“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
I have never been one to follow signs and wonders, though I do believe miracles happen today. I was born with a personality that naturally tends toward skepticism. Because of this, the Lord often illuminates things I need to hear in undeniable ways; highlighting stories from scripture with flashing lights. Events and providence over the past two days are a clear example of this.
Amid the shadows of Shemini Atzeret, the climactic eighth day of The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), Israel finds herself locked in the throes of conflict—the gravest attack since the haunting memories of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the very year I took my first breath.
As one land rages in turmoil, another saw the passing of a soul: Loren Cunningham. The founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) went into eternity just yesterday (October 6, 2023) at his home in Kona, Hawaii. Loren, an important figure in the history of Christian missions, was also my cousin by marriage. My wife’s father, Oren Paris II, and uncle, Leland Paris, were Loren’s co-workers in missions for decades and cousins for life. My own parents traveled with Loren and his wife, Darlene, throughout Europe in the 1960’s, smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain with them and Brother Andrew, a man best known as “God’s Smuggler.” These were the beginning days of the work we do in restricted nations, but more on that another time.
Loren’s departure yesterday happened to cast a floodlight on two things for me: 1) prayer and 2) the vast importance of the Bible for all nations. Allow me to explain. Yesterday was Hoshana Rabbah, a solemn day of judgment during the Feast of Tabernacles that means the “great salvation.” It is also the day when Solomon dedicated the first temple (I Kings 8). I am not sure there could have been a more meaningful day for Loren to enter Heaven’s gates. The Feast of Tabernacles, after all, has very much to do with the nations coming to worship the King in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:16) when the “kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord” (Revelation 11:15). A “great multitude…from all tribes and peoples and languages” will stand before the throne of the Lamb with palm branches in their hands at the end of the age (Revelation 7:9). Tabernacles—or Sukkot—is about the House of the Lord. It is about individuals being temples of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19-20) and becoming “living stones” who are built up as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood (I Peter 2:5). It is about missions.
Realizing the significance of Loren’s departure date stirred in my memory when my dear mother crossed Heaven’s threshold on March 23, 2021. She drew her final breath at a time that seemed peculiarly ordained—11:11am. (More on this in the future.) For now, suffice it to say my wife, Angie, and I had been seeing 11:11 up to this time constantly and in the oddest ways. When we asked the Lord to show us what it was about, my wife happened upon Isaiah 11:11 and I happened upon Hosea 11:11. These verses mirror each other and are intricately connected to the House of the Lord and the Feast of Tabernacles.
On the Hebrew calendar, the day my mother came alive in Heaven was marked as Yom HaAliyah, a jubilant day recalling when the Jews first entered the promised land after leaving Egypt, as chronicled in Joshua 4. The same day also witnessed the end of Miriam’s earthly sojourn (Numbers 20).
The Burning Bush
Last night, still ruminating on the profound meaning behind Loren’s and my mother’s passings, I received a call from a childhood friend. We were talking about the legacy of prayer our families have instilled in us. In prayer lies the genesis of all eternal worth. I shared how intentional prayer had been for our forebears and how intentional it must be for us now. It is a discipline and a responsibility, as well as a joy. I recalled to my friend the intriguing verses in the Old Testament where “Moses turned aside to see the burning bush, and when God saw that, He called to him” (Exodus 3:3-4). We must turn aside to see—to watch and wait—to hear God’s call. Turning aside to pray is intentional, I explained. Prayer is not only where we call on God, but where He calls on us.
After this conversation, still awed by the significance of Loren’s awakening in Heaven on Hoshana Rabbah (the “great salvation”), as well as my mother’s entry to Heaven on Yom HaAliyah, my curiosity piqued. I decided to look up my birth date in the Hebrew calendar. It happens that I was born on November 24, 1973. This date corresponds to 29 Cheshvan, exactly 50 days past Yom Kippur. Interestingly, today’s war in Israel is 50 years after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
29 Cheshvan is an ancient Jewish holiday (long celebrated by Ethiopian Jews) known as Sigd (a national holiday in Israel since 2008). Sigd means “prostration” or “worship.” In ancient Semitic, the word is “Ge‘ez” and literally means “supplication.” It is a day about prayer, deliverance, and God’s word.
To my great surprise, especially considering the conversation I just had with my friend about prayer and the burning bush, the most significant thing I found about 29 Cheshvan last night is that it is recognized as the day of Moses’ first encounter with God—when he turned aside to see the burning bush and God called to him (Exodus 3:3-4)!
The tapestry of 29 Cheshvan further stretches to depict the day when Ezra, with fervor in his heart, presented the rediscovered scriptures to Israel after their exile in Babylon. As the Book of the Law was read aloud (Nehemiah 8:2-6), a collective reverence gripped the people “And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (verse 6).
Loren’s dying passion was to see the Bible in every language and every home on earth. The culmination of the gospel going to every tribe and tongue has end time and eternal implications—the implications mentioned in Zechariah 14 and Revelation 7 and 11 above. What’s more, the hallowed scriptures, whose essence is immortalized in constitutions the world over, particularly the U.S. Constitution, stand as the cornerstone of western civilization and the guide to true salvation. This is why we stress the importance of a biblical worldview in all we teach and do. In his book, The Third Education Revolution, Vishal Mangalwadi writes, “The modern myth that western democracy came from Greek city-states was invented…in the early twentieth century” (page 32).
There lies a profound reason why autocratic, Marxist regimes shun the Bible. Scripture stands in defiance of their oppressive reign, heralding the truth—that the throne of the universe belongs to God, and beside Him there is no other (Isaiah 45:5).
A Golden Jubilee
This season marks the Golden Jubilee of Israel’s victory during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Mirroring its timeline, I will also be celebrating my 50th this Fall. The date of my birth does not make me special. In fact, it reminds me of my utter reliance on God and of Israel’s utter reliance on Him. It reveals the importance of dependent prayer. The call to prostrate yourself before the Almighty is a humbling, not an exaltation. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is still the same. The God of Moses can deliver anyone from bondage—Israeli or Palestinian.
With the present onslaught being the gravest since the 1973 war, my heart is stirred anew with prayer for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122). Please join with me as we ask for God’s truth to be revealed, hearts to be healed, and a time of deliverance not only for Israel, but for all nations. And may we continue, as one body, to spread the whole gospel throughout the entire world until all can say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 118:26; Luke 13:35).
*This CC image of Golda Meir can be found at Wikimedia Commons.
Thank you for your words.