Heb 12:14-17
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
If you have noticed, the revolutionary social justice/ equal rights and anarchical (not always the same) movements always seem to tie in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to their agendas: Free Palestine; Israel is an apartheid state; Death to Israel; Jews are White people with unfair advantages in life; there is a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world; etc….
Why might this be? Political and social analysts speak of “intersectionality”: the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. (Wikipedia)
The underlying premise of this intersectionality politics is that “life isn’t fair”; “we have been mistreated”; “if we can’t have what you have ‘unfairly’ obtained, then you will not have it either”. We could call it an attitude of never feeling accepted; of always being rejected; of being discriminated against simply because we belong to a particular “section”, and we want others “sections” to join league with us against those who have unfair power and privilege. The bitter root defiles many to stir up dissatisfaction, bitterness, hatred, envy, covetousness, false narratives and histories, false hypotheses and theories regarding the cause and effect of the universe and and life itself. The Jews, and the God of the Jews, are the scapegoat. The Messiah can “handle” that, and is the Keeper of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Praise the LORD!
The anti-Semitism welling up in these movements does not seem to always serve as a wake-up call to even the Jewish people, many of whom are activists with those who exploit them and inwardly despise them. Christians and Jews, with an idealized naivete that the world can be a better place apart from belief in the physical bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ, often join forces with those who are enemies of YHVH, the true God and Savior, and of His people – the Jews and born-again Christians. They find themselves joining forces with Islamists, the spirit of whom hates the sovereign God of the universe, who in His wisdom and understanding and knowledge makes choices that require every angel and every human being to make their own choice: to accept His right to do that, and come to love Him; or, to rebel against Him and choose to be against Him, hating the Lord who loves everyone, but especially those who repent and are forgiven, and love His unique and only Son, whom He sent to suffer and die a horrible death on the cross because of, and for, our sins.
Christians, on whose side do you stand?: with Jesus/Yeshua and the least of His brethren (the Jews, with whom He is still in covenantal relationship); or with those who make such a stand “politically incorrect”? Isaac may have been very annoyed and embarrassed by Jacob’s deceit (insisted upon by his mother, Rebecca), but he told Esau that the blessing would remain with Jacob.
The spirit of Edom that resides in the flesh of everyone of us, and which is a stronghold in the religion that is Islam, wars against the Holy Spirit – whether residing within the born-again believer in Yeshua, or whether in the world generally. Esau, we are told in the verses from the letter to the Hebrews, did not care for his birthright until he realized that he had really lost it. He had spoken idle words, when he told Jacob that he was so tired after being out in the field, that a bowl of soup was worth more than his birthright, which he sold to his brother for some instant gratification before he would die. He did not know that by his exaggerated jesting he forever determined his destiny. (Mt 12:35-37; Gen 25:29-34) Jacob may have been an opportunist, but he knew a good thing when he saw it. Jacob is not to blame for Esau being a profane person and despising the holy covenant. Although Jacob and Esau seemingly reconciled later, Esau (who is Edom) never accepted that the promised land of the covenant would actually be inherited and possessed by Jacob (who became Israel). You see this throughout the entire after-history written for us in the Scriptures, and still being lived out in front of our eyes in our own day.
Isaac, Jacob and Esau’s father, “blessed” Esau with the expectation that one day, Esau/Edom (and the “nation” that he represents) would get restless regarding his twin brother (and the “nation” that he represents), on account of the bitter root of jealousy and envy and murderous resentment towards the “unfair” way in which Jacob received the birthright and blessing (even though God had foretold it) for having ruined his own life (and the life of the nation that he fathered). And in giving in to his self-serving perception of “unfair advantage”, the Edomites would break the yoke of his brother and shake off his control. This is what the intifada is among the Palestinians against Israel; it is the same spirit at work now around the world through Islam and the uprisings of the under-privileged against those who have perhaps taken their “chosenness” too matter-of-factly. (Gen 27:38-41)
The bond of “liberalism” among the Jewish people with the bitter root of those who dislike them is spiritual: the Jewish people collectively do not think it is fair that Gentiles, simply by repentance and faith in the Messiah sent first to Israel and the Jewish people, should be equal heirs of the Kingdom of God with those who were chosen to be God’s uniquely covenanted people and His first-born son as a nation. We think that righteousness and a part in the world-to-come must be earned by keeping the Law of Moses and also the traditions of the elders – something that no one can do to the satisfaction of the holy God of Israel. (Acts 15:1-11) Jewish people have suffered terribly for centuries, even millennia, because of being the Chosen People of the Creator and Redeemer God, whom the devil and his legions despise. The devil deceives the Jewish people, and preys upon their sense of injustice, just as he does all the others, that they have been given a bad deal, and that they should join intersectionally with others who feel the same.
God is not partial; He has us wear the sandals of “the other”, so that pride will be kept covered, and that we might be more merciful and long-suffering towards them. The gospel goes out to everyone, both Jew and Gentile, White and people of any Color, rich and poor, free and slave, healthy and sickly, male and female. In all of these “sectionalities” just given, the ones that I wrote secondly are being stirred up against those written firstly. As lawlessness increases love grows cold, and, acting in the flesh, strife and selfish ambitions and heresies and envy, outbursts of wrath, murder, bodily abuse, depression and suicide abound more and more. The worldview of “the world” offers no hope or purpose. It is only by genuine repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we can overcome this even within ourselves, lest we, thinking we stand, also fall into the darkness of judging YHVH, the triune God.
Those who have a hard life here – and that is probably most people – can have a far better one later, if their faith and trust is in the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, who came to purchase our redemption with His blood shed on the cross. The rich man of Luke 16 had a good life here, so to speak; Lazarus, the poor and neglected man, had a miserable life here. Yet, when the time to pass over came, the “privileged and powerful” was in torment; the weak and beggarly was comforted in Abraham’s bosom. God knows what is important and how to make things right in the end. (James 5:9-11)
Let us wait with living hope upon Him, while we presently go about our Father’s business of offering the only way of salvation to any and all, and to demonstrate His love even to our enemies. By the grace and mercies of God we stand! Jewish people — my people in the flesh — get your documents together in preparation for the time when you may need to make your way to the land of our fathers.
