Messiah – Page 2

January 4, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Antisemitism 2020: A Year in Review – Part II

As I have been monitoring antisemitism domestically and globally for over two decades, I always review what events have made each year unique from that perspective. 2020 is no different. Events varied from wake-up calls to challenges to crimes, and they were both domestic and global. Keep in mind that even a global act of antisemitism has many ripple effects that will reach the United States. In my previous post, I reviewed January to June 2020, let’s review the rest of the year now:

July 2020: Israel’s Right to the Land

When the world struggles with a pandemic and increasing racial/cultural riots, Israel takes second place on the news. Don’t quote me wrong, there is still plenty of antisemitic rhetoric to be heard, and acts against Jews still abound. But, somehow, there had been a bit of a respite. That was until the approaching deadline for Israel’s annexation of territories from the West Bank became news. The day for the move was July 1st, but Benjamin Netanyahu decided to delay it a bit. Historically and politically, the 1917 Balfour Declaration followed by the 1920 San Remo Conference really made it clear that the land then known as “Palestine” belonged to the Jewish people. I see three reasons why this is true:

Biblically, Israel owns the whole land: Going back to the book of Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:18-21; Leviticus 25:23.)

Prophetically, Israel needs the whole land: There is an important factor that plays out in the future of the Jewish people. It is known as the Law of Return, which was passed in 1950 in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament.) The Jewish people are also promised by God that in the future they will all return to the land, even in unbelief. In other words, a Jewish person’s spiritual connection of lack of, to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has no bearing on God’s promise to bring the Jewish people back to the land in the last days (Ezekiel 36:22-28.)

Geopolitically, Israel runs the whole land better: With their proverbial head in the sand, most people do not realize how much better life in Israel can be for all people. This tiny sliver of land in the Middle East truly is a beacon of light in a very dark place. It is recognized as the only true democracy in the whole region.

August 2020: The Abraham Accord and the Antichrist

From a human perspective, in a region that has been punctuated by wars since Israel’s birth as a modern nation on May 14, 1948, seeing peace between Israel and Arab neighbors is highly unexpected and very exciting. There has been a “proverbial” hatred between Arabs and Jews for at least 75 years. It’s complicated! But from a human perspective, peace is good. As long as we understand that humanly speaking, peace simply means the absence of war.

At the end of the day, the world is quickly getting ready for the Antichrist (Daniel 9:26-27), but the world is also ready for the Messiah. It is up to those of us who know the difference, to teach those who would be tempted to follow the Antichrist, and lead them to the only true Prince of Peace known as Yeshua of Nazareth

September 2020: It’s All the Jews’ Fault

As 2020 went on, just about everything has been blamed on the Jews. This is nothing new, as we have been the scapegoats of humanity for centuries.

Covid-19: The Jewish people have been accused of creating, causing and even spreading the virus to the world for two reasons: To “take over the world” and to “monetize” the vaccine/cure that they have developed. This hardly explains how Israel has been suffering from two huge spikes of new cases of Covid-19.

The Protests/Riots: Some people found it interesting to spread the rumor that American police officers were being trained by IDF officers in using methods that include the way George Floyd was choked to death. The group known as US Campaign for Palestinian Rights came up with that unfounded accusation.

October 2020: A Jewish Cabal!

QAnon: The strange attraction that people have for the mysterious group known as QAnon is also leading people to blame the Jews. It is supposed to ANONymously expose the international Jewish cabal to destroy Donald Trump and take over the world. The fact that it is based on a hoax from 1904–The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion- that has been debunked over and over, doesn’t seem to stop QAnon adherents. They claim that the Rothschilds are behind the whole agenda of controlling the USA behind the scenes.

November/December 2020: Hope Only in God’s Word

Bible Prophecies are directed by God Himself for the benefit of mankind. From that perspective, almost 30% of the Tenach (Old Testament) is prophetic, and almost 22% of the B’rit Hadashah (New Testament) is prophetic.

Now, let’s look at the one world event that we are living through today that is a guarantee that we are in the last days. I am speaking of the regathering of the Jewish people to the land of Eretz Yisrael. God promised to restore the land of Israel and He did when He allowed for the birth of the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948. Beyond the restoration of the land, He also promised in Ezekiel that the Jewish people would return to it in the end times. Ezekiel 36:24 is clear, “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.” This speaks of the physical restoration of Israel and it has literally been happening in front of our very eyes for the last few decades. Additionally, In Ezekiel 37, the prophet is given a vision known as “the vision of the valley of dry bones”, in which he is told that Jewish people will return to Israel. This is about Israel’s national restoration, which is controlled by the God of Israel.

But the national physical restoration is only part of this world event because we will also see the spiritual rebirth of Israel as we read in Ezekiel 36:25-27. There are still some unknown elements to the end times, but, what we need to know, is that as we see the Jewish people repopulating their ancestral biblical land, we are living in these end times for sure, and this should encourage us and motivate us to share the Gospel with our people.

in 2021, let us all commit to learning more about the Bible, Israel, end-times and antisemitism so that we can make a better difference in our fight against the oldest hatred!

Happy New Year!

December 26, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Antisemitism 2020: A Year in Review – Part I

There are many topics that could be covered to punctuate the year 2020. Most of them are unusually different from previous years. The race riots, the pandemic, or the elections are just three of them. It could also be argued that 2020 will be remembered as the year when we became the Divided States of America. Nobody in America ever saw such polarization between neo-liberals and conservatives, and the chasm will probably get wider as time progresses. There is also a way to look at Jewish life through the year 2020; Antisemitism! I have been monitoring antisemitism domestically and globally for over two decades, and once a year, I review what events have made each year unique from that perspective. 2020 is no different. Events varied from wake-up calls to challenges to crimes, and they were both domestic and global. Keep in mind that even a global act of antisemitism has many ripple effects that will reach the United States. So, let’s review the year a month at a time:

January 2020: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Every January 27, we are reminded to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. As multiple heads of state and key representatives gather to pay tribute to the victims and the helpers (Righteous Among the Nations), the rest of the world is also invited to post a photo of themselves with the hashtag #WeRemember. But Hashtags will not defeat Holocaust deniers, historical revisionists and antisemites. Hashtags are the bumper stickers of the twenty-first century, they make a statement in passing as they move to their eternal abode in cyberspace. Instead, people can visit one of the numerous US-based (30 states) Holocaust memorial/museums, read on the topic, share with the next generation and/or attend conferences and peaceful protests.

February 2020: The Aalst Carnival in Belgium
The city of Aalst, Belgium has officially held its carnival since 1923. Parades of that sort actually go back to the Middle Ages. Aalst almost always makes the news for its 3-Day carnival. The organizers repeatedly claim that the satirical tone of the carnival is to be remembered when one considers any of its floats. They regularly ridicule the Jewish people.
The “Aalst Jews of 2020” were wearing oversized shtreimels (fur hats), dressed in black this year, but the bottom half of their bodies were that of insects or vermin; ants to be exact (don’t miss the extermination innuendo here). Joining the crowds were dozens of people wearing caricatural orthodox Jewish garb and large fake crooked noses, not to mention the many flyers with stereotypical renditions of Jews with side curls, crooked noses and curly hair, and the many people wearing Nazi uniforms…All of it in the name of innocent satire!

March 2020: The Covid-19 Vaccine versus BDS
As of March, 149 countries had been infected. The global number of cases exceeded 150,000 and deaths were over 5,600. We thought that it was bad, but we knew nothing yet. Several countries in the world were racing against the clock to research, discover, test and manufacture a vaccine for Covid-19. At the forefront of these modern countries was Israel.
And then, there were the usual BDS movement people across the globe, selling the false idea that Israel is an occupying, colonialist and human rights violating country. They convince a plethora of uneducated people to boycott Israel. Evidently, they boycott whatever is not going to be too inconvenient. So, here is the million-dollar question: “Would BDS people refuse the vaccine if it came from Israel?” They should if they were consistent and ethical.

April 2020: A New Bible Without Israel
The Danish Bible Society published a new Bible known as “The Bible 2020.” It should be called the RTV (Replacement Theology Version.) This Bible is no Bible at all, and it is a very dangerous document. It chose to inaccurately replace or just ignore the word “Israel” (73 times in the New Testament), calling it instead “the land” or “the people.”
It is just one more proof showing us how close we are from the final chapter in the “Real Bible”, where Messiah Yeshua returns to establish his kingdom after fighting all those who went against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:10), and establishes His messianic kingdom with His people among which the Jews will be the head and not the tail. That is the biblical truth that includes Israel AND excludes the enemies of Israel.

May 2020: Trump, Ford and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion!
In May, President Trump made a very uncomfortable comment as he was visiting a Ford factory in Michigan. As he was addressing executives about the founder of Ford Motors, Henry Ford, he said, “The company was founded by a man named Henry Ford, good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, you got good blood.”
Ford’s antisemitism is indelibly printed in the chronicles of history. It cannot be denied, it shouldn’t be minimized and will not be forgotten. I do not believe that President Trump was promoting Eugenics or racial superiority in the way that Henry Ford did when he published The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, but his statement can be used against him by his enemies and also by those who espouse such a view, linking President Trump to a group of fringe antisemites that already are believed by some to support him.

June 2020: Black Lives Matter but BLM doesn’t
2020 saw the tragic death of George Floyd and the rise of the BLM movement. But before we blindly join and support the BLM movement based on somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, from a mix of compassion, rightful indignation and misplaced guilt, we should investigate who the BLM movement supports and promotes.
Black Lives Matter clearly supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). BDS has been pushing for a total boycott (academic, cultural and economic) of Israel and those who support Israel and Israeli products and companies. It has made great strides towards convincing people across the globe that Israel was the perpetrator of crimes against humanity, oppression, invasion and persecution. BLM is also one of more than 150 organizations within the coalition known as Movement for Black Lives (M4BL.) Let’s support all black lives, but not through a manmade movement that has a shaky foundation at best. Rather, because of our Messiah who supported all lives, enough to die for them. We all should support black lives and it definitely matters how we do it!

Part II with the rest of 2020 will be published next week.

December 18, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

There Wouldn’t Be Christmas If It Wasn’t For Hanukkah! – Part II

So, last week, I made the statement: “There wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t for Hanukkah!” It sounded a bit controversial if not oxymoronic. We looked at the historical, biblical and modern aspects of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication also known as the Festival of Lights. Much of the background for the story of Hanukkah can be found in the book of Daniel as Antiochus IV Epiphanes rose to power, outlawed Judaism and murdered Jewish people. Eventually, through the Maccabean revolt, the Jewish people regained control, rededicated the Temple and were free to practice Judaism again. I also promised you that I would explain the correlation between the Feast of Hanukkah and the Jewish Messiah.

It is crucial to understand that throughout our history, several attempts have been made to completely eradicate our people. It goes back to the third chapter of Genesis when Satan realized that the Messiah would be coming from the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), eventually learning that He would be from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10) and the line of David (2 Samuel 7:16-17; Psalm 89:34-37.) In other words, the Bible promises beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Messiah would be a Jew in His humanity. If Satan wanted to thwart God’s plans to bring the Jewish Messiah on the world’s stage and secure his job of the great deceiver, the best way would be to completely decimate the Jewish people and put an end to the Jewish race, something that God promised would never happen in (Jeremiah 31:35-37.) But Satan should know better than that!

This is God’s way of saying that nothing can be done to completely eliminate the Jewish people from the face of the earth, “Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD.” Notice that God mentions at the very end that even Israel’s disobedience and idol worshipping couldn’t deter Him from preserving the Jewish people. In other words, their preservation is not depending on their performance, but on God’s character only. What a promise!

Several biblical characters were used by Satan to further his destructive agenda. The Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph decided that all Jewish newborn males should be killed, and as retold in the book of Esther, Haman wanted Mordechai and the rest of the Jews of the kingdom to be killed. Incidentally, as an example of the promise God made in Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse”, all the first-born of Egypt were decimated as the result of the 10th plague against the Egyptians before the exodus of the Jewish people towards the Promised Land. Additionally, Haman and his sons ended up hanging on the very gallows that he had built for Mordechai. God’s covenantal promise to preserve the Jewish people, protect us and provide for us was strong then and it is strong now because God means what He says and says what He means.

So, when the events that led to the Feast of Hanukkah took place, even though many Jewish people tragically lost their lives, God wasn’t caught off guard and He had not changed His mind. Once again, the Jewish people prevailed, or more accurately, God prevailed on behalf of His people Israel. By the way, I often say that anyone who doesn’t believe in God should look at the history of the Jewish people, our preservation and growth against all odds. We shouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for God’s grace and His eternal, irrevocable covenantal promises (Romans 11:28-29), “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” God Has always known that the Messiah would come through a Jewish family and this was not about to change. If the Jewish line was interrupted at the time of the Maccabean Revolt, the Messiah couldn’t have been born and this why we can say with certainty and with hope, “There wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t for Hanukkah!” It has always been God’s timing.

It is God who originally set the stage for the arrival of the Messiah, not a minute too soon and not too late either, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” as Paul tells us in Galatians. Here again, it is confirmed that in His human form, Messiah would be born “under the Law”, another way to mean that He would be a Jew.

The Bible also promises us that the Messiah would be a light to the nations. The theme of light against the darkness shouldn’t be missed. The prophet Isaiah tells us, “I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.” Speaking for God, he continues, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

I find it fascinating that the prominent candle on the Hanukkah menorah, known as the shamash or “servant” candle, is the one that we light first and then use to light all the other candles. The servant brings light to all the others and adds light to fight the darkness. At the very least, I see some similarity with Yeshua the Messiah Who came as “the Servant of the Lord” to bring light to a very dark world. We read about the Servant in four passages in Isaiah: Isaiah 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–7; and 52:13–53:12.

The most poignant and life-changing passage is probably Isaiah 52:13–53:12 where the Servant is seen as being humiliated, suffering, and innocently killed for his own guilty people. This will remind anyone with an open mind of the fate of the servant of the Lord, Yeshua, who came to be a light to us all but ended-up being crucified for us all. Years later, in the context of the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles), He even stated that He was that light in John 8:12, ” Then Yeshua again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

But maybe even more important than the light He is and He brings, Messiah also brings deliverance which is another important theme found in Hanukkah. The Jews were delivered from Antiochus’ oppression and tyranny by the grace of the Almighty. Today, all people can be delivered from the tyranny of the enemy and our doomed destiny by trusting the Messiah and His finished work. The many miracles told in the book of Acts are a testimony to the atoning work of Yeshua on our behalf, for Jews and Gentiles alike, “rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

It is so refreshing to know that the light of the world came to pull us all out of darkness, but we have to believe what He did on our behalf as John tells us, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” It should lead us to a desire to dedicate or re-dedicate our lives to God as we are advised in Romans 12:1-2, ” Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Of course, dedication is also a theme that is part of the Hanukkah story as the Jewish people worked hard at cleaning the Temple and re-dedicating it with freshly pressed olive oil for the menorah while as the story tells us, the one-day reserve of oil burned for 8 days until more oil was available.

Re-dedicating our lives should really be a daily event. Each morning we ought to speak to God and offer to Him our day dedicated to His glory in everything we think, say or do. It is a great way to start our day and to stay focused on what is important.

As if all these parallels between Hanukkah and the Messiah weren’t enough, one of the best-kept secrets of the Bible is the fact Yeshua Himself recognized and celebrated Hanukkah in Jerusalem, ” At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Yeshua was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon” (John 10:22-23.)

So, again, it is not a stretch to say that there wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t for Hanukkah! So, whatever we chose to celebrate, being the birth of the Jewish Messiah or the deliverance of the Jewish people, we ought to recognize God’s hand in all of it. As for me and my family, we recognize and celebrate both the birth of the Messiah the Light of the world and the preservation of the Jewish people by the grace of God.

Happy Holidays to you all!

December 11, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

There Wouldn’t Be Christmas If It Wasn’t For Hanukkah! Part I

What a statement to be making, “There wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t for Hanukkah!” To most people, this might sound like an oxymoron, but I would beg to differ. So, let’s look at the biblical and historical origins of Hanukkah, its modern practice, and finally, let’s investigate to see if it has any connection to Christmas (you might be surprised!) The feast of Hanukkah is known as either ” The Feast of Dedication” or “The Festival of Lights”, and it actually is both. The word itself means “dedication.” As you will see, Hanukkah teaches us how God delivered and preserved His people and prepared the world for the arrival of the Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth.

Historically speaking, the events that led to the creation of the Feast of Hanukkah are found in three of the four books found in the Apocrypha, known as “Maccabees I, II III and IV.” The reason that I speak of the historical record and not biblical is that evangelicals do not accept the Apocrypha as part of the inspired word of God found in the Jewish Bible. This doesn’t mean that their historical accuracy is in question, but simply that the authors of the story were not inspired by the Spirit of God to record the events. Details about the Maccabean revolt are found in I, II and IV Maccabees.

Additionally, the great Jewish historian Josephus wrote about Hanukkah in his Antiquities, in which he calls it “The Festival of Lights”, ” Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival.”

Biblically speaking, Hanukkah is not included in the Levitical feasts of the Lord found in Leviticus 23. Similar to the feast of Esther known as Purim, Hanukkah is a post-biblical holiday. It is a celebration that was instituted as the result of a significant event in Jewish history. The prophet Daniel tells us quite a bit about this event and about the rise and fall of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He also was a type of the Antichrist that will come to the world’s stage in the future. In Daniel 11:3, we are told “And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.” This is a reference to Alexander the Great, the mighty Greek leader who conquered the known world, mostly from 333 BCE to 323 BCE, before his sudden death at a young age.

Alexander the Great didn’t dislike the Jewish people, but after his death, when his kingdom was divided between his four generals: Cassander of Macedonia, Lysimachus of Asia Minor, Seleucus of Syria and Ptolemy of Egypt, things quickly changed. According to Daniel 11:4, “But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them.” Daniel 11:5, 6, 9 and 11 tell us about the “King of the South” (Egypt) raging war against the “King of the North (Syria) for control over Israel, seen as a buffer zone. This took place between 331 BCE and 198 BCE, but in 198 BCE the Seleucids (Antiochus) gained control (Daniel 11:15, 18, 19).

Eventually, Antiochus IV acted against the Jews as we see in Daniel 11:29-31, “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. The next verse (v. 32) speaks of the Maccabees, “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”

Frankly, we get quite a bit of detail in the prophet Daniel to help us understand the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus, the rededication of the Temple and the inauguration of the Feast of Hanukkah. We do not get quite as much as in the three apocryphal books of the Maccabees, but the stories correlate nicely, considering that it took place a long time ago. That was almost 2200 years ago. Antiochus eventually desecrated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, massacred many Jewish people and outlawed Judaism altogether. He even sacrificed a pig on the Temple altar to further humiliate the Jewish people. He simply hated the Jews. But a simple Jewish family from the village of Modi’in wouldn’t remain silent. Mattathias and his five sons known as the Maccabees (meaning “hammer” in Hebrew), led a revolt against their oppressor. It took eight years, but they managed to liberate and retake the Temple from Antiochus and free the Jewish people from Hellenistic domination. And so, the story continues to this day.

They proceeded with the rededication and decided to relight the eternal light of the Temple menorah. They needed special consecrated olive oil and only had enough for one day. They lit the menorah and went on to prepare more oil knowing that the process would take a week. The story tells us that the one-day reserve miraculously lasted for the whole week until the new batch was ready. And so, the Feast of Dedication was born. We celebrate Hanukkah for eight nights, as we light a candle on the first night, two on the next night, and so on. The menorah, also known as a Hanukkiah, has nine branches (a regular menorah has seven). One of the branches is either displayed forward or to the side, but always a bit higher. It is called the shamash or “servant” candle as we light it first and use it to light the other ones and recite the Hanukkah prayers, “Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Chanukah light.” and “Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.”

We also eat a lot of foods that are fried in oil to remember the miracle of the oil. We eat potato pancakes called latkes, and jelly-filled donuts called sufganyot. Additionally, we spin little tops called dreidels on which four letters are inscribed meaning “a great miracle happened here” (for dreidels used in Israel) or “a great miracle happened there” for dreidels used anywhere else in the world. The modern observance of Hanukkah has often been called the “Jewish Christmas” because gifts are exchanged for eight nights, and the fact that it starts on the 25 of the Jewish month of Kislev which is believed to be the day that the Maccabees defeated Antiochus IV in 165 BCE, (almost always in December within a few weeks of Christmas.)

So, Hanukkah is a time of great celebration of how God preserved, protected and provided for our people. It is a festival of dedication and a festival of lights. It is often said that the Jewish people got a new holiday for each time that the world tried to kill them. And with that holiday, usually come special foods (Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Purim, etc.) So, in Jewish circles, we jokingly say, “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” And yet, there is another aspect of the Feast of Hanukkah that cannot be missed, and it has to do with its connection to Christmas and the birth of the Jewish Messiah. Oh, and by the way, Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah did celebrate Hanukkah and we can read about it in the New Testament. But to find out, you will have to wait until next week for part II. So, do yourself a favor, go fry some potato latkes. Chag Sameach, Happy Hanukkah and see you next week for the rest of the story.

November 13, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

The One End Times Prophecy You Can Take to the Bank Today!

The words “end times”, “prophecy” or “prophetic” usually get people’s attention when uttered, and they should! Unfortunately, a lot of false teaching is being done under the heading of “end times prophecies” and it can be very damaging. There is a proper, healthy way to look at the prophetic word, biblically. But let’s start by defining what we mean by prophecy. The word “prophecy” comes from two Greek words meaning, “to speak for or before”. Thus, prophecy means to be speaking or writing about events for someone or before they occurred. All prophecies of the Bible are from God only, and none of them were from the prophet’s origin (2 Peter 1:20.) The prophet of God can either be used for forth-telling (inspired telling) or foretelling (predicting). In both cases, they are directed by God Himself for the benefit of mankind. From that perspective, almost 30% of the Tenach (Old Testament) is prophetic, and almost 22% of the B’rit Hadashah (New Testament) is prophetic.

More and more people are wondering why we should even study prophecy. Intimidated by apparent biblical difficulties, inconsistencies or contradictions, people give up on prophecy and miss out on about one third of the counsel of God. We should study prophecy for several reasons:

• It comforts and calms: God has always been in control of all events of history. We are comforted (John 14:1-4) with the fact that He gave us His unchanging word, especially messianic prophecies that were all literally fulfilled in ONE person, the future unfulfilled prophecies will likewise be literally fulfilled.
• It cleanses and changes: In light of the fact that Yeshua of Nazareth could return at any moment, we should strive to lead lives that are pleasing to Him. (Titus 2:14; 2 Peter 3:13-14). In the effort to lead better lives for Him, we cannot avoid growing closer to God.
• It helps us understand who Messiah is and who God is: By studying messianic prophecies in the Tenach (Old Testament), we discover that through progressive revelation, God has granted us with increasing knowledge about the person, character, timeline and redemptive career of Messiah. Eventually, as the prophecies are studied within the grammatical/historical context, they all point to the same person: Yeshua of Nazareth.

But we must be careful to properly approach the prophetic word. Many approaches to the study of prophecy have been introduced over the ages. It is important to use a consistent approach when studying prophecy, as switching between approaches might satisfy our desire for an interpretation that fits our needs or understanding, but would do a disservice to God’s word. The proper study of prophecy helps us understand the whole Bible and it motivates us to live godly lives.

Towards that goal, we must remember the David L. Cooper’s “Golden Rule of Interpretation”: “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.” The bottom line is this; a text apart from its context is a pretext!

Regardless of all the warnings about taking Scripture out of context to fit the news or one’s opinion (eisegesis), people thrive on speculating on end times events. Newspaper eisegesis is running rampant today. Especially in the era of the Internet and social networks, it is easy for someone to become a self-proclaimed prophecy teacher, throwing a bible verse here and there to impress their online audiences.

Trying to identify the Antichrist or pinpoint the exact date of the Rapture of the believers are two favorite topics for a lot of people. There have been more potential candidates for the office of antichrist over the ages, than we can count or list here. Some say that he will be a Muslim, others say that he will be a Jew or a Gentile. People are divided on that topic, but it preaches well, and it sells books even better. A thorough study of the prophet Daniel and the book of Revelation will equip us to understand that the Antichrist will be a Gentile leader (read “totalitarian dictator”) who will appear on the world scene after the Rapture of the believers, as soon as the Great Tribulation starts (Daniel 9:27.)

As to the Rapture, people have been speculating on the exact date when it will occur, when in fact nobody knows the day or the hour. These, as Ed Hindson and Mark Hitchcock state, are “calculated guesses based upon interpretive assumptions” at best. We can learn from a study of God’s word that the Rapture will happen, and that it will be before the Tribulation, although not everybody agrees on the timing, but nobody should set a firm date. I often imagine Yeshua, currently at the right hand of God, looking down on us and each time someone sets a new date, He shrugs and says: “They set a new date for the Rapture, I got to postpone again!” I say this tongue-in-cheek of course, but there is some truth in that statement.

Now, I promised you at least one end times bible prophecy that you can take to the bank, I will actually give you two. This doesn’t mean that the rest of the prophetic word cannot be trusted or is with error. It simply means that we should tread the prophetic landscape carefully, lest we have to back pedal on some unfounded dogmatic statement we made. As to the currents events that we can know for sure are part of the prophetic future, they are the apostasy of the Church and the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

The apostasy of the Church is promised in the Bible. Paul said that the Antichrist will not be revealed to the world until “the apostasy comes first” (2 Thessalonians 2:3.) Additionally, Yeshua prophesied that “many will fall away” and “most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:10, 12.) It is not difficult to see that much of the Church today is increasingly shifting towards that toxic behavior. Revelation 2 and 3 also give us some examples of the great falling away. Are we in the midst of the great apostasy? Will it get worse before it gets better? Are we not there yet? I think that we have started as a Church to see the falling away but it will get worse, and I am not even talking about the Great Tribulation, but what must take place before it.

Jews have been coming to Israel under “the Law of Return” since 1948, but even more so in the last few decades. God is directing His chosen people back to His land for the final days before the return of the Mashiach. France has lost 50,000 Jews in the last 30 years, most of them in the last 15, due to the increased antisemitism that we have been witnessing lately. Is God behind this surge in antisemitism? He is not, but He can easily allow it as part of His divine plan. After all, He allowed for Satan to mess with Job at a level that most of us cannot even comprehend, but God did not hurt Job Himself. Can God allow for antisemitism to increase so that His chosen people will return home to Israel? Can God allow us to get into difficult and dangerous situations to draw us closer to Him, the answer is yes to both.

But, the national physical restoration is only part of this world event, because we will also see the spiritual rebirth of Israel as we read in Ezekiel 36:25-27, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

Frankly, the national regathering of Israel is nothing short of a miracle. We, the Jews should not exist, if it was not for God’s grace and the fact that He made promises to Israel that He ratified in His covenants. The fact that Jewish people are moving to Israel in droves from the four corners of the world should encourage us about God’s promises. It is the one current end times prophecy that we can claim is happening in front of our very eyes. What it does, is that it confirms that the word of God is true, tested and guaranteed.

We do not need to know the exact identity of the Antichrist (if you do know his identity, it actually means that you were left behind and are suffering through the Great Tribulation, and you don’t really want that to happen to you!) We also do not need to know the exact date for the Rapture, we just need to know that it will happen for sure (it is actually the next prophetic event on God’s timetable and could happen anytime now.) What we need to know, is that as we see the Jewish people repopulating their ancestral biblical land, we are living in the end times for sure and this should encourage us and motivate us to share the Gospel with people.

Subscribe to our Daily Devotions

Archived Articles

Tags