As many of you read this Digest, Millennium hype will be reaching its pinnacle worldwide.
Although Israel, the Land of Jesus' birth and ministry, is at the center of those celebrations, for a
number of reasons it is proving to be not such a buoyant time for the Jewish state. Serious
issues are under discussion in the peace process. Religious disputes threaten to enflame
tensions and choke Millennium tourism. Israelis are overly anxious about someone coming here
to "force the apocalypse." For some while now, our own approach to this milestone seems to be
captured in the catch-phrase "be sober-minded," a timely piece of biblical advice for all of us
who care about God's eternal purposes for Israel more than the passing of some date on the
secular calendar.
