This year a word came to us regarding the urgency of REPENTANCE for the Feast of Shavu'ot (which begins this evening at sundown). The word took us back to the time of the original captivity in Babylon, where Israel spent 70 years in a strange and foreign land, being defiled by the mixture of other religions and ideaologies. And when it was approaching the 70th year, only a remnant of the House of Judah was even desiring to return to their God and their Land! So it is today.
We who are in Messiah, grafted into the olive tree of Israel, have been living in a foreign land. And in the past several years this land - the United States of America - has begun to manifest itself as a picture of Babylon - a place where evil is now called good, and good called evil. When the President of our nation came out and took his stand in favor of homosexual marriage, it felt as if the Hand of Almighty God, which has thus far kept us covered, was surely about to be removed! But John and I both felt in our spirits that this Shavu'ot held a great and significant promise for the people of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This nation where we live once had God's Torah as the foundation of its laws and morals, and Yeshua (Jesus Christ) as its cornerstone; but even as we see the rise of Islam in this nation, and the evil mixtures of Humanism, New Age, and Globalism taking over, we are reaching back to these promises and taking hold of them for this season in time.
God speaks to us again today through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 29:10-14) when He says, "When Babylon's 70 years are over, I will take note of you; I will fulfill to you My promise of favor - to bring you back to this place. For I am mindful of the plans I have made concerning you - declares the LORD - plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a hopeful future. When you call Me, and come and pray to Me, I will give heed to you. You will search for Me and find Me, if only you seek Me wholeheartedly. I will be at hand for you - declares the LORD - and I will restore your fortunes. And I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have banished you - declares the LORD - and I will bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you."
What a promise! So, what did Daniel do to seek the LORD and pray to Him, in order that his people might be restored and returned to Israel? He prayed a powerful prayer of confession and repentance. He interceded for Israel. He came to the LORD wholeheartedly - and God heard and answered. This is what our little fellowship plans to do tomorrow as we gather to keep the feast of Shavu'ot. As commanded in Leviticus 23:15-17, we will wave two fine loaves of wheat before the LORD; we will worship Him and sing praises to Him. And then we will get down on our knees and pray the prayer of Daniel 9:1-19, earnestly seeking Him, and interceding for the Babylonian nation in which we now find ourselves in captivity.
Traditionally the book of Ruth would be read on this Feast. Ruth was a Moabitess, a foreigner and stranger to Israel; but she joined herself to the people of Israel with great love and devotion - and she was later redeemed by Boaz, her "kinsman-redeemer" - a picture of Yeshua, who has redeemed us by His Blood, and grafted us into the Olive Tree of His Land and people.
May we have the zeal for our God, for His land and His people, that Daniel and Ruth had! May we all get down on our knees this feast-day and recite this prayer to intercede for our own sin, for our families, and for our nation. Our God has said, "I will take note of you; I will fulfill to you My promise of favor - to bring you back to this place."
Hallelujah! Blessed Shavu'ot!
