Worthy News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet early Friday approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire framework that aims to end active hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining Israeli hostages, despite unified opposition from far-right coalition partners.
A U.S. military team of 200 personnel will be deployed across the Middle East to help oversee the newly brokered Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, senior U.S. officials confirmed Thursday, marking the next phase of President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace initiative.
China has unveiled sweeping new export restrictions on rare-earth materials and related technologies — a move analysts describe as a near-unprecedented escalation in its economic confrontation with the United States. The rules, announced Thursday by China’s Commerce Ministry, could disrupt global supply chains for critical technologies, from semiconductors and solar panels to electric vehicles and advanced weapons systems.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly admitted that Russian air defenses were responsible for downing an Azerbaijani passenger jet last December, killing 38 people, in what analysts say marks a stunning acknowledgment that further erodes Moscow’s standing among former Soviet republics.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump confirmed Thursday that he will visit Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and deliver a major address to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, amid rising hopes that his proposed ceasefire plan could end the devastating war with Hamas and bring peace to the Jewish nation and the region.
Hamas declared the end of more than two years of war between Israel and the Islamist group after both sides signed a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at establishing a permanent halt to hostilities in Gaza.
With a notoriously cold winter approaching, Russia has launched a major campaign to deny Ukraine heat, light, and running water, authorities said Wednesday.
Christians in more than 20 villages in central India were without the possibility to bury their loved ones in a dignified way on Thursday after Hindu nationalists reportedly stripped them of that right as part of a crackdown on spreading Christianity.
A senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday that the momentum toward a Ukraine peace agreement—sparked after President Vladimir Putin’s August summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska—has “largely been exhausted,” blaming European allies of Kyiv for obstructing diplomatic progress.
Thousands of churches across the United Kingdom may close within the next five years as financial hardship, maintenance costs, and declining attendance continue to erode the viability of many congregations, according to a new nationwide survey.
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Worthy Devotions
Elul is unlike any other month. As we mentioned yesterday, it is the 12th month on the civil calendar and the 6th on the prophetic calendar. This dual position gives Elul a unique character — it both closes a cycle and prepares for a new one. That is why the shofar sounds each day during Elul: it is a wake-up call, reminding us to reflect, repent, and return to the Lord before the great and awesome days of the Fall Feasts.
This begins a very special season on God’s calendar — the month of preparation before the Fall Feasts. The month of Elul is unique: it is the 12th month on the civil calendar and the 6th month on the prophetic/biblical calendar. Each day of Elul is marked by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet call that awakens the soul. These daily blasts prepare our hearts for Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah) and ultimately for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
We have come to the final meditation in this journey through the Z’roah, the Arm of the LORD. From the Arm that redeemed Israel out of Egypt, to the Arm that pierced the dragon, to the Arm that is coming with reward — all of these revelations lead us here: the Arm that brings His people into rest.
Isaiah’s vision looks ahead — not only to the Arm of the LORD revealed in the Exodus or even in the cross, but to the day when that same Arm will come again in glory. This is not a picture of brute force but of purposeful arrival. The Z’roah — the Arm of the LORD — comes clothed with strength to establish His rule, and He does not come empty-handed. His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him. The promise is sure: He is coming, and He is rewarding.
Isaiah recalls the Exodus as the supreme display of God’s Z’roah, His Arm of glory. Though the people saw Moses raise his staff over the Red Sea, it was not Moses’ power that split the waters. Behind the prophet’s hand was the Arm of the LORD — majestic, glorious, and unstoppable. The sea parted not to honor Moses, but to exalt the Name of the God who sent him. The Red Sea became a stage for God to reveal His glory, so that His Name would echo through generations as the Deliverer of His people.
Jeremiah uttered these words when everything around him looked hopeless. Babylon’s armies surrounded Jerusalem, the city was on the brink of destruction, and yet God told Jeremiah to buy a field as a prophetic sign that restoration would come. The prophet responded in awe: the God who created the heavens and the earth by His outstretched arm (bizroa netuyah) is not bound by human circumstances. The same God who set galaxies in place and boundaries for the seas is the God who still moves to redeem His people. Truly, nothing is too hard for Him.
Isaiah’s words summon one of the most dramatic images of God’s saving power: the Z’roah — the Arm of the LORD — cutting Rahab in pieces and piercing the dragon.
Here, Rahab is not the woman of Jericho but a poetic name for Egypt (Psalm 87:4), often symbolizing arrogant nations and the dark spiritual powers behind them. In Hebrew poetry, Rahab also evokes the sea monster of chaos, a stand-in for the forces that oppose God’s order. To say the Arm “cut Rahab in pieces” is to recall how God shattered Egypt’s pride and broke the grip of the powers that enslaved His people.
Psalm 98 is a victory psalm — a call to lift up a “new song” because the Z’roah, the holy arm of the LORD, has brought decisive triumph. In Hebrew thought, the arm is the active extension of the will, the power that brings intention into reality. To call it “holy” is to declare that it is set apart, dedicated fully to God’s purpose, incapable of corruption. The psalmist celebrates that salvation is not a hidden act, but an open demonstration — God’s righteousness revealed before the eyes of the nations.
This is one of the most intimate revelations of the Z’roah in Scripture. God looks for a human intercessor but finds none. No man can bridge the gap. So His own Arm accomplishes the work. In Hebrew, v’tosha lo zeroa — “His arm saved for Him” — reveals that salvation originates from within God Himself, not from any outside help. Isaiah adds that His own righteousness sustained Him — it upheld His resolve to save — and His fury upheld Him, a holy passion that would not rest until justice was accomplished.
To “bare” the arm means to roll up the sleeve and reveal the full readiness for action. In Isaiah’s prophecy, this is a global unveiling — no longer hidden, the Z’roah is on display for all nations to witness. This speaks directly of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) public ministry and, ultimately, His crucifixion.
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