What God Is Doing in Israel
Guest Commentary
Audio By Carbonatix
By One For Israel, Crosswalk.com
One of the names of God is Baal-perazim, which means “Lord of the Breakthrough,” and it seems like a very good time to call on God by this name right now. We have seen God do some wonderful things in our midst here at ONE FOR ISRAEL, in our outreach and our Bible college, and we are expecting more breakthroughs to come!
The name “Lord of the Breakthrough” first appears in the Bible during the life of King David. The story appears in 2 Samuel chapter 5, and is repeated in the retelling of Israel’s history by the priests, in the book of Chronicles.1 It began when the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king, so they went to hunt him down. They gathered in the Valley of the Rephaim, or giants. In short, the situation was looking pretty scary. David, however, did what he always did when things started to look alarming. He prayed.
And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David,“ Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. (2 Samuel 5:19-20)
There is no wall, no barrier, that the Lord of the Breakthrough cannot overcome. As a friend of mine says, God loves to stack up the odds against Himself and then display His glorious might by overcoming them. Like He did at the Red Sea, for example. What a breakthrough! And He is still working wonders among us today.
Breakthrough at Our Bible College
We have seen the Lord of the Breakthrough at work in major ways here at ONE FOR ISRAEL. For much of the last century, it was extremely rare to hear of Israeli Jews coming to faith in Yeshua, but a big breakthrough came about 15 years ago, and the situation has changed radically. Once the internet was in everyone’s hands, we started to see many finding faith through Google searches. Israeli congregations have grown enormously. A large percentage of the new believers said they came to faith after finding our videos and materials online.
Another major breakthrough came, like a spiritual sonic boom, in 2014. It used to be that Jewish and Arab congregations had almost nothing to do with one another. Jewish and Arab congregations meet on different days (Saturday and Sunday, respectively), they worship in different languages (Hebrew and Arabic), and the cultural gap is vast. Most knew nothing about the other. There were occasional get-togethers for prayer, but these were annual events at best. There were very few real relationships between the two communities of believers, and the situation looked bleak. Not too bleak for God, though!
Baal-perezim, the Lord of the breakthrough, did it again when our Bible college opened up a new program to train senior pastors. Many Israeli pastors, both Jewish and Arab, found themselves in leadership positions without formal training — some had just started Bible study groups that grew into congregations, while others wanted to brush up on their biblical knowledge and ministry training.
Though both Jewish and Arab pastors who came to study with us admitted that before they came, they didn’t know anything about the “other side,” great friendships and trust developed as they learned, shoulder to shoulder, how to build the kingdom of God in their congregations, communities, and in the Land we all live in. It was a seismic shift in the situation here in Israel. The two communities started to connect in ways that hadn’t happened before.
“It has been incredible to experience the blessing in getting to know each other, and tasting heaven in the love and unity among these precious brothers,” Dr Erez Soref said at the end of the first year. “We were able to discuss difficult and painful issues in a spirit of love and forgiveness. We learned to be transparent with each other in challenging and personal issues, sharing hearts.”
He continued, “We have concluded this year with a few days of discussing various leadership issues, praying for each one, washing each other’s feet, and taking the Lord’s supper.”
Together in Unity
Messianic Jewish pastor, Meno Kalisher, heads up Beit Geula (House of Redemption) a Messianic congregation in Jerusalem. He was one of the Jewish pastors who came to study the course in 2014 and admitted afterwards, “The Arab pastors for me were new creatures. Totally new. I didn’t know them before. But when you put all our guys together, listen, we had fun!”
Beit Geula has both Jews and Arabs as well as others from the nations in the congregation, and Pastor Meno recently performed a wedding of an Arab and American couple there, who are part of their community. Today, there is also an Arab outreach team, which is an integral part of the congregation.
Meanwhile, Arab Pastor Saleem Shalash had his own apprehensions and questions leading up to the course ten years ago. “Are they really believers? Do they believe in the Messiah? Believe in Jesus?” He wondered about his Jewish counterparts. “What will I share with them? And how do they accept me, an Arab pastor, and how do I accept them as, you know, Jewish pastors? … How do they pray, how do they worship, how do they teach the word of God? Is it the same like us?”
Pastor Salem says today that studying alongside Jewish pastors as brothers in Messiah completely changed him. “I felt that we were fulfilling a prophecy,” he said, adding that the whole experience was “like heaven on earth, half Jewish, half Arab, studying together.”
Now, his church in Nazareth, Jesus the King, is dedicated to serving Jewish people in Israel and taking them aid along with the Gospel.
When an Arab Knocks at a Jewish Door
Saleem Shalash comes from a long line of Arab Christians in the land. He is pastor Jesus the King church in Nazareth. Talking to Dr. Erez Soref on TBN, Pastor Saleem explained how his hatred for Israel was so profound that it even used to prohibit him from reading the Hebrew Scriptures. “I’ve been taught that’s the Old Testament is a rubbish book. It doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to the infidel Jews who crucified my Savior,” he explained. “I was filled with a lot of hatred, and one night God cleansed me and changed my heart, my thoughts to love Israel. Why? Because this is his plan, and he is going to fulfil it with me, or without me, but I wanted to be part of his plan.”
“The media is playing a very bad game, showing just the bad things about Israel; killing and wars and all these things, filling us day by day with hatred. I was raised with that — every day, every day, like a brainwash. But God chose me to be part of his plan.”
“I lived all my life believing in replacement theology, that God finished with His people, that there was no salvation for the Jewish people, and now the church is the purpose of God.” But God changed Saleem’s life and his perspective completely as he studied alongside Jewish pastors in brotherly unity. Since the course, Saleem has led his church to reach out to bless the Jewish people of Israel.
“When COVID hit, God called me to bless 150 Jewish families in Passover,” Pastor Saleem shared, telling the miraculous story of how God opened the door for him to work hand in hand with the Jewish municipalities.
“It’s a command that the Bible said. You know, comfort, comfort my people, the Lord said. And it’s very important to us to understand the biblical concept.”
“That change in my life started when I started the first lesson and this college,” he said. “Today, we are saving 156 families, Arab, Jewish, Ukrainian refugees, Russians, Holocaust survivors, doesn’t matter who they are, Druze, everyone,” he explained.
“We visited a widow, Jewish widow, a Holocaust survivor, and I remember this visit because it was very unique. We write in three languages in our food packages: in Arabic, Hebrew and English. She looked at me and she said, “Are you Arab?” And I said, “Yes, ma’am.”
And she said, “How?” He said, “Because of your Messiah.” She said, “My messiah? He didn’t come yet!”
I said, “Oh, they didn’t tell you that he already came? And he looked at me, and she said, “I don’t believe in the New Testament.” I said, “I’m not talking about the New Testament. Where is your Bible?” She brought in the Bible, and I started to read from Isaiah 53, I jumped to Psalm 22, to Proverbs 30, and Jeremiah 4… her eyes were opened, she said, “So I was deceived for 80 years?! Should I change my religion?” I said, “No! Jesus was a Jew, and He still is, and His disciples. But ask Him to be your Saviour, to accept him as your Saviour, repent, and ask for forgiveness.”
“And she did, and she prayed with us,” Pastor Saleem said. “That’s what we are doing.”
Pray That God Would Bring More Breakthroughs in the Middle East
Pastor Saleem explained that since the 7th of October, there have been many breakthroughs in, and even because of, the difficult circumstances. God has been working in the midst of the war and has not stopped. “God is moving between His people and even other nations around us,” he said.
With the Iranian regime still breathing threats to Israel, it’s clear the determination to annihilate the Jewish people is far from extinguished. But the people of Iran are rising up against their cruel leadership, and many have come to faith in Yeshua. A huge number of Iranian people are actually pro-Israel, and if the Islamic regime finally falls, the two countries could be friends again. Funding for terror would dry up all around the region, and new doors opened for the Gospel to flourish in the Middle East. Israel’s recognition of Somaliland could also open up new channels for the Gospel to travel. Things are moving and shaking at an accelerated pace, so let’s pray that the Lord of the Breakthrough will work wonders in Iran, Israel, and throughout the whole region!
1. “When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went out against them. Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.” And he went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. And they left their gods there, and David gave command, and they were burned. (1 Chronicles 14:8-12)
This content originally appeared on OneforIsrael.org; shared with permission.
Top Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Luke_Franzen
Established in 1990, ONE FOR ISRAEL began as a Bible college and has since expanded to a multi-faceted ministry with the express goal of reaching Israelis with the Good News of Yeshua, training and equipping the Body of Messiah in Israel, and blessing our community with Yeshua’s love. www.oneforisrael.org.
