Restoring the Lost Language of Hebrew

Restoring the Lost Language of Hebrew

In the early 19th Century, a period of unprecedented restoration began to take place in both Israel and the Church.

As the Jews were scattered all over the world, the language of Hebrew had become extinct except for use in religious ceremonies. As Jews began to trickle back to Palestine in the late 19th century, one man named Eliezer Ben Yehuda had a vision to restore the ancient language of Hebrew back to a modern language. Currently the returning Jews were weak and divided, but a common language would be central in helping them to unite into a modern nation.

Undeterred by his diagnosis of deadly tubercolosis at age 18, Eliezer dedicated himself to bringing the ancient language back to life. From 1881 to 1921, Eliezer worked up to 18 hour days as he tirelessly researched ancient languages looking for fragments of ancient Jewish words. Combining this with his knowledge of Biblical Hebrew, Ben Yehudah began to piece together a modern and practical language, which he ultimately published in a mammoth 18 volume dictionary. By the end of his life, Eliezer’s efforts had paid off and Hebrew had become so widely used that it was recognised as one of three languages in Palestine.

The Bible text predicts many layers to the End Time restoration, and the prophet Zephaniah declared in this context “…I will restore to the peoples a pure language” (Zeph 3:9). While this verse definitely predicts the restoration of “a” pure language, which language is he speaking of?

The previous verse contains the clue. Zephaniah 3:8 is the only verse in the entire Hebrew Bible to contain every single letter of the Hebrew alphabet – including the special form of five unique letters that appear differently when they appear at the end of a word. It seems that this verse is a giant hint that the language prophesied to be restored in the very next verse, is none other than the Hebrew language itself.

The language of Hebrew was not the only language that was lost during the time of Israel’s exile. In the early centuries of the church, the gifts of the spirit all but died out. However, in the late 18th century, many believers began to earnestly seek and pray for a new Pentecost, believing from their reading of the Scriptures that we were nearing the End of the Age. In response to these prayers, on New Years Eve 1901, there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Topeka, Kansas evidenced by the speaking in tongues. This became the catalyst for of a mighty Pentecostal revival which swept the globe.

The restoration of the language of the Spirit to the Church happened precisely in the middle of the 40 year period in which Hebrew was being restored to the Jewish nation.

Learn More about the Restoration

Our upcoming book ‘The Jubilee: Discover the End Time Mystery” goes into more detail about the fascinating dual restoration of Israel and the Church.

Pre-order the book today

 

1 See St. John, Robert, Tongues of the Prophets: The Life Story of Eliezer Ben Yehudah,  Doubleday & Company Inc. Garden City, New York: 1952

 

How Giving Turned Our Finances Around

How Giving Turned Our Finances Around

Sara and I have had a lot of expenses lately with many big bills due at once. We were feeling really stretched but were coping – when suddenly my car broke down. RACV delivered the devastating news – it will have to be towed to the mechanic.

Imagining a massive bill, i felt sick to the stomach. Here we are stepping out on a limb to serve the Lord – and then it felt like the limb snapped from beneath us and we were in free fall!

I sent out an S.O.S to some intercessors who began praying.

A few days earlier, i had realised that i had gotten behind in giving tithes and we re-committed ourselves that day to giving. The scripture we got at that time was ‘from this day on I will bless you’.

The evening of the car break down I felt an anger towards what the enemy was doing and told him: ‘hands off our wheels in Jesus name!’

The next day we had a phone call and unexpectedly got a large belated wedding gift – which not only covered the repairs but the excess will go towards our next car!

Looking back, it was important that we got our finances in order spiritually. This gave the foundation from which the enemy was stopped and God’s turn around was released!

The principle is that as we bring the tithes into God’s storehouse, God will rebuke the devourer for our sake and release His blessing in its place!

The Mattress Story

The Mattress Story

Positive Story of the Week:
Earlier this week, a friend of ours told us that she was coming to Melbourne for a few weeks. Sara and I then began praying

about whether or not we should have her come and stay with us – and one of our problems was that we didn’t have a bed for the visitor.
We were not even done praying about it, when Sara got a phone call from another friend – who unexpectedly asked us if we could help her throw out a foldable single bed!
We asked if we could keep it – (it has hardly been used and is in great condition) – and the rest is history 🙂
It is amazing how the Lord provides what we need. Sara and I have been so blessed by people who have looked after us and opened their homes to us to stay with them – and now it is our turn to pass on the same blessing 🙂

Under New Management

Under New Management

Well – I am the proud owner of a new business!

How did it happen? Good question!

Let me give you some context – we have in recent weeks been getting ready to move house to the Caulfield area (for ministry purposes). Caulfield is known to be pricey – and we’ve been praying and seeking the Lord for extra income to cover the increased costs. While I am happy to do my bit, getting the extra money seemed a bit of a stretch.

Yesterday I received a surprising email – a Christian web hosting provider in QLD is leaving his business due to illness, and wants me to take over. He does not want any money from me at all – even though it is normal practice and the business is valuable. The new clients will bring in a steady monthly income – increasing my monthly earnings by around 33%. I am just amazed at the Lord’s provision!

China missionary Hudson Taylor famously said “God’s work, done God’s way – will never lack God’s provision!’ Amen!

A storm in the natural and the spiritual

A storm in the natural and the spiritual

A storm in the natural and the spiritual…
While many of you have heard of our recent seminar at Crossway with 800+ people, few may know the storm that was brewing in the lead up to the event.

We have never had so many dramas before an event, with health challenges, tech team challenges and a last minute worship team cancellation. Then on the day before the seminar a member of the replacement worship team missed her flight, at the same time our speaker lost his phone and found out that the room he had booked at a hotel in Melbourne was already taken! 


Other dramas were happening at the very same time and on top of it a storm with damaging and destructive winds was forecast to hit Melbourne on the very day of our seminar!
With people flying in from WA, Tas, QLD and NZ, it looked like the whole event could be a flop – but God…!
Several people were woken up the night before the seminar and just couldn’t sleep as they were praying for us!
The spiritual storm subsided and it all worked well at the event – and the natural storm avoided us. Trees fell in other parts of Melbourne (see picture below) with power outages of 10’000 homes – but none of it came near us.
People were greatly blessed by the seminar, including a lady who was healed during the time of worship!
We thank God for those who prayed for us – we never anticipated such resistance to the meeting – but it all worked out well with God’s help!

Christmas & Hanukkah Reflection

Christmas & Hanukkah Reflection

This year, Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same day. Hanukkah is a Jewish celebration which tells the story of how their sacred Temple in Jerusalem had been conquered by a hostile force, desecrated, vandalised and ultimately fell into disuse. Hanukkah celebrates the cleansing and rededication of this sacred Temple by the heroic Maccabees.

Today, we live in a very broken world. A quick survey of the news headlines reminds us that like the temple in the time of the Maccabees, our world is in dire need of repair and cleansing. As we also think of our families and loved ones at this time of year, we can also see many broken families that likewise are in need of serious repair.

And this brings us to the Christmas story, of an Infant who was born to bring good news to a broken world. The good news is that what was broken and desolate – whether in our personal lives and families or on the international scale – can be cleansed, repaired and restored. This is why His birth was greeted with such joy and rejoicing at the time, and is still celebrated to this day.

May this Christmas/Hanukkah and Festive season be a time of joy, refreshing and rejoicing for all of you, and may your New Year be filled with hope and purpose in the Messiah.