January, 2008

Dear Friend,

At 12:01 A.M. on January 1 we turned a page on our calendars to a new month and a new year, 2008. Our Jewish friends, though, began their new year several months previous at sundown on September 12, when the year 5768 on the Jewish calendar was welcomed. The actual numerical identification of the year is based on the belief, presented in a treatise by a second century rabbi, that the date of creation (on the Gregorian calendar) was 3761 B.C. and Jewish people number the year from the date of creation, so we are now in the 5768th year of the universe’s existence (3761 + 2007=5768).

Are you confused? Many will answer, “Yes.” Does it really make any difference to you? Most will answer, “No,” and in that you’re with good company, for the fact of the matter is that the calculation of the number of the year means nothing to our God Who is eternal and, therefore, outside of temporal constraints or considerations. It is He Whom Isaiah identifies as “the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity.” (Isaiah 57:15) Moses says of God, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4) And Peter reminds us, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

This “apartness” from time is one of so many things about God that are difficult, in fact impossible, for us to understand. The classical theologians had a term, inscrutability, for this attribute of God—His possession of qualities defying comprehension by finite human beings. In what is probably the oldest book of the Bible, Job expresses the inscrutability of God:

Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than sheol; what canst thou know? The measure of it is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. (Job 11:7-9)

Paul echoes these words in his letter to the church in Rome:

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? (Romans 11:33- 34)

It should be noted that this exclamation concerning God’s inscrutability is the final thought in Paul’s three-chapter treatise on God’s purpose for the Jewish people, culminating in the doxology:

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Amen, indeed! We can’t comprehend all that God will do in and through the nation of Israel, nor exactly how He’s going to do it, but we do know that the role and spiritual welfare of the Jewish people is part of God’s inscrutable plan and purpose for the world. To be involved in taking the Gospel to them is a great privilege and a great responsibility.

Thank you so much for joining us in this endeavor. May God bless you and yours with a joyful and meaningful year of 2008.

Sincerely in Messiah Jesus,

Rev. Roger L. Wambold,
General Director