Worthy News
Cuba suffered its third nationwide blackout of the year Monday after the island’s national power grid collapsed, leaving nearly 10 million people without electricity and intensifying the country’s deepening economic and social crisis.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned Monday that Hamas’s proposal to transfer Gaza’s civilian administration to a technocratic committee is not a genuine step toward peace, but an attempt to preserve the terrorist group’s military power under a new political cover.
Sri Lanka’s deadliest prison unrest in years reached its deadliest point Monday, with authorities confirming that at least 25 people were killed and about 100 injured as security forces struggled to contain two days of clashes involving rival groups of inmates.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon have asked to be annexed by Israel for protection against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, but local Christian leaders have strongly rejected the claim.
Russia launched one of its largest combined missile and drone assaults on Ukraine’s capital early Monday, killing at least 15 people in Kyiv and wounding 77 others across the country, Ukrainian officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to urge NATO, the Western military alliance, to provide additional air-defense systems.
Wildfires raged across southern Europe on Monday, forcing mass evacuations as temperatures climbed again following a June heatwave linked to thousands of excess deaths.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress will make another push to pass the SAVE America Act after lawmakers return from the July 4 recess, signaling what could be the fourth — and possibly final — attempt to advance President Donald Trump’s top election-integrity measure.
The website for the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, was deactivated after the temporary Trump administration office reached its planned July 4, 2026, self-termination deadline.
Funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei turned into a charged display of rage against the United States, Israel, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as massive crowds gathered in Tehran and called for revenge.
Israel is preparing to hand two limited areas in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army under a U.S.-backed framework agreement, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the IDF will remain in most of the security zone until Hezbollah is disarmed.
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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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