God with us!!!

By Helen Jesze, 23rd December 2015

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)

Matthew 1, 23 NIV

One of my favourite books is „Selected to live“, the autobiography of a young Jewish girl – Johanna Dobschiner (usually known as „Hansie“) – how God divinely protected her during World War II and how she found her personal ‘Messiah’. Seeing that great trouble was coming for Jewish people, her father moved his family from Germany to Amsterdam, Holland. Yet soon, Hitler’s troops also took over this country, too.

There were nightly raids where whole Jewish families were driven off in lorries. Many friends and relatives also disappeared and Hansie and her family, sick with fear, knew that any day that terrible knocking could be heard at their door.

The Jewish Feast of Hanukkah was approaching when Hansie was taken ill. The doctor diagnosed Scarlet Fever and told her mother to put a card on the door, announcing that there was an infectious disease in the apartment. This illness turned out to be a blessing, for that little card gave them peace and safety from the German troops for several weeks.

The candles that kept on burning

Lying in bed, Hansie began to think about Hanukkah – the Jewish Feast of Dedication or the Festival of Lights. The story is told in the Apochrypha how Antiochius Epiphanes profaned the Jewish Temple, forcing the Jews to leave their sacrifices and start pagan rituals. This wicked king also killed many Jews by forcing pieces of pig down their throats, a meat which they were forbidden to eat. Judah of the Maccabees refused to compromise his faith and led a revolt, killing the king. He and his troops cleansed and rededicated the Temple, and rabbinical tradition says that when they came to light the seven-armed candlestick – the Menorah – they had only one drop of oil left. Yet the candles kept burning as this one drop lasted for eight days, until they were able to obtain more oil.

GOD WITH US!

Yes, Hansie thought, God had helped her ancestors! God was with them! Suddenly this thought burst upon her and filled her heart – God was with her family too! Whatever fate awaited them – God would be with them! She wrote this down on little notes and coloured them brightly, sticking them around the room, and made small gifts for each family member. When she told them of her assurance that God was with them, her father told her to „stop talking such utter rubbish!“ He did not believe that it was possible to have a personal relationship with God. But Hansie had felt His presence that day and had become „God-conscious“ for the first time.

The Nazi raid

Soon after, the dreaded day came when her parents and brothers were taken prisoner, but somehow they missed Hansie. She escaped from the apartment. leaving everything behind except for her precious little case, where she kept a few medical supplies, for this young woman had a burning desire to become a nurse. Braving the dreaded streets she went to the Jewish Day nursery where she worked. From behind the net curtains, she saw her parents and hundreds of other Jews being herded onto trucks and taken away. That was the last time she was to see them.

Twice Hansie was taken prisoner by the Nazi troops, and was already on her way to a concentration camp, but on both occasions she was able to walk away free and go back to work. When things began to get much worse, Hansie went ‘underground’. A hiding-place was found for her and five other young people in the home of ‘Domie’, a Dutch Reformed pastor and his wife. Domie, a born-again Christian and a key-figure in the Dutch Resistance movement, risked his life travelling round the country, trying to help Jewish people, and protecting allied airmen who had been shot down, helping them get to England.

The exciting Book!

One day Hansie found an illustrated Children’s Bible in the house. She was astonished that there was so much written about Jewish history in it, and read for the first time about Jesus Christ. The more she read, the more she admired him and in her eyes, he became her hero and a great prophet of God. Her next discovery was a Dutch Bible and she devoured it, also reading the New Testament for the first time. Here was the whole life-story of Jesus. Why had she not been told this before? He was a Jew; why was he not in their history books?! When Hansie read of how they had crucified her beloved Jesus, she mourned and fasted for days, and could not be comforted. Then the thought came: Why don’t you read the rest of the story?!

The great discovery!

Soon Hansie’s mourning was turned into dancing, for she read that her ‘Hero’ had risen from the dead, and was alive today. She came to realise that the God of the Christians was the same God that she, as a Jewish girl, worshipped – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and God revealed to her that Jesus was His Son and the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for. With a heart full of joy, Hansie accepted Him as her own personal Saviour!

Her rescuer, Domie, was betrayed and sent to prison, where he was eventually killed. Hansie had been sent to another hiding-place and for the rest of the war, she was continually being sent from one place to another, hiding in rooms, attics and cellars. When the bombs were falling outside she could not run to the air-raid shelters, but through all those terrifying years, God kept His child and she knew that the truth „GOD WITH US“ was still true, and the oil of faith burned brightly in her heart.

Off to Scotland!

When the war was over and Hansie could come out of hiding, a Dutch family befriended her and she was baptised in their church. She made her way back to Amsterdam, finding out that her parents and brothers had died in the camps; Hansie prayed for God’s guidance. The word „Scotland“ kept coming to her, and soon Hansie left Holland for ever and went to live in Scotland. There she went to a Bible College and later married. But the story had to be told – and „Selected to live“ and other books were written and sent out to tell the amazing truth – „GOD WITH US“!

Our Immanuel

As we are approaching Christmas, which is the Christians’ „Festival of Lights“, in our churches, our text for today is often read out, the Apostle Matthew telling that what had been foretold by Isaiah, the prophet, had now come to pass!

Some of you may be wondering why I have written about a young Jewish girl, at a Christian festival. It is simply this: It was to the Jewish nation that God revealed Himself and made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. Jesus – Immanuel, came directly through their family line, and when we celebrate His birth, we should never forget that we would not have any Saviour, or any Christmas if Mary, that young Jewish maid had not been willing to carry this divine Seed for nine months, to give our Immanuel birth.

The Child had come from God, to dwell on Earth – GOD WITH US – and to pay the price for our sin on Calvary, that we might one day be for all Eternity – with Him!

How wonderful to know that in every circumstance of Life, „Immanuel“ is ours for the taking – God with us, with you and me personally!

So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas — a Blessed Christmas! See you again in the new year of 2016!

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, come with your blessing, peace and joy to every one of my readers this Christmas! We rejoice that you came for us and even more so, that you have been born in our hearts. Thank you for revealing yourself to Hansie Dobschiner. We pray that many more of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shall come to know you as their Saviour and Messiah.

Let the truth of GOD WITH US take hold of us today and take root in our hearts and minds – Jesus, you said, you would never leave us or forsake us! This is amazing and we know you will keep your Word!

And if some of my devotionalsjust4u!! friends are not looking forward to Christmas and their heart is filled with sorrow, dear Holy Spirit, be especially near to them and wrap your arms of love around them, bringing healing and rest, for You are our Comforter! Amen.

„JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME, LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING!!“