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Tiferet Yeshua Congregation
Tel Aviv
The voices of the prophets who spoke to this nation in ancient days and foreshadowed our present regathered nation, repeatedly echo the same message:
My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and
They have dug their own cisterns – broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
JUDGEMENT OVER WHAT?
One of the greatest massacres on October 7th took place at Nova, the desert event where terrorists paraglided into the middle of partygoers. In one of the news broadcasts, I saw in the central pavilion set up for the party, the partygoers had erected a giant statue of Buddha around which they danced all night. My heart broke when I saw that. Many in Israel who saw that blatant display of idolatry did the quick arithmetic of “God is judging the hedonistic, secular Israelis for the sin of idolatry.” On many social media sites, Israelis lamented “the sin of the golden calf” at the Nova festival. But what I saw at that party were the thirsty, lost sheep of Israel trying to find themselves “water.”
BROKEN CISTERNS
When Jews who have left Orthodox Judaism seek spiritual meaning, they seek it in mysticism and eastern religions which they see as the only options open to them. Due to the legacy of Christian antisemitism, a great barrier exists between even secular Israelis and the revelation of Yeshua as the Messiah. Many believers here in the Land saw October 7th as God’s judgment on the sins of secular Israel such as abortion, immorality and materialism. However, I felt strongly that the judgement of the Lord was against the spiritual shepherds of Israel who had rejected Him, the source of living waters, and had hindered others from coming to Him:
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away….” (Jeremiah 23:1-2)
THE MESSAGE OF THE LAST DAY OF SUKKOT
In February we shared the prophetic word that our brother Oren received just weeks before the October 7th attack. In the word, the Lord said that He would bring great suffering on our people in order to break the shell of religion which is keeping them in spiritual exile and hindering them from coming to Yeshua, the source of living waters.
In the days and weeks after the attack, while we were processing everything that had happened in the light of the word that the Lord had graciously given us, we realized that there was a deep and important message in the fact that the attack came on the last day of Sukkot, traditionally called Simchat Torah when we celebrate the giving of the Word of God. We realized with awe that our Lord, the Word of God made flesh, stood in the Temple two thousand years ago on the very same day and cried out:
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)
We believe that Yeshua’s cry to come to Him, the source of living waters and the living Word of God, is going out to our people right now in a more powerful way than ever. Our people have been led to broken cisterns (rabbinic Judaism) or have been fleeing to other broken cisterns (secularism, mysticism). But we have faith that through this great tragedy God allowed to strike us, many are seeking truth more earnestly than ever. In His faithfulness and mercy, God is drawing them to Himself.
Please stand in prayer with the people of Israel in this hour of trial, that the shell of religion would shatter and release the people of Israel to come to their Messiah, the source of living waters.
