.
We continue to battle for our civil rights as Israeli and as Jewish Disciples of Yeshua in the Land of Israel. We are going to the Supreme Court of Israel with our case because those who oppose us have challenged the verdict of the Judge in the District Court. It will be an expensive ordeal and it has been reported to me that many Synagogues in Jerusalem have made a special appeal for funds and a major fundraising effort to collect money to fight this court battle. There is a mobilization of finances against us and we can only pray to the Almighty One of Israel for help and pray that our friends and brothers and sisters around the world will mobilize too and provide us with the means that we need to build and remodel our building and pay our lawyers to win this case. It is really not about a building of stone and cement it is about the good of Israel and our civil rights as citizens of equal value and equal rights in the only democracy in the whole Middle East, the Jewish State of Israel. There are in fact a few cases in court in Israel that deal with the same issue and we must win and ask the Almighty God of Israel to bless Israel with righteousness and justice for all of it’s citizens so that His justice and mercy may be shown to the whole nation upon the return of the Messiah.
We continue to lift us our sick brothers and sisters in prayer. We lift up Solomon a dear friend in Jerusalem who is in a rather poor condition and who has a new recovered faith that even in his very poor health give him a joy so clearly visible in his face and in his smile. Pray for the healing of Ruby, Liz, and Paulo and Tim Tucker and Tellervo in Finland, and Kemi San, and Ishiida San in Japan. This last week we lost a very dear sister in Finland, Helena Saari, who has gone from us but is well situated in God’s presence now. This dear sister Helena was one of the first that heard the Good News of the Restoration and came from Finland in 1981 to seek biblical baptism. Helena has stood firm and faithful through so much sickness and suffering even until the end. In Israel we have Ilana our dear sister who needs strength and healing, and Ahuva, Sara and Zvi, Miriam, Sarit, and Marcia my wife, all of whom are suffering with chronic conditions and illness and wait for God's mercy to be shown by His healing hand touching their lives and providing strength and relieve from pain.
We also have a very special joy in the growth that the young couples of our congregation provide with many new babies being born in the congregation. Pray that we bless these new babies being born with a stable and healthy and holy fellowship in faith and truth of God’s Word.
We have a wonderful group of young people in the congregation and we feel such a privilege to be able to serve them and encourage them. It is a very unusual thing to see so many of our youth receive the ordain of excellence that the Israeli army gives. It is a witness of the excellence that God has put into our young people and through faith in God and love for the Land and the people of Israel. This is really something to give thanks for and rejoice in God’s goodness to us all and to all of Israel.
Please keep Marcia and my family in your prayers. The Shulam family and especially Danah and Noaam need help from the Almighty One of Israel. We thank God for you and for your prayers and support.
Be blessed in God's Goodness and Mercy for the New Year and your Holiday Season!
Joseph Shulam
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