Weekly Update: Coming Home

The restoration of the Jewish people is about “homecoming”. The Lord is bringing His people home, in order that both Jews and Gentiles will be ready to greet the Messiah.

This is a monumental work, of enormous political and spiritual proportions. The physical return of Jews is accompanied by a spiritual return.

As Christians, while it is important to look at the political aspects, it is perhaps more important that we look at the bigger spiritual purpose of the restoration of Israel. It is only when we understand why the Lord is bringing His people home that we can put the every-day events into perspective.

Every day, the Lord is working in the hearts and minds of all people. But there will come a day day when the Lord will pour out His spirit on the whole “house of David”. What a blessing that will be – not only to the Jewish people, but to all in the land!

This spiritual work will, in turn, be a sign of God’s holiness to the whole Gentile world.

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’” (Ezechiel 37)

Let us pray for the speedy coming of Messiah in our generation. He will reign from Jerusalem. Then, God’s kingdom of righteousness and peace will be established:

Many peoples will come and say “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2)

Emotional moments in Cherson
C4I’s Aliyah Fieldworker Koen Carlier reports from Ukraine: ‘After the Russian retreat from Cherson, residents have lived between hope and fear. We visited some Jewish elderly in Cherson. These encounters were very emotional! After we published an article last Monday about the cry for help from Cherson, the city that was occupied by the Russian army for such a long time but which was liberated on November 9, we immediately went to work. Meaning: busy with packing food parcels and obtaining official documents to enter Cherson.’
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An interview with Pastor Andrei Babii from Ukraine
Pastor Andrei shares about the current situation in Ukraine where he stays to serve his congregation. He finds encouragement from the Bible in these difficult times, for example in Isaiah 30:15. ‘In quietness and trust is your strength.’ Prayers all over the world gives the Christians in Ukraine encouragement and keeps them pressing on. Pastor Andrei tries to teach Christians that God has plans with the nation of Israel and he helps the Christians for Israel Ukraine with the packing of food parcels for the Jewish communities.

“Now we’re all at home!
Christians for Israel supports The First Home in the Homeland program, which has been bringing Jewish immigrants (“olim”) to different regions of Israel for over 30 years. During this period, it has helped thousands of people to find their home in the Promised Land. The  program operates in different regions of Israel. One of them is Hevel Eilot where the program accepts olim in seven different kibbutzim: Grofit, Elifaz, Eilot, Lotan, Yotvata, Ktura and Yahel. Here the program has welcomed eight families since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. This article is a report of the latest alumni meeting of the Hevel Eilot region in the Yotvata kibbutz.
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