June 2006

Each quarter, Jews for Jesus UK produces a newsletter with articles that will ground you in the Jewish roots of the faith – and also provide updates on the work in the UK. If you would like to receive this free quarterly publication, please fill in the feedback page. The following article was taken from our most recent newsletter.

Reversing the Curse of Babel

by David Brickner, Executive Director

Evil has a name and it begins with ‘H’

Churches all over the UK will celebrate Pentecost on Sunday 4th June. Did you know that the original ‘Day of Pentecost’ is the Jewish celebration of Shavuot? Pentecost is a Greek word that means ‘fifty days’. Shavuot, the Hebrew name for the holiday, means ‘weeks’. Both refer to the period of time between the festivals of Passover and the first fruits of the wheat harvest.

It was against the backdrop of this holiday that the first believers gathered in the upper room. Remember, Y'shua (Jesus) had commanded the disciples to wait in Jerusalem, ‘for the gift [his] father promised’ (see Acts 1:4). And wait they did - for fifty days. God chose the fiftieth day after the Passover on which Y'shua was crucified to unleash the power of His Holy Spirit in a new way:

‘When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’ (Acts 2:1-4)

Some who heard the disciples speaking in foreign languages thought they were merely babbling. Yet God had chosen the time when Jews from all over the world would be in Jerusalem, and He used that ‘babbling’ to begin a spiritual harvest of souls among every tribe, tongue and nation on the face of the earth. As thousands wondered how these uneducated Galilean Jews could be speaking in their native languages, Peter began to preach the Gospel in power. Jews who had come to offer God the first fruits of the wheat harvest became the first fruits of a great spiritual harvest of Jews and Gentiles.

Thousands of years before, at a place called Babel, the Lord prevented the human race from uniting to do evil. He cursed humanity by confusing their language and scattering them. How like our gracious God to reverse the curse of Babel on this great day of Pentecost. Languages that once confused and alienated people were now employed to proclaim the good news that God's salvation had come to the nations. People once divided through sin would now be united in the Saviour. Out of chaos and cacophony God created a beautiful diversity and harmony, that people of all languages might come together as a choir of praise to the glory of God.

God is gracious to pour out His blessings, but to some extent He leaves it to us to be in the right place at the right time to receive them. When the Day of Pentecost came ‘they [the disciples] were all together in one place’. Sometimes being at the right place means waiting when He says wait; sometimes it means moving when He says move. God does not keep us mystified as to what He would have us do when we are in the habit of seeking His will. As we gather with other believers in one accord, and as we follow God here and there to serve Him, we can expect to receive power from His Holy Spirit - power to bring in a harvest of souls.

Please pray that we Jews for Jesus, together with you dear friends and supporters, continue to sow and water together and so rejoice to see the Lord of the Harvest give the increase.

Purim teaches us that evil has a name, a source and a destiny. It demonstrates how God uses the unexpected to separate good from evil, to preserve His people and put forward His plans.