Author: A.A. Leenhouts
Date: 2015-09-11T23:16:00+00:00
Keywords: Israel; prophecy; Messiah; Christianity; Church; kingdom of priests; calling; unity.
Description: The man with the jar is an illustration of numerous current and urgent issues that Christians, Jews and Arabs are faced with today. The author wonders whether there are no other more important matters to talk about at the conference tables before embarking on discussions about the European Union or striving for peace in the Middle East. For instance: - Is it possible for a united Germany to simply deny all responsibility regarding the past? - Is God’s word no longer applicable in this regard where it says: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse…?” - And what abo
Publisher: Jilco Ministries

THE MAN WITH THE JAR

A GUIDE TO THE CHAMBER OF THE PASSOVER OF THE FINAL TIMES

The Rev. Dr. A.A. Leenhouts

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SHOFAR SERIES

VOLUME I

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PRIMO VERE BV

THE HAGUE, 2008

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2008 Primo Vere BV

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Primo Vere BV, P.O. Box 82411, 2508 EK The Hague, The Netherlands,
www.primovere.nl

Original title De man met de kruik, © 1992

Translated by L.W. Dessauvagie

Editor A. Kok – Stigter

Chief Editor Dr. C. Kutsch Lojenga

Cover illustration by Martha Koekkoek – Meijer

Designed by C.M. Goslinga

Epublication by Jilco Ministries, 2015

P.O. Box 369, Clinton, BC V0K 1K0, Canada

The man with the jar - A guide to the Chamber of the Passover of the final times / A.A. Leenhouts

ISBN: 978-90-73014-10-7

EBOOK ISBN: 978-0-9869075-3-1

Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton, a member of Hodder Headline Ltd.

All rights reserved.

Some scriptures have been taken from the HOLY BIBLE, KING JAMES VERSION.

Copyright © by Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C. 4.

Used by permission.

All of these are marked as [KJV].

PREFACE

Four sermons about the end times, delivered in the period from May to October 1991, were among others used as a basis for this book. It was necessary to make some adaptations, such as changing the spoken into written language.

In order to clarify certain passages, several references to source books were added as well, specifically in chapter 3.

The closing words of this introductory book of the ‘Sjofar series’, are also an acknowledgement to the group of believers who supported me during the extraordinary course of my life.

A.A. Leenhouts

December 1991

The Shofar series consists of:

Introduction: A call to the Church and to Israel

I The man with the jar

II The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse

III Joseph’s cup

IV The fullness of the Gentiles

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PROLOGUE

The mystery of Israel

When we look at the course the Jews have had to follow for almost 2000 years, every measuring stick becomes meaningless. It is too great a course of events to be subject to human analysis.

As far back as fifty years ago, I was confronted with the dark side of the ‘Israel mystery’. In the village of Vlagtwedde, where I was a minister, the Jews were arrested and thrown together in the ‘The Christian Interests Building’.

Indeed! ‘Christian Interests’—is there any symbolism in this name?

I felt urged to go to this building, to say good-bye to these honourable, simple citizens. Arriving at the entrance, I saw fascists armed with guns guarding the building. “Would you like to get sent to Poland, too, Pastor?” one of these men asked me. I answered, “No, but are these people in here prisoners?” He affirmed this, to which my answer was, “Christ has ordered me to visit prisoners.” Without asking for permission, I went inside.

What I found there was indescribable.

I saw a Jewish mother putting her baby on the floor. She looked up at me and asked, “Can you tell me, Pastor, why this is happening?” I saw intense sorrow in her eyes. I was so moved that I couldn’t speak. Yes indeed, every measuring stick became meaningless. It was like glancing through a porthole and looking at the all-devouring and merciless sea of the holocaust. I felt utterly shattered. I wished them a last good-bye and that we might meet again in the New Jerusalem.

Immediately after I left, I had to conduct a thanksgiving service. I had intended to preach on Jeremiah 31:35-36:

“This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD Almighty is his name: ‘Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares the LORD, ‘will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.’”

I couldn’t make sense of this text, however, in light of what I had just seen. I asked the church council to exempt me from ministering at the service. They accepted it.

Eyes—I kept seeing eyes reflecting an infinite grief. I couldn’t forget them. And even now, after nearly half a century, I keep seeing the eyes and have not been able to forget them.

“Can you tell me why this is happening?” This is the question I had been asked in the Christian Interests Building.

Interests, interests, interests. This word has been echoing in my soul ever since.

I know it is hard to make comparisons. But is the world-wide Church a genuine reflection of the words of Psalm 89, which we love to sing: “I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.” (“I know that the increase of your mercy, according to your purpose, will continue for ever.” [translation of the Dutch hymn]) Or is the Church, with all its denominations, more like the Christian Interests Building? It is more like the Christian Interests Building, isn’t it? May the question that this Jewish lady asked in that Christian Interests Building resound in every church and cathedral, so that the pillars and walls will shake. May we look the victims of the holocaust in the eye. At the same time, we need to ask ourselves the question: “Why is this happening?”

I pray that in the impending crisis which will come at the end of the age, the Holy Spirit will use this question to confront the church. I pray that church leaders and church members will understand the horror of what has been done, and cry out: “Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, this is my fault.”

Why am I saying all this? Because it has to be said. The book which you are now holding as well as the next volumes can be considered my spiritual heritage which I want to pass on to you.

Called in 1948

You can imagine how overjoyed I was when the State of Israel was established in 1948. Thank God! At last, a home for an afflicted people. I also rejoiced at the establishment of the World Council of Churches. Finally, a prospect of the termination of the worldwide schism in our churches. Weren’t these divisions also the main reason for our powerlessness against fascism?

The most intense incision into my life came in 1948, when God suddenly spoke to me in storm and fire. Let me summarise the heart of the message.

“I will avenge the insults of those who mocked Me when I was hanging in the depths of hell. I will call Elijah, and My vengeance will be merciful. My spirit roars for Elijah!”

In my earlier writing, I shared the contents of the messages for the various churches and for the Jews. When this entire series is finished, it will be presented to churches as well as to the Jews.

God’s message to me in 1948 was accompanied by many visions of His highest throne. These visions helped me understand that the ecumenical movement known as the World Council of Churches was the Judas kiss of the twentieth century. My hopes for the unity of the Church were dashed.

As for the Jews, I saw that these people had to follow a course parallel to the one Jesus followed. Jesus was cast out of Jerusalem and driven along the Via Dolorosa to the place of execution. In the same way, the Jewish people were scattered from Jerusalem in 70 ad and have been driven along their own ‘Via Dolorosa’ for almost 2000 years to the place of their spiritual execution. Their political state will be their cross.

As early as 1981, I wrote this in my book “Competition of the Altars”. There, I added the words: “This message, this announcement, has been written down with emotions that are impossible to express in words” (p.117).

In 1948, my hopes for the Jewish people were dashed.

I was taught by my parents that the Scriptures are a gold mine. I am convinced that many of my colleagues share this conviction. But my religious experience, which I mentioned above, suddenly put me in a different ‘shaft’ of the mine.

Deep inside myself, I was bound to become alienated from my church tradition. A different view had been burnt into my soul.

Since then—for more than forty years now—I have closely followed the development of the church as well as the efforts of Zionism, but now from the perspective of the view which has been burnt into my soul.

After 1948, I started reading the newspapers differently.
In the ‘Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad’ of November 1st, 1991, I read an article by Herman Bleich, called “Lest We Forget”.

“In the two years of the German occupation of Kiev, an estimated two hundred thousand people were massacred in a most atrocious way at Babi Jar. Later, during the Neurenberg trials of the German war criminals, the method used by these Nazi murderers came out. At Babi Jar, there is a deep ravine with steep walls. Victims were forced to lie face down at the bottom of the ravine to be executed. Subsequent groups had to lie down on top of those who had preceded them. Thirty German mass murderers would shoot at these people with machine guns for an hour, after which they were replaced. This would go on until darkness fell. The next morning, the ‘work’ was resumed. Children were often flung into the depths alive.”

This represents only a few of the steps taken by the Jewish people on their ‘Via Dolorosa’. Never should these events be forgotten!

On the same page of the weekly newspaper, the Jewish journalist G. Philip Mok wrote an article, called “Israel on the Cross”.

“... the sessions at the cross-shaped table in Madrid, at which the international mob has nailed down Israel to make harmful concessions imply a certain suicide for the Jewish state.”

This description is right to the point. To my ears, these words sound like a cry of alarm. Will Israel’s formidable military power and nuclear potential be able to successfully resist the concessions they have been forced to make?

From the view that has been burnt into my soul, I say “no”.

In the revelation I received from Jesus Christ, I was made aware that the last verses of Malachi and Revelation 10 are identical in God’s plan. Although God’s fist—ready to strike—is raised above the entire Middle East, and a curse is imminent in the form of a nuclear explosion, the Holy Spirit still says through Malachi: “...or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

It is not only the Middle East which is living on the verge of something imminent. God’s awesome dealings with the Jewish people, who represent the whole of humanity, are rippling out to all nations. Let me give a few examples here in the introduction.

In 1949, immediately after the holocaust, when the fumes of the blood of millions of victims and the smoke of the crematories had not yet dissipated, the ‘Reunification’ was imposed in the name of God. It looks as if, by means of a jumping pole of so-called ‘grace of the late birth’, Germany can skirt the enormous pool of blood of six million Jews and millions of people from other nations! Moreover, Germany has pursued an ‘Endlösung’—a total annihilation of the chosen people, and in doing so, they have been diametrically opposed to God and His plan of salvation.

Reunification without radical repentance is suicide.

France, with its sordid nuclear experiments in the Pacific, has atrociously destroyed paradisical islands such as Mururoa, and has used the inhabitants as guinea pigs. By passing on their knowledge of nuclear weapons to Israel, France has helped Israel towards secular Zionism.

The U.S. acted similarly by giving financial support to secular Zionism, and by their passive attitude towards Israel’s development of a nuclear arsenal of their own.

By and large, it is building in the way Hiel did (1 Kings 17:34). Other examples of this are found in Chapter 3.

Elijah’s mission

Elijah’s mission did not come at an arbitrary moment. It was God’s stern reaction to the institutionalisation of syncretism.

God, by means of Joshua’s curse, proclaimed that the ruins of Jericho (the first city conquered) would be an everlasting sign that He had given His people this representative city by His grace, and not by human violence. He would therefore continue to preserve it through the strength of His Name.

“At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: ‘Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates’” (Joshua 6:26).

Jesus said in Matthew 23:37-39,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Jesus was claiming the ruins of Jerusalem as God’s great sign of the reality of His own mission. Whoever ignores this sign may count on a judgement like that at Mount Carmel!

This warning is not just a cry of a lonely migratory bird over the wilderness of history—the cry is dying away and the bird is disappearing from sight. It would be a deadly mistake to think this.

For the architect Hiel, this meant that his way of building immediately resulted in the downfall of his family, and for the people, this meant the severe judgement at Mount Carmel.

Today we find the same thing! The words of Jesus Christ, the Great Joshua, are not to be trifled with. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35).

When we have finally understood this, we will be able to prepare ourselves for the eschatological task of mercy (Romans 11:32).

“For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”

The Arabs

More will be said about the position of the Arab people in volume 3 of the Shofar series.

Let me say just one thing here. We need to understand well that when the Most High visited Abraham, He not only announced Isaac’s birth, but also answered Abraham’s request for Ishmael.

“And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation” (Genesis 17:20).

Twelve!

This number symbolises the relation between heaven and earth—three times four. The Arabs will also play a role in the coming of the Kingdom of God. The light of the Messiah will rise over the entire tent of Abraham!

Let me conclude this introduction with Paul’s words in Romans 11:36:

“For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

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1. THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH VIRGINS

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:1-13).

Imagine you have enjoyed yourself on your holiday. You have come home and there are still a few days left before school starts again. But the very next day, it is cold and the rain is pouring. The children have to stay indoors, so you tell one of them to write a nice letter to his grandmother to tell her about the holiday—a kind of composition.

The style and choice of words a child uses for this composition will certainly be different from the way in which he writes for his teacher
at school, knowing that the composition will have to be handed in, maybe even to the headmaster, and that the mark he gets will count for his report card and eventually for his passing his year.

You may wonder what the purpose of this introduction is. When reading the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins, you will see that this parable opens with the words ‘at that time’. These words refer to Matthew 24:31, which talks about the return of Jesus Christ at the end of the age, when the powers of heaven will be shaken and He will come with His many angels in order to receive the elect from the four corners of the earth. “At that time”, Jesus says, “the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins.”

It is not only the words ‘at that time’ which refer to the return of Christ, but there are two other parables, one before and one after the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins, which also relate to the great moment of His return. This is the moment when a composition about our lives and the lives of the nations will have to be turned in to the ‘Headmaster’, the Master who is above everything, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is just a simple comparison.

When the Master stays away a long time

In the first of the three parables mentioned above, the Lord Jesus talks about a man who has appointed one of his servants as his manager, until he returns. The servant is put in charge of the business. But then, when the master has been away for some time, the servant thinks, “My master is staying away a long time”, and concludes that his master may not return at all. Because he thinks this, he starts beating his fellow servants, eating and drinking with the wrong crowd and living wildly, and nothing comes of his work. This all happens because he thinks, “My master is staying away a long time.” In this parable, Jesus is telling us, that it may be a long time before He returns. In the parable of the ten virgins, we find the same idea: the bridegroom is staying away a long time and all ten virgins fall asleep.

The third parable is about the talents—the master entrusting his servants with money. The Master sets off on a long journey—this means that it will be a long time before He returns. The servants receive money, each according to their ability. The first servant gets five talents and gains five more; the second servant gets two talents and gains two more; and the third one gets one talent. This third servant wonders, “What should I do with this talent?” He hides it in the ground, thinking, “When my master comes back, I will return it to him and say, “Here is the talent. I have kept it for you.”

So all three parables have a similar meaning: the Master might stay away a long time.

Like the manager, the virgins were given a responsibility. As was the custom in the Orient, the virgins had to pay homage to the bridegroom in a torch-light procession, welcome him and accompany him to the house of the bride.

The parable of the Talents also deals with responsibility in light of the Master’s return. The Master will call His servants to account for what they have done with the talents. In other words, because of the return of the Master (or the Bridegroom), everyone will have to hand in a composition about their life, to give an account of their actions. This is a very specific responsibility. It is clear and simple.

Particularly in times of great turbulence, many Christians are quick to say, “Jesus is coming again! Jesus is coming soon! Look at the signs of the times!” Matthew 24, which comes just before the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, contains Jesus’ great speech on the events of the end times. After having said to the Jews in Matthew 23:38, “Look, your house is left to you desolate”, Jesus leaves the temple and on the Mount of Olives—the mountain of His Kingship—He talks about His future. He says, “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (Matthew 24:6,7).

The Lord Jesus also points out that when there are great crises all over the world, “the branches of the fig tree get tender, its leaves come out. Summer is near.” When these great crises happen, summer is near. But “the end is still to come”; the Gospel must first be preached to all nations.

This is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture, as in 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul warns against ‘manifestations’ of the spirit, in which people proclaim: “Thus saith the Lord, Jesus is coming soon”. They understand these proclamations chronologically, as if the end of the world is about to come. This is false prophecy. This is not the right interpretation.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, Paul says,

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.”

Paul expected the day of the Lord to take place at a time of great upheaval in the world. He foresaw that day, that very day of the end of the world, the one moment in which the Lord “will actually appear in the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken, and the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, that day will not come until the man of lawlessness is revealed, the antichrist” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Matthew 24:29-30; Joel 2:31).

Even today, there are anti-Christian movements, and anti-Christian expressions of this sort. But the anti-Christ is an antithesis of Christ, a man of lawlessness who is, as it were, an incarnation of the devil, for the devil imitates God in everything, also in the incarnation. He is a central figure who has power over the world, and in whom the devil will manifest himself. He has not yet appeared.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 says, “That day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”

If we take seriously Jesus’ warning that He might stay away a long time, we should also pay attention to what is written in Revelation 10. Revelation 1:1 already tells us how the apostle John receives the task of showing “what must soon take place.” John has to write down the coming history of the end times. In Revelation 10:4, we read that he is not allowed to write down the ‘mystery of the thunders’; the contents of this mystery have to be sealed up. It is God’s second-last secret. John has to cut out a small part of the ‘film’ about the end times.

This in itself should make us realise that no church, denomination or sect should apply these predictions to the last period of world history or speculate about the antichrist and the battle of Armageddon. “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Do not get confused. This attitude is not biblical. I can imagine that people are impressed when evangelists say, “Jesus is coming soon. Observe the signs of the times all around you. Look at Bangladesh. Look at Ethiopia with its famines. Look at Malawi with its earthquakes.” It is true that terrible things are happening. People’s suffering never seems to end. Thousands of refugees from Mozambique are flocking into Malawi. It is hardly possible to mention everything that is happening in Africa and Central America. Upheaval is everywhere. There are wars and rumours of wars, famines, natural disasters and expressions of racial hatred.Not long ago, in former East Germany, several black people were thrown from the 4th floor of an apartment building by neo-Nazis driven by their racist hatred. Unrest is all over the place, but we should not conclude that the end of the world has come, at least in a chronological sense. In fact, the three parables cited above contradict this. What emerges from these parables is that the return of Jesus may not happen for a long time, and that we need to keep some oil in reserve. This has been overlooked so often!

Once more, God is going to give incredible signs that He has good intentions towards us: the fulfillment of Revelation 10 with its thunders, the roaring of the lion, the fullness of the Gentiles and the coming of the Third Day of the Lord which will introduce times of refreshment and the Kingdom of Peace. These signs affirm the redemption of the world in His Son Jesus Christ.

Watch out

Let us return to the responsibility of the individual. Remember how the manager thought in his heart, “My master is staying away a long time”, or to put it less formally, “He may never come back.” His life was changed by this way of thinking. He stopped living normally, and started living wildly; he even beat his fellow servants.

The same thing happens when the moment of the Lord’s return is neglected or wrongly interpreted in certain denominations, or even by individuals: “...the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44). This applies to everyone.

Consider the image of a fast train. This train crosses many small country lanes, where anyone living near a level crossing has to watch out for approaching trains. The bell may ring, but you still have to look both ways, since there are no safety barriers. There are many of these level crossings in the countryside. But the fast train also crosses a major road and finally arrives at the main station.

In the same way, there is a main highway of world history, which is intersected only once by this high-speed train, the Royal Train of His return.

This image also refers to the idea that the Lord is coming soon. With God, a thousand years are like one day and one day is like a thousand years. Nobody can calculate this timing, not even the angels. Even the Son cannot predict the moment when He will cross the main highway of world history.

“Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” “The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” This is when the “Royal Train” will pass your own private level crossing. If you neglect this, your expectation of His return will be extinguished. You know that the inquisition is about to come when His return is ignored. When the thought, “My Lord is staying away a long time”, prevails; when people become indifferent about His return; and when this type of thinking is adopted even in the churches, the inquisition is about to come. When churches stop thinking about His return, they start fighting each other. Church bulletins are sometimes full of these cases of fighting over who and what is not good, or what doctrine they should follow. This is a tragic situation.

Jesus warned us to watch out, because it may be a long time before He returns. Watch out! This is meant for the individual as well as for the whole church. Watch out! Because, when the Master returns and sees that everything is falling apart, the manager will be severely punished.

The same watchfulness applies to the wise and the foolish
virgins. All ten were on their way to a wedding—ten.

In the Bible, the number 10 symbolises entirety—completeness. If there had been ten righteous people left in Sodom and Gomorrah, these towns would not have been destroyed. Then God left Abraham.

In a synagogue meeting, the concept of ‘minjan’ is based on the number 10. When a minimum of ten Jewish male adults are present in the synagogue, a service can take place.

There are ten commandments, ten plagues in Egypt, ten coverings for the tabernacle.

Matthew describes a series of ten miracles (Matthew 7 and 8) to emphasise the entirety of the signs of Jesus’ Messianic authority.

Daniel speaks about a period of ten times seven weeks that God has established. This refers to the entirety of the time of salvation.

Everywhere in the Scriptures, the number ten symbolises completeness and wholeness.

Back to the parable of the virgins. In the parable, everybody is setting out with a lamp to meet the bridegroom. They are all going to the feast of the bridegroom. The entire church is on its way. But it is taking such a long time. And all ten virgins are getting sleepy, so they are no longer counting on the coming of the bridegroom. Finally, they fall asleep.

And then, suddenly, there is the call: ‘Here’s the bridegroom!’

The virgins wake up abruptly. The wise virgins have extra oil with them. They clean the wicks of their lamps and go to meet the bridegroom with their lamps burning.

For a long time, it was the custom to meet the bridegroom and accompany him on his way to the house of the bride, to honour him.

Actually, even now, when somebody receives a distinguished guest, he goes out to meet his guest. The longer the driveway, the more honour the guest receives. Just look at palaces or the houses of governors. The longer the driveway, the more honour. The host can see guests arriving and can go out to meet them, sometimes at quite a distance. Going out to meet a guest is a sign of honour. When a prime minister or a king arrives at Schiphol Airport, his host will not wait for him at his hotel or until he arrives by taxi at the Queen’s palace in The Hague. Instead, he is met and welcomed as soon as he leaves the airplane. This is the way to honour a guest.

This is also what Jesus, the King of Kings, expects from His church. He expects the church to be ready to walk out to meet Him, however long the driveway might be and however long it may seem to take before the Bridegroom comes. According to Jesus, believing is a festive going-out to meet the Bridegroom and accompany Him to His bride, to celebrate the wedding together with Him.

This is the essence of the parable and the very heart of Scripture. We have to watch out. Jesus warns us to make sure we have extra oil in case it takes a long time. When the moment comes that the foolish virgins wake up and discover that they cannot light their lamps again, they will ask the wise virgins for some of their extra oil. But the wise ones will answer, “No, we can’t give you any.”

In its deepest sense, this parable is about being ready to honour Jesus because He died for us, because He loved us to the point of dying for us, and because He is the One who delivers us from Satan’s power, and from destruction and death. He is the Bridegroom.

There is a Dutch hymn called, “Thou art everything to me”[1]. These are words that a bride might say to her groom. But if you fall asleep and have no extra oil, it is not right to ask somebody from your church or anywhere else to give you some. You are responsible for yourself. The account of your life will one day have to be handed in to the ‘Headmaster’. You are not just writing a simple composition to your grandmother. Your life is a composition that you will have to hand in, and the Lord Jesus will give you a mark for it.

This is the point: believe with all your heart in the crucified Christ and be washed in His blood. Then fill your lamp with what you as a believer can do in your daily life.

You could say that this is a serious message—and it is. However long it takes the Master to return, this message applies to the individual as well as the church as a whole. It was not just meant for the ten virgins, but it is meant for everyone. The five wise virgins got there and the other five found the door closed in the end. They did not have enough honour to give. They had no extra oil with them.

It is hard to find cases where this is put in practice, but I have seen a few examples.

Several years ago a blind lady used to come to our services. She participated wholeheartedly. She did not like staying at home on summer evenings, but she was unable to go out on her own. She was blind and had nobody to help her Then somebody from the congregation spontaneously offered to go for a walk with her.

You might wonder why I am mentioning such a small thing. I think I should. On the Great Day, even giving of a cup of cold water to someone will be mentioned. Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

That is extra oil!

If the love of Christ dwells in our hearts, we become creative. It gives us a feeling of personal responsibility and we start putting our talents to use, whether we have five or two or only one. We cannot say, “I have only one talent, so I will hide it in the ground.” We help others because we feel personally responsible and
because we know that our life’s composition will be handed in to the ‘Headmaster’ one day. What will God say if I have never done anything good for someone else? It is not enough to put money in the church offering. We need to think about Bangladesh, and the help that the Kurds need. There is so much need. But also in the small needs around, we should keep our minds open and see where we can be useful. It might be something very simple. If on the great Day of Days, giving of a cup of cold water to someone will be mentioned, we in our day-to-day lives here on earth should also look around and ask: “Lord, what can I do for You”, since “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

I am always glad to hear about somebody in the congregation visiting a lonely, depressed person and singing, “Rejoice in Jesus, your Lord.” This means that the Lord is among us.

Obviously I can’t make this into a rule, but we should think about folding our hands in prayer to ask, “Lord, if You have a task for me, please make it clear to me.” If the love of Christ lives in our hearts, we will become creative and find a way to comfort and help others, and by doing so, keep our lamps burning.

Jesus also said in Matthew 24:12, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” With ‘wickedness’ Jesus meant the commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbour as yourself.” This is the essence of the law. When this is ignored, the love of many people will grow cold. This will also be a sign of the end times. Not only the great disasters, but also the lack of love for those who are in imminent danger of getting lost or suffocating in distress.

So, let us pray for wisdom because we need that, too. This does not mean that we should go everywhere, even to places where we might not be welcome. People are hungry for company, for communication, for love, for attention. This should not depend on the number of talents we have received: “...five talents, two talents, each according to his ability...” (Matthew 25:15). Jesus accepts the differences. There are different ministries, tasks and activities. But let us make sure that we have extra oil, especially since we know that it may take a long time—and also since we know that every moment could be our last one. One day, the high-speed train will cross our own country lane.

The door is closing

The door is closing! We read this at the end of the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. Looking at history, it does not seem strange that the Eternal God will close the door at a certain moment.

God could not bear the wickedness of the people living before the flood. The world was full of bitterness. So God called a man, Noah, and ordered him to build a ship. While he was building, Noah preached, and he condemned the world of his time. People laughed at him and said, “Have you heard? Noah is building a ship in the middle of a forest in the mountains! That should be in the paper!”

Many years later, the sky suddenly turned black and rain poured down in torrents. Fountains from the depths of the earth and fountains from the sky. There it was! There was just enough time for Noah to board the ark with his wife and with his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives, and with the animals. Then, the Lord closed the door. Genesis 7:16 says, “...then the lord shut him in.”

There were giants on earth in those days. They must have kicked the door with their strong legs and cried, “Noah, let us in! Aren’t we more important than the animals?” But God had closed the door. It was over!

Now for Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude :7 says that people “...gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.” The present time is very similar. God said to Abraham, “Abraham, I have a plan.” And then the door was closed! Fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18 and 19).

The door was closed!

Later in history, it would be said, “Pharaoh, are you trying to destroy the Jewish people? Throw all the boys to the crocodiles, so there will be no more Jewish people.” Then the door closed! Pharaoh drowned in the sea. It was over for him (Ex. 14:28).

As for the Amorites, the cup of their sins was full. God said, “Destroy them so that my people can possess the land.” The door closed on the Amorites (Numbers 21:21-30, Genesis 15:16).

The same happened to Jericho (Joshua 5:13-16; 6:1-27).

Even though God delivered them many times, the people of Israel turned away from Him to worship the gods of the pagans. Then, when the prophets preached destruction in the Name of God because the people had fallen away from Him, the people killed the prophets. The exile, which had been prophesied for forty years by Jeremiah, finally came. Jeremiah had warned them, “I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north”, and “God is watching to see that His word is fulfilled.” The exile had come. In 722 b.c. people from the northern part of Israel were taken to Assyria, and in 586 B.C. people from the southern part were taken to Babylon. The door had closed!

God sent His beloved Son, Jesus, the Son of man. He taught and showered miracles from Heaven (in Matthew 7 and 8 alone we can count ten of them—a complete set of miracles) ... and then, they crucified Him. But in the year 70
A.D., the door closed, and Jerusalem was destroyed.

When the fulness of the Gentiles comes about, certain doors will be closed and others will be opened. Then God will cause Israel to see His work among the Gentiles, His work of gathering all people together for His Son who was crucified, and that God is embrac-ing us in His mercy. Then the people of Israel will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

At first, they will find no way out! But there will be a way out and once again, God has a key ready—the fulness of the Gentiles.

Has God forgotten all the promises in the Scriptures which talk about the fulness of the Gentiles and Israel’s repentance? Has He forgotten His own words: “...until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Mat. 23:39).

Then the great ‘Liberation Day’ will arrive.

I was moved as I watched the commemoration of the dead of World War II, which took place at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I know that Mr. Van Thijn was not speaking as a Jew, but as the mayor of Amsterdam. When he laid a wreath at the foot of the monument, a song by J.S. Bach was played. The words to this song are as follows:

– “Is that, is that My King?

Is that what the fathers have wished for?

Is that, is that His coronation?

Behold the man.

Is He to bear that shameful robe,

That reed, that crown of thorns?

Must He suffer that shame, those blows?

He, O God, Thine own Son?”[2] –

The moment will come when the entire house of Israel will honour the Bridegroom with this hymn. What they bring to Golgotha will be more than a wreath. They will confess their faith: “He died for us too!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Then, the great ‘Liberation Day’ and the times of refreshment will come. Satan will have nothing to say in all of this. The
celebration that brings in the Sabbath will begin, as a sign and a pledge of the glory that will be revealed when Jesus returns.

The Bridegroom is coming!

______

Translation of a Dutch hymn: “Alles Heer zijt Gij! Alles Heer zijt Gij!”

Translation of a Dutch hymn:

“Is dat, is dat mijn Koning?

Dat aller vad’ren wens?

Is dat, is dat Zijn kroning?

Zie, zie aanschouw de mens.

Moet Hij dat spotkleed dragen,
dat riet, die doornenkroon?

Lijdt Hij die smaad, die slagen?

Hij, God, Uw eigen Zoon?”

2. JESUS GOES BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE TEMPLE AND THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

“The church sent them on their way, and as they travelled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.’

The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: ‘Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.’

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up: ‘Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.

Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’

that have been known for ages’”

(Acts 15:3-18)

The feet of the Messiah

Zechariah 14:4 says, “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.”

This verse has been a point of discussion in many churches and congregations. Some people think that it refers directly to the return of Jesus.

The metaphorical use of the word ‘feet’ in the Scriptures is both extensive and detailed. In general we might say that the expression ‘to set your feet on’ means a proclamation of occupation, a declaration of possession and of victory over the enemy. 1 Corinthians 15:25-27 expresses this clearly:

“For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’”

In ancient times, some rulers had portraits of their conquered enemies painted on the foot-rests of their thrones. In this way, they could put their feet on these portraits as a sign of triumph.

In the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand—a profound story—we read Jesus’ words: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). Essen-tially, this means that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is a nourishment to which even death and all demonic powers will be subjected.

After this miraculous feeding, the disciples set off to Capernaum in a ship. A storm came up and they saw Jesus walking on the waves. The demonic powers, represented by the wild waves, are under His feet. He rules them. But when Peter tries to do the same, he sinks away into the waves. So Jesus says to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).

Mark writes about this event: “...They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51, 52).

The disciples had not understood the deeper meaning of being satisfied by Jesus.

After Jesus had placed death under His feet as the last enemy and risen from the dead, the women held Him by His feet and worshipped Him.

Mary, the sister of Lazarus, honoured Jesus’ feet with nard, a very expensive perfume (John 12:3).

In Romans 16:20, Paul says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Here again, the concept of feet relates to taking possession, ruling and conquering.

The word ‘feet’ is also used to express authority in the Scriptures. We find a good example of this in Acts 22:3, where Paul says in his speech to the Jews that he was instructed at the feet of Gamaliel. A teacher in those days was seated on a platform and his students were seated in a lower position.

Another passage in which the word ‘feet’ is used to express authority is found in Isaiah 66:1: “This is what the LORD says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.’”

And in Psalm 8, David celebrates humanity as the crown of God’s creation. In verses 6–8 he says, “You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” In fact everything was originally put under human authority.

There are many similar examples in Scripture. Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” In other words, people who bring good news have it under their feet already.

In Zechariah 14:4, Scripture says, “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives....”

Some time ago, the Lord showed me something about this in a very special way. He gave me insight into things I knew nothing about and I am purposely passing them on in the way they were emphasized.

I had to look up Ezekiel 11, specifically verse 22, which says, “Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it.”

So the glory of God moved from Jerusalem to the mountain East of the city, the Mount of Olives. And by virtue of the context and the entire surroundings in which Ezekiel saw this vision, this meant total exile for Israel.

The great ruler of Babylon had always left a regent in Jerusalem, such as Zedekiah. Along with Ezekiel, there were other exiles (by the river of Chebar) in distant Babylon, who must have thought, “We might have an opportunity to go back to the people who were not taken away, so that not everybody will be in exile.” But then Ezekiel saw the throne of God in a vision. This throne appeared as a set of wheels—even one wheel in the middle of another—strange wheels indeed. He also saw the cherubim carrying God’s glory, which is another image of God’s throne. This throne moved away from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives. This meant total exile!

However, Ezekiel also saw that there will be restoration:

“The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said: ‘Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places. When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever’” (Ezekiel 43:4-9).

So Ezekiel sees God’s glory re-entering Jerusalem from the east. Then the passage says that the temple is “the place for the soles of My feet, ...where I will live among the Israelites forever.”

In other words, there is a kind of back-and-forth movement from the temple to the Mount of Olives, and from the Mount of Olives to the temple. This also implies that standing on the Mount of Olives means a total exile. So it is impossible that a remnant would stay in Jerusalem. In this context, restoration means that He will set His feet in the temple. This is clear evidence that the word ‘feet’ is used metaphorically by the prophets.

In addition, Zechariah saw that all the nations would march on Jerusalem and that Jesus will set His feet on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:2-4). Even though this is where He ascended into heaven, this is not necessarily the place where He will return to take His church to heaven. Of course, it is possible that the Lord will return to this place on the Mount of Olives, but this is not the point of what Zechariah was saying here.

At some point, there will be a total exile which nobody can avoid. However, when the exile for the Jewish people is complete, when secular Zionism is not able to offer any solution, when their State is becoming their cross and they follow a course parallel to the one of Jesus, and when they feel as if God has forsaken them—then the Mount of Olives will be split! In the middle of the judgement, there will be a way of escape.

At the moment when they cry out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken us?”, Jesus’ revenge will be merciful.

Elijah’s name will no longer be used as an insult as when the people ridiculed Jesus on the cross. Instead, under the great pressure of world history, God’s people will be united in recognising His Blood and His sacrifice. Although judgement will take place, the judgement will be broken (meaning: split, like Mount of Olives) and there will be a way of escape.

In the last part of chapter 14, Zechariah sees the eventual repentance of the Jewish people as the fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles. However, God will not go against the sign He has set through Jesus: “Look, your house is left to you desolate” (Mat. 23:38, Luke 13:35).

Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament

As I was thinking about the symbolism of the Mount of Olives, I also realised that our Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. There is a wonderful parallel between Jesus’ going from the temple to the Mount of Olives, and the departure of the glory of God to the Mount of Olives—and back (Ezekiel chapters 11 and 43).

In Matthew 23:35-39, Jesus speaks in detail about the opposition of the Jewish people to God’s revelation of love: “...how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. You [have killed] the prophets and [stoned] those sent to you. ... [even] Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Look, your house is left to you desolate...” Where did Jesus go after He had said the following words: “Look, your house is left to you desolate... You will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’”? He went to the Mount of Olives!

“For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).

After this, Jesus (in whom the fulness of God lives) left for the Mount of Olives. This is where He delivered His great speech about the end of the age. Even in the dismal darkness of the judgments, there is still an opening of mercy. The gospel will be preached throughout the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Wars, epidemics, earthquakes— everything points to the coming destruction. But the end will not come right away. The gospel will first be brought to all nations. This is why John’s vision in Revelation 10 is a mystery that the Holy Spirit will later reveal to His people. Scripture itself states that there will still be prophecy and that the lion will roar. Scripture also says, “He gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11).

The idea of “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture only) implies that contemporary prophecy is not valid. This means that all renewal is suppressed. But the Lord God will reverse this.

So there is a parallel between God and Jesus, in whom the fulness of God dwells. Like God, Jesus left the temple and went to the Mount of Olives.

But there is more.

After that, I saw—and I am saying this with great respect—that Jesus was ‘commuting’ every day from the Mount of Olives to the temple and back. We find this in Luke 21:37-38: “Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.”

There is a connection between the two. For a long time, the Mount of Olives had been an important place of prayer. Even David went up the slope of the Mount of Olives, where he prayed, “O LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness” (2 Samuel 15:31). In those days, Ahithophel’s counsel weighed just as heavily as when people had asked a word of the Lord. His words were regarded as God’s words. Now Ahithophel had made a pact with Absalom. He was a prefiguration of the false prophet, and Absalom was a prefiguration of the antichrist. Together they tried to destroy the anointed of the Lord. But the anointing took place anyway! On the Mount of Olives, it appears that the anointing of David, who was a prefiguration of the Messiah, does take place. Neither Ahithophel, nor the antichrist can withstand this. All this is decided on the Mount of Olives.

The Mount of Olives has profound significance, not only geographically.

When Jesus’ suffering is imminent, we see in Luke 19:29 that He arrives at Bethphage, near the Mount of Olives. And from the slope of the Mount of Olives, He enters Jerusalem and He predicts that a young donkey will be waiting. The whole event is accompanied prophetically, as well as in a priest-like and royal manner. The disciples cannot see the donkey yet, but Jesus gives the royal order to fetch it. And then He enters Jerusalem on that donkey, as a fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9. The people still do not see that the messianic kingship can only be rooted in His mission of being the Lamb of God and the suffering Messiah. Weeping over Jerusalem, Jesus says, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace....”

Tears ran down the cheeks of the Messiah. Coming down from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem riding on the foal of a donkey, He predicts the judgement.

When He was about to celebrate the first and at the same time the Last Supper with His disciples, during which He would illustrate the fulfilment of the Passover by substituting the cup of the Passover by the cup of the Last Supper, He once again gave an indication beforehand: “... a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.”

Many churches have not yet met the “man with the jar.”

Later that evening, the jar of water was probably used for the washing of the feet. Many people have not yet understood what this means for the institution of the Lord’s Supper. How else can one explain the reproach that churches have for each other? If you only consider the interest of your own church, you will easily find fault with others. The result is a lack of mutual respect, which means that people have not understood what the washing of the feet and the one Communion mean.

At the Supper table, Jesus said, “And I confer on you a kingdom ...” (Luke 22:29). Where did Jesus go after leaving the Supper table, which symbolically already announced the fulfilment of the Passover by His great sacrifice at Golgotha? Not to Galilee, not to Hebron or Bethlehem. Once again, He goes to the Mount of Olives.
When He had made His entry into Jerusalem, He had descended from the Mount of Olives. His true identity had not been noticed.After having sung a hymn with His disciples at the end of the Supper, they went out to the Mount of Olives. There, the Shepherd was struck. There, Judas kissed Him and His sheep were scattered (Zechariah 13:7).

The inner circle

Now we have come to the inner circle, the Most Holy Place in the New Testament. There, in the garden on the Mount of Olives, which is in fact the place of exile, Jesus detached Himself from His disciples. It is in this place that He took upon Himself His people’s eternal banishment, their curse, and their being forsaken by God. This is the place where He struggled to accept this. But He never lost sight of His disciples. They were only a stone’s throw away, which meant they were within His pastoral reach. He did not abandon them. He even asked His disciples to stand with Him in this struggle. He said, “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” His sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground. And finally, after the third time He prayed, He said to them, “Sleep now and rest.” It had been decided! An angel had supported Him.

Some circumstances in life cause stress and tension and keep people awake. When a child is preparing for a test, his parents might practice with him several times. Finally the parents might say, “Well done. There are no more mistakes.” The moment has come when he has finished preparing and is ready to face the test. This may be a weak comparison, but Jesus underwent something of this kind in His cruel struggle in Gethsemane. Suddenly He had got through and He was ready to be the Lamb and to put the cup to His mouth and He prays, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

During this pastoral struggle, He did not abandon His disciples. They had fallen asleep and were not really involved in His struggle. Likewise the church at a later stage abandoned its involvement in this struggle, and used it for its own interests. Because of this, the church removed the Lord’s Table from its task towards the Jewish people and towards Christians of both Jewish and Gentile origin.

The Mount of Olives is not an accidental geographical fact. It is significant that Jesus, after having appeared to His disciples for forty days after His resurrection, gave His orders here through the Holy Spirit. In that very place, His disciples asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). His answer was not, “That will never happen. God is tired of Jerusalem. They have crucified His own Son. That is the worst thing they could have done!” No.

Instead, He says,

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7, 8).

The word ‘witnesses’ means being witnesses in God’s great court case against the Jewish people and against the entire world, which is at war with God.

King Jesus says on the Mount of Olives, “God’s court case will begin. And in that court case you will have to be My witnesses.”

Acts 2, therefore, is in all respects an account of a court case. Jesus descends on His disciples as a judge in the form of fire. So after having ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives, He came back to the temple and came down on His disciples in the form of fire.

This is in stark contrast with His judgement under Pontius Pilate. At that time, it was Pilate who was the judge and Jesus was standing before him as the accused. On the day of Pentecost, however, Jesus came down on His disciples in fire through the Holy Spirit.

The disciples then accused the Jewish people, saying,

“You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this” (Acts 3:14, 15).

“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40).

This is a real court case, and the disciples are witnesses. They have to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and Samaria, and everywhere until the ends of the earth. Following in the footsteps of the disciples, this task concerns us as well. The court case of the Most High against the Jewish people and against us is still pending. Figuratively, the procedure that Jesus will choose for this court case is also going from the Mount of Olives to the temple of Revelation 11:1. That means, it goes to the one church gathered from the Gentile world and the Jewish people.

We also read in the Scriptures that at the end of the Great Apostasy or Final Rebellion, the antichrist, “whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming”, will reside in God’s Temple (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Then the Lord will come again to this Temple in order to cleanse it from the antichrist and his wicked rulership. The court case of the end times, which was started by His command on the Mount of Olives, will end in the Temple.

All kinds of churches have torn away the judicial essence of His command. The Roman Catholic Church has even openly declared that God’s covenant with Israel no longer applies. Now, in the spirit of the oecumenical movement, the two ways towards God are propagated: the Jewish way and the Christian way. By the ‘Christian way’, people mean, “Be good to each other”.

Of course we have to be good to each other. But is that all the Gospel contains?

Ezekiel prophesied against this. God does not want Baal, nor any other abominable god as His neighbour. “Threshold by threshold”, says God through Ezekiel. God does not appreciate Baal treating Him as his neighbour. No syncretism!

And no World Council of Churches either, where God is made the ‘neighbour’ of Baal or Buddha, or whatever other idol people are making for themselves.

Times and dates

When the time of refreshment comes, God will put things right. God is disgusted with the weak messages produced nowadays by institutions which dare to call themselves churches.

And what about the Jewish people?

A Jew once told me: “We have radar. We can look through ev-erything. You people are not taking yourselves and your confession about Jesus seriously, are you? So why do you have to attack us?”

He was right, wasn’t he?

There are times and dates “the Father has set by his own authority”; these times and dates have come very close.

Jesus speaks of ‘times’. This is not about the one moment of time Paul spoke about, but about ‘times and dates’. God uses certain ‘times’ in world history, before the last day, and ‘dates’—a specific series of events—to restore the Kingdom to Israel. Zechariah also talks about this, saying that all the nations will be gathered against Jerusalem for battle and that God will fight against those nations who are set against the Jewish people and who will not accept them as a kingdom of priests. When God fights against these nations, “their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, [and] their eyes will rot in their sockets...” (Zechariah 14:12).

There will be a time of great struggle. We are heading for a terrible crisis which cannot be avoided. Compared to what will come, the situation in Yugoslavia is only a gentle rippling in a pond.

But Jesus says in Matthew 24:6, “...see to it that you are not alarmed.Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” We must be hopeful. It is not over yet. It paralyses young people at church services to hear over and over again, “The Lord says, ‘Jesus is coming soon’”. Young people may not feel like taking exams any more or making an effort to graduate. They might wonder why they should, since the Lord is coming soon and they will be going to heaven.

We must not allow ourselves to be paralysed, but with an optimism springing from faith, we should look forward to each new day and to every new year.

When all these things happen, “lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near!” The church as well as the Jewish people will achieve their purpose. But if we allow Jesus of Nazareth to be mocked, this cannot come about, for He is really the Son of God.

The Great Commission in Acts 1 and the events of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 cannot be disconnected from the great court case that God is conducting against humanity and its nucleus, the Jewish people. Even the Lord’s Supper may not be separated from these events. The Lord’s Supper should be a proclamation, not a satisfaction of a religious need. Proclaim the death of the Lord and do it in a judicial manner at the same time. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He said, “you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30).

We are free to celebrate this proclamation in memory of Jesus’ death. We should do this humbly, and with the desire to be the donkey on which He will enter Jerusalem. Not like a battle horse, but meekly and humbly.

This is what Peter talked about in Acts 3 when he addressed the Jewish Council. He spoke about ‘times of refreshing’, something which is quite different from the last moments of world history. Certainly, that one moment of time will come, and Jesus may set His feet on the Mount of Olives at that time (cf. Zechariah 14:4). The point is what Zechariah was trying to say. In the future, many deeply-rooted theological points of view and other miserable barricades for the coming of the Kingdom of God will be overthrown.

In Acts 3:19-20, Peter says,

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”

There is a difference between the times of refreshing and the point in time at which Jesus will return. Through the great mercy of God, an intermediate period of time will be inserted, in which His Kingdom will break through (Revelation 10).

In Acts 15, the apostles talk constantly about these things at their Council. They pass on the same message, the message that “He will gather from the Gentiles a people for himself, and afterwards ‘He will rebuild ‘David’s fallen tent’ ... so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name’” (Acts 15:17, Amos 9:11-12).

This Name is nothing other than the great love of God, poured out at Golgotha in the Son He loves!

______

3. THE MAN WITH THE JAR AND THE WASHING OF THE FEET

“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.’ ‘Where do you want us to prepare for it?’ they asked. He replied, ‘As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.’ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover” (Luke 22:7-13).

“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:1-5).

A parable in actions

Have you ever spent a night with a dying person? If it was your wife or your husband or somebody you had taken care of for a period of time, you will have experienced that there was a certain tension in the room. A special kind of stress. You may have wondered how long this would continue—the pain and trouble—and how the process of dying would take place. Things which seemed trivial in those tense moments will be remembered vividly later on.

Imagine somebody entering the room to bring something, and a rush of air goes through the room when the door opens, blowing a scrap of paper from the desk. Nothing important, just a small shopping list or a prescription, but you will remember that piece of paper drifting from the desk all your life, because of the intense anxiety of the moment.

Similarly, when John started describing the imminent hour of the great sacrifice of Jesus, he remembered all the details.

He cited them all: “He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.”

It was as if John saw it all happening again.

“After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet (which was really the work of a slave), drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:4,5).

John did not forget any details.

And these details have a special meaning, too. The fact that Jesus took off His outer clothing implies that it was not ripped off of Him. He did it of His own free will. He laid down His life and He did this within the framework of His mission. This was an image of His coming into this world and His death at Golgotha for the redemption of the world. He is the Saviour. He takes off His outer clothing and empties Himself into death. He is the least, the slave, and thereby has set an example for His disciples to do as He has done for them (John 13:15).

The word ‘example’ in this story has been frequently discussed by theologians and exegetes. In this verse, it is not meant as ‘example’ in the way we use the word, but it is meant more like the word ‘parable’. With this parable, Jesus means to tell us that when He came into this world, He came from the Father. He is a living parable. His hour has come and He loves all His disciples until the end, even though He knows that Judas will betray Him. He does not stop these events from happening. Instead, He confronts Satan and Judas, with the chief priests and the teachers of the law behind him.

Jesus knew all this. When His hour had come, He took off His outer clothing. This is a parable of Jesus laying down His life.

In John 10:17-18, He says,

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

We shall never be able to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together without washing each others’ feet.

If you have walked along the dusty streets of Jerusalem, you will know that it is not pleasant to recline at the table with your head near another person’s feet. Our custom of sitting at a table was unknown in those days. Instead, people reclined at the table. Each family had a slave to wash the feet of those who were at the table.

At the occasion of the Last Supper, Jesus washed their feet. He performed the slave’s job to make the Supper possible.

How many denominational barriers do we have to overcome before we can celebrate the Lord’s Supper in true unity—the way it originally took place in the upper room where the cup was passed around—as ordained by Jesus? We have to return to this unity. But if we do, we cannot skip washing each other’s feet.

In Holland, it is impossible for some of the major denominations to get together, even for conferences.[1] Something major needs to happen first.

Washing each other’s feet!

The willingness to humble oneself before the other!

It would be impossible to unite the various denominations that have come out of the Reformation, and from there to be united with Rome. Where would we stand in light of the curses of Council of Trent[2]?

This unity would be impossible!

And yet, Christ has called His church to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. In other words, He has set an example for us to follow. When Jesus talked about washing each other’s feet, he was not speaking literally, but He meant it in its profoundest sense: “Just as God has put up collateral for this lost world, you ought to be willing to sacrifice yourselves for each other.” The apostle John also said, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). And Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus laid down His life for a lost world in the name of God and in the name of the heart of God. In the same way, you should stand in for each other. Love each other. Jesus loved His disciples until the end.

These words precede John’s account about the washing of the feet, which was essentially a proclamation of the love of God!

In light of all the divisions within the Church, which I have mentioned above, the redeemed of the Lord have a calling to demonstrate their unity at the one Table of Communion and in their unanimous recognition of the Lamb of God.

Obviously, this does not mean that we should build a wooden table which reaches from Scheveningen to Vladivostok. Instead, it means that there should be a unanimous ‘yes’, in spirit and in truth, to the Crucified Christ at the Lord’s Supper. This is what it is all about.

It is not a question of an organisation, or an extension to a church building, or a new cathedral. The key issue is a unanimous recognition of the Blood of the Lamb. So far, this has not been understood. Yes, there is a willingness to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but everyone does this with their own congregation, or just because it was instituted by Jesus. In this way, the very essence of the Lord’s Supper has been lost and has been reduced to mere liturgy.

We are supposed to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Even politically, our world needs washing each other’s feet. Is there any congregation in this world that shows this?

Satanic politics

I do not want to go into politics, but there are a few examples worth mentioning.

Not long ago, the prime minister of Japan visited the Netherlands. During his visit, he confessed guilt on behalf of the Japanese over what they had done during the Second World War. It seemed a bit like the washing of the feet. But he did not say a word about compensation.

Thousands of people suffered atrocious treatment in the Japanese concentration camps. Now, fifty years later, many of them are still suffering nightmares and traumas. Many people had to grovel in the dust before the god-emperor of Japan, and if they did not bow low enough, the soldiers would step on their necks. Others were utterly wasted by the inhuman labour on the Burma railway. And yet not a single word was said about compensation by the wealthy country of Japan. Is that the washing of the feet? But Japan does not see the church of Christ expressing this humility either!

Holland is one of the main proponents of the idea of ‘supranational’. The so-called European Community is the focus of their attention. However, they do not consider that Germany might be under a curse and that it might perish, or that France is on the verge of experiencing great chaos. They do not take into account that the European Community cannot welcome Yugoslavia, and at the same time play with the idea of sending troops there.

Is this the washing of the feet?

Yugoslavia has not understood what the washing of the feet is. It is easier to swim in the blood of their enemies.

We are living in an evil world, a world completely under the influence of Satan. There is only one force that can defy this: a people that unanimously professes the Name of Jesus; a church that knows the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross and His washing of the disciples’ feet; a church that follows what has been announced, proclaimed and ordered in the Upper Room. This is the power by which Satan will be bound.

Of course, the rise of false ecumenical doctrine has also affected the thinking of the members of parliament and of the leaders of the ecumenical movement. They see a unity where there is none. They are trying to force unity where it does not exist, and so a kind of false unity emerges.

Things may indeed go wrong, as was the case during the reign of Rehoboam, when the situation differed greatly from what it was during Solomon’s reign. Rehoboam changed the gold shields into copper ones, and everything went wrong.

All this talk about EMU, ECU, EPU lacks an essential basis: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This applies also to nations. What is the world coming to if money is the only compass?

False ecumenism in what should be the light of the world and the salt of the earth will mislead politics.

Above all, let us keep an eye on Rome in the continued striving for a united Europe. A strongly centralised power in Europe could tempt the Vatican to grab a false ecumenism to expand the power of the Roman Catholic Church. It is understandable that there is great concern about these developments among those churches and congregations in which the believers still feel a strong attachment to the martyrs of the reformation. But allow me to comfort you with the following words: the Jewish people will be converted, but they will not become Roman Catholics.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul warns, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either” (Romans 11:21).

Many centuries ago, the Roman Empire cut off Jerusalem. Now the tables have turned. Jerusalem’s conversion carries with it the cutting off of the Roman church! The axe is already at the root of this “tree” (Luke 3:9). The coming Kingdom of God will not be a colony of the Vatican.

The United States of America

Let me give you another example.

What did the U.S. do during and after the period in which the six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazi executioners? The U.S. shut their doors to Jewish refugees. A well-known academic study says,

– “[State Department officials] have not only failed to use the Governmental machinery at their disposal to rescue Jews from Hitler, but have even gone so far as to use this Governmental machinery to prevent the rescue of these Jews.” – [3]

What about after this period?

Did anything like the washing of the feet emerge?

We cannot accuse the U.S. of having purposely exploited the immense grief and sorrow of the Jews in the world for the benefit of their own political interests. But the intense sorrow was indeed the impetus for Zionism to strive for an independent state for the Jewish people. It suited the U.S. very well to establish such a state as an outpost, politically as well as in a military sense, against the communist threat.

But what is to be done now that the communist threat appears to have been weakened?

Haven’t we returned once more to the ‘Building of Christian Interests’?

The partition of Palestine was ruthlessly imposed, among other things, by economic pressure on the dollar. After that, more violence erupted to keep away the Arabs who did not accept this arrangement. So now, unfortunately, a direct line runs from the initial events of 1947 to the occupation practices of today’s Israel.

It is of no use to the Jewish people if we as Christians merely stand behind them, forgetting that Paul in Romans 11:26 quoted Isaiah 59:20, who said, “...he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.”

In the future, the Jewish people will become a nation of priests. At this point, however, they are still diametrically opposed to serving as priests because they still refuse to follow the High Priest, who comes as the most humble servant. A critical moment has arrived at which the so-called “peace conference” for the Middle East is enforced, which is by no means based on the washing of the feet. I am very concerned about the outcome of this conference.

This is something that I know because the Lord told me that their State will become their cross.

After that, it will be even more necessary for the Church of Christ to be figuratively gathered in the Upper Room where the washing of the feet and the Last Supper took place, in order to finally reach Jerusalem with this message. Jerusalem is the focal point of the whole situation. It is impossible for the Jews to give up this city. And yet it is impossible to hold on to Jerusalem through secular authority. This situation is headed towards a horrific crisis. I have been caught up—as Paul put it—and the Lord has shown me things that I can hardly put into words.

The man with the jar

In Luke 21:37, we see how Jesus taught daily in the temple and spent each night on the Mount of Olives. In chapter 22, when He came back down from the Mount of Olives, Judas was already looking for an opportunity to betray Him to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. These religious authorities were pleased and decided to give him money. Judas agreed. Then, when they were coming close to Jerusalem, Jesus sent John, the prophet-like figure, and Peter, the pastoral figure, ahead with the words:

“As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’” (Luke 22:10,11).

I would like to look at current events. I think that we are once again approaching Jerusalem in world history.

Where is ‘the man with the jar’ now?

Today, through Jesus’ foreknowledge, we can reach the true chamber of the Passover, just as when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the colt. When Jesus and His disciples approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples and told them exactly where they could find the colt “which no one has ever ridden.” So it was a young colt. The disciples would have to insist, saying “... the Lord needs it.” As King, Jesus requested it, and prophetically, He saw it standing there and knew that nobody had ever ridden it.

We are now coming to a decision about Jerusalem again.

Jesus sent Peter and John to the city to prepare the Passover. He said, “Go ... and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.” At that moment, they had not yet seen the man.

In his beautiful commentary on the gospel of John, (called ‘De weg van het Woord’ - ‘The Way of the Word’), Dr. E. Smelik says that the water of the washing of the feet is an image of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and of total cleansing preceding the Lord’s Supper. [4] How true!

I would dare to say that the man with the jar represents the prophecy that leads people to the true chamber of the Passover and to what it represents. Jesus walks along with the men on the road to Emmaus, teaching them about Moses, the Psalms and all the prophets, saying that Christ had to suffer and afterwards enter into His glory. The man with the jar sums this up, and leads people to the chamber of the Passover through the eternal foreknowledge of the Son of God, who existed before Abraham. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

When Revelation 10 comes to its fulfilment, the term “like the roar of a lion” refers to the uttering of prophecy! What else could that prophecy mean other than what the man with the jar had to do? The prophecy has to lead people to the true chamber of the Passover, to the true Last Supper, where Judas could not bear to stay. It also leads to the washing of the feet which must precede the Passover, first in His church—for the judgement must begin with the house of God—and then in the world. However, no sign of washing each other’s feet is yet visible in the world.

Where do we see the washing of the feet taking place?

The Church of Christ does not yet know what washing each other’s feet means and apparently has not yet met the man with the jar. But the Church will certainly meet him.

When the lion of Revelation 10 roars, ‘John’—however charismatic he may be—and ‘Peter’—whatever kind of pastor he may be—both will have to follow this man.

Even Peter’s feet will be washed.

When Jesus and His disciples are approaching Jerusalem, He tells them, “A man carrying a jar of water will meet you.”

Why didn’t Peter or John object and say something like, “But Master, what if the man with the jar went into the house ten minutes ago, so that we find an empty street? What if we don’t find him?”

When Jesus predicts something, it is always accurate.

This was also the case in 1948, when a group of faithful believers were in prayer. It was precisely at that hour, at that minute and second that the Lord spoke.

Perfectly accurate!

If this very message is supposed to reach Jerusalem, and the church with the Lord’s Supper along with it, we should not ask, “What if we are too late and an atom bomb has just fallen on Jerusalem?”

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him!

He will accomplish exactly what He has set out to do.

When a congregation truly turns to the one Lamb of God with repentance and starts practising the washing of the feet, and when they show humility by standing in for one another, then they will have something to tell the world. God will see this from heaven and He will mercifully make it all possible.

Any amount of political organisation and conferences cannot achieve these goals. But God will pour out His grace and His Spirit upon all people!

We as Christians will meet ‘the man with the jar’, and the people of Jerusalem will also recognise him Nobody can ignore the great sign which God has sent—the exile. Their nation-state will become their cross, because it is the expression of their human hardness.

Hiel’s way of building (cf. 1 Kings 16:34)

What a terrible situation! People often write about it so superficially, as if the Name of Jesus doesn’t mean anything any more! Who still mentions His Name?

What does He have to do with it?

It is gradually becoming very clear that this cannot continue and that we have come to a formidable moment of crisis.

This is especially true as far as Jerusalem is concerned!

How could things come to this?

It is easy to understand that the Jewish people have had a passionate desire for a nation-state of their own—especially considering their tragic course through history, which ended in Germany’s attempt to annihilate them. Germany did not in any way consider God’s words in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Whoever builds in complete defiance of a divine curse, as Hiel did in the time of Ahab and Jezebel, will, according to Joshua, have to pay the price of the unbelievers and will have to sacrifice his posterity (Joshua 6:26).

It is an entirely alien notion to the people of Germany that the tearing apart of their nation into two halves might be a curse of God. But haven’t the two Germanies been politically reunited? Yes, they have.

In his days, Hiel also built in defiance of a divine curse. Sure, he finished Jericho and installed the gates, but “he laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun” (I Kings 16:34).

This announcement in the Old Testament is immediately followed by Elijah’s mission.

The Carmel judgement took place!

Let me repeat myself. Even now, Germany may not use the pole of the so-called ‘grace of the late birth’ to vault itself over the enormous pool filled with the blood of six million Jews and millions of people from other nations. The day of reckoning is coming!

As I mentioned before, the Jewish people were longing for a solution for their centuries of exile, especially after that terrible holocaust. However, as Joshua claimed the ruins of Jericho as a sign of the grace and the truth of God, Jesus claimed the ruins of Jerusalem as a sign to show the reality of His Messianic mission, when He declared:

“Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:38,39).

Thank God that the kingdom will be restored to Israel. This restoration is firmly established, more firmly than the mountains. But it will not come about through war or Hiel’s way of building. It will never come about through a total denial of the divine Word.

Unfortunately, that road was taken in 1947. The bricks of the ‘fortress’ of Israel were taken to the building site in accordance with an outdated imperialistic and colonial formula.

Colonialism

Here is a brief outline to clarify the history of colonialism. At the Berlin Conference which was held at the initiative of Germany (Von Bismarck) and France (Ferry) from Nov. 15th, 1884 until Feb. 26th, 1885, Africa was divided into several areas of European influence. At this ‘race for Africa’, the main issue was whether ‘the pear’ (Africa) should be split vertically, as proposed by the British, or across, as proposed by the French.[5] Borderlines were drawn, and Africa was divided into large areas of land, right through existing tribes, which meant that some tribes that could not get along at all were joined and that other tribes that did form a unity, were split.

Addressing the City of London a few years after the 1885 Conference of Berlin, at which Africa was divided up, the veteran Lord Salisbury allowed himself to be sardonic about the fever of aggression that had raged at the conference:

– “We have been engaged in drawing lines on maps where no white man’s foot has ever trod; we have been distributing mountains and rivers and lakes to each other, only hindered by the small impediment that we never knew exactly where they were.” –

These lines on the map of Africa were the result of a political power game and would now have to be maintained by force. And yet there were few people in Europe to whom the colonial subdivision seemed anything but a good and great adventure, God’s work and civilization’s duty. By this time, moreover, there was plenty of misery and suffering in Africa to convince them that they were right. A general feeling of euphoria was the hallmark of the years of dividing the continent up. The colonial period now came to full bloom. It would, however, give rise to great internal disagreements and furiously opposed opinions.

Only now, long afterwards, are we beginning to see the traces of blood and confusion.[6]

The transition from the slave trade to the colonial invasions was a complex one. But an African trade unionist, J.H. Mphemba, looking back in 1929, believed that the essence of the story, from an African perspective, could be expressed simply as follows:

–“First, the white man brought the Bible. Then he came with guns, chains; next he built a jail, and finally, he made us pay tax.”–

This saying found its way into African speech. “When the white people came”, it was said, “they had the Bible and we had the land. After a while things reverted. Now, they have the land and we have the Bible.” The Ethiopian emperor Theodore made much the same point when, facing British invasion, he said: “I know their strategy. First, traders and missionaries come. Then ambassadors. After that, they bring guns. We had better use guns at once.” [7]

Once again, we find ourselves with this colonial violence—in a figurative sense—namely in ‘The Christian Interests Building’.

The same imperialistic formula was used for the Arab countries.

For what happened in the Middle East?

There, too, after the First World War, in 1920, England and France drew arbitrary borderlines, which were decisive for the Arab countries. Such was the resentment about this, that the year 1920 was called ‘Am al-Nakba’, i.e. year of disaster.

– “The Arab nationalists had become most bitter due to the peace settlements. They accused England of breach of faith, which is an unforgivable deed according to ancient Arabic point of view.” – [8]

The Kurds were also victimised by this. In his book “Saladins Söhne”, die Kurden – das betrogene Volk”, Günther Deschner writes:

– “For several decades, this unfortunate nation has been used by the super-powers or the states in the region as an instrument for their own political power game.” [9]

This brutal, imperialistic behaviour was rigorously carried throughwhen France carried out nuclear tests, first in Algeria, which is Arab territory and later in the Pacific. The United States did the same on the Marshall Islands, and the consequences were terrible!

According to an article in the magazine “Our World” [10] of July 7th, 1983 about nuclear tests in the Pacific, the island of Bikini suffered an American nuclear test with a thousand times more power than the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. In no time, ninety percent of the inhabitants of a neighbouring island found themselves in the second stage of acute radiation diseases. Over a longer period of time, the consequences were equally horrific. Children were born with crab-like faces. Other women delivered children without limbs or without a skull. Some women delivered children who looked like cats, or rats, and yet others remained barren. Seventy percent of those who were younger than ten years old when the explosion took place, are suffering from tumours on their thyroid glands.

The results of the French atomic experiments have been equally catastrophic for the inhabitants of French Polynesia. And when the nuclear tests in the Sahara had become impossible for France—after they lost Algeria—the French government looked for alternatives. They finally chose the island of Mururoa, one of the 120 small islands in the Pacific which are French colonial possession.

Instead of flowers, the population of this island paradise got to see ‘poisonous mushrooms’. The radio-active deposit not only caused diseases, but it also took away the subsistence of the original population. The land and the ocean for many miles around were polluted for centuries to come. Vehement protests against France’s perverse colonial practices were of no avail.

As a Dutch citizen, I wonder whether it is justified to strive for a European Political Union without having thoroughly investigated the above-mentioned activities of France. For a political union cannot be separated from an ethical responsibility.

One ought also to inquire whether these people have been granted adequate indemnifications and compassionate allowances. This question is all the more urgent since France has passed on its nuclear knowledge, gained from disputed atomic tests, to the State of Israel.

On page 196 of the book “Triple Cross, Israel, the atomic bomb and the man who spilled the secrets”, by Louis Toscano, we read that the former head of the French nuclear weapons programme has declared to “The Sunday Times”, that 30 years ago, France secretly supplied its nuclear knowledge to Israel:

– “The Sunday Times ran three more Vanunu stories the following week. On Page one was an account of an interview with the former head of France’s nuclear weapons program who acknowledged his country had secretly supplied Israel with bomb-making technology thirty years earlier.” – [11]

Some time in 1960, the French Air Force secretly flew no less than four tons of heavy water, stored in oversized barrels, to Israel. [12]

During the Gulf war, it turned out that Dimona was something more than a mere innocent museum. Very soon an American spy satellite found out that Shamir reacted to the Iraqi rocket assault by ordering mobile missile launchers armed with nuclear weapons to be moved into the open and deployed facing Iraq, ready to launch on command. There were other signs that Israel had gone on a fall-scale nuclear alert that would remain in effect for weeks. [13]

This whole development made it possible for the island paradise of Mururoa to be destroyed. Similarly, it is also possible for the Middle East to be struck by the curse of a nuclear explosion. It is therefore not a trivial matter that for the solution of the Jewish question in 1947, the old colonial and imperialistic formula was used. In that same year, the United Nations voted on the partition of Palestine.

Official documents of the United Nations as well as books and periodicals mention threats and severe pressure on some delegates.

Even the White House was directly involved. President Truman personally warned the U.S. delegate to the United Nations, Herschel Johnson, “to damn well deliver the partition vote or there would be hell to pay!” [14]

In all documents which reported on this matter in detail, we find the following countries as principal victims of this pressure: Greece, Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines.

It is outside the scope of this book to describe in detail the misery that the governments and delegates of these countries had to suffer due to this pressure and these threats. There is one point, however, to which I would like to draw your attention: In an address to the Secretary General of the United Nations by Mr. Isa Nakleh, representative of the Arab Higher Committee, we read at point 2b:

– “The delegate of Haiti on Wednesday made a strong speech against partition, on instructions from his Government.
On Saturday he circulated a note to Delegations explaining that he is voting for partition in accordance with fresh instructions from his Government. The Haitian Delegate did not find words to describe his shame and he was seen in tears in the lobby and Delegates’ lounge. Being a sincere and noble man, he could not hide the fact that his Government surrendered to pressure and was forced into changing its instructions to him.” – [15]

This looks very much like brainwashing!

Further, in point 6, Mr. Isa Nakleh said:

– “It is an elementary rule of law and justice that any decision, agreement or act made or done under pressure, undue influence or duress, is null and void. The aforementioned facts prove how the partition recommendations were extorted from member states of the United Nations. The Arabs therefore consider them null and void and of no legal or moral force.” –[16]

Indeed, a judge must be independent.

And when such world-wide organisations as the United Nations are instituted with the aim of contributing to justice, safety and peace for the peoples on this earth, the results of these negotiations may formally not be equal to legally binding decisions, but in practice, the resolutions are being accepted as a kind of international law. The partition of Palestine was accepted by the Jewish world as a kind of law of the nations and it was rejected by the Arab world.

After that, the bloodshed began.

Looking again at the events of 1947, when the partition of Palestine was placed on the agenda of the United Nations, it is clear that this has a much deeper dimension for the Jewish people than a mere political one.

In Isaiah 49:6, the Word of God tells us that there is something that goes beyond bringing the tribes of Israel back, namely that they should function as the light to the nations.

Literally this text says:

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

If now we must recognise that not only the United States, but particularly the Zionist leaders were the ones who took control in the violence during the voting, I see a big contrast between this attitude and the mission of the Jewish people to be the light to the nations. This is pitch-black darkness!

Really, the God of Israel does not need this swindle to lift the exile of His people!

Never will the Jewish people be able to break away from the universal calling to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation before God (Exodus 19:6). Never can this have meant to be an elegant inscription over a Jewish ghetto. And since they are chosen to be the ombudsmen of mankind, their task will centre around settling disputes between the nations by their priestly judgement, as is so tersely expressed by the prophet Micah in Micah 4:1-5:

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD’S temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house 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 many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.

They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into prun-ing hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no-one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.”

What happened at the vote in 1947 is exactly the opposite of what may be expected from a nation of priests. The majority of the countries represented in the United Nations were against partition, but because of the pressure on the nations, the Zionists obtained a slight majority of votes.

The laying of the foundation stone for the institution of the State of Israel was marked by violence!

Because such a swindle in the partition of Palestine in 1947 was not strongly rejected by the Jewish people with a ‘non tali auxilio’—we cannot accept such help—a weakening of the religious and moral judgement (religious, moral evaluation ability) among the peoples of the world is irrevocably brought about.

All the signs indicate that the Jewish people have endeavoured to lift their exile ignoring the universal calling that God gave to Moses, which was later emphasised time and again by the prophets. In essence, their striving was secular.

The divine formula

Where in their striving can we discern the acknowledgement of God’s continuous actions in bringing His people back from exile? It is precisely because God had chosen the Jewish people from among all the peoples on the earth as an ‘am segulah’—His special possession—that He also took responsibility for both the exile of His people and their return from exile.

Time and again, we find three main features:

1.
There was a divine calling.

2.
There was a divine financing.

3.
There was a divine purpose.

1.
God called Abraham.

2.
God financed his departure from Babel. God Himself would be his shield and reward.

3.
There was a divine purpose: “...and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

The same features are found in the exodus from Egypt:

1.
A divine calling in the burning bush.

2.
Divine financing:

“The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The lord had made the Egyptians favourably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered theEgyptians” (Exodus 12:35-36).

3.
A divine purpose: “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

Finally, concerning the exodus from Babylon:

1.
A divine calling: Cyrus, the king of Persia, is called:

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you —may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up’” (2 Chronicles 36:23).

2.
Divine financing:

“And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:4).
“All their neighbours assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings” (Ezra 1:6).

3.
A divine purpose: “...to build a temple for him at Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 36:23).

What was achieved in 1947 is in fact also a direct challenge intended for Jesus of Nazareth, who has said:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:37-39).

These words were spoken by Him who had the right to say, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (Matthew 24:34).

Jesus Himself has put the exile, the acknowledgement of Him as the Messiah and the return of the Lord at the end of the age in an eschatological relationship to each other. When, in the light of the above words, we contemplate the effort of laying the first stone for the lifting of the exile through the partition of Palestine, we must come to the conclusion that this stone has been laid altogether crooked.

On this stone, God will not build any further.

On the contrary!

I repeat: The Jewish people are following a course parallel to the way Jesus went. He was cast out of Jerusalem and finally reached His Golgotha at the end of His Via Dolorosa. In the same way, the Jewish people—after having been cast out of Jerusalem in the year ad 70—have been going the course of their exile, which is their ‘Via Dolorosa’ for almost two thousand years, and they will finally undergo their spiritual execution on their self-chosen cross which is the State of Israel. This similarity between the course the Messiah went and the one of the Messianic people—the Jewish people—is connected with the whole revelation of God. In a sense, these two courses constitute mirror images of each other.

Let us compare the way the Jewish people went when they were saved from Egypt to the way of Jesus when he was installed in His Messianic ministry. First the people went through the Red Sea—Paul called this: ...“baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”

(1 Corinthians 10:2). After that, the people travelled through the desert on their way to the Promised Land, a land meant to be a new paradise and a prophetic pledge of the Kingdom of Peace.

And what does Jesus’ inauguration look like?

First He was baptised by John; immediately following that, there was His threefold victory after having been tempted by Satan in the desert for forty days, and after that, He became a kind of foreshad-owing of the Kingdom of Peace. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him (Mark 1:13). The Lord prepared a table for Him.

After the temptation in the desert, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and proclaimed “the year of the LORD’S favour” in the Synagogue of Nazareth on the basis of Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-2).

For the future, we may also count on a similarity between the course the Messiah followed and that of the Messianic people.

The Lord literally said to me in 1948: “If I remain silent for two days, do you think, o man, that the day of fulfilment for My redeemed will never dawn?” We are now approaching the borderline between the second and the third day of God. The way to their ‘cross’ will not be the last thing for the Jewish people either. Hosea already prophesied:

“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence” (Hosea 6:1-2).

Fortunately we find indications in the Scripture that even then, in the great ‘courtroom of the times and the dates of the Father’, Jesus will remember His church consisting of Jews and Gentiles. In the future, this will mean the salvation, which is further described in the specific promises of the New Testament.

Paul has said: “...until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved...” (Romans 11:25 [kjv]). This fulness of the Gentiles means that God will fulfil His purposes in the Gentile world which will then provoke Israel to jealousy. Then they will repent and they may effectively enter into their status of kingdom of priests, decided upon from eternity, as Isaiah already announced:

“Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast” (Isaiah 61:5,6).

We may conclude from this that the status to which the Jews are to come, will have a structure analogous to the relation the tribe of Levi had to the other tribes. The tribe of Levi obtained a unique form of subsistence in the Promised Land. They were free to perform their official duties and there was no need for them to possess any territory in the same legal sense as the other tribes did; neither did they need to maintain their own economy.—“... the LORD is their inheritance...”—(Deuteronomy 10:9).

The competition of the altars

The way to what is described above is the way of the ‘competition of the altars’. Either there will be an Elijah, who, in the service of a Jewish Messiah (who doesn’t want to have anything to do with Jesus of Nazareth), will lead the Jewish people to this destination, or there will be a Carmel judgement under the care of Jesus of Nazareth, the glorified Son of Man, who through the fulness of the Gentiles will lead the people who crucified Him to a unique priestly office in the coming Kingdom of Peace.

It is either – or.

I therefore ask the Jewish people: Will you say ‘yes’ to this ‘competition of the altars’?

Saying ‘yes’ will likewise be a sign of openness which the Torah demands regarding the announced prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-22; Acts 3:22-23).

This question: Will you accept the ‘competition of the altars’ is getting more and more urgent now, since there is not a drop of ‘shalom’ falling on the thirsty soil of the Promised Land. A secular state is not the way to achieve your Messianic destination. You have entered into a blind tunnel with many falling rocks. You have come to a complete deadlock!

Ezekiel’s words in chapter 20:32 are relevant here: “You say, ‘We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.’ But what you have in mind will never happen.”

And in chapter 20:37 he says, “I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

The meaning of this verse is found Exodus 19:6: “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation...”

Conclusion

The institution of the State of Israel is definitely not the lifting of the exile as meant by God. However, the real exodus will be accomplished by the unsearchable grace of God through HIS HOLY FORMULA.

The three characteristics of this holy formula will be, for now and for the future:

1.
A divine calling

2.
A divine financing

3.
A divine purpose

1. The Almighty will project the old Carmel story on the Wall of the End Times.

Indeed, Ahab and Jezebel died thousands of years ago. So did Hiel. And Elijah was taken up to heaven. But his cloak fell back to the earth. God places his ministry on other people whom He wants to use to have His Name sanctified.

The entourage in the theatre has changed—the setting, the side wings, the figures and the characters that have to perform—but the play is essentially the same.

Our steel road signs cannot last for thousands of years. But the road signs that God has planted in the soil of Old Testament history remain intact. No downpours, no gales, nor any sand drifts have been able to warp or overturn them. They are still pointing to the abundant rain and to the Kingdom of Peace, to the RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS.

“To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things,” said Jesus in the transfiguration on the mountain.

2. The Lord will lead His people, whom He ransomed with His Blood, to a unanimous acknowledgement of His redeeming sacrifice at Golgotha. He will make this unification universally serve, also financially, to free the Jewish people to perform their Messianic duty as a kingdom of priests.

3. The divine purpose is the temple of Revelation 11:1, being the church gathered from Jew and Gentile as a temple of the Holy Spirit.

“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:8-11).

Jesus is Victor!

In the large ‘Christian Interests Building’, there is indeed no room for the washing of feet, nor for unity at the Lord’s Table, at which He ‘conferred the Kingdom’ on His own people.

Those who long for that peace must be led to the ‘Chamber of the Passover’ of the end times by the man with the jar, whom—through the everlasting foreknowledge of the Son of God—we may meet and follow.

______

Among these denominations are the Synodal Reformed Church (Gereformeerde Kerken Synodaal) and the Free Reformed Church (Gereformeerde Kerken vrijgemaakt).

At the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church took its stand against the reformation.

Arthur D. Morse: “While six million died”, page 89, Random House, New York, 1967/1968

Dr. E.L. Smelik: “De weg van het Woord, het evangelie naar Johannes”, page 222, G.F. Callenbach N.V., Nijkerk, 1948

Winkler Prins Encyclopedie, Elsevier, Amsterdam/Brussel, zesde druk, 1949

Basil Davidson: “The story of Africa”, Chapter 15: “From the Bible to the gun, page 183,184, Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1984

Basil Davidson: “The story of Africa”, Chapter 15: “From the Bible to the gun”, page 167, Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1984

Leonard C. Biegel: “Het Midden-Oosten, haard van spanningen en conflicten”, page 13, W. de Haan, Hilversum, 1967

“De Arabische nationalisten waren tengevolge van de vredesregeling uiterst verbitterd geworden. Zij beschuldigden Engeland van trouwbreuk, een volgens oeroude Arabische opvatting onvergeeflijke daad.”

Günther Deschner: “Saladins Söhne: Die Kurden – das betrogene Volk”, page 11, Droemerische Verlagsanstalt Th. Knaur Nachf., München, 1983

“Seit Jahrzehnten wird dieses unglückliches Volk von den Groszmächten oder den Staaten der Region als Instrument der eigenen Machtspolitik benutzt.”

“Onze Wereld”, 7th July, 1983

Louis Toscano: “Triple Cross”, page 196, Carol Publishing Group, New York, 1990

Seymour M. Hersh: “The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal”, page 64, Random House, New York, 1991

Ibid, page 318

Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre: “O Jerusalem”, page 27, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1972

United Nations General Assembly A/AC 21/10 16 Feb. 1948

Ibid

4. THE LORD’S SUPPER INSTITUTED AND JUDAS EXPOSED

– “After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:21-35).

The world upside down

We are experiencing tumultuous times!

Wars and revolutions are the order of the day. Let us therefore not forget to pay attention to the message of Ecclesiastes 10:7,

“I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.”

The author calls it “an evil under the sun, an error” when the world is turned upside down so that princes must walk as slaves, while slaves ride on horses.

This is the world upside down! Things are going wrong. That is “an evil under the sun!” We have seen it in the communist countries. In every country where servants have been put on horseback and where princes have been made to go on foot like servants, we see misery, poverty, and a terrible atmosphere. In this context, I must remind you of another verse of Scripture: Luke 11:24-26, where Jesus says,

“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

“This is a wicked generation”, says Jesus. True indeed!

When the spirit of communism has been chased from the (former) Soviet Union and a vacuum remains, don’t think that the devil will not take his chances again somewhere. That void will have to be filled, and I believe that it should be filled by a worldwide revival. It will also touch Jerusalem, so that the Kingdom of Peace may break through, precipitated by the conversion of the Jewish people. May God send His Spirit on all nations, so His Word may dwell richly in all mankind.

“Hallowed be Your Name.”

“Your kingdom come.”

No vacuum, which the devil could fill, please.

The front line

In our exposition of Scripture, we have now approached the Most Holy Place of the New Testament. Jesus says to Peter and John: “A man carrying a jar of water will meet you”. Because of His foreknowledge, they can find the Chamber of the Passover, which implies that He has barred Judas’ way. In my opinion, the man with the jar summarises every prophecy that points to the true Chamber of the Passover, to the true Lord’s Supper and the true recognition of the Blood of the Lamb.

If Jesus had not used this ‘code’, but if He had simply taken His disciples to the chamber, because He knew where it was, then Judas would have had plenty of time to leave and warn the chief priests: “There He is, in that street, at that number.” However, in doing things the way He did, He also barred Judas’ way. Indeed, everything is in sharp contrast with the kingdom of darkness: the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the very message of the gospel, which as a result is brought to the world, the preaching of His Blood, of His sacrifice, and the order: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”. This kingdom of darkness is a kingdom that is very eager to be efficient and that very much wants to assert itself. Satan is at war with God. It is a battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. We should never forget that. At that moment, we reach the front line.

Jesus blocks Judas’ way by using His foreknowledge. He says: “A man carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him to the house that he enters”. “Make preparations there.” Then, there is the ‘washing of the feet’ first. This washing of the feet contains the message: “Be the least to each other.” But it goes much deeper and much further. After the washing of the feet, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper, and, while breaking the bread, he says: “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me” and “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19 and 20). But before all this He says: “...one of you is going to betray me” (John 13:21).

Exposed through the Lord’s Supper

We can clearly see that there are different phases, and that the disciples are gradually becoming aware of what is happening. They were so naive in their reactions even though Jesus had started to show them much earlier that He had to suffer and die by the hands of chief priests and teachers of the law. We read in Matthew 16:21 that He had tried to make this clear to them for many days.

But could there be treason in their own circle?!

They looked at each other with embarrassment. They were even cautiously examining their own souls.

“Is it me?” “Is it me?” “Is it me?”

This is how Matthew describes it. Even Judas said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” (Matthew 26:25).

Why did Jesus do it in this way?

The Lord spoke to me about the false ecumenical movement at the time when it was established, “No, I shall not grant the Antichrist the honour of gathering My people together, but I shall do this with the lashes of My Word”. When I spoke about this betrayal by the ecumenical movement, people were most surprised and filled with indignation.

Now they start looking at each other with a bit of embarrassment, like in Canberra, where the seventh assembly of the World Council of Churches was held, February 7-20th, 1991. Speaking from the pulpit, a young Korean professor, Mrs. Chung Hyun Kyung, began to call up the spirits of a number of people from history, among others the spirit of Joan of Arc and the spirit of Hagar and of more women who had gone through a lot of difficult experiences. Even the Russian Orthodox took fright. The bishop of Smolensk, Goundiaev Kirill, said on behalf of all the Orthodox delegates, “The World Council of Churches should turn around 180 degrees and dispose of their liberal theology.” There were rumours that the Orthodox Churches would all withdraw together. [1]

They became slightly embarrassed.

In the time to come, people will become even more embarrassed.

Then, Jesus raises the question, “One of you will betray Me,” and the disciples do not know what this question means. How? What? This remark leads to Peter beckoning John: “Ask Him”.

John is reclining next to Jesus. We can clearly observe that not only Peter has an office which the pope wrongly claims for himself, but also John. John’s office is a prophetic one and Peter has a more pastoral function. But Peter does not dare stand in John’s way and go to Jesus to ask Him: “Lord, who is it?” No, he beckons John, who is reclining next to Jesus.

We read in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.”

This is the metaphorical language of the Old Testament. At table, the eldest son’s place was at the right hand side, next to his father, where business and family secrets were discussed. He would be the first to whom the father would talk intimately and make his will known, and his secrets and deliberations.

Jesus is close to the Father; He is the great Prophet, the Word of God Himself, God’s Word that became flesh, close to the Father - “He has made Him known”. In the same way, John was next to Jesus, the place of the eldest son, the place of prophecy, the place where information is exchanged which the others do not know or should not know.

Peter, therefore, respects John’s place and says, “Ask Him.” He beckons. Then, Jesus does not say to John—not even in a whisper— “It is Judas”.

Imagine if John had got up at the institution of the Lord’s Supperand had said, “I know. Peter beckoned me to ask Jesus and the Lord told me: It is Judas.” Surely Peter would have jumped up, taken his sword and beheaded Judas. After all, later, in the garden of Gethsemane, he used his sword, and cut off an ear of the high priest’s servant.

But here, nothing like that happened!

John did not get up! And neither did Peter!

– “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish” – (John 13:26).

Jesus revealed it through...the Last Supper!

In 1961, I announced this in Israel. I had conversations with rabbis and I told them, “The unfolding of the future as regards the Jewish people will have to take place through the Gentile world.” They even agreed with me. “However”, they said, “so far, we have not yet been aware of any power in your actions that might provoke us to jealousy.”

Back in Holland, I walked along the beach and prayed: “O God, what will you do to unify your church, so that we might reach Jerusalem. We are not able to do this because of the existing confusion within Christianity.”

Then the Lord said to me: “Put My blood on the Table.”

I took this message to my Christian brothers in The Hague. One of them showed me an issue of a church newspaper called ‘Hervormd Nederland’ in which it was written that the basis for the unification of the church of Christ should be the Lord’s Supper. But in the forefront of this were pastors who were of the same opinion as Professor Smits, who in those days said about the Blood of Christ, “As far as that is concerned, just throw my portion to the dogs.”[2]

The Blood of Jesus was thrown to the dogs. Church ministers with this attitude were leading the celebration of the ecumenical Lord’s Supper, for which the Assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi had given the guidelines in late1961.[3]

After we had read this article in the circle of the brothers, one of them said to me, “If you have received instructions to celebrate the Lord’s Supper too, then something will have to happen at that table of the Lord’s Supper, or else your message is not true.” I agreed.

Then we celebrated the Lord’s Supper for the first time. I expected that He would reveal where the Judas-like traits were, the signs of the kingdom of darkness. However, God performed an awe-inspiring miracle by healing a seriously sick woman. I called out to heaven, “If what I have to say in this world about the Jews and about Your Church is true, please restore this woman to health.” The woman got up and said, “It is as if thousands of threads of pain are being pulled from my neck.” She was examined in hospital, where she was found to be perfectly cured, although she had been suffering from an incurable disease.

An incredible miracle, in this very framework, namely the antithesis to the guidelines of the World Council of Churches regarding the ecumenical Lord’s Supper. This is the sign God gave us at that time!

In the future, too, the Lord will show where the battle is against the kingdom of darkness, which is ‘Judas-like’.

Much has been said about Judas. But I do not agree with those who hold Judas for any old villain, ethically speaking. That is not true.

The disciples would certainly have noticed in their three years of walking together if he had been a child molester, had led an immoral life, or had been a swindler. Nothing of the kind! He probably adhered very strictly to ceremonial law. Nobody suspected Judas of any evil. One just cannot say that he was a villain.

It is, indeed, a fulfilment of the Scriptures, which say in Psalm 41:9, “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”

‘Lifting up your heel’ means that you intend to kick your table companion. And as the treasurer, Judas may have stolen some cash. John wrote about this later in his gospel (John 12:6). But at that time, the disciples did not know about this. And that is really not the essence of Judas’ betrayal.

The thing that bothered Judas was the discovery that the Messiah had to suffer and die in order to redeem. In this respect, he thought along the same lines as Jewish rabbis of those days, who expected that a Messiah would put them at the top of the nations. And this was to be understood in a secular sense, which means that they would receive big power under the leadership of that Messiah.

But a Messiah who would die on a cross?!

“...a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23).

Grabbing for power

While breaking the bread, Jesus had said, “This is My body”, and after that, “This is My blood.”

In order to explain these words of Jesus, I would like to refer to the story in 2 Samuel 23, where we read that David’s men were in a fierce battle with the Philistines, actually with the kingdom of darkness, for essentially they were fighting the divine anointing of David. During this battle, David very much wanted to drink some water from the well of Bethlehem. His men went right across the dangerous enemy lines in order to fetch this water for him. But when they came back and brought him this water, he refused to drink it and said, “...Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?” (2 Samuel 23:17).

What he meant to say is, “My men have risked their own lives by going right across the dangerous enemy lines in order to fetch this water for me. I consider this too great a sacrifice. In fact, this water has the value of the blood of these men, because they risked their lives for me. That is why I do not want to drink it.”

This is oriental imagery. However, in the same sense, Jesus said during the institution of the Lord’s Supper, “This is My blood”, and “This is My body.” It is because He gives His life and His blood for the redemption of sinners and of the world, that He says, “Drink this wine, which is the symbol of My blood being shed, and eat this bread, which is the symbol of My body being crushed.” Then, before God in heaven, this counts as the blood and the body of His Son.

The water David was offered by his men did not need a transsubstantiation to change into their blood. It was and it remained water, but it counted with David as their blood.

In the same way, the wine that circulates during the Lord’s Supper counts as the blood of the Lamb, if we believe and confess our guilt before God.

And God does not count wrongly!

Nobody will become more powerful by this!

It is horrible that in the history of the church, priests and other church leaders obtained so much power by a false grab for the blood of the Lamb. Church history was horrible.

But one of the most striking moments is the Lateran Council of 1215 under Pope Innocentius III, where the doctrine of transsubstantiation was announced, which teaches a change of substance of the wine into the blood of Jesus, and a change of the bread into the body of Jesus. So, more than a thousand years after Jesus had instituted the Lord’s Supper, the church gave out a message that a change of substance takes place. This, of course, served the power of the priesthood, because it was only by the consecration, the blessing of the priest, that bread and wine could change into the body and the blood of Jesus. If you don’t belong to the priesthood, you are not entitled to do this. In this way, Rome became a huge, world-wide ‘distribution centre’. Without a certificate of membership or if mass was not performed by a priest, you would not receive the grace of the blood, the forgiveness of sin and everything connected with it. In this way, the church grabbed the holy blood of the Lamb to appropriate it for the power of the institution.

It is remarkable that during the same Council of 1215 the Jews were ordered to wear a ‘yellow spot’ as identification. So this expansion of the power of the institution, by seizing the blood of the Lamb in that way—namely no longer for the preaching of the gospel nor as a remembrance of Jesus and the way He had instituted in the Lord’s Supper—made it absolutely impossible for Israel to repent. The way they sealed this off was atrocious.

The yellow spot which the Jews had to wear on their clothes, was a reminder among other things of the round torture rack. One did not hesitate to put and break people on this wheel, merely for being Jews. It was also a reminder of the round consecrated host—symbol of the body of Christ, of whose death they were guilty. This is how it was put in those days.

It also served as a reminder of the round coin and the round seal of the emperor and the authorities, whose possession they were—slaves of the powers of those days. And finally, it was a reminder of the zero that multiplies each number. Therefore the Christians believed this round ‘yellow spot’ to be the indication of eternal excruciating pain, to which the Jews would once be abandoned because of their usurious practices. Prostitutes, heretics and Jews all had to wear this ‘yellow spot’, whether they had done anything wrong or not.[4]

These gruesome decisions were made at the same Council during
which the church grabbed the blood of the Lamb by proclaiming a transsubstantiation by the consecration of the priest.

These striking points from church history still have their influence today. This blasphemy by the Lateran Council of 1215 was once more confirmed during the Council of Trent in 1551:

– “If anyone denies that in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointlywith the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and denies that wonderful and singular change of the whole substance of the bread into the body and the whole substance of the wine into the blood, the appearances only of bread and wine remaining, which change the Catholic Church most aptly calls transsubstantiation, let him be anathema.” –[5]

Cursed!

Anathema sit!

Every catholic priest still has to adhere to this curse.[6]

I am not focussing on Roman Catholic people as such, although there is a collective responsibility, but the issue is what the documents of the institution say. What is written on paper? According to what instructions did they act?

History has taught us that Hitler drew his inspiration from the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He forced the Jews to wear a yellow star, so as to set them apart, to isolate them socially, and to finally gas them in the concentration camps. This is so much contrary to Paul’s message directed to this very church of Rome in Romans 11:25-26:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved ...” [KJV]

The apostle saw a clear connection between ‘being conceited’ and ‘being ignorant’ of the future acceptance of the Jewish people, after their ‘hardening in part’ has been lifted. Church history demonstrates in a gruesome way the truth that was avowed here by Paul.

When one lives without the expectation of the coming Kingdom through the conversion of the Jewish people, one almost automatically turns to denatured thinking about the church as an institution. One finds that such a church has ‘succeeded’, and one lacks the notion of one’s own tentativeness. There is no openness to a future intervention from God, no hope for further fulfilment, a spirit of self-supremacy, a passion for monopoly and a delusion of infallibility which grieve the Spirit of Christ.

The blood of Jesus Christ has been dallied with in a terrible way. Not only by Rome. Other churches, too, have extended the power of their institutions.

- “Considering the opinions, the synod decides...” -

- “The Council decides: Cursed are they who teach that...” –

- “The pope proclaims ex cathedra...” –

Indeed!

And this causes the table of the Lord’s Supper to be divided.

There is no respect for the blood of the Lamb, no emphasis on it.

But Jesus, on the contrary, does emphasise it!

When He takes the wine and thus, so to speak, provides the ‘gold coverage of the banknote’ by shedding His blood for a lost world, He says, “This is My blood.” And then it counts as the blood of the Lamb before God and the great David!

When Jesus gives Judas this piece of broken bread, thus qualified according to the way God counts, Judas leaves the table. Satan enters him.

The point is that Judas could not bear that a Messiah had to die as the Lamb of God, whose blood had to be shed and whose body had to be broken. If this is how the piece of bread counts with God and God’s power is in it, then, when Jesus gives it to Judas, it drives him out.

One day, through God’s people celebrating the Lord’s Supper, Jesus will reach out His hand from the Supper Table to the Jewish people and He will give the morsel of bread to Jerusalem. Then Satan will not enter humanity; on the contrary, he will be driven out of humanity. Then he will be bound on the basis of this bloodshed, because it counts with God as the blood of the Lamb.

That is what we should aim for as the very fulfilment of Pesach, of deliverance.

It will not be brought about by a human being. It will be brought about by the Word and the sacrament of the cross. It will not be through the apostle John, although he is an instrument. It will not be through Peter either, even though he is an instrument, too. The only power by which Satan can be bound is the blood of the Lamb, for that is where the power of God lies.

The instrument or the Word

I would like to draw your attention again to Luke 11, where Jesus spoke about an evil spirit going through arid places and then returning to the house it left. This passage is found between a few other passages that are all related.

When Jesus had said these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” (verse 27).

Time and again, the unfaithful and apostate Christianity has had the tendency to focus on the instrument. After all, Mary was the ‘instrument’ for the incarnate Word. ‘Instrument’ is a somewhat mechanical word, so let us say the ‘means’. Mary was the human means by which the Word became flesh, the instrument. Then, with time, people no longer pay attention to what the Word of God says, but only to the instrument. “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Jesus immediately responded to this, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

That is the important part.

If you only pay attention to the instrument, you are on the edge of the demonic. There will be a vacuum. When faith deteriorates into sightseeing visits to churches, contemplating their beauty and splendid surroundings, people don’t understand the Word of the cross any more!

The Word of God is in fact the Word of the cross! He died for us!

As I stated before, the story of the evil spirits is set between two other passages. I have just talked about the passage that follows it. But in the preceding passage, it says, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters” (verse 23).

One cannot gather for Mary giving birth, or for Mary nursing Jesus. One cannot assemble for any institution or instrument—
although instruments are necessary. But all of these should not be detached from the contents of the Word! That is demonic. The result will be a vacuum, which leads to a false Messianism in the shape of fascism or communism or some other ‘ism’.

In that respect, the Netherlands have become so empty! Everything centres around ‘the church, the church, the church’.

But what exactly is the important issue?

Is it Mary nursing?

This is what annoyed Jesus.

So, John too, fulfils a special function, which is illustrated in several ways.

A twofold function

The revelation about the mystery of the betrayal is shown to John. He is already present in the garden of the high priest, whereas Peter is not.

We see John standing by the cross. Peter is not there.

While hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusts His mother Mary to John.

The same difference is seen at the resurrection. John runs faster than Peter and he believes. Peter is astonished.

In the miraculous catch of fish, John was the first to recognise Jesus. He said, “It is the Lord.” At these words, Peter comes into action and jumps into the water.

It is the Word that brings it all about!

The conclusion of the story of the miraculous catch of fish shows a distinction between John and Peter as well. Jesus says about John, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me” (John 21:22).

After all, it was John who remained, in a metaphorical sense, close to Jesus. He received a revelation of what history would bring until the end of the world.

John and Peter each have their own different function.

There is prophecy and there is the pastorate. Do not get rid of these! I hope true pastors will stand up everywhere, pastors whose only concern is the Name of Jesus and getting together for Jesus. Not just for an organisation, but for Jesus in order to proclaim Him!

Ready to lay down your life

The New Testament says:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

This verse starts with the word ‘for’, which means that it refers to the preceding verse, which says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up ...” (Verse 14).

God allowed His Son to suffer even that humiliation. God loved the world so much that He made Him to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), like the snake which was put up on a pole. This is also the essence of Jesus’ message.

In John 15:13, He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

These are words which He spoke at the table of the Last Supper. In fact, we ought to read and reread John chapters 14-17. These chapters contain the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper. So was His high-priestly prayer, which was the closing prayer of the Last Supper: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.” Laying down your life for your friends. “You are my friends”, He said in John 15:14. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” It is genuine love that is shown by paying the penalty for them. It shows when you risk your life for your comrade, for your friend, for your neighbour. Risking your life—as so often happened during the German occupation, when people, jeopardising their own lives, at great risk, kept Jewish people in hiding or performed other deeds of resistance out of love for their neighbours.

Love is related to self-sacrifice. But self-sacrifice is also related to heroism.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a HERO!

His Son is His HEART!

He sacrifices Himself for this lost world. That is the love of God! We can read this in John 15:13, and the apostle John also mentions it in 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

Therefore this line of God’s heroism in giving up his life and taking upon Himself our lost state is the essence of the Gospel. That is what should be expressed in the way we behave, so that we, too, will be willing to lay down our lives for others.

Judas could not accept the fact that Jesus would lay down His life.

So he leaves the table.

A worldwide circle of congregations should develop who celebrate the Lord’s Supper not for their own religious needs, but as a proclamation to the Jewish people—preaching in word and deed God’s love and heroism and the fact that He laid down His life for us.

That is the Gospel!

If a concentration of this self-sacrificial love does not develop in our wicked world, where everybody is fighting for their own interests, smashing one another’s skulls in their struggle for power,—if the Church of Christ does not apply the teaching of washing one another’s feet in a spiritual way, and does not learn once again self-sacrifice at the table of the Lord’s Supper and through the Lord’s Supper and the proclamation of the cross, we, too, will find ourselves in Yugoslavia-like situations.

But if the Church of Christ gathers around the essence of the gospel, then there will be a future for our country, provided that we gather in a unanimous acknowledgement of the love of God, such as He is in His divine heroism, because by ignoring God’s love in sacrificing Himself to pay our penalty, we offend Him.

Let us therefore pray,

“Hallowed be Your Name”—the Name of our heroic God;

“Your Kingdom come”—of service we render each other;

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

Then, automatically the bread follows for each of us:

“Give us today our daily bread”

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”—
washing each other’s feet;

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”—
according to Jesus’ words, it is evident that the devil is a reality:

“deliver us from the evil one.”

And then we may proclaim:

“For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

AMEN

______

“Getrouw”, volume 44, number 4, August 1991

Prof. Dr. P. Smits, chief editor of the official organ of the Union of Liberal Reformed in the Netherlands, ‘Kerk en Wereld’ (Church and World) in number 7 of the 51st annual, 1959.

“Hervormd Den Haag”, 20th January 1962, page 13: “New Delhi en Nederland”.
“Hervormd Den Haag”, 24th February 1962, page 3: “Antwoord op de uitdaging van New Delhi”.

Dr. Hans Jansen: “Christelijke theologie na Auschwitz”, part 1, page 107 and 108, Uitgeverij Boekencentrum BV, ’s-Gravenhage, The Netherlands, 1958

Council of Trente, 13th session, Canon 2 H.J. Hegger: “Hand in hand met Rome?”, page 110, Uitgeverij T. Wever, Franeker, 1973

T. Vanhuysse: “Roomse mis of bijbels avondmaal”, page 5-11, Uitgeverij Manix en In de Rechte Straat, Velp

EPILOGUE

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:22-27).

By proclaiming “the whole will of God,” as Paul says, or in other words, “I have concealed nothing,” he considers himself innocent of the blood of all men.

This is a very profound statement.

I believe that with this attitude, he finds himself on a level with Ezekiel, who was called by God and received the following message:

“When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood” (Ezekiel 3:18).

An arduous task

When, more than 50 years ago, I read my ordination sermon in the village of Vlagtwedde, my Scripture text was Ezekiel 3:1—in retrospect, most amazing.

“Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

Of course I had already studied the surrounding passages and I had an immediate feeling: What a burden of the Lord! What a mission! What a responsibility!

All the more so, because a little further in the chapter we read: When you do not say what I command you, “I will hold you accountable for his blood” (Ezekiel 3:18). So it is indeed a very serious matter!

And this is how Paul regards it as well.

I do not know whether he had the prophet Ezekiel in mind at that time, but with this announcement, he is on the same wavelength as all the prophets. There is no difference between prophets and apostles in their sense of responsibility regarding the Word of God.

If, while living under that pressure of responsibility, you are suddenly confronted with something unexpected, namely a message from God, like the one I received in 1948, then that message weighs heavily on your soul. For, if you remain silent, you know you will be held accountable.

When God gives a message, He puts the weight of responsibility on your shoulders at the same time. That is why, at that time, I immediately turned to the official dignitaries of the church in whose service I was, in order to inform them of the message I had received. However, there was no possibility to share it, so as to have it examined.

Nevertheless, it is a fundamental law of the Kingdom of God that it is impossible to put a lock on God’s mouth, neither by ecclesiastical denominations, nor by pronouncements of the synod.

It is simply impossible!

The Spirit blows wherever He pleases!

God is sovereign!

If God wants to give a message for a certain time, He will do so and He will call a person, or He will call several people. And if there is no room to do so, it is legitimate, according to the fundamental law of the Kingdom of God, for the ministry of the believers to come into action. If the ministers and the elders in their particular ministries are inaccessible, the believers have the duty to say: We will find a way for that which must be revealed to actually be revealed. This is a special burden for the believers in their ministry.

An extremely heavy burden!

For, if they do not act according to God’s command, they may be held accountable for the blood of those who are not right in the sight of God.

I am deeply grateful that the Lord God has put this sense of responsibility into the hearts of many believers who have been willing to listen to me, so that this message may finally be presented to any ecclesiastical denomination of both Christianity and Judaism.

It is a critical matter, indeed!

I am grateful for the love that my family and I have received, for the intercession, the sacrifices and the meetings. All this reveals a tremendous loyalty, which comforts me and has given me strength to complete this extremely heavy task in life, which is not yet finished but is now continuing in a different shape. From the depth of my heart and before God, I would like to express my gratitude.

Obviously, a bond has grown with the believers who have taken up their duty regarding prophecy, both nationally and internationally.

Embarking for Jerusalem

This is what Paul called it when he had to say farewell to a delegation from Ephesus at Miletus. He even used the expression ‘tearing yourself away’. “After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos” (Acts 21:1).

They embarked for Jerusalem. In this journey to Jerusalem, Paul did not confer with flesh and blood thinking he might be better off there. He did not seek his own interest. No, Paul was aware, through the Holy Spirit, that he would meet with captivity and oppression, which later was confirmed by a prophet named Agabus. This prophet took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles” (Acts 21:11).

This prophecy was realised.

Paul was not seeking his own interests. He was even prepared to die for the Name of Jesus, in spite of the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the prophecy that was pronounced on him. He was ready to lay down his life for the salvation of Jerusalem!

Paul’s heart always remained with Jerusalem, even on his journeys into the distant Gentile world, because God’s heart remains with Jerusalem so as to ultimately claim it again.

The mission remains

Getting back now to our situation of today, I would say that the command: “Put My blood on the table” should be maintained. I cannot, however, give you detailed guidelines on how to work out this assignment.

Once, when I was in Switzerland, a woman who was known to be a very sincere Christian, came up to me and told me: “Reverend, I was once in great distress due to a disease that covered my skin with ugly sores. No doctor could cure me. In this bitter need, I turned to Jesus. I wanted to partake of the Lord’s Supper together with Jesus. I sat down at table and, all by myself, I partook of the Supper together with the Lord, and I was healed of my sores.”

I was stupefied! I was, of course, used to all sorts of rules, regulations and liturgies, like a church council around me.

And now such a thing happened!

It reminded me of what the Gospel tells about the sick woman, who was in such great distress. She just touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. Touching Jesus’ garment as that woman did, however, cannot be made into a law. You cannot say: Every Christian should do something like this. You cannot generalise this. This is a profoundly existential and personal faith.

Nobody should condemn such a thing! One should not say: This is not the way to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, just by yourself. In any case, I dare not make a judgement in this matter.

There was another case, too.

At the time of the segregation, when I was facing problemsabout the Lord’s Supper, a great artist, renowned in the Netherlands, spoke to me very seriously. I saw many empty chairs that had formerly been occupied by people who now attended services in the ‘segregated’ church. This artist said to me: “I have heard about your troubles regarding who is and who is not allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper. But if you want the Lord’s Supper to be celebrated in truthfulness, so that ultimately this testimony will reach Jerusalem, why not call the Christians together to celebrate it once a year on Good Friday? Wouldn’t this appeal to Jerusalem more than making it a frequent celebration, which may remind people of Roman Catholic rituals? Pentecost is not celebrated repeatedly, is it? Neither are Christmas or Easter celebrated weekly or monthly, are they?

If you regard the cycle of feasts as being fulfilled in Jesus, why should you not adapt this in method and frequency, by emphasizing once a year the sacrifice of Jesus and saying: ‘Jerusalem, the Passover has been fulfilled by the New Covenant in His blood!?’

What this man said really made me think. I pondered it seriously and considered it often in my heart and I have come to believe that the one view does not exclude the other.

I believe that what this Swiss woman did is possible with God and that it could be done once a month or once a year.

A monthly or an annual celebration on Good Friday might finally culminate in Jerusalem being surrounded with the mighty sign of God’s love.

My expectation is that it will all come together in God’s selfsacrificial love through the blood of His Son.

Neither the one nor the other can be excluded.

Rather, do the one thing, but do not neglect the other.

At this stage of my work, I have no specific guidelines yet. But I do say: ‘The command “do this in remembrance of Me” remains!’ And this remembrance at the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the death of the Lord.

Unfortunately, the spiritual understanding of the Lord’s Supper in the hearts of people has shifted away from the original meaning, because the church has not represented it correctly to the believers. A degradation. Originally, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper was not meant to satisfy a religious need, though I certainly would not rule out that that might be a part of it. For the believer, partaking of the Lord’s Supper is a confirmation that the blood of reconciliation also counts for him personally as well as for the Church.

Witnesses in a court case

If I understand the institutional words correctly and compare them to the mission Jesus gave to His disciples on the Mount of Olives shortly before His ascension, He points out that we should be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Originally the word ‘witness’ has quite a different meaning from the way in which it is used nowadays in evangelism. It is originally a word that belongs in a courtroom.

The same word for ‘witnesses’ is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament which dates from the third century b.c. and in the New Testament. Indeed, the concept of ‘witness’ is entirely rooted in the atmosphere of the courtroom.

When the disciples asked Jesus: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”, His answer was:

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 and 8).

The walls of that ‘courtroom’ are world-wide!

And that is where the church of Christ must be a witness.

The Greek word for ‘witness’ in Acts 1 is identical to the word used for the Greek translation of the ‘witness’ in Isaiah 43 and 44.

In Isaiah 43:9-12, we read how Isaiah must tell the people of Israel that they are called to be witnesses of God in the great spiritual lawsuit against the nations around them, who worship idols.

It is a lawsuit about who is the true God, a court case that God wants to see confirmed in the salvation and redemption of His people in a much more wonderful way than He would deal with any other nation. In the great trial of exile and deliverance from exile, the Jewish people are to be witnesses of God.
Both in Isaiah 43 and 44, this is very clearly expressed and even quoted almost literally in the way Jesus gave the command to His disciples at the occasion of His ascension: “You are my witnesses.” In Isaiah 43:12, the prophet said in the Name of God: “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.” Jesus connected this: “You are my witnesses”, also to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. In Luke 22:30, in His speech at the Last Supper, He said: “So that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”.

So, in Luke 22, the Last Supper was explicitly included as a proclamation in the setting of the courtroom. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit comes, He comes to grant power to take up the lawsuit against Jerusalem, and also for the salvation of Jerusalem. So it is a court case in order to display God’s love.

What happened at Pentecost in Acts 2 is therefore the report of a court case, of a trial, in which Peter does not show lack of love, but in which he calls out: “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” You have crucified and killed your own Messiah, the One who shows you the way to eternal life, the Prince of life”. They were cut to the heart!

Certain things need to be said—also at the table of the Lord’s Supper—that will cut people to the heart, for their salvation!

This is the mission of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper!

Unfortunately, I must establish that—not only at the Lateran Council—the Lord’s Supper has been disconnected from the ultimate aim God had in His heart, namely to win Jerusalem, His people, as His bride again, and to press them to His heart and bring them to their rightful place again, together with His Church from the Gentile world. But the Church from the Gentile world has even wanted to sever and abolish God’s covenant with Israel and expressed opinions that were preposterous.

Apart from a few exceptions, the reformed churches, too, have taken little notice of Romans 9-11: “...until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved.” [KJV]

In that way!

In the way of: “...because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious (...) in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.” This is what we may and must proclaim at the Supper Table!

In the end, this is the way in which we gather the stones of the broken altar of Pentecost and on this altar, God can send the fire of His Spirit, in order to finally, as Jesus said, “...convict the world ... in regard to sin ... because men do not believe in me, in regard to righteousness—which means ‘salvation’—because I am going to the Father ... and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:8-11).

This is the way to bind Satan at the very moment when he has reached a climax in misleading the nations. We see enough of this in our days, this process of tempting and misleading nations, of trouble spots all over the world, of wars and rumours of wars, of famines and epidemics—all this is happening these days, and it is moving towards a climax.

For Israel as well!

It will be ‘to be or not to be’.

At that time, He wants a gathering of the altar of reconciliation in the way of Elijah, in the shape of a joint celebration of the Lord’s Supper with the following threefold motivation:

1. Causing the love of Christians among each other to grow. Passing on the Cup to each other. Wishing others the redemption in the blood of the Lamb too, showing it to them by passing them the Cup.

2. Fighting against false unity! For the devil has wanted to reach out his claws for the Blood of the Lamb by instituting a celebration of the Lord’s Supper following he directives of New Delhi (more about this will be written in the 4th volume of this Shofar series) in order to establish false unity, false synthesis by force.

3. Pursuing the analogy of the relation of the tribes to the priestly tribe of Levi, so that the Jewish people may reach their Messianic destination, namely, being a kingdom of priests, the ministry to which they are set apart by Christians all over the world.

The Lord is alive and He wants to gather His redeemed from all churches and congregations. This is also what the Scripture says.

At the Council of the apostles in Acts 15:1-21, Peter has declared “...how God at first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name” [KJV]. Not for a particular denomination!

He will gather a people for His Name, and after that—in this order—He will “rebuild David’s fallen tent” (Acts 15:16) so that the remaining people might seek the Lord. Then He will send Jesus Christ—when the entire trial is completed—whom heaven must receive until the time of the restoration of all things.

The Lord is coming!

There will be a moment in time when He comes. But before He comes, He wants to gather His people, and connected to this is the gathering at the one Supper Table.

In Luke 22:29 and 30, it is expressed as follows, “And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.”

The Supper Table will have a central place in this process of conferring the kingdom.

When I, now, metaphorically, must embark for Jerusalem, then I also have to ‘tear’ myself away from a group of people who have taken the task of the believers seriously, until the real servants, church leaders, come to the conclusion that this is God’s way of approaching Jerusalem.

After all, He is the fulfilment of the Pesach of the Old Covenant. He shed His blood as the blood of the New Covenant. Then, the Kingdom of God will come and He wants to invite us at His Table in order to eat and drink with us. And in this embrace through the mighty sign of God’s love, the Lord’s Supper, He will certainly also give the broken bread and the wine to Jerusalem. And so they will exclaim:

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

______

Table of Contents

Copyright

Preface

Prologue

The mystery of Israel

Called in 1948

Elijah’s mission

The Arabs

1. The wise and the foolish virgins

When the Master stays away a long time

Watch out

The door is closing

2. Jesus goes back and forth between the Temple and the Mount of Olives

The feet of the Messiah

Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament

The inner circle

Times and dates

3. The man with the jar and the washing of the feet

A parable in actions

Satanic politics

The United States of America

The man with the jar

Hiel’s way of building (cf. 1 Kings 16:34)

Colonialism

The divine formula

The competition of the altars

Conclusion

4. The Lord’s Supper instituted and Judas exposed

The world upside down

The front line

Exposed through the Lord’s Supper

Grabbing for power

The instrument or the Word

A twofold function

Ready to lay down your life

Epilogue

An arduous task

Embarking for Jerusalem

The mission remains

Witnesses in a court case