Deliverance Has Its Own Timing: Lesson #2, Part 2

Lesson: Sometimes deliverance will to be delayed for reasons that have nothing to do with you directly.  Unbeknownst to you, God might be completing His agenda elsewhere so that He can answer your prayer today. What feels like a delay is actually God’s perfect timing.

Example: The Canaanites

When God called Abraham to move from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan (modern day Israel) He promised to give Abraham and His seed after him Canaan as an inheritance. Thus the genesis of the phrase ”promised land”.

Canaan & Mesopotamia

So Abraham moved his family to Canaan in obedience to God. In the book of Genesis chapter 15 God gives him a vision. In the vision God reveals/prophesies to Abraham the following: (Genesis 15: 13, 14 and 16)

And God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve and afterward they will come out with many possessions…Then in the fourth generation they shall return here for the sin of the Amorite/Canaanite is not yet complete. “(NAS)

Remember…this prophecy was given over 100 years before Abraham’s son Jacob took his family to Egypt to avoid famine in Canaan.

But why 400 years? Why so long?

There are two very good reasons:

Modern Day Israel

1. Though God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham’s seed (Israel), Abraham’s family was not large enough to possess the land. It took 400 years for the people of Israel to grow to over 2 million people and thus be ready to possess the land God had promised them.

 2. God is fair, just and, fortunately for us, full of mercy. God gave the Canaanites 400 more years to repent of their sins and get right with Him. Only after the 400 years could Israel possess Canaan. In fact Israel was God’s hand of judgment for the Canaanites as later Babylon was God’s hand of judgment for Israel.

Today…

…we can see in hindsight how God was working over a long period of time to fulfill His promises to Israel and deliver them from the hands of their oppressors.

Even as I write this blog I am myself convicted to cultivate more patience when I pray. I need to learn over and over to trust God and believe that he will keep His promises in His perfect timing.

Chag Pesach (Happy Passover),

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~

Deliverance Has It’s Own Timing: Lesson #2, Part 1

Part 1:

We all have needs and pray to God for Him to deliver us from various crisis like a bad job, sickness, financial difficulty etc. Israel’s great supernatural Passover deliverance from enslavement and oppression in Egypt taught me something very valuable.

Lesson: My deliverance or answer to prayer, in some cases, may be much more complicated than I originally thought and may involve a series of behind the scenes maneuvers by God in order for that deliverance to arrive on my doorstep. Therefore…keep praying and try to be patient!

Israel’s Passover deliverance from Egyptian oppression is a great example.

Israel’s deliverance involved not just them but also Egypt with all of its political and economic complexities as well as the people and land of Canaan (the Promised Land) which was where Israel was going once they left Egypt. 

Traditional Route of the Exodus

 Check this out… 

At first they were treated with great favor because of Jacob’s son Joseph who helped the Pharaoh of his time to deliver the whole nation from famine and disaster. Subsequent Pharaohs, however, failed to appreciate this and gradually the Jewish people were looked upon as a vast non-Egyptian populace to be exploited for economic gain. The Jewish people became the slaves (forced workers) that drove the economy of Egypt. This is similar in many ways to the experience of African slavery in US history.

Mighty Egypt Humbled! 

The Great Pyramids of Egypt

By the time Moses approached Pharaoh with the demand to let Israel go, Egypt had become the most powerful empire on the planet. The Egyptians also had an elaborate system of idol worship complete with a pantheon of false gods. In order for the Jewish people to be delivered from Egyptian oppression God would first have to humble and yes humiliate mighty Egypt and in particular their proud King–Pharaoh. This He did through a series of plagues that increasingly exacted such a toll on Pharaoh and his country that he eventually was compelled to let Israel leave Egypt.

The cost benefit to holding on to this vast economic labor pool of 2 million plus people called the nation of Israel was just too high.

Passover Lesson Revisited

I’m really preaching to myself when I reiterate that our much sought after and prayed for deliverance may involve God moving some big things around in our lives and the lives of others that we are almost certainly not aware of.

Although deliverance can seem to be instantaneous, in most cases it involves a preparation process just as God prepared Pharaoh to let Israel go.

Tomorrow I’ll share more about this as we explore the people and land of Canaan and how Israel’s deliverance could not have happened before it actually did.

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~

Prophetic Lessons From Passover: Lesson #1

Passover Symbolic Foods

Shalom and Happy Passover,

There are many wonderful and practical lessons to be learned from the Biblical feast of Passover. The Passover is one of the three national feasts of Israel that were commanded by God that Israel as a nation commemorate annually, and they are; Passover, Shavuot (the feast of weeks also know in the Christian world as Pentecost) and Succot (the feast of tabernacles). Each of these feasts also have a powerful prophetic Messianic fulfillment.

Over the next seven days of Passover I will share with you some of the lessons and insights about Passover that I feel might be helpful to you.

Lesson #1:

The Passover, which was the national commemoration of God’s great and supernatural deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 7-13), foreshadowed the Messiah’s first coming, His death and resurrection.

In traditional rabbinic writings…

…what Messianic Jews would refer to as the Messiah’s first coming and suffering for the sin of man is called the Messiah Ben Joseph or the Suffering Messiah. Rabbis throughout the centuries refer to what we believe is the Messiah’s second coming to reign as ruler of the world and king of the Jews as the Messiah Ben David, i.e. the Messiah Son of David. Despite the fact that most modern rabbis in traditional Judaism would deny or avoid admitting that the rabbis recognized two distinct messianic advents…it is a fact of history and can be easily established from rabbinic writings.

Prophetic Foreshadow

Pharaoh & Moses

What makes the Passover a prophetic foreshadow of the Messiah Yeshua’s coming and sacrifice for sins is contained in the account of the final plague God sent on Egypt. Because Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let Israel leave Egypt as God called for, God visited the plague of death to all of

The Blood of the Lamb

 the firstborn of both animal and man in Egypt. In order for Israel to avoid the angel of death’s visit to their households God told the Israelites to sacrifice and eat a lamb. More importantly He commanded them to take some of the lamb’s blood and put it on the doorpost of each household. As the angel of death passed over their houses and noted the blood on their lintels they would be spared…and they were.

Messianic Fulfillment

In the same way, we avoid the eternal death for our sins that we richly deserve when God sees the blood of the Suffering Messiah, Yeshua, on the doorposts of our hearts. This is exactly what happens when each of us obeys God and accepts what God so sacrificially provided through His Son the Messiah’s death and eternal atonement. God’s eternal judgment is averted and for those who have accepted His atonement the debt of their sins is covered for eternity.

Mercy was extended to all of those households under the blood of the sacrificed lamb of old and mercy is extended to all of those who dwell under the eternal blood of the Messiah Ben Joseph, Yeshua (Jesus).

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~

Poverty Not Terrorism #1

Serving lunch to the poor of Tel-Aviv

Over the last few years poverty has been the number one domestic political issue in Israel…not terrorism. With 33% of children and 25% of adults living below the poverty line of $314 per month you can understand the explosive nature of this problem and why it is the number one issue politicians must address if they expect to be elected.

At the same time, over the last few years Israel’s economy has been experiencing 4% annual growth while much of the industrialized world economy has been shrinking. This is very good in anybody’s book. However, that has now changed.

Recession Comes in Like a Bear!

The worldwide financial crisis has finally caught up with Israel. According to an article in the LA Times, economists are predicting that the Israeli economy will shrink 1.5% this year as well as “an 11% decrease in Israeli exports which account for half the value of everything the country produces.”  Even with a growing economy Israel could not take care of its poor, fight the war with terrorists and absorb new immigrants.

War-torn Israeli bus/an Israeli youth overwhelmed

Unemployment is sure to rise along with the numbers of people living their lives below the poverty line of $314 per month. Indeed some estimates say that 50% of the countries populace could slide under the poverty line.

“Pressures Boil Over!” ~ L.A. TIMES

This was the title of a recent article I read in the L.A. Times. What was startling about the article was their description of the seeming breakdown of law and order in Israel. Apparently, businesses are closing and leaving workers and creditors in the lurch. This has triggered the shameless looting of these businesses by those left holding the bag. Israel has been very embarrassed by this and is bemoaning the loss of shame among its citizens.

Right Time – Right Place

Why am I pointing this out? Since 1999, at the behest of God’s leading, the MJAA has developed the infrastructure outside and inside Israel to meet the growing humanitarian crisis. That effort is called the Joseph Project.  Since 2000, over $85 million in aid has been delivered and distributed in Israel.

The "Spirit of Grace," chartered for Israel, carries humanitarian aid thanks to one of the Joseph Project partners, FriendShips

I am amazed that as things get worse in Israel, God has already raised up this partnership of Jew and Gentile through the MJAA to bring deliverance in the form of increasing amounts of humanitarian aid to Israel for the glory of God.

$100 million

Preparing product for distribution from warehouse

Yes…that is the amount of aid the MJAA, through its Joseph Project, is seeking to move into Israel in the near future. Right now, we are currently negotiating in southern Israel near the border with Gaza to open up a regional distribution center capable of handling up to $10 million worth of aid at one time. This is in addition to our main center in Nitzenei Oz which holds at least that much.

What God has put in our heart is to increase our warehouse capability to 100,000 square feet so that we can hold the $100 million dollars in aid. We are working hard to accomplish this.

Please keep us in your prayers…

 That the resources will become available to rent, buy or build the additional warehousing needed to house this desperately needed aid for the growing poor of Israel.

Looking back over the last 14 years…

I am amazed to observe how God saw this humanitarian crisis in Israel many years in advance and positioned the Messianic community in partnership with many Christians around the world through the Joseph Project, to be in the right place at the right time to bring deliverance to Israel for Messiah’s glory.

The lesson for me?

God is always many steps ahead of our problems even if we cannot see the answer coming. The answer or deliverance is on its way! Who knows…deliverance may show up tomorrow!

Joel Chernoff

 ~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~