For or Against?

If someone had told me in my younger days that I would one day be helping to facilitate a gathering concerning the sons of Ishmael and sons of Isaac I would never have believed it. I am the last candidate for a message like this. Being raised in Egypt, Israel was my natural-born enemy. I remember when I was growing up one day Israel shot a missile that missed a target and hit an elementary school and many little children were injured and some were killed. Experiences like this cannot help but mark your heart. What's more, I had family members who were in the army and fought in the wars with Israel (1967, 1973). So for me the conflict in the Middle East isn't some far away political issue – it's at the very core of who I am.

But my problems weren't just with Israel. Egypt is a nation with strong Moslem influence and while there may not always be a persecution to the point of physical death, there is definitely constant discrimination against Christians. For example I had a friend at university who had a name that was not clearly Christian or Moslem. So one day, by accident, his marks were left to stand on their own merit and he came in third in the whole medical school. Until, that is, the administration realized their mistake. The next test, he failed. Why? To lower his average so that he, as a Christian, wouldn't be one of the highest ranking students and be eligible to become one of the professors at the university – a privilege reserved only for Moslems.

Living in a system like this left me suffering from a spirit of rejection. In fact, it got so bad that even the sight of the Moslem sheiks (priests) could literally make me sick to my stomach. All I could do was dream about the day my Christian friends and I would finally make our way through medical school so that we could build our own private Christian hospital. On the surface it seemed like this was a very righteous endeavour because we would be able to provide medical care to the poor and needy – Christian and Moslem alike. But deep in my heart I harboured another motivation; in a Christian hospital, I would finally be completely free from being under any systems controlled by Moslems.

So there were many deep issues, many "veils" covering my heart that God had to deal with before He could make me ready to embrace Isaiah 19 – which is a picture of His heart for the Middle East.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance." Isaiah 19:23-25

Most Bibles subtitle Isaiah 19 as "a prophecy to Egypt". And this is true; God is speaking in Isaiah 19 about His dealings with Egypt. But this picture at the end of the chapter shows us something very powerful – and that is that the fullness of the destiny of the Egyptians, the Assyrians and the Israelites are connected, like a three-fold chord that cannot be broken.

And I feel in my heart this is a key that the Lord wants us to understand if we want to be part of the remnant He is looking for in this day who is willing to stand in the gap to see His purposes fulfilled for the Middle East. This key is that we cannot be "for the Jews" or "for the Arabs" – we have to be "for the Lord" and own the whole of His heart and desire.

Are We For or Against?
I believe we have to come to the same place Joshua came to when he was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land and take the city of Jericho. As he went to prepare for the invasion and spy out the city, he came across a man with a sword drawn in his hand.

Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"

"Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"

The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:13-15

Joshua's first question was "are you for us or against us?" Why? Because he looked at himself as the final authority in this battle. Joshua was the appointed commander after Moses died and the anointed leader who was about to take the Israelites into the Promised Land. This battle, he thought, was his responsibility.

But when the man answered, he immediately corrected Joshua perspective "I am the commander of the army of the Lord". And appropriately, Joshua fell on his face, realizing that his only responsibility was to posture himself in humility as an obedient servant of the Lord.

I believe this is the posture we need to come to as the Church regarding the Middle East. Because I don't think we realize how much our minds and hearts have been affected by the very spirits that are in control in that region. If you have ever been to Jerusalem, you know that this is one city in the world where neutrality is almost impossible. You are either for or against. If you are for the Israelis, then you are against the Arabs. And if you are for the Arabs, then you are against the Israelis.

To be honest, I see a lot of soul ties regarding the Arabs and the Jews in the Church that have nothing to do with what the Spirit of God is saying. And while we think we are helping God with our support of one side or the other, in fact in the spirit we are causing more problems because unwittingly we are adding fuel to the fire of the spirits of division ruling in the Middle East. And I believe we need to ask the Lord to bring the sword of His word deep inside of us to divide asunder the soul from the spirit – because soul ties have no power to bring the Lord's purposes to completion.

I believe the Spirit of God is seeking a remnant in His church in these days who aren't coming for the Jews or for the Arabs but who simply want to hear what the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, is saying and who are willing to follow Him, one step at a time, in obedience to His strategy for unlocking the destiny of the Middle East. And this is the heart of this journey we are embarking on that we are calling "Reveal 19". Reveal 19 is a cry for revelation - that the Lord would "unseal" His purposes that have been reserved for such a time as this and give revelation to the Church about His plan to see Isaiah 19 fulfilled in the earth.

The Unveiling
As a first step in the Reveal 19 journey, we sense the Holy Spirit is calling a remnant of the body of Christ worldwide to gather in Langley, BC, August 12-14, 2010. Together we will spend extended times in worship and waiting on the Lord, entering into His presence and posturing our hearts to receive revelation from Him.

We felt to call this gathering The Unveiling because we sense that as a first step God wants to begin to address the many "veils" that cover our minds concerning the peoples of the Middle East and bring us into alignment with His heart and perspective. Because whether we have been affected by the persistent anti-Semitism in our society or by replacement theology in the Church or by the fear and judgments that have unknowingly crept into our hearts since our 9-11 wake-up call to the world of Islamic terrorism, only in Christ can all of these "veils" be removed.

We believe God is looking for a company who are willing to humble themselves and say to the Lord "my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. God remove the veils that are covering my heart!"

If this is a call that is resounding in your heart, I want to encourage you to let nothing hinder your obedience to the Lord in whatever way He asks you to be involved – by attending, through prayer or by financially sowing into this journey.

I look forward to walking this journey together!

All my love

David

David Demian is the Director of Watchmen for the Nations and the facilitator of the Reveal 19 Team