2012

The expression "May it never be" or "God forbid" is used a number of times in the New Testament. The expression mean the same today as it did then. It is an emphatic "NO" to a propositional statement. While we may not use the exact words, it certainly means "No Way!" or "It is not going to happen" in our more common expressions. It is more than just a negative statement. Such a response carries great emotion and fervor.

When most people think of angels, they imagine white beings with wings created by God. Rarely in Scripture are angels described this way. There is a mysterious intrigue about angelic majesties that makes them hard to define. Some of the angels for the most part appear like people. They are clothed in common apparel, nothing that would draw attention to themselves, and they speak precisely to the issue before suddenly disappearing. There are other angels who seem to do spectacular things, especially when near God and His throne.

As we approach Passover this year of 2012, we again remind ourselves of who we are and who we believe in. To accomplish that, we remember the instructions of Passover to memorialize what God did for us and how it explains the Messiah's redemption as the Lamb of God. One particular aspect of God's instruction is to consider ourselves being "passed over" as though we were those in Egypt many years ago. So emphatic is this internalization instruction, we are told to tell our own children that the LORD "passed over" us as though we were there. Here is how Moses said it.

In the final chapter of Genesis, Jacob passes away and Joseph and his brothers take his body back to Canaan and bury him in Machpelah (Hebron). For all the turmoil and conflict in Jacob's life, his last seventeen years were enjoyed with rest and comfort provided by Joseph in the land of Goshen (Egypt). You might recall the story of Joseph and how he was sold into slavery by his own brothers and forced to go to Egypt. While in Egypt he interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and was raised up to save Egypt and the surrounding region from a seven-year famine. When the brothers came to Egypt to buy food during the famine, they did not recognize Joseph, so he used that opportunity to deal with them by bringing them to repentance for what they had done to him and his father Jacob. At that moment of repentance, Joseph revealed himself and his brothers, led by Judah, were shocked that this Egyptian ruler was their lost brother Joseph.

Israel is on the brink of war as you are reading this article. I am writing this article in early December knowing that you will be reading it sometime after January 1, 2012.

Strategy analysts are now saying that the much-anticipated regional war in the Middle East may well begin in late December 2011 or in January 2012. For about two years we have watched military tensions rise between Israel and the strategic alliance of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in the Gaza strip. Rockets and missiles have been pouring into Israel from Lebanon and Gaza. Iran has been setting up this strategic alliance partially to defend their on-going nuclear weapon development program, but, they have not hidden the fact that they want to "wipe the Zionist regime (Israel) from the map."