Category Archives: Thanksgiving

November 15, 2022 · 8:30 AM

Giving Thanks to the Lord for He Is Good

Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday that does not come from the Bible. It actually has “Jewish” origins, as many of the Pilgrims viewed themselves as the “children of Israel fleeing ‘Egypt’ (England), crossing the ‘Red Sea’ (the Atlantic Ocean), and emerging from this ‘Exodus’ to their own ‘promised land’ (New England).”1

The Pilgrims believed their role in God’s plan was similar to the purpose God gave to Abraham and his descendants: to be a blessing to the nations. These British religious refugees to the New World eventually led to the Puritan movement, which profoundly influenced the growth of the gospel in what would become the United States of America.

One of the great Puritan preachers, Cotton Mather, published a well-known sermon about thanksgiving in 1689. I especially appreciate his comment:

To praise God, is to Acknowledge in Him something Excellent, as ‘tis said in Psal. 148.13. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His Name alone is Excellent; thus, when we Acknowledge an Excellency in all those Manifestations which God maketh of Himself; then ‘tis that we praise Him. Now the Praises owing to the God of Heaven from us, are obliged not only by what He Is, but also by what He Does: indeed by what He Does it is that we come to Learn what He is. We ought to Acknowledge an Excellency in the Nature of God; which is to Ascribe Glory to Him.2

Ever since I came to faith in Jesus at age nineteen, I have believed that it was better to focus on who God is rather than what He does for us. One great temptation in giving thanks is to focus on what He has done rather than who He is. God’s character and glorious nature never change, but His works can change daily as the Lord is intimately involved in all aspects of our daily lives.

We understand God’s character through the Bible. One of my favorite passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that describes the character of God is in Exodus chapters 33 and 34. If you recall, God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, then hid him in the cleft of a rock, passing by him while declaring the glorious attributes of His nature. This action was in response to Moses’ request, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exod 33:18).

God answered, 

“You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” (Exod 33:20–23)

It is well worth reflecting on the following passage where His attributes are listed:

Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (Exod 34:6–7)

This monumental event on Mount Sinai—the manifestation of God’s attributes—became an important prayer within Judaism known as the Thirteen Attributes of God.

I genuinely believe the best way to thank God is to show our gratitude for His unchanging character. This lesson is what God taught Moses on top of Mount Sinai. Likewise, the Puritan leader Cotton Mather discovered this same truth.

Therefore, we, too, should begin our prayers of thanksgiving by first acknowledging His glorious character and the magnificence of His attributes. Then, we should continue praising and thanking Him for all He has done.

His good works proceed from His good character, and I believe this order in our prayers of thanksgiving is also critical.

WE ARE GRATEFUL

This Thanksgiving holiday, Your Mission to the Jewish People has so much to be thankful for as a ministry among the Jewish people. Our hearts are overflowing with the simple joy of knowing a good and benevolent God who created, loved, and redeemed us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

I am sure you will enjoy the testimonies we have compiled for this newsletter, and please rejoice with us for what the Lord has done! Let me list a few points of praise for your encouragement.

AN INCREASE IN CONGREGATIONS AND JEWISH BELIEVERS IN ISRAEL

When I first traveled to Israel as a believer in 1976, fewer than 500 Messianic Jews may have lived in the land. Some Jewish believers had survived the Holocaust, and a few had moved from North Africa to Israel. Most were not native Israelis and had come to Israel as believers from other parts of the globe. Some came to be part of the great Israel experiment, and others came to serve the Lord in the land. Now, more than seventy years later, there are probably between 20,000 and 30,000 Messianic Jews in the Holy Land, most of whom came to faith in Israel.

I believe we are now in a second-generation and even third-generation outpouring of the Spirit, transforming the national Israeli Messianic body.

This movement of the Spirit has also transformed our ministry as we continue to reach younger generations of Israelis along with the hundreds of elderly Holocaust survivors who we have been serving these past twenty-plus years. We now have our first generation of Jewish believers born in Israel, speaking Hebrew as their native language, attending Israeli schools, and serving in the Israeli army.

These Israeli believers are young, bold, and willing to give their all for Jesus the Messiah!

That is why we have rented a facility in the greater Tel Aviv neighborhood of Ramat Gan where we organize Sabbath outreach dinners, concerts, café nights, Bible studies, reading groups for moms and children, and so much more each month. We can do this because the Lord is working within a new generation of Israelis.

We are in the thick of this outpouring of the Spirit—discipling and nurturing new believers and this new generation of young Israeli leaders!

The future of the Messianic Jewish movement in Israel is bright, and I hope you will want to participate in this work of the Spirit through Your Mission to the Jewish People.

We do need more worship space!

NEW MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES WITH TRAVELING ISRAELIS

We are reaching Israelis by meeting adventurous post-army young adults in places like the Upper West Side of New York City, the South Island of New Zealand, India, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. We are also about to open up ministry stations in Brazil and Japan to reach these wandering Israelis. Our short-term and permanent teams are sharing the gospel with them as they enjoy hikes, BBQs, hummus nights, or a lovely meal of traditional Chinese food!

The Israeli traveler community is a cultural phenomenon and a growing trend that enables us to speak to young Israelis in areas where there is less pressure to conform. In these contexts, they allow themselves to search outside of their usual choices for ways to have happy and meaningful lives and are open to new ways to have a relationship with the God of Israel.

In addition, we are creating a hosting network within the United States, and if you would like to host young Israeli people just out of the army in your home, please let us know! We are now beginning to look for American hosts for the new year.

AN INCREASE IN PRO-JESUS SENTIMENT AMONG YOUNGER GENERATIONS OF JEWISH PEOPLE

We are surprised by the large number of young Jewish people from all over the world responding to our social media, Facebook ads, our new campus outreaches, and the congregations we plant. A recent Barna survey has revealed that Jewish millennials are more open than their parents to the gospel and even to the possibility that Jesus is both Messiah and God in the flesh. We find this astounding! In addition, young people are the majority of the more than 10,000 Jewish non-believers we have met online through our digital outreach campaigns over the last few years, including our Isaiah 53 Explained eBook offer and our “I Found Shalom” video testimonies.

I am also very excited about resuming our residential outreach ministry (House of Living Waters) at New York University (NYU),which has the largest concentration of Jewish students in the United States. We have two young men living in an apartment across the street from the NYU campus and a young woman living in Brooklyn. They are all actively engaged in sharing the gospel with Jewish students.

Again, these opportunities and the openheartedness of the younger generations give me incredible hope for the future of God’s work in bringing the Jewish remnant to Himself in these last days (Romans 11:25–29).

Happy Thanksgiving—and remember to save room for pumpkin pie!

1 Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 127.

2 Cotton Mather, “A Sermon Preached to the Honourable Convention of the Governour, Council, and Representatives of the Massachuset-Colony in New-England on May 23, 1689,” https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A50176.0001.001/1:5?rgn=div1;view=fulltext.

Leave a comment

Filed under Brooklyn, evangelism, Holidays & Festivals, Israel, Jewish Christian Dialogue, Jews and Christians, Judaism, Messianic Jewish, New York City, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 15, 2021 · 8:30 AM

The Story of Hanukkah

Happy Thanksgiving on behalf of the entire Chosen People Ministries global family! I hope you will be able to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving meal with your loved ones! If you lost a friend or family member during the last year or two, I also pray the Lord will fill your heart with heavenly comfort and peace.

I am very thankful to God for you and the ways you have stood with Your Mission to the Jewish People this year. Your prayers and support mean so much to us!

We have so much to be grateful for in spite of the circumstances, as our staff continues to reach Jewish people with the gospel both in person and online.

Our outreach has even increased this past year as so many Jewish people are looking heavenward for answers.

Our work among elderly Holocaust survivors in Israel has increased as the need has been overwhelming. Chosen People Ministries—Israel has provided love and company for the lonely, food for the hungry, and of course, the good news of Jesus to these precious Jewish souls. Many young Israelis also attend our online ministry events when we cannot meet in person. We need your prayers as we resume in-person outreaches in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and throughout this country of almost seven million Jewish people.

In New York City, we recently commemorated the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 by honoring our heroes and reminding Americans of our unbreakable bond with Israel in combating terrorism. More than 40,000 people joined us for the event online and in person.

We thank God for all He has done in our 127th year of faithful ministry, and we are looking forward to the greater things He will do through you and our global staff in our 128th year (John 14:12). We are focusing on reaching Israelis in Israel and wherever they travel after the army with the gospel, expanding our outreach through videos, podcasts, and social media, and preparing our next generation for leadership in Jewish ministry through our Brooklyn-based and now online Charles L. Feinberg seminary program!

We have so much to be grateful for in Jesus, our Messiah. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

The Story of Hanukkah

I also wish you an early Happy Hanukkah, which is one of my favorite holidays. Growing up in a Jewish home in New York City, I loved each day of this eight-day festival because my parents gave us presents every night as we lit the beautiful Hanukkah candles.

We also eat wonderful foods like potato pancakes (called latkes) smothered in applesauce or sour cream. In Israel, delicious jelly donuts are also a Hanukkah staple. OK… so it is not the healthiest of Jewish holidays! We make our Hanukkah foods with lots of oil as both oil and light illustrate two of the great themes of the holiday.

Let me explain.

The story of Hanukkah takes place during the biblical “silent years”—the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. In 168 BC, the Jewish people rebelled against the Syrian-Greek General, Antiochus the Fourth, whom the Jewish people called “Antiochus the Madman.” This evil Seleucid king took the name “Epiphanes,” which means “God manifest,” as he believed he was the manifestation of one of the Greek gods. Antiochus wanted the Jewish people to worship him rather than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which was at the heart of the reason for Israel’s resistance.

A priestly family called the Maccabees led the rebellion. They lived in a town called Modi’in, which is just a few miles

from Jerusalem. As the story goes, the representative of Antiochus entered the village and demanded that the Jewish people in Modi’in bow down and worship a statue of Antiochus, upon pain of death. In doing so, they would affirm belief in the gods of the Greeks, loyalty to the madman, and rejection of the God of the Hebrews.

This godly family waged guerrilla warfare against the mighty Greek-Syrian army and managed to defeat Antiochus. This victory was a miracle as once again, Israel beat the odds and defeated a much larger and more powerful enemy. Jewish people traditionally view this as God’s blessing upon the Maccabees for their faithfulness to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

After their victory, they traveled to the Holy City of Jerusalem to rededicate the Temple. The victorious band of priestly guerrillas was horrified as they entered the Temple.

They discovered that Antiochus had sacrificed a pig on the altar, signaling the Syrian Greeks’ contempt for the Jewish people. The Maccabees tore down the stones of the altar as it was deemed beyond cleansing. According to Jewish tradition found in the books of Maccabees (1 Macc 4:36–59; 2 Macc 10:1–8), the Maccabees set the defiled altar stones aside until “a prophet” comes, who would tell them what to do with the stones (1 Macc 4:45–46).

Then, according to tradition, they discovered the eternal light in the Temple had only enough oil to last for one day. So they immediately began to make fresh olive oil to keep the eternal light from being extinguished. According to tradition, even though it usually takes eight days to complete and cure the oil, the one day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for eight!

We do not know whether the story is true or not. However, I was raised in a very traditional Jewish home and taught to believe it was true! Either way, the victory of Hanukkah is one of the great stories of both Jewish heroism and God’s loyalty to His chosen people. For these reasons and more, the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah.

The festival is far more than an opportunity to enjoy the

beauty of family gatherings, Hanukkah parties, or even giving presents. The holiday is more than a wonderful time of playing games with our families, like spinning little tops called dreidels and singing some of the most moving songs within our Jewish tradition.

Jesus & Hanukkah

My wife and children love the holiday as it beautifully connects to our Messiah Jesus in so many ways. After all, Yeshua, Jesus, is the Jewish Messiah. He is the Light of the world (John 8:12), so there is nothing like the lights of the Hanukkah candles to remind us that Jesus the Messiah is the true light that illuminates mankind.

But there is more! Hanukkah is recorded as observed by the Jewish people in the New Testament—not in the Old! John wrote that Jesus celebrated the Feast of Dedication, a title that commemorates the rededication of the Temple after the desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes.

In John 10:22–30, we read:

At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give

eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

In the midst of this moment of intense and heated debate with the Jewish leaders of the day, Jesus makes one of the most remarkable declarations about His person found in the entire Bible.

He is not only the light of the world, but He is God in the flesh!

This message of His incarnation, light, and the deliverance He offers humanity through His death and resurrection is the message we hope to bring to every Jewish soul.

So please pray for Your Mission to the Jewish People—that the Lord will fill us with His Spirit, enabling us to continue our ministry to the Jewish people in Israel, the United States, and throughout the world.

The Future of the Middle East

I am also grateful for the Abraham Accords and other movements bringing peace and hope to a new and changing Middle East! But even more, I look forward to the reshaping of the Middle East when Jesus returns to reign as King!

We are grateful for your faithful partnership. Have a Jesus-centered and joyful Thanksgiving and a Happy Hanukkah!

Leave a comment

Filed under evangelism, Holidays & Festivals, Israel, Jewish Holidays, Jews and Christians, Messianic Jewish, Middle East, New York City, Thanksgiving

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 30, 2020 · 8:00 AM

Thanksgiving: The Gateway to Joy in Difficult Times

I have thought a lot about what I would like to share with you as we approach the holiday season.

I am sure we all know someone or have even had a dear friend contract COVID-19, and maybe some of us have even lost friends and relatives due to complications from the virus.

I could tell you about all the churches the Chosen People Ministries staff did not visit in the last nine months or the evangelistic campaigns we never held. I could share about people we were unable to visit in person and Bible studies and services either never held or held online.

I could complain about how hard it was for me to stay home and not fly the usual 100,000-plus miles I have traveled annually for the last twenty years!

But this time has also been a blessing in disguise!

I really have enjoyed spending more time with my wife, and I have been able to write articles, study more, and spend time with our beloved staff on Zoom—maybe more than ever before! We have had thousands—and I mean thousands—of Jewish people engage with us online throughout this period, and we have had some great opportunities to share the gospel. Our services and Bible studies have all grown, and we served more than 20,000 people through our online high holiday services. I am amazed at His power and faithfulness.

We have also seen a new openness among very religious Jewish people, and we are regularly speaking with a number of these very devoted sons and daughters of Abraham about Jesus.

I am sure we have all done our best to find godly ways to get through this season. We have also probably asked the question, “Why, oh Lord?” a number of times. There is nothing wrong with asking! In fact, the Bible even gives us answers and sound advice for moving through difficult seasons. Yet, in our heart of hearts, we know we should trust God and look for biblical answers to our hearts’ deepest questions.

Throughout Scripture, we see many others who endured hardship and found a way not only to survive but thrive. My favorite place to look for help in tough times is in the Psalms. Today, I want to reflect upon one of my favorites, Psalm 118, and see if we can discover some truths that will help us along the way.

So, let us take a quick look at Psalm 118, which is best known for the great Messianic prophecy in verses 22–23: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

This passage is quoted four times in the New Testament (Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:7, Matthew 21:42) and in one way or another, applied to Jesus, who is the chief cornerstone of our life and faith. But there is a lot more to this great psalm.

Psalm 118 is one of the psalms the Lord has used to guide me through the dark days of the pandemic.

The Hallel Psalms

It is identified as one of the thanksgiving psalms and is the last of the Passover or Egyptian Hallel Psalms (113–118), which eventually wound their way into the fabric of the Haggadah (which in Hebrew means “the telling”), the prayer and guidebook used by Jewish people for the last 2,000 years in celebrating the Passover Seder.

The psalm is also customarily recited during the other two pilgrimage festivals, Pentecost and Tabernacles, and also during Hanukkah and the new moon.

It is suggested that Psalms 113–118 were recited while the Israelites were marching towards the Temple to offer the great Paschal sacrifice. A celebration filled with pomp, circumstance, and enthusiasm of faith, Jesus would have viewed this parade many times, until the day came when He Himself became the sacrifice—the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The Hebrew word hallel means “praise,” from which we get the word hallelujah. Psalm 118, like the others in the group, may be viewed as loud shouts of joy to the God who delivers His people from bondage! Psalm 118 begins with a passionate statement of thanksgiving and concludes twenty-eight verses later with the same explosion of praise.

Offering Thanksgiving

Read the first few verses of the psalm and you will see what I mean.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Oh let Israel say, ‘His lovingkindness is everlasting’” (Psalm 118:1–2).

There is a lot to learn about our relationship to God, especially in tough times, even from this one verse.

The psalmist used the word hodu, which is related to the word todah, which simply means “thank you.” Todah is also the name for the voluntary thanksgiving offering mentioned by Moses in Leviticus 7:12. The thanksgiving offering was often added to one of the mandatory offerings, such as the guilt or peace offerings.

“If he offers it by way of thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of well stirred fine flour mixed with oil” (Leviticus 7:12).

The thanksgiving offering reflects an extra step of devotion by the worshipper and demonstrates a greater degree of love filling the heart of the one making this “extra” and voluntary offering.

You will notice immediately that the focus of the psalmist’s thanksgiving is not on the parting of the Red Sea, protection from Egyptian armies, or on any of the other great miracles God performed in delivering the Jewish people from Egypt. Instead, the focus of the psalmist is upon the person and promises of God.

The first lesson we learn about praise, prayer, and thanksgiving is that, like the psalmist, we should first give thanks to God for who He is before we show our gratitude for what He has done!

For His Goodness

If you look again at the text, you will see that, in part, the psalmist identifies the motivation for his thanksgiving in the phrase, “for He is good” (Psalm 118:1).

The Hebrew word for “good” is tov. One of the ways this word is used in Scripture is in reference to an internal quality of integrity, or ethical or moral goodness. With respect to God’s character, when we declare that He is good, we are referring to the goodness of His nature. He is always acting in goodness toward us, even in the midst of a pandemic. We might not understand the why, but we do know that He is still good even in the midst of personal and global tragedy. His nature is unchanging.

Throughout the difficulties of the exodus from Egypt, the forty years in the wilderness, and all of the challenges and threats faced by the psalmist, he still understood that God is good. We should not lose sight of this wonderful truth about the nature of the holy and eternal One: despite our suffering, He is still good.

Keith Green, a Jewish believer who passed away in a plane crash in the mid 1970s, wrote the following words in one of my favorite worship songs:

“Oh Lord, you’re beautiful, your face is all I seek, for when your eye is on this child, your grace abounds to me.”[1]

Imagine walking into the Holy of Holies and coming face to face with the Shekinah glory. If you were able to say anything, you might have cried out, “Oh Lord, you are beautiful. Your person is spectacular, magnificent. Neither my eyes nor yours have seen anything more beautiful than the person of our God.”

Do you remember what God said at the conclusion of creation?

“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31).

The phrase is a familiar one to those of us who are Jewish—tov m’od, which means “very good.” God saw His handiwork, especially the creation of man, and proclaimed that it was “very good.”

His creation reflects His beauty. I recall standing in front of the Grand Canyon, speechless at sunset, and all I could really say was, “It is beautiful!” Staring into the face of great beauty stops us in our tracks and leaves us without words to describe what we see. This is only elevated when we speak about the eternal character of God.

Moses may have been the only person in the Old Testament who ever came face to face with God’s goodness.

The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:17–23)

When this event actually transpired, Moses added,

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6–7).

What makes God beautiful is His character. We are thankful for who He is, and He is indeed beautiful. When I recognize His beauty, my heart and lips are filled with His praise.

Perhaps the clearest window into the beauty of His character occurred during the Incarnation. The beauty of His character was revealed most clearly in the person of Yeshua who the Apostle Paul described as follows, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).

Similarly, the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

We offer praise and thanksgiving to God because He is good. We are thankful for His person, and our offering of praise raises our souls above the circumstances of life; Everything He gives or delivers us from, or provides fades in comparison to the beauty of His person.

We are grateful because He is good and beautiful.

For His Everlasting Loyalty

The second reason the psalmist offers thanksgiving to God is that he recognizes that the Lord’s lovingkindness is everlasting. Lovingkindness is a loaded term in the Hebrew language. The word chesed may be translated as “loyalty,” and particularly “covenant loyalty.” The psalmist praises God because He is loyal to His covenants and promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In Genesis 12:1–3, the God of our forefathers made a fourfold covenantal promise assuring Abram and his children that they would persevere as a nation, possess a land, fulfill a mission (to bless the world), and enjoy a unique relationship with their God. These covenantal promises would be eternally guarded by the very character of the One making the promises.

By His nature, God is loyal. He never breaks His word. He always keeps His promises. It would be against His eternal nature to break a commitment.

The psalmist offered a sacrifice of praise as he honored the One who fulfilled every promise He ever made. God’s faithfulness does not mean we will not experience distress in this life! It also does not mean the Lord will keep His promises according to our schedule or in the ways we expect!

Pandemics are painful, and from our viewpoint, this has been a dark and difficult season. In verses 17–18, the psalmist seems to be able to balance both hope and despair. He exclaimed, “I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death” (Psalm 118:17–18).

We struggle with the same dilemma, especially now! In our own way, each of us has suffered during the pandemic. Those of us still alive are able to praise Him here. Some of our brothers and sisters have passed into His presence and are now able to praise Him before His heavenly throne.

We might feel like asking the question, “Has God failed to protect us?” or “How could a good God let the circumstances of the last nine months fall upon us?” The answer is always going to be the same. God has not failed us! He has not broken His promises. He is incapable of doing so!

His timing is merely different than ours. His purposes, ways, and thoughts are higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8–9). He uses the darkness to shape our character and prepare us for living in His eternal light. Rabbi Paul penned the well-known passage in Romans 8, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

We may not understand why He allows us to experience difficulty, but we know that He is eternally good and faithful to His promises. He just has a different plan than we expected. It may be hard for us to comprehend, which is why we walk by faith, trusting in His unchanging character, and in the face of extraordinary hardship, we can continue to say, “Thank you, Lord!”

Thankful for Him

Like the psalmist, our thanksgiving is founded on His unchanging character and not on what He gives us. Yet, we often reverse this order. When asked to list what we are thankful for, we usually begin with what He has done for us. We list all the good things God has given to us, His protection, our family, our daily bread, and so much more. We know the list!

Yet, we really should begin with thanking God for His character because we know He always keeps His promises and that the future is bright.

We must grab a hold of God’s person and promises amid suffering and loss, persecution, and even during the dark days of a pandemic.

We cry out with Job, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him” (Job 13:15).

You see, in the end of it all, all we need is Him!

The Rest of the Psalm

Recognizing that His person and promises form the bedrock for our praise, you can see that there is no human circumstance that can or should keep us from being thankful and praising him. The following promises flow from the character of God:

“The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6).

“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation” (Psalm 118:14).

“I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation” (Psalm 118:21).

“You are my God, and I give thanks to You; You are my God, I extol You” (Psalm 118:28).

What stunning sentiments of worship, praise and thanksgiving.

And finally, the psalmist concluded the way he started:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalm 118:29).

Thankful for Him!

In light of who He is, how can we not be thankful? I am grateful for the magnificence of His character. I am also thankful for all that He has done. But, if He did nothing for me, I would hopefully be just as thankful because my thanksgiving is focused on the beauty of His person.

The remainder of the psalm speaks about all He is and what that means to the psalmist and to us.

He is beautiful, loyal, everlasting, and true to His promises. We do not need to fear. He is our refuge, strength, song, and salvation. He is our God, and the chief cornerstone is our Messiah and Lord of all. We can say at all times, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). If you feel overcome with COVID-19 anxiety or fear, try praising God and thanking Him for who He is and see if you are not able to push through the difficulties. I believe you will experience the joy of the Lord!

I am thankful for you, too—for your loving the Lord, supporting our common ministry, praying for the global work of Chosen People Ministries, and for allowing us to be part of your life.

Happy Thanksgiving! May the holy, awesome, and glorious Lord of glory fill your soul with praise, and may He bring healing, restoration, and joy to you and your family.

[1] Keith Green, “Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful,” track 9 on So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt, Sparrow Records, 1980.

Leave a comment

Filed under Thanksgiving

Tagged as , ,

November 16, 2015 · 10:32 AM

Lessons in Thanksgiving from the Hebrew Bible

Lessons in Thanksgiving from the Hebrew Bible

Shalom and Happy Thanksgiving!

1511NLW_Hand-Pear_TS487018409During this season of Thanksgiving I want you to know that I am very grateful for you! May the Lord continue to bless you for blessing the Jewish people. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial support—we could not do the work of bringing the Gospel to Jewish people across the globe without your partnership.

The Sabbatical (Shemitah) Year

As you know, the Jewish calendar is quite different from the non-Jewish calendar. The Jewish year is a lunar year with 30-day months, and the Julian calendar is solar with both 30- and 31-day months. This makes it a little confusing when you are trying to align the Jewish calendar with the Gregorian calendar. We are now just a few months into the new Jewish year of 5776, based upon the traditional rabbinic date for creation.

The Jewish calendar has received a lot of attention over the past 12 months because of the many books and articles telling us that the year 5775 was a Sabbatical year, also known by the Hebrew term shemitah, or in English, “release.”

The primary rule of thumb for observing the Sabbatical year, which occurs every seventh year, was that the Israelites were supposed to leave the land fallow so that it could rest. They were to refrain from planting crops in that particular year and to trust God to provide for them.

You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove (Ex. 23:10-11).

A second, and very important part of the Sabbatical year was the forgiveness of loans. The Scripture continues,

At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. This is the manner of remission:  every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed (Deut. 15:1-2).

Again, during the Sabbatical year, the Israelites were to show special mercy and grace towards the poor. This was to be done in a few different ways. First of all, the “successful” Israelite was commanded to help fellow Israelites who were impoverished by loaning them what was needed for their survival.

If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks (Deut. 15:7-8).

Secondly, they were to release those who indentured themselves because they had probably fallen on hard times for some reason—perhaps health, bad crops or whatever caused them to “lose the farm.” The only way for them to survive was to become enslaved to one of their fellow countrymen.

If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.  When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed (Deut. 15:12-13; see also 15:14-18).

Therefore, the “release” of the Sabbatical year meant that the Israelites could not plant crops in their fields, collect payments on loans, and keep all of what they produced and stored for themselves rather than giving generously to the poor. At the heart of the “release” was the opportunity to trust God for all of their needs.

Unfortunately the Sabbatical year was rarely followed and became the basis for God’s judgment during the 70 years of captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11).

Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete (2 Chron. 36:20-21).

The Year of Jubilee

The Sabbatical year was, of course, to be observed every seventh year, but then in the 50th year—seven sabbatical years—a year of Jubilee was to be celebrated by the Israelites. You might view this as a super Sabbatical year! The word jubilee is a transliteration of the Hebrew word yovale literally meaning “with a rushing noise” (Ex. 19:13, Josh. 6:5).

Whereas the Sabbatical year helped alleviate the immediate needs of the poor, the Jubilee year was designed to give the poor in Israel a chance to start all over again. Leviticus 25:8-12 provides us with a full description of the laws for the Jubilee year.

You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family (Lev. 25:10).

God Himself was also the original distributor of the Land to the twelve tribes of Israel, and again, He simply allowed His land to be used by the Israelites (Num. 32, Josh. 19)—as the giving of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people was always portrayed in Scripture as a gift from God (Gen. 12, 15, 17, etc.).

Moses also promises Israel that if the Jubilee year is faithfully observed, the Lord will miraculously cause the crops to grow during the years that the ground was fallow (Lev. 25:18-22). The God who demands that the land remain unplanted is the same God who promised to provide in abundance.

It is also interesting to note that the Jubilee year began on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9) as the spiritual cleansing of the land began with the spiritual renewal of the chosen people.

As one Old Testament commentary describes,

This year of grace was proclaimed to begin with the Day of Atonement of every seventh sabbatical year to show that it was only with the full forgiveness of sins that the blessed liberty of the children of God could possibly commence. 

Lessons in Thanksgiving

There are so many lessons to learn from the Sabbatical/Shemitah and Jubilee years. The most important lesson for us is to recognize that all that we have in this world comes from God. He owns everything! This means that every single one of our possessions, even the ones we worked so hard to earn, are ultimately gifts from a good God who loves His children.

The Israelites are also asked to recognize the special place given to the Levites who have a permanent right of redemption to their houses and whose crops could not be sold. They did not own land of their own, but were to be cared for materially as they cared for the Israelites spiritually (Lev. 25:32-34).

Clearly, one of the great lessons of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years is that God has called us to be stewards of all that He provides. His gifts are designed to be enjoyed, nurtured and, most importantly, shared.

We are to help provide for the poor, respect the poor, and warned not to take advantage of the poor (Lev. 25:35-43). This is one of the reasons why Your Mission to the Jewish People is doing so much to alleviate the pain of poverty in the lives of many, mostly elderly, Jewish people.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year as it reminds me of how generous the Lord has been to me, to my Jewish people and to Chosen People Ministries.

Again, thank you for your prayers, love and support. I believe you are going to be blessed by reading the following expanded ministry reports of all God is doing in the lives of Jewish people around the globe.

Happy Thanksgiving and may the Lord fill your heart and home with His joy!

Your brother,

Mitch

Leave a comment

Filed under Thanksgiving

November 27, 2013 · 5:34 PM

A Hanukkahgiving Thought

There is good evidence that the pilgrims believed they were the new Israel and that America was the new promised land. They celebrated the feast of Tabernacle’s according to tradition which is a holiday that praises God for his goodness and provision. It is actually the last of the seven great festivals of the Jewish cycle of holidays found in Leviticus chapter 23 and commemorates the conclusion of the annual harvest season. i
 
During the festival of Hanukkah Jewish people thank God for the victory of the Maccabean family over the Syrian Greeks in 165 BC. The Syrian Greeks were trying to destroy the Jewish people through assimilation forcing them to speak the Greek language, embrace Greek culture and worship Greek gods. The Jewish people resisted and a small band of Maccabean guerrillas fought the Syrian Greeks between 168 and 165 BCE and won. When they arrived at the Temple in Jerusalem, according to tradition, there were two problems; the Syrian Greeks had offered a pig on the altar and so they had to dismantle the altar because it was beyond cleansing. But secondly, the eternal light only had enough oil to last for one day and it would take eight days to cure enough oil to keep the light shining without interruption.
 
Over the years this tradition of the eight day miracle became a vital part of Jewish life and so on Hanukkah we like eight candles over the eight day period. We also give gifts and foods like potato pancakes and in Israel we enjoy a special type of jelly doughnut. The reason we eat the pancakes and the jelly donut this because they’re made with lots of oil and once again it reminds us of God’s provision – the oil did not run out over the eight days.
 
The link between Thanksgiving and Hanukkah which probably will not happen again for thousands of years,  if ever – is actually quite poignant. The Jewish people are thankful to God for his provision and the pilgrims had that right and that’s why they celebrated Tabernacles at the first Thanksgiving (admittedly another tradition!) to God for his provision of the new promised land.  The Jewish people are also very grateful for God’s preserving them as a people and that’s why we celebrate Hanukkah.
 
The real link between Hanukkah and Thanksgiving and even with the Pilgrims version of Tabernacles is one of thankfulness to God. This is the great theme of both holidays. And since there is no a tradition of giving gifts on Thanksgiving – just eating well and celebrating (and watching college football) – the juxtaposition of both holidays takes nothing away from Hanukkah from a Jewish child’s perspective!  They lose very little – Hanuakkah dinner might be a little unusual as we eat potato pancakes and not turkey – but the combination for most Jewish people sounds good!
 
As Messianic Jews and followers of Jesus the Messiah – the theme of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah focuses on our gratitude to God. As Jews, we pray a special prayer at Hanukkah called the Shehechiyanu….it reads as follows; Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.
 
We are happy to have reached this Thanksgiving and Hanukkah season and praise the Holy One of Israel for His mercy, grace, provision and love.
 
 
 

 

1 Comment

Filed under Holidays & Festivals, Judaism, Messianic Jewish, Thanksgiving