100 Million Strong: A New Prophetic Song of Intercession for Israel by Chris Tofilon

From his family hiding Jews during the Holocaust to a 40-year prophecy being fulfilled in our day, Chris Tofilon’s new song “100 Million Strong” beats with God’s heart to raise up intercessors for Israel.

Chris, who has been leading worship at the International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOPKC) for 14 years, developed the song through countless hours of singing and praying over Israel in the Global Prayer Room (GPR). Its release came just in time for the Isaiah 62 21-day fast which culminated on May 28—a global day of prayer for the Jewish people that included more than 100 million intercessors! Chris is hoping the Lord will use the song to raise up a global movement of intercession for Israel, especially among children and young people. He adds, “My daughter sings it. She knows every word of the song, and she’s not even five yet.”

We recently sat down with Chris to hear more about the story behind this special song.

Chris Tofilon: “100 Million Strong” was birthed out of the 10am prayer set for Israel that I’ve been privileged to lead for the past nine years in the GPR. The Lord has taken me on a journey through praying for Israel and understanding what Israel is and what Israel isn’t. Over the last 14 years, I’ve been privileged to be a part of hundreds and hundreds of hours of praying for Israel. The song “100 Million Strong” was born out of that set and that intercession and out of the prophetic words that had been given about 100 million intercessors—specifically that number, which Bob Jones gave to Mike Bickle about intercessors for Israel [back in 1983].

Question: Why this title?

CT: I remember the moment that I came up with the phrase “100 million strong.” It has the language of an army, and that’s what was prophesied—that there would be Joel’s army, this end-time prophetic young people movement of intercessors, that would sing and pray and be a part of the great worldwide move of God. And so when I think of “100 Million Strong,” I think of an army. I think of the Isaiah 62 watchmen on the walls being set by the Lord and giving their strength to intercession.

Q: Why are the 100 million intercessors for Israel personally significant to you?

CT: I would say the 100 million are ones who have a life calling to pray for Israel. The Lord has taken me on a personal journey about my family history, as well as my personal history, on how one of the reasons I was born, I believe, was to be an intercessor for specifically the salvation of Israel and how it relates to the salvation of the whole earth and the birthing of a new age.

In 2016 the Lord revealed to me that my family is from an island in Greece that hid an entire remnant of Jews in the Holocaust. It’s the only geographic region in the world that I know of, because it’s an island, that fully hid Jews. The point for me was God took my family, even where He brought me from, very personally, and He made it a point to show me that it has to do with the protection of the Jews. That thrust me into a whole different brain space as far as praying for Israel and how personal the Lord took it and how personal I take it—because I believe that the intercession movement is what brings that remnant of Israel forth and also what sustains that remnant even through the time of Jacob’s trouble. 

Q: How does singing help us pray for Israel?

CT: When I think of praying for Israel, I think of how intercession sustains the prophetic purpose of God. He’s partnering with us. And the singing of this song, the phrase “Oh Lord, save the remnant of Your people” specifically, is a cry that came out of my gut. 

I think if I were to summarize the reality of Israel, I would sum it up in that phrase. I think that is the mystery of Israel in a phrase if you had to distill it down. And that’s a phrase told to Gentiles to sing “among the nations” and Israel (Jeremiah 31:7).

Obviously, the remnant of Israel can sing it too, because we’re asking God to, by His grace, open the eyes of the Jews in the present day and also save them from their enemies in the end times and bring them not just to a physical well-being but a spiritual well-being that matches their physical well-being, that they then go into a millennium—a real millennium on a real earth—with the Son of David reigning. That phrase brings them into it, and that phrase teaches the mystery of Israel to Gentiles and to Jews.

So that’s why I love the song because it’s Jeremiah’s words. He’s the prophet that outlines the trouble and the glory of Israel, and he’s also a prophet to the nations. I believe to sing that phrase specifically encapsulates what we are about. It’s a real privilege to sing it. I tremble at the fact that I have been given the honor to sing that and to lead people into singing that. 

Q: You say you wrote the song for all ages. Why is it important to you that kids sing it?

CT: Psalm 8:2 says, “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength, because of your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.” It’s no small thing that Jesus goes into Jerusalem on a donkey with children singing. At the moment when Jesus cries over Jerusalem, when He weeps, there are children singing about His Messiahship; they’re singing, “Hosanna! Save us! You’re the Messiah. You’re the Son of David.” The children are doing it, and the Pharisees are indignant. And He goes, “Haven’t you read Psalm 8? This is what’s happening.”

And I think many of the forerunners singing hosanna will be children, and they will be saying, “O Lord, save Your people. Hosanna! Save us; save them.” I can’t imagine a greater honor. Again, there are only a few of these amazing honors you get at a particular time in history. And leading children worshiping Yeshua and interceding for the salvation of Israel—I can’t imagine an honor more inspiring than that!

What did Paul say? He said, “I bless God who counted me worthy” (1 Timothy 1:12). It’s not because Paul was a great guy; it’s because he got the grace of God. I would say the same thing. I thank God who counted me worthy to somehow find myself in the middle of this movement and in the middle of this timeframe, in the middle of this issue that burns on His heart to partner with in a very particular way. Kids aren’t going to recite a sermon. They’re going to sing the song, though. I just can’t imagine a higher honor than that. My daughter sings it. She knows every word of the song, and she’s not even five yet.

Q: What do you want God to do with this song?

CT: I hope it will find itself in the crevices of the prayer and worship movement. I pray it would be sung in places that I’ll never hear about and translated [into many languages]. I pray it would be like salt that just salts somewhere, like the spice that you didn’t know was in the soup—that it just gets sung somewhere. I want kids to sing it. I want it to be a rallying cry. I want it to be something that tweaks the conscience of somebody, making them ask, What is that? What’s a remnant? What is Israel? Why do we have to shout among the nations until Israel praises Yeshua? What’s Yeshua? I want them to ask questions.

Like when I started listening to IHOPKC in 2005 and Misty Edwards’ music in 2004. The “Isaiah 49” song “a holy procession to Jerusalem” made me ask, What is that? No one ever told me about that, so I had to ask questions. But I heard the music before I heard the sermons, and I was agreeing with my words through a song before I was agreeing in my heart with a theological concept. I was agreeing in a song before my mind and my heart caught up. It’s like the Holy Spirit said, “You’re going to sing this, and then you’re going to understand it in 12 or 15 years, almost 20 years.” He got me somewhere I would have never gotten on my own. That’s one thing for sure!

Q: Why are you hoping God will use this song to awaken prayer for Israel in His Body?

CT: I’m the least likely candidate to pray for Israel. All I knew [about Israel] growing up was my best friend was Jewish. He got off for Yom Kippur at school, and I was jealous because I had to go to school. There were a ton of Jews in Chicago, but I didn’t know anything else. I was at a church that said nothing about Israel. Zero, zilch, nada. They were totally blinded to the whole thing. To sing about Israel is a gift given to me that I knew nothing about.

I’m hoping God takes people through this song from zero or negative ten to a two on a scale of 1–100—maybe just tweaks their conscience—and then to a five; and then that leads them to a person who bumps them up to 13. There’s a progression of how we learn things and come to realizations. I pray that we would meet people on different parts of their journey—from the child who’s five who’s singing it before he ever understands it for another seven years to the person who believes in replacement theology, that Israel has no plan, and goes, “I’ve got to look at that again” and then becomes convinced [of God’s plans for Israel] to young people that like how it sounds and go, “Man, that sounds really good. What is the house of prayer?”

Somebody once told me that when God gives you a song, the song is alive if it’s God’s. The song has a life of its own. It’s God’s word. The Word of God is alive, so the Word sung is alive. I think that the whole song is scripture. Maybe a little bit of poetry, but it’s literally the words of the Bible. So it is alive. It’s God’s words about something—He is bringing the earth into this reality.

Q: Can you sum up the main message of the song?

CT: I think it’s an intercessory cry. It’s a battle cry, a teaching tool, and it’s Romans 10:1 distilled. The Romans 10:1 of the Old Testament is that phrase in the book of Jeremiah, “Oh Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel” (Jeremiah 31:7). I said it in a more poetic way. It fits better, but it still means the same thing. The fact that I said, “Oh Lord” twice brings a little bit more of a cry element to it. “Save the remnant of your people.”

It is an intercessory cry, and it’s a simple intercessory cry. It’s almost like Paul in Romans 9–11. He has these moments where he’s spouting off all of this theology and tying in verses from the Old Testament, explaining things that are very lofty, but you see his heart when he says, “My heart’s desire and prayer.” And he says to not be ignorant (Romans 11:25). He’s got the heart of God, and he’s got the knowledge of God. And the fact that you can sing this connects the heart with the reality that you could have sermons about layers of what’s going on with him.

It’s an intercessory cry. If there ever was an intercessory cry for Israel, it’s that phrase. It’s hosanna, which means “save us.” There are those little phrases and little words that just get right to the heart. It’s Gentiles saying hosanna on behalf of the Jewish people but entering into their plight and loving them. It’s so beautiful. It’s worth it to press into these things. What an honor! And to sing it as we get nearer to the end, maybe very near to the end. We just don’t know.

It also puts Israel on the map in our thinking. The phrase “shout among the chief of the nations” is about the nations singing that Israel is going to be the chief of the nations (Jeremiah 31:7). It’s prophesying. It’s intercessory, but it’s prophesying. It’s prophesying who they will be in the grace of God at the end.

Q: You wrote this song with your worship team. Would you like to give a shout-out to anyone in particular?

CT: Jessiana Melo shares lyrics credit. She came up with the last chorus, “The Deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away all evil from Jacob. This is His covenant.”

Q: What feedback have you received on the song?

CT: I have a friend in Israel; he’s a singer. He said he was driving around Jerusalem listening to it and just couldn’t stop crying because he was looking at all these Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem. He was listening to it in Jerusalem as he was looking at all these people crossing the street in front of his car, and he was weeping. He said, “I can’t stop crying listening to the song.”

I think musicians really love the song; musicians that love beautiful music. It was put together pretty quickly, but I think how it turned out, it has the energy and the feel and the honesty of what we wrote. I’ve heard a lot of people that are just crying listening to it.

And that’s the phrase that comes out at the end: “We’ll cry with you.” That’s what Jesus does over Jerusalem; He weeps over it. And then Paul continues that weeping, saying that he has unceasing anguish (Romans 9:2).

Yes, the prophet highlights “sing with gladness for Jacob.” Yes, we should be glad, but there’s a dirge happening. There’s a dirge and a wedding. And I just think there’s something mysterious about this song, because there’s something mysterious about the remnant of Israel. It’s a mystery. It’s shrouded in mystery and in beauty.

Q: Any closing words for people about the song?

CT: I would say something to a lot of different people. 

If you don’t agree, regardless of where you’re at on your perspective about Israel, would you listen to the song and sing along and ask God to show you what He thinks about Israel? Would you listen to it and just sing along? It is Scripture. So you’re not going to be able to disagree with it. But ask God what does this actually mean. Because nobody has all the truth. The Body of Christ says, “Lord, teach me. What is it that You want me to know? What is it that You want me to feel about this?”

If you’re a musician, enjoy it. I think it’s enjoyable to listen to. If you’re a prophetic musician, notice some of the nuances that happen. If you’re a singer, sing it. We don’t just pray with our words.

If you’re not a singer, use your 25-minute commute to pray over Israel. Play this over and over and say phrases from the song to God. You could take 15 minutes. How many people pray for the salvation of Israel for 15 minutes a week? You do it every day! Build that into your schedule. You could be playing music and singing all day long, and you don’t have to do anything but put on the song.

“100 Million Strong” from Chris Tofilon is available on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever you stream music. Check out the music video too!

Adam Wittenberg

position

A Detroit native who was raised in Vermont and Connecticut, Adam worked as a newspaper journalist until 2012, when he moved to Kansas City to complete the Intro to IHOPKC internship. Afterwards, he earned a four-year certificate in House of Prayer Leadership from IHOPU and is now on full-time staff in the Marketing department at IHOPKC. He also serves in the NightWatch (overnight prayer hours) and is active in evangelism. He, and his wife Stephany, have a vision to reach people everywhere with the good news of Jesus Christ.