CHRISTMAS and THE POWER OF PROPHECY

Advent and Christmas are seasons which are magnificently full of prophecy. The prophet was literally a “mouthpiece”, a mouthpiece for the voice of God, and, as Amos so pointedly stated, his importance lies in the fact that “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Thus the purposes and plans of God are to be found in the prophecies of Scripture, and nowhere is this truth more evident than in prophecies of the coming of Jesus.

I have little doubt that virtually every church this Christmas will hear the prophetic words, “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given … And he will called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his rule and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:6-7). These words were written several centuries before Jesus was born, words drawn out of the heart of Isaiah the prophet by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and looking to a future long off. Though so few in number these words encapsulate precisely what was to happen in the birth of Jesus. A child would be born by the normal birth process, he would become a ruler and he would carry the names and descriptions that belonged to God himself, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Prophecy frequently merges with the poetic and here in an extraordinary poetic way the vital truth of incarnation is captured. I think myself that the poetic capture of so profound a mystery is worth considerably more than overmuch theological dissection. Certainly the Christian church did not have to invent the idea of incarnation – it’s there, loud and clear, in the prophets, announced centuries before it happened.

This prophetic utterance, magnificent in itself, nevertheless gains from the verses in Isaiah which precede it and which are also normally read at Christmas though not so readily understood; “In the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles…. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned … You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy.” It is a prophecy which speaks of the future of Galilee of the Gentiles. It describes that land as one of darkness and distress. This was certainly to be the case in Isaiah’s own era when it was overrun and destroyed by the merciless Assyrian armies and largely repopulated by gentiles, and it was to remain like that right up to the birth of Jesus, always looked down on by the Jews of Jerusalem as a place of spiritual darkness. But the prophecy does not stop there and goes on to say that Galilee would see a great light and resound to great joy.

Even more significant is the fact that the emergence of this great light and subsequent joy was directly connected with the human/divine child who was to be born since the exact words of Isaiah are, “the people who lived in darkness will see a great light FOR (because, on account of) to us a child is born”. The child would bring the light. What an extraordinary fulfilment of that prophecy took place when Jesus grew up and actually became that great light to (of all places) Galilee in his earthly ministry. If the land had been spiritually dark over several centuries it ceased to be so when Jesus walked its towns and villages with his preaching and miracles, and leaving in his wake profound joy and hope among so many people. The light of the kingdom had never shone so brightly before in such a needy place. How astonishing that Jesus actually had his home in Galilee (first Nazareth and then Capernaum) and that not a few of his apostles were Galileans. What a devastatingly accurate prophecy of God’s intentions.

I say that this earlier part of Isaiah adds to the prophecy of the birth simply because of the fact that if we should be tempted to believe that the idea of a human/divine incarnation might be a bit of poetic and imaginative fancy then the accuracy of the prophecy about the great light in Galilee brings us up sharply to recognise that this passage (which is one piece) is moving in the realms of provable reality. The very light shone by his teaching and his power, authority and miracle demand one who is uniquely from above even if he was born so humbly below.

We need always to remember with prophecy that it is given precisely so that our faith and understanding might be strengthened as we see it fulfilled. God speaks, and then he fulfils his words so that we might respond from our depths, “He really is there, and the whole world and its direction are in his hands”. So let's rejoice in the prophetic at this time of the year.


Bob




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THE ENIGMA OF ISRAEL

This is the last of three successive columns on the Middle East. This final focus is on Israel which I described in the last column as being in the eye of the storm and watching the confusion of her detractors.

I also said that the outcome of most of what we see is uncertain. However, I make exception for one thing, about which I feel absolutely certain; that is that the intense and bitter hatred towards Israel shown by her neighbouring nations will not go away, no matter what the outcome of their political struggles might be or who may gain power or in what way they may rule.

The reason I am so sure about this is that such antagonism is a spiritual issue, not a political issue, and its certain continuance is an ongoing fact underlined indelibly by the witness of history. The most extraordinary and ironic part of that historical witness lies in the very story of the secular Zionist movement that propelled the Jews into statehood from the late 19th century until the mid 20th century. The founders of that movement were driven by the secular, pragmatic belief that the only way that the Jews would escape the storm of anti-Semitism which raged in Europe in the 19th century would be to find a country of their own in which they could settle. That alone would bring peace, and it would definitely bring peace. Such was the profound conviction that was voiced in Theodore Herzl’s epoch making book “The Jewish State” and inspired his World Zionist Movement at the end of the 19th century. It was the same belief which drove the continued Jewish settlement of Palestine throughout the first half of the 20th century. Thus for sixty years it was the flag of Jewish hope – a new nation of their own in which there would be peace. The bitter fact is, however, that on the very day of the proclamation of the state of Israel, the Jews found themselves locked into an armed struggle for survival against Arab nations determined to repeat the Holocaust and drive them into the sea. They have been locked into it ever since. The failure to find peace is the fundamental failure of Zionism, even though God used Zionism to bring his people back to their historic land.

Israel survived the attempted destruction in 1948 and has survived other concerted attempts since to destroy her. Israel has now had over 60 years of history as a state, but it has been anything but a story of peace in their own land. They remain the butt of a hatred as strong as it has ever been at any time in their history. The essence of the Zionist dream, peace and acceptance, has never been fulfilled. Israel is hemmed in by a ring of nations seeking its destruction, and which at this very moment are targeting her cities and people with any number of missiles.

The failure of the Zionist hope lies in the fact that it was a purely secular and political hope. The Zionists certainly knew how deep the roots of anti-Semitism were, and they knew that for two thousand years the Jews had suffered from it; but they never appreciated the deeper spiritual root of the problem and never countenanced the hand of God in it. They vainly looked for a human and political answer to a problem only God could answer.

Sadly the Jewish state and its leaders are as secular as its Zionist forebears, and can look no further than political answers and sheer force to maintain their existence. This they have done with all the ingenuity that they have showed throughout their history. However, in their unbelief they remain blind to any true spiritual understanding that it is only God who can give them true deliverance from hatred.

A second certainty follows from this first, namely that God will not allow them to be completely destroyed no matter how much pain, hatred and threat they go through. The last 60 year of the history of Israel has amply demonstrated how the providence of God has kept that nation from destruction. He will continue to do so. He will continue to show his “holiness” (i.e. his complete commitment to his promises) among the nations by what he does for his people.

Where will it all end? I have no better guide than Zechariah 12:2ff and 14:2ff. In that prophetic scenario all the nations of the world, led by the spiritual principalities and powers of the world will come against Israel in a final attempt to destroy the nation and frustrate God’s purposes. They will appear to succeed but will be finally met and destroyed by the intervention of God. At the same time the Messiah will be revealed to Israel. That will be the moment of peace. We have seen enough in the last 60 years to make to Zechariah prophecies entirely credible.

When this will happen and what lies between now and then I have no certainties whatsoever except that we shall be watching an unparalleled end time period of history as the process unfolds.



Bob




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HEAVING VOLCANO (Continued)

Last week I referred to a prophetic picture of the Middle East which had Israel at its centre and encircled with hurricanes representing its neighbouring states. The hurricanes were getting ever stronger and more violent and were building up into a huge whirling vortex. That picture was given just a few months before arrival of the widespread uprisings that have been called the “Arab Spring”. It is a picture that has proved genuinely prophetic.

Those uprisings began in Tunisia, whence they spread to neighbouring Libya. Yemen was also thrown into turmoil and Bahrain was threatened. Iraq was already in turmoil due to the US invasion. But the critically important developments have been in Egypt and, more recently, in Syria. These two countries are the most influential of the Arab states and form the cornerstone of the Arab League of 22 nations. The situation in both these countries is at a highly critical stage of impasse, with violent revolution and brutal response evident on the streets of their cities. A major split in the Arab League has emerged as the league has censured Syria. It is not at all the sort of things most observes would have imagined twelve months ago.

So what exactly is happening, and why? In historical terms the unrest constitutes a popular movement against the self-serving and brutal autocratic governments that gained power in the ‘60s and 70s, mainly through army intervention, and deposed the corrupt kingships left over from World War 2. It is a movement for greater freedoms and for political re-structuring that will deal with poverty and injustice. This is genuinely the case even though there are among the “revolutionaries” elements which would like to impose their own brand of dictatorship. It is fundamentally a widespread challenge to the old political order, “l’ancien regime” of the Arab world. It is a challenge to autocracy and a call for something more akin to genuine democracy. That is why it has earned the title of “Arab Spring” – a new birth.

The origin of the movement is very deep and widespread. It is the fruit of a globalised world, of new technological information channels and a new sense of awareness among a growing and vocal middle class. It will not go away. Even Saudi Arabia, despite the immense wealth and power of its princes, is an autocracy that will not ultimately hold out. In the long term some kind of popular rule will be achieved. But if it follows the European nineteenth century experience, that could be another fifty years or even more.

In the short term, however, the outcome is anything but certain. Egypt has just had its first election for a popular government, but extraordinarily the result will not be known until next March! Meanwhile the army is determined to write itself into a place of power in any new constitution, and is not averse to using its muscle on the streets. Alongside that it is clear that the only Egyptian grouping or “party” which has any real cohesiveness is the Moslem Brotherhood, and it looks pretty certain they will get a sufficient number of candidates elected to have the largest say in the proceedings. It is extremely difficult to say just how much the Brotherhood will stick to its original militant and fundamentalist Islamism. There is an old core of hardliners, but there is some evidence that a younger generation of the Brotherhood seem to appreciate that an Islamic take over of the kind that happened in Iran under Khomeini is not really an option. So everything is “up in the air” and will take time to clarify.

Syria is a much more difficult case. Unlike Egypt its autocratic president has not yet been toppled; he is deeply entrenched and threatens all out attack on Israel if the West intervenes as it did in Libya. A much stronger Islamic fundamentalist influence is evident with close links to Iran. All this makes Syria a very violent and unpredictable storm centre.

The worst outcome would be a replacement of Arab autocracies by fundamentalist theocracies, but, though that sort of battle threatens, it is by no means a certainty.

Israel lies, so to speak, in the eye of the storm. I think I’m correct in saying that the eye is actually the calmest part of the storm. Those who would destroy Israel are in confusion around her. It is an extraordinary counterbalance to the threat of annihilation coming from Iran, and even there the rumblings of a popular movement are not far below the surface.

For me, I have a deep sense that God is palpably at work in the history of our generation in this part of the world. For that I am profoundly thankful, even if the outcomes are as yet obscure.


Bob




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