PERSONAL BLOG: My Experience in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles

I was blessed to speak at my church last night and show 72 pictures of my experience in Jerusalem for Lars Enarson's Jerusalem Sukkot Celebration, October 14-15, 2016. I packed all I could into 50 minutes, but there is still a lot to tell. My blog so far has been a teaching site, but I now would like to change it to a personal blog, another way to fulfill my calling as a "Mizpah" for Israel. I hope you will stay with me as I relate my experiences during my EIGHTH TRIP TO ISRAEL. My new friend, Doris Murdoch, and I had an exciting time!

Background: Curtis and I have known Lars & Harriet Enarson and their children, Josefin, Johanna, and John, since they moved from Sweden to Columbus, Mississippi, where we were pastoring, in 1992. Lars greatly influenced me in my understanding of Scripture in relation to Israel, my Jewish Messiah, and the Jewish people. His world-wide prayer ministry, the Elijah Prayer Army and The Watchman International (thewatchman.org), began to develop while they were in Columbus.

Curtis took six of us from the church to Israel in 1994. After returning, I began to study modern Hebrew, and my first teacher was the Swedish tutor who had come to provide schooling for the Enarson children. God called me as a Mizpah (watchman and witness) for Israel in 1995.  In 1996, I led a mission to Jerusalem with Curtis and four other church members. The Enarsons moved to Israel in 1997. I went by myself to Israel in 1998 and did volunteer work in Jerusalem, staying with two different couples, one of them being Roy and Mary Kendall (more on them later). Then I went to Haifa to visit the Enarsons.  In 2002, I went with two sisters from Huntsville, Alabama, to Israel for Lars Enarson's Passover Prayer Tour -Convocation- and outreach conference. In 2003, my Messianic Jewish friend, Janice Bell, and I were given checks for $3,333.33 each by an anonymous donor for a trip to Israel!! Then in 2007, Janice and I took our husbands, Jack and Curtis, to Israel, on another self-designed tour. You can read about my adventures on all these trips in my book (see sidebar), Jewish Roots Journey: Memoirs of a Mizpah.  In 2012, my friend, June White, and I went to Israel and stayed with Roy and Mary Kendall.

How I got my traveling companion: I really wanted to go to Lars Enarson's Jerusalem Sukkot Celebration this year, but I knew my husband Curtis was in such bad health that I couldn't leave him. After Curtis went to be with the Lord in April, I began to consider it again. (Although Curtis refused to renew his passport three years before, he insisted that I renew mine. He was looking ahead for me, bless his heart!) Strangely, the desire to go to Israel again had faded, and I didn't want to go. However, I prayed that if the Lord wanted me to go, I would do it. I gave Him one condition: I must have someone to go with me!

It wasn't long until I got an email from my publisher at Energion Publications, Henry Neufeld. He said one of his authors, Doris Murdoch, wanted to contact me. Because of my love for Israel, she thought I might provide the answer to a question she had. Doris and I began corresponding, and one day I wrote her and asked if she would like to go to Israel with me. She replied that she had just been to Israel in January, so it would be too soon to go back. Then later she wrote again and said when she told her husband Jerry about my invitation, he said she really needed to think about it! She thought about it and decided to go!

It looked like God had answered my prayer. Yes, He wanted me to go to Israel again. I wanted to be double sure that Doris and I would be compatible, so on a trip through Florida, Janice and I paid her and Jerry a visit at their home in Live Oak. She was a marvelous hostess, and we had great conversation. I felt right about us traveling together to Israel. That was in August. In September, Jerry and Doris visited me in Petrey. On October 13th, Doris and I flew out of Atlanta to Israel! The adventure began.

I could not have had a better traveling companion than Doris. Please continue to check this site for the unfolding of my adventures in Israel!

JESUS WEPT

“Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it” (Luke 19:41).

            Jesus was acclaimed as the Son of David and the King of Israel as He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week He was crucified. The crowds shouted hosannas to Him and welcomed Him as their Messiah (Matt. 21:9; John 12:12-13). Bartimaeus also acclaimed Him as such, when he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-47). Jesus, likewise, identified Himself as the Son of David, in His final words of Holy Scripture: “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star” (Rev. 22:16).

            The Son of David is returning one day to Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, the city He wept over when the Jewish leaders rejected Him (Luke 13:34-35; 19:41). Jesus also wept when his friend Lazarus died (John 11:35). He was not only crying because of empathy with Mary and Martha in their grief, but He likely was crying about the unbelief of the crowd. He already knew that He would raise up Lazarus, and He already knows that one day He will raise up the nation of Israel! On that day “all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:25-27). But until that day comes, He weeps over His beloved chosen people.

            How sad that “a child was born unto them, a Son was given … a Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6), and Israel rejected Him! But, wait! There is a silver lining to that cloud. “For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting Him mean? It will be life from the dead!” (Rom. 11:15, Complete Jewish Bible). In other words, if Israel’s rejection of Yeshua as Messiah resulted in the gospel going to the Gentiles, then their acceptance of Him will bring world-wide revival! Isn’t that what we all want? But how have we been praying for it?

            King David wrote, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6). That is tantamount to praying for the salvation of the Jewish people, that their eyes will be opened, like Bartimaeus, to see the Son of David, their Messiah! Our own prosperity, spiritually and every other way, is tied up with this imperative. Will we be obedient?

            The tears of our Lord poured out on His people, and now we Gentiles who know Him as Savior and Lord are His people, too. We should have our prayers mixed with tears of repentance for what the Church has done to the Jewish people throughout history to harden them against their own Messiah! The Church is suffering from a case of mistaken identity! Jesus is weeping about it as He intercedes for the eyes of His Church to be opened!

IDENTITY

(Based on Romans 11)

So, what is my identity now that I am saved?

I have a Jewish Lord, so how should I behave?

I was graciously grafted into a Jewish olive tree,

I was a wild branch when Jesus set me free.

The Seed of Abraham was planted in the ground –

They’d nailed Him to a tree when I was not around.

But He was resurrected as the Jewish Scriptures said,

And offered all salvation by His blood He had shed.

I later heard the story, first told by Jewish men –

The Apostles, Paul, and all the church were Jewish, all of them.

But when the message got to me, the Jewish roots were cut!

Yeshua wept, because the door to heaven for Jews was shut!

The Jews now think of Jesus as a God who’s not for them –

The veil over their eyes has made their eyesight dim.

But we can make them jealous if we restore His Jewish identity,

Support the Jews and the Jewish nation; for them we must have affinity.

And we must know our history, horrible things the Church has done,

Identify with them in their pain, that’s how their hearts are won.

We must repent for atrocities done in the name of our Jewish King.

Forgive us, Lord, we did not know it was such an evil thing.

By Nancy Petrey ~ June 18, 2016

            Most Christians are not aware of the anti-Semitic history of the Church. I recommend three resources: (1) Our Hands are Stained with Blood: the Tragic Story of the “Church” and the Jewish People, by Dr. Michael Brown. (2) How the Cross Became a Sword by Richard Booker (small booklet). (3) Why Christians Should Care About Their Jewish Roots by Nancy Petrey (40-page book). In praying for revival and preparing for the coming of the Lord, these are indispensable tools. I urge you to read one of them. You will be spellbound and shell-shocked! But at least you will be equipped for these end times.

            PRAYER: Dear Father, cause us to weep over Your chosen people like Jesus did. Give us a heart of compassion to pray for their salvation. Cause us to be more grateful that Jesus came to us through the Jewish people and that our beloved Scriptures were penned and preserved by them. May we be moved to action on their behalf, speeding the day when Yeshua the Messiah will return to Jerusalem and set up His kingdom.

ISRAEL TRYING TO MAKE FRIENDS

Israel, God's miracle nation, is only in existence today because God is watching over her in the midst of hostile nations. May the Jewish people affirm the declaration made by King David, Israel's greatest king: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright" (Psalm 20:7-8).

Israel has not given up trying to make peace with her neighbors, but Scripture declares that one day the whole world will make war on her (Zech. 12). This week Israeli diplomats met in Cairo with the Egyptians and agreed on re-starting the peace process. On August 24, Egyptian President al-Sissi said Russian President Vladimir Putin would host negotiations in Moscow between Netanyahu and Abbas. M-mm!

The Two-State solution had been dying a slow death. Most Jews and Palestinians don't want it. Only 46% Israelis and 39% Palestinians favor the deal that would return the Jewish State to her pre-1967 borders, allow 100,000 Palestinian refugees to return, and make West Jerusalem the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. And get this - neither trust the U.S. and the European Union to broker the deal, but they do trust the Arab states! M-mm!

Israel is trying its best to make friends with Turkey and the African nations. Netanyahu is praising Turkey's parliament for ratifying their reconciliation deal, which means a mutual return of their ambassadors. "Relations with our neighbors are better than they've ever been," said Israeli deputy minister of regional cooperation.

More good news is that in July, Netanyahu toured East Africa, and afterward, the Republic of Guinea, a Muslim-majority nation, restored diplomatic ties with Israel after a 49-year break! Also, Israel's top diplomat, Dr. Dore Gold, secretly visited an unnamed Muslim nation last Monday that has no formal ties with Jerusalem. But his team stayed only a few hours due to the uncertain security situation! M-mm!

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu will meet with African leaders in New York in September when he comes to attend the United Nations General Assembly, hoping that his effort will finally change the "automatic majority against Israel" in the U.N. Will he achieve this?

As you might expect, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is doing all he can to try to stop an Israeli breakthrough in Africa. In July, he met with Sudanese President, Omar al-Badhir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide! He would be the ideal accomplice with Abbas to try to counter Israel's diplomatic successes in Africa! M-mm! Wonder what they are cooking up?

Lovers of Israel, keep praying for "the peace of Jerusalem," meaning the salvation of the Jewish people. In these end times, their only true friends will be true Christians who love their Jewish roots in the Jewish Messiah. May Israelis and Jews everywhere come to realize that Yeshua HaMashiach is their only hope, their Friend who sticks closer than a brother!

RUSSIA, IRAN, AND ISIS WANT TO ANNIHILATE ISRAEL!

Today I read an article, "Middle East Update," from the Jonathan Bernis' Jewish Voice Ministries. Iran has allowed Russia to have a military base within the country. A few days ago Russian bombers flew a mission into Syria from that Iranian base! "Iran’s unwavering commitment to annihilate Israel joined with their emboldened nuclear development, the acquisition of this new air defense system [from Russia], and the presence of a Russian-Iranian cooperative just over Israel’s northern border are all reasons of concern for Israel." After reading that article, I couldn't help but think of the end times scenario described in Scripture. I felt compelling to put my thoughts into poetic form:

YOU SHOULD CARE

Israel in the end times – does anybody care?

The place of Jesus’ birth and death,

And soon He’s coming there.

The wise men called Him King of the Jews,

And so did Pilate, too.

His title written above His head

Who died for me and you.

Before He comes the nations will rage –

God sits in the heavens and laughs!

His Son will be King on Zion’s hill;

It will surely come to pass.

Russia may bellow, and Iran may boast,

And ISIS may threaten to conquer,

But missiles and rockets and nuclear bombs

The angels can use for fodder!

Till Jesus comes for the final war,

The battle of Armageddon,

The land of Israel is His focus,

The Jews in the midst of bedlam!

His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives,

A quake will split the earth open.

His chosen ones will escape through the valley –

Zechariah the prophet has spoken!

So don’t be distracted by Olympics and elections

And find yourself unprepared.

We’re told to pray for Jerusalem,

And the Gospel must be shared.

So, yes! You should care about Israel –

God will keep every promise to her,

And the whole world will know that He is the Lord

And fear His wrath to incur.

Till heaven and earth shall pass away,

Not one of His words will fail.

So bow down to Jesus, the Jewish Messiah,

His love and His truth you must tell.

(Psalm 2; Zech. 14:4-5; Psalm 122:6; Ezek. 37:28; 38:23; Matt. 5:18)

By Nancy Petrey ~ August 19, 2016

Should Christians Celebrate Passover?

Passover begins at sundown on Friday, April 22, this year, beginning at 7:20 p.m. and ends at nightfall on April 30. On the Jewish calendar the date is Nisan 14. “So what?” you may say. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (I Cor. 11: 23-26). We understand Jesus was referring to the Lord’s Supper (Communion). Or was He? Suppose He meant for us to celebrate the entire Passover meal, just as He and His apostles were doing when He said that? It was the night He instituted the New Covenant and then went out and died for us as THE Passover Lamb who took away the sins of the world. If He meant for us to celebrate the entire Passover meal, then the church has missed it down through the ages! Should Christians today celebrate Passover?

We consider that the Passover is just for the Jews, one of their feasts. But the feasts that God gave to Israel at Mt. Sinai are “the feasts of the Lord.” There were seven annual feasts (read about them in Leviticus 23). In Jesus’ first coming, He fulfilled the first four feasts on the exact day! There are three more to go and will be fulfilled at His second coming. Guess what? He will fulfill them on the exact day also. Does that mean we can set a date for His return? No, we cannot, because Jesus Himself said He did not know “the day or the hour.” However, rest assured, the events of the second coming will certainly coincide with God’s appointed feast times, even if we don’t recognize it until after the fact!

Back to the original question - “Should Christians celebrate Passover?” You bet! We don’t “got to.” We “get to.” We get to see Jesus in every facet of the Passover meal, called the Seder (order). The apostles and the Jewish church continued to celebrate Passover after Jesus returned to heaven. Should not the church, which is largely Gentile today, celebrate the Passover, since we have been grafted into the Jewish olive tree (Romans 11)?

The feasts of the Lord really “preach the gospel,” as Paul alluded to in I Corinthians 15:3,4. The first three feasts overlap. Passover is the first, and the second one is Feast of Unleavened Bread. It begins the day after Passover and lasts for seven days. The next day is the Feast of Firstfruits. All three feasts have been incorporated into a “Passover week” of eight days. Here is how Jesus fulfilled the first four feasts: On Passover, Jesus died. Did you realize that? Just as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered that day at the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus was crying, “It is finished,” and He breathed His last breath! There was an earthquake, and the Father in heaven was so grieved at the sight of His Son dying, that He tore the veil of the temple (as His own garment) from top to bottom!

On the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the sinless body (“without yeast” and not left in the grave to decay) was buried. On the Feast of Firstfruits, the third day of Passover, Jesus rose from the dead! The early Christians never heard of “Good Friday” or “Easter Sunday.” That was a change from the biblical feast days that God gave us to commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Messiah. The church today, however, does celebrate the fourth feast, Pentecost, so named because it comes 50 days after Firstfruits. It was on Pentecost, also called the Feast of Harvest, that the Holy Spirit was poured out and the harvest of souls was over 3,000! Jesus kept His promise to the apostles and made sure He fulfilled Scripture by keeping this feast day with His people on the exact day appointed.

Why then do Christians not celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus on the days appointed by God in His Word? Easter was first officially instituted by the Roman Emperor Constantine at the Church Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. Constantine, a sun worshiper, had made himself head of the church. He also changed the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week, Sunday, the day the pagans worshiped the sun. Jewish believers were excommunicated from the church if they continued to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day as God commanded in the Ten Commandments. It was at that time that the Jewish roots of the church were cut off, and the grafting in of pagan customs began. As a result it seems strange to Christians today to suggest that we should celebrate Passover. But what do you say? Should Christians celebrate Passover? Jesus told His apostles, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). 

Most Important Part of the Passover Meal

.Passover is celebrated this year on April 22. This biblical feast is prophetic of the crucifixion of Yeshua the Messiah and shows His death, burial, and resurrection in the Seder meal. The "Afikomen" is the most important part of the Passover meal. After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, when no Passover lambs could be sacrificed anymore, the Jewish people eventually borrowed this part of the Seder Meal from a widespread custom among the early believers, as a substitute for the lambs without fully knowing what they were doing. This is the most unique thing about the Passover Seder. At the beginning of the meal three pieces of matzah are stacked in a bag with sections which is called the "Unity" or the "Matzah Tash." The middle piece of matzah is taken out and broken in two. The larger of the two pieces is wrapped in a white linen cloth and hidden away. 

The half of the middle matzah that is hidden is called the "Afikomen." One Rabbinical tradition says that the three matzahs represent the priests, the Levites and the Israelites. Another tradition says that they represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the rabbis don't know why the middle piece is broken and hidden away. The reasonable explanation, of course, is that the Unity represents Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that the second person of the Godhead, the second matzah, was broken for the sins of the world, wrapped in a linen cloth, and buried. Remember from my last blog that the matzah is pierced, flat (unleavened) and striped, a picture of the crucifixion, according to Isaiah, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities ... and by His stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5).

Near the end of the Passover Seder the broken middle matzah ("Afikomen") that was hidden in a linen napkin is retrieved. The children are dispatched to go and look for it, and the one who finds it receives a prize. The Afikomen is brought back, clearly symbolizing the resurrection of our Lord! It also symbolizes His Second Coming! However, most of the Jewish people have not yet understood this symbolism, and the identity of their Messiah is hidden from them.

The strange thing is that "Afikomen" is the only Greek word used in the Passover ceremony.  Its literal meaning is "I came!" Yes, the Messiah has already come! The use of a Greek work, "Afikomen," is an indication that Yeshua will be revealed to Israel through the Gentiles, as Paul writes in the Book of Romans, "because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious" (Rom. 11:11).

The leader breaks the Afikomen into little pieces and shares with everyone. It was at this point in the Seder that Yeshua said, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). Then Yeshua took the third cup of wine which is fittingly called the Cup of Redemption, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). This part of the Passover meal is what Christians celebrate today as The Lord's Supper or Holy Communion.

Rabbinical tradition says that the Afikomen now represents the lamb in the ceremony and that everyone must eat of it as the last part of the meal and let the taste linger in the mouth. Can the symbolism be more obvious? The Afikomen is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, Yeshua the Messiah!

It is quite an enriching experience for Christians to attend a Passover Seder. Yeshua is present in every detail!

DON'T TOUCH THE APPLE OF HIS EYE!

I just heard the news of the United Methodist Church Pension Fund divesting from five banks in Israel.  They said they were removing companies from its portfolio which "profit from abuse of human rights."  Obviously, they are misinformed and have swallowed the anti-Semitic lie circulating the globe that Israel is the bad guy.  They should be careful about touching "the apple of God's eye."

This year of 2016, which is the Hebrew year 5776, holds a lot of excitement in end-time events.  A few days ago, I sensed the Lord nudging me to state its importance in a poem:

THE YEAR OF JUBILEE

This year is the year of Jubilee!

This year is the year for setting men free!

Threats of danger are all around;

Deep darkness and sin so greatly abound.

“Restore us, O God, cause Your face to shine.

We shall be saved”[1] and know we are Thine!

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God will shine forth”[2] and do His duty.

He will fulfill His covenants of old

To descendants of Abraham, good news must be told.

The Jews are still the apple of His eye,

And they will live, they will not die.

All will be saved in just one hour –

He whom they pierced will show His great power,

Fulfilling His word through Zechariah the prophet –

He’ll fight for Jerusalem, and the devil can’t stop it!

On the Mount of Olives His foot will touch down,

The earth will split open with a shattering sound!

The elect will escape through the valley formed,

Protected from war by His mighty right arm.

Jubilee began in September last year,

Announcing the time our Lord might appear.

The fourth blood moon was the way He forecast

“The time of Jacob’s trouble,”[3] even worse than in the past.

The Shemitah was over, and the shofar did blow,

Proclaiming the Jews’ return, but didn’t you know?

Back to their land and back to their God.

Am I ready to help them, my feet with peace shod?

With the shield of faith and a sword in my hand –

The word of God – can I help them understand?

Anti-Semitism increasing, driving Jews from the nations,

Their destiny awaits them in the midst of desolations.

Our Messiah will return – He’s ours and theirs, too,

And we must stand beside them to see their battle through.

The Lord will surely save us, His wrath we will not bear –

Remember that the Church and Israel are not a separate pair!

Our Jewish Lord has grafted us into a Jewish tree.

He’s teaching us our Jewish roots – to end times, it’s the key.

So what God joins together, let not theories put asunder.

Those who hate the Jewish people will find that they’ve gone under!

Jesus said all men will hate you the way they hated Me,

Don’t think you’ll not see trouble before He sets you free.

When escape becomes impossible, just lift up your eyes.

It’s the day of His redemption – so watch the eastern skies!

(Based on Luke 4:18-19; Lev. 25:8-10; Zech. 12:10; 14:3-5; Rom. 11:24-26; John 15:18; Luke 21:25-28)

By Nancy Petrey ~ January 3, 2016

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[1] Psalm 80:3

[2] Psalm 50:2

[3] Jer. 30:7