Arab-07 Martyrdom - God's Normative Call — Art Katz

Israel’s Humiliation and Future Restoration

I thought it was just a thought going on, but I saw coming through your broad streets, your boulevards, many hundreds, thousands of Israelis, they must have been Israelis, they were all men, they were clearly captive.

They were being forced to march through the streets, their heads were bowed, they were dispirited and they were broken, they were helpless, and the people were railing, and it was sounding like a football rally, and they were just having sport and enjoying the delight of the humiliation that they can now bring to this defeated nation.

The authorities could not even contain them, they broke out from the sidewalk and ran into the mass of men and struck at them or spit at them or cursed them. And they simply had to bear it and just continue to walk in their weary way.

A great army of them. So Lord, we don't know if that's a symbol of something, or the day will come and is not far from now when that will actually take place. And that there will be some who break out of the crowds not to curse but to bless.

To steal them away and slit them away, and bring them to their own place, to their own bed, and save a remnant of them who may one day return because of that mercy. As the redeemed of the Lord. Prepare us for that day Lord.

We thank you and give you the praise for our part in your purposes. Grant us grace upon grace. Jesus, that this tonight was a foretaste of things to come, a preview. The nation today that is looked upon as aggressive and violent, humbling themselves and broken and washing the feet of all nations, coming into the apostolic call, being to the nations where Paul was to the Gentiles, and washing the feet of the nations in the bringing of the word of God and the knowledge of the way of God, bringing healing and restoration, miracles in power, all of the grace of God because they are grafted back into their own root.

And the life of that root now can come forth as God intended to bless all nations. All the families of the earth will be blessed by a nation that has been restored by the mercy of the foot washing of the church.

It's a great mystery. I don't have words for it. But that will come. The very nations that fear and hate Israel today will be the ones most benefited and blessed when they come to them as the redeemed and restored of the Lord to be his witness among the nations.

A people of peace, meek and lowly, willing even to forfeit their lives as Paul did, to give the whole counsel of God to those to whom they are sinning for, not withholding anything, selfless people as Paul was, seeking nothing for themselves but to make God known and to serve his purposes and to glorify him among the nations.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, for the rejoicing that will come in all the earth when the knowledge of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. I wanted to say a little bit about martyrdom tonight.

Martyrdom as God’s Normative Call

Not because it has an interest as something of a curious kind that has been historic or may happen to a few. But because I believe it is God's definitive and normative intent for all his church.

True church is martyr church. Whether or not it is required of us. It is not just something that happens to a few. It may actually mark the difference between those who rule and reign with him in his thousand-year millennial rule and those who may sleep until its conclusion.

And I agree with the principle that if we want to see something in its purest form, we need to look at where it was expressed first in the scripture. The truest picture of church is what it was at the first in the book of Acts.

And the truest picture of martyrdom is what it was experienced by Stephen in Acts chapter 7.

So we need to examine this together. To understand what is the heart, the genius of martyrdom.

Silence, Suffering, and the Mystery of Israel

God had me on a sabbatical silence that lasted 14 months in which he prohibited me from preaching at all.

God had me on a sabbatical silence that lasted 14 months in which he prohibited me from preaching at all.

That's a kind of a dying for a man who lives from his mouth. And he didn't tell me how long I would be forbidden to speak publicly.

And he didn't tell me how long I would be forbidden to speak publicly.

It could have been 14 years rather than 14 months. But he broke it by having me speak for a first time on the mystery of Israel and the church in the last days.

But he broke it by having me speak for a first time on the mystery of Israel and the church in the last days.

I had never before spoken it publicly. It was only a recent and new revelation for me. I didn't have it because I was Jewish. I had it because it was given from above. Out of a long season of suffering and death.

Out of a long season of suffering and death.

And I was called to a church in California to speak on this theme.

And I was called to a church in California to speak on this theme.

And I felt so strange having to speak for a first time in all of that long silence.

And I felt so strange having to speak for a first time in all of that long silence.

There was a great air of expectation and excitement in the room.

There was a great air of expectation and excitement in the room.

I knew that my words would be significant for the church and for Israel.

I knew that my words would be significant for the church and for Israel.

And who is sufficient for these things?

And who is sufficient for these things?

I could not even tell them to what chapter to turn.

I could not even tell them to what chapter to turn.

I said, turn to Romans 9 through 11. I said, turn to Romans 9 through 11. And I just began. And when I finished the first night, the Lord had raised the question, What kind of a church will move Israel to jealousy?

What kind of a church will move Israel to jealousy?

This is a critical question that Paul raises in Romans 11.

This is a critical question that Paul raises in Romans 11.

Have they stumbled that they should fall? Should they be permanently out of the purpose of God? God forbid you should think that, he says.

God forbid you should think that, he says.

But through their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

But through their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles. We know that. But that is not the end of the statement. But that is not the end of the statement.

So as to move them to jealousy. So as to move them to jealousy. There is a purpose for our conversion for them.

There is a purpose for our conversion for them.

That they might be grafted in again, for God is able to graft them in.

That they might be grafted in again, for God is able to graft them in. For Israel to be planted. For Israel to be planted. For Israel to be planted. Someone interrupted me. By renewing us, the church will make Israel change and return to God.

By renewing us, the church will make Israel change and return to God.

What kind of church can succeed at this?

What kind of church can succeed at this?

We are leaving behind a book with you called the blood of... What is that book Becky? Our hands are stained with blood.

Our hands are stained with blood.

It is a history of the church's abuse of the Jews throughout the ages.

It is a history of the church's abuse of the Jews throughout the ages.

Forced conversion, threat, exile, death, suffering. Forced conversion, threat, exile, death, suffering. Forced conversion, threat, exile, death, suffering. Forced conversion, threat, exile, death, suffering.

The name Jesus, the word church, the word conversion. These are violent terms for any Jew to consider.

The name Jesus, the name of the church. These terms are extremely harsh for any Israeli.

How can a church overcome all of these historic prejudices?

How can a church overcome all of these historic prejudices?

What can it demonstrate that it can move Israel to a jealousy to receive the gospel that its fathers have been enemies against?

What can it demonstrate that it can move Israel to a jealousy to receive the gospel that its fathers have been enemies against?

I raised the question but I didn't have the answer.

I raised the question but I didn't have the answer.

I went on for 6 days speaking on these themes.

I went on for 6 days speaking on these themes.

And it came to 6 messages rather. The 7th and the final message was on a Sunday morning.

The 7th and the final message was on a Sunday morning.

I went to bed Saturday night without the final message.

I went to bed Saturday night without the final message.

The Lord woke me at 3 o 'clock in the morning with one word.

The Lord woke me at 3 o 'clock in the morning with one word. Martyrdom.

The church that can move Israel to jealousy is a martyred church.

The church that can move Israel to jealousy is a martyred church.

That's also the same church that fulfills the eternal purpose of God in demonstrating the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers.

Did you get that?

Yes. For the willingness to give up one's life for another is the wisdom of God.

It is totally opposite to the wisdom of this world that says avoid suffering and pursue pleasure. Take care of yourself first.

Even in our American Declaration of Independence, it says the pursuit of happiness. These are the self-evident truths of this world. The unquestioned premises that make this world's wisdom. But God says that he created all things in order that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be demonstrated.

The Wisdom of God in Revelation and Suffering

I wonder if you have seen glimpses of this in the things that pertain to the last days in the book of Revelation.

I never hear it preached. Revelation 13, verses 6 and 7, shows the triumphal success of the Antichrist, the.

He openly blasphemes God in verse 6, his name and his tabernacle, and then doth dwell.

In heaven.

This is the final triumph of everything that is opposed to God.

And it was given to this beast to make war with the saints in verse 7, and to overcome them.

That's a strange victory. That God allows his church to be overcome by the power of the beast. And we won't take the time to look at it tonight. I'll give you the scriptures, you can look at it at your own convenience.

Daniel 7, verses 21 and 25, where it says that he wears out the saints, he overcomes the saints, as if somehow this is the strategy of God.

We have thought in completely different terms.

That we overcome by triumphing, rather than by suffering.

But that is not the wisdom of God, that's the wisdom of the world. Jesus demonstrated the wisdom of God at the cross. The wisdom of the world was violence, threat, power. The wisdom of God was patience, suffering, and forgiveness.

And even unto death. And out of that came the triumph. That made the powers of darkness an open spectacle and disarmed them. For the fear of death could not intimidate Jesus. He suffered the worst that they could inflict.

And did not respond in kind. But showed the character of God in the extremity of his suffering. For crisis reveals and absolute crisis reveals absolutely. Absolutely. Crisis reveals and absolute crisis reveals absolutely.

It reveals what we really are.

Not when we are at our religious best, well fed and comfortable and in the company of the saints.

But when we are stretched out to breaking. And forsaken by all. And even sensing the forsaking of God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why don't I feel your presence? Why are you so far from my crying?

That suffering is the worst suffering.

That's what Lazarus had to experience when he suffered sickness unto death. And died without an explanation. Not knowing he was going to be resurrected again. When it comes, it will come suddenly. That's why martyrdom cannot be what we summon in a final moment.

It's not some extraordinary courage that we are going to find for a final moment. It's what we are consistently in all of our moments. What we exhibit in that final moment is the statement of what we have been in all of our moments.

For the way of martyrdom is a way of life and not of death.

For the overcomer is one who does not count his life as dear unto himself.

At any time. And he counts the spoiling of his goods as joy. His life is not his own. And if his death more glorifies God than his living, he is equally as glad to give his life as to keep it. To come to a place like that is to live without fear at any time.

Confidence in God’s Sovereignty Over Life and Death

Was it wise for us to come to Egypt at this time? To Heliopolis? My wife called yesterday and said that the telephone was coming off the hook. People were calling to find out what happened to us in Egypt.

Everybody knows that an earthquake is often followed by a second disturbance. Often worse than the first. It did not so much as enter our thought that we should in any way cancel our coming. Or that we should be mindful for our safety.

Or that we should be afraid to take a bus because some terrorists had shot up a bus some time ago.

Death, where is thy sting? And grave, where is thy terror?

As I told one of our brothers here the other night, Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, You could do nothing against me except that we are given you from above.

Nothing can cut my life short until every purpose of God has been fulfilled for it.

And if it pleases him in that final moment to take it by violence of one form or another, then I will be privileged to wear the modest crown. It is not some grim thing that I have to fear. It is a privileged calling for which I rejoice.

And I frankly do not expect to end my life in bed.

And it may well be ended at the hands of even my own people.

And that was the case with Stephen. Whose face shone like an angel. And I want to tell you, you want to avoid that condition. When your face starts shining like an angel, it will not be long before the darkness will seek to put it out.

You do not want to go on from faith to faith and from glory to glory. You do not want to embrace the ultimate purposes of God. You do not want to be to Israel the extension of God's mercy.

You do not want to be to Israel the extension of God's mercy to the people of Israel.

It is guaranteed to make your face shine.

And you will not even know it.

The Witness of Martyred Missionaries in Africa

I am a privileged man because I know of an entire community of believers that were martyred in Africa.

I have visited their community in a remote place in Zimbabwe.

That was an area that was infested by radical racists and Marxist blacks. These are a people who never armed themselves. They trusted God entirely for their safety. I was in correspondence with one of their young mothers.

And she was the victim along with her child and 15 others of this sudden massacre that came. I have been back there to see their burned out buildings. These radical blacks came in the middle of the night.

And in order to avoid detection by the firing of bullets they hacked them to death with an axe. They went with their hands tied with barbed wire behind their backs into a building and one at a time they were hacked to death.

I spoke with the black man who was saved from their death who witnessed that night. He said, Art you can hear the thumping of the axe through the night. But not one scream, one howl, one plea for one's life.

Only two children survived. One is 15 years old today and seeing a psychiatrist. Because she was holding the baby of the mother that I knew. And the baby was taken out of her arms and flung against the wall and crushed.

They were doing wonderful work in that area. They were really lifting up the whole economy of a very depressed African area. They were introducing fish ponds and methods of agriculture. Irrigation. And they were suddenly taken from there.

What a terrible waste. Why hadn't they been allowed to continue their good works? But more was performed in their dying than their living. Because they died without complaint. They didn't say, how come me?

Why me? And look at the good works we are doing. They had a sublime and complete total confidence in the sovereignty of God. If God required their life, so be it.

If God required their life, so be it. Their life can end at this moment and there is no need for a reason to end their life.

So when I came two years later, I stayed in the home of a Jewish doctor in Johannesburg, South Africa. Whose Christian wife was related to about four or five people who had died in that massacre.

Whose Christian wife was related to about four or five people who had died in that massacre. One of the people who had died was a close friend of the doctor.

He said, but after he got converted he tried to witness to me as a Jew. His friend was converted who died as a martyr and who had witnessed to him after his conversion. He was irritated by this attempt to convert him.

He said, but toward the end Art, there was such a change in this people. He said, there was a visible light in their faces.

He said, there was a visible light in their faces.

And they spoke to me and witnessed to me in another way. And I immediately thought of Stephen. Whose face also shone as an angel. Who was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. And was confronted by the authorities.

Stephen’s Spirit-Filled Witness in Acts 7

In the great chapter seven of the book of Acts. And spoke to them the words of God by the Spirit. Without thought of what the consequence would be for himself. He cried out, as your fathers did, so do you also.

You always grieve the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you also. Verse five. Acts seven five. No. Verse five. Fifty one, that's right. Fifty one. Fifty one of chapter seven.

As your fathers did, so do you also.

Verse fifty four. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven.

And saw the glory of God. And Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

He was an eschatological saint. He always saw the glory of the end. Just like Paul. In such a way as to make his present suffering momentary and light.

Just like Paul when he made his present suffering momentary and light. Because he saw the things that were invisible and eternal. He saw Jesus at the right hand of the Father.

The eternal weight of glory. That made his suffering momentary. It was not what he saw in a final moment. It was his characteristic seeing always. And it needs to be ours also. Being full of the Holy Spirit.

Seeing an open heaven. The glory of God. And Jesus at the right hand of the Father. When you see that. When you see Jesus at the right hand of the Father. At the place of the throne. And the place of authority.

Whether you are hacked to death at night with an axe. Or stoned to death in the daytime. You know that it's because he who stands at the right hand of the Father has determined it. And you can receive whatever comes from his hand.

Because it will always pertain to his glory. It enabled him to die more gloriously than Paul was ever able to live as a Pharisee.

Paul is the Hebrew of the Hebrews.

Paul is the Hebrew of the Hebrews.

Paul is the Hebrew of the Hebrews.

The ultimate religious Pharisee. The prized student of the Rabbi Gamaliel. Gamaliel. And the man who is dying is only a busboy. A waiter on tables. He doesn't have Paul's credentials. He doesn't have Paul's advantages.

But something is exhibited in his dying. Than Paul had ever seen or ever can see or will see in Judaism. It's the same thing that the centurion saw at the cross with Jesus. He had seen many men die on crosses.

And they spat out blasphemies and obscenities and they shrieked and they complained and they were foul mouthed and they died wretchedly. But the way this man died. Lay not their sin to their charge. With a forgiving spirit.

With a gracious spirit. With a meek spirit. In the midst of suffering. It says that he gave himself as a sacrifice without spot by the eternal spirit. It was not heroism. It was by the eternal spirit of God.

That Jesus gave himself a sacrifice without spot. Stephen was full of the same spirit. What is the nature of the eternal spirit of God? It is the character of God. It is what he is in himself. It's the spirit of self-sacrifice.

My house shall be a house of sacrifice. To reveal that spirit in the moment of extremity. To reveal God. Not as men think him to be but as he in fact really is. That's why that centurion cried out, truly this is the son of God.

He was a dumb centurion, a gentile, a professional murderer. But something was revealed in the extremity of suffering that he could not deny. Truly this is the son of God. Who so ever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born again of God.

It was a revelation unto salvation. And God is going to call for it one more time.

Israel and the Revelation of Christ Through Martyrdom

There will be a body on the cross again.

Who gives itself willingly. Willingly. But it will not be a centurion watching. It will be the nation of Israel. Who have not believed. Who have denied Christ. Who have been the enemies of the gospel for your sake.

But when they see this demonstration.

In that final moment. They will say truly this is the son of God.

This was critical for the conversion of Saul to Paul. It required the sacrifice of God's choicest servant Stephen.

He had to decrease that Saul might increase.

That the enemy of God should become the servant of God. That the destroyer of the church should become the servant of the church. And nothing less than this revelation could do it. It required his life.

And Saul was never able to forget it. When Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus and with a blinding light. Saul why do you kick against the prince? You can't get this out of your spirit.

You can't forget the way this man died.

Whom you thought to be an enemy of your faith. But he exhibited something in his suffering and his dying. That was the truest revelation of God. And when he cried out Lord lay not this sin to their charge.

It says that he fell asleep.

He fell asleep or he surrendered.

After he cried out it says that he fell asleep in the last verse of chapter 7. And when he had said this he fell asleep. When Christ comes those that are asleep in Christ rise first.

And those that are alive and remain rise after them.

It says those that remain means those that are barely alive. Just barely surviving.

From the anti-Christ persecutions of the last days. A martyred church that reveals the glory of God.

And when he cried out and said this he fell asleep. The purpose for his life and his being was completed. There was no point to continue. He had no desire to retain his earthly life.

For his purpose always was to fulfill the purpose of God. That God might be glorified by him.

In his living or in his dying. I think we are moving toward this conclusion. What kind of a church will move Israel to jealousy? A martyred church. What is the church that demonstrates the manifold wisdom of God?

A martyr church. For that is the manifold wisdom of God. The powers of darkness cannot bear it.

If they had known they would not have crucified the Son of the Lord. For in his being subjected to their death. He overcame them.

In the character of God. With meekness and with humility.

Without complaint and without fear.

As offering a fragrant sacrifice to the Father. I want to pray for the church in Egypt. And for your own dear heads.

That may one day have to shed blood. All the more if you embrace. That people that God will send into your midst. You will make yourself a candidate for dying. But how did God begin these days?

Isaiah 19 and the Altar in Egypt

He said in Isaiah 19. There will be an altar in Egypt. In the midst of the land. An altar of sacrifice.

And out of which Egypt shall become my people. God bless you. God bless you. Good day. Yes. Okay. Prophetic talk. In Isaiah. In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord. In the midst of the land of Egypt.

Verse 20. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts. In the land of Egypt. For they shall cry unto the Lord.

Because of the oppressors. He shall send.

A savior. A great one and he shall deliver them. At the end of verse 20.

He shall send them a savior. And the Lord shall be known to each of them. The Lord shall be revealed in Egypt.

Only by the altar that is in the midst of the land. Which is a sign and a witness. Exactly the word for martyr. And the Lord shall be known.

In Egypt. And the Egyptians shall know the Lord.

Consecration Through Ordinary Trials

So I don't know anything more than to pray. So I don't know anything more than to pray. It's a voluntary thing. It's not required. We do not have to be Christians of this ultimate kind. But for those who will there is a crown.

An eternal crown of glory. That's a privilege. For as many as will. And when God hears your heart.

He is released to bring a new life. To bring into your life and into your circumstances. Those things that fit you. To be a Stephen for your generation. I think Stephen's final sainthood. Was prepared by the widows of the Greeks and the Hebrews.

Stephen's final sainthood. Was prepared by the widows of the Greeks and the Hebrews. That's why he was appointed to wait on the tables. Because there was so much bickering. Because there was so much bickering and fighting and divisiveness and jealousy about who's getting this and who's getting that.

And he had daily to function in the midst of that.

The ordinary, the trials, the tensions, the irritations of the daily conflicts was the very thing out of which God shaped the model life. And he can shape us out of the same, the frictions, the trials, and the demands of the everyday.

I used to joke and say, until persecution comes from outside, I'm suffering enough of.

It from within my own family, from within my own marriage, from within my own circumstances. God has ways to fit us for the crown. Once we transact with him, that we are a people for his eternal purpose.

We sign up for martyrdom.

It will reveal the God of Israel to Israel, and that same God to Egypt. Nothing less will. We just need to understand the true church's motivation. Always has been, always has been, and most certainly must be at the end.

Will you be in that number? Let's tell the Lord. Thank you Jesus. Precious God, we would count it a privilege that we might offer a sacrifice to you in the land, and we invite you to prepare us for that day.

As a people who are without complaint, do not see ourselves as victims, that we have.

To suffer unhappy circumstances.

We trust the Jesus who is at the right hand of the Father. Whether our persecution has come to us as Palestinians, or under our own roofs by unbelieving families, by spouses that are opposed to us, we receive it with joy.

Let your light shine in our faces, that they may meet you through us in the wilderness Lord, as you spoke. You said, I will meet with them face to face, let it be this face that they see, not the face of religious obligation, or self-pity.

Why me? How come me? But the face of joy, the privilege to share the sufferings of Christ, in the final acts of God, that conclude the age, and reveal him to the nations. Even this nation, and that nation.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. In Jesus name we pray.

Anointing for a Martyr’s Consecration

When we learned that we were coming to the Middle East, Becky, who does not make spontaneous and prophetic statements, is very seasoned and careful about what she says, said, I sense that you are coming to anoint the body for burial.

And I didn't know what she meant, or what the Lord meant by that at that time, but I have been thinking and I feel now, if you can receive it, to anoint with oil, anyone who has really made it clear with the Lord, that they choose such a call.

And that something would be conferred with that blessing, with that oil, as an anointing of a kind to bear the full weight and demand of the martyr's life and the martyr's death. So I just want to say that, and as you have washed my feet, I want to perform in the Lord's stead, in his place, that kind of anointing, and what I do with the physical oil, that there is a corresponding unction from heaven, to bear and to fit us for burial.

If you witness to that, and you want that, I'm willing, but don't have the mentality that, well, why not, it can't hurt. Don't play with God, don't desecrate and make something cheap that he intends as holy.

If it is not your calling, and you don't intend such a calling, don't allow that prayer for yourself.

But if you are making it clear, both to God and to witnesses and to the principalities and powers, yes, I embrace a martyr's call, then... I have a question. I put myself on the altar. It's God's choice what kind of death I have.