Isaiah 11:11,12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush (modern day Ethiopia), from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. He shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
For centuries in Ethiopia, there have lived a people we now know as the Falashas. They kept all sorts of Biblical traditions and call themselves Beta Yisrael (House of Israel). As experts began to study the matter, it became clear that these were descendants of the Jewish people who came to Africa in ancient times and intermarried. Unbeknownst to many, a percentage of them became believers in Jesus over the years. Jesus (or Yeshua, as they called Him) became a part of their identity as Jewish people. Many Falashan Jews worshipped Jesus as their Messiah and continued to practice Jewish tradition.
Amazingly, in 1975, the Israeli rabbinate officially recognized the Falashas as Jews. In the years to follow, a number of circumstances including famine and civil war caused this group of Jewish people to begin facing extinction. In a wonderful effort to save them, Israel began sending planes into Ethiopia and airlifting thousands of these Falashan Jews to the land that they, too, were promised — the land of Eretz Yisrael.
Today, thousands of Falashas live in the Land, serve in its army, raise their children to speak Hebrew, and take part in every day life here in Israel.
The restoration of the Falashas is not only a prophetic sign for us that God is faithful to His Word, but that He will also be faithful to us! God always keeps His promises — and He is in the business of restoration. It doesn’t matter how cut off we are or how far we may have strayed — we can be restored! With one call to the Lord, He can lift us out of whatever circumstance we may be in — whether it be spiritual, physical, emotional, financial or anything else! With a single touch of His hand He can bring complete restoration to our lives and give to us what He has promised!
Be encouraged. We can never be so far removed that we can’t be restored — our troubles are never so great that we can’t be heard — the Lord’s arm is never too short that it cannot save!
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The prophet Elijah, through his dramatic demonstration of the LORD’s authority and power, inspired repentance in the people of Israel, calling them to exercise His judgment on idolaters by slaying 450 prophets of Ba’al and 400 prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel. Yet this spiritual victory was followed by a severe demonic reprisal through the woman Jezebel.
The Hebrew calendar month of Elul began on Saturday night. Each day during the month of Elul, a shofar blast is sounded to announce the coming month of Tishrei – wherein the festival of Yom Teruah – the feast of trumpets– takes place, calling for all people to repent. Elul, therefore, is identified as a month during which a serious emphasis is placed on personal self-examination and repentance, an end-of-the-year opportunity to set our lives in order before Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashana), the Days of Awe, and finally, Yom Kippur.
As Joshua is about to enter the promised land, God reassures him and affirms the promise that was given to Moses, saying, “Wherever you place your feet – it shall be given to you!” God reveals His will, makes an amazing promise, then gives His servant a practical principle for working the promise out and claiming it, telling Joshua to literally step into His will. This is true for every believer. Our mandate is to know, understand and step out into the will of God. How can we know God’s will?”
The world loves the extraordinary, the spectacular. It relishes on the big, bright, grand and expensive. I remember when we traveled through Las Vegas years ago, to speak at a church in Carson City. Uyy! The lights, the size of everything -- crazy! But all I could think as we rolled down Sunset Strip was how sad it is that this is what the world finds extraordinary. The bigger, the brighter, the more expensive -- the more the world worships it.
Since my wife and I just celebrated our 7,000-day wedding anniversary, it reminded me of when my wife and I were initially married in Jerusalem -- before our major wedding in the States.
When Yeshua (Jesus) was attacked by Satan during His temptation in the wilderness, He countered every attack with the Word of God. But notice in Satan’s second attack – the enemy himself quoted the Scriptures, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:6 was a quote from Psalm 91:11, but the phrase, “to keep thee in all thy ways” was absent from Satan’s quote).
Over the past week, the world has experienced some severe birth pangs. If you’ve been reading Worthy News, you’ve read the situation in Ukraine has intensifed with the Russians massing their troops along the border with the West condemning the referendum taking this weekend in Crimea. In Israel, scores of rockets were fired out of the Gaza Strip and rockets continue to be fired despite a "ceasefire". The Iranians continue to threaten the destruction of Israel as an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander stated, "Islam has given us this wish, capacity and power to destroy the Zionist regime so that our hands will remain on the trigger from 1,400km away for the day when such an incident (confrontation with Israel) takes place." Wars and rumors of wars embrace the headlines! The world is on the brink of going over the edge!