Tisha B'Av

Shalom!

Today is Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av, 5770.

This is a day of great solemnity and intense prayer and reflection. It is the date of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples of G-d in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.

It is hard to fathom what took place on this date - the abject horror and suffering of the Jews - the sacrilege of the Romans as they violated the Temple Mount and destroyed His Temple... having seen and walked in this Holiest of Holy areas in Jerusalem, I can tell you that the realization of what happened there cuts to the very marrow of the bone - and inflicts emotions on the heart and mind that are incapable of being described...

The entire time I was in Israel it seemed to me that I was incapable of shedding tears...our schedule was so tight...our visits with Her Leaders and the locations they shared with us so intense...I wanted to shed tears many times during those 10 days...even tried to...but could not...something so deep inside of me was affected that I felt as though it was not really "me" that was there seeing all that I saw...

When we finally boarded the plane late that night for the flight home, I settled into my seat and THEN allowed my mind to begin to replay every day that we had been there...and then the tears came...it seemed to me that I cried most of the flight home...I was so affected by my memories that I could not even look at the photos that I had taken without breaking down...nor could I share them with even my husband...as soon as I would start to look at them and try to tell about them, the tears flowed and I "shut down" verbally...

Israel is alive and vibrant today...all that the Roman legions threw at her in AD70 has been negated...her Diaspora is really over...all the Jews of the world CAN "go home" when THEY choose to...G-d has restored His Land for Her...the Six Million who were slaughtered by the Horrors of Hell that were Hitler's Germany have been replanted in the lives of those born from those crematoriums...her Temple Mount is in sight of Her Eyes again...

I cry today also...for my dear loved ones THERE...in The Land that we so mutually love...they have suffered so much...seen so many friends and loved ones they knew murdered by the enemies of G-d who have butchered them in these past 63 years since Ben Gurion "birthed the modern Nation of Israel"...loved ones there who suffer the physical and emotional pain of terror attacks...of empty seats at family tables...beautiful names and faces that haunt my mind and heart in ways that are magnified one thousand times in the hearts and minds of those who saw them destroyed...it is heartbreaking to see the destruction of the once solid bond of support and friendship between our two Nations...nothing Israel has done deserves this...the blood is on our hands...and we sit in judgment for harming His Land and Children...He will not tarry much longer as He repays those who have done this..brought this harm to His Loved Ones...

It will not be long until Messiah comes...as an Evangelical Christian Zionist I am profoundly aware of His "Birth Pains"...and I am watching for Him in the Clouds that appear every day...He will come on those Clouds...both the Old and New Covenants teach this...Israel will sit Shiva for Him as they mourn their "First Born Son" and look on Him who was pierced for them...and for me...and for every soul that ever was created...all the aborted babies...all the maimed...all the persecuted...all the weak...all the old...all the infirm...all the shunned and despised...all who have longed to see Him and look on that Face that so loved them that He laid down His Life for their Eternal Salvation as the Lamb Slain From the Foundation of the World...

When He does come, there will be no more time for repentance...time as we have known it will have run out...all that will be left is the sorrow of those not caught up with Him in the Air...

I want to walk on those Streets of Gold in the New Jerusalem...I want to worship Him on His Holy Hill in His Temple...I want to to sing the songs of Zion that are so dear to my heart with all the loved ones who have gone before...I want to bow my knees and cry HOLY, HOLY, HOLY - L-rd, G-d Almighty! Who WAS and IS and IS to come! King of Kings and L-rd of L-rds!

On THAT day, Tisha B'Av will become what it was INTENDED to be when G-d commanded the 12 Spies to Cross the Jordan and bring back the report so that His Nation wandering in the Wilderness could CROSS OVER and inhabit the Land HE has prepared for them! And then the Redeemed of the L-rd will rejoice with Israel and Her Children as She becomes the "Or La Goyim" She was birthed to be!

Pray in agreement with me for that Day!

Baruch Ha Ba! Baruch Ha Ba B'Shem Adonai! B'Shem Yeshua!