Remembering the Holocaust

Why the Holocaust?

The Wickedness of Man

The Holocaust is usually seen as one of the greatest evils that has ever been perpetrated on Earth. Specifically the genocide of over 6 million Jews 1.5 million of whom were children. And yet we live in a day and an age where many people want to deny that it ever occurred, or deny that it was really that bad. Most of those who seek to deny the holocaust with one breath are calling for another genocide with the next breath.

Part of the reason that the Holocaust is seen as so evil is because of how deliberate it was. The death of 80 million Chinese due to starvation is not seen as bad because it was the accidental result of Socialistic Communism. The same can be said about the 20 million Russians who died from starvation due to the failed utopian ideals of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

But the Holocaust is abominable to us because it was the deliberate extermination of human beings, because they were classified as less than persons because of their race, because they were Jewish, because they were not considered as evolved as the Aryan Race.

The Depravity of HaSatan

But is it enough to say that the Holocaust was simply the result of the wickedness of Man? Or were there more diabolical influencers involved?

It is sometimes mistakenly stated that Hitler was a Christian. This could not be further from the truth. Hitler despised the Jewish people, and therefore demanded that the Reich Church eliminate the Hebrew Scriptures. He then demanded that every reference to the Jewish people in the New Testament be removed, and finally he replaced the Bible entirely with his own book Mein Kampf. Hitler was not interested in bowing his knee to a Jewish Messiah, Yeshua. No. On the contrary, Hitler declared himself to be Lord and saviour of Germany. But in the process of making god in his own image, there is no doubt that the Adversary, Satan was involved and influencing and even directing Hitler’s actions.

The Justice of Adonai???

This is one of the most difficult questions to ask. Why did Adonai allow the Holocaust? It is certain that the Adonai did not gas millions of people in the death camps. It is certain that the Devil inspired and motivated Hitler and the Nazis. But the big question that may Jewish people still ask, is, “Why did Adonai allow the Holocaust to happen?” It is around this question that I want to focus today.

The Blessings and the Curses

When we read through the Torah, we can not help but realise that Adonai takes obedience to the covenant very seriously. When the Covenant of Moses was first given at Mount Horeb (Sinai), we see in Leviticus 26 that Adonai promises blessings for faithfulness and curses for unfaithfulness. There are 10 verses that speak of great and wonderful things that will come upon the nation of Israel if they follow Him and keep His mitzvot. There are 25 verses that speak of the horrible punishments that will come upon the people of Israel when they ignore Adonai, and reject His Covenant.

About 40 years later, when the next generation is about to enter into the Promised Land, we see that Moses, under the direction of Adonai, repeats the blessings and the curses. Now I am going to read this passage, first the blessings and then the curses. As I do, I want you, not really to read along with me, but rather to listen to these words, and keep in the back of your mind the atrocity of the Holocaust.

Deuteronomy 28:1–14 TLV

“Now if you listen obediently to the voice of Adonai your God, taking care to do all His mitzvot that I am commanding you today, Adonai your God will set you on high—above all the nations of the earth. Then all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of Adonai your God: “Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the field. “Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil, and the offspring of your livestock—the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out. “Adonai will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck down before you. They will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. Adonai will command the blessing on you in your barns and in every undertaking of your hand, and He will bless you in the land Adonai your God is giving you. Adonai will establish you as a holy people for Himself, just as He swore to you—if you keep the mitzvot of Adonai your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of Adonai and they will stand in awe of you. Adonai will make you overflow in prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil—on the land Adonai swore to your fathers to give you. Adonai will open for you His good storehouse—the heavens—to give rain for your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. Adonai will make you the head and not the tail, and you will be only above and not below—if you listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God that I am commanding you today, careful to do them, and do not turn aside from any of the words I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to go after other gods in order to serve them.

Deuteronomy 28:15–69 TLV

“But if you will not listen to the voice of Adonai your God, to take care to do all His mitzvot and statutes that I am commanding you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: “Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the field. “Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed will be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out. “Adonai will send on you cursing, confusion and frustration in every undertaking of your hand that you will do—until you are destroyed and perish quickly, because of the evil of your deeds by which you have abandoned Me. Adonai will make the plague cling to you, until He has put an end to you from the land that you are going in to possess. Adonai will strike you with weakness, fever, inflammation, fiery heat, the sword, blight and mildew—they will pursue you until you perish. Your sky above your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. Adonai will make the rain of your land powder and dust—it will come down on you from the heavens, until you are destroyed. “Adonai will bring you to defeat before your enemies. You will go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. You will become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your carcass will be food for every bird of the heavens and beast of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. “Adonai will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with hemorrhoids, with scabs and with itching, from which you cannot be healed. “Adonai will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with confusion of heart. You will grope at noon as the blind person gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways. You will be only oppressed and robbed all the time, and there will be no one to save you. “You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but you will not dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not put it to use. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen in front of you, and it will not be returned to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. “Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while your eyes look on, longing for them all day long—but your hand will be powerless. A people you do not know will eat up the produce of your soil and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed all the time. You will be driven mad by the sight that your eyes will see. “Adonai will strike you on the knees and thighs with severe boils, from which you cannot be healed—from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. “Adonai will bring you and the king you set over you to a nation you and your fathers have not known—and there you will serve other gods, wood and stone. You will become a horror, a proverb, and a byword—among all the peoples where Adonai will drive you. “Much seed you will take out to the field—but little will you bring in, for the locust will eat it up. Vineyards you will plant and tend—but wine you will not drink or bring in, for the worm will devour it. Olive trees you will have in all your territory—but oil you will not rub on yourself, for your olives will drop off. Sons and daughters you will father—but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. All your trees and the produce of your soil the whirring locust will possess. “The outsider who is in your midst will rise up higher and higher above you, and you will go down lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will become the head and you will become the tail. “All these curses will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed—because you did not listen to the voice of Adonai your God, to keep His mitzvot and statutes that He commanded you. They will be a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever. Instead of serving Adonai your God with joy and goodness of heart, out of the abundance of everything, you will serve your enemies, whom Adonai will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lacking everything; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. “Adonai will raise up a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, just as the eagle swoops down—a nation whose language you will not understand, a brazen-faced nation that will not respect the old or be gracious to the young. It will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you are destroyed. It will not leave behind for you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until it ruins you. It will besiege you within all your town gates throughout your land, until your high and fortified walls—that you trusted in—come down. It will besiege you within all your gates throughout your land that Adonai your God has given you. “You will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters Adonai your God has given you, in the siege and stress with which your enemies will distress you. The most tender and delicate man among you—his eye will become evil against his brother and the wife of his bosom and the rest of his children that he has left. He will not give to a single one of them from his children’s flesh that he will eat, because nothing else is left for him in the siege and stress with which your enemy will distress you within all your town gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who never ventured to set the sole of her foot on the ground out of delicateness and tenderness—her eye will become evil against the husband of her bosom and her son and daughter. For in secret she will eat her afterbirth that issues from between her legs and the children she bears, for lack of anything else in the siege and stress with which your enemy will distress you within all your gates. “If you do not take care to do all the words of this Torah, the things written in this scroll, to fear this glorious and awesome Name, Adonai your God, then Adonai will make your plagues and the plagues of your descendants extraordinary—terrible and prolonged plagues, severe and prolonged illnesses. He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt that you were afraid of, and they will cling to you. Also every illness and plague that is not written in the scroll of this Torah, Adonai will bring on you, until you are destroyed. “You will be left few in number, instead of being like the stars of the sky in number—because you did not listen to the voice of Adonai your God. Now just as Adonai rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so Adonai will rejoice over you to ruin and destroy you; and you will be uprooted from the land that you are going in to possess. “Adonai will scatter you among all peoples from the one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods—wood and stone—that you and your fathers have not known. Among these nations you will find no rest, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot. But there Adonai will give you a trembling heart and failing eyes, and a despairing spirit. “Your life will hang in the balance before you; you will be afraid night and day, and you will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!”—from the fear of your heart that you will fear and the sight of your eyes that you will see. Adonai will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way that I said to you, ‘You will not see it again.’ There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves and maids, but there will be no buyer.” These are the words of the covenant that Adonai commanded Moses to make with Bnei-Yisrael in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He made with them at Horeb.

Now I know this is difficult to hear, but Adonai is the same, yesterday, today and forever. His hatred of sin and wickedness is just as real and potent, as it was for the Children of Israel on the other side of the Jordan. And we, as a nation, should be under no illusion to think that Adonai will let us off the hook.

But the passage does not end there. The judgement and justice of Adonai is followed by a promise of mercy.

The Promise of Forgiveness

I have just read to you all the dire results, or consequences, of sin, and if I stopped there, we would not see the good news. Immediately after this passage we read this, Deut. 30:1-6

Deuteronomy 30:1–6 TLV

“Now when all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart in all the nations where Adonai your God has banished you, and you return to Adonai your God and listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you today—you and your children—with all your heart and with all your soul, then Adonai your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples where Adonai your God has scattered you. Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the heavens, from there Adonai your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Adonai your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers. Also Adonai your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants—to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

Now this promise of returning the exiles to the land of Israel, was shown to the prophet Ezekiel even after Jerusalem had fallen to Babylon. We will read in Eze. 37:1-14

Ezekiel 37:1–14 TLV

The hand of Adonai was upon me. The Ruach Adonai carried me out and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. He led me all around them. Behold, there were very many on the floor of the valley. Behold, they were very dry. Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Adonai Elohim, You know.” “Prophesy over these bones,” He said to me. “Say to them: ‘Dry bones, hear the word of Adonai!’ Thus says Adonai Elohim to these bones: “Behold, I will cause Ruach to enter you, so you will live. I will attach tendons to you, bring flesh on you and cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you. You will live. You will know that I am Adonai.” So I prophesied just as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. I saw, and behold, there were tendons on them, flesh came up and skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the Ruach. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the Ruach, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Come from the four winds, Ruach! Breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied just as He commanded me. The Ruach came into them and they lived. They stood up on their feet, a vast army. Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say: ‘Our bones are dried up; our hope is lost; we are cut off—by ourselves.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I will open your graves. I will bring you up out of your graves, My people. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. You will know that I am Adonai, when I have opened your graves and brought you up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Ruach in you and you will live. I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, Adonai, have spoken and that I have done it.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

Prophesy Fulfilled

This prophesy has been fulfilled! During the years after WWII ended, thousands of Jewish people poured into what was then called Palestine. The British desperately attempted to turn back the tide of Jewish refugees, but they could not, and they found themselves fighting against the Word of God. Eventually, after 3 years, Israel was re-established as the national homeland of the Jewish people.

Adonai had kept His word. But is that all there is? Of course not. Just prior to the vision of the Dry Bones living, we see another promise. Eze. 36:24-32

Ezekiel 36:24–32 TLV

“ ‘For I will take you from the nations, gather you out of all the countries and bring you back to your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them. Then you will live in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be My people and I will be your God. “So I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful. I will not bring a famine upon you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will no longer bear the disgrace of famine among the nations. When you remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake will I do this”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel!”

So the promise of Adonai is not only to bring Beni Yisrael back to the land, but then to cleanse their hearts with the water of His Word, and then to give His Spirit and cause the Children of Israel to walk in His ways.

We are watching this promise being fulfilled. We have seen the People of Israel called back to the Land of Israel. And now, just as is our prayer and calling, we see the People of Israel returning to the God of Israel, through the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua of Natzeret. And in that process, we are watching the Ruach Adonai being poured into the hearts of the People of Israel.

This is an ongoing work of Adonai.

What is the lesson?

Is the lesson of the Holocaust that the Nazis were monsters? Is the lesson of the Holocaust that the Devil is a bad Devil? Is the lesson that God is unfair, unavailable or cruel?

No.

The lesson is that any of us could fall and become just like the Nazis. Any nation could exalt themselves above God and become the tool of HaSatan. And as for Adonai being unfair, quite the contrary. Adonai allowed exactly what He said would happen. He warned the Children of Israel, again and again and again. And just like the people of Israel, Adonai has warned this nation of Australia again and again.

But just as Adonai showed mercy and forgiveness to the people of Israel, and fulfilled His promise to bring them back to the land of Israel, so also Adonai gives Australia the same option to repent.

If we do repent, and return to God, then He will heal this nation. If we do not repent, then the Lord of Heaven and Earth will measure out His justice upon this nation with the same severity that He measured it out on the Children of Israel.

I pray that we learn this lesson of the Holocaust.