Month: ט״ז בכסלו ה׳תש״ע (December 2009)

Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast, according to the custom of the feast. When they had fulfilled the days [of the feast], his parents started home, unaware that the boy Jesus had stayed behind in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:41-43)

Luke states that Joseph and Mary made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem every Passover. The requirement of pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem is mentioned in the passages of Scripture that deal with three annual festivals. Exodus 23:17 states: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, the LORD.” Exodus 34:23 repeats this command almost verbatim, and the book of Deuteronomy characteristically adds further details:

Three times a year—on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths—all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place that he will choose. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. (Deut. 16:16)

During the Second Temple period these verses were not understood to mean that one was obliged to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year, but rather that pilgrimage was associated with these festivals. Pilgrimage was considered a commandment that “has no measure,” as stated in Peah 1:1: “The following are the things for which no definite quantity is prescribed…appearing [before the LORD]….”

Thus, the commandment to “go up” to Jerusalem might be observed once every few years or perhaps only once in a lifetime.

Once a Year

A number of rabbinic traditions refer to people who were rather strict in observing the commandment of pilgrimage, but who nevertheless made pilgrimage to Jerusalem only once a year and not three times as mentioned in the Bible. One such tradition is found in Tanhuma, Tetsaveh 13, which reads:

There was a scribe who used to make pilgrimage every year. He was recognized by the residents of Jerusalem as being a great scholar. They said to him: “We will give you fifty gold pieces a year if you will take up residence in our city.”

The midrashic (homiletic) account of the pilgrimage of Elkanah, the father of Samuel, to the tabernacle in Shiloh also indicates that pilgrimage once a year was quite acceptable:

Elkanah used to take with him his wife, children, sisters and all his relatives, and make the pilgrimage [to the tabernacle in Shiloh]. They slept in the squares of the towns and villages through which they passed. Their coming aroused great excitement in each community and the inhabitants would ask, “Where are you going?”

They would answer, “To the house of the LORD in Shiloh from where Torah and commandments go forth. Why don’t you join us and we will go together?”

Immediately their eyes filled with tears. “We will go with you [next year],” they answered.

“Very well,” the pilgrims said to them.

By the next year five families [of that community] had joined them on the pilgrimage, a year later ten families, until finally everyone was making the pilgrimage. (Yalkut Shim’oni, Torah, remez 77)

This midrash, which reflects the practice of the first century, praises Elkanah even though he goes on pilgrimage only once a year. The account in Luke agrees with such Jewish traditions about righteous individuals or families who made pilgrimage once a year.

Purpose of Pilgrimage

Young Jesus took advantage of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to question the learned teachers about interpretations of Scripture, as well as to express opinions of his own. This is also in keeping with the rabbinic motif that one of the most important purposes of pilgrimage is to study Torah:

Rabbi Eliezer says: “When one brings the sacrifices that one has vowed to the temple, he enters the Chamber of Hewn Stone and sees sages and their disciples sitting and engaging in the study of Torah. The sight inspires him also to study Torah.”

Rabbi Ishmael says: “When one brings the second tithe to the temple, he enters the Chamber of Hewn Stone and sees sages and their disciples sitting and engaging in the study of Torah. The sight inspires him also to study Torah.” (Midrash Tannaim to Deut. 14:23)

Both Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Ishmael lived while the Second Temple was still standing and their words reflect the reality of that period.

Jesus in Jerusalem

The study of Torah while on pilgrimage in Jerusalem likewise agrees with events in the life of Jesus as described in the gospels. Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Hanukkah and taught in Solomon’s Porch in the Temple compound (John 10:22-24). When Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, he also taught in the temple (John 7:14). And, when he went to Jerusalem for the last time at Passover, he sat opposite one of the treasuries of the Temple and taught Torah (Mark 12:41; Luke 21:1; John 8:2).

When Jesus was finally arrested, he berated his captors for coming to arrest him at such a late hour when he had been sitting daily in the Temple courtyards teaching (Matt. 26:55; Mark 14:48-49; Luke 22:52-53; cf. John 18:20). Jesus apparently taught in the temple courtyards in a manner similar to that of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai who used to “sit and teach daily in the shade of the sanctuary” (Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 26a).

Length of Stay

In Luke 2:43 it is stated that Jesus’ parents returned home when they had “fulfilled the days.” This implies that they not only spent the first day of Passover in Jerusalem, but a number of days there.

When the Bible discusses the Passover sacrifice, it adds: “And in the morning you may start back on your journey home” (Deut. 16:7). In other words the Passover pilgrim could return home any time after the first day of the seven-day festival (traveling was forbidden on the first day of the festival).

However, rabbinic tradition dating from as early as the Second Temple period interpreted “in the morning” in this verse as referring not to the first day of the festival, but to the whole seven-day festival: “Scripture treats all of them [the days of Passover] as one morning [i.e., as one day]” (Mishnah, Zevahim 11:7; Babylonian Talmud, Zevahim 97a).

Thus, in the time of Jesus’ parents the Passover pilgrim did not return home after the first day of the festival, but only after he had “fulfilled the days.” A family of pilgrims stayed in Jerusalem for the entire seven days of the Feast of Passover or the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Sidebar by David Bivin

In 1969, as excavators cleared centuries of debris away from the western wall of the Temple Mount, they made an unusual discovery. On the face of a monumental stone just above the level of the Byzantine street was a crude inscription in a Hebrew script typical of the Byzantine period.

The words of the inscription, with slight modifications, had been taken from a passage in Isaiah which reads: “For this is what the LORD says: ‘…As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; you will find comfort in Jerusalem.’ When you see this, your heart will rejoice and your limbs [literally, “bones”] will flourish like grass” (Isa. 66:12-14). Inscribed on the stone is: “When you see this, your heart will rejoice and their limbs like grass.”

This inscription may have been a pilgrim’s expression of anticipation that the Temple would soon be rebuilt. In 362 A.D., the Roman emperor Julian gave permission to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, a decision which evoked immense enthusiasm among the Jewish people. Work did begin on the Temple, but an earthquake interrupted it. In 363 A.D., while the work was suspended, Julian died and building was never resumed.

It may have been during the few months of euphoria at the prospect of the Temple being rebuilt that a Jewish pilgrim was inspired to inscribe this graffito on one of the stones near where the Temple had stood.

Rabbinic literature shows that during the Byzantine period this passage from Isaiah frequently was interpreted messianically and was the basis for many sermons. Thus, it could have been used by a pilgrim to express his anticipation that the messianic age was dawning.

by Shmuel Safrai

LEGOS AND CHANGE: What Do You Tell a Child about Evolution?    And What About Intelligent Design?

Whether you’re a regular reader of the Torah Class website, or not, I’ll assume you have some questions about evolution…

As do I.

First, as I’ve often said, we must define terms.  The charged word “evolution” basically means “change,” and nobody disagrees that changes occur in all living things.  Dog or cattle breeding provides clear examples, though an “outside hand” is involved, but, setting that aside, observe the differences that “naturally” occur among cats, dogs, and other animals that live in the wild.

By evolution here I mean naturalistic evolution which states or implies that all changes in living organisms from the simplest single-celled organisms to higher forms of life, such as the person writing these words, are solely random (possible) events, or “accidents,” involving mutation, and natural selection, that occur over long periods of time without any purposeful tinkering or guiding from any outside force.  By implication, if not directly said, no “God” or supernatural power is involved at any point.

Intelligent design, however, hypothesizes something else: Something beyond nature, or what we know from nature, must be involved.  For “higher,” more complex, organisms to have appeared (as they have), or for life to have first appeared at all, there had to have been some “outside help,” or certain action that science has never explained.  “The science we know demands our saying that,” they would say.  (Books¹ take this much further, not our purpose here.) 

Naturalistic evolutionists accept “by faith” these unknown mechanisms and processes because, for one reason, not to do so would imply interference by the supernatural.  “And, of course,” say or think some, “that would be giving in to unverifiable superstition.”

Please realize that those who hypothesize Intelligent Design are not automatically saying that the God of the Bible “did it,” though ID thinking is friendly to that idea.  Some who accept Intelligent Design are atheists. Why?  Because they recognize that naturalistic evolutionists are assuming too much without facts.  Rather, ID is the result of the honest searching of many² to recognize what science does not know, and may never learn, from what it does know.

But how do you explain this to children?

In the September 2010 Focus on the Family (church) Bulletin Insert³, Jennifer Walker (as part of a larger lesson) suggests this:

“Ask your child:

“• If I dump a box of LEGO pieces on the floor, what do you think the LEGOs will make?  Why wouldn’t they fall out in the shape of a robot?

“•If I put the LEGO blocks and the robot directions together for a few days, would I find an amazing creation?  Why not?  What do you need in order to make something?

“• What would you think if someone told you that everything in the world is here because all the building blocks had been dumped together?  Can things be built by chance?  Think of everything that exists—from a bug to an iPod to a person.  Does anything exist that wasn’t made by someone?”

“That’s not fair!” A naturalistic evolutionist might say. “You’re biased and oversimplifying!”

Okay, but how might naturalistic evolutionists logically explain how life developed?  Perhaps they might say something like this:  “Everything began billions⁴ of years ago when all matter and energy all on its own blew out from a single point in space and eventually, but accidentally, made Earth, which on its own allowed the forming of simple living cells, which on their own after many surprises and accidents changed, and became new cells that joined other cells, which on their own had more surprises and accidents that eventually became us—talking about these surprises and accidents.  As all this took place, of course, some of the new life that formed was better than what came before it, so it eventually replaced living things that were less fortunate.”⁵

And yes, the fossil record, from “bottom to top,” suggests that life began simple and moved toward more complexity.  But the links on the chain that runs from simplest to most complex—if they exist at all—are hardly useful, at least yet, for holding real weight.  “Naturalistic evolution is fact!” is far too rigid a conclusion to draw from known science. (Of course, “naturalistic” is almost always excluded, and unfairly so, from this common statement.)

So, how helpful are each of these two stories?  And how fair are they?

Something to think about.

Through the years I’ve taught big kids and little kids, and even wrote lessons for elementary science texts⁶.

Don’t hesitate to ask even little kids big questions:  What does science know and not know?  What’s the difference between “faith” and “fact”?  What’s the difference between ID and naturalistic evolution?  Where do we go to learn and “believe in” important things that don’t come from science alone?

Don’t worry about making mistakes.

You will!

But you can start kids on the road to being thinking, committed, honest  adults.  Putting those LEGOs in a jar and shaking them up every day for a week can be a powerful visual reminder that kids can carry with them for years, a foundation they can build upon in years to come.  

¹For more on Intelligent Design, see “Resources” on my website www.johnknapp2.com for books on ID by Michael Behe, William Dembski, Jonathan Wells, and others. (This is a good list, but ends at 2005.)

²See previous endnote.

³Jennifer Walker, Focus on the Family Bulletin Insert, Sept. 2010 (Vol. 23, No. 8).  The three comments preceded by bullets are by Walker.

⁴I have no problem with 13.7 billion years as the time of the Big Bang, when God created the universe.  Science has provided overwhelming support for this, and it fits well with the Genesis account of beginnings in the Bible.

⁵I wrote this.  Am I being fair?  If any of you naturalistic evolutionists reading this can in 100 words or less offer a better way to present to, say,  3^rd graders an explanation of how modern life came to be, I would like to hear from you.  (Use the forum on this website.  Maybe you’ll be cited in a future feature!)

⁶During the late 70s and early 80s I was one of four authors for the elementary science series, Science: Understanding Your Environment published by Silver Burdett.

John Knapp II, PhD

Winners of “Hidden Bible Puzzle”—from New Zealand, South Africa, and Indiana (USA), and NY State (USA) are cited at end of article—just beyond the endnotes…

You’re not done, there’s more!

Now for the “Hidden Bible Puzzle” winners:  Four of you found at least half of the 66 books in the Bible (the Tanakh and B’rit Hadasha, or Old and New Testaments as known to most Christians)

 Individual results:

 35 found by Annette from Mpumalanga, South Africa

 35 found by Eric from Indiana (USA)

 35 found by Susan from New York state (not “city,” she insists)

 33 found by Pat R. from New Zealand

 Thank you for your participation.  May I encourage you to offer comments and ask questions at the forum on the website.

 For those of you wondering what this is all about, let me encourage you to “dig up” the puzzle in the archives of this website.

 And, if you still want more adventure, consider taking on my romance/adventure novel EARTH IS NOT ALONE, available at www.johnknapp2.com, www.amazon.com, or elsewhere.  In a few weeks EINA will be available in eBook form for Kindles and most other eBook readers for only $3.99. Says reviewer Grace Bridges from New Zealand (www.titletrakk.com), “Sci-fi and mystery…teen romance…the first book I’ve ever seen that truly tackles the concept of life in other worlds from within a Christian worldview.”

 Warning: Danger and a bit of madness lie ahead.

 

It’s no secret that many today are unfamiliar with the 39 “books” in the “library” we call the Tanakh  (or Old Testament) and the 27 books in the library we call the B’rit Hadashah  (or New Testament) of the 66-volume Bible. So here’s a puzzle to help you get more familiar with their names. To help, open the Complete Jewish Bible to the Contents page, or a regular Christian Bible will serve just as well.  (If books of the Apocrypha are also included, don’t consider them here.)

 

First, Bible books are arranged a bit differently in Bibles, but don’t worry about that.  Or that books are titled a bit differently. (For example the second of the two books of Samuel might be listed in one Bible as “2 Samuel” and in another as “II Samuel,” or “ii Samuel”; or “Song of Solomon” might be called “Song of Songs”; and “The Acts of the Apostles” may be called just “Acts.”)

 

In the nonsense passage below many Bible books are lying in wait for you to discover them.  Ignore punctuation, capitalization, spacing, and even paragraph divisions to dig out these books. Consider the entire article a single line of text. For example, on the first line below note the Bible book “EZRA” hiding within “…fEZ RAkishly…” How many of the other 65 books can you find?  15?  25 or more?  What are they?  Remember, as in the “2 Samuel” above, if a book has a number, it must be included before it (as “2,” “II,” “ii” or “Second”).  And if a book has a two-part name, both parts have to be in exact sequence.

 

Permission is granted to download, copy, and use this with Sabbath, or Sunday School, or other students—so long as it is not sold for profit. I’d love to see who finds the most books (reply on FORUM on this website. Answers will be given in a future article.)

 

 

                THE HIDDEN BIBLE  by John Knapp II

 

              (Sorry, no conceptual lesson whatever is intended!)

 

Hezekiah Paul Smith, wearing his fez rakishly, would storm out of Syracuse University’s losing games the ruthless, obnoxious way of a classic poor sport.  At one loss to Ionia, however, he did revel at Iona’s full-court press.  “It’s gotta be the heredity; the pattern of the genes is what determines outcome,” he told us, gesticulating wildly.  Old HP, as we called him, judges there that the “very gods of Gotham oscillate in indecision” until they hear his remarks about hoop theory.”

 

Four of us find HP, whose anger is sometimes upsetting, fascinating.  Now “Young HP,” or “Hawaii Pete (really his name! a lemony-haired “real” uke, or ukelele, player if I ever heard one) gazes with amazement; “Injun Joe” looks on vapidly (as if the techno-nerd might trip eternally through the tulips in a quest to, say, format the weird purple disk he once discovered for his “antique” computer); Lisa, (the only girl in our group and, I must confess, sometimes with Lisa I ah…uh lose all composure) always pays attention; and I, John, listen to HP’s strange rambling not missing a word for even a second…

 

Chronicles about odd Hezekiah occasionally show us things we can’t easily see elsewhere. So when I’m around HP I listen; later I write very carefully on paper what I consider important.  To slip on the peel of a literary banana humbles me more than you realize!  To say foolish things is embarrassing, like putting a MasterCard in a machine when, for credit, it uses VISA only, or like telling an artist a patch of earth is “brown,” rather than tan, umber, sienna, or some other precise shade.

 

“Remember, John,” says HP. Turning to the Middle East (another interest), “if to our horror, Oman’s first king slips, if he gets in a jam, especially if he brews a tempest in a teapot so to speak, a second king (sultan, really) should quietly replace him for the sake of peace.”

 

“Wait!” Hawaii Pete interrupts, bolting upright as if just awaking up.  “Your opinions are no help in understanding anything.  I…”

 

“You’re no help!  Hi, Lemonhead!”  I waved my hand, brushing away my own hair.  “Wake up!  What we’re saying is not what it first seems.  Things here are not as simple as one, two, three.”

 

“John,” Hawaii Pete interrupts, “you may consider your job to write down all the facts, but mine is to make sense of things, number one, and number two, John, is to put what is consistent with Judeo-Christian values to music…and respond to the lamentations of the poor around us.”  But the chord he then strummed was as plaintive as an old Londoner mourning loss of the Raj on a holiday in Calcutta.

 

“Well,” I replied, “let me make my exodus with a final word: I hope your first million ‘reaps alms for the poor and no qualms for the doer.’  Sounds like a good first line for something, doesn’t it?”

 

 So how many of the 66 books can you find? 

 

Mail me at [email protected] and tell me—and if you’d like your name mentioned if you, or your students, have success worth sharing in your archaeological dig.  Or reply on the FORUM.  Comments like “This is the clearest thing you’ve written so far!” though perhaps true, will be underappreciated, however.  (The latest response on my feature articles on science and the Bible was, “You’re being too simple and easy.”)

 

I wonder how the Hazor archaeologists would fare here…

 

Becoming familiar with the books of the Bible is an important step in one’s lifetime study of the most interesting and best-selling book of all time.

 

By John Knapp II, PhD

(In honor of my youngest son Andrew who’s digging in Hazor, Israel as I write…)

 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth….and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters….And God said let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly…across the expanse of the sky.”    —Genesis 1:1, 2, 20  NIV

“What is life?”

Is God responsible?  Or, Nature working all by itself?  Let’s risk starting off simple.

In a sidebar to the article “Life on Earth” in a recent issue of Scientific American¹, physicist Erwin Schrodinger “suggested that a defining property of living systems is that they self assemble [emphasis mine] against nature’s tendency toward disorder, or entropy².”³ (Since God and the Devil are in the details, please don’t ignore the endnotes!)

Also in the sidebar: “Chemist Gerald Joyce’s ‘working definition,’ adopted by NASA, is that life is ‘a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution [emphasis mine].”⁴

These are two statements on the side of Nature working alone.  Key words: “self-assemble” and “self-sustain.”

These careful statements probably deserve more context, but a general question emerges: If Nature on its own tends to go downhill (entropy), how does “prelife” and life on its own struggle against this tendency and make its “entrance”? And just where has science shown how nonliving systems can gather “body parts” and “self-assemble” into living systems that can defend themselves against the hostile forces in nature that lead to disorder?  Where has this means or mechanism been demonstrated?

Nowhere.  At least that I know of.

“But it must have happened!” say some.  This is a “hope,” and while not all hopes are bad, we’re unwise to call hope scientific fact.

Further, risking more political incorrectness, but caring deeply about science, where has “Darwinian evolution”—modification of life of the magnitude of, say, change from reptile scale to bird feather—been demonstrated step-by-step in nature?  It might have happened, yes, but that is different from has to have happened.  Where have the mechanisms been described?  For a description of several enormous modern leaps of scientific faith from gerrymandered evidence to no evidence at all, see biologist (with PhDs from both Yale and Berkeley) Jonathan Wells’, Icons of Evolution⁵.

Obviously, there is controversy here.

Without detailing specific points, let’s admit that many in science, but by no means all, have great faith that Darwin (and his modern Neo-Darwinist modifiers) is right in saying, in effect, that Nature “does it all on its own.”

After all, what alternative could there be?

Well, there’s the possibility of God.  (the God of the Bible—please, no offense intended to other gods wanting equal time).

Here goes:

“God,” who is “outside” and “before” the Big Bang⁶ and everything else, created all the things that are—“stuff,” things made of matter and energy.  In other words, God is behind everything, and without him nothing would have happened.  Now we’ve said, or implied, that Darwinists instead assume (without hard proof) that Nature, or matter and energy, on its own put together the person—in a series of accidental steps, of course—writing these words, and also his (even) more primitive ancestors back to very small creatures and the food they ate that “emerged” from nonliving elements and compounds.  All this must be without any purpose, “grand plan,” or “outside tinkering.”

What assumptions then do “God-did-it” people make about life?

First, God—omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and caring—exists.  Of course, many paragraphs about this could follow.  But all that I’ll add here is that we learn much about God’s character from the Bible.

Second, God created life.  Without God, life couldn’t have happened, and developed to where it is today.

To expand this a bit: The overwhelming complexity of even the simplest living creatures just couldn’t be brought into existence by matter and energy acting alone. Too many factors—a caldron of elements and forces existing in just the right amounts and ratios⁷, acting and reacting in just the right sequence—require more than purposeless, randomly acting impersonal Nature can offer.  The number of sequential “forward-moving accidents” necessary for building even simple cells, that in turn will press ahead to make themselves into complex plants, animals, and humans is staggering.

Something other than Nature alone must also be involved.

Third, there may be, useful information besides what science offers.  And yes, the Bible provides this offering a fascinating ancient narrative congruent with many findings of science.  Further, to many this holy book provides fresh and satisfying ways to look at origins with purpose and value that science hasn’t done—and perhaps never can.

For example, the beginning of the Bible provides an order of astronomical events as well as the creation of life:  “In the beginning (“before space-time”⁸) God (undefined, but assumed to be there with necessary ability) created the heavens and the earth” (that is, the whole universe⁹. Method? Not told; metaphorically, God “spoke” things into existence¹⁰).   At an undefined time later “the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.”  (Dare we suggest, as others have, that single-celled life was created here, more than three millennia before such creatures were observed and named?)

One can go on and on about the creation “week”¹¹ which surprisingly reflects the sequence of life found in the fossil record.  And in more than two dozen places in the Bible (not just Genesis) there are details and hints of how living things, as well as the universe, came about— and why.¹²  And while much is symbolic—for a world with no language for modern science—things discussed in the Bible don’t contradict science.

No other ancient account, religious or otherwise, comes close to doing this. At least that I’m aware of.

This Bible stuff about creation and life—scientifically provable?  No, probably not¹³ to those hungering for precise detail, but it’s still suggestive and compelling to many, like me, who look closely.

Perhaps it seems suggestive, sort of like the way Naturalists (who dismiss or minimize God) press hard for lock-step acceptance of Darwinism before all the facts are in.

A weak comparison?  Perhaps it’s a bit of an overreach due to my oversimplifying.

But in both cases there’s faith—both for the “God-did-it” people and the “Nature-did-it” people who remain convinced there’s no room for God intervention.

Darwin’s finch beaks speak, but they and their progeny don’t tell everything, and according to Wells¹⁴, they don’t always tell the truth.

At least not yet.

Go full speed ahead in science, I say, but plugging one’s ears to other voices is not required.

And my final “say”:  Those who seriously and systematically read and consider the Bible will never give up, or back away from, science, but they’ll never again look at science in quite in the same way.

And will gain perspective they’ll never regret.

Author: John Knapp II  PhD

_____________________________________________________________

NOTES

¹Alonso Ricardo and Jack W. Szostak, “Life of on Earth,” Scientific American, Sept. 2009, p.54.

  

²Entropy is the state of disorder, uncertainty, and unavailability of energy in a system.  When final entropy has occurred, think of energy present, but stuck in a tar pit.

³Richardo, op. cit.

⁴Richardo, op. cit. A third definition was also given but it didn’t relate to the discussion here.

⁵Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Facts or Myth? (Regenery, 2000).  Wells has a PhD in molecular and cell biology from Berkeley and a PhD in religious studies from Yale.  This is a key book for those interested in studying the creation/evolution controversy.

⁶The vast majority of Christians trained in science, as well as having a conservative or evangelical approach to the Bible, have no problem accepting the Big Bang Theory as commonly taught.  I am among them.

⁷Ratios or fine tuning.  For one of several explanations of this see “A ‘Just Right’ Universe” (pp. 105-121 in The Creator and the Cosmos (Navpress, 1993) by Hugh Ross (PhD in astronomy).  Despite the recent discovery of, now, about 400 exoplanets, evidence is growing for the need for dozens of “requirements”—elements, compounds, forces in precise amounts or ranges—to be present on a planet for any life, let alone human life, to exist.  The odds are great enough to say that it’s impossible for life to self-assemble and exist anywhere within the reach of the billions of stars in our telescopic reach.  The “Just Rightness” of the proper environment is sometimes called “The Goldilocks Effect,” referring to the girl’s finding only Baby Bear’s porridge suitable to eat.

⁸Space-time (often spelled “spacetime”).  This comes from Einstein and relativity theory referring to the “4 dimensions”—the 3 space ones + time.  Watch for new talk about 4 space dimensions, however.

⁹“The whole universe” is implied by “heavens and earth.”  In general, the details of creation are told from the viewpoint of someone (before there was anyone!) observing from earth.  The details, troubling to some, later from Day 4 which describe the making of the sun, moon, and stars can be translated from the Hebrew to mean “made to appear” which would be the case when the vapor canopy surrounding earth “fell away” on that “day” and for the first time objects in the sky could be seen.  The previously hidden (to an observer from earth) sun, moon, and stars were a result of the Big Bang billions of years earlier.

¹⁰”Spoke into existence.” Be aware that metaphor and other figurative language abound in Scripture.  And for several reasons.  (1) Some concepts, such as single-celled life, were unknown to people of the time when the Bible was written.  (2) Along with that, there were no available words to describe real things.  (3) As in modern description, metaphor and symbol often tell it best.  Abraham’s descendants were to be “as many as the sand in the sea.”  That’s hardly a dception or lie, any more than calling God a “rock” or a “shield.”

¹¹“Weeks.”  One of the most frustrating experiences in creation/evolution debates to the “God-did-it” people is the assumption made by many naturalist scientists that people who believe in biblical creation insist on the days of creation being only 24 hours long, and that creation took place no more than 6000 to 10,000 years ago.  Congruent with Note 6 (above), the vast majority of Bible believers who are trained in basic science have no trouble accepting the age of the earth as being as old as 13.7 billion years, including those believing in biblical inerrancy, and many writings support this (Ross, A Matter of Days, Navpress, 2004, for one).  It’s true, though, that a vocal minority who widely travel to many churches insist that the Bible teaches “young earth” creationism.  Listen to and read carefully what they say, consider where their information comes from and when it was collected, and evaluate what experience and training they bring to the discussion.

¹²In Creation as Science (Navpress, 2006, p. 54) Hugh Ross lists 22 “Major Creation Accounts” in the Bible.

¹³In Creation as Science (above) Ross would probably say this a bit differently.  Be aware that Ross maintains that the Bible is such that “predictive tests” can be applied to it as one would in science.  To illustrate this, for 4 different religious views—young-earth creationism, theistic evolution, RTB (Ross’s Reasons To Believe team of scientists), and naturalism—he presents 52 predictions (over 20 pages) that these viewpoints (to be consistent) should make.  The Bible is “testable” he declares, and reasonable belief should be based on how these predictive tests pan out.  Further he invites anyone to discuss, modify, or challenge these tests (www.reasons.org).

¹⁴For Wells, see Note 5.  In Icons on p.159ff, Wells gives a startling account of the Darwin Legend and how Darwin’s data on finches have been drastically misinterpreted and abused, as well as several other widely cited “textbook illustrations” of naturalistic evolution.  Wells’ wisdom has also appeared as a quotation on Starbucks coffee cups!

The last time I wrote I was b’midbar (in the wilderness). I encourage you to read that article to get a point of reference for this one. Ha’Shem led me to the appointed place at the appointed time to work out His established purpose in my life.  He was very intentional.  Humbling me…testing me…making me hunger…and teaching me to feed on every Word that proceeds from His mouth.  The entire time He was examining my heart to see if I would stand firm in Him (Deut. 8:2).

The Word told me to remember all the way which He caused me to go in the wilderness; to record the steps I took; and to acknowledge Him as I followed His lead.  This truth revealed in Deuteronomy 8 is re-affirmed years later by King Solomon. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your  ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”  

I will briefly highlight the events following my experience in the wilderness:

• Ha’Shem led me to speak what He had me led me to write in my last article (enforcing the cohesiveness between the two and how together they solidify into TRUTH)
• Ha’Shem took away the job I had in my last article (considering the job, that was the most humbling thing of all)
• Ha’Shem brought me a job the next Monday (through an unexpected phone call) and it was what I’ve done most of my career; finding employment for other people.  A chance to use my wilderness experience to empathize, comfort and encourage others.
• Ha’Shem gave my son a job that Wednesday (which has enabled him to leave the nest and start his own journey)
• Ha’Shem gave my husband a job that Friday (all of us working again in a week’s time in these economic times… Psalm 37:25 “I have been young and now old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread”) Hallelujah! 

When I was in the wilderness, I didn’t know the LORD’s plan, only that He had one. My focus was on the Word and His Light and I remember saying to Him every time I felt fear or doubt creeping in “LORD, You gave me everything I have… and if you take it away… Hineni, (I’m here) to serve You.” I knew He would bring me into a ‘better’ place.  But what we call a ‘better’ place isn’t necessarily what our Father calls a better place.  I came out of the wilderness with great joy and thanksgiving and the job Ha’Shem provided is sufficient for my needs.  Yet soon after, my husband was diagnosed with acute renal failure and has lost his job.  He’s on home dialysis… and I have been diagnosed with MS.  But you know what?  If I’m following the LORD, wherever I am is the right place. The place we should strive to be is the place He appoints. So I’ve endured…and followed…and rolled everything on to Him (trust). 

The Spirit was filling my head with thoughts of ‘falling.’  It started when I was in the wilderness with Psalm 37; A Psalm I kept clinging to for comfort and direction; a Psalm that encouraged me to hold fast. These thoughts of falling tumbled around in my head for a few months and I was asked for my next article. I was so thankful to be working I poured all my energy into it and failed to put the thoughts to pen. 

I was promoted into management (Praise GOD!)  I quickly became comfortable with where G-d had led me.  It’s time consuming and exhausting but He gave me authority over those who desperately need Him and gave me the tools to show them through my words and actions just who GOD is. Ha’Shem has allowed me to show His definition of ‘authority’ …which is ‘to serve.’ I serve those who work for me and they can see the difference in how I manage situations.  Above all, they know Who I give the glory to.  So I thought I had found my purpose. Nope…lean not on your own understanding. Reflecting His Light is not a purpose…it’s a privilege…a blessing…a reality if you are a child of the Kingdom.

A few months passed and the LORD continued to bless my work.  But I still didn’t make time to write down the message He was giving me. Then I had the opportunity to take a 30 hour OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) class to educate myself when dealing with customers and workers in the Construction trade. OSHA rules and regulations are divided into subparts. Scaffolding, welding, record keeping, etc.  One night we studied a subpart called “Fall Protection” explaining the plans and procedures to protect workers working above ground level.  Fall Protection. Hmmm.  Jumped right up and slapped me in the face. Alright, LORD, I got it. 

But I didn’t have it. I continued to expend my energy on everything else but writing.  The message wasn’t taking shape.  I knew it would revolve around Psalm 37 in some way and I knew it was about falling.  But I wasn’t giving those thoughts my full attention. The LORD had to shake me to pay attention, literally.

It took being in the hospital with a bright yellow band around my wrist stating in bold, black letters FALL RISK to snap me into shape.  And in that hospital bed the message was revealed… and my purpose was set in stone:  to help feed his flock through writing. 

What He has let me see is this: His Divine Purpose was not only to beat me up to see if I would still stand and serve. It was to teach me, toughen me up, straighten me out and empower me so that I could still stand and serve.  He brought me through many battles in the wilderness and on this other side.  So now, battle tested and combat ready, here I go…

Fall Protection

Ha’Shem brought the Israelites out of the wilderness to conquer the land of Canaan. They were promised milk and honey and pre-built homes, good vineyards and peace.  But they had to participate in the Plan. They had to remain obedient to His commands…and they had to fight.  Some were hurt, some were killed, but the victory for the Promised Land was the LORD’s. 

Warrior and poet, King David, writes:

“The steps of a man are ordered from the LORD and He will delight in his way. Though he falls, he is not cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand.” Psalm 37: 23-24

In Hebrew, the general word for any man is adam.  But in this verse, the word for man is geber; a strong man, righteous man, warrior.  It’s a man who is whole-heartedly following the LORD; a man who rolls everything onto the LORD in submission. It’s a man who, regardless of worldly sensibilities and pain, stands firm, wearing the full armor of G-d and walking in humility.  He may fall, but he will not be afraid and he will not relent, trusting G-d’s will be done.

Are you prepared to fall? Are you prepared to fight?  Are you prepared to suffer for Him… die for Him? Are you prepared to stand firm in Him despite earthly consequences? If you think you will be ‘taken up’ before the fight, read the Scriptures and not the best selling fiction books.  In Matthew 24:29-31 Yeshua makes it more than obvious we will be witnesses to the tribulation.

I’m not trying to convince you that you’ll be faced with the fight.  But let me assure you, if it does come in your lifetime, you better be prepared.  We are to be watching and waiting.  Not judging and not condemning and not wasting our time on fruitless endeavors.  Yeshua tells his disciples in Matthew chapter 10 to “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves”.

Where do we get wisdom?  Studying the Word. How do we become harmless as doves?  Living the Word.  And how do we get prepared for the battle?   By opening ourselves up to our Father’s teaching in our daily lives. 

Everything He allows to occur in your life is for a reason.  Just as G-d spoke to Elijah in a whisper, He speaks to us in whispers as well. He also speaks to us through earthquakes and storms in our lives. We are supposed to pay attention to what He is revealing in those moments.  The key is to be tuned in and not allow our flesh to distract us from the big picture.  Pain (and death) is of no consequence if our hope is in the world to come.

Yeshua also says in Matthew chapter 10 “do not think I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”.   We are His warriors.  Stop focusing only on His love and what He can do for you.  Focus on His mercy… and what He wants you to do for Him.  We are all fall risks.  And though we may fall, He is our protection and our soul will be upheld. 

So what will you do with this guarantee?  Go to church on Sundays or Synagogue on the Sabbath and spend the rest of the week no different than anyone else?  When our Savior, Yeshua, speaks to the churches in the Book of Revelations he tells us that if you are lukewarm… He will vomit you out.  Be obedient. Be wise. Be harmless. Be still. And be prepared.

Shalom. 

By Jennifer Ross

—A Multiverse for the Day—

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  I will give of the fountain of water of life freely to him who thirsts.” —Rev. 21:6  NKJV

  

From the old test maker comes a simple question:  Which best states what is?

a)  Nothing exists

b)  Everything exists.

c)  Something exists.

And, your reasons why?

Kids from about age 6 begin to ask questions like this—though certainly not in those words—until 6^th grade when they begin to think as the adults and older peers around them.  Daydream only in private and get on with your life, they’re told inso many ways.  There’s a sadness in this, but later a few return to seriously consider such questions—on one side of the teacher’s desk or the other.  Strapping on a bit of armor, these few once again begin to chew on fundamental musings.

Like physicist Robert Mann.

In 2009, toward the end of the International Year of Astronomy, Mann said that if “matter emerged from Mind” (as would be the case if “God created”), it should lead us to consider some interesting things.   Key to this is making a case for the existence of “something instead of everything”¹:  If we accept, as Mann and I do, recent understandings that there are about 10⁵⁸ (different kinds of) particles per (average) star², 10¹¹ stars in a galaxy, 10¹¹ galaxies in the universe (observed and implied from recent space photography), we can picture the package of things that are…a bit more easily.

And count up the “amount” (mass) of everything.

Mann goes like this:

Any finite collection of objects could be counted as “1” (ignore now the exponents) by taking the number of objects (or particles, if you will) in the “set” of the universe and dividing it by that number.

If, of course there’s nothing in a set, then there are no numbers in it except “0” or nothing.

But what if there are too many objects in the set to count?  And, no matter how high you go with your calculator, there are still more numbers to enter?   If so, we would say that the set is infinite, or  ∞.  (The symbol for infinity is an “8” flat on its back.)

Therefore, to restate the question presented at the beginning:

What, then, is the best way to express “what is?”  Choose from these answers:

a)  0

b)  ∞

c)  1

Let’s react to this welcome brevity with a bit of explanation:

First, accepting a “0” total doesn’t make much sense to us ordinary folk because, for one thing, there’s the reality of such things as my fingers pressing the keyboards to make these words, and the reality of your eyes horizontally zig-zagging to pull them off the screen.  Accepting this choice, which really reduces everything to an illusion, is like waking after a complicated bad dream and realizing there’s no reason, or even language, to think about or share where you’ve been.³

So no to “0.”

Now  ∞  is the assumption that some—just some—scientists, philosophers, and religious thinkers would choose (for reasons that walk away from the box of science, though some may disagree).  But infinity cannot be divided by itself.  (Abbreviating math logic here, if you tried this and came up with “1,” or some other answer here, by definition you could still add more to your answer because infinity is “unbounded.” No “1” is possible in this case.)

Looking for a metaphoric parallel?  With this choice all that we presently know in science is but Act 1 in a play that forever begs for an ending.  (Of course, choosers of this response wouldn’t say it quite that way…)

At the core of this choice is an elephant called “multiverse” that blind scientific cognoscenti approach from different directions. The first touches a trunk (a “water spout”); the second, a leg (or “pillar”); the third, a tail (or “rope”); the fourth, a tusk (a “plow”), and so on.  Hopefully, the elephant doesn’t wander away as the group later sits and summarizes.

What are “multiversers”⁴ saying and doing?  Let me recommend Brian Greene’s instructive (secular), readable (for many) summary, The Elegant Universe⁵ that tells you everything that you wanted to know, and more, about multiverses, String Theory, and M-Theory.

Though subscribers to multiverse are usually bright and often clever, they go in several different directions and are hard to pigeonhole.  Key to the thinking of many is the notion that the universe is, something like…infinite (as we best understand that word), with some postulating other worlds, or universes, where everything has “duplicates,” and/or “similar” or “opposite particulars” for every possibility of existence.

Further, say some, everything—everything—can eventually be connected by equations and numbers, giving us TOE, the Theory of Everything.

So how then do they now account for the delicate fine-tuning of so many earth features that make life—especially human life, even the creation of this article—possible?  Well…everything is (must be)—naturally—possible somewhere if we go “in” or “out there” far enough.  And, perhaps, we’re the ones out there already.

The problem with multiverse?   It sounds impressive, modern, and progressive.  But if we’re honest, though its various varieties are fascinating to consider and discuss, it is highly controversial even among scientists.  Even more, we must clearly recognize that it is not supported by any objective verifiable evidence—at least not yet.  But stay tuned…

Let’s go now to Option c, or “1” (that we postulated many paragraphs ago).  How does this fit our knowledge of the universe?  (1)  It recognizes that we and the world around us are real, not imaginary.  (2)  It recognizes that the universe though vast, is finite.  It is made of things that are identifiable and countable.  You could tally them and come up with a sum.

Add to that (3)  A strong scientific case can be made that time is linear and sequential, and that the universe—the “something” we’ve discussed—had a real beginning about 13.7 billion years ago, and will have a real ending in the future.  And further, (4) There is wide support from science that Earth is in fact amazingly fine-tuned in dozens of ways essential for life, especially human life.

And what does all this imply for Jewish or Christian believers who seem at the drop of hat to say “It took a miracle,” and who trust in a caring, creating, sustaining supernatural God to explain the natural world?  And the needs of creatures said to be created in his image, who love, care, hurt, wonder, experience fear and joy, and seem to always be reaching beyond themselves?

First, there is nothing for believers to fear from science—true, up-to-date modern science.  And second, oddly perhaps—perhaps not—believers should recognize that the Judeo-Christian Bible, is unique among ancient religious texts.  It alone is wonderfully congruent with, and complementary to, findings of modern science learned thousands of years later (such as the four items cited above) we’ve discussed.  But you may need to read Holy Scripture again with open eyes—and good notes—to make sure.

And as to the question “Why?” mentioned at the beginning:  What is the purpose of all this “something”?  On all teleological questions true science, by its very nature, is silent.  A key consequence of this is that we have to get our spin on what’s right and wrong somewhere else.

The Bible is not silent on purpose and value.  Believers are grateful for guidance there.  As to understanding about things, there’s science for that…and the Bible.

**********************************

(For a look at what the Bible also says about Earth and Heaven and creation, astrophysicist/evangelist Hugh Ross’s list, “The Major Biblical Creation Accounts” on p. 54ff. in Creation As Science and on p. 216 in Ross’s Why the Universe Is the Way It Is.⁶In these passages allow for metaphor, effects of translation from biblical languages, and surrounding historical and philosophical contex.  Gen. 1;   Gen. 2;  Gen. 3 – 5;  Gen. 6 – 9;  Gen. 10 – 11;  Job 9;  Job 34 – 42;  Psa. 8;  Psa. 19;  Psa. 65;  Psa. 104;  Psa. 139;  Psa. 147 – 148;  Prov. 8;  Eccl. 1 – 3, 8 – 12;  Isa. 40 – 51;  Rom. 1 – 8;  I Cor. 15;  II Cor. 4;  Heb. 1;  II Pet. 3;  Rev. 20 – 22.)

NOTES

¹Robert Mann, “The Puzzle of Existence,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. Vol. 61, No. 3 (Sept. 2009).  Though Mann is building a case for Mind coming before matter, which I agree with, I’m using his three-choice pattern here in a more basic way.  I’m talking about the reality of “everything” not just matter (and energy) that Mann and all scientists, though not all philosophers, already assume.  In this and the rest of his article, which I’ve highly adapted and paraphrased, I follow some of Mann’s clever parsing of contrasting views of how to think about existence in a broader way.  If my generalizing is soft and short-circuits Mann’s ideas, that problem lies at my own feet, not his.

²If you’re bewildered about exponents, just realize they’re short ways (usually) to write big numbers using “powers of 10.”  Ex.:  10 is 10¹ or 1 times 10;  100 is 10² or 10 times 10;  10,000 is 10⁴;  10⁹ is 1,000,000,000 and so on.   Hint: Count the zeros.  Remember, too, though exponents are convenient, they can be snake oil to glaze over the eyes of the uninitiated.

³Mann would, correctly, say I’m oversimplifying the problem here.  True.  But, then (see Note 1), I’m using his useful model in a broader way.

⁴I, an occasional poet, could—but cannot—pass up the opportunity to go further with “multi-verse” and share a little folk “versing” about this shadowy elephant.  “The Blind Men and the Elephant” has a rich folk history.

It was six men of Hindustan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

And so these men of Hindustan

Disputed loud and long,

Each is his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right

And all were in the wrong.

– John Saxe  (1816 – 1887)

⁵Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe.  Vintage Books (Random House), 2003.  Though a bit dated, this also has good information about the Big Bang.

⁶Hugh Ross, Creation As Science, NavPress, 2006; and Hugh Ross, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, Baker Books, 2008.

Author:  John Knapp II

What do Britain, Egypt, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, and Russia all have in common?  They all were world powers at one time in history.  What else do they hold in common?  They have a history of mistreating Jewish people in particular and backing the wrong horse against Israel in general.  Is there a connection between the two?

When it comes to Israel, there is one passage every individual and national leader must take into account as the Bible is very clear on this connection.  Genesis 12:1-3 states, “Now the LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’”

God made several promises to Abraham – a land, a nation and world-wide blessing.  He also tells Abraham that those who bless him will in turn be blessed and those who curse him will also be cursed.  That is a tremendously huge statement!  If you mess with Abraham, you will face the consequences.  Can this possibly be true?  In his book, Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel, author Bill Koenig uses current situations in the US to show that it is.

Koenig shows that in all of US history, nine of the ten costliest insurance events, six of the seven costliest hurricanes, three of the four largest tornado outbreaks, nine of the top ten natural disasters as ranked by FEMA relief costs and two of the largest terrorism events all transpired on the very same day or within 24-hours of U.S. presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush applying pressure on Israel to trade her land for promises of “peace and security,” sponsoring major “land for peace” meetings, making major public statements pertaining to Israel’s covenant land and/or calling for a Palestinian state.

Is this mere coincidence or is it God literally keeping the promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12?  Are we heading down this same road with the current US Administration?  Just recently my local newspaper reported on the floods taking place in the northeast region of the US.  It was reported that “flooding on a scale rarely seen in New England forced hundreds of people from their homes Wednesday.  Hardest hit by 3 days of record-breaking rain was Rhode Island, where the worst flooding in 200 years could persist for several more days.”¹

Was there anything going on between the US and Israel at that time?  There was a huge storm brewing between the two “allies”.  “On most issues, there is substantive continuity between Obama’s Middle East policies and those his immediate predecessor George W. Bush adopted during his second term in office.  Yet, whereas Israelis viewed Bush as Israel’s greatest friend in the White House, they view Obama as the most anti-Israel US president ever.  In the space of the past ten days alone, Israel has been subject to three malicious blows courtesy of Obama and his advisors.” ²

What sparked this latest storm was Israel’s construction plans for Jerusalem.  The US has been pressuring Israel to stop all construction in East Jerusalem so she can prove that she is ready to negotiate peace with the Palestinians.  So when American Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel on March 9, 2010, Israel announced further development of a Jerusalem suburb named Ramat Shlomo, and a diplomatic firestorm broke loose.

What is interesting about this firestorm is that Ramat Shlomo is not even in East Jerusalem, but is clearly in the northwest section of Jerusalem.  Yet the US Media keeps reporting and the US Administration keeps emphasizing that this suburb is in East Jerusalem, which has been ear marked for a Palestinian capital.  Why create a storm where there clearly is no issue?  Is there a hidden agenda?  Is the US moving away from its historic support of Israel?

If what was reported on March 29, 2010 is any indication, American policy might be making that shift.  “The US is considering abstaining if the United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution against Israeli construction in eastern Jerusalem, the BBC reported Sunday.  For decades, Israel has depended on the US to veto UNSC resolutions aimed against it.  A change in this US policy could be very perilous for Israel.  A diplomatic source told the BBC that a US official said the US would ‘seriously consider abstaining’ if the issue of Israeli construction for Jews was put to the vote.” ³

Why is this important?  Israel regularly gets bashed in the United Nations with anti-Israel resolutions being passed.  But these resolutions have very little bite to them.  They are just ink on paper.  But with the Security Council, which has the power to back up its actions, the picture rapidly changes.  Israel’s friend could now become her foe at worst or ambivalent at best.

Under George W. Bush, “Israel went along with US policies despite their strategic madness because Israel wanted to be a team player.  The Sharon and Olmert governments and the Israeli public as a whole believed that Israel had an ally in the Bush administration and that when push came to shove, the massive risks Israel took supporting US policies on Iran [let diplomacy take its course], Syria [Iranian-Syrian-North Korean nuclear alliance], Lebanon [don’t attack those who side with Hezbollah, namely the Lebanese government and military, which lead to Israel’s defeat by Hezbollah], Turkey [who supports Iran’s nuclear goals] and the Palestinians [measured responses to rocket attacks on Israel’s border with Gaza] would be rewarded [US would guarantee Israel’s security].  But what Obama has made clear in his mistreatment of Israel [in this current diplomatic explosion] is that he doesn’t want Netanyahu to walk the plank for the team.  He wants Israel off the team.”⁴

In other words, Israel went along with at worst or kept its mouth shut at best with US Middle East policy because it knew the US had its back.  Up to this point, US Administrations saw themselves as the guarantor of Israel’s security.  The current Administration, however, appears to be moving away from this policy.  In his article, “The Trust is Gone,” former New York Mayor, Jewish Democrat and Obama supporter Ed Koch stated, “It [this current diplomatic flap] has created a serious crisis of confidence among the Israeli public that it can depend on this Administration for its security.”⁵

Whether that is good or bad, for the purposes of this discussion, doesn’t matter.  It is what it is.  US foreign policy is changing.  And one of those changes is that the US appears to be moving away from guaranteeing Israel’s security, which is exactly what the Bible says must happen, no matter what party holds the White House.

One must understand that when it comes to prophecy, it’s not about America.  It’s about Israel.  And we learn from Ezekiel 38 and 39 that Israel will be attacked once again and in this particular prophecy, she has no one to guarantee her peace, her security, except the Lord.

Ezekiel describes a time when Israel will be living in peace and “are living in safety”, a “land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate” (38:8).  When Israel is feeling at peace, she will be attacked by a number of countries (who and is it that coalition coming together today will be the subject of a future article).  Yet Ezekiel states in 38:18-23 that God will do the fighting for Israel.  He will take care of Israel’s enemies all by Himself and the world will not only see it, but know that it was God alone who did it.

Now, let’s face it.  For those who live with a Biblical worldview and know Israel’s brief history, we would have to say that it was God who brought Israel into existence “in a day.”  We look at the odds Israel faced in her wars and come to the only plausible conclusion, God fought through the Israeli army like He did during the days of Joshua when Israel first conquered the land.  Is God getting the credit for Israel’s current existence?  No.  Do most people on the planet see this as God’s doing?  Hey, if most Israeli’s don’t credit God with their existence, what can you expect from the rest of the world?

Yet the war that Ezekiel describes reveals that “all on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence…I will make Myself known in the sight of many nations.  Then they will know that I am the LORD.”  Up to this point, it is “debatable” whether God brought about the existence of Israel as a nation again.  In this end time prophecy, that debate will be gone.  The entire world will know it was God who defeated Israel’s enemies.  Now, if the US is the guarantor of Israel’s security, then who would get the credit for defeating Israel’s enemies in Ezekiel?  The US.  But this passage specifically states that the world will know that it’s neither the US nor the Israeli Defense Force, but God and God alone who defeated Israel’s enemies.  How God does this is quite the story, but that’s for another day.

For this outcome to occur, the US will have to come to the point that it is no longer Israel’s security guarantee.  In this scenario, does it mean that the US will no longer be a world power?  Does it mean that the US must be humbled economically so as to back off its military commitments?  No, it simply means the US will not back Israel’s defense.  She may be hostile or ambivalent when Israel is being attacked.  But no matter what, America is on the sidelines watching events take place in Israel.

Having said that however, if any US Administration, again it doesn’t have to be the current holder of the White House as God can change that situation at any time, turns their back on Israel, what does that mean for the US?  Genesis 12.   Think about something for a moment.  Is it any wonder how the US won the Cold War leaving the US as the sole world power without a bullet being fired?  As one politician noted, “It’s the economy stupid!”  Those who bless Israel will be blessed.  Ask yourself, which of the two Cold War countries supported Israel?  Those who bless Israel will be blessed.  Is it any wonder why the US of all the world’s powers over time is still the sole super-power today?  Those who bless Israel will be blessed.

As of today, there is a shift in US foreign policy away from Israel.  Is it the crack that eventually breaks the dam?   It’s possible.  If it continues, there will be consequences.  The reason the past super-powers are past was their treatment of Israel.  Could the United States be the next past super-power because of her shift in support for Israel?  Could the reason so many natural disasters have occurred in the past 3 presidencies be because of those Administration’s treatment of Israel?  Could the worst flooding in Rhode Island’s past 200 year history be linked to the current Administration’s policies regarding Israel?

What is known from the Ezekiel prophecy is that America, the current guarantor of Israel’s security, is not present.   Whether that is by choice (foreign policy shift) or by force (something happens in or to America), we’ll have to wait and see.  Whether it is under this president or some future one, an American Administration will decide not to support Israel.  And when this happens, Genesis 12 will come true.  The long run of a prosperous economy will subside.  The time of American superiority will come to an end.  History is quite clear on this point.  Only time will tell when that takes place, but one thing is for sure, God has kept, is keeping and will keep His promise made to Abraham.

You know me; knowledge for knowledge sake is useless.  The Bible tells us always apply what we learn.  So allow me to give you a few practical applications.  First, trust in the Word of God, not the words of politicians of any party or country.  God’s Word has and will continue to prove itself true.  Second, allow the Word of God and the Spirit of God to change your life from the inside out.  The more you become like Jesus, the more you take on His character, the better prepared you’ll be to handle whatever comes your way in the future.  Third, live with a Biblical worldview.  See all of life through the Word of God, not the culture or country in which you live.  It’s not about America’s future; it’s about individual’s futures – where they chose to live for eternity.  Lastly, pray for your governmental leaders that they would believe and submit to the Word of God.  From an American perspective, most people in Congress and in the general American population currently support Israel.  But they don’t make foreign policy, the president does.  Yet the people will pay the price for their government’s choices.  I don’t know about you, but I want the blessings of God, rather than the curses.

Author: Pastor Chris Suitt

End Notes

1. Press Enterprise, “Floodwaters slam Northeast,” April 1, 2010 C1.

2. Caroline B Glick, “Exploiting the Crisis”, Jewish World Review, April 2, 2010.

3. Gil Ronen, “US May Abstain if UNSC Votes on Eastern Jerusalem Construction”, IsraelNationalNews.com, April 10,2010.

4. Caroline B Glick, “Exploiting the Crisis”, Jewish World Review, April 2, 2010.

5. Ed Koch, “The Trust is Gone”, IsraelNationalNews.com, March 25, 2010.

A View Within the Canopy

“He stretches out the heavens like a tent.” — Psalms 104:2

At the time of this writing (Feb. 22, 2010), the world’s oldest photograph is about seven weeks old.

What?

First, there are two kinds of “old” pictures:  (1) pictures taken in the past of, say, Grandma and Grandpa, your childhood days, any person or thing (obviously) also in the past, and (2) pictures taken in the present (or recently) of things in the past—of things that happen to be very far away.

Things that happened very long ago.

Here I’m talking about the second kind of photograph, in particular one just taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the world as it existed 13,100,000,000 years ago.¹ (Not, however, quite back to the Beginning—13.7 billion years ago—but comparatively close.)

Really?

Yes, I think so.  Let me try to explain.  To begin:  Technically, we see nothing as it is; we see (or hear or touch or smell or taste) things as they were a split second earlier since it takes time for our senses to tell the brain what’s out there.  Practically speaking, however, light is so fast that we can look, cross our fingers, and declare what things on Earth “are,” not “were,” and get away with it.  The same is true about sound which also travels fast, but much slower than light.  (For example, in London we can say we know Big Ben “is” across the street because we “hear”—not, more accurately, “heard”—it chime;  if we were viewing the clock a mile away, the chiming would be “heard” 5 seconds later.)

But when our senses (just sight, really) reach up and out from Earth things change and, to some of us, become more interesting.

Astronomers, with or without telescopes, are always looking at history, never the present.  So move over, Traditional History.  In fact, David Christian who trained at Oxford has recently developed the notion of teaching “Big History”², encouraging students (and history teachers) to begin at the Beginning—The Big Bang—and trace what we know about big ideas through astronomy, geology with its plate tectonics, paleontology, traditional and modern history, right up to Obama.  To begin to educate ourselves in the 21^st century, we need to update ourselves with at least the headlines about everything.

Back to what’s up and out there.

We never see the moon as it “is,” but only as it was a little more than a second ago because light travels at about 186,000 miles per second, and the moon is about a quarter million miles away.  And the sun, about 93 million miles away, needs about 8.3 minutes to send its light here.  We never see the sun as it is, but as it was 8.3 minutes ago.  With pretty good evidence, we have faith that the source of this light is still there though we’d have to stick around ten minutes or so be “absolutely” convincing.

Since astronomers can slice and dice light from stars to identify the main elements they’re made of and how they’re moving with regard to Earth, we can tell how far they are away.  Now, with sophisticated telescopes and spacecraft, as we wade farther and farther into space we find the lag time between stars and the light they give us becomes staggeringly long.  The term “light-year” (5.88 trillion miles), the distance light travels in one year, helps us to more quickly express great distances.

Now where are we going and what’s new?

Until seven weeks ago, the best science we could “see” with telescopes showed us what the universe looked like about 12,800,000,000 years ago.  (Numbers and physics via Einstein and others have consistently maintained that there’s about 900,000,000 years more of stuff out there before we come to nothing, but we haven’t “seen” this—yet .)

Now, with the Hubble’s relaying of photos, we can trace our past back to about 13,100,000,000 years since The Big Bang.

What do we make of this recent photograph?

First, accepting these and other findings which cap off the effort of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, we now have a glimpse of what the universe was like much nearer the Beginning when galaxies were smaller and simpler than they are today.

Second, this is another piece of evidence supporting the strong hypothesis that:

• the universe is older than 13.1 billion years (13.7, we think);

• the universe is very, very large, but finite;

• the universe (with, now, its 4 recognizable and measurable dimensions—3 of space and 1 of time) once had a beginning and will eventually have an end; and

• time is linear (with a beginning and an end).

Third, these findings are inconsistent with, or are incompatible with, many traditional eastern religions that claim that the physical universe is eternal, goes on forever, or is somehow unendingly cyclic, undergoing long-term “deaths and rebirths.”  This is also incompatible with certain Jewish and Christian “young-earth creationism” views that insist that the Earth was created before stars or anything else, and that the entire universe can be no older than 6,000 to 10,000 years.

Fourth, on the other hand this recent picture is entirely compatible with “old-earth creationism,” held by many Jews and Christians who accept both the age findings of science and the accuracy and reliability of the Bible.³  In fact, to the best of my knowledge, the Bible is the only ancient document (or collection of documents) of a major religion that teaches and assumes that time is linear.⁴

Fifth, and take a deep breath, what we see in this “recent old” photograph is so old that what has been pictured in news releases actually existed before the Earth itself was created!⁵

What does the Bible add, if anything, to all this?  In addition to the first chapter of Genesis, and at the risk of unfairly pulling passages out of context, you may want to glance at these:  Psa. 19:1-6;  Psa. 33:6-9;  Heb. 1:10-12;  and Jn. 1:1-3.   Allow for rich metaphor which is unavoidable in a pre-scientific age with little technical understanding and language, and for a geocentric focus since human needs are being addressed.⁶  The god of these words is hardly a primitive local deity.

Inside the heavenly canopy that God unfolded and “stretched out like a tent,” in a delightful world not yet “[worn] out like a garment,”⁷ we can now seriously think and meditate in fresh ways about the God who’s blessed us with so much.

Author: John Knapp II

NOTES

¹Reported by Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press on Jan. 6, 2010 in the Binghamton Press of Binghamton, NY.  But google “Hubble Space Telescope” for much more information.

²Discover magazine, Vol. CLVIII, No. 35 (October 2009), pp. 66-69.  In an interview about Walter Alvarez, David Christian, a Russian historian, is mentioned as coining “big history,” and encouraging the teaching (in a single course, as he has done in Macquarie Univ. Australia) the four “great regimes” of real history—cosmos, earth, life, and humanity—to give the big picture of where everything came from and is going.

³The “old earth/young earth” controversy has been discussed in many places by those who consider the Bible to be inspired by God and an accurate and reliable record.  See my earlier article “ ‘In the Beginning God created…’ But When Was That?” at this website (type in my name in the search box to easily reach the archives).  See also “23 Questions Christians Should Ask to Have an Intelligent Discussion About Creation/Evolution” at “Resources” on my website [www.johnknapp2.com] and/or any of several resources at Reasons to Believe [www.reasons.org].

⁴Some may wish to say the Qur’an or Koran also teaches that time is linear.  To that we’ll only make two quick observations:  (1) Much of the Qur’an uses the Old and New Testaments for its information about creation and origins, and (2) the two Bible Testaments predate the Qur’an by many centuries.

⁵If this seems contradictory to a literal reading of Scripture, see note 3 (above).  Key to old earth-creationist views is that the universe (stars, etc.) was created in Gen. 1:1;  and that on Creation Day 4 the sun, moon, and stars—already created—were “made to appear” as the vapor canopy broke apart and unmasked them.  Still further, note that I and other Christians accept many miracles from God at face value such as the creating of the universe at the point where time begins, or Jesus rising from the dead, or even his changing water into wine.  However, if a belief that the Earth and universe can be no older than 6000 or 10,000 years forbids your accepting a Hubble photograph of the universe from what has been interpreted scientifically to be 13,100,000,000 ago, then God could have miraculously created the “light on the way” so that it only seems to be 13,099,990,000 (using the 10,000 figure) light-years away.  God could do that.  He also could confuse scientists in the physics they use to describe light that comes from outer space.

But if so, why?

⁶Add to these, if you like, Job 9:5-12;  Psa. 104;  Psa. 148;  Prov. 8;  and II Pet. 3:4-13.

“Israel, Palestine and the Middle East”

Part 2 (of 2)

Under his third point, Mr. Piper has no trouble quoting Scripture that speaks to terrible curses that will (have been) placed upon Israel. For example he writes,

“…in the terrible list of curses that God promised to bring on the people if they broke his covenant and forsook him was this, ‘And the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you. So the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.'” (Deuteronomy 28:63)

He continues to write, “Throughout the history of Israel, covenant breaking and disobedience and idolatry disqualified Israel from the present divine right to the land.”

This is a gross misstatement of the Word of G-d. First of all Mr. Piper willfully ignores numerous Scriptures that speak to the fact that in the last days God will return the Jewish people to the land. This returning to the Land of Israel is part of the plan that will lead to masses of Jewish people accepting the Gospel. Mr. Piper’s failure to see this in the Scripture is most telling. At the beginning of the article he quotes the verse from Romans, (This quotation is from Mr. Piper’s article and not according to how it appears in the book of Romans)

“As regards the gospel, they (Israel) are enemies of God (as previously noted the word God does not appear in the Greek text, but was added incorrectly) for your (Gentile) sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.”

Why does his article only deal with an explanation of the consequences of Israel’s rejection of the Gospel and not the second half of the verse which speaks to Israel’s election and the fact they are beloved by God? Although Mr. Piper affirms that Jewish people still have human rights he writes,

“Israel still has human rights among nations even when she forfeits her present divine right to the Land.”

Yes, while it is true God Himself has exiled the Jewish people from the Land, He also promises to return them to the Land. In fact Jesus will not establish His Kingdom until the Jewish people have returned to the Land. It is important to consider a few of the numerous Bible verses that speak to this point. When the context for these verses is also understood the case is made in the strongest manner.

First, Isaiah informs his listeners that the Jewish people will, in the last days, return to the land according to the commandment of the Lord. In the following passage Isaiah expressly says that the Jewish people must settle in the places where they dwelt previously.

“Spread out the place of your tent, let the curtains of your dwelling places stretch out, do not withhold; lengthen your cords and make strong your tent pegs. For you shall spread out right and left and your descendant shall inherit the nations; and the desolate cities they will settle. Fear not for you will not be shamed, for you will not be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; for the shame of your youth you will forget, and the disgrace of your widowhood you will not remember any more. For your Husband is your maker—The Lord of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of all the earth will He be called. For as a wife is forsaken and sad, the Lord has called you and a wife of one’s youth she will be despised says your God. In a brief moment I have left you and in great mercy I will gather you. In a fury I concealed My face from you for a moment and in eternal grace I am merciful to you says your Redeemer—the Lord. For like the waters of Noah, this is to Me which I have sworn, the waters of Noah will not pass over the land again, thus I have sworn not to be wrathful unto you nor to rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may collapse, but My grace will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not falter says the Lord Who shows you mercy.”

Isaiah 54:2-10

This passage confirms not only God’s plan to have the people resettle the land, but the fact that although Israel will suffer for her disobedience, the covenant will be maintained by God Himself. To those like Mr. Piper that present Israel as without a covenant today, this passage speaks strongly against them. It is most significant that this passage comes immediately following the famed Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53 speaks about the suffering Messiah and it is Messiah’s suffering that ultimately will establish the covenant of peace, i.e. redemption. This is why God is spoken about in this passage from Isaiah chapter 54 as the Redeemer.

Not only does Isaiah speak about the Jewish people’s return to the Land of Israel in the last days, but so does Jeremiah.

“Woe, O, Shepherds who scatter and spread the flock of My pasture, says the Lord.  Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd My people, you scattered My flock and drove them away and will I not visit upon them; behold I will visit upon you the wickedness of your deeds, says the Lord.  I will gather up the remnant of My flock from all the lands which I have dispersed them there, I will return them to their pleasant places and they shall be fruitful and multiply.  I will establish for them shepherds and they shall shepherd them and they shall no longer be afraid nor dismayed and they shall not be visited (by their enemies) says the Lord.  Behold the days are coming says the Lord, and I will establish for David the Righteous Branch and a King will reign and be prosperous; He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In those days, Judah and Israel shall be saved; they will dwell in security and this is His name which He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.   Therefore behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt; but rather, As the Lord lives, Who brought up and brought back the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where I scattered them there and they shall dwell on their own land.'”

Jeremiah 23:1-8

This passage is as well Messianic, and it likewise speaks to the fact that in the last days there will be a great return of the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel. Why is it so hard for individuals like John Piper to read these Scriptures and understand that part of Israel’s coming to faith in Messiah Jesus is inherently linked to the Jewish people returning to the Land? For one to stand against Israel and her borders like Mr. Piper does, is to stand against God’s prophesied plan for the Jewish people’s salvation experience in the last days. His failure to grasp this when so many Biblical verses speak to this point seems most puzzling.

The prophet Ezekiel makes this same point concerning the Jewish people’s return to the Land and likewise links this to the Messiah.

“And say unto them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am taking the children of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and I will bring them to their own land.  I will make them one nation in the land, in the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be for them for a king and they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any longer.  And they shall not be contaminated any longer with their idols, or with their abominations, or in their transgressions; but I will save them from all their dwelling places which they have sinned in them.  I will purify them and they shall be for Me for a people.  And I will be for them (their) God.  And my Servant David will be a King over them and one Shepherd shall be over them and in My judgments they shall walk and My laws they shall keep.  And they shall do them.  And they shall dwell upon the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, in which their fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell upon it, they and their sons and their sons’ sons forever, and David My Servant, shall be Prince over them forever.  And I will establish for them a covenant of peace, an eternal covenant will be with them and I shall set them and increase them and place My sanctuary in their midst forever.  My dwelling place shall be among them and I will be for them (their) God and they shall be for me a people, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord that sanctifies Israel when My sanctuary is in their midst.'”

Ezekiel 37:21-28

This is perhaps one of the strongest sections in the Bible that speaks to how God will gather up the Jewish people, not because of any merit on their part (And they shall not be contaminated any longer with their idols, or with their abominations, or in their transgressions), but because of the Lord’s grace and His faithfulness to His covenant, which although John Piper sees as broken beyond repair, the Prophets do not. In this passage as well the Jewish people’s return to the Land is linked to their coming to Messiah. Once again although David is mentioned, this is clearly a reference to the Son of David, Messiah Jesus.

Another very important part of this prophecy is that when the Gentiles see God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people, they too will come to the knowledge that the God of Israel is the true living God (See verse 28). From the very first time God spoke to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 12, it was clear that Israel being right with God and walking in His ways will bring about a blessing upon the Gentiles.

“And the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your land, from your birthplace, from the house of your father, to the land which I will show you.  I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and it shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and curse the one that curses you.   And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'”
Genesis 12:1-3

In other words Gentiles, especially Christian Gentiles, should not speak against Israel’s divine right to the Land, one that the Prophets clearly maintain is in force in the last days. Israel’s return to the Land is an integral part of God’s divine plan to bless all people. Those who stand against this plan place themselves on the side of the enemies of God. The prophet Joel speaks about the nations coming to make war with the Jewish people in the last days. He writes,

“For behold in those days and in that time I will return the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. I will gather the nations and I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshafat (the Lord Judges) and I will be judged with them there concerning My people and My inheritance Israel which they scattered among the nations and My Land which they divided.”

Joel 4:1-2 (Hebrew Bible and Joel 3:1-2 English Bible)

Time after time the Prophets echo the fact that God will return the people to the Land and those who contend with this will be judged. Notice in this section that the Lord will punish those who divide the Land of Israel. This foreshadows a deal that will cause the State of Israel to make concessions of Land for a false peace agreement. It will only lead to war as Joel declares. According to the Word of God, it is wrong to divide the Land. Mr. Piper advocating a position based upon what international leaders would deem as a “just” settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a position that calls for the division of the Land of Israel.

Mr. Piper’s fourth point is JESUS CHRIST HAS COME INTO THE WORLD AS THE JEWISH MESSIAH AND HIS OWN PEOPLE REJECTED HIM AND BROKE COVENANT WITH THEIR GOD. This is certainly an overstatement. In the first century there were numerous Jewish people who accepted Jesus. One reads in the book of Acts that there were numerous thousands of Jews who believed in Jesus. The New Testament uses the phrase πόσαι μυριάδες which means many sets of ten thousands. (See Acts 21:20). These Jewish believers were persecuted by the Roman Empire like their non-believing relatives. In fact, many atrocities have been done to the Jewish people by those professing to be “christians” for nearly the last two thousand years. Today there are as many as a half million Jewish believers in the world. For Mr. Piper to say “…nevertheless the people of Israel as a whole rejected him” is simply not correct. While it is true that the majority of Jewish people have not accepted Jesus, for him to use the word “whole” as in Israel as a whole rejected Jesus, is ignorant of the facts.

In attempting to justify his assertions, he uses passages from Matthew 21 and Matthew 8. In the former, Jesus is not addressing the Jewish people at large, but only Israel’s leaders— the chief priest and the elders (See verse 23). Why does Mr. Piper continually lump the Jewish people at large with the narrow and specific group that Jesus is addressing in the Biblical text? In the Matthew 8 passage, it is also clear that Jesus is not condemning all Jews, but simply warning that, as Mr. Piper stated under his third point, that being Jewish alone is not a guarantee to being part of the Kingdom of God. Mr. Piper’s use of Matthew 8:11-12 is twisted in order to affirm his belief that the Jewish people are the enemies of God and have no divine right to the Land of Israel; while a simple reading of these verses, in the proper context reveal something quite different. The emphasis of the passage is the importance of faith. Jesus is warning that without faith even Jewish individuals who are called to be leaders in the Kingdom will be banished from this Kingdom and punished. However, to twist these verses as proof text that says Jews as a whole are enemies of God and therefore God has no purpose for them living in the Land of Israel, causes a great deal of Biblical prophecy to be null and void. Mr. Piper concludes his fourth point with his favorite statement in the article, “…they are enemies of God.”

The major fallacy of Mr. Piper in regard to the Jewish people and a divine right to the Land is seen when he writes,

“Through the history of Israel, covenant breaking and disobedience and idolatry disqualified Israel from the present divine right to the Land.”

It is most interesting that Mr. Piper sites Daniel 9:4-7. While it is true that Israel’s sin caused her to be taken into exile, the punishment was to seventy years only. Daniel chapter nine is an excellent example of the exact opposite of what Mr. Piper believes. For Daniel reveals that God is restoring the people back to the Land, not because of any merit on the part of Israel, but solely because of God’s faithfulness to His Covenant. Mr. Piper needed to take into consideration all the verses that appear at the beginning of his article. It is most telling that he chose to ignore Romans 11:29,

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

This means that no other people may assert a divine right to the Land nor does Israel ever forfeit her divine right. Yes God may remove them for a period of time, but He will bring them back to the Land, not because of an acceptance of Jesus, but for the purpose of them accepting their Savior. This is a most significant part of Biblical prophecy.

Mr. Piper’s fifth point is THEREFORE, THE SECULAR STATE OF ISRAEL TODAY MAY NOT CLAIM A PRESENT DIVINE RIGHT TO THE LAND, BUT THEY AND WE SHOULD SEEK A PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT NOT BASED ON PRESENT DIVINE RIGHTS, BUT ON INTERNATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE, MERCY AND PRACTICAL FEASIBILITY.

What is most shocking is his lack of knowledge of history. The modern State of Israel was founded primarily by secular Jews. Israel does not thump the Bible to justify her existence. Rather it became clear to most people after the holocaust that the world needed to recognize a modern Jewish State of Israel (See UN General Assembly Resolution 181, November 29, 1947). Since Mr. Piper is not calling for a disbanding of the Nation of Israel and feels that justice, mercy and practical feasibility should be the basis for settling the problem in the Middle East concerning the Israelis and Palestinians, let’s consider the issue from this point of view. In 2000, Israel’s then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, offered the Palestinian Authority nearly all the land that Jordan possessed before attacking Israel in 1967. The exceptions to this had to do with the large Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, highway 90 in the Jordan valley and a small area on the Temple Mount for Jewish prayers. Certainly most people would see this as a reasonable settlement. In exchange Israel demanded one thing, an end of violence. It is significant that the then-head of the PA, Yasser Arafat, refused this offer. Due to the unreasonableness of the Palestinian Authority, the United States then ended all dialogues with Arafat, as they felt there was not a true partner for Israel with which to negotiate.

It needs to be pointed out that over the next three years the worst uprising occurred as Palestinian terrorism soared. Who was not practicing mercy and justice? Here are the facts: The Palestinian people were a problem for the Jordanian government.  After losing the war with Israel, Jordan was very happy to pass this problem on to Israel. Although one should not minimize the suffering of the Palestinians, it is most significant that Israel has contributed more money and assistance to them than the Arab world in general.  In actuality, the Arab world simply uses the suffering of the Palestinian people as a way to condemn the nation and people of Israel.  But what is the cause of their suffering and who is to blame?

The first point that I would like to offer is that Israelis have no desire to rule or inflict any suffering upon any people, including the Palestinians. Prior to the Six Day War in 1967, were there Jewish individuals committing acts of terror against those who resided in Judea and Samaria? The answer is no. The facts are clear that Israel was most content with her borders and left the residents of Judea and Samaria to the Jordanians. However after the war the residents of Judea and Samaria became by default Israel’s problem. Some have suggested that Israel should have simply returned the land back to Jordan with the people. Such a decision was in conflict with what many experts felt Israel needed to secure her people:

On June 29, 1967, General Earl Wheeler, Chairman of the joint Chiefs-of-Staff, submitted to President Johnson a document on “The Minimum Requirements for Israel’s Defense.” According to Wheeler, the historical, geographic, topographic, political and military reality of the Middle East behooves Israel to control the mountain ridges of Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. In fact, the dramatic technological upgrading of Arab military forces, since 1967, has made surprise offensives (e.g. 1973, Yom Kippur War) swifter, ballistic missiles significantly more destructive and precise, population centers and IDF bases more vulnerable and the deployment of reservists (75% of Israel’s military force!) much slower and problematic. Hence, there is a dramatically increasing importance of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria in blocking and delaying a surprise invasion, providing Israel’s reservists with more time for deployment (Without reservists, Israel would be lethally inferior to invading Arab forces).

One hundred US retired Generals and Admirals signed a public advertisement in October 1988, contending that Israel should not withdraw from Judea and Samaria — which could not be demilitarized effectively – lest it fails to provide security to its people. The late Admiral “Bud” Nance defined Judea and Samaria’s eastern mountain ridge (3,000 foot steep slope), dominating the Jordan Valley, as “the most effective tank barrier” and the western mountain ridge (2,000 foot moderate slope), over-towering Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as “a dream platform for invasion to the narrow coastal plain.”

This quotation was taken from an article by Yoram Ettinger in his July- August 2009 article entitled “Judea and Samaria— A Wake Up Call”

Israel has tried to live peacefully with her neighbors since 1948, but due to the evil intentions of her neighbors she has acquired the land that most military experts see as necessary for Israel’s survival. I fear that when Mr. Piper says that Israel should seek a peaceful settlement that he is implying concession of land. Perhaps this is not the case, but what is sure is that Israel has demonstrated a willingness to make unwise concessions that have brought about the deaths of more than a thousand Israelis since the infamous handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. Not only have Israelis suffered, but so too have the Palestinians. It is most clear that since the PA took over the day to day administration of much of Judea and Samaria, and Hamas in the Gaza strip, corruption has run rampant and the social and economic situation of the residents of these places have deteriorated greatly. Some would like to blame the Israelis for this, but as more money is pumped into these places less and less goes to the residents and more and more is put into the foreign bank accounts of its “leaders”.

If Israel is guilty it, she is guilty of allowing international pressure to cause them to cease to administer these places. Let us consider Bethlehem and Gaza as examples. Many Christians have joined the international voice demanding Israel leave Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Israel departed from Gaza in 2006). As Israel has departed, it is very important to understand what has happened to Arab Christians in these places.  They have suffered persecution from their Muslim neighbors. The PA and Hamas are Muslim organizations which want to stamp out any other religious expression. I have spoken personally to Arab Christians in these areas and can attest to the lack of human rights that are now afforded to Arab Christians because of Israel’s departure. In Bethlehem, Muslim militants used a Christian neighborhood to shoot at a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem called Gilo. Naturally Israel could not tolerate this assault on its citizens and returned fire. What occurred? The outcome was the destruction of this Arab Christian neighborhood. What does the world hear?  Nothing about the cause of Israel’s actions, just how the “evil occupier” destroyed the homes of poor Arabs. I believe that it is these misrepresentations of truth by the media that play a large role in people like John Piper being misinformed.

The sixth point that Mr. Piper makes is BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, THE JEWISH MESSIAH, GENTILES BECOME HEIRS OF THE PROMISE OF ABRAHAM, INCLUDING (sic) THE PROMISE OF LAND. Mr. Piper’s replacement theology is clearly seen in this statement. While it is true that Gentile believers become full members of God’s covenant family, the promise that is addressed is that of the kingdom, and not the Land of Israel. Mr. Piper does not say or imply that now the Land of Israel is for Christians. Rather his theology does not place any significance on the Land of Israel any more than any other piece of real estate. His focus is seen in the following statement,

“Therefore Jewish believers in Jesus and Gentile believers will inherit the Land. And the easiest way to see this is to see that we will inherit the world which includes the Land.”

Mr. Piper calls debates over the Land of Israel “quibbling” over real estate which is pale in comparison to the future of both Jewish and Gentile believers who will inherit a new heaven and a new earth. It is his last paragraph under his sixth point that reveals what is one of the causes of his misinterpretation of this issue. For Mr. Piper it is the end that takes precedent over all other things. While the end is the most glorious, one must take into account all the necessary steps to arrive there. Mr. Piper’s oversimplification of prophecy is rooted in his failure to do the necessary diligence in considering all of Scripture. It is this oversimplification that causes him to ignore the totality of God’s plan for the last days and His faithfulness to the physical offspring of Jacob.

While Abraham is a model of faith for all individuals, it is Biblically incorrect to ignore the significance of Scripture which passes the promises from Abraham to Isaac and then to Jacob and his offspring. A very important prophecy that was given to Jacob occurs in Genesis 28. In this well known account of Jacob and the ladder, one learns from John’s Gospel that the ladder is the Messiah (See John 1:51). The ladder is used for the Messiah in order to show that it is Jesus that provides the way for man to ascend into the heavens to be with God. What is also of great importance is that together with this Biblical truth, Jacob is told by the Lord that his descendants must spread out throughout the Land of Israel as a condition for the fulfillment of Abraham’s promise.

“And your (Jacob) seed shall be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread out to the west and east and north and south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 28:14

Jacob received this commandment while he was on the very piece of land that would become the Temple Mount. Hence it is the descendants of Jacob that must settle in the land in and around Jerusalem. This is a necessary part of God’s plan that Mr. Piper ignores. Rather, his view is that believers will inherit the Land as a de facto result of inheriting the world. This view fails to take into account the necessary order that Scripture demands.  It is most significant that the prophecy of Obadiah, which speaks about a war over the land of Israel, ends with Jews living in the land that includes the present boundaries of Israel and additionally, land in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, as a prerequisite for the Kingdom to be established.

Mr. Piper’s seventh point is FINALLY, THIS INHERITANCE OF CHRIST’S PEOPLE WILL HAPPEN AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST TO ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM, NOT BEFORE; AND TILL THEN, WE CHRISTIANS MUST NOT TAKE UP ARMS TO CLAIM OUR INHERITANCE; BUT RATHER LAY DOWN OUR LIVES TO SHARE OUR INHERITANCE WITH AS MANY AS WE CAN. Once again Mr. Piper fails to understand that Messiah will not come back until the Jewish people are back in the land. Nor does he ever mention that in order for “Christians…to claim our inheritance,” certain events must take place. His view is like a man who is expecting the joy of grandchildren, but has never married and does not have any children. In other words, he wants to jump to the end without allowing for all the intermediate steps.

Also in this seventh point there is a strong element of pacifism. In the end times the Bible is quite explicit about the fact that God’s people will have to fight. In actuality God will empower the Jewish people to defeat those from the Gentiles that will attack Jerusalem.

“On that day the Lord will defend the one who dwells in Jerusalem and it shall come about the weak among them on that day will be like David …” Zechariah 12:8

Certainly the reference to David is for his fighting ability and the victory which he brought over the enemies of Israel. There is no doubt which side the Lord will be on during the last days, for He will defend the Jewish people from all those who come against them in their Land. In the same way that God will stand with the Jewish people in the end times, this is where He stands today…against those who dare ask Israel to make concessions of Land for any reason, let alone to Muslim terrorists who confess in their charter that one of their express goals is the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel. 

In conclusion, Mr. Piper’s article does not present the revelation of Scripture in regard to this issue, but rather a distortion of Biblical verses in an attempt to advance his position for a Palestinian State. Although he never states this outright, the fact that he uses the term Palestine in the name of his article and states that he believes that Israel has forfeited her divine right to the Land, and says that he believes international standards of peace and mercy should be used to settle this conflict over the Land, clearly reveals his true beliefs, i.e., a Palestinian State.

I highly recommend one read the article by John Piper to which this article responds.  It can be found at www.desiringgod.org and search “Israel”.