Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Pr. 19:21).
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;…(Isaiah 53:6).
While the powers that be struggle to find what they hope will be the road to peace in the Middle East sadly, most of the people, whether Arabs or Jews, are on the broad road that leads to destruction. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Rather than trusting in any proposals of men those who desire true peace and reconciliation between men and God should put their trust in the One, “who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over” (Isaiah 51:10). A true “Hebrew” is one who has crossed over. The name Hebrew is derived from Eber which means the other side (as having crossed over).
The prophet Isaiah ( Ch. 59) recognised that the real problem that leads to hostility between men is the sinful condition of all men: . . . Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear . . . No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies . . . Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.
The Lord calls his people to be separate: “Come out from them and be separate. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17, cf. Is. 52:11).
Rabbi Eliezer was recently quoted on Arutz- 7 News saying, “…the solution for this problem (land occupation) is provided in the Torah: Whoever loves us, and believes in our right to this land, can live here, and then will not feel that he is under conquest. Whoever doesn’t recognize our rights shouldn’t live here. This is the solution.”
But what about recognising the authority of Jesus, God’s Anointed King?
The separation that God requires of us is not based on race or ethnicity. God separates the faithful from the unfaithful, the godly from the ungodly. He requires us to get off the broad road that leads to destruction and on to the narrow path that leads to eternal life.
And it will be said: “Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people” (Isaiah 57:14) “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, O Virgin Israel , return to your towns. How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter? The Lord will create a new thing on earth (Jer. 31:21-22).
That “new thing” is the Way of salvation in the Name of Jesus the Messiah: If anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The mission of John the Baptist was to “prepare the way” for the coming Messiah. He was “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken’ (Isaiah 40:3-5). And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it (Isaiah 35:8). Pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion , ‘See, your Saviour comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’” They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted” (Isaiah 62:10-12).
Jesus said, “I am the Way” (John 14:6). At least five times in the book of Acts the disciples of Jesus were referred to as those who follow “The Way.”
There is only one trustworthy road to peace and reconciliation with God and with men and that is the narrow road of faith in the Messiah. Everything else leads finally to destruction: There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). The Torah says, “Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road” (Deut. 27:18).