Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.
At least 47 world leaders are flying into Israel and ascending to Jerusalem. They’re coming to attend International Holocaust Day, the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Red Army liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz/Oświęcim on January 27, 1945.
“47 delegations of kings, presidents, and other world leaders” are showing up in the Holy City, proclaims the Times of Israel (www.timesofisrael.com/with-10000-officers-police-gear-up-to-protect-massive-holocaust-commemoration/). The Jerusalem Post puts it this way: “Kings, queens, princes, presidents and prime ministers will all be converging on Jerusalem – as in the fulfillment of some biblical prophecy” (www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Standing-at-the-intersection-of-inconvenience-and-history-Comment-614865).
Jerusalem is the “city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2). YHVH “loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Psalm 87:2). One of YHVH’s names is “YHVH who has chosen Jerusalem” (Zechariah 3:2). The city has huge spiritual and geo-political significance. Is there any significance in this solemn gathering of world rulers?
Anti-semitism – never again?
The goals of this gathering, the 5th World Holocaust Forum, are multi-faceted – jogging the memory of a forgetful world; seeding educational efforts which would inoculate societies against resurgent anti-Jewish genocide; consolidating a concerted international effort to block the Islamic Republic of Iran’s acquisition of murderous atomic weapons.
G.W.F. Hegel once said, “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” An awareness of the Jewish Holocaust did not prevent genocide-like atrocities since then, whether in Cambodia, Rwanda or Syria/Iraq. Education is not a panacea or a magic bullet which will sap the demonic strength of Jew-hatred. There is a spiritual root here, as Yeshua’s half-brother James tells us: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1-2).
The Scriptures teach us that the source of anti-Semitism is satanic: “The devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child” (Revelation 12:13-14). The Jewish people have given birth to Messiah Yeshua, and are God’s key to world revival. Nazi, Communist and Islamist attempts to annihilate the Jews all share a similar spiritual root.
The director of Palestinian Media Watch Itamar Marcus states that unless the religious roots of anti-Semitism are confronted head-on, “a mere ceremony giving homage to the past while ignoring the present … (ed. will have) no impact on the future” (www.jpost.com/Opinion/Palestinian-Authority-fights-Jews-to-defend-all-humanity-614876).
- The spiritual sources of murderous anti-Semitism need to be parried by spiritual counter-measures, as well as by political, educational and military ones
Quiet on the set!
The Hebrew prophets describe a sober day when all the leaders of the world will gather around Jerusalem, but not for pro-Jewish reasons:
- “Behold, a day is coming for YHVH … For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured … Then YHVH will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley” (Zechariah 14:2-4)
Whereas this week’s gathering of world leaders is benign, it is nothing like the concerted international military attack in days to come. The end result of that invasion of Israel will be the return of Messiah Yeshua.
Gathering of world leaders for judgment
When Messiah returns, He will call the leaders of all nations to a conference in Jerusalem. All nations will have turned against the Jewish people, according to Zechariah. All nations will then be judged by Messiah Yeshua:
- “For behold, in those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:1-2)
World leaders in the days of Moshiach (Messiah)
The days are coming when anti-Semitism will be banished from this world. Those will be the days when Messiah Yeshua sits on David’s throne in Jerusalem. Then all nations will ascend to David’s City with a transformed heart:
- “You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her. For the appointed time has come … So the nations will fear the name of YHVH and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For YHVH has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory. He has regarded the prayer of the destitute and has not despised their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come … that men may tell of the name of YHVH in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when the peoples are gathered together and the kingdoms, to serve YHVH” (Psalm 102:13-22)
All nations will honor, worship and obey the God of Israel. They will honor and prioritize the people of Israel as well:
- “O clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with the voice of joy. For YHVH Most High is to be feared, agreat King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah. God has ascended with a shout – YHVH, with the sound of a trumpet … God reigns over the nations! God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the peoples have assembled themselves (ed. and also) the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted!” (Psalm 47:1-9)
The 47th Psalm speaks of a future gathering quite different in nature than the present one which approximately 47 world leaders are attending.
The day of small things
We in Israel are thankful for the international focus on the Jewish people, on the international official rejection of anti-Semitism, and for our ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ (to paraphrase Andy Warhol). But let’s keep on track with what is yet to happen, realizing that anti-Semitism is far from dead, the nations are far from cured, and Israel still has some distance yet to go, and some battles yet to fight.
How should we then pray?
- Pray for God to expose and rein in anti-Semitism and the spirit behind it
- Pray for God to upend the enemy’s genocidal anti-Jewish strategies in your own country
- Pray for the spirit of grace and supplications to be poured out on the Jewish people
- Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
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