Reconciliation
 

"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the middle wall of partition" Eph 2:14

 

Arab/Jewish Reconciliation

Chazon Yerushalayim is committed to the unity of the Body of Messiah here in Jerusalem. Arab/ Jewish reconciliation in the City of the Great King is a unity that only the Holy Spirit through the finished work of Yeshua can bring about through Yeshua our Peace. Our Ministry speaks about how the Lord is working "behind the scenes" to fulfill His word in Ephesians 2. About 6 years ago, before the outbreak of the 2nd Intifada, during September 2000, on the Temple Mount God began to convict us about our attitudes toward the Muslims and our Arab Christian brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. With this conviction, God gave Pamela the inspiration and desire to begin to study the Arabic language and told her that during this learning process she would discover many "hidden treasures of His Kingdom". Pamela's adventure began not in the conventional way with going to an Arabic language class, but by beginning to attend an Arab-Christian Church. Through this extraordinary experience she not only began to discover the "hidden treasures" but also made many new friends!

When we as believers celebrate the Lord's Supper, breaking break together, the Bible teaches us that we must be totally reconciled to one another. The Lord used this in her life to draw her closer to Himself, and a breakthrough took place into true unity, understanding and compassion. Learning to pray the Lord's Prayer in Arabic, learning to sing and worship in Arabic, to hear the Word of God preached in Arabic, has been for her personally a source of renewal and great joy. It has not been easy by any means, but she has made many real friends as they observed her struggling to learn their language and culture. One of those friends is Lily. Lily teaches the Arabic language, and began helping her to learn classical Arabic. They have been studying on and off together for the past 5 years. Their friendship deepened this year when Pamela met her in the church where she attends on Sunday morning in the Old City of Jerusalem. A whole new chapter began as they started going together to the services, drinking Arabic coffee afterwards, and strolling through the Old City together, greeting other Arab Christians who had attended other churches. They went walking together through the Arab market, looking at all the new, exotic things for sale, especially in the spring time, when they saw the tender new grape leaves, a special root that grows wild, called "akoub", and the delicious green and crispy almonds that is put into salads. This is a time when they also talked endlessly about the Kingdom, about recipes, and even stopped off to eat and drink humus and drink coffee every Sunday after the meetings.

On Resurrection Day Pamela had dinner at her home with her entire family. This was at the time that the IDF had just gone into Ramallah, which was the beginning of the operation called "Operation Defensive Shield". She was able to sit and to share their anxiety over the situation and pray together. In fact, she was able through God's grace, to become closer with many Arab Christians during this time and was amazed at the depth of the things they shared with her. There were some people who actually came to her and apologized to her for the suicide bombers who came and attacked Israel! Lily and Pamela were able to get much closer during that time, and a couple of weeks later, they traveled up north together to her home village, where they spend the night at Lily's sisters home. It was during that night that Pamela was able to share God's salvation plan for Israel from Ezekiel Chapter 36, and her sister was fascinated by God's Word. They asked many questions. She went from house to house speaking to the women who were so kind to her, and helped her to feel welcome and at home. This was done, of course, with traditional Arabic coffee! It has now been a few years of intensive Arabic language study and making new friends. Words cannot describe the wonder of God's love and how He reaches out and brings together people who might have been enemies.

During this time Pamela learned more about reconciliation than ever before as a believer in Yeshua. God can do the impossible. Pamela is continuing to study the Arabic language and has begun reaching out to the MBB (Muslim Background Believers) who have recently come to know Yeshua as Lord. Jerusalem is the most unique city in all the earth, and we desire to see the love of God made manifest to the two great peoples here on both sides of our city, Jerusalem.

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