Suggestions for a Service of Celebration of God's Purposes
The arrangement and selection of the following material is optional. Pauses can be included for silent prayer, reflection, extempore prayer, music, scriptures, psalms, hymns, etc. The following text was used the day following the Repentance Service on Yom HaShoah at the Jerusalem 2001 Convention: Changing the Future by Confronting the Past.
Prelude
All sing
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish – but naught changeth Thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render; O help us to see
'Tis only the splendour of light hideth Thee!
Words: Walter Chalmers Smith, 1824–1908
Music: Welsh hymn tune
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The Lord of history declares,
I am the first and I am the last. Isaiah 44:6; see Isaiah 41:4
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If we want to know the heart of God, then let us look at Israel. Let us consider how God led Israel and kept her from perishing down through the ages.
Neither Pharaoh, nor Haman, nor imperial Rome, nor Nazi Germany could wipe out Israel, the people whom God chose for Himself and through whom He has chosen to reveal Himself to the world.
The Apple of His Eye
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Dread and darkness came over the patriarch Abraham as he dreamt of his descendants suffering oppression for four hundred years in a land that was not their own.
Darkness also befell the Jewish people during their 2000-year exile in Christian Europe, culminating in the Holocaust. Extinguished were the lights of the people called to be a light to the Gentiles. Six million Jews perished in the Shoah. The horrors of that event are documented in Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. See Genesis 15:12–13; Isaiah 49:6; 60:3
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Those of us who are German stand convicted of our national pride and delusion of racial superiority.
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And we all stand convicted of our indifference and betrayal.
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With Isaiah we can only cry out,
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Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Isaiah 6:5
Choir sings in German
Angels calling, loud proclaiming,
At the sound the very throne shaking:
‘Holy, holy is the Lord!
He alone shall be adored.'
Wings drawn, angels hide their faces
From the holy Lord of the ages,
Terrors, blazing light and fire
Of the living God on high.
All sing
Sinners mourning, sinners trembling
At the hour of judgment impending:
Every life uncovered lies
In God's all-revealing light.
Come, bowed down in dust and ashes,
That the Lord of hosts may be gracious,
Offer Him your penitence
As a worthy sacrifice.
Cherub laut durch Himmel rufen
M. Basilea Schlink
See Isaiah 6; Hebrews 4:13; Psalm 51:17
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Since the days of Cain and Abel murder has been part of human history. Yet why have the Jewish people so often been singled out for the fiercest persecution down through the ages?
Ultimately it is hatred of God, because the Jewish people stand for God. Everything we know about God comes from them. And everything God says about them in His Word is coming true.
ChosenHis Eye
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God did not choose Israel because they were bigger or better than other nations, but because He loved them and because through them He wanted to bless the whole world. Through them we have the Ten Commandments, the Bible and our Saviour. But being chosen of God entails responsibility. See Deuteronomy 7:7–8; Romans 9:4–5
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You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. Leviticus 20:26
He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. Malachi 3:2-3
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God's hand and calling are on Israel. She has a glorious future, and God is preparing her for her destiny.
Choir sings in German
O holy land, people of God,
Whom God has chosen for His own,
Dear to His heart and precious,
Smallest yet greatest, called to bring
Blessings of God to earth's domain,
Favoured above all nations.
O holy land, people of God,
Chosen and cherished in His sight
Since the beginning of time,
Favoured and blessèd from on high,
Proof of the living God, a sign
God keeps His Word for all times.
Heiliges Volk, Heiliges Land
M. Basilea Schlink
Touch Not My Anointed Ones
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Babylon, Greece, Rome — none of these empires of antiquity survived. In opposing Israel, they opposed God, coming under His judgment, as the Lord declared:
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Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm! 1 Chronicles 16:22
The nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish. Isaiah 60:12
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In His covenant with Abraham, God had promised,
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I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse. Genesis 12:3
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Thousands of years later this covenant is still being worked out.
World War One signalled the end of the Ottoman empire and Czarist Russia, both of which had opposed the Jewish people. Hitler's ‘thousand-year kingdom' collapsed like a house of cards after twelve years. The British empire, on which the sun never set, began its decline after hindering the return of the Jewish people to the land of their fathers.
His Compassions Fail Not
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In their afflictions down through the ages, and particularly during the Holocaust, the Jewish people can be likened to Job in his trials. And as with Job, God in His compassion has prepared an outcome for His people. With God suffering is never the end of the story. This is a law of Holy Scripture.
We read in the Book of Isaiah:
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O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. Isaiah 54:11
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And in the Sermon on the Mount:
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10
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Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
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Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
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Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. Luke 6:21-23
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The latter is a promise for those who suffer on account of God, and so it is also a promise for His people Israel. Indeed, they have suffered for the very reason that they are God's chosen people. The sorely afflicted people of Israel, bleeding from many wounds, will find that their path of sorrows ends in glory.
Choir sings in German
Glory shall come from suffering.
Oh, what glory God the Father has prepared
for those who suffered for His name's sake,
glory, glory, glory, glory!
Herrlichkeit kommt aus tiefem Leid
M. Basilea Schlink
Birth of a Nation
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It has been said that World War One prepared the land for the people and World War Two prepared the people for the land. After the horrors of the extermination camps, a massive exodus began. From the ends of the earth the children of Israel are coming home. Thus says the Lord:
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I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers. Jeremiah 16:15; see Ezekiel 11:17; 20:41–42
They shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future. Jeremiah 31:16–17
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The very birth of the modern state of Israel is miraculous and in fulfilment of Scripture.
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Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children. Isaiah 66:8 NIV
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Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, declared: ‘Two thousand years have we waited for this moment and now it is here. When the fullness of time has come, no one can withstand God.'
Choir sings in German
Who is like God? Who is like God?
None is like You! No one, no, none with You can compare!
There is no God like You.
There is no God, no God, like You
Neither above in heaven
Nor here below on earth.
None is like You, Lord, none is like You.
All sing
Who is like God? Who is like God?
None is like You! No one, no, none with You can compare!
O Lord, we worship You.
Perfect and excellent are Your ways!
Exalted are all Your works, Lord,
O God of miracles.
Where is a God as mighty as You?
Who is like God? Who is like God?
None is like You! No one, no, none with You can compare!
Wer ist wie Gott
M. Basilea Schlink
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Thus says the Lord:
As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders. Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. Micah 7:15-16 NIV
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In all of Israel's wars there has been evidence of divine intervention. Enemy forces would disappear mysteriously or be inexplicably immobilized, even stopped by swarms of bees, as during the 1948 War of Independence. What Israel experienced at the time of Moses, Joshua and Elisha, she is reliving today. God is preserving His people for a purpose.
All sing
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op'ning day.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home.
Words: Isaac Watts, 1674–1748
Music: William Croft, 1678–1727
See Psalm 90:1
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With the establishment of the modern state of Israel a major turning-point in redemptive history has arrived.
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‘The return of the Jews to their land is the beginning of the realization of the Messianic vision,' announced David Ben Gurion.
The Steps of the Messiah
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Throughout her history Israel has awaited the coming of her Deliverer.
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Shake yourself from the dust, arise, O captive Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Isaiah 52:2
All sing
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until God's Holy One appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Words: Latin hymn, tr. John Mason Neale, 1818–1866, adapt.
Music: plainsong, adapt., Thomas Helmore, 1811–1890
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After the signing of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which favoured a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first President, exclaimed, ‘We hear the steps of the Messiah!'
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Even in the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto, Israel's song of faith could not be silenced:
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I believe, I believe, I believe
Sincerely, firmly and devoutly
In the coming of the Messiah.
I believe in the Messiah
And, though He tarry,
No less firmly, I believe.
And though He tarry longer still,
Nevertheless, I believe in the Messiah.
I believe, I believe, I believe.
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The greater her affliction, the greater her yearning:
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down …! Isaiah 64:1 NIV
All sing
O Saviour, come and cleave the skies,
Descend and visit from on high,
The doors of heaven open wide,
Unbolt each portal in the sky.
Come now, O Dayspring from on high.
How gladly we would see Your light!
Arise upon us like the sun;
Oh, leave us not in night and gloom.
Why do You tarry, tell me, Lord,
O Consolation of the world?
Oh, come, make haste from heaven's throne,
Come, bring us comfort here below.
Here we endure distress and pain,
The ever-present threat of death.
Oh, guide us to the heav'nly gates,
Eternal peace and Sabbath rest.
O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf
Words: Friedrich Spee, 1622
Music: Cologne, 1638
Lest I Forget Thee, Jerusalem
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Before the Messiah comes, there will be distress in Israel and distress in the nations: wars and rumours of wars, famines and earthquakes in various places, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The war between light and darkness will be fiercer than ever. See Micah 4:10-12; Matthew 24
Yet as God's plan of salvation nears its final consummation and hatred flares up against Him more than ever, there will be a bringing together of those who belong together because they fear the living God and give Him glory — Jews and Christians.
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As the dispute over the land and Jerusalem intensifies and Israel becomes increasingly isolated, will not the cry of her heart grow louder?
All sing
L'ma'an Tziyon lo echesheh, lo, lo echesheh.
Ul'ma'an Y'rushalayim lo eshkot.
Lo, lo echesheh.
Ad yetze kanogah tzidkah, lo, lo echesheh,
vishuatah k'lapid yiv'ar.
Lo, lo echesheh.
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In all the trials and challenges Israel has yet to face, let us stand with her in prayer, just as once we failed her.
This evening as the Sabbath light is lit in Jewish homes up and down the country, let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the peace of Sabbath to come upon Israel and the rest of the world.
Soloist
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,
Peace within your walls evermore;
O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem,
Peace be within your walls.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,
Peace within your walls evermore;
O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem,
Peace be within your walls.
So for the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I now say, ‘May peace be with you.'
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek your good.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,
Peace within your walls evermore;
O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem,
Peace be within your walls.
Peace be within your walls, within your walls.
Shake the dust from thy garments, and stand forth erect!
Don thy festive apparel, my People elect!
Through the scion of Jesse, in Bethlehem born,
Soon my rapt soul shall wake to redemption's bright morn …
Arise! and shine forth, for thy dawnlight hath come;
Wake thee! wake! and thy soul unto psalmody yield;
See o'er thee th'Eternal in glory revealed!…
Soon shall they that despoil thee themselves be a spoil,
And no more the destroyed shall sweep o'er thy soil;
Whilst in thee shall rejoice God that dwelleth above,
As the bridegroom delights in the bride of his love.
From the Siddur
All sing
Come, Thou Almighty King,
Help us Thy name to sing,
Help us to praise:
Father, all-glorious,
O'er all victorious,
Come, and reign over us,
Ancient of Days.
Words: anonymous
Music: Felice de Giardini, 1716–1796
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When the Messiah comes, thousands of years of waiting will end in rejoicing.
Choir sings in German
Jerusalem, lo, the King is coming in His glory,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
City of the Great King, who declared,
‘I have chosen Jerusalem as a dwelling for My name.
This is My resting place forever; here will I dwell.'
See 2 Kings 21:4; Psalm 132:14
Healing of the Nations
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Israel will be the centre of blessing for the whole world.
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You shall be called the priests of the Lord, men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God.
Isaiah 61:6
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It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains … and all the nations shall flow to it … and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.'
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:2–3
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At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honour the name of the Lord. Jeremiah 3:17 NIV
All sing
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.
Words: Reginald Heber, 1783–1826
Music: John B. Dykes, 1823–1876
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In his vision of the Temple of God Ezekiel saw a river with trees on either side, their fruit for food and their leaves for healing. In the Book of Revelation the apostle John has a similar vision, and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. See Ezekiel 47:12 ; Revelation 22:2
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Plates with leaves will now be passed around. They are not real leaves, just symbolic. On each leaf is a promise God gave His people. You are invited to take one for yourself. May it go with you as a reminder of the love of God.
Instrumental music:
All sing
O worship the King, all-glorious above,
And gratefully sing His wonderful love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.
O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space!
His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust; nor find Thee to fail:
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
Words: Robert Grant, 1779–1838
Music: W. Croft, 1678–1727
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The Bible says:
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Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Isaiah 64:4 AV
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He will wipe away the tears from everyone's eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. Isaiah 25:8 GNB
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On the gates of Jerusalem shall be written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, each gate made of a single pearl.
See Ezekiel 48:30–34; Revelation 21:12,21
All sing
Now let all the heavens adore Thee,
And men and angels sing before Thee,
With harp and cymbals clearest tone!
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where we are with the choir immortal
Of angels round Thy dazzling throne;
Nor eye hath seen, nor ear
Hath yet attained to hear
What there is ours;
But we rejoice and sing to Thee
Our hymns of joy eternally.
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Words and music: Philipp Nicolai, 1556–1608
Tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1829–1878
The Aaronic Blessing
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We now invoke the ancient blessing that God gave Moses for His people Israel:
The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace. Numbers 6:24–26
