Ambassadors to Israel
Pastor Matt and his wife Elizabeth serve at the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Jerusalem where Matt is the director. Israel is mentioned over 2500 times in the Bible. God is referred to the God of Israel in the Old Testament. It’s fitting to view Israel as God’s chosen people through the Bible’s perspective.
Phil Hanlen and Ryan Van Deussen’s ministry Ambassadors and Embassies has partnered with Matt’s church in Israel since 2016. Phil and Ryan consider themselves Ambassadors to Israel according to 2 Corinthians 5, and Matt’s church is their embassy in the Middle East.
When Matt was in his twenties he prayed that God would use him like he used Billy Graham. Over time his prayer has changed to, “Lord let me finish well.” Through patience, God will show us his character within our hearts when we are faithful through trials and tribulation to stand in the midst of the spiritual battle and the onslaught of flaming arrows of doubt and discouragement.
Elizabeth grew up in foster care. When she married her husband, they prayed where God would have them serve. She had been brought up in a foster home and became a disciplined follower of Christ. She and her husband were both convinced that God had called them to serve in Israel. They had a difficult time getting through the Beurocracy in Israel who opposed them at every turn. However, through persistence and God’s grace, mercy, and divine providence they became permanent residents of Israel.
Elizabeth didn’t know her biological parents until the age of 26. Through the linkage of her biological father, she found out that she was of Jewish origin. When he passed away at 98, he had given her the family’s documentation that proved they were of Israeli heritage. According to the laws of Israel, those of Jewish ancestors were welcome to make their home in Israel.
Only one percent of residents of Israel call themselves Christians. Matt and Elizabeth are blessed to live in a Christian enclave in Jerusalem. About 20% of Israelis consider themselves religious and most of these are liberal, not conservative Orthodox Jews. Even though the Israeli ministry welcomes those of Jewish ancestry, they are closed to Christians and other outsiders. The exception is that if you were of Jewish ancestry and you were brought up as a Christian “through no fault of your own.”
For four years Matt and Elizabeth appealed to The Israeli Ministry of the Interior to allow grant them Permanent Resident status but to no avail. They finally received help when an Israel Supreme Court judge intervened and ruled in their favor. For four years they were ostracized as foreign outsiders who could be deported at any moment until the judge ruled in their favor.
The prevailing Jewish religion leads to death. When their son required hospitalization the religious leaders said to Matt and Elizbeth, “he’s fourth generation Jewish, what is that to us?” They denied them medical insurance and medical treatment. Through these ordeals, God has shown them that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
The biblical story of Israel continues today, even though the twelve tribes of the house of Israel have been scattered. In the midst of this spiritual battle, in the very place where the devil couldn’t stop Jesus’ resurrection, his priority remains to silence Christians and shut down Christianity. In the land of Jesus’ birth, Elizabeth and Matt have withnessed spiritual warfare first hand.
Through their struggles, Elizabeth has come to realize that they are on the front lines of the spiritual battle. In military strategy, you don’t confront the enemy head on. Instead you attack the weaker flanks. You don’t attack the enemy’s forward ranks by inflaming his passion for war, death, destruction and annihilation. The enemy’s flanks in the spiritual battle are to recompense no man evil for evil… but to love and follow Christ’s example to love your enemies, to bless them and to do good unto those who persecute you and say evil against you falsely for Jesus’ sake, for great is your reward in heaven. The light of the Word is a reflection of Jesus Christ himself. In Isreel there is a stark contrast between the darkness of the secular world and the light of Christ. Light always overcomes darkness.
As the salt of the earth, we represent the salt of truth amidst the flavorless lies of the devil. 2 Corinthians 5 says that God has called as Ambassadors for Christ. When we deliver the peace treaty from our Sovereign Lord, we are the sweet smelling fragrance and savor to them that God has called to salvation.
God’s blessing of Abraham to his dependents from generation to generation continues today. God said to Abraham, whoever blesses Israel I will bless and whoever curses Israel I will curse. Romans 11 is about God’s relationship to Israel in today’s world. According to Romans, we Christians who have been born again of God’s spirit, have been grafted into the root of Israel.
In 70 AD the zealots of Israel tried to rebel against Roman rule. However Rome put down the rebellion and destroyed the temple of Jerusalem and annihilated and ostracized many of the zealous Jews. Ever since the first century, Arabs, Muslims, and other nations in the Middle East have hated and detested those of Jewish origin.
Today the Zionist Christians who are one percent of the Israel’s population understand that in the midst of the spiritual warfare between Jews and Arabs, Jesus Christ is the one who reconciles… There is no peace without the Prince of Peace. To reconcile our hearts with one another we must first reconcile our hearts with God. There is only one remedy for irreconcilable differences…. for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
In Israel like America, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high. The battle belongs to the Lord. As Abraham Lincoln said, the best way to defeat your enemy is to make him your friend. We make friends through our mutual friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who brings peace by reconciling our hearts with God’s heart and our hearts with our Lord Jesus Christ. Then when we love God above all, we can love our neighbor as ourselves. This is our mission and our commission… building bridges instead of putting up walls… to deliver a peace treaty from the prince of peace. Therefore we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God…
In other words, Go give ‘em Heaven!
That together we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
