Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee: and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:16
…for he that touches you touches the apple [pupil] of His eye. Zechariah 2:8
We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran Pastor and anti-Nazi
In her book, The Hiding Place, Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom remembers:
“One day as Father and I were returning from our walk we found the Grote Markt cordoned off by a double ring of police and soldiers. A truck was parked in front of the fish mart; into the back were climbing men, women, and children, all wearing the yellow star…
“Father! Those poor people!” I cried.
“Those poor people,” Father echoed. But to my surprise, I saw that he was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks to march away. “I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God’s eye.”
Corrie ten Boom and her family helped over 800 Jewish people escape the Nazi Holocaust. They harbored hundreds of Jews to protect them from arrest by Nazi authorities. Betrayed by a fellow Dutch citizen, the entire family was imprisoned for standing against evil.
Standing Against Evil
Singer-songwriter Sean Ono Lennon, son of Beatles founder John Lennon, unequivocally stood with Jews the first week in December 2022, condemning the massive spike in hate crimes directed at the community.
The December 7, 2022, United With Israel article stated, “Sean Ono Lennon, son of Beatles founder John Lennon and acclaimed artist Yoko Ono, posted clear statistics from the FBI showing the extent to which Jews are disproportionately targeted by hate crimes in the U.S. The statistics show that Jews are more than twice as likely to be targeted for hate crimes as Muslims, and close to three times more likely to be targeted than Blacks.”
Lennon continued, “A surprising number of people don’t even know that more hate crimes are committed against Jews than any other minority group. Racism in all forms is abhorrent and must be condemned. I don’t know if Ye truly understands how dangerous and evil his words were.”
Kanye (Ye) West
Lennon’s comments were directed at Kanye (Ye) West and Nick Fuentes, both of whom have uttered the most virulent and noxious anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denying statements.
In 2016, Kanye was hospitalized for exhaustion but was held under a 5150 72-hour psychiatric hold according to the Washington Post. (Questionable source, but still apparently valid.) In 2020, Kanye claimed his wife, Kim Kardashian West tried to have him committed.
The New York Post commented on West’s appearance on Alex Jones’s Info Wars program where West claimed he loved Hitler and hated Bibi Netanyahu. Jones said of the West interview, “I can’t bring myself to watch it again — I can’t stand to watch it.”
West was suspended from Twitter by Elon Musk allegedly for posting a picture of the Star of David with a swastika inside it. He’s lost his partnership with Adidas and he and his wife have divorced.
Nick Fuentes, head of the Groypers, who I mentioned in a previous article, seems to be behind West’s anti-Semitic diatribes.
Nick Fuentes
Fuentes has made a number of racist and antisemitic comments under the guise of being provocative and ironic. On a Livestream episode, Fuentes “jokingly” denied the Holocaust and compared Jews burnt in concentration camps to cookies in an oven.
On May 24, 2021, Fuentes participated in a debate on Alex Jones’s Info Wars with Robert Barnes, a man described as a “constitutional lawyer” who has legally defended both Jones and Kenosha’s, Kyle Rittenhouse. During the debate, Fuentes made numerous antisemitic remarks, including, “I don’t see Jews as Europeans and I don’t see them as part of Western civilization, particularly because they are not Christians.”
Uh, Nick… Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew from the Tribe of Judah.
Silence in the Face of Evil
Obviously, this 24-year-old hasn’t a full grasp of American or world history. Jewish folks were here long before the Revolutionary War. Haym Salomon actually helped to finance the War for Independence. He served as the broker to Superintendent of Finance, Robert Morris, from 1781 to 1784. He immigrated to colonial New York in the mid-1770s, where he first served as a sutler to the Continental Army.
Read Simon Wiesenthal’s Sails of Hope: The Secret Mission of Christopher Columbus. Columbus knew that Queen Isabella’s ultimatum for the Jews to get out of Spain had run out. On board the ship that sailed for the West Indies was a very large number of Jewish folks. Many disembarked at various stops, but there’s a good chance many of them came to America.
So, where are the rest of the famous musicians and actors like Sean Lennon? Why aren’t they all speaking out? Where are the politicians who love to talk, but never do a thing to help their country? Where is the church, why aren’t they preaching to the congregations to stand against this evil? Where are the university and college leaders? Why aren’t they taking a stand against anti-Semitism to protect their Jewish students?
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was so very right when he said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
The Wife of Jehovah
The relationship of Israel as the wife of Jehovah is viewed throughout the Scriptures in various ways and facets. Essentially, this relationship can be broken down into six distinct stages that the relationship undergoes. Four of these stages are history. We are now living in the fifth stage of the relationship between Israel and God. The sixth stage is the future. That future holds the final and completed promises to Israel.
The book of Deuteronomy seems to be merely a repetition of what Moses had written earlier in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Deuteronomy actually means “repetition” or “a second time around.” But the entire format of the Book of Deuteronomy is that of both an ancient treaty and an ancient marriage contract. What Moses does in Deuteronomy is take all the various facets of the three earlier books and present them in the form of an ancient marriage contract. In Deuteronomy, we find the marriage contract signed between Israel and God—where Israel becomes the wife of Jehovah.
Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 6:10-15, 7:6-11
The prophets always looked at this covenant relationship as a marriage contract, and one example is found in Ezekiel 16:8, the words of Ezekiel being the words describing the wedding night.
Israel may wander and stray, and she may go against the statutes the Lord gave, but in the end, there will be a greater remarriage and restored blessings. Ezekiel 16:60-63 and Isaiah 54:1-8.
Jeremiah 3:14 makes it clear. “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”
The Lord loves His Wife, Israel.
The Eight Covenants
There are eight covenants in God’s Word. Two are conditional and six are unconditional. Of these eight covenants, five were made exclusively with Israel while the others were made with mankind in general. Only the Mosaic Covenant is conditional. The Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenant are unconditional. These are literal covenants and their contents must be interpreted literally as well, The covenants God made with Israel are eternal and are not in any way restricted or altered by time. These covenants being unconditional are totally dependent upon God for fulfillment. Therefore, their fulfillment can be expected. These covenants were made with a specific people…Israel! Ephesians 2:11-12 points out that Gentiles were considered strangers from the covenants.
Space disallows a thorough discussion of all eight covenants, but the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant is of great importance. There are six different passages of Scripture that pertain to this Covenant. Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 12:7, Genesis 13:14-17, Genesis 15:1-21, Genesis 17:1-21 and Genesis 22:15-18. And in the New Testament Book of Galatians Chapter 3, Paul states that the Abrahamic promises were made to Abraham and to his seed.
Note that the very first portion of the Abrahamic Covenant is Genesis 12:1-3 wherein our Creator states, “And I will bless them that bless thee: and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
So, anti-Semites beware. Throughout history, the Lord has kept his promises and those who have cursed Israel are cursed, those who bless her are blessed.
Hatred for Israel and Her People
I am a gentile, and I am a believer in Messiah Jesus. As such we who believe are called Christ’s bride, but we have never been called God’s wife. His wife is Israel. Why is she so hated and besmirched? Because it is she, God’s wife, who will call for Moshiach to come and save them from the armies of the evil one in the last days of the tribulation.
Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, whatever you call him, he knows what is in the Word, and from the beginning of his fall from grace, he has tried to destroy the Jews so that he could live and rule and reign on earth forever. But it won’t happen because our Creator’s promises are forever. In Genesis 15:5 the Lord said to Abram, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”
Those who have hatred for Israel in their hearts, not only curse themselves according to God’s Word but they are filled with demonic entities.
To the Jew first and also to the Greek appears three times in the New Testament and all three appear in the first two chapters of Romans.
Poking God’s Eye
Genesis 12:3: I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee.
Zechariah 2:8: …for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple (pupil) of His eye.
The first verse is a promise to Gentiles, all the nations of the world, on what we can expect from the Lord God based on our treatment of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. What kind of blessings and curses has God reserved for us based on how we treat the Jewish people whom He loves?
The second verse is an ominous statement of warning to all who would stand actively or passively against Israel, whom He calls the “apple of His eye,” expressing His devotion, affection, and protectiveness towards Israel and the Jewish people.
The two verses are linked together and their commonality is God’s promised reaction
Hanukkah and Christmas
Christians observe December 25th as a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Our Jewish brethren also have a celebration during the same time period that commemorates God’s deliverance of them from a period of terrible oppression 165 years before the birth of Jesus. This year Hanukkah is from December 18th to 26th. Both are joyous Holy days.
This feast or celebration is called Hanukkah, a Hebrew word that means dedication. Accordingly, in the Gospel of John, it is called “The Feast of Dedication” (John 10:22-23). And, it is also referred to as “The Feast of Lights.”
This Jewish festival was established in 165 B.C. to mark the rededication of the Temple after the Israelites, under the leadership of Judah Maccabee, toppled their enemy, the Syrian dictator Antiochus Epiphanes. When the Jews sought to relight the lampstand in the Temple during the rededication ceremony, they discovered only enough oil for one day. It would take eight days to make a new supply, but the people decided to kindle and burn up what they had anyway. According to legend, a miracle occurred, and the oil lasted for eight days.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and we believe He is the light unto the world.
Saving God’s People
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged by Hitler just days before liberation. His life was one of loving the Jewish people and battling the evil of Naziism.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum states:
One of Bonhoeffer’s most famous texts was his April 1933 essay, “The Church and the Jewish Question.” Addressing the challenges facing his church under Nazism, Bonhoeffer in this essay argued that National Socialism was an illegitimate form of government and hence had to be opposed on Christian grounds. He outlined three stages of this opposition. First, the church was called to question state injustice. Secondly, it had an obligation to help all victims of injustice, whether they were Christian or not. Finally, church might be called to “put a spoke in the wheel” to bring the machinery of injustice to a halt.
The good pastor was involved in smuggling Jews out of Germany and in the attempt to kill Hitler.
In February 1945, he was taken to Buchenwald and in April moved to the Flossenburgconcentration camp. On April 9, 1945, he was hanged with other conspirators. His brother Klaus Bonhoeffer was also executed for resistance activities, as were his brothers-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi and Rüdiger Schleicher.
The Fuhrer had them hanged out of spite and hatred.
Corrie ten Boom and her entire family loved the Jewish people and set about to save them. Through the Dutch Resistance, the ten Boom family home became a safe haven for Jews and resistance fighters.
For two years the ten Booms housed, fed, and relocated Jews and others passing through, miraculously obtaining enough ration cards and other supplies despite the watchful eyes of the SS headquarters nearby. The resistance built a secret room with a sliding panel in Corrie’s bedroom.
On February 28, 1944, the Gestapo raided the ten Boom home. Six people living illegally in the house survived in the hiding place, but Corrie, her siblings, father, and nephews were arrested and transferred to Scheveningen. Her father died there, and her sister, Betsie, died at Ravensbrück.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Corrie ten Boom, both devout Christians, loved their Jewish brethren enough to risk their own lives for God’s people.
As Corrie said, “Lord Jesus, I offer myself for Your people. In any way. Any place. Any time.”
Conclusion
In Deuteronomy 32:10, Moses declared that all God’s people could confidently ask God to keep them a reflection on God’s iris. The words of the Prophet Zachariah promise that those who hurt God’s people will pay, for God constantly keeps His people in the iris of His eye.
Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!
