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VIDEO—NO RETREAT! Broadcast includes word on countering antisemitism. https://www.youtube.com/live/DukT8kLCNl0?si=e0xIKEitMUHqly8i

DEAR FRIENDS,
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY takes many forms, and even many dates as it is honored in Israel and around the world. In the spirit of our forerunner call our contribution came a little early. Last week we shared an excerpt from our upcoming book, chronicling the astonishing journey beginning one year ago, when the Lord warned us of coming antisemitism and war. This was also the primary focus of last week’s Turnaround Tuesday broadcast. 

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE MADE NEWS RECENTLY for her refusal to sign a House bill codifying antisemitism. The bill itself is admittedly imperfect, drawing criticism from Jew and Gentile alike. 

But in my opinion, the reason given by the legendary lawmaker to refuse signing the bill was a bit flawed as well. From her tweet: 

“Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews,” MTG tweeted on X. 

In other words, the Jews killed Jesus. Most of you know this accusation has validated antisemitism for thousands of years, and was even used by Hitler to validate the Holocaust.

But it’s not really the Gospel. Who actually handed Jesus over to die? And who is responsible for His death? 

Was it the Jews? Well it wasn’t Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John. All Jews. It was not Mary of Bethany, Martha, Lazarus, or thousands of others who followed Jesus from the shores of Galilee into the wilderness to His final Passover journey. They were mostly Jews too. 

To hold an entire people group responsible for any decision is morally reprehensible in the first place. One of the travesties common to mankind is that hierarchical systems, including religious and governmental systems, often betray and take down emerging leaders to protect established rulers from being displaced. One way or another we’ve all been affected by this. Biblically Jesus’ disciple Judas, as well as Jewish priests, Roman governors and soldiers all had a hand in the betrayal, unjust trial and crucifixion of Jesus. But even they did not kill Him.

You did. And so did I. 

That is the essence of the gospel proclaimed to us in the New Testament by Jewish apostles, framed by the law and the prophets within thousands of years of Jewish history. Jesus took the brutal punishment of the cross for you, and for me, to redeem us. Placing the fault for His betrayal and unjust death on any other is a negation of the Gospel itself. 

He died for you. To redeem you, because He loves you. An ancient prophecy from the Book of Isaiah, dating back 2700 at least years, conveys this comprehensively. 

But before you read Isaiah 53, check out the last verses of Isaiah 52. Many believe it specifically addresses the plight of the Jewish people through the Holocaust, the consummation of Jewish suffering through the ages. “Just as many were appalled at you, My people, so His appearance was marred beyond that of a man…” 

As it was with you, My people, so it was with Me. In other words, within the unimaginable, vicious suffering of the Jewish people through the Holocaust, stemming from hateful injustice through the ages, the visage of Israel’s Messiah amidst His suffering for all humanity can be seen.

You say I must be Jewish. No, I’m not. That I know of anyway. It’s just that ever since I was born again I have yearned to see God’s face. The Song of Songs compels us to search for Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem. I have never failed to find Him at Yad Vashem. To all who love Jesus, but especially those who are being swayed by antisemitic sentiment while claiming His Name, I encourage you to do the same. Look at the names, the faces, the pictures, from the scrolls of Yad Vashem. Do not shy away from the billboards of hostages kidnapped by Hamas. In the natural they would all be Jesus’ family. 

And then please look within. Guaranteed you’ll find the face of God there too. 

Just as many were appalled at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred beyond that of a man,
And His form beyond the sons of mankind.

So He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what they had not been told, they will see,
And what they had not heard, they will understand.
(Isaiah 52:14:15)

Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.

He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.

However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.

But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the living
For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?

And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

But the Lord desired
To crush Him, causing Him grief;
If He renders Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will bear their wrongdoings.

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His life unto death,
And was counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.
(Isaiah 53:1-12).