We are (truly) Online!

We are currently in the season of Hanukkah (12-20 Dec), where Jews would celebrate the eight-day Festival of Lights through a nightly lighting of the menorah.

We are also into the advent season of Christmas (3-24 Dec), where some Christians would traditionally celebrate the coming birth of Jesus Christ our Greater Light through the lighting of the advent candles.

We are therefore especially overjoyed and humbled at this Kairos moment to be able to announce the "going live" of the Issachar B7D Fellowship website with its new dedicated domain name (www.issacharb7d.com), which should allow for easier search online by those whom the Lord calls. May the Lord use this little flame to set His people on fire for Him!

Wishing everyone a blessed Hanukkah and Christmas grounded in the liberating truth of His Holy Word and His Word made flesh - our Messiah, Lord and King Jesus Christ.

Reformation 500 - Repair, Rebuild, Rescue

On 31 October, the Protestant world celebrated 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg that led to the start of the Protestant Reformation. In a later treatise, Luther pointed out that just as the Jews were carried away from Jerusalem into captivity under the tyranny of the Babylonian Empire, so in Europe during his time Christians had been carried away from the Scriptures and made subject to the tyranny of the Roman Catholic Papacy through the misuse of the sacraments.

As we continue our study of "Israel the Kingdom of God," we will examine how the history of Israel - in particular, its division, exile and return in the run-up to the advent of Jesus Christ - is prophetic of the historical development of the Church as we look forward to our Lord's return.

If the original motto of the Reformation is the 3 Solas (Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia), then we would describe this lesson in terms of the 3 Res - to Repair, Rebuild, and Rescue.

Rejoicing of the Torah

Sundown this evening marks the end of the Feast of Tabernacles and the start of the Shemini Atzeret or Eighth Day Sabbath (literally "assembly of the eighth [day]"). It is symbolic of our eternal rest (end of the seven-day cycle of time) in the New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition, after the Tabernacles, God invites His people to stay on for another day/Sabbath (eternity!) for a more intimate celebration.

The Simchat Torah ("rejoicing of the Torah") is also celebrated on this day to mark end of the Torah reading cycle. It is therefore apt that our next lesson will bring us through the rest of the Pentateuch or Torah as well as the book of Joshua as we look at "Israel the Kingdom of God."

As we continue our study of God's Word, may we discover true fellowship with the King!