Word from Jerusalem - October 2022 - USA Edition

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was established in1980 in recognition of the biblical significance of all of Jerusalem and its unique connection to the Jewish people. Today the ICEJ represents millions of Christians, churches, and denominations to the nation and people of Israel. We recognize in the restoration of Israel the faithfulness of God to keep His ancient covenant with the Jewish people. Our main objectives are:

• To stand with Israel in support and friendship;

• To equip and teach the worldwide church regarding God’s purposes with Israel and the nations of the Middle East;

• To be an active voice of reconciliation between Jews, Christians, and Arabs, and to support the churches and congregations in the Holy Land.

From its head offices in Jerusalem, the ICEJ reaches out into more than 170 countries worldwide, with branch offices in over 90 nations.

Our vision is:

• To reach every segment of Israel’s society with a Christian testimony of comfort and love, and

• To reach and actively represent to Israel the support of denominations, churches, and believers from every nation on earth.

The Christian Embassy is a non-denominational faith-based ministry supported by the voluntary contributions of our partners and friends across the globe. We invite you to join with us as we minister to Israel and the Jewish people worldwide by donating to the ongoing work and witness of the ICEJ.

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

Dear friends,

When the COVID pandemic turned life upside down in 2020, God rerouted our plans for our annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration that fall. We pivoted fast and hosted the entire Feast online for the first time—and then did it again the following year. In hindsight, God was nudging us to see something we couldn’t see on our own. Offering the Feast online allowed Christians from all over the world who couldn’t travel to Israel the opportunity to participate and learn. It has been a glimpse of Zechariah’s prophecy in 14:6 of a coming day when believers from all nations will worship the King and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles from Jerusalem every year. We quickly saw that regardless of whether people watch the Feast in person in Jerusalem or from living rooms with friends and family, God is very present, clearly “tabernacling” with His people.

But after two years, Christians from more than 100 nations will join us once again in Jerusalem to worship the King of kings! The excitement here at the ICEJ headquarters and throughout our global network of branches is palpable. And the benefit to offering the Feast online for the past two years is that we will continue to do so—which means anyone from the nations can participate in the Feast, learn why it’s so important, and help teach others too.

In this issue, we teach about the Feast of Tabernacles and the importance of this last and greatest Feast on God’s calendar. The insights you will gain from these articles on pages 4–7 will be enlightening as you explore the biblical meaning of the Feast and why it matters for Christians today.

We’re also highlighting a significant event in Israel’s history: the 125th anniversary of the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Part of the article on pages 8–9 includes the 10 Points of the Seelisberg Declaration, where soon after the Holocaust, Christian and Jewish leaders sought to enlist Christians more fully in the fight against antisemitism and create a new foundation for Jewish-Christian dialogue going forward. You’ll also read about the arduous journey of a Ukrainian immigrant named Lana and learn about her new life in Israel, made possible by your generous donations (pp. 11–12).

Even if you aren’t joining us in person in Jerusalem, we hope you will gather friends and family and watch it online from your homes at icejusa.org/feast-online. There is truly no better time to participate in the Feast of Tabernacles than this year!

CREDITS

ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler

USA Director Susan Michael

VP International Affairs Dr. Mojmir Kallus

VP Finance David van der Walt

VP Operations Barry R. Denison

VP International Spokesman David Parsons

Managing

AID & Aliyah Nicole Yoder

Director Laurina Driesse

Managing Editor Karen Engle

Writer Anastasiya Gooding

Graphic Design/Illustrators Ryan Tsuen, Peter Ecenroad, Nancy Schimp

Photography Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Carina Reiger, James Cheatham, Dennis Zinn/JNF, newsroom.intel.com, ICEJ Staff and Branches, wikimedia commons, YouTube.com, Unsplash

The New King James Bible is used for all Bible references unless otherwise noted.

Word From Jerusalem is published by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Word From Jerusalem has no subscription price and is supported through contributions worldwide. The ICEJ USA Branch is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with offices in Tennessee, Florida, and Washington, DC. All gifts to this ministry are tax-deductible according to United States law.

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM - USA

In the love of Christ!

Dr. Jürgen Bühler President International Christian Embassy Jerusalem

COVER PHOTO: Liesl Maas (right), ICEJ Tours Co-Director, celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles in a homemade sukkah with her women’s Bible study group.

FOR MAGAZINE ARCHIVES visit www.icejusa.org/wfj

Preparing the

Tabernacle

Preparing the of God

BY DR. SUSAN MICHAEL, ICEJ USA DIRECTOR

As someone who attended the ICEJ’s first Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem in 1980 and who has participated in over 30 since, I must admit that I am still learning and growing in appreciation of the deep meaning and

fulfillment. Its observance today is preparing the way for its final fulfillment at the coming of the kingdom of God.

What Is the Feast of Tabernacles?

The Feast of Tabernacles is the third of the three great Feasts of the Lord: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (the Hebrew word sukkah can be translated “booth” or “tabernacle”). While Passover was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus and Pentecost in the outpouring of the Spirit upon the early church, the Feast of Tabernacles will find its final fulfillment in the end times.

According to Leviticus 23, the Feast of Tabernacles was designed to remember God’s provision for the Israelites when they wandered in the desert for 40 years. They were to build temporary dwellings (sukkahs) where they lived for a week each year to remember how God provided for them. Once the Israelites entered the Holy Land, God’s provision became linked to rain; the Feast became a harvest festival during

prophetic significance of this biblical festival. It is not just a commemoration of a past event but a prophetic feast with a future end-time

It has been said that redemptive history has three segments. The first, the Passover segment, is from Moses to Jesus. The second, Pentecost, is the segment in which we are now living when God’s Spirit is being poured out, and He is gathering the “spring” harvest from every nation of the world. The final great segment of human history will be the fall Tabernacles segment.

A sukkah

which they celebrated the abundant fall harvest and prayed for rain for the following year.

1980 Feast celebration

The temporary dwellings also pointed to God’s glory that had covered the Israelites and protected them. The same glory later filled the tabernacle and then the temple. In other words, the individual sukkahs were precursors to the temple—the place where the glory of God dwelt among man—and of the eternal sanctuary of God in heaven.

God’s Heart for the Nations

In the book of Revelation, John describes the heavenly sanctuary as the throne of God, where He is worshiped by a people bought from every tribe and tongue. God’s heart for the nations and His desire to include them in His family existed from the beginning, expressed in His requirement for Israel to observe the Feast of Tabernacles.

We find this interesting aspect of Feast of Tabernacles in Deuteronomy 16, where God instructed the priests to sacrifice 70 bulls during the 7 days of this feast. Rabbis have pointed out that the 70 bulls correspond to the 70 nations

of the world at that time. This means that for centuries, the Jewish people made intercessory sacrifices on behalf of the nations each year during this feast.

However, since the Second Temple’s destruction in AD 70, there have been no sacrifices. Yet another practice has developed in Feast traditions that hints at this intercessory element. During prayer, the four species—etrog, palm frond, willow, and myrtle branches—are waved in the four directions of the earth. Rabbinic interpretations of this act differ, but many see it as a general acknowledgment of God’s mastery over all the earth and a prayer of blessing for all people.

Gentile Celebration of the Feast

God’s heart for the nations was always a part of the Feast— and included in its observance was intercession for them. The prophet Zechariah declared that one day the nations would come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16).

When the first Christian celebration of the Feast was being planned in Jerusalem, the organizers met with the Chief Rabbi in Israel and asked his advice on how they should go about celebrating the Feast. After their discussion concluded and they were leaving his office, he called them back in and said, “If the gentiles are starting to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, I can hear the footsteps of Messiah.” He knew the words of Zechariah and the prophetic significance of what was being planned.

The Heavenly Tabernacle

From the beginning of time, it was in God’s heart to tabernacle with man. As the apostle John saw the new Jerusalem coming down to earth in Revelation 21, he heard these words: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God” (v. 3).

The final fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles will be when the tabernacle of God is with man, and we dwell with Him for eternity. Now that is something to look forward to and celebrate!

Worship at the Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem

Roll Call of the Nations at the Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem

Each year after the Feast of Tabernacles, whether on-site or online, people tell us they have felt the tangible presence of God. Some experience miracles, and others, the healing of relationships. God is very present wherever people join us for the Feast and indeed “tabernacles” (dwells) with His people around the world. God tabernacling with His people is a theme that runs deep through the Bible and reflects many of the spiritual truths surrounding the Feast of Tabernacles.

God Desires to Tabernacle with His People

From the beginning, God instructed Israel to build Him a tent to dwell in rather than a temple. And this was not because Israel did not know of any alternatives. On the contrary, Abraham came from one of the earliest civilizations in Ur of Chaldea that built massive stone structures for their gods. The best known is the Ziggurat of Ur, a manufactured “mountain of god” to worship the moon god. While living in Egypt, the nation of Israel saw the gigantic pyramids of Giza and prominent temples built for worshiping a legion of Egyptian gods that filled the whole land—some have even survived until today.

After the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, He instructed Moses to build Him a dwelling place, but it did not resemble these towering monuments of worship. Instead, it was a simple, portable tent structure, but not because of the bare necessity of travel.

Instead, Moses instructed his people to build what he saw in heaven: the tabernacle of God (Exodus 25:9, 40). And this heavenly reality

has not changed since. Near the end of the Bible, the apostle John wrote: “After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened” (Revelation 15:5).

God Preferred a Tent over a Temple King David was the first person to want to build a temple for the one true God. His desire to create a proper house of worship for God stemmed from his wish to appropriately worship the God he loved. David struggled with living in a beautiful palace in Jerusalem while the Creator of the world lived in a mere tent: “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains” (2 Samuel 7:2). Nathan the prophet immediately affirmed David’s desire to build a house for God and encouraged him to do all that was in his heart. I believe we all would have rejoiced in such plans.

But that night, God rebuked Nathan: “For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle” (2 Samuel 7:6).

The tent represented the nature and character of God, who is ever on the move. Consider Jesus’ words to Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). An aspect of our God is lively and continually moving—and so are His people.

An earthly temple was never God’s intention— He desired to tabernacle with His people. God’s presence was always ready to move, and to lose that was Moses’ greatest concern. God’s moving presence was Israel’s guiding light, the sign that distinguished His people from all other peoples (Exodus 33:15f).

Even so, He allowed David’s son, Solomon, to build a physical temple for him in Jerusalem and promised His eyes would always be “toward the place” (1 Kings 8:29). But God’s presence could never be confined to a physical building.

The prophet Isaiah understood this when He wrote: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?’” (Isaiah 66:1). Isaiah knew that containing God in a building was impossible.

This thought separated the God of Israel from all other nations with their temples and shrines. The God of Israel is the Creator of heaven and earth and cannot be confined to a fixed place of worship. He is omnipresent. He can be encountered anywhere and often in the most unusual places. Richard Wurmbrand, a hero of the persecuted church in communist Romania, was imprisoned for years and severely tortured for his faith in Jesus. Yet he said that he experienced the glory of God— the manifest presence of Jesus—more in his prison cells than in any church buildings he visited after his release.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul declared to the philosophers and scholars of his time in Athens: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with

“The God who tabernacles with His people” is a theme that runs deep through the Word of

The Uncontainable God

B Y DR. JÜRGEN BÜHLER, I CEJ PRESIDENT

6 | OCTOBER 2022 A replica of the wilderness tabernacle in Timna, Southern Israel

God, and it reflects many of the spiritual truths that surround the Feast of Tabernacles.

men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:24–25).

A Modern-Day Reminder

The coronavirus era was a reminder of this.

Many church structures sat empty for a year or more. Here in Jerusalem, the Pais Arena, where we hold our Feast celebration every year, remained empty during Sukkot. Even so, God had other plans. After adjusting and moving to a completely online Feast, we heard testimony after testimony of how God flooded living rooms and meeting halls with His presence as people watched our Feast programs from afar.

For many, the COVID pandemic represents a recalibration of ministry. It was a season where God was reminding His people of a forgotten truth: He desires to tabernacle with His people not just in large halls in Jerusalem or megachurch buildings or mass crusades. Wherever two or three gather in His name, they can experience His indwelling glory.

The Tabernacle of God Is with Men

When the prophet Ezekiel envisioned the future restored Israel, he perceived the climax of this restoration as God’s mishkan—His tabernacle or dwelling place among His people (Ezekiel 37:26–28). Also, when the apostle John saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” he heard a shout of amazement from heaven: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).

God’s future for mankind is not us being in a heavenly abode, a glorious temple; rather, God is coming down to a new heaven and new earth to tabernacle with men.

His dwelling with men is not defined by some

ornate exterior but by an upright attitude of the heart. In Isaiah 66 God questions where man could build a house for Him on earth since heaven is His throne and earth His footstool. He continues with this surprising thought: “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2; see also Isaiah 57:15).

Isaiah 66:2 tells us certain qualities of the human heart attract the presence and attention of God: humility before Him and utmost respect for His Word. It echoes the heart attitudes lauded by Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, and the pure of heart. Jesus calls them “blessed” because God takes notice and looks to dwell with such.

The Feast of Tabernacles—an Annual Reminder

The Feast of Tabernacles is a time for Israel to remember her tabernacle journey through the desert. When Israel arrived in the promised land, God commanded them to “dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23:42–43).

The Feast also is a reminder of man’s fleeting nature. Paul relates to this in his second letter to the Corinthians: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:1–2).

Here Paul refers to our bodies as being a

tabernacle, a sukkah. Our earthly bodies are temporary forms that a far greater abode will replace one day. He also admits that in this tent of our body, we sometimes groan. Even though we are wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), these bodies are still fragile, often weak, and prone to sin, which is why Paul shouts in despair: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

We Are the Temple of the Holy Spirit

The amazing truth is that this same frail tabernacle of our human body can become the very dwelling place of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was in Jerusalem during Sukkot, he made a statement that surely reminded many of the future temple envisioned in Ezekiel 47, when the prophet saw it become a spring of life-giving, healing water. Jesus said: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

What an amazing reality that is! When believers become a sanctuary for the indwelling glory and presence of the Lord, streams of living water will flow and bless the lives of others around us. Just as Moses prayed, this mobile presence we carry wherever we go is what sets us apart from the world. It makes us a light that shines in the darkness.

As we once again welcome believers from around the world to join us live in the land for the Feast of Tabernacles, we rejoice in knowing God will be tabernacling among His people—not just here in the city that carries His name but also around the world. Lives will be impacted by the refreshing waters of the Holy Spirit.

I pray you all will experience His manifest presence wherever you live. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men!”

Marking the 125th Anniversary of the

BY DAVID PARSONS, ICEJ VICE PRESIDENT AND SENIOR SPOKESMAN

In August, several hundred Christians, along with Jewish officials and guests, gathered in Basel, Switzerland, in the same venue of the then-Stadt Casino where the First Zionist Congress was held 125 years ago. It was in this venue that Theodor Herzl met with Zionist leaders from Jewish communities in August 1897 to plan a future State of Israel.

ICEJ Switzerland, under the leadership of René Emmenegger, arranged the gathering, which kicked off three days of events celebrating 125 years since the First Zionist Congress. Emmenegger managed to bring together an amazing tapestry of speakers from Jewish backgrounds and both mainline and free churches of Switzerland, bringing forward a powerful message of support and friendship to the Jewish State.

ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler opened the conference. Several experts on Herzl and the Zionist movement also spoke before ICEJ Vice President of International Affairs, Dr. Mojmir Kallus, gave the closing address.

“Exactly 51 years after that very conference, in this hall, the State of Israel was being born, and the miracle of this Basel conference was taking place,” remarked Dr. Buhler. “I believe you can say today that those founding fathers of the State of Israel who met here in this very hall 125 years ago could have never imagined what is taking place in Eretz Israel today—that Israel is the “Start-Up Nation” and became a leading voice and a leading personality in global research and development. We are here today to celebrate what God has done with the Jewish people and to affirm our stand and support with the Jewish people for the years and decades to come,” Bühler said.

ICEJ NEWS 8 | OCTOBER 2022 FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS

The Resolution of the Basel Conference, Marking 125 Years of Zionism

We, the Christian delegates gathered in Basel on this 28th day of August 2022, have come together with our Jewish friends to mark the 125 Anniversary of the First Zionist Congress convened in this very venue of the then-Stadt Casino in August 1897. In the time since, the Zionist vision cast by Theodor Herzl at that first congress has produced many great achievements, most notably the rebirth of the nation of Israel in May 1948.

This success of the State of Israel today possibly exceeds the expectations of the attendees of Basel in 1897. Israel today is a shining light in the Middle East as the only truly free and vibrant democracy in the region. Israel has grown to become a powerful global economic player, and the research and scientific breakthroughs of the “Start-Up Nation” are breathtaking and impacting every nation in the world today.

Yet the fulfillment of Herzl’s dream has come at great cost. Six million Jews were brutally murdered during Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. In commemorating the First Zionist Congress, we wish to recall and reaffirm the key events and efforts over the ensuing decades that led to Jewish statehood and reshaped Jewish-Christian relations, while also addressing major concerns still facing the Jewish nation and people today.

First, we note with deep appreciation the historic Seelisberg Conference, held here in Switzerland in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust in 1947, at which major Christian and Jewish leaders sought to enlist Christians more fully in the fight against antisemitism and to create a new foundation for Jewish-Christian dialogue going forward. On this occasion, we reaffirm the 10 Points of the Seelisberg Declaration, consisting as follows:

1. Remember that one God speaks to all through the Old and the New Testaments.

2. Remember that Jesus was born of a Jewish mother of the seed of David and the people of Israel, and that His everlasting love and forgiveness embrace His own people and the whole world.

3. Remember that the first disciples, the apostles, and the first martyrs were Jews.

4. Remember that the fundamental commandment of Christianity, to love God and one’s neighbor, proclaimed already in the Old Testament and confirmed by Jesus, is binding upon both Christians and Jews in all human relationships, without any exception.

5. Avoid disparaging biblical or post-biblical Judaism with the object of extolling Christianity.

6. Avoid using the word “Jews” in the exclusive sense of the enemies of Jesus, and the words “the enemies of Jesus” to designate the whole Jewish people.

7. Avoid presenting the Passion in such a way as to bring the odium of the killing of Jesus upon Jews alone. In fact, it was not all the Jews who demanded the death of Jesus. It is not the Jews alone who are responsible, for the cross which saves us all reveals that it is for the sins of us all that Christ died.

8. Avoid referring to the scriptural curses, or the cry of a raging mob—His blood be upon us and upon our children—without remembering that this cry should not count against the infinitely more weighty words of the Lord: Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.

9. Avoid promoting the superstitious notion that the Jewish people is reprobate, accursed, [and] reserved for a destiny of suffering.

10. Avoid speaking of the Jews as if the first members of the church had not been Jews.

Second, we note that the Seelisberg Conference was convened one year before Israel was reestablished as a nation, and thus we call on all Christians to embrace the following additional “points” offered in the spirit of Seelisberg:

11. We affirm the reborn nation of Israel today as evidence of God’s faithfulness to His enduring covenant relationship with the Jewish people first sealed with the patriarch Abraham some 4,000 years

ago. This covenant, which predates the Christian faith by two millennia, has never been terminated and, in fact, it is irrevocable according to God’s word. It is important for Christians to understand and respect the central place of the Land of Israel in Judaism and Jewish identity.

12. We affirm that Israel’s right to exist as a nation in peace and security is indisputable. This principle was duly acknowledged by the international community when recognizing the historic, preexisting rights and claims of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the San Remo Conference of 1920, the British Mandate over Palestine approved by the League of Nations in 1922, the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947, and the acceptance of Israel as a UN member state in 1949. We celebrate today this legacy of Israel taking its rightful place among the nations, which is a fulfillment of Herzl’s vision of a reconstituted Jewish state serving as a safe haven for Jewish communities from the dual threats of antisemitism and assimilation.

13. We affirm Jerusalem as the eternal and undivided capital of the State of Israel. The Jewish people’s historic bond to Jerusalem dates back 3,000 years to King David, who declared Zion as the spiritual and political center of the people of Israel. Since then, even in diaspora, the Jewish people kept that eternal bond alive dreaming of being “next year in Jerusalem.”

14. We affirm that that antisemitism remains a prevalent threat to the Jewish people today and must be rejected and opposed by Christians everywhere. Antisemitism is never acceptable, neither in the classical form of anti-Judaism nor in the more contemporary forms of anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism. In this regard, we note with great concern the global efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel. We are deeply concerned that in the heart of Europe voices are tolerated, like in the demonstrations today in Basel and other European cities, which question the very right of existence of the State of Israel. This is unacceptable. We call on all Christians and all government leaders to take a clear and uncompromising stand against these modern forms of antisemitism.

15. We affirm the biblical call for the worldwide church to comfort Israel. The apostle Paul describes the church a “debtor” to the Jewish people, as by them they received the Messiah and the Scriptures and, as Jesus Himself said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” Therefore, Christians around the world today are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the wellbeing of the State of Israel, to stand in friendship and support with Israel and to show unconditional love support to the Jewish people world-wide.

16. We finally gladly recognize today in the fast-growing global evangelical community a paradigm shift is underway that significantly changes the attitude of hundreds of millions of faithful toward Israel and the Jewish people. On all continents, in particular the global South, Christians, churches, and denominations increasingly understand their biblical, Hebraic roots of their faith and have become true and unconditional friends of Israel and the Jewish people. This growing movement needs to be further strengthened and nourished.

A SHORT HISTORY OF

CHRISTIAN ZIONISM:

From the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century

By Donald M. Lewis (InterVarsity Press/2021)

R EVIEWED BY DAVID R. PARSONS ICEJ VICE PRESIDENT & SENIOR SPOKESMAN

AShort History of Christian Zionism is the most comprehensive work to date on the noble origins, broad scope, and sincere motivations of the Evangelical movement’s support for Israel. The book covers Christian attitudes toward the Jewish people since the early church fathers, the rise of Evangelicalism out of the Protestant Reformation, and the development of Christian Zionism ever since. This invaluable resource for the movement also serves as a personal mirror for the reader to reflect on exactly where they stand on important biblical, prophetic, and political issues related to Israel today. It is a welcomed work of excellent historical and religious scholarship that belongs atop the required reading list of anyone interested in Israel.

Inside Lana’s Arduous Journey to Israel

BY NICOLE YODER, ICEJ VICE PRESIDENT FOR AID & ALIYAH

Everything that has happened brought me here,” began Lana—a recent immigrant from Ukraine—as we settled onto a comfortable chair in her new apartment. Lana shares the apartment with another new immigrant from Russia and quickly acknowledged the potential tension that could surface between the two since their home countries are at war. However, she insisted, “We’ve agreed not to bring the war here. We’re both Jewish—and that is enough!”

Lana quickly launched into her life story, noting that at age 20, she had already spent six months in Israel and fully intended to make Aliyah but returned to Ukraine to complete her university studies. However, love intervened! She got married in Ukraine, became a mother, started two businesses, and then sadly, divorced— and 15 years later, started thinking again of making Aliyah. But her ex-husband would not let her leave Ukraine with their daughter, preventing her from immigrating quickly. In the meantime, she worked hard with her tourism and pet shop businesses.

Unfortunately, COVID ended the tourism business in Ukraine and negatively impacted her pet shop. This, combined with some new health problems, made Lana consider making some changes in her life.

Unhappy and wanting to explore another line of work, Lana revisited her dream of making

Aliyah. This time her ex-husband agreed to let their daughter join her in Israel, so Lana began the immigration process. The two agreed that once Lana secured her Aliyah visa, she would go to Israel first to get established, find work, and study Hebrew, while her daughter stayed in Ukraine with her grandparents for the year. The plan was for Lana’s daughter to join her in Israel this summer to adjust to the new surroundings before the new school year began.

All seemed to be going well. In early February this year, Lana received her Aliyah visa. Her pet shop had a buyer, allowing Lana to show up in Israel with some money to get started. But then, her flight, scheduled for February 24, was unexpectedly moved forward to February 20. Because Lana was traveling, she missed it, delaying her departure several more weeks. However, she continued with her plans to immigrate to Israel and used the time to work on renewing her driver’s license, making final doctor appointments, and signing over the business. Things were looking good!

Relaxed and chatting with our ICEJ AID team from an easy chair, Lana recalled how in those final, fateful days of February, while busily preparing to leave, she was blissfully unaware of what would soon take place. Lana did not own a TV, and being “apolitical,” she had no interest in current events. Plus, two friends unexpectedly needed to move into her

apartment that week before she could move out as planned. Looking back, Lana shrugged her shoulders at what a crazy time it was in the old apartment.

“There were piles of boxes everywhere,” she explained. “I cleared off a shelf into a box, and [my friends] emptied a box onto the shelf.… They were like family to me—especially because I hadn’t talked to my parents since having a quarrel a few years ago.

“On February 23, just 7 hours before the Russian invasion began, a friend told me that a war would begin tomorrow and asked if I had packed an emergency bag. I had no idea. It totally caught me by surprise,” Lana recounted. “The calls began before dawn with the terrifying news of war.”

At first, Lana remained in a Kyiv basement. Her phone was dead because she did not have a charger cord. She could not reach her exhusband, who was called up for duty. Her daughter was with grandparents, but Lana could not reach them for three days. When she did, she learned they were planning to flee and take her daughter with them. Even though Lana disagreed, they left anyway and didn’t tell Lana where they went. Should she wait for them to return?

Lana also could not stay in her third-floor apartment, so she spent 10 days with her

neighbors in a first-floor corridor. However, just sitting there waiting without knowing what to do was “making her crazy.” She then learned that her pet store manager was stuck in a basement for 10 days without food or water due to the constant shelling—and all the animals in the store were killed. With no business to sell, Lana’s plans were falling apart. She knew she had to act.

“It was the hardest decision of my life, to move on and leave my daughter behind. I’m still trying not to punish myself for it,” she confided.

No flights were available, but a chance to escape opened when her neighbors offered her a train ticket to Poland leaving in two days that they could not use. Just before her departure, the government declared a two-day curfew starting that evening. She knew she had to act quickly—she had just six hours to get home, pack, and make it to the train station. To make matters worse, the Russians had bombed the electric power plant that day, leaving the city in darkness.

“We had to pack without any light,” she recounted. “I got the cat, put it in a carrier, and grabbed a sleeping bag and a backpack. Truthfully, I could barely function. My younger brother did most of the packing for me. At that moment, you are living and not living. The apartment was a mountain of boxes, and

you couldn’t see anything. It was a paralyzing situation. I used to write a list of things to do each day. Now, if I did one thing in a day, it was a victory.”

Lana laughed about what made it into the backpack. “It was an unimaginable array of disparate items, the strangest 20 kilos you could imagine. A wine opener, a black sheep chalkboard refrigerator magnet—which ironically had written on it, ‘You are stronger than you think you are!’ There were various clothes I had outgrown and intended to give away and only one undergarment.” With this mishmash of belongings, she set out to start a new life in Israel.

“When you are packing up 35 years of your life, looking at black, painted signs at the train station, passing bombed-out buildings and dead bodies, and everyone is tired, silent, and crying … you see only the shell of a person, but the inside is empty.” Lana had no money, but her neighbors were kind enough to give her $380 in cash—and with that, she rushed to the train station to wait.

She eventually arrived safely in Poland, where a friend greeted her. Later, the Jewish Agency assisted her with a flight to Israel, where she and “Nika,” the cat, landed on April 5. Showing remarkable resilience, Lana completed her Aliyah process within 12 days, secured her temporary Israeli ID, opened a bank account, and somehow found the energy to start waitressing—hoping to send some money back home. However, it would not be easy, given her poor Hebrew and how expensive life is in Israel.

She had no sooner started her new job when she was hit by a motorized bicycle whose driver fled the scene, leaving her with a hairline fracture in one leg and a broken lateral ankle in the other. Even though she had received her Israeli health insurance card the day before, which allowed her to be treated and covered her more significant surgery expenses, she still had to pay several smaller medical bills.

“I couldn’t even get up to get myself a drink of water,” said Lana. “No family! No money! I couldn’t work or even dress myself. I was in a wheelchair for a month with a cast on my leg

and then a boot. I’m strong, but these kinds of things break people. Yet I knew I’d have to stand on my own feet again because I have a daughter I need to care for.”

Unexpected assistance came from two new friends who helped with Lana’s basic needs, and her new roommate also chipped in. Others donated clothing in the right size. Amazed, Lana said, “Sometimes help comes from a place you don’t know—like the help from the ICEJ.”

“When this happened to my legs, in one second, I was helpless,” Lana told us. “But these legs and this problem also brought me into contact with such good people. I’m believing again in something better than war. These experiences have restored my faith in good people. Here in Israel, people who saw you for the first time in their lives were helpful. … The worst part was lying in bed here without family to rely on. … Your gift enabled me to buy food and cover some medical and living expenses. I can’t thank you enough.”

Hearing Lana’s harrowing story firsthand touched us deeply. Lana was delighted when we gave her a gift package with items for her home!

“Oh my! This is about my ‘nesting’ in my new home,” she exclaimed. “You are doing such a great thing. It’s just unbelievable!” But she broke down in tears as she opened our greeting card.

“You didn’t just buy a card with some generic message. Instead, you carefully thought out and selected each word, then translated it into my language.”

Asked about her dreams for the future, Lana replied: “I want to be happy. I want to have my daughter with me. I want safety for my family and an end to the war. I dream of establishing a new life here in Israel, and I don’t want to do the same things I did before. I want to do something useful—something I believe in that will help others as I’ve been helped. I know sales and marketing, but I want to do something creative and new.”

We want to echo Lana’s thanks for your generous donations that enabled us to help her and many other Jewish immigrants who have arrived in Israel after taxing journeys with next to nothing. Your gifts are truly bringing encouragement, practical help, and hope. We cannot thank you enough.

Support our Aliyah and Integration efforts at: www.icejusa.org/aliyah

ICEJ PROVIDES URGENT DENTAL CARE for Ukrainian Jewish Immigrants

Thousands of Jews have recently escaped the war in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel, many arriving with few possessions. The ICEJ is helping them get settled in their new life in Israel in many ways, such as providing them with urgent dental care. We recently met with two Ukrainian Jewish immigrants and heard their heroic stories.

Saving Katia’s Leg—and Smile

Katia (31) arrived in Israel from Ukraine in March. Before the war, she was a sales manager in a factory and volunteered her spare time to help less fortunate families.

Not only was her home destroyed in the invasion, but she was also shot in her left leg, leaving her bleeding profusely and in constant pain from shrapnel wounds to other parts of her body, including her mouth. A good Samaritan finally stretched her across the back of their car and drove to a hospital in Moldova for eight hours over dangerous roads. There she received the harsh news that her leg had to be amputated due to their lack of medical expertise.

But Jewish and Christian volunteers helped arrange a rescue flight to Israel, so she decided to wait on the surgery. After arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, she was rushed to an Israeli hospital and successfully treated. Katia was especially delighted when doctors said they could save her leg.

“This is a miracle!” she told us.

Since arriving in Israel, Katia has been alone and somewhat in shock. Fortunately, a Christian nurse befriended her and helped her through the deep depression that marked her recovery. However, Katia faced yet another pressing need—dental treatments. The bomb blasts left her with root canal problems, a significant mouth infection, and no front teeth. Even so, upon learning the ICEJ was going to help fund necessary dental procedures, she smiled with thanks. Eventually, she will receive a brace for her leg and a bridge for new front teeth. Soon she will begin to study Hebrew and start rehab to learn to walk again.

Katia knew from her teen years she was Jewish and could make Aliyah but never gave it serious thought. Now she believes God has a reason for bringing her to Israel, and she looks forward to when she can help others. “I have been given so much support from Christians and want to say a very big ‘thank you,’ including to the ICEJ for this dental care,” she said.

Dental Help for a Mother and Son

Oksana and her two boys, ages 15 and 6, recently arrived from Kyiv. Like so many other Ukrainian Jews, Russia’s invasion split their family. Oksana quit her job, left her husband

behind, and came to Israel with the boys, one suitcase, and little money. She decided to leave Ukraine because her youngest son, Liev, has asthma and struggled to breathe while stuck for days in underground shelters.

Oksana first escaped to Moldova and then Romania, where she applied for Aliyah, and soon boarded a flight to Israel with her sons. Since arriving, Oksana appreciates the safety and better standard of living. “Here, people care,” she said. “And I love [Israel’s] nature; it’s beautiful. I love Israel with all my heart. I never want to leave.”

While looking for a dentist for her son, Liev, Oksana discovered she, too, needed urgent dental care. A dentist checked her mouth and found significant damage across four teeth. Still struggling to make ends meet, she sees our assistance with her dental needs as a priceless gift. “Thank you so much for your help,” she said tearfully. “This is such a beautiful day.”

Our Chance to Help

The ICEJ is committed to helping Jewish immigrants as they make their way home to Israel and begin their lives anew here. Your generosity is making a difference for new arrivals like Katia and Oksana and their families. Please continue to support our Aliyah and integration efforts.

Donate today at: www.icejusa.org/ukraine

B Y CHRIS CHAMBERS

Nicole Yoder of ICEJ AID with Katia, a Ukrainian immigrant (above left)

Nicole Yoder, Oksana, and Oksana’s youngest son

CREATIVITY KNOWS NO BOUNDS: ICEJ SUPPORTS HEARING-IMPAIRED STUDENTS

B Y LAURINA DRIESSE

Students in a mixed Jewish and Arab school for the hearing impaired in Jerusalem recently had the opportunity to display their creative side—and the ICEJ was delighted to sponsor their educational journey.

The students participated in a unique photography project that allowed a select group to explore the world of visual concepts. The course encouraged active learning through a topic they chose. Beyond gaining photography skills, students also learned the importance of teamwork and how to communicate and consider their teammates’ ideas to reach an agreement and achieve results.

Jiska and Noam worked together on the topic of “My Shadow and Me,” shooting photos of objects and animals and their shadows. Meanwhile, Nati and Liav paired up to photograph “Water Reflections,” capturing the reflections of nature and other objects in the water (see right).

Photo excursions around the school and in the streets of Jerusalem provided plenty of opportunity for the imagination. Khaled submitted images of cars and has already started working on another project called “On the Street,” where he captures ordinary people’s daily lives. Some people are directing traffic or riding bicycles while older people walk with their walking sticks or shopping carts, and younger people focus on their cell phones as they walk.

Students took and submitted many photographs, but at the end of the project, they chose only the best 10 for an exhibition. The selection process proved challenging for students; it was natural to be passionate about their own photographs. Yet they learned to look critically at their own work and acknowledge their skill level compared to fellow students. Finally, the selected photos were printed and exhibited along the school corridors. Students helped display the photos for everyone to enjoy, and a sense of pride and accomplishment filled their hearts upon completing the project.

A segment of the project included a lesson in prioritizing, budgeting, and sales. During this task, students embarked upon a shopping expedition. They were given a budget and tasked with checking prices and calculating costs to buy boxes, canvasses, and other materials within their budget. They then painted the boxes, selected their most suitable photographs, and applied the photos to the boxes with a special adhesive.

Finally, on a designated “market day,” students whose pictures were not in the exhibition erected a table in a local neighborhood to display their creativity and sell their work. They were thrilled when several of their boxes and other items sold!

“In the Kitchen”

Meanwhile, the photographs from Salma and Ahmed’s “In the Kitchen” project—which focused on food preparation shots—will replace previous faded photos currently displayed in the stairwell leading to the school kitchen.

During the course, students also learned about taking photographs to produce on magnets, and when an opportunity came up to participate in events held in Jerusalem’s gardens, they quickly agreed. They took photos at the event and charged a fee; some even displayed their magnets.

This course was significant for students nearing the end of their formal education. Their exposure to the creative and commercial opportunities of photography has left them hopeful that they can develop and use these skills in the future.

“It is very special to be able to assist these hearing-impaired students and help them gain new creative and technical skills that could turn into a source of income for them in the future,” said Nicole Yoder, ICEJ Vice President for AID and Aliyah. “The medium of photography is a marvelous way to communicate, and the ICEJ is honored to support this vocational training project by providing essential equipment and covering the expenses of the course.”

Thank you for your generous donation to support this and other ICEJ AID projects. Through your faithful giving, we can touch lives and meet needs in all sectors of Israeli society, giving them a future and a hope.

Give toward our AID projects at: www.icejusa.org/icej-aid

Ukrainian Survivors Welcomed at Haifa Home

B Y YUDIT SETZ

The ICEJ’s Home for Holocaust Survivors in Haifa has welcomed nine new residents who fled the war in Ukraine, and each of their stories is heartbreaking. Here is some insight into their new lives—plus other updates.

New Building Has First Residents

After long bureaucratic delays, the elevator was finally installed in the Haifa Homes’ new apartment building. The building still needs some work, but several Holocaust Survivors from Ukraine have already moved in.

Maya and Anatoly

When war erupted in Ukraine last winter, Maya and Anatoly had no plans to leave the home they had lived in for decades. But the battle grew closer, and when soldiers built trenches around their property, they knew it was time to go. Then, that evening, they received a call from an organization that had helped them for years, urging them to pack and be ready to leave by morning.

After passing many roadblocks to reach Kharkiv, Maya and Anatoly were put on a bus to Moldova, where their documents were processed so they could escape to Israel. Their son was already living in Haifa, so the two initially joined his family there until becoming the first residents in our new apartment building!

“We feel so loved and welcomed,” Maya repeated several times. “They take wonderful care of us, and we are so happy to be here.”

Natalia

Another new resident is Natalia, whose family fled Odesa when the Germans invaded Ukraine in World War II. She still remembers the constant fear. When the family returned to Odesa, her father became a ship captain—a rare position for a Jew in Soviet days. Natalia later married, but today she is a widow.

When Russia first attacked Ukraine, the Odesa port was a prime target, but Natalia never imagined leaving. “I told myself I would stay no matter what,” she said. Yet the constant fear that comes with war returned, and with few nearby bomb shelters for civilians, she decided to escape to Israel.

Tearfully, Natalia told us she felt like her father helped her make it to Israel because he had such a difficult life but always found ways to reassure the family. She is so grateful for the care she receives at the Haifa Home but adds it is not easy starting over at her age. “All my friends, my whole life is in Ukraine,” Natalia confides. “I’m not sure if I can really make Israel my home. Let’s see what time brings.”

Zelda and Kathlin say goodbye

Anatoly and Maya

New Staff at the Haifa Home: Meet Tanja and Ella

Tanja, who recently joined the Haifa Home staff, is fit for her job. She made Aliyah from Ukraine in 1999, speaks the language fluently, and knows the challenges of moving to Israel. She is helping our new Survivors from Ukraine navigate all the immigration paperwork and taking them to see doctors.

“I see my task as to help them with the important and the small things,” Tanja said. “Sometimes, I just sit with them and listen, so they do not feel alone. I want them to feel they are home and have family who care.”

Meet Naomi

Naomi is an amazing lady on the Haifa Home staff. A child of Holocaust Survivors, she is already past retirement age and only works part-time, but she is always available for the residents—morning, noon, and night.

Born in Poland after the Second World War, Naomi experienced antisemitism in high school when classmates called her a “dirty Jew.” At 15, she made her way to Israel with a Jewish youth movement. Over time, her divorced parents and brother made Aliyah as well.

“My parents taught me from a young age to be independent and not let anything hinder me,” she said. But it was not easy, as her grandparents all perished in the Holocaust, and her parents never talked about what happened to them. “They never told us anything,” she lamented. “Only after I was already married did I find a picture of my young mother with a group of beautiful young women. When I asked who they were, she burst out crying. They were a group of girls in Auschwitz chosen for special abuse by the Nazis.”

One day, when her father was old, Naomi discovered big scars on his back. When she asked him what had happened, he reluctantly told her about surviving the infamous Babi Yar massacre in Kyiv, where the Nazis murdered over 33,000 Jews in one weekend. He was shot in the back and fell into the ravine with other bodies falling on top. But partisans managed to dig him out alive, and he spent the rest of the war hiding in the forests.

Steffi and Soffie

We also just added Ella to our Christian volunteer team. Because her parents came from different Soviet republics, she speaks Russian and Romanian—plus, she recently learned Hebrew while studying in Israel. Seeking the Lord for her next step, she applied to be an assistant nurse on our Haifa team, and it turns out she is well-suited for the job. Ella will be responsible for all our new Russianspeaking residents.

Farewell to Our Youngest Team Members

When members of our Christian volunteer team leave, it is always an emotional farewell. Kathlin and Steffi, two 19-year-old German volunteers, left after nine months of loving service to Holocaust Survivors. Their smiles and youthful spirits brought much life and joy to the residents, whom they helped daily with cleaning, errands, doctor visits, and much more! They said a tearful yet warm goodbye to the residents at the weekly dance night. “We will miss you very much,” said Survivor Sofie. “You have become part of our family!”

The two girls found that caring for Holocaust Survivors is a great way to learn from the elderly and see the world from a different perspective. “We as young people are often busy with our phones and social media,” said Kathlin. “Here I learned how wonderful it is to take time to build a deep relationship, to listen, and to learn from older people.”

“Living among these Holocaust Survivors has taught me many things,” added Steffi. “The exercises we did helped me connect with people I couldn’t talk to due to language barriers. It taught me that I can do much more than I often think.”

Naomi gives a present to a Haifa Home resident.

“What I try to do with the residents is to give them love, but at the same time, they give me love,” assured Naomi. “It is very important for me to give to others because I did not experience love, warmth, and hugs in my own life. So I give it to our residents and [in return] receive love from them that I always craved.”

Naomi also spends a lot of time teaching her 10 grandchildren about the Holocaust and bringing them to the Haifa Home. “It’s so important for me that they know this past and that what we have today in Israel is only because of what the past generations went through,” she concluded.

Like Naomi, we have compelling reasons to care for these Holocaust Survivors and are privileged to still have a chance to impact their lives. Thank you for considering a generous gift toward the work of the ICEJ’s Haifa Home for Holocaust Survivors.

Donate today at: www.icejusa.org/donate-haifa-home

Your Israel Answer

By Dr. Susan Michael, ICEJ USA Director

The biblical basis for Christian support for Israel is extensive and is not from one isolated section of the Bible but found throughout. Old Testament covenants involving the calling of the Jewish people and their gift of land are affirmed in the Psalms, the prophetic books, and the New Testament.

Torah

The first book of the Torah—and of the Bible— is Genesis. It tells the story of God’s choice of Abraham to birth a nation through whom He would carry out His plan to redeem fallen mankind. In Genesis 12:1–3 God explains that in return for following Him in faith, Abraham would be given a land and made into a great nation that would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. In Genesis 15 God legally guarantees His promise by making a covenant with Abraham, and in chapter 17 He explains that this covenant is to be everlasting as will be its provision of land.

Psalms

Psalm 105 waxes poetic how the Abrahamic covenant and its promise of land—confirmed to Isaac, Jacob, and all of Israel—is an everlasting covenant. It cannot be broken.

The Hebrew prophets agreed with the Psalms, and while they witnessed the devastation of judgment on the people for their sins, they prophesied of a day when God would bring His people back home, establish a right relationship with Him, and fulfill their calling to bless the world. One such prophet was Isaiah.

Isaiah

The Jerusalem that Isaiah prophesied to had not yet been destroyed but was corrupt and fully deserving of it. One day, however, it would be a city praised for its righteousness when the glory of God would shine out from there throughout all the earth. Isaiah knew that day was as sure as any promise Israel’s faithful God had made, and He called upon intercessors to partner in prayer until it happened. Anyone who prayed was asked to be as a watchman on the walls, crying out in persistent prayer until God fulfilled His promise to establish Jerusalem as a praise in all the earth.

That day has not yet taken place, but the words of Isaiah still ring forth. Those of us who know the Lord are called to intercede for the city and its people until God has fulfilled all that He has promised.

New Testament

Moving now to the New Testament, we find the apostle Paul reflecting upon the everlasting nature of God’s promises to the Jewish people and the source of blessing to the world they are still to be.

In Romans 11:28–29 Paul confirmed that the Jewish people are beloved of God and their election secure as He had promised their forefathers. He went so far as to say that even though

they might be considered an enemy to the gospel of Christ, their gifts and calling have not been revoked. Neither their rejection of Jesus’ messianic credentials nor exile from the land would annul God’s covenant with Abraham that included a gift of land and a calling to bless all the families of the earth with redemption.

Paul, therefore, instructed the church in Rome to approach the Jewish people with humility and honor them as the spiritual root of our Christian faith. Everything we hold dear as Christians came to us through the Jewish people, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude. God used their rejection to bring about the atoning death of Jesus and cause the gospel to go out to the gentiles. Once the fulness of the gentiles has come into the church, He will turn again to reveal Himself to the Jewish people, and their acceptance will be a blessing to the entire world.

Firm Biblical Basis

With such a firm biblical foundation for support of the Jewish people, it is no surprise that many fathers of the Bible-based Evangelical Christian movement—such as John and Charles Wesley, Robert Murray MacCheynne, and Charles Spurgeon, to name a few—preached the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland and the blessing this return would bring upon us all. Modern Christian supporters of Israel are merely following in their footsteps..

GOD AS HE WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIM

BY DR. SUSAN MICHAEL, ICEJ USA DIRECTOR

Throughout every generation people have wondered who God is and what He is like. Thankfully, the Bible is not silent on this topic! Scripture contains many descriptive names for God that tell us about His character—some given to Him by other people but others that God gave Himself.

How God Describes Himself

One of the most explicit passages where God describes Himself is in Exodus 34. After the Lord freed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, He took them into the Sinai desert and there began to reveal to them who He was. They had seen His miracles but now needed to get to know Him better. So He describes Himself through Moses:

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6–7 NIV)

This was the second time Moses had ascended Mount Sinai to meet with God to receive the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down the mountain the first time with the two stone tablets, he found Israel worshiping a golden calf—a “great sin” (Exodus 32:31). Moses traversed up Mount Sinai again to approach the Lord to make atonement for Israel’s sin. Perhaps this is why God chose to, at this point, reveal His forgiving character.

Some people claim the God of the Old Testament is different from the loving, forgiving God of the New Testament who is described as a forgiving God of love (1 John 4:16; Matthew 6:14; Ephesians 4:32). But here in Exodus 34:6–7, the God of the Old Testament chooses to describe Himself not only as “abounding in love and faithfulness” (which means extending more love and faithfulness than we need) but also compassionate and gracious. He also says He is “slow to anger,” what the New Testament would call “longsuffering” (Ephesians 4:2; Galatians 5:22). He forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin and yet is a righteous judge who punishes the guilty.

God’s character in the Old Testament aligns perfectly with His

character in the New. The God of Israel—the God of the Old Testament demonstrated in the New Testament through Jesus—is the same God, and His character has never changed.

The Premier Name of God

In ancient times, a person’s name was considered a prophetic declaration of their character or destiny. The same is true of God’s name. Before God had described His character to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34, He had revealed His name in Exodus 3 when Moses had asked the Lord how He should answer the children of Israel when they asked him, “Who sent you?” God responded by sharing with Moses His name.

There are many names for God in the Bible (each describes a particular aspect of His character or a reminder of His great acts), but the name God shared with Moses in Exodus 3 is different. It’s His premier name—the name above all the other names for God in the Bible. It encompasses all of who He is, His entire “character.”

Unfortunately, the pronunciation of God’s name was lost in the Babylonian exile (586 BC). Because no one knows how to pronounce God’s name exactly—and because God instructs His people in the Ten Commandments against taking His name in vain—a religious Jew will not attempt to speak it aloud out of reverence for Him. Instead, they refer to God as “the Name” or Ha Shem.

In Hebrew, four letters make up this name: Yod (Y), Hey (H), Vav (V), Hey (H), or YHVH. In academic circles, YHVH is known as the “tetragrammaton.” In the Bible, the tetragrammaton often appears as LORD (in all caps); it’s not a translation of YHVH but rather replaces the four Hebrew letters.

God tells Moses His name in Exodus 3:14 (NIV):

I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you.”

“I AM WHO I AM,” a translation of YHVH, does not just refer to the present tense—that God is who He is. Instead, it’s more of an ongoing tense: God always will be who He is. Therefore, another Bible version translates this phrase as, “I will be who I will be.”

Still another translation that goes back to the time of Christ offers a slightly different tense that is not just present and future but also past. We see this reflected in the words of Jesus in Revelation 1:8, “I am

Dr. Susan Michael is USA Director of

Christian Embassy Jerusalem and host of the Out of Zion podcast. Listen to her Shabbat Shalom series on the Out of Zion podcast to learn more about Israel and related issues.

the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Because “Alpha and Omega” means “from eternity to eternity,” some translators believe YHVH refers to God’s past, present, and future: I AM the one who was, who is, and who will be.

This is the eternal God, who has no beginning and no end.

El Shaddai, “Almighty God”

It is interesting that though God revealed His premier name to Moses, He had previously introduced Himself to Abraham, referring to Himself with another descriptive name:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (Genesis 17:1–2 NKJV, emphasis added)

The words “Almighty God” in Hebrew are El Shaddai. God wanted Abraham to know He was the Almighty God and fully capable of fulfilling His promises. When speaking to their sons about God, El Shaddai is the name that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob used.

When God revealed His name to Moses, He explained that He is the El Shaddai who had spoken to Abraham several hundreds of years earlier: God also said to Moses, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai) but by My name the LORD (YHVH) I did not make myself fully known to them. (Exodus 6:2–3, emphasis added)

The eternal God with no beginning or end had only revealed Himself as El Shaddai to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—He did not make Himself fully known to them. The New Testament also connects these two names—in Revelation 1:8, God describes Himself as the one “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

We don’t have to wonder who God is and what He is like—our loving God has revealed not only His character and essence throughout the Bible but His very name. The more we sift through His Word and seek to learn about Him, the more we will come to know Him as our Almighty God who is compassionate, gracious, and forgiving but also as YHVH—who has no beginning and no end. This is the incredible God we serve!

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BIBLICAL ZIONISM BOOK SET

By Rev. Malcolm Hedding

• Includes 5 booklets explaining Biblical Zionism

• Enriches you with a better understanding of Christian Zionism

ONE KING

By Samuel Whitfield

Who Is King Jesus – King of Israel and King of the Nations?

Few subjects have been more controversial throughout history than Israel. Some say her significance ended in the first century, but if God is finished with the Jewish people, how has Israel miraculously reemerged as a state after two millennia of dispersion? Why is the rage of nations, ideologies, and religions aimed ultimately at the destruction of this group of people once predicted to bless the whole earth? And how is the church supposed to relate to a modern, secular Israel in these intensifying times? Who constitutes the true people of God—Israel or followers of Jesus? In stock

OUR FATHER ABRAHAM

by Dr. Marvin R. Wilson

• Develops a historical perspective on the Jewish origins of the church

• Sets forth the importance and nature of Hebrew thought

• Discusses how the church can become more attuned to the Hebraic mindset of Scripture

• Offers practical suggestions for interaction between Jews and Christians

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