Israel’s first line of defense
There are very important truths which can be drawn from the two times when Moses spared his people from the destructive wrath of the Lord.
“[T]he nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness’” (Numbers 14:15-16).Finally, Moses appealed to the long suffering of God and the “greatness of His mercy.” And again, the intercession worked.
From this we learn that: 1) God is sensitive to what the gentiles say about His covenant relationship with Israel. In fact, Ezekiel 36 repeatedly states that for the nations to say God is unfaithful to Israel amounts to “profaning” His name. Hence, we also can be assured that it pleases God to hear us affirm in prayer and in public His eternal bond with Israel.
2) God will always remember His covenant with Abraham and keep His promises to Israel. Praying those very biblical promises back to Him is always a recipe for moving God’s hand on Israel’s behalf.3) God has an incredible love for Israel, which was reflected by Moses and even the Apostle Paul when they offered to give their own salvation for their people (Exodus 32:32; Romans 9:1- 3). We may not be ready to go that far ourselves, but we can get a sense of God’s own deep attachment to Israel in their professions of sacrificial love. This, too, can be carried back to God in prayer.4) God’s mercies are truly great! He forgave Israel for their sins. And Israel today, like every other nation, is still sinful and needs our pleas for God to be merciful and forgive.So God’s emotional bond with Israel survived the sin of the golden calf, and the rebellion provoked by the 10 spies.This may surprise some Christians, but it also has survived their rejection of the Gospel, as Paul insists: “Concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29).This all provides a firm foundation for our own prayers for an Israel still in need of our intercession today.David Parsons is the media director for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem; www.icej.org
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