Like most Americans, Friday morning my phone began to ding with notifications from news sites reporting on the Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. Like most people who are pro-life and anti-abortion, I rejoiced in the decision.
Then I began to pray. I prayed for the justices involved in the decision. I prayed for peace in our nation, especially for those who work in pro-life clinics and centers. Then I began to pray for the many women and men who would be affected by this decision.
In the midst of my praying for all of these other people, it was as if someone changed a channel on a television or radio; my prayers shifted to praying for the body of believers. Immediately in my spirit I realized that this decision was more than a simple legal decision with implications in the physical world.
No, this ruling was much greater than just a court case within the earthly realm. This was a judgment that brought a shift in the supernatural realm, and with that shift, a challenge to the body of believers.
In order to explain what I felt, saw and understood as my prayer time transformed into a download from the Spirit of G-D, let me begin by reminding you that in synagogues around the world this past Shabbat, the Parsha, or section of Torah, that was read publicly was Numbers 13, which is about the 12 spies that had been sent into Canaan to investigate and judge the land.
“Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ‘Send some men on your behalf to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Bnei-Yisrael. Each man you are to send will be a prince of the tribe of his fathers, a man from each tribe’” (Num. 13:1-2, TLV).
As we read the biblical text, we find that 10 of the 12 men made a decision that resulted in an entire nation being cursed for a generation and robbed those Israelites of the opportunity to inherit the Promised Land. Just think about that for a moment: 10 men who were appointed (not elected) to review evidence and make a judgment made a wrong decision that changed the course of an entire nation and brought a judgment upon them that caused an entire generation to miss out on the full blessing of G-D.
You may be asking, “Well, what do the 10 spies way back in the Book of Numbers have to do with us today, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision?” In order to understand, we must look back in time and remember what was happening in America at the time when Roe v. Wade took place.
Those who are my age or older remember that in the late 1960s and early ’70s a revival was taking place in the United States. Some called it the “Jesus movement.” Within this revival was also a great move among Jewish people, in which thousands accepted Yeshua as the Messiah.
This outpouring resulted in the birth of the modern Messianic Jewish movement. At the same time that this revival was taking place, we also saw the reunification of Jerusalem as the Temple Mount was once again within Jewish hands.
Biblical prophecy was being fulfilled on a global scale, and this outpouring was sweeping the United States and beginning to impact the entire world. This was the physical and spiritual backdrop in which nine appointed judges made the decision about Roe v. Wade, which like the decision made by the 10 spies, brought a curse upon our nation and robbed a generation of the fullness of the blessings of G-D.
This past Friday, a different nine judges reversed that wrong decision, and with their decision they also reversed the curse that has rested upon our country. Just as 10 appointed judges caused Israel to wander for 40 years, a group of nine judges brought a curse of darkness and death upon the United States for 50 years. However, on Friday a group of nine judges made a decision that reversed that curse and has set our nation free.
At the beginning of this article I said I began to pray for the men and women who would be affected by this decision. You may have assumed that statement and those prayers were directed at women and men who would not have to deal with the new laws that will be made over the next months and years. However, that statement was not referring to those people, although we must be praying for them.
My prayers were for the body of believers, the men and women who will be, rather who must be, affected by this decision. When we read the story of Israel and the 10 spies, the story doesn’t end with the 40 years in the wilderness. The story continues on. After the generation of the curse passed, Israel was then freed to enter and take the land.
Think about this. Israel was in slavery in Egypt when they cried out to G-D and a great revival took place that brought deliverance to all those who placed their faith in G-D and the blood of the Lamb. They were delivered from Egypt and were about to take the land when 10 appointed judges made a decision that kept them from their promised victory for a generation.
In the United States (and the world) in the 1960s and early ‘70s, people began to see that they were slaves to sin and cried out to G-D. G-D heard, and all those who placed their faith in G-D and the blood of the Lamb were delivered and they began to spiritually take the land, when in 1973, nine appointed judges like the 10 spies made a decision that kept those who had been delivered from seeing the fullness of G-D’s promises and taking the land for His kingdom.
A generation has passed and the curse of that decision has been removed. Just as Israel had to then cross the Jordan and take the land, we, the body of believers in the United States, must understand that the recent Supreme Court decision wasn’t the end of our battle. We must now take the land. We must now stand up and profess our faith in G-D as we watch the walls of our Jerichos come tumbling down.
Our battles have just begun, and the weapons of our warfare must be employed. Each one of us must put on the armor of G-D and enter the battle as we read in Ephesians 6:10-17:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the worldly forces of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist when the times are evil, and after you have done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm then! Buckle the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. Strap up your feet in readiness with the Good News of shalom. Above all, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
We must battle protest with prayer. We must battle hatred with love. We must become the light in darkness; we must provide safety in the storm. We must begin to talk to those who have sinned instead of talking about them.
I believe it is a time like this that Jude spoke about when he wrote these words:
“But you, loved ones, continue building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Ruach ha-Kodesh. Keep yourselves in the love of God, eagerly waiting for the mercy of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who are wavering—save them by snatching them out of the fire; but on others have mercy with fear—hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 20-23). {eoa}
Eric Tokajer is the author of Overcoming Fearlessness, What If Everything You Were Taught About the Ten Commandments Was Wrong?, With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer, Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians and Galatians in Context.
Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA APP.