A young Jewish family being helped from the plane by two of the Ebenezer team after it has just touched down in Israel
Judith Adams reports on the Ebenezer Operation Exodus Surrey/Sussex conference, Crawley, 18 February
ELIM CHURCH, CRAWLEY, was the welcoming venue where we enjoyed an exciting mix of praise, worship, and anointed teaching. Updates on a recent Hanukkah visit distributing humanitarian aid to suffering Jews in war-torn Ukraine brought a tear to many. ‘Aliyah’ (Jewish return to Israel) is their ‘life-line’ from a terrible situation and they eagerly received scriptures which encourage God’s ‘first-born’ to go ‘home’.
Hope had come to the ‘hopeless’ hearing that there is a God-ordained place where they can live as Jews, without constantly looking over their shoulders in fear.
We heard that the land and the people are a dynamic – and as Jews return to their true homeland, they invariably come to faith in their Messiah – hence the growing number of Messianic congregations.
Updates on the alarming rise in UK anti-Semitism – 1309 incidents reported last year – were followed by ‘Aliyah Assistance’ – ways we Christians can be of help, even by providing suitcases. Jeremiah 16:16 warns of end-time anti-Semitic persecution when ‘hunters’ will be released.
Now is the time for Christians to answer the call of Isaiah 49:22 to prepare the way in prayer for the Jewish exodus and not be caught off-guard: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘See, I will beckon to the gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.’” (Isaiah 49:22)
In light of our indebtedness to the Jews for their rich spiritual heritage (Romans 15:27), our UK Director asked “What does the Lord require of us?”
There is a challenge going out to individual believers and a ‘wake-up’ call to the Church. Given the hour, will our response be “Hineni” (“Here I am”) to lovingly and prayerfully assist our Jewish brothers and sisters ‘home’? Or will we look the other way?