The nation of Israel has just commemorated an miraculous event – on May 14th it was the 75th anniversary of the formal declaration of the State of Israel.

Every year, around this time, Israel makes an abrupt transition from sorrow to joy. First the country comes to a halt for Memorial Day. Families visit army cemeteries; television channels show the names of fallen soldiers. Then, as day turns to dusk, mourning turns to joy in celebration of Israel’s independence.

The Bible says that Israel are God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 7v6) but that He would scatter them across the world because they repeatedly disobeyed Him (Leviticus 26v33). The Bible also tells us in Ezekiel 37v21-22 that God would regather them and give them their own land at a future time. These events regarding Israel were foretold long before they happened, but they did happen! It seemed extremely unlikely that Israel would be regathered and given their own land for nearly 2000 years. Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in about AD70 – but in 1948 this is exactly what happened, by the Will of God.

If you read on in Ezekiel 37 you will notice that this does not fit with the current situation in Israel. Verse 24 talks about God’s servant David being king over Israel and verse 25 says he will be their prince forever. You may know that King David died many years ago (1Kings 2v10), however God has been faithful to keep His promise to regather His people to give them a land and we can be confident that He will keep the rest of His promises. He will send His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, back to the earth and there will be a resurrection (making alive those that have died) and ultimately a whole world ruled in peace for us to be a part of, if we choose to follow Him and accept His invitation to forever (Jeremiah 29v11).

A New King

About 1,000 BC David was king in Israel and a Godly man, and God promised him that one of his descendants would reign on his throne forever.

Then, a thousand years later, God chose Mary, a direct descendant of David, to be the mother of that future king. These are the words we so often hear at Christmas time,

“the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35).

Also, the prophecy that God’s Son would be born in Bethlehem came true. Although Jesus was killed, God raised him to life again around Easter time, and he ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, and it’s to that same place that he will return:

“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east…” (Zechariah 14:4)

He will set up his kingdom based in Jerusalem, and become the new king over the world.

There are numerous prophecies in the Bible about this new king, which give us the key to God’s future plans with the earth – Here are just 2:

“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom…” (Isaiah 9:7)

“…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever…” (Daniel 2:44)

Join us for a presentation on this subject at our hall Sunday 28 May 2023 @ 2pm, God willing

Contact us if you’d like to join us for lunch first – you’ll be welcome

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Let’s be honest—most of us enjoy a long Bank Holiday and chocolate eggs, but is that all there is about Easter? For example, why is it on a different date each year? Whilst Easter is not ‘strictly’ a Bible word, the date each year broadly approximates the Jewish Passover festival—and since the Jewish calendar is lunar, the date on our solar calendar changes each year.

The Easter weekend, approximates the timing of the sacrifice and resurrection (raising from death) of Jesus which occurred over the Jewish festival of Passover. Eggs, bunnies and chicks, whilst cute and enjoyable, are nothing to do with the real reason for the weekend being marked on our UK calendar.

The resurrection of Jesus is central to God’s Word to us in the Bible:

“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” 1 Cor 15:17

Without belief in the resurrection of Jesus there is no life after death—the Bible insists that faith is required.

So whilst we are required to believe in something which can’t be proven 100%, is there any evidence to support the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus over 2,000 years ago? Or are we expected to believe something so miraculous in blind faith? Click here for our YouTube video, we’d love you watch it and see for yourself whether there’s enough evidence for you to believe.

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This month sees the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and highlights the concern about war in the world. In the country affected by war there is always terrible suffering, loss of life and shortages of medicine and basic necessities.

Sometimes wars have a knock on affect to other countries such as the problems this current war in Ukraine has caused with shortages of gas, oil and food. The effects of war are far-reaching and are of concern in many countries around the world, including here in the UK.

Our news is dominated by this particular war because of the direct effect it is having in our country, but you may be surprised to know that there are currently 27 ongoing conflicts worldwide (according to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Global conflict tracker). The tracker categorises conflict into 3 groups: ‘worsening’, ‘unchanging’ and ‘improving’. Right now, there’s not a single conflict described as ‘improving’.

The world is in a very sorry state, and no one has an authoritative answer of how to fix the problem of war, or any of the many problems we face personally or globally. This can seem depressing and pull us down but if we are able to believe God’s word and see beyond this there is great hope for the future. There will be a time when all suffering of every kind will end. It will be the time when Jesus Christ returns to this earth (Revelation 16v15) to set up the Kingdom of God, ruling with justice and authority to achieve the words of Isaiah 2 v 4 “…they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (ESV)

As believers in God, we long for that day.

_{Photo 242640879 / Putin Ukraine © Peter Kováč | Dreamstime.com}