February 02, 2022
Have you ever run into someone who wonders if God’s heart for Israel and the Jewish people has changed now that Jesus came and the New Testament is in place? Or someone who believes God has set aside His plans for Israel because, for the most part, the Jewish people have rejected His promised Messiah Jesus? Or maybe you’ve been unsure how the Old and New Testaments fit together regarding God’s love for Israel. If so, this collection of Bible verses is for you. It outlines Israel’s place in G...
Read MoreI am just a tiny fishing village, but oh, the wonders I’ve seen and heard.
Jesus, the Messiah, spent much of His ministry years with me, and I became His home base during that time.
I heard Him teach in my synagogue many times, and He astounded people because He spoke with authority, unlike any Torah scholar they’d ever heard.
I listened as a demon recognized Jesus as the Messiah, right there in the synagogue. “I know who you are,” it shouted. “You are the Holy One of God!”
The Bible uses the word Israel in different ways. In Genesis, Israel is a person, Jacob, whose name the Lord changed to Israel after he wrestled and prevailed with the Lord all night. He is the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. In Egypt and the wilderness, Israel refers to the large population of Jacob’s descendants. Though they had no traditional leader or government, when they moved into the Promised Land, surrounding kingdoms also called them Israel as if they were a nation.
I am ancient, yet I am new every day. I have been here in Israel for many thousand years.
One day a miracle happened to me – in two places at once. At one spot, across from Jericho, a vast throng of people gathered on my eastern side. My Creator had told them they were to cross me, but my overflowing banks stopped them in their tracks.
April 23, 2021
Shavuot 2021 is May 17 and starts at sundown the evening before. When God called Israel out of Egypt to be a people unto Him, He commanded they observe annual “appointed times” before Him. Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, is one of them. It’s a commemoration of receiving, offering and thanksgiving. The gift of bread In ancient Israel, Shavuot was an agricultural feast. Every man physically able was to bring the first of his wheat crop to the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord...
Read MoreApril 07, 2021
The United States has an established history of standing with Israel. Since President Truman supported the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the U.S. has been a staunch ally of the Jewish State. One of the biggest moments in recent memory happened three years ago. On May 14, 2018, in honor of Israel’s 70th anniversary, the new U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem. This was after spending decades in its temporary home in Tel Aviv. I’m so thankful that even in the midst of the sweeping chang...
Read MoreMarch 29, 2021
Israel has three national holidays within one week of each other in the Hebrew months of Nisan and Iyar. This year, they all land in April. The apostle Paul urges us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). We believe that’s part of what standing with Israel means. Yom HaShoah – Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day The Holocaust is also known as the Shoah, which is the Hebrew word for “catastrophe.” Yom HaShoah (YOHM Ha-SHO-ah) then means “Day of the ...
Read MoreMarch 26, 2021
“…For the joy set before Him, He endured…” —Hebrews 12:2 Imagine the sound of gravel beneath your feet as you walk in the place where Jesus spent His last hours before He was arrested. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that if there were any other way, He’d rather not go through what lay ahead of Him – and then He relinquished His will to the Father’s. Hebrews tells us He laid down His own life “for the joy set before Him.” That joy was you. He knew that His death m...
Read MoreMarch 25, 2021
A year ago, our world seemed to turn upside down. Life as we knew it changed dramatically because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, Jewish people around the world were preparing to celebrate Passover, which brought to my mind some parallels to the first Passover. We were — and still are — experiencing a plague. Leading up to that first Passover, there were nine horrible plagues. And then the tenth, and worst of all, the death of all the firstborn in Egypt. Passover and all ...
Read MoreJanuary 29, 2021
You can imagine the disciples’ confusion – their glances around the room and the unspoken question in their eyes. “What is He doing?” Jesus had taken off His outer garment and wrapped a towel around His waist. He filled a basin with water, knelt before His disciples – and began washing their feet. How could this be? This was servants’ work. Yet here was their Rabbi, the Messiah of God, humbling Himself to serve them in one of the lowliest ways. After He finished, He explained many th...
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