When the children of Israel started to multiply in Egypt, Pharaoh tried to stop it all through the midwives, but when that failed, he slaughtered the firstborn sons of Israel. It was a calamitous time in Jewish history, but not for the last time. During the time of Esther, Haman sought to destroy the Jews again, as did Herod at the birth of Messiah.
Then less than seventy years ago, Hitler wiped out six million Jews, something that Iran's president Ahmadinejad has conveniently denied, despite the freshness and veracity of physical, photographic, written and verbal evidence.
Of course this is not specifically a Jewish phenomenon. In Roman times, Christians were also persecuted and that too became a recurring theme of history. But where the evidence of God could not be prevented, men reverted to denial as they did in denying the resurrection of Jesus.
The modern world denies the concept of intelligent design even when the greatest minds of history acknowledge it, because to accept it is to be responsible to its implications. Denial is a very powerful force. I once faced a very painful truth that had been concealed from me, but was revealed through church leaders.
As the truth hit me I absolutely refused to believe it. Denial was immensely powerful and I was a first hand witness of that power. I just was not ready to cope with the truth, so my system suppressed it to spare me. As the truth slowly settled in my consciousness, I reverted to anger, withdrawal and gradual acceptance, the classic psychological cycle of trauma.
Now Pharaoh of Egypt was intimidated by the rise of the Hebrews and he and his successors chose to deny the call of God over the Hebrew nation. They defied God, brutalized the people and did everything to suppress the birth of that nation, the way the bourgeoisies denied the inevitable rise of the masses in the french revolution or the apartheid government of South Africa resisted the inevitable emancipation of Africans.
Unfortunately for Pharaoh, denial and suppression worked in the favor of the Hebrews, for it cemented their culture, held them together and multiplied their numbers. Eventually the nation was ready for a showdown with the Egyptian throne and the final curtain fell on the climactic moment of God's retribution for the killing of Israel's firstborn - the firstborn of Egypt died and the stranglehold of Pharaoh was broken. He tried once more to reclaim his already lost cause and God then destroyed him and his army in the Red sea.
When Herod slaughtered the innocents, he was not pursuing a nation, as such. Rather he was on the prowl for a king. Where Pharaoh had killed anything that looked remotely like a future nation or nation maker, Herod destroyed everything that looked remotely like a king. Hitler just simplified it all by destroying everything that didn't look Aryan, for his illusions of grandeur were so fragile that anything of substance posed a threat to his own dreams of a super race. But God kept his people anyway and they emerged from centuries of oppression to assume a very significant place in the world, whether the world liked it or not.
Even now the world is doing all it can to deny Israel its ancestral right to a sliver of land they call home and although that could hardly threaten the global status quo, it unfortunately looks too much like a king - so it must be stopped.
Now all this is just as true for us. The church is reaching a climax, where she will emerge from the nations as the bride of Christ: a warrior bride and the regal consort of Messiah in the consummation of this age. At an individual level, there is an increasing attack on any believer who looks like a king or a nation maker. There is a rising resistance against God's divine purpose for His people. God's purposes will prevail and the gates of hell will not, but don't be surprised when you find yourself cast into deep struggles and contradictions. Satan is out to stop anything that could threaten his own illusion of a godless world.
(c) Peter Eleazar at http://www.bethelstone.com/
Then less than seventy years ago, Hitler wiped out six million Jews, something that Iran's president Ahmadinejad has conveniently denied, despite the freshness and veracity of physical, photographic, written and verbal evidence.
Of course this is not specifically a Jewish phenomenon. In Roman times, Christians were also persecuted and that too became a recurring theme of history. But where the evidence of God could not be prevented, men reverted to denial as they did in denying the resurrection of Jesus.
The modern world denies the concept of intelligent design even when the greatest minds of history acknowledge it, because to accept it is to be responsible to its implications. Denial is a very powerful force. I once faced a very painful truth that had been concealed from me, but was revealed through church leaders.
As the truth hit me I absolutely refused to believe it. Denial was immensely powerful and I was a first hand witness of that power. I just was not ready to cope with the truth, so my system suppressed it to spare me. As the truth slowly settled in my consciousness, I reverted to anger, withdrawal and gradual acceptance, the classic psychological cycle of trauma.
Now Pharaoh of Egypt was intimidated by the rise of the Hebrews and he and his successors chose to deny the call of God over the Hebrew nation. They defied God, brutalized the people and did everything to suppress the birth of that nation, the way the bourgeoisies denied the inevitable rise of the masses in the french revolution or the apartheid government of South Africa resisted the inevitable emancipation of Africans.
Unfortunately for Pharaoh, denial and suppression worked in the favor of the Hebrews, for it cemented their culture, held them together and multiplied their numbers. Eventually the nation was ready for a showdown with the Egyptian throne and the final curtain fell on the climactic moment of God's retribution for the killing of Israel's firstborn - the firstborn of Egypt died and the stranglehold of Pharaoh was broken. He tried once more to reclaim his already lost cause and God then destroyed him and his army in the Red sea.
When Herod slaughtered the innocents, he was not pursuing a nation, as such. Rather he was on the prowl for a king. Where Pharaoh had killed anything that looked remotely like a future nation or nation maker, Herod destroyed everything that looked remotely like a king. Hitler just simplified it all by destroying everything that didn't look Aryan, for his illusions of grandeur were so fragile that anything of substance posed a threat to his own dreams of a super race. But God kept his people anyway and they emerged from centuries of oppression to assume a very significant place in the world, whether the world liked it or not.
Even now the world is doing all it can to deny Israel its ancestral right to a sliver of land they call home and although that could hardly threaten the global status quo, it unfortunately looks too much like a king - so it must be stopped.
Now all this is just as true for us. The church is reaching a climax, where she will emerge from the nations as the bride of Christ: a warrior bride and the regal consort of Messiah in the consummation of this age. At an individual level, there is an increasing attack on any believer who looks like a king or a nation maker. There is a rising resistance against God's divine purpose for His people. God's purposes will prevail and the gates of hell will not, but don't be surprised when you find yourself cast into deep struggles and contradictions. Satan is out to stop anything that could threaten his own illusion of a godless world.
(c) Peter Eleazar at http://www.bethelstone.com/
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