Purim 2026 - We Cannot Be Silent Today the world's attention is on Iran (Persia) as history repeats itself. A genocidal regime that emerged in Iran forty-seven years ago (committed to the annihilation of Israel) is about to fall. Thanks to the courageous actions of America's and Israel's leaders and the bravery of Iran’s own resistance a massive overthrow of tyranny is about to be achieved and the prayers of millions will be answered. Purim, the annual feast celebrated by Jewish people and their friends throughout the world, at this time of the year, (March 2nd & 3rd 2026) remembers one of the greatest crises in their history. The epicenter of this drama also took place in Iran (ancient Persia) where a beautiful young Jewish woman, named Esther was promoted to be the Queen of Persia. At that time, Haman, the Prime Minister of Persia devised an insane, depraved plan to exterminate the Jewish people from the face of the earth.
Esther's cousin, Mordecai, alerted her to Haman's genocidal plot and called for fasting, prayer and intercession for the survival of his people. As Haman's plan went into operation, only one person stood between Israel and its destruction - Esther. Mordecai urged her to risk her life, go to the King, reveal her Jewish identity and expose Haman's genocidal plot. "For if you remain silent at this time," he said "relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4.14) Esther, aware of the risk, responds to Mordecai with brave words: "If I perish, I perish." She is willing to risk her life for the survival of her people. The risk of disclosing her Jewish identity was death, but the reward was that she could foil Haman's horrendous plot. Her bravery and Mordecai's succeeded in bringing down the genocidal regime of Haman in Persia and secured the safety of the Jewish people in 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. (Esther Chapter 8)
Haman was not the last demonized person who schemed a genocidal plot against Israel. In the 20th century, Hitler, operating in the same anti-Semitic demonic spirit, succeeded in exterminating six million Jewish people. Despite the greatest mass slaughter in history the Jewish people survived. Now, for nearly 50 years, another genocidal fanatic regime has emerged in Iran, the same region where Haman came to power in the days of Esther and is about to be overthrown in Purim 2026.
Will We Stay Silent? The question for followers of Jesus and for the church worldwide, is "Will we stay silent?" Will Christians continue to conceal our Jewish identity, as we have for centuries, or will we let it be known around the world that we too are Israel? For according to the New Testament teachings, we have been grafted in, and we are part of "the Commonwealth of Israel." (Ephesians 2.12-13) To protect our own skin and to risk persecution or political disapproval will we conceal our identity as part of the Commonwealth of Israel and fail to speak up for them? It is time for all Yeshua's followers to cease from concealing their Jewish identity and to embrace it instead. It's time for us to openly acknowledge our Hebraic identity and risk the hatred, enmity and derision of the world. Should we not be willing to exchange the disapproval of the world for the approval of God? The church is part of Israel - we have been grafted in. Though we are not ethnic Jews, we worship the same God, believe the same promises, rely on the same covenants and follow Israel’s Messiah. An attack on them is an attack on us. The days when we can follow the counsel of the nations is over. We are different - a part of Israel, grafted into the Jewish Olive Tree. (Romans 11.17-24) As followers of Jesus we too (like Esther and Mordecai in their generation) have an obligation to speak out openly and pray boldly in these days for Israel's survival in the face of diabolical hatred.
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