By Charles Gardner —
As Pharaoh’s heart hardens, as it were, we can expect things to get worse before they improve. The plagues will be increasingly severe. Today’s Pharaoh is embodied by the evil antisemitic spirit encircling the globe. But the new Red Sea crossing is already coming into view.
I have already mentioned the extraordinary presence on the streets of Dutch Christians praising God and praying for Israel. Now I read of the astonishing call from Orthodox Jew Jonathan Feldstein for Christians to help rebuild Gaza and for Jesus to be preached to her people.
As even Israel’s allies press for a ‘two-state solution’, Feldstein sees Jesus as the answer.
Writing in UK Christian newspaper Heart, he said: “If rebuilt properly, purging the terrorists, and supervised responsibly, Gaza can become a thriving entity like Singapore.
Maybe, just maybe, there can be peace.
“Asked in an interview recently if I thought Jesus should come back, suggesting that he would bring peace, I replied that Gazans sure could use a lot more Jesus.
“The best and safest way to change the situation and bring peace is for the masses of Gazans, and Palestinian Arabs in general, to convert to Christianity.”
If it were up to him, he would ask for help from Billy Graham’s son Franklin, along with his aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, but would also include many former Muslims who have become Christians and who speak Arabic and know the culture.
“It may sound crazy, an Orthodox Israeli Jew proposing a plan to establish peace in Israel not based on a mistaken formula of two states, but by calling for our neighbors living in spiritual darkness to become spiritual allies by becoming Christian.”¹
Working with and among Christian supporters of Israel, Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation, a US-based charity aimed at bridge-building between Jews and Christians.
Along with our Dutch Christian friends and others, Feldstein is effectively a modern-day Moses calling on Pharaoh to ‘let my people go’ – to be freed from terror (although now in the Promised Land, he’s still chasing them).
And I would suggest that, though our Jewish friend may not as yet see the need for his own people to follow Jesus as he obviously does for the Palestinians, they too should be freed to follow and serve their Messiah who is still holding out his arms of everlasting love for them.
They’ve been pushed into a corner, as the ancient Israelites were trapped before crossing the Red Sea through God’s miraculous intervention as Moses stretched out his hand.
Now they may feel similarly trapped by international pressure (including from Britain and America) into accepting what the nations see as the only solution – two separate states. (This is quite ridiculous anyway because Hamas have been allowed to run Gaza from 2007 and have done nothing but fire rockets into Israel ever since while intimidating Palestinians into subscribing to their murderous policy of wiping the Jews off the face of the earth.)
With Houthis from Yemen and Hezbollah from Lebanon adding fuel to the fire, chief terror sponsor Iran (ancient Persia) keeping up their barrage of verbal missiles, backed by growing belligerence from Turkey and Russia, an Armageddon scenario seems increasingly likely.
For it looks very much like the alliance of antisemitic nations (obviously under different names), with hardened hearts, lining up from the north to attack Israel (see Ezekiel 38 & 39).
It won’t be a pretty sight, judging by what the Scriptures say. “I will execute judgment upon him (Gog) with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulphur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.” (Ezekiel 38:22)
But for Israel, there is hope and a future. Many have been poisoned by vicious antisemitic snakes, echoing the time in the wilderness when their rebellious forefathers suffered a similar fate.
But the bronze serpent Moses held up as a healing remedy was a prophetic sign of what Jesus would do for them when raised up on a cruel cross, becoming the perfect sacrifice for their sins – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 3:14f, Numbers 21:6-9, John 1:29).
As the enslaved Israelites marked the doors and frames of their houses with the blood of a lamb to escape the punishment meted out to Pharaoh and his people, so now the people of Israel – both Jew and Arab – will find true freedom, and reconciliation, by marking their hearts with the blood of the Passover Lamb, Jesus (Yeshua) the Messiah.
¹ Heart, February-March 2024. For more information see www.heartpublications.co.uk
