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Daily Devotional

God’s Promises

November 1, 2019 - 12:00 am

This Devotional's Hebrew Word


(bread)

“Sing, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
    you who were never in labour;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband,”
      says the LORD.
— Isaiah 54:1

Aliyah is Hebrew for “ascentor “to go up.” In biblical times, it was used to describe the pilgrimage all Jews made three times a year to Jerusalem for holy festivals. Today, it refers to immigration to Israel. These devotions explore aliyah and the fulfilment today of biblical prophecy that God would bring back His children to their ancient homeland, Israel. Discover how you can participate in fulfilling biblical prophecy through The Fellowship’s On Wings of Eagles ministry.

Weddings are always special. However, whenever I am blessed to attend a wedding in Jerusalem, I am particularly overwhelmed with emotions and joy. This is because a wedding in Jerusalem is not just a demonstration of the love between a couple and their commitments to each other; it is also a demonstration of God’s love for His people and His commitment to fulfilling the promises that He made long ago.

Recently, I attended a wedding that had a magnificent view of Jerusalem in the background. Underneath the wedding canopy stood the groom and his family. The groom was a Yemenite Jew. His grandparents and parents were forced to leave Yemen after the state of Israel was declared a nation and all the Muslim countries around her declared war on all Jews. Then the bride walked down the aisle flanked by her parents. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors who had moved to England after the war; her parents had moved to Israel when she was young.

As these two souls came together in matrimony, the significance went way beyond their individual lives. I could hear the words of the blessing we say on holidays and special occasions echoing in my mind: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment . . . .” So many miracles, over so many centuries, had brought us to that moment!

We read in the book of Genesis about Sarah: “Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive” (Genesis 11:30). These verses in Isaiah similarly begin, “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child . . . because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband . . .” Though Sarai (who was later called Sarah by God) was barren, God would keep His promise and she would become the mother of a great nation. Similarly, in this chapter in Isaiah, God was speaking to Jerusalem, who seemed barren and alone. God promised Jerusalem that she would once again be the home of a great nation. In both cases, and always, God kept His promises.

The Jewish sages teach that Sarah, as she was later named by God, was not physically capable of having children and that the birth of Isaac was a complete miracle. Yet, however unlikely it seemed, it happened because God said it would. For roughly two millennia it seemed utterly impossible for the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem, but they did, because God said so.

Let us be strengthened and inspired as we watch the fulfilment of God’s promises before our very eyes. If a barren woman can become the mother of many, and the Jewish people can return to their homeland, what is possible for you?

Discover how you can help bring God’ children back to their biblical homeland through The Fellowship’s On Wings of Eagles ministry.

     

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