This article was originally published in Israel My Glory magazine in the May/June 2020 issue.

John was the lead pastor of a medium-sized church for 10 years. Things had been running relatively smoothly until the news broke that John’s daughter had been physically abused by her husband, a young man who grew up in the church.

Many sided with the young man’s family, and soon John and his wife felt the pain of rejection. Suddenly they were jobless, with no church, no money, and no hospital insurance. John and his family were in the middle of a crisis.

Yet John clung to the promises of God’s Word, particularly God’s commitment to provide for and protect His children. Consequently, divine peace guarded his heart and mind through Christ (Phil. 4:6–7).

Not surprisingly, the Lord showed Himself faithful. All the bills got paid, including John’s daughter’s tuition for Bible college; and eventually the Lord brought the family to the vibrant church John pastors today.

John’s story is one of millions over the years that testify of the faithfulness of God. Scripture overflows with similar accounts of how God keeps the promises He has made to His people. Although He made many to Israel, He also has made many to the church. Two big ones are the promise of His presence and the promise of redemption.

The Promise of His Presence
Throughout the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came upon individuals temporarily (1 Sam. 10:10; 11:6; 16:14). A unique promise God made to the church, however, was that His presence not only would dwell with Christ’s followers, but that it would be in them: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

The Lord promised His disciples that, after His death, the Father would give them “another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (Jn. 14:16).

The reality of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit runs throughout the New Testament (Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 2:12; 6:19; 2 Cor. 5:5). In fact, God seals believers “with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13–14). If we have placed our faith in Christ alone, not in our good deeds, for the forgiveness of our sins—if we sincerely believe Jesus took the punishment we deserve, died in our place because He loves us, and arose from the grave—God seals us with the Holy Spirit. Everywhere we go, the Lord is with us because He lives in us. This means there is no doctor’s visit, no job interview, no tragedy, and no graveside where the Lord will leave us alone.

But wait, there’s more!

Not only is He always with us, but He also ministers to us continually. The Holy Spirit bears witness to us of our salvation (Rom. 8:16); teaches us the Bible (Jn. 16:13); intercedes for us in prayer (Rom. 8:26); comforts us in time of need (2 Cor. 1:3–4); empowers us to serve Him (Eph. 3:16); and even lovingly chastens us when we sin, as a father chastens his children (Heb. 12:6).

God’s commitment never to leave true believers is a precious promise that should encourage us to live holy lives for Him.

The Promise of Redemption
The term redemption intimately relates to the imagery of slavery. We are in bondage to the Evil One until we are born again, when He delivers us from the power of darkness and places us “into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13–14).

The apostle Paul reminded his protégé Titus that Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Ti. 2:14). Using His own blood as payment, Jesus bought us off the auction block of sin—He redeemed us—to be a special people for Himself.

Not only can we look back at our redemption from slavery and our insertion into the family of God, but we also can look forward to a future redemption.

We have been sealed “until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:14).

The word guarantee refers to a down payment someone would make when purchasing land or another commodity. The Holy Spirit constitutes that down payment. He guarantees that one day we will be fully redeemed—body and soul/spirit. The final redemption of our bodies will occur when Christ returns for His church (1 Cor. 15:51–52).

Even though believers are free from bondage to sin, we still possess old natures that are susceptible to temptation and sinful behaviors (Jas. 1:14–15). We still live in a world where cancer and heart disease and dementia exist, and chances are good that at least one of these ailments or others eventually will afflict us.

But this world is not all there is. One day the trumpet will sound, calling us home to be with Him:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord (1 Th. 4:16–17).

In a split second, the graves of believers around the globe will burst open and release the dead in Christ, and those living will be caught up with them in the air. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ, they will have new, glorious bodies that will be eternally free from sickness, disease, and sin. Best of all, we will be physically with the Lord forever (v. 17).

The Promise Keeper
Most promises are plentiful, cheap, and often broken. Mercifully, we have a God who always keeps His promises. Time does not fog His memory or diminish His faithfulness. He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). He has been faithful to His promises to the nation of Israel, and He will be faithful to His church.

Regardless of the hardships we suffer, as John and his family did, we know we have a God who keeps His Word. He has promised the Holy Spirit and redemption to those who call on His name, and those are promises worth building our lives on.

This article was originally published in the May/June 2020 issue of  Israel My Glory magazine.

Relevant preaching. Authentic worship music. A community atmosphere. Many American churches today use those phrases to advertise the uniqueness of their “worship experience.” We didn’t use that terminology at the small Baptist church in Michigan where I grew up; but for a little boy, it was certainly a memorable experience to go there.

First, there was the Hammond organ. It was about the same size as my mom’s piano, but somehow it had enough sound packed inside to shake the auditorium. I was fascinated watching the organist as he played with both his hands and his feet, manipulating the deep tones into music offered up to the Lord.

There was also the tank at the front of the building where, every so often, the pastor would don his maroon robe and dunk people underneath the water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For a boy who couldn’t swim, baptism was scary stuff.

Then, there were the giants. The giants are what I remember most.

They were farmers, businessmen, and factory workers. Some were wealthy, others were not. But all of them were giants in my eyes, not because of their height or social status, but because of their moral stature and the strong stance they took for the Word of God.

Qualities of Leaders
Like the deacons the apostle Paul described, these men were “reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience” (1 Tim. 3:8–9). Though possessing feet of clay like everyone else, each one had an impeccable testimony for Christ in his home, workplace, and community.

These were leaders—not bombastic or authoritarian—but men who knew God’s Word and sought passionately to edify the congregation and reach the community with the gospel. They served, they taught Sunday school, they drove the church bus, they set up for Vacation Bible School, and they helped children in the youth program learn their memory verses. They strove to rightly divide the Scriptures and help others do the same.

Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Rosalie de Rosset wrote of similar giants in her church when she was growing up in the 1960s:

In my home church there were historians, keepers of the gate, guardians of my soul—those who understood that people my age should not run the format of a church or be the measure of what is important. These were the people who understood that when adolescent heat and trendiness pass, we must retain in our memories something bigger and better, something not adolescent to have in our keeping as treasures for when we grew up. They made sure our inheritance was not swallowed up by what seemed important in the sixties or at sixteen. These guardians of our souls knew that popular trends and teenage moods come and go, and that they must give us a solid memory and understanding of what was better, more mature, classic.1

Giants, historians, keepers of the gate, guardians of our souls, pillars. Whatever we call them, the church needs them. It has always needed them. And today it needs them desperately.

Assaults on truth abound. The dense, cultural fog of skepticism and doubt has crept through the church walls in the West. People are questioning the inerrancy of Scripture, the deity and sufficiency of Christ, sexual identity, the need for marriage, the value of human life, man’s purpose, and the very nature of what it means to be human.

We need men and women of substance who know the Lord intimately—and who know His Word and how to rightly divide it—to guide a generation floundering in a sea of moral relativism.

Building Leadership
How do we develop these giants in our local churches? How do we grow to become them ourselves?

1. We devote ourselves to God’s Word.
American Christians have no lack of books about the Bible. Bookstores and online retailers offer thousands of titles, many of which cater to a niche audience within the Christian community.

Let’s not forget, though, that the Scriptures alone are God’s means of instruction for His church (1 Pet. 2:2). I’m always inspired and, yes, convicted when I read how the Bereans analyzed what Paul and Silas were teaching in the synagogue, daily searching the Scriptures “to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

We must remember that the authority of Scripture is not merely an item we include in our church doctrinal statements; it’s a life-or-death belief for the body of Christ. As individuals and congregations, we need to devote ourselves to the Scriptures, letting the Spirit of God freely apply them to every area of our lives.

2. We serve in our local churches with purpose.
It’s easy to serve aimlessly in ministries! The work at hand—what we do—can quickly blind us to why we’re doing it. Parking cars, passing out bulletins, playing our instruments, teaching a class, baking cookies. None of these things, in themselves, are bad; to the contrary, they are all good (especially the cookie-baking!). But we must not do them simply to be doing something. We need purpose.

Before engaging in any act of service, we should ask ourselves why we are there and then ask the Lord to use us for His glory (Col. 3:17). The Lord equips willing, not necessarily talented, people to accomplish His will.

3. We disciple other believers.
When I was 19, the pastor of our small church, one of the “giants,” began discipling me. Originally, we met every Tuesday for an hour or so to go through a lesson from a book. That formal discipleship, however, quickly developed into an organic, honest relationship. We went to lunch and talked over doctrinal questions I had. He took me to visit sick members of our congregation and to pray with them. We attended a men’s conference together, and I think I learned more from him during the drive than I did attending the conference.

Paul charged Pastor Timothy not to keep the things he had taught him to himself, but to “commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). As well-known Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe wrote, “We are stewards of the spiritual treasure God has given us. It is our responsibility to guard the deposit and then invest it in the lives of others. They, in turn, are to share the Word with the next generation of believers.”2

Discipleship is a lot of work; but it’s how the Lord develops spiritual giants for His church.

4. We teach apologetics to our congregations.
Skepticism and agnosticism seem to be the gods of our age. Certainly, our culture’s incessant scoffing at the notion of absolute truth and the church’s seeming emphasis on style over doctrine have contributed to this problem.

It’s difficult to imagine when apologetics have been more crucial. So we should “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks [us] a reason for the hope that is in [us], with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15).

In my opinion, we need to put more of our time and financial resources into equipping the saints, rather than entertaining them. To be sure, there are many grounded churches that are faithfully equipping their young people, and we thank God for them; but we need more. A generation of believers who cannot articulate what they believe and why will set the church afloat in perilous waters.

Developing giants requires the power of the Holy Spirit. But if we commit ourselves to the Lord, His Word, and His will, I’m convinced He will use us to accomplish His purposes for the good of His church and for His glory.

ENDNOTES
Rosalie de Rosset, Unseduced and Unshaken: The Place of Dignity in a Young Woman’s Choices (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2012), 120.
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007), 775.

This article was originally published by The Friends of Israel.

"Ty, I have a question,” he said. “When did Jesus stop being Jewish?”

Jacob and I have had many great conversations over the past few years about the Bible, Jewish history, and Israel in God’s plan. But his question took me aback. My dear friend, who was once severely persecuted by “Christian” anti-Semites, essentially wanted to know when Jesus betrayed His people.

So, let’s consider the question. When did Jesus stop being Jewish? 

JESUS WAS BORN A JEW.
Every December, the thoughts of Christians turn to the night of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. When we study the Christmas narrative, however, we usually brush across the account of what took place after Jesus’ birth, after the shepherds and the gifts and the angels in the highest. What happened after the Christmas story tells us a lot about the Jewishness of Jesus and His earthly family.

The Gospel of Luke records that eight days after He was born, Jesus’ parents had Him circumcised and named Him Jesus, in Hebrew Yeshua (Lk. 2:21). The circumcision and naming ceremony is called the brit milah (literally, “covenant of circumcision”). It is a rite given to Israel in the Mosaic Law that binds the male child to the people of Israel, the Law, and God (Lev. 12:3). 

In addition to the brit milah, the Torah teaches that a Jewish woman who gives birth to a baby boy is considered unclean for a total of 40 days (Lev. 12:2,4). Following this time of purification, she and her husband are to take their son to the priest in Jerusalem, where they are to bring a lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering (Lev. 12:6). 

Jesus was born to observant Jewish parents, who loved God and knew the Tanakh by heart (Lk. 1:46-55). After the 40 days of her purification, Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Jerusalem and did exactly as the Law commanded (Lk. 2:22-24). 

From His first day on Earth, Jesus, under the direction of His observant parents, was obedient to the Law. He was born a Jew.

JESUS LIVED AS A JEW.
We do not have many details about Jesus’ life prior to His ministry; but we do know that He was raised in a distinctly Jewish home. 

For example, Jesus’ parents, in accordance with the Law, annually took their family to Jerusalem for Passover (Dt. 16:16; Lk. 2:41). In fact, it was after the family observed Passover in Jerusalem and began their return trip to Nazareth that 12-year-old Jesus went missing. When Joseph and Mary backtracked to Jerusalem, they eventually found him sitting in the temple, listening to the teachers of the Sanhedrims (Sanh. 88b) and asking them questions that astonished those who heard Him (Lk. 2:46).

In addition to Passover, Jesus, as the Son of God and an observant Jew, celebrated the other feasts proscribed in the Law, as well as the non-biblical Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah (Jn. 10:22).

Additionally, when Jesus was 13, He would have had His bar mitzvah. The term bar mitzvah literally means “son of the law.” Rabbinic tradition dictates that a boy becomes a bar mitzvah at the age of 13, meaning that he is responsible to keep the Law of Moses from then on. Observant as He and His family were, Jesus undoubtedly had a bar mitzvah.

We also know that Jesus attended synagogue. He was a regular participant in the life of the synagogue (Lk. 4:16) and taught in synagogues throughout Israel (v. 15).

Jesus kept the Torah, observed the festivals, participated in Jewish traditions, and was active in His local synagogue. For all of His 33 years on Earth, Jesus lived a Jewish life.

JESUS DIED A JEW.
Not only was Jesus born a Jew and lived a Jewish life, He was a Jew when He died, too. 

Throughout His life, Jesus never distanced Himself from the Jewish people or disavowed them. True, He called out the Jewish leadership for their hypocrisy (Matt. 23) and pronounced judgment on them (v. 36); but so did the prophets throughout Israel’s history. Jesus rebuked His people, cared for His people, taught His people, healed His people, and forgave the sin of His people.

At no point in His life or ministry was Jesus anti-Jewish. He was born a Jew, lived a Jewish life, and died a Jew.

JESUS WILL RETURN TO EARTH A JEW.
For the Jewish people, the thought of living in a world void of anti-Semitism is unfathomable. Persecution and attempts to annihilate them have become a part of the fabric of the Jewish experience. The Bible teaches, however, that there is coming a time when anti-Semitism will be dealt with once and for all by the King of the Jews, Jesus.

When Jesus returns to Earth, He will do so as the world’s Jewish judge and king (Matt. 25:31; cf. Is. 9:7). He will gather all the people of the world to Israel, where He will judge them. This judgment is hinged on one factor: How did these Gentiles treat their Jewish neighbors in their time of distress (Joel 3:2; Matt. 25:31–46)? In accordance with God’s promise to Abraham, Jesus will bless those who cared for the Jewish people, and He will curse those who did not care for them.

After crushing anti-Semitism, the King of the Jews will become “King over all the earth” (Zech. 14:9). But even then, Jesus and the character of His kingdom will be Jewish.

Each year, the nations of the world will convene in Jerusalem, where they will worship the God of Israel and keep Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles (Zech. 14:16). On their way to Jerusalem, when they see a Jewish person, they will grab his sleeve “saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (Zech. 8:23).

Throughout their existence, the Jewish people have perpetually had their sleeves grasped by the Gentiles, almost always to throw them to the ground, oppress them, or even to throw them into concentration camps. Under the rule of the King of the Jews, however, the world will be rid of anti-Semitism, and Gentiles will honor the Jewish people in their role as God’s Chosen People.

CONCLUSION
So, When did Jesus stop being Jewish? He never did. From His birth and brit milah, to His life on Earth, to His imminent return and reign as King, Jesus has never stopped being Jewish. Both Jews and Gentiles would do well to remember this. 

Gentiles should never assume God has divorced His Chosen People. Jewish people should not cast Jesus off as a traitor to His people. He never denied the Jewish people, and His message of salvation by grace through faith is for all people, the Jew first and also the Gentile (Rom. 1:16).

This article was originally published in Israel My Glory magazine in the January/February 2020 issue.

The air was cool, a hint of dampness pervading it. I stood huddled with my Jewish friends. In front of us lay a massive mound of gray ash. Fragments of human bone protruded from it. As I gazed at the mound, my friends recited the “Mourner’s Kaddish,” a Hebrew prayer praising God and expressing a longing for the establishment of His Kingdom on Earth.1

We were at Majdanek, a concentration camp the Germans built outside Lublin, Poland, where they systematically exterminated an estimated 78,000 Jewish people during World War II. We stood at the memorial to the victims; the mound of ash was all that remained of them.

My friends’ low and tearful prayers pulsated in my ears, as I silently offered up my own anguished prayer. Oh, Lord . . .

Nothing else would come out. What could I possibly say, or even think, that would express the grief I felt?

The ash represented so much: Lives cut short. Human dignity, the very image of God, reduced to refuse. Six million Jewish men, women, and children murdered due to the hatred of one demented German whose degeneracy was sustained by an acquiescent citizenry.

The metered sounds of the “Kaddish,” the cement memorial to the victims, the awful heap of ashes—I knew they had all come to symbolize the story of the Jewish people in a Gentile world, a mournful history in a minor key.

The Diaspora
Jewish people outside Israel live in what they call the Diaspora. The word comes from two Greek words meaning “to scatter across,” and it aptly describes Jewish history. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses told Israel that obedience to His Word would bring blessing, and disobedience would bring cursing.

Blessing meant fertile fields, healthy children, and security. Cursing meant dispersion around the globe—the Diaspora. The Jewish people would be plucked from their land, scattered to the four winds, and persecuted.

The first dispersion occurred in 722 BC, when Assyria conquered the 10 northern tribes of Israel and scattered them throughout the Middle East, where many of them remained for centuries. But the biggest dispersion took place between AD 66 and 135. After the Roman Empire crushed the great rebellion of AD 66, it destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70 and began driving God’s people into other parts of the world. Ancient historian Josephus said a million Jews perished and thousands were sold into slavery.

Over the centuries, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob settled on nearly every continent, initially living in close-knit communities separated from their Gentile neighbors. Later, especially in Europe, they sought to integrate into the broader societies in which they lived. Sometimes they were successful, but persecution followed them no matter how embedded they became.

Religious Persecution
Tragically, much Jewish persecution came at the hands of professing Christians who claimed to believe in the Scriptures and to follow the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. Many saw the Temple’s destruction as a sign that God was finished with the Jews and had replaced them with the church, the “new Israel.”

Early Christian theologian Tertullian (c. AD 160–220) claimed Jacob and Esau were allegories of the church and Israel. “Beyond doubt,” he wrote, “through the edict of the divine utterance, the prior and ‘greater’ people—that is, the Jewish—must necessarily serve the ‘less’; and the ‘less’ people—that is, the Christian—overcome the ‘greater.’”2

Tertullian’s terribly flawed theology took root in the Gentile world, and Christendom’s message became clear: The Christians must subjugate the Jews. This anti-Semitic dogma motivated the infamous Crusades.

Literally meaning “the war for the cross,” the Crusades were a response to the Muslim occupation of Israel, then called Palestine. In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a holy war against the Muslims “to recapture the Holy Land and ensure safety for Christian pilgrims visiting sacred sites.”3

Muslims were not the only people the bloodthirsty crusaders targeted. According to the dominant theology of the day, the Jewish people were also enemies of Christ and, therefore, fair game.

“Christian” armies massacred Jews throughout Europe. For example, Count Emicho, a German nobleman and crusader, led his marauders to attack Jewish communities throughout the Rhineland in 1096. They went from town to town with the message of convert or die.

At one point, Emicho and his henchmen exhumed the corpse of a Gentile man who had been buried for a month and claimed the Jews “took a gentile and boiled him in water. They then poured the water into our wells in order to kill us.” Angry mobs gathered “to avenge him who was crucified, whom their ancestors slew. . . . Let not a remnant or a residue escape; even an infant . . . in the cradle.”4 The crusaders killed nearly every Jewish person in the town.

Sadly, the Crusades were not isolated movements. Throughout the past 2,000 years, people who claim to follow Christ have been among the most virulent persecutors of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. During the Spanish Inquisition, for example, the Roman Catholic Church hunted down and tortured Jews who converted to Christianity, claiming it was ferreting out infidelity.

Today, anti-Semitism is growing. In April 2019, 19-year-old John Earnest, a member of an Orthodox Presbyterian church, entered a Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, and opened fire, killing one person and injuring three others, including the synagogue’s rabbi.

In an eight-page manifesto, Earnest based his hatred of Jewish people partially on his flawed understanding of Scripture. Referring to Jews as “one of the most ugly, sinful, deceitful, cursed, and corrupt” races, he gave 15 “reasons” for his action, including,

For their persecution of Christians of old (including the prophets of ancient Israel—Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc.), members of the early church (Stephen—whose death at the hands of the Jews was both heart-wrenching and rage-inducing), Christians of modern-day Syria and Palestine, and Christians in White nations.5

The Muslim world, too, has been cruel to the Jews. Abdelmohsen Abouhatab, a Philadelphia imam who live-streams anti-Semitic sermons on YouTube, delivered a sermon in 2019 in which he called Jews “the vilest people” and “enemies of Allah.” He also accused the late prime minister Menachem Begin “of slitting the stomach of a pregnant woman as part of a ‘bet,’” timesofisrael.com reported.6

Abouhatab also spouts lies about so-called Jewish money and power, a tactic people have always used to justify anti-Semitism.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, is among Israel’s greatest enemies. Its charter declares its intent to fight the “warmongering Jews” and states, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.”7 Hamas’s efforts to annihilate Israel constitute a primary source of terrorism in the Middle East today.

Political Persecution
Not all persecution is religiously motivated. Jewish people also have been targeted for political reasons.

One of the most emblematic manifestations of political anti-Semitism is the work The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, published in 1905 and proven to be a hoax in the 1920s. It purported to be the secret minutes of meetings of Jewish leaders, the Elders of Zion, and their plans for world domination.

The Black Hundreds, an ultranationalist Russian organization, blamed the Jewish community for the Russian Revolution of 19058 and used the Protocols to justify their hatred, which eventually resulted in a vicious pogrom in Odessa that year in which more than 300 Jews were killed and thousands injured.9

As bad as the persecutions were, nothing equaled the politically motivated persecution led by a disgruntled painter named Adolf Hitler. His ultranationalism and Germany’s defeat in World War I fueled his hatred. Despite Jewish patriotism (more than 100,000 Jewish men fought for Germany during World War I),10 Hitler and many other Germans felt the Jewish people had cost them the war.

Hitler’s “Final Solution” for dealing with European Jewry resulted in the deaths of millions. In 1918, Europe’s Jewish population was about 9.5 million. By the end of World War II, it was only 3.5 million.11

Today college campuses are hotbeds of anti-Semitism, and mainstream society isn’t far behind. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2018 alone. Of these attacks, 39 of them were physical assaults, a 105 percent increase over 2017.12 One, called “the deadliest attack on Jews in the history of the U.S.,”13 was conducted by a white supremacist at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and left 11 people dead.

The Hope to Come
Despite their tragic history, God has not abandoned His ancient people, whom He has loved “with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). I thought of His love for my friends as they concluded the “Mourner’s Kaddish” at the Majdanek death camp. Then we sang “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”), a 19th-century poem that is now the national anthem of the State of Israel:

As long as in the heart within,
The Jewish soul yearns,
And toward the eastern edges, onward,
An eye gazes toward Zion.
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope that is two thousand years old,
To be a free nation in our land,
The Land of Zion, Jerusalem.14

Scripture exhorts us not to forget the hope—Hatikvah—that remains for the Jewish people because of the Lord who loves them:

I will make a covenant of peace with them. . . . They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid (Ezek. 34:25, 27–28).

When that future day comes, Israel’s story will be in a minor key no more.

ENDNOTES
“Jewish Prayers: Mourners Kaddish,” jewishvirtuallibrary.org [jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-mourners-kaddish].
Tertullian, “An Answer to the Jews,” newadvent.org [newadvent.org/fathers/0308.htm].
Joshua Levy, “How the Crusades Affected Medieval Jews in Europe and Palestine,” myjewishlearning.com[myjewishlearning.com/article/the-crusades].
Cited in Phyllis Goldstein, A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism (Brookline, MA: Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, 2012), 67.
Michael Davis, “The Anti-Jewish Manifesto Of John T. Earnest, The San Diego Synagogue Shooter,” The Middle East Media Research Institute, Memri.org, May 15, 2019 [tinyurl.com/y2cpfufm].
“Philadelphia imam calls Jews ‘vilest people,’” timesofisrael.com, March 9, 2019 [tinyurl.com/yy54p7zt].
“Hamas Covenant 1988,” Yale Law School, avalon.yale.law.edu [tinyurl.com/y4qkper5].
“Anti-Semitism: History of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’” jewishvirtuallibrary.org [tinyurl.com/y66tcxw4].
“Odessa” [jewishvirtuallibrary.org/Odessa].
Goldstein, 260.
Ibid.
“Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents: Year in Review 2018” [adl.org/audit2018].
Ibid.
“Hatikvah—National Anthem of the State of Israel,” Knesset.gov.il [tinyurl.com/y6xoqv9p].

This article was originally published by The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

Let’s face it—Christmastime may be the most wonderful time of the year, but it’s also one of the most confusing times.

Who would want their true love to give them eight maids-a-milking or six breeds of fowl? And why do singers of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” so rudely demand their figgy pudding? What is figgy pudding, anyway?

Then there’s the pop culture theology of the Christmas season. For example, while Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic (and my favorite movie), its angelology, epitomized in Zuzu Bailey’s immortal words, is decidedly not biblical—“Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” And the meme floating around social media of Santa Claus bowing at the manger is downright cringeworthy.

It’s not just the secular world that muddles Christmas theology, though. Consider the popular song “Mary, Did You Know?” It’s a beautiful song filled with references to the life and ministry of Jesus, but the title’s question is one we can answer authoritatively from Scripture: Of course Mary knew.

What Did Mary Know?

In his book They Called Her Miriam, Dr. Victor Buksbazen points out that in the whole New Testament narrative, there are only 23 references, both direct and indirect, to Mary (or Miriam, as she would have been known in Israel). She is portrayed as a common, young Jewish woman betrothed to a common Jewish carpenter in Nazareth (Mt. 13:55; Lk. 1:27). What is extraordinary about Mary, however, is that she knew quite a bit about the Messiah, her baby, because she evidently was a young woman who knew the Scriptures.

Mary’s statement of praise (her “Magnificat”) following her initial meeting with her pregnant cousin Elizabeth demonstrates her familiarity with the Hebrew Bible. She references passages from Genesis, the Psalms, 1 Samuel, Isaiah, and Habakkuk.

Although surprised that she would be the mother of the promised Messiah, Mary was not baffled by the pronouncement that there would be a Messiah. In fact, when the angel Gabriel told her that she would be the mother of the coming King of Israel, her only question was, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Lk. 1:34).

Mary knew her Bible, a remarkable feat, considering individuals, especially poor individuals, did not have their own copies of the Scriptures, like we do today. The young woman would have heard the reading of the Scriptures at her local synagogue each week and hidden the words in her heart, which is how she knew about the Messiah to come.

Given Mary’s familiarity with the Hebrew Scriptures, she likely knew a great deal about the identity of the Messiah, particularly His miracles, His deity, and His offer of salvation.

He Would Perform Miracles

“Mary Did You Know?” asks if Mary knew her son would perform miracles. The answer is yes. She would have known Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah’s Kingdom, where “the eyes of the blind shall be opened,” “the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped,” “the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (35:5-6).

In fact, years later, Jesus cited this verse as proof to John the Baptist that He was indeed the Messiah. “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see,” He said. “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Mt. 11:5).

Yes, Mary knew her Son would perform miracles.

He Would Be God in the Flesh

Mary knew her Son would be more than merely a miracle-worker. Throughout Israel’s history, God performed miracles through His prophets (Ex. 14:21; 1 Ki. 17:17-24). Although it must have been a mysterious thing for her to contemplate, Mary knew that her Son was God Himself.

As a student of the Scriptures, Mary would have been familiar with Isaiah’s pronouncement that the Messiah would be “called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (9:6). She would likely also have known that the promised King of Israel would be called “The LORD our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6).

Not only would Mary have known about Jesus’ deity through the Hebrew Scriptures—a messenger from Heaven told her directly. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah, he told her that the child would be “called the Son of the Highest” (Lk. 1:32). The “Highest” or “Most High” is a common reference to God throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (cf. Gen. 14:18; Ps. 47:2, 91:1; Dan. 7:18), so the message to Mary was clear.

Yes, Mary knew her Son would be God in the flesh.

He Would Save

The expectation of Israel, Mary included, was that the Messiah would save them from their enemies. Indeed, the Hebrew Scriptures teach that the Son of David would “execute judgment and righteousness in the earth” and that “[i]n His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely” (Jer. 23:5-6).

The salvation Jesus would offer, however, would go beyond the political. It would be personal, too. Mary knew this, because she had doubtlessly read Isaiah’s description of the Messiah, who would bear the grief and sorrows of the Jewish people, the one on whom the LORD would lay the sins of Israel (53:4, 6).

Additionally, after Mary’s time of purification, following giving birth, she and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to dedicate Him to the LORD. At the temple, they met an elderly man, Simeon, who God had promised “would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Lk. 2:26). Simeon held the baby and praised God for allowing him to see the Lord’s salvation. He described the baby as a light “to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel,” and as the one who was “destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel” (vv. 30-34).

Yes, Mary knew her Son would save.

Mary Knew, and So Can We

Christmastime can be confusing, but it doesn’t need to be. Throughout the Scriptures, God made clear what the Messiah’s life and ministry would be like. And while not every detail was revealed to Mary, she knew that the little baby she would soon carry would be a miracle-worker, the Son of God, and her salvation.

As believers, we should join her in praising God for His revelation to man of Himself and the gift of the Messiah. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Lk. 1:47).

This article was originally published by The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

"Do you support Israel because you want Jesus to come back?”

I had been asked this question a handful of times before by Jewish friends but never in this setting. Riding on a tour bus through Poland, I was the only Gentile and, as far as I know, the only follower of Jesus on the bus. We were all part of an educational trip on the Holocaust. He was seated next to me on the bus when he asked me the question.

“No,” I answered. “I genuinely love Israel and the Jewish people, no strings attached. And I don’t believe Jesus’ return to Earth is dependent on anything I do. Why do you ask?”

The man went on to explain that the evangelicals he knows told him they support Israel and want the Jewish people to return to the land because they believe doing so will hasten Jesus’ return. He was understandably dubious of Christians like myself who say they support Israel.

Although it saddened me to learn that the Jewish people had been taught that believers in Jesus support Israel for selfish reasons, I was glad my friend felt free to confront me with these questions. It showed me that such misconceptions were common, and it gave me the opportunity to explain why I support Israel and love the Jewish people.

Why do Christians support Israel?

To be sure, not every Christian supports Israel. There are Christian organizations, such as Christ at the Checkpoint, that are actively opposed to Israel on political grounds. Many Christian denominations, too, hold to Replacement Theology—the theological concept that the church is God’s new Chosen People and that the Jewish people have no future. Sadly, there is not much love for Israel in these circles.

Thankfully, though, many evangelical Christians do support Israel and believe the Jewish people have a historic, God-given right to the land of Israel in perpetuity. Those of us who believe this way are called Christian Zionists.

So, why do Christian Zionists support Israel and love the Jewish people?

1. We recognize that God has chosen Israel as His unique people.

Christians believe the Bible, both the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the New Testament, is the inspired Word of God. All throughout the Bible, God makes it clear that He has formed and chosen the Jewish people (physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribes) to be a special people for Himself (Isa. 46:13).

To be sure, this doesn’t mean He loves Jewish people more than Gentiles—the Bible teaches He loves all people (Jn. 3:16). But God loves Israel in a unique way and has chosen to reveal Himself to that nation and to work through that people in a way He does not with anyone else (Rom. 9:4-5).

2. We are indebted to Israel.

Paul, the Pharisee-turned-Jesus-follower, described Gentiles as those who are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). That’s a pretty stark picture of those of us who are not Jewish.

Indeed, part of Israel’s role as God’s chosen servant was to be a kingdom of priests to the world (Ex. 19:6). A priest is one who mediates between God and man. As a kingdom of priests, Israel was to represent God to the goyim, the nations.

Today, the majority of Christians are Gentiles. We, though “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,” have come to know the God of Israel through the Scriptures He gave to the Jewish people. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Israel, a belief based on the Hebrew Scriptures. By faith in the Messiah, we “who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).

We are indebted to the Jewish people for their transmission and preservation of the Scriptures and for the gift of the Messiah Jesus by Whom we have been brought near to God and have hope.

3. We understand God has promised to bless those who bless Israel.

Further, He promised Abraham that He would bless those who bless Him and His descendants and He would curse those who curse him (Gen. 12:3). In fact, God says that aiding the Jewish people in their distress is the same as aiding Him (Matt. 25:35-40). Conversely, harming the Jewish people is the same as doing harm to Him (Zech. 2:8; Matt. 25:41-45). 

As Christians, our desire is to bless the Jewish people, not only for the great blessings we have received through Israel, but also because it reflects God’s heart.

This article was originally published in the July/August 2017 issue of Israel My Glory magazine.

After traveling through the desert from bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel embarked on the last leg of the journey to their new home: the land of Canaan—the land God had promised them.

With the end of the trek in sight, the nation’s leader, Moses, called for each of the tribes to supply a man “to spy out the land” (Num. 13:2). They were so close to being home at last, but the unbelief they soon demonstrated at Kadesh Barnea resulted in 40 years of wandering in the desert because God refused to allow that faithless generation to enter the Promised Land.

Among the spies chosen were Caleb and Hoshea (whom Moses later renamed Joshua)—two men who were destined to become heroes of the faith. Moses commissioned the 12 and instructed them to bring back the “fruit of the land.” So they set out on their journey north through the Negev and into the Canaanite hills.

After 40 days of reconnaissance, the spies returned to the camp—their arms filled with fruit. The land is a good land, they said, and indeed “flows with milk and honey” (v. 27). However, in the opinion of 10 of the spies, the occupants were “giants” (v. 33), and their cities unconquerable. They saw no way their ragtag band of Hebrew ex-slaves would be able to prevail.

Their report caused widespread lamentation to erupt in the camp: “If only we had died in the land of Egypt!” the Israelites cried. “Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?…Let us select a leader and return to Egypt” (14:2–4).

Faithlessness is a tragic condition. It blinds us to God’s power and the miracles He wants to do all around us, just as it blinded the Israelites.

In the midst of the wailing, Caleb’s and Joshua’s faith stood strong. Anguished at the unbelief of their brethren, they tore their clothes in mourning and exhorted the Israelites to trust in God:

The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, “a land which flows with milk and honey.” Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them (vv. 7–9).
Their words fell on deaf ears. Instead of heeding Caleb and Joshua, the children of Israel wanted to stone them. Then the “glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel” (v. 10). God had had enough: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?” (v. 11). He told Moses He would strike the people with pestilence, disinherit them for their unbelief, and raise up a better people through Moses.

Although Moses knew the people deserved punishment, he pleaded for God’s mercy. He reminded God His name would be slandered among the Gentile nations, which would say, “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” (v. 16). Moses begged God, “Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now” (v. 19).

Often people don’t understand that God does not help us because we deserve His help; we deserve nothing. He helps us because He is merciful, and it should be our goal as believers to glorify His name.

God pardoned the Israelites, but He punished them: “Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection” (vv. 32, 34).

The generation that did not believe His word would die and never see the Promised Land. Only Joshua, Caleb, and those 19 years old and younger would enter it (vv. 29–31).

The Lord sent a plague to kill the 10 faithless spies (vv. 36–37); and the Amalekites attacked the rest of the nation, forcing Israel to retreat back into the wilderness, where it would remain until God fulfilled His promise to keep them there 40 years (v. 45).

The Israelites had a lot for which to be thankful. God had promised their ancestor Abraham great blessing, including the land of Canaan. He gave them Moses, one of the greatest leaders in history, to guide them from slavery to freedom. They had witnessed awesome demonstrations of God’s power in the 10 plagues God had poured out on Egypt, and they saw the waters of the Red Sea part—allowing them to walk across dry land. Surely they had no reason not to trust the Lord.

Yet they were a faithless generation—a case study of what happens to people who operate in the flesh, according to their own understanding. Long ago God had promised to lead them out of bondage (Ex. 3:17). Israel’s response, once free, was to seek a return to captivity (Num. 14:3).

But God blessed His faithful servants, Caleb and Joshua, and brought them into the land: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chr. 16:9).

As 21st-century believers, we may be tempted to scoff at Israel’s unbelief. How could these people, who had been witnesses to God’s power in the past, fail to trust Him with their futures? we wonder. But perhaps we should ask ourselves the same question.

God makes many promises to those who trust in Him, but we often fail to take Him at His Word. He tells us not to worry about the future (Mt. 6:25–34), but we fret and are filled with anxiety. He says He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5); yet, when faced with trials, we ask where He has gone. He tells us that He loves us; yet we wonder if He really loves us now, in the midst of our troubles.

Proverbs 3:5–6 admonishes us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” In today’s turbulent times, when catastrophe and chaos abound, we must remember to look unto the Author and Finisher of our faith, that we might avoid a Kadesh Barnea fiasco of our own.

This article was originally published by The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

In 1952, the average cost of a new house in the United States was $9,050; a brand new Ford sedan was just under $1,500; and the kids were playing with a new toy called “Mr. Potato Head.”

Needless to say, America was much different 65 years ago. The most significant difference between the America of then and now is its citizens’ attitude toward God. In 1952, America recognized its dependence upon the Lord. In 2017, we are a culture that has not simply turned our back on God—we have shaken our fists in His face. What should the church do now?

On April 17, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed into law a piece of legislation establishing the National Day of Prayer. That same day, he issued a proclamation in which he stated that the National Day of Prayer should be a special event in “which all of us, in our churches, in our homes, and in our hearts, may beseech God to grant us wisdom to know the course which we should follow, and strength and patience to pursue that course steadfastly. May we also give thanks to Him for His constant watchfulness over us in every hour of national prosperity and national peril.”

Times have sure changed. Today, a simple Google search for the National Day of Prayer turns up a multitude of results, many of which are websites condemning the federal government’s endorsement of such a “sectarian” and “unconstitutional” event.

As Christians, it is tempting for us to become angry when we see the moral degradation of the American culture, and to turn cynical at the mention of national revival. After all, we know how Scripture says it’s all going to end. There’s no point in trying to change anything.

It’s true. God has revealed to us in vivid detail how post-fall human history is going to end, and it isn’t going to go well for the nations, including the United States. But does that give us an out? Did Christ tell us to take the gospel into all the world, making disciples, until we face a culture hostile to our message? Did the Lord indicate that we are to despair when an unbelieving culture acts…well…like an unbelieving culture? Not at all. But He does repeatedly warn the church not to forget its Foundation and purpose (Revelation 2).

Maybe, just maybe, the cultural decay we are observing is due, in part, to the lack of the church’s witness and influence. So what do we do? Well, obviously we need to be the church, taking the gospel out, loving people, representing God to a self-worshiping world. But what does that look like?

First, we must remember that without the Lord, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Any attempt at ministry, whether as individuals or as part of a local church body, if not done in the power of the Spirit of God amounts to nothing more than wood, hay, and straw (1 Corinthians 3:12). Let’s depend on Him and His strength for every task He puts before us.

Second, we need to stop thinking in terms of national revival alone, as if the United States as a national entity is going to be saved. Instead, we must begin thinking about our personal sphere of influence—the unsaved friend we haven’t had coffee with in a while; the guy we sit with at lunch every day; the kids in our weekly AWANA group and Sunday school class. It’s possible that the Lord may one day call some of us to minister to people on the other side of the world—and we need to be ready  for that!— but He has certainly called us to share with the people in the place He has put us right now.

Third, let’s examine ourselves. Are we reading God’s Word on a regular basis? Are we communing with Him? Are we obeying His command to pray for our leaders and those in authority over us (1 Timothy 2:1–2)? Are we yielded to Him for any service He may call us to?

​On this National Day of Prayer, let’s follow President Truman’s advice, asking the Lord for wisdom, strength, and patience, giving Him thanks for our great nation. But let’s also examine ourselves and ask Him how He would like to use us today. We may not lead a national revival; but maybe we will be used to point one lost American to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This article was originally published by The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

Soon after his meeting with Newton, Wilberforce wrote in his journal, “God Almighty has placed before me two great objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners”.1

Wilberforce was indeed successful in his first “great object”. After a lifetime spent educating an apathetic public, largely ignorant of the plight of African slaves, and repeated defeats in the House of Commons to pass anti-Slavery legislation, the momentous day arrived on July 26, 1833: slavery was finally abolished in the British Empire. Just three days later, Wilberforce died, his earthly battle won.

Understandably, much is written about Wilberforce’s campaign against the traffic of human beings. But perhaps even more interesting is his “Reformation of Manners”, a 19th century term for meaning “to change the moral climate of the culture”. Fueled by his love for the Lord and His Word, Wilberforce was instrumental in bringing great societal change to the British Empire, including aiding the poor, taking the gospel to India, and establishing the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

What few people know, however, is that William Wilberforce’s faith inspired a great love for God’s chosen people. He believed in the biblical mandate to take the gospel to all the world, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, and he believed that God would one day bring the Jewish people back into their homeland. Wilberforce biographer Rev. Dr. Clifford Hill says, “[Wilberforce] longed to see the gospel going out throughout the world, and he believed that it was in God’s purposes that the Jewish people have a home back in Israel”.

In 1809, a Jewish believer in Jesus named Joseph Frey established the London Jews’ Society. Its first vice-president was none other than Wilberforce.

Dr. Paul Wilkinson says that Wilberforce and the other early members of this organization were united by their belief in the authority of Scripture. “They had the same understanding of the Word of God,” he says. “They believed in the inspiration of the Scriptures. They believed in the literal fulfillment of prophecy. And within that, the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the restoration of the Jews to the land.”2

In 1813, the London Jews’ Society laid the foundation stone for “Palestine Place”, a campus composed of a ministry training college, boys’ and girls’ schools, and a church, where the service was conducted in both English and Hebrew, the first place of worship in England specifically for Jewish believers.3 Wilberforce attended the foundation-laying ceremony, an event that drew more than 20,000 spectators, and spoke at the reception that followed.4

It would be easy to think that a busy politician, such as Wilberforce, concerned as he was with the affairs of the British government, would be merely a figurehead of such an organization, dedicated to sharing biblical truth and raising awareness about the plight of the Jewish people. After all, he was already waging an all-out war on the British Slave Trade at the time—an arduous and unpopular cause in itself. But that was not how Wilberforce operated. Once he committed himself to a cause, he was one of its hardest workers and greatest champions.

Kevin Belmonte, in his work William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity, writes about the Christian statesman’s biblically-rooted work ethic: “Wilberforce’s Great Change also manifested itself in a very practical and conscientious way. He took greater care to be present for every debate in the Commons. He agreed to serve on countless committees, always a thankless task. His regularity in the House and service on its committees was all the more unique in an age when the chamber was seldom filled. He was there unless sick or obliged to be more than twenty miles from London”.5
This ethic translated to much involvement with the London Jews’ Society. It required him to be intimately acquainted with the workings of the organization, as he presided over, attended, and spoke at at least eight of the Society’s annual meetings.6

In the history of the organization, the authors write of Wilberforce, “He was one of the most loving and prominent personages of his day. It speaks volumes for the character of the Society’s work that it could command from such a man, affection patronage, time, and advocacy, all of which he ungrudgingly bestowed upon it from its foundation.”7

William Wilberforce died in 1833, at the age of 74. His passing was mourned, not only by his own nation, but by those of nations around the world. He was a man whose relationship with Jesus Christ was no private matter. On the contrary, it was a faith that compelled him to advocate for the rights of African slaves, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to be a friend of Israel.

Today, in Westminster Abbey, among the memorials to famed men and women of British history, there stands a statue of a bent-over, elderly Wilberforce, whose features would not endear him to anyone. But engraved on this stone is a fitting tribute to the all-but-forgotten Christian Zionist:

To the memory of William Wilberforce:
…In an age and country fertile in great and good men,
He was among the foremost of those who fixed the character of their times
Because to high and various talents
To warm benevolence, and to universal candour,
He added the abiding eloquence of a Christian life.
…He died not unnoticed or forgotten by his country:
The Peers and Commons of England,
With the Lord Chancellor, and the Speaker, at their head,
Carried him to his fitting place among the mighty dead around,
Here to repose: till, through the merits of Jesus Christ,
His only Redeemer and Saviour,
(Whom, in his life and in his writings he had desired to glorify,)
He shall rise in the resurrection of the just.8​

ENDNOTES
1 Curtis, Ken. “William Wilberforce.” Christianity.com 2007,christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/william-wilberforce-11630357.html.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Gidney, William Thomas. The History of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, from 1809 to 1908, 1908, p. 41.
5 Belmonte, Kevin. William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity. Zondervan, 2007. p. 91
6 Gidney, William Thomas. The History of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, from 1809 to 1908, 1908. p. 147.
7 Ibid.
8 Metaxas, Eric. Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. Harper One, 2007. p. 278.