“This day I call Heaven and Earth as witnesses against you that I have set before your life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life.” (Deuteronomy 31:19, 20)
I. 3 Personal Response Steps
The truth is that every person must make a Teshuvah journey to return to God. The only way to reverse the curse of sin and death is to repent, return to God, and live in His presence.
Jesus Himself had to make the Teshuvah journey to overcome temptation and leave Satan with no hold on Him (John 14:30). It happened during His 40 days of temptation (Matthew 4:1-11), which many scholars date to late summer of 26 A.D., the Teshuvah season leading up to the Day of Atonement. As an observant Jew, Teshuvah would be the prescribed time for Jesus to go on a 40-day fast.
After 40 days, Satan appeared to Jesus and presented Him with three sets of choices, choices which we all must make. Jesus responded with passages from God’s word, and since both Jesus and Satan are Bible scholars, the context of those passages further solidifies Jesus’s answers.
To cut off the Devil’s hold on us and reverse the curse, we must give the same answers Jesus did.
- Choose faith to reverse the curse. (Deuteronomy 8:1-5)
- Choose obedience so you can live and prosper. (Deuteronomy 6:17-26)
- Choose to serve God so you can love Him and live in His presence. (Deuteronomy 6:4-15) The Teshuvah journey of Christ shows us how to respond to the Teshuvah invitation by choosing faith, obedience, and serving God. We can reverse the curse and live in God’s presence, moving into our Destiny.
II. Unity In The Body
To Jesus the key to unity came when the believers were in Christ, united with Him in the same way He was united with the Father. This is the same unity pictured in Teshuvah Solar Eclipse where the Moon, symbolizing the believers, is in the Sun, symbolizing Christ. Thus, the first step toward Christian unity is for individual believers to make the Teshuvah Journey to return to God and come into unity in Christ.
Even though our unity comes through Christ, many denominations and doctrines create a great diversity within the body of Christ. Lutheran theologian Oscar Cullman said, “Unity in the Church… is unity in diversity… recognizing others in all their variety as true Christians.” Pope Francis has said, “Unity brought by the Spirit can harmonize every diversity.” Unity in diversity recognizes the contributions of other streams of Christianity and blends them together in a symphony of harmony. It is a unity of the Spirit, not in doctrine or Church government.
The Unity Revival has already begun. The Pope’s outreach to Kenneth Copeland in 2014 produced a flood of Christian leaders who traveled to Rome for international reconciliation meetings. There have also been national level events like Azusa Now: The Call in Los Angeles where Lou Engle and Matteo Calisi led historic prayers for reconciliation between Christians. Much has happened, but much more needs to happen to heal the broken Body of Christ.
The urgent need to heal the Body of Christ must be communicated from the national leadership of movements and denominations to the local Churches. The city fathers must become champions of unity, bringing the Body of Christ together to impact their communities. For the prayer of Jesus in John 17 is not just about unity. It is for unity with a purpose, “So the world may believe” (John 17:21).
Like the watchmen on the wall in the Teshuvah scripture of Ezekiel 33, the Church must warn the unbelievers of the judgment to come and bring as many as possible to salvation. The Body of Christ must be healed to do its work for Christ.
III. Healing The Land
The Church must make the Teshuvah journey of repentance and return to God. We must act with Christian love if the land is to be healed:
- Come into visible unity so the world will have faith in Christ. The divisions in the Church are a scandal and a slander on Christ. Many souls have been lost because of our divisions, and many will be saved if we unify.
- Bless and curse not. It is blessings that bring change, like turning on a light instead of cursing the darkness. By blessing and loving our enemies, we are partnering with God in His plan to save them and fulfilling God’s call that we be a blessing (1 Peter 3:9).
- Transcend politics. Christians in both political parties must overcome political agendas which divide them. Christians should not retreat from the public square but instead should see that Christian principles are reflected in the policies of both political parties.
- Awake from a slumbering spirit. The Church still claims a majority of Americans, yet most Christians are slumbering, happy to be complacent. The Church needs to wake up and influence society before it is too late.
To save the nation we must individually make our Teshuvah journey, like Jesus did, coming to unity with God. The Church must also make its Teshuvah journey of repentance and Uniting in Christ.
Then, as we seek God’s face, we will pray for a great revival in America which will take the nation on a Teshuvah journey of repentance back into unity with God, and returning it to its calling to be a Christian nation and a light to the world.
God is sending His sign, the Teshuvah Eclipse of 2017, as His invitation and His warning. We must choose life or death, blessings or curses.
Choose life before it is too late.