The Church and Israel are the only two peoples in the world with which the God of the Universe has entered into covenant. That’s huge! Can you imagine? The God who created heaven and earth and holds everything in His hands pledged Himself in a perpetual relationship twice in human history: with Israel and with us. Now surely, the two peoples to whom God pledged Himself in a perpetual relationship must also live in a warm, caring relationship with each other, right? Surely they must be the best of friends, closer than brothers!
In Romans 11, the apostle Paul gives a blueprint of God’s heart for the relationship He desires between the two peoples with which He made covenant. And it is indeed closer than brothers. Grafted in, the apostle Paul calls it. That’s closer than close. Knitted, woven together that you almost can’t see where the one stops and the other begins. And the Church, us, Paul says, are partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree, supported by that root. And therefore, he warns, do not boast. Do not be arrogant, but fear.
That closeness. That intimacy. That was supposed to be us and Israel. But a quick overview of history shows us that for millennia, so-called followers of Christ treated the root in the exact way Paul warned us against.
But God is a God of restoration. And He is busy doing such an amazing work—especially now. Yes, we’ve seen God’s hand of restoration every day over the past six years in Israel. But we’ve never seen it as clearly as in the months after October 7. Because make no mistake, we’ve seen God’s hand clearer than ever over the past six months. In fact, we’ve never seen God as clearly on display in Israel as we’ve seen Him now. God is at work in an unprecedented move in history. And He chose us—you and me—to be His human instruments, His hands and feet to make it happen. This is something we haven’t seen in almost 2,000 years! And we are in the center of it. Not we as in Henry and Ilse and Lily. No. We, the collective. So what is He doing?
Well, we’ll be in Namibia soon to tell you in person, face-to-face. And we can’t wait. We are so excited to share with you our testimony of God at work in wartime Israel. Our dates and venues are as follows. Please reach out if you want more information about one of the events.
Although our weekends have been booked, if you would like us to visit your church or cell group during the week, please let us know. We also want to spend some time with you and pray with you, and we’ll arrange a lekker braai for friends and loved ones to simply fellowship and enjoy the time together. Date and venue for that to follow.
