My wife and I have gone to Israel three years in a row now. On our last trip, we were there not long after the October 7 attacks. It was actually a good time to go. Nobody was there. And I got a friend of mine to take me to Benghazi.
I had to see things for myself.
The murders had already happened by then, but the blood was still on the houses. The destruction was real. The IDF was going in, and it was a terrible situation. But the reason I tell you that is not to retell that story. It’s because I got to meet some pretty key people.
I spent time with chaplains, IDF leaders, and the people who try to bring God along to these soldiers. And I noticed something. There’s a renewed movement toward God. I didn’t say toward Christianity, but there is a turning. There’s a renewed interest in going back and studying the Torah. In the learning schools throughout Jerusalem, people are turning back.
I met two of the most influential rabbis. Rabbi Glick and Rabbi Tuly. One of them represents the more liberal part of Judaism. The other has been shot six times. When you share the Temple Mount with Islam, there are certain things you’re not supposed to do. You’re not supposed to sing. You’re not supposed to pray out loud. But he ignores that. He sings. And people hear about it. He’s supposed to be dead by now, but he’s not going to stop.
Belief that doesn’t change anything isn’t belief. It’s not enough to say we believe something if we don’t live like it.
The cool thing about meeting them was that we had heart-to-heart conversations. They knew my motivation wasn’t to convert them. I just wanted to learn how they do what they do. After that, I spent time with Messianic Jews and had some pretty intense meetings, trying to understand how the Orthodox see the Messianic movement and vice versa.
All of that provoked a new interest in the names of God.
Most of the names of God in the Old Testament are descriptive: Elohim, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha. They’re not really names as much as descriptions of what God does. Powerful, provider, healer. The actual name, the one not spoken out loud, is YHWH. Yod Heh Vav Heh, the Tetragrammaton.
Hebrew is a pictorial language. Each letter has a picture. Yod is a hand, Heh means “behold,” Vav is a nail or tent peg, and then Heh again, “behold.” So what the name Yahweh actually means is: behold the hand, behold the nail.
God has always wanted to bring those far from Him near. Even in the Old Testament, His plan has always been to redeem the world. And when Jesus comes, what does He say? Unless you do the work of the Father, you won’t be received by the Father. And what is the work of the Father? To believe in the one He has sent.
After this trip, I rewrote our entire discipleship framework. Because we’ve baptised a thousand people in the past year, but I started to ask—where are they?
Belief that doesn’t change anything isn’t belief. It’s not enough to say we believe something if we don’t live like it. When you come to Jesus, you’re saying, “I’m now going to follow Him.” And if there’s anything in my life that doesn’t line up, I may not be perfect, but the intent of my will is to follow Jesus.
That’s what I’m seeing stirring again in Israel, and I pray, in us too.
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