“We are now in a season of radical change,” Ps. Peter Tsukahira stated on 20th June at PJ Evangelical Free Church during the final session of the SOM Conference. “Not only here in Malaysia, but in different parts of the world. A new architecture of the church is beginning to arise that will cause Christianity as a whole—as a movement to surge forward in terms of the power that is released by God through the body of Christ to transform nations.”
We often hear talk about revival and breakthrough, but Ps. Tsukahira drew our attention to look beyond revival—beyond breakthrough—in order that we might see true transformation come to the nations in preparation for Jesus’ return.
“I believe that the Bible that does not reform is not really the Bible and part of the problem we face in recent decades is mistaking seasons of religious excitement for true revival. True revival may include religious excitement, and there’s nothing wrong with getting excited in the house of God, but that’s not all it is.
“I’ve lived through some of these seasons of religious excitement that have been called revival, and in some cases, there’s very little fruit that is discernible after the excitement leaves. That’s not the kind of transformational revival and awakening that God wants to see happen—I don’t believe that’s on His schedule—He wants to bring transformation.
“I believe that we are in the beginning of the end times and the beginning of restoration of all things.” Ps. Tsukahira said. Powerful signs of restoration have been revealed to us. The resurrection of Israel from the dead as a modern nation—a nation that had been gone for nearly 2000 years, and now is back in the place where it began, is an event that does not have any historic precedence.
God went on record telling the people of Israel that He had promised them the land as an everlasting inheritance and that He would bring them into that land. But when they disobeyed Him, He would scatter them from the land into all the nations, but He would never forget them, and He promised that a day will come when He will bring them back to the land.
This is a recurring theme in Scripture and it’s a truth that underlines both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now, to live in the day when God has actually done this in the history of the World— now that He has gathered His people out of all the continents of the world by the millions and created a nation that did not exist for nearly 2000 years, we are witnesses that God has definitely moved in a powerful and prophetic way.
At the same time, we also see the re-emergence of the Messianic remnant. We’re beginning to see Jewish people turn back and see Yeshua, their Jewish Messiah without losing their Jewish identity. That’s what’s really new.
Amongst the Messianic Jews of today, several hundred thousands of them around the world are simply saying that they did not have to become non Jewish to believe in their own Jewish Messiah. It is a modern Messianic Jewish movement and a fulfillment of the prophecy we see in Romans 11. God is grafting the broken branches back into their own Abrahamic tree of covenant.
“How we’re going to look past these breakthroughs is by looking into the words of Jesus as He responded to His disciples and began to define for them what exactly the end times would be like,” Ps. Tsukahira said.
We begin in Matthew 23:37-39:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
In essence, Jesus is saying, “I’m not coming back to you, Jerusalem, until you welcome me back as your Messiah and King.” Jerusalem as a city—the people of Israel, is not ready to invite Jesus back as their Messiah and King, but they are moving in that direction!” Ps. Tsukahira proclaimed.
“The messianic congregation has committed to standing in the gap—to singing, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,’ not just for themselves, inviting Jesus to come back, but also as an intercessory prayer on behalf of unbelieving Jerusalem, until the day that they will sing it for themselves.”
One day, there will be a Messianic Jerusalem. One day, the people of Israel will go out into the streets and raise up holy hands towards their Messiah and King, and say to Yeshua, “Come back. We welcome you back! You are welcome here.”
We go on to read in Matthew 24: 1-2:
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
The disciples were justifiably proud of being Jews. They had a wonderful God. They were the only people in the world who really knew God, had a history with God, and had God’s house in their city. God didn’t dwell anywhere else. His presence was in the temple. That was God’s address. God had promised David and Solomon that Jerusalem is the city that He had personally chosen forever.
And so, as the disciples were walking with the Messiah and pointing out how great they have it with the temple, the presence of God, and now with Jesus Himself. But Jesus says, “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
Just one generation later, the Romans looted the temple. They burned it, and then because of their bitterness against the Jews who had rebelled against Imperial Rome, they dismantled the temple stone by stone and pushed those stones to the edge of the temple platform shoved them over.
“We’re talking about a massive building—one of the wonders of the ancient world,” Ps. Tsukahira said, “and not one stone remained on the temple mount. I’m telling you, God’s word is accurate.”
Stones from the Temple as seen in Jerusalem today
Finally, in Matthew 24:3, we see the disciples having a private session with Jesus. Even though Jesus had a very active public ministry, we often see Him retreating from the masses and going back to His personal disciples whom He knew would be the ones to carry on His ministry after His ascension. And so when they ask Him a direct question, we have assurance that He will answer them clearly, directly, and prophetically:
“Take heed that no one deceives you.” Jesus tells them that the chief characteristic of the times leading up to His return is deception. “One of the things I would like to warn all of us about are religious distractions,” Ps. Tsukahira said. “Some church events are characterized by very, very strange manifestations. When the Holy Spirit moves, there are going to be some disturbances. People thought that the disciples on the day of Pentecost were drunk when they were in fact filled with the Spirit. So there is manifestation.
“But when we get to a point where we’re looking for stranger and stranger manifestations, the more strange the manifestations become, the more we become convinced that this is truly the hand of God, I will say, watch out that that distraction does not become a deception,” Ps. Tsukahira cautioned.
“Learn to discern between seasons of religious excitement and a visitation from God that is going to leave practical change. You want revival, but you want revival that reforms. You want religious excitement. It’s good to get excited, but you can’t remain excited forever. When the excitement subsides, there needs to be fruit that remains. Fruit in terms of transformed lives, changed environments, a society that more reflects the Lordship of Jesus—more justice, goodness, and love in the community, rather than less.
“There’s also perhaps a more serious deception and that is this,” Ps. Tsukahira continued. “As this message of Israel goes out, and more and more Christian people around the world become awakened to the prophetic significance of being connected to our Hebrew roots, one of the dangers of this message is the romantic love that says ‘Everything about Israel is good and is from God.’
“We want all Christians to come out of this sad and terribly long history of Christian contempt for Jewish things. We want Christians to love the Jewish people and Israel. But what I believe God wants is a realistic love and not just a romantic love. Loving Israel realistically means understanding that the people of Israel are mostly unsaved.
“When we say stand with Israel, we do not mean ‘Give blanket approval to every decision made by those in authority.’ They are in darkness and need our prayers. Nevertheless, God is going to work through them. The heart of Israel is partially hardened until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. In our realistic love, be aware of this one thing:
“The 613 commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai encompassed many things— the Sabbath, holidays, Jubilee, food, clothing, etc. and Christians need to know these commandments. Not so we can try to apply them to our own lives, but because God wants us to have a comprehensive interpretation in the spirit of those laws based on the understanding that Jesus Himself fulfills them.
“If you really want to understand Jesus, go back and read those Laws and you’ll know what He’s about, “Ps Tsukahira said. “They find their perfection in Him. He leads us into the spirit of the lawful nature of God. But if you take some aspects of those laws and try to apply to your life, you get to be on a slippery slope.
“If someone says to you, ‘All you have to do is rest on God’s Sabbath if you really want to please God,’ be really careful about that. This happened to the Galatian church. There were false teachers in Galatia who said ‘If you want to follow Jesus, you need to be circumcised because Jesus and all His disciples were circumcised!’ and Paul’s response was: ‘You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?’
“‘Don’t you realize that if you take one aspect of the Law, you need to come under all of the Law? You’ve been set free. Stand fast in the Liberty of Christ.’ He is the fulfillment of those things. He will teach you the spirit of those laws—how to be circumcised in your heart—how to enter the rest of God by faith and have the spirit of the Sabbath. These are the things we need to apply ourselves to—not to pick and choose from certain aspects of the Law.
“There is an end to this and I need to warn you because it is very serious,” Ps. Tsukahira said. “There are Christians today who started with a great zeal for Israel. But they developed a romantic love and went on to adopting aspects of the law, and at a certain point, some of them begin to think, ‘Why do I need to do this Christian thing for? I have the Law. I don’t need Jesus.’ Some of them end up converting to Judaism and becoming enemies of Christ.
“Therefore beware. Stand fast in the liberty. We have so much to learn from Israel by getting connected to our Hebraic roots. It is where the strength, nourishment, and ability to bear fruit come from. But we need to go back and read the Bible that Jesus carried. It didn’t contain the New Testament. We need to know the laws of God and understand how to interpret those laws in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. If you have any question on how to walk in the spirit of the law, just look to Jesus.”
Ps. Tsukahira went on to explain how Jesus demonstrated the spirit of the Sabbath when He healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. Jesus was not breaking the Law—He was perfecting it. The purpose for God’s command to rest was so that we will be restored, refreshed, strengthened, and healed that we might be able to go about His business. The Sabbath is about being made whole again. The author of Hebrews tells us about entering the Sabbath through faith: When you trust God enough, you are able to relax.
“There’s a doctrine that is going out into the church that will weaken us rather than make us strong, and that is: ‘You don’t need law at all.’ Law is condemnation. Law is guilt. Forget about law because now we’re under grace.’ Friends, listen,” Ps. Tsukahira said. “If your throw out law, you throw out your authority to make change. What you want is God’s law. Not the law of man. Don’t tell me that law is all about bondage and condemnation.
“This is important because without law, there is no authority. When the laws are right, the people are free. They are protected and their investments are protected. That’s why God rules lawfully. That’s why we need to go back and understand God’s laws. Not to apply them in a legalistic way, because legalistically, those laws will condemn you and kill you. They’ll just squeeze the life right out of you. But if we interpret those laws in the Spirit and let Jesus show us the spirit of those laws, we can have the lawfulness of God and the freedom of the Spirit.
“God took Israel from a dysfunctional status to the greatest nation in the world under Solomon. He Himself discipled the nation of Israel to become an example of the Kingdom of God. When Jesus came along, He trained up His disciples and sent them out. He said it’s not just Israel anymore. Now it’s Jerusalem, and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth, even Malaysia!
“Jesus said, ‘All authority—all power has been given to Me. So now, you go and make disciples of all the nations in My name. When you have the breakthrough, this is the next day. When the game changes and you can stand as equals in this nation or in any nation, that’s the day when the responsibility is on your shoulders.
“What would you do?” Ps. Tsukahira challenged. “How would you decide? How would you rule? You need to be praying about it now. The person to teach you is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The greatest ruler who ever lived. The perfect ruler. The lawful One. The One whose Kingdom will have no end. The One who establishes the Kingdom that will never be shaken.
“And it’s not just to be spiritualized. The Kingdom comes with power to change our lives—to change the world around us. Revival that reforms. An awakening that transforms. God discipled a nation and so can you. When that breakthrough comes, you’re going to need people who are gifted in every area of society to step out at that point and bring the salt and light into every corner of the world.
“If God takes us from being the tail to becoming the head, how can we make good decisions? How can we be like Esther and Mordecai who brought their giftings together and changed their whole environment—their culture and their history? This is the destiny of the people of God, and it comes from His lawful and righteous rulership. He said seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else shall be added unto you.”
Let us therefore be firmly rooted in the Law of God and look to the Lord Jesus for guidance in understanding the spirit of the law, so that when breakthrough and revival comes to our land, the following days will be days of true transformation!
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Esperanza Ng
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