At exactly 10:00 this morning, the sirens wails all across the land and for two minutes all activity stops and every mind recalls that fateful event.
Every year, for 70 years, the nation commemorates this day, they remember their dead, they remember the atrocities of the Holocaust. Every year more stories get told, more horrific than the ones told before. Every year, the shockwaves of the utter depravity of the heart of man shoot through the hearts of these people.
The ones who were children at this time, are old men and women now and as they share their stories, every disturbing detail is remembered.
One man sneered: ”Closure?, closure is for people who have never experienced hard times.”
With pain, this land was born (again).
From the stench of rotting corpses, smoke from ceaseless incinerators , the sound of gunfire, Typhoid fever, starvation, from the clutches of an enemy determined to obliterate the Jewish people, this nation rises on the wings of their faithful God!
My friends, in our shock to learn of the horrors of the Holocaust, let us not forget that we are not fighting flesh and blood and neither are the Jewish people.
God’s people have been hunted, persecuted and slaughtered since time began.
But guess what?
They are still here!
Listen to this song of Ofra Chaza. The words are so profound, I want to share them with you:
“I’m still alive!
Hear my brothers
I’m still alive
And both my eyes still look toward the light
I’ve suffered thorns
And yet borne flowers
Ahead are years too numerous to count
I ask and also pray
How wonderful that hope is not yet lost
A Psalm passes
From generation to generation
Like a spring from long ago
And on to eternity
I’ll still sing on and on
I’ll reach out
To friends across the sea
I ask and also pray
How wonderful that hope is not yet lost
I live, I live, I live,
yes, I’m still alive!
This is the song my grandfather
Sang yesteryear to my father
And today I sing
I’m still alive!
The people of Israel live
My days are full of life
The pillar of fire still rises …”
The Jews are tough people. They are also stiff-necked and stubborn, but they are still the apple of God’s eye and He is busy fulfilling His promises to them because He is a faithful God!
My dear brothers and sisters, you might ask “Why should we care?”- we should care !…
Because God is at work and is busy doing a great miracle.
Because the Messiah of Israel is also our Messiah.
Because He is faithful to them, He is also faithful to us.
Because He watches over them, He also watches over us.
Because He is our Hope, He is also their Hope!
Because He lives, they live!
Because He lives, we live forever!
Halleluya!
‘But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring! ‘
Romans 11:12
“For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” Romans 11:15
Their deliverance is near! It is at the door!
Look at their faces as they sing.
God did that.
He saved them over and over again!
“Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for Him.
The Lord has made His salvation known
and revealed His righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and His faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.”
Psalm 98:3
While hope is not yet lost, let us earnestly pray to God for this life from the dead!
