Out of Zion

Dr. Susan Michael: I want to just make some introductory comments about who is the ICEJ and I want to set the larger context for what our tour program is a part of. And you know you every organization you're supposed to have what you call your elevator speech and it's that little 30-second spiel about what you do and it's almost entirely impossible with the ICEJ. Your elevator speech is only about one aspect cuz we're so amazing. And the the ICEJ is completely and totally unique. It cannot be replicated and it will never be replicated. There will only and ever be one international Christian embassy in Jerusalem when you stop and think about it in that way.

We have a prophetic mandate, a very unique calling to a unique people with a unique history in a unique city at a unique time in history. And it will never be replicated again. So first our unique calling. We are called to be an international Christian embassy in Jerusalem. We represent the global Christian church to Israel and we are a bridge for Israel back to that global Christian church. That that is our role is this bridge between the two. Our story is so unique and I know that you've all heard it. But just to review that in 1980 the state of Israel was only 35 years old.

Think about it. It was such a young state. I mean they were still forming. They were still creating the nation. They were still being run by a lot of the pioneers that had formed the nation were still in place. And there in in the in the heart of the nation then they announced that all of Jerusalem, not just West Jerusalem, all of Jerusalem was the eternal and undivided capital of the state of Israel. It would never be divided again. And of course there was international uproar against that. The Arab countries threatened all embargoes on any country that recognized it.

The embassies that were there packed up and moved out of the city. And there were a group of Christians living there that had two burdens and one of those burdens was that they needed to start an organization of Christian support for Israel. There were none. I know we have a whole plethora of them now. But there were none. There had been key individuals in history that had done things. But there was nothing like what was needed in the ICEJ and that was a global Christian ministry to stand up and say we support Israel. we stand with Israel at this time.

And so they seized that moment in history and they announced we do not support what our governments have done and we're starting an international Christian embassy in Jerusalem because we understand the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people and we stand with them at this time. It was a unique moment in history but it was seized by visionaries and pioneers that saw that moment and they took advantage of it and they launched this ministry. And so from day one we have had this quasi it's unofficial. We are not a real embassy. But we actually in the kingdom of God we are an embassy and we are there representing you and Christians from all around the world to this people in Israel there on the front lines in the city of Jerusalem.

So it is totally unique. It will not be replicated in any other city. It's unique to that place and that role. We are also called to a very unique city, the city of Jerusalem. Is a city that God himself chose and he chose to place his name there. Do you know 34 times in scripture it says that God placed his name there, the place that he would choose to place his name. So I gave you a little the topography of Jerusalem is very interesting in that you have these three valleys that actually right here it's very easy to see make the sheen, the Hebrew letter which actually stands for Shaddai which is one of the names of God.

But the priestly blessing is given where he holds up is then I can't do it but as a sheen as he does the priestly blessing cuz it is a symbol for the name of God. Now is it a just a coincidence that the valleys there in Jerusalem this being the the Temple Mount here has this topography that his name is seen there. Well whether that's what he meant or not for sure it is a city that God himself chose. It is the city he chose for the Israelites to come up three times a year to worship him in.

It's a city he chose where that temple would be placed. He told David this was the place that he had chosen and he confirmed it to Solomon when they dedicated the temple. This is the place that I have chosen. So he chose it. He chose it to be the place where his son would come and die and be resurrected from the dead on our behalf. It's the place where he has chosen that Jesus will return too. It's this city. It's a city he chose. There's no other city on the face of the earth that has this unique role.

And we're there and we're called to be there to represent him in that city. We are also called to a unique people. Now there's only one people group on the face of the earth that were created by an act of God. Isaac was a miracle. The birth of Isaac was a miracle. Yes it came from Abraham's seed and and Sarah's womb but it was a miracle. See it's a people that was created in order to serve him and to fulfill this calling of blessing all the families of the earth with his plan of redemption. Now think about that.

We're called to that people. Totally unique people group. Through them he gave us the law, the promises, the promises we hold on to every day, the covenants that we were grafted into, the prophets that we're inspired by and that guide us. They gave us the Messiah. They even gave us his death on the tree that we're atoned through. And they're going to give us his return back to the planet. And we're called to them. And we're called to go to them with a witness of Christian love and support to this most unique people group in history.

Now they also are a people group with a unique history. We are called into a very unique setting because of this history. We are called to bring Christian love and witness to the only people group in the face of the earth that was discriminated against and persecuted and hated by the established church. And not just one church in one country or or at one season in time but the established church for centuries. And we are to come to them and say disregard 1,700 years of Christianity, disregard that you think Jesus brings bigotry and hatred. Um we're here to tell you Jesus really brings love.

You know it's like disregard all that history. We're here with the real message. So you can imagine that's a very unique context and you can imagine of course the skepticism that we have been that we have met which of course we've overcome a lot of it. But this is a very unique context for ministry. And we at the ICEJ have the privilege of tackling 2,000 years of history and making amends for it. Boy what a calling. Now we are also called with a message that's very hard to understand. Why? It 's actually a mystery. And the apostle Paul referred to the mystery of Israel.

Just as the Jews were blinded to the truth about Jesus to a large degree the church throughout history was blinded to the truth about the Jewish people. And here we are at a time where God is ready to remove that veil. It's we're we're called to be that forerunner to help remove that veil over the hearts of the church. And now is the time that he is wanting to reveal this and has been over the last 500 years. I don't want it to sound like it's just today but we are a part of an amazing call to bring the truth of God's word to his church and bring understanding of this mystery.

The the apostle Paul in Romans 11:25 refers to it. He says I do not desire brethren that you would be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it and and then he goes on as it is written that he will bring salvation to Jacob. Now this is the mystery of Israel that there's blindness in part until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. It's this whole role of Israel and the church and what God is doing and how could he use this people that are blinded in part and it's a mystery.

It's not easy and and and it's almost like a peeling of a of an onion. You you you do layer by layer. You don't get it all overnight or in one reading of the Bible or in one setting. And that's what we're called to bring is a message and a teaching a message that is just not simply grasped just like that and by So lastly we are called with a very unique prophetic mandate. It is no coincidence that our organization was born out of the very first international celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The original founders as I said they had two burdens really.

One of them was that the church needed to begin celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles because the church to the large degree back in 1980 nobody talked about the Feast of Tabernacles. There wasn't teaching about it in the church. There was very little understanding of this third great Feast of Israel. We all understood Passover cuz we had our Christian fulfillment of it. And we understood Pentecost which was Shavuot. But we had no understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles which is the only Feast of Israel that it was predicted by Zechariah that the Gentiles would actually celebrate it one day.

So they felt we've got to start celebrating this thing and in 1980 they were holding the very first international celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles when just two months earlier the Israeli government proclaimed Jerusalem as the capital. So it was at the very first Feast that those founders announced we are starting an international Christian embassy Jerusalem to represent Christians to Israel at this moment. Now why what's the connection? I honestly don't think that our founders back in the late '70s and in 1980 really understood the connection. Maybe they did but I doubt it. But God understood the connection here that in Zechariah where it says that all the Gentiles will will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

This is in the future. This is in the Messianic era. In Zechariah 14:16 it says and it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem she will go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. It's no coincidence that from the first Feast of Tabernacles an organization was born to go out to the nations and gather them year after year to Jerusalem to begin celebrating the Feast and to bring this teaching and we're preparing the nations for that day when they really will go up to to worship the Lord in Jerusalem.

One day this is a picture of the Feast. This is from the back behind the orchestra. These are all the flags of the nations that year being held up in front of the audience. One day we're going to stand here and look out and we're going to be able to say every nation on earth is represented here today. And all that is just practice for the fulfillment of Zechariah. But this organization has this prophetic mandate of this work out in the nations bringing them up to Jerusalem, bringing an understanding of Jerusalem and understanding of Israel and understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles and understanding of what God is doing in the earth today.

So welcome to the ICEJ. This is why we take our calling very seriously and this is why we take training of anyone that will be speaking on our behalf or representing us very seriously. These issues we deal with are highly sensitive. There are mix. They're theological, prophetic, political and historical all at the same time. We daily at this organization walk a tightrope of handling the truth of God's word in a way that is non-compromising but that is balanced and sensitive to the Jewish people we're called to and to the church that we're called to. You don't learn this overnight.

It takes years of learning and of practice and of using it but you have the benefit of learning from 37 years of the ICEJ. The experience that we have and that's why we wanted to bring you together here today to begin a process of training so that if you will be helping us leading a tour or maybe even speaking at a church, talking to other pastors about us that we take this training very very seriously. And in addition to what we're going to be doing here together this week we do require anyone that will be representing us or speaking for us to go through this study series, the biblical Zionism.

We brought copies of it. If you don't have it we'll actually just give you a copy of this to take one per couple. We didn't bring a whole lot but we can also mail it to you is so that you can go through this and I'd like for you after you have gone through it just to send me an email to let me know that you finished it and tell me what it did in your life because it's really amazing teaching by Reverend Malcolm Hedding. And it's got a little outline you can follow along and this gives you the real scriptural biblical foundation of what we do.

Beyond that we have two other small group series that anyone that really is a serious and going the next level we would require and that you listen to both of these. They go through the history of Christian anti-Semitism, talk about Islam. They talk about the history of modern Israel, the conflict with Israel and a lot a lot a lot of information. So you are here today because you feel called of God to some aspect of the ICEJ. And so I just want to say welcome. I welcome you warmly. I warn you it's not easy but it is a tremendous privilege to be a part of this organization and ministry and calling in the day.

So welcome.