We’re Living in Bible Times by Andrew Myers
Mr. Myers has written a series of articles reflecting on his time in Israel in the summer of 2005. A gifted writer, he graciously agreed to let me enhance the intellectual level of my website by posting his thought-provoking reflections. Here is part two.
Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem. And to pray before the LORD. —Zechariah 8:22

A trip to Israel interested me because it offered the chance to “walk where Jesus walked” and encounter places of Old Testament notoriety. Arrogant and naive, I joined the Israel Experience college scholarship program to see the land where God did some cool stuff thousands of years ago.

What left me awestruck, however, was not a metaphysical march through antiquity or an introspective pilgrimage, the attractions which originally lured me. In Israel, I had the privilege of witnessing what God is doing there right now. Unprecedented events are taking place in 21st century Israel. We live in Bible times today.

June 8, 2005. Jerusalem. I sit in a large meeting room in the bowels of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) building. A fly on the wall, I watch as, without pomp or circumstance, prophecy comes to pass before my eyes. The Christian Allies Caucus is receiving a delegation of Christian tourists from Jesus Is Lord (JIL) Church in the Philippines. With hundreds of thousands of members, JIL Church is one of the largest in the world.

The group came to the Knesset to request a visa reform that would make it easier for Filipino missionaries to obtain and renew the paperwork necessary to live and work in Israel. The Israeli MK’s (Member of Knesset, like our senators) received the foreigners with a genuine grace and sincere hospitality uncommon amongst politicians. The MK’s spent more than an hour expressing their gratitude for the friendship of 50 common tourists from an inconsequential archipelago thousands of miles away. Ultimately, the Israelis agreed to pursue a change in visa policy.

And that was it. A pretty insignificant, geopolitical non-event. The spiritual implications, however, overwhelmed me; I felt honored and blessed to witness what was, considering historical and religious precedent, an absolutely miraculous and unique afternoon.

First of all, the very existence—and incredible success and popularity—of a Christian Allies Caucus within the Israeli government is in itself amazing. The caucus began less than two years ago in response to Israel’s recognition that, outside of evangelical Christians, the country has no friends. Realizing the desperate need to cultivate this distinct relationship, the Jewish representatives put aside thousands of years of persecution and collectively embraced believers, perhaps for the first time since the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15.

This shameful drought is partly the fault of Christians who have historically failed to heed Paul’s admonishment against arrogant entitlement in relationship with the Jews (Romans 11:18). Until the relatively recent explosion of radical Islam, “Christians” set the bar for anti-Semitism, perpetrating the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Holocaust—epochs of capitalized infamy. Not to mention the innumerable pogroms, conspiracy theories, segregation, and racist laws that have defaced Christendom, disrespected the Jews, and disgraced the name of Jesus.

In short, the Jews have every right to be suspicious of a Christianity that has sought their people’s destruction throughout history. Add to this the even deeper fear of extinction through assimilation (read: conversion) and a divine spiritual blinding (Rom 11:8), and it’s no wonder Christians have struggled to connect with the Jewish people over the yeras.

But things are changing. Perhaps it’s due to the United States’ (relatively) faithful support of the country. Perhaps it’s a result of the desperate times ushered in by the recent intifada. Or perhaps it has something to do with Christian believers who are less concerned with fulfilling some prophetic quota and more concerned with provoking Israel and the Jews through love, not coercion, trusting the Holy Ghost to change hearts.

In any case, something is happening in Israel today. Messianic congregations are growing for really the first time ever. Kehilat haCarmel (www.carmel-assembly.org.il), a congregation near Mt. Carmel in Northern Israel, is not only seeing a harvest unprecedented in the region, but has also experienced success in uniting Jews and Arabs in Christ.
Elsewhere in Israel, at Tel Aviv’s Beit Immanuel for example (www.beitimmanuel.org), Russian and Eastern European Jews are immigrating in droves to escape persecution and poverty in their home countries (Zech 2:6). These newcomers are often nominal Jews who find themselves culturally disenfranchised in Israel and therefore are more open to the gospel.

And of course, in the hallways of the highest government in the land of Israel, on a June day like any other, the Jewish-endorsed Christian Allies Caucus embraced believers, worshipers of “Yeshua,” in a simple gesture of friendship and solidarity.

I could almost hear the dry bones begin to quiver. (Ezek 36)