Aliyah... Our Part

It was after a ceremony to mark the arrival of Ebenezer's 100th sailing at Haifa in December 1999 that I found myself talking with the city's deputy mayor. He had settled in Israel only seven years previously. Significantly, Christians had helped him to immigrate. There are those who think that helping Jews make aliyah ("go up" - return to Israel) is a waste of God's money. Yet Gustav Scheller, Ebenezer's founder, often insisted that the task is a holy work, precious to God's heart. I agree. I also believe Christians should be involved in a task that is becoming increasingly urgent. Here are some reasons why:

The love of God has been poured into our hearts

If God's love is truly in our hearts we are going to love everything He loves. God loves the Jewish people - so must we. One way in which God shows His love to the Jews is by carrying them: "I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us... the many good things he has done for the house of Israel... He said, 'Surely they are my people...' In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them and carried them..." (Isaiah 63:7-9)

When Christians carry the Jews home they are powerfully expressing the very love of God. Isaiah foretold that this is what would happen in the last days: "See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders" (Isaiah 49:22).

We are debtors to the Jews

It was they who brought us salvation (John 4:20). The apostle Paul backs up this statement by saying of the Jews: "Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, for ever praised!" (Romans 9:4-5).

Paul adds that our debt to Jewish people is material:..."For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings" (Romans 15:27). Giving materially to the work of aliyah is a tangible expression of the debt we owe to the Jews. Giving financially to this is far from a waste of resources.

When the Jews return to the land of Israel they will return to the Lord of Israel

Read what the prophet Ezekiel says about this: "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh... I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave to your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God" (Ezekiel 36:24-28).

From Ezekiel 20:42 and 37:27 it is clear that vast numbers of Jews will return to the Lord after they have returned to the land.

We need to remove every man-made blockage to Israel's salvation

Removing these stumbling stones is in accordance with God's prophetic Word: "Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your Saviour comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him'" (Isaiah 62:10-11).

In Sir Walter Scott's book, Ivanhoe, a knight tries unsuccessfully to convince a Jewish girl to become a Christian. "I envy not your religion, for it is ever on your lips but far from your heart," she tells him. Tragically, the Jewish people have seen more hate than love from the Church. We have not only failed to remove the stumbling stones but have placed many of them there ourselves.

It is amazing that the Church, which is so indebted to the Jews, largely stood idly by during the Holocaust. He could we have ignored Paul's words in Romans 11:11 that "salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious"? Jews have rarely envied us down the centuries. Yet as we help them to return to the Promised Land everything changes. "What is in your eyes?" a Jewish lady making aliyah asked an Ebenezer team member: "We know what it is to be hated, but I can see that you love us."

Today anti-Semitism is raising its ugly head again, especially in the former Soviet Union. So how will you respond to it? It demands sacrifice to help bring Jews home to Israel, but the rewards are eternal. And every good deed we do on behalf of the Jews removes one more stumbling stone along the way to their salvation.

The work of aliyah is a blessing

"The Lord said to Abraham, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you... I will bless those who bless you... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you'" (Genesis 12:1-3). Israel is the key to world revival and blessing. Once Israel comes to faith a spiritual explosion will be detonated that will dwarf the day of Pentecost. "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" (Romans 11:15).

Whatever we do to help bring the Jews home and pave the way for their salvation ultimately paves the way for revival and salvation blessing for the whole world.

This holy work will ultimately bring glory to God

The Lord says, "I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will show myself holy among you in the sight of the nations" (Ezekiel 20:41). "I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,'declares the Sovereign Lord, 'when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land'" (Ezekiel 36:23-24).

Ultimately, if the God of Israel is the One True God He must be faithful in all His promises, including bringing His people home. His holy name (reputation) is at stake. So when we labour with Him in this holy work of aliyah we are powerfully testifying to the faithfulness of the God of Israel and bringing glory to His name.

Will you join us in this holy work?

Wayne Hilsden
Board Member , Ebenezer International