The Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wrote:
From my youth onwards I have found in Jesus my great brother. That Christianity has
regarded and does regard him as God and Savior has always appeared to me a fact of the highest importance which, for his sake and my own, I must endeavor to understand…I am more than ever certain that a great place belongs to him in Israel’s history of faith and that this place cannot be described by any of the usual categories.”
Albert Einstein observed:
“As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene…No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”
The former president of Hebrew Union College, Rabbi Kaufman Kohler addressed Congress in 1893 in the following fashion:
“No ethical system or religious catechism, however broad and pure, could equal the efficiency of this great personality, standing, unlike any other, midway between heaven and earth, equally near to God and to man…Jesus, the helper of the poor, the friend of the sinner, the brother of every fellow-sufferer, the comforter of every sorrow-laden, the healer of the sick, the up-lifter of the fallen, the lover of man, the redeemer of woman, won the heart of mankind by storm. Jesus, the meekest of men, the most despised of the despised race of the Jews, mounted the world’s throne to be earth’s Great King.”
Journal,
While reading the Jerusalem Post an ad jumped out at me. The ad was by a Jewish rabbi who was coming against Christian missionaries. I thought, ‘What a strange thing for a Jewish rabbi to say.’
See what you think. The ad read:
What Are We Doing Wrong, and What are They doing right? Why Have more Jews Converted to Christianity in the Last 19 Years than in the Last 1,900 Years? Rabbi Tovia Singer – Jerusalem Post [Of course he was out to sell his 24 tape package for $113.]
If I were a Jew reading this ad, I wouldn’t be concerned with buying Tovia’s tapes. I would want to know why more Jews have converted to Christianity in the last 19 years than in the last 19 years?
Let’s see if we can put a face on this. The only place to begin is to…
Take a delve into a bit of history
The Bible of the early Church was the very same Bible used by all the Jewish people. The earliest believers simply studied Moses and the prophets. They did this in light of the new covenant. The Holy Spirit was ever-present to guide these new believers into the wonderful treasures of Christ as found in the former covenant. They began to realize that the entire Bible wraps itself around Jesus.
You can imagine the activity of the Holy Spirit among the early believers in helping them draw on the sacred writings of Moses and the prophets. And even when the memoirs of the apostles were being collected, Paul still admonished believers to never exceed what had been written by Moses and the prophets. (1Co4:6)
Paul’s point is that everything that is taught in the Christian Church must agree with what had been set forth in the former testament. Thus we have the idiom, ‘The new is hidden in the old, and the old is revealed in the new.’
The theology of the early Church did not have the complexities that later came to dominate the Christian faith. For one thing the early believers never departed from the ancient creed of Israel.
Paul wrote,
Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (Paul is drawing from the Schema of Israel – 1Co8:6. Cf. Deut6:4)
Grappling with Israel
An issue that Christians have concerned themselves with through the centuries has had to do with our relationship to the people known as the Jews. The issue is not put to rest by quoting Scriptures such as,
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendents, heirs according to promise.” (Gal. 3:28,29)
This Scripture has to do with our salvation in Christ. It was not intended to resolve the relationship of Christ Jesus, the Church, and the Jewish people. Yes, even the earliest Jewish Christians also struggled over the Jewish question.
This brings us to…
The oracles of God
Knowing that a great part of the Jewish nation through their leaders had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, someone asks Paul a question;
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?” (Rom3:1)
Paul’s reply is straight forward. He says,
Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” (Rom3:2)
Being entrusted with the oracles of God meant that while the sacred writings of God were intended for the whole of mankind, they were to be preserved in safe keeping by the Hebrew people. No other people group would have a set of writings that could literally detail future events.
Think about it. Which of the prophets were not of the stock of Abraham? Which of the apostles were not of the stock of Abraham? The Bible we read today was God’s gift, given to the world through the Hebrew apostles and prophets.
Someone may say, “Well, Noah was not a Jew. Nor were Enoch or Adam or even Abraham.” The answer is quite simple. We would not have known about Noah or Enoch or Abraham had it not been for the Hebrew man, Moses.
The world would not have known where the Messiah would be born, and when He would be born had it not been for the prophet Micah and Daniel. Men from the east would not have journeyed so far to find the infant Jesus, had they not studied these ancient oracles.
Paul was saying that the Hebrews alone were entrusted with preserving God’s living words in safe keeping. This trust was for the benefit of all of humanity.
The prophets speak
These oracles would be bound in a book. Some of the things in the book would not be understood completely until an appointed time. The book spoke of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Jesus holds the key to the book.
Isaiah wrote,
On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord, and the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” (Isa29:18,19)
Notice that it is the needy of mankind who will rejoice in the Holy of Israel. This reaches back to the truth we must not forget;
For God so loved the world.” (John 3:16)
But that isn’t the only question Paul had to answer. Some Gentile believers wanted to boast against the Jewish branches that had been broken off from the redemptive faith. Someone asked him does that not place the Gentiles before the Jews.
His response was,
Not at all; for we have already charged that both the Jews and the Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, `There is none righteous, not even one, etc.” (Rom3:9,10)
About the appointed times
Moses knew that the Lord did not select the tribal people of Jacob because they were more
righteous than other people.
The book of Revelation calls attention to Moses with regard to a song.
The song of Moses, the bond servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” (Rev15:3)
Moses sang about the Lamb. Take time to study the Song of Moses and you will find the story redemption and the history of the Hebrews laid out wonderfully. (Deut32)
In this song, Moses says something about the Hebrew people that may sound strange. He says,
They have acted corruptly toward Him, they are not His children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation.” (Deu32:5)
The One they acted corruptly towards was ‘the Rock of Israel,’ the very One of whom the new covenant people of God would be built up upon. What was this defect that disallowed the Hebrew nation from being God’s children? The defect was the sin of Adam. They carried the sin defect as did all the people of the earth.
Peter alludes to this very Scripture on the day of Pentecost in admonishing the Jews to turn to Jesus. It says,
And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, `Be saved from this perverse generation.'” (Acts 2:40)
The apostle did not want the people thinking that because they were Jews, that automatically saved them.
Moses said more about the times
Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their future!”
Moses reaches across history, and speaks of their scorning the Rock of their salvation; that they would be scattered among the nations. Then he says,
In the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.” (Deu4:30)
Hearing the voice of Jesus is the very key to redemption. Now we come back to our original question. What relationship does the Christian have to the Jewish race? The answer is that God’s redemption plan unfolds itself around this people.
It begins and ends in Jerusalem
Think about it for a moment – Where did the new covenant have its inception? Did it begin in Rome? Did it begin in China? The new covenant was put in place in Jerusalem. Where does it complete itself? According to the prophets, according to the apostles, and according to the Lord Himself, the new covenant will complete itself in Jerusalem. It makes a full circle back to its beginning point.
One day the Jewish people will look at the nail pierced hands of Jesus and ask the question,
What are those wounds between your arms [hands]?”
The Lord will say,
Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zech. 13:6)
The prophet further says that when the Lord returns, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. (Zech14:4) The Mount of Olives is just east of Jerusalem.
The wounded or pierced Messiah is a major theme of prophecy.
Isaiah says,
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scourging we are healed.”
He goes on to say,
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isa53)
The wounds that Isaiah speaks of in this chapter are the very wounds that Zechariah says the
Jewish nation will see in the second coming of Christ.
Paul said to the Gentiles believers,
I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, etc.” (Rom11:25,26)
Paul cautions the Gentile branches not to exalt themselves over the Jewish branches that have been broken off. He reaches into the distant future to explain a mystery. One day, he says, after the gospel has penetrated all the nations and the full measure of salvation has been preached among the Gentiles, an interesting thing will happen. The Jewish people are going to turn to Jesus with a full heart. Then, he says,
All Israel will be saved.” [Perhaps ‘all Israel’ has in view all true believers in Jesus Christ, those of the nations and those of Israel.]
When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he said,
From now on you will not see Me until you say, `Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'” (Mat23:39)
He was weeping over a physical Jerusalem. This can only be fulfilled in a physical Jerusalem.
With this the prophets agree. God speaks through Hosea, saying,
I will go away and return to My place until the acknowledge their guilt and seek My face.” (Hosea 5:15)
What guilt must they acknowledge? They must acknowledge that the Man of the cross was and is the true Messiah of Israel, the Lord God revealed in the Son.
The birth pangs of redemption
At some point in redemption history all the nations are going to make a stand against Jerusalem. It is in this time frame that the Spirit of grace will once again be poured out on Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:9, says,
And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
Listen further – Zechariah 12:10 says,
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
What did Jesus say over Jerusalem?
You will not see Me until you say `Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'”
What does Zechariah say?
They will look on Me [Jesus/Yeshua] whom they have pierced.”
All this takes place as the Spirit of grace is poured out. The partial blindness is fully removed.
Mourning for an only Son
The terms used in Zechariah, are terms used in the New Testament. He says,
They will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son.”
The `only son’ imagery speaks of God’s only begotten son. Then,
they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a first born.”
The first-born imagery also belongs to Jesus Christ.
The greatest revelation of all is that they will know that Jesus Christ is somehow Yahweh incarnate.
The prophet said,
They will look on Me whom they have pierced.”
In this prophetic portion it is Yahweh who is speaking.
Hosea also lays out the great substitution doctrine of Christ:
Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His goings forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth” (Hosea6:1-3)
So again, what relationship does the Church have with the natural race of Abraham?
Paul said,
From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.” (Rom11:28)
Strange isn’t it. What other reason can there be for this strange attraction Christians and Jews have
for one another? Rabbi Tovia said it well enough, ‘More Jews are converting to Christianity in last 19 years than in the past nineteen centuries.’
What did Moses say in this regard? He said,
When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” (Deu4:30,31)
From sea to shining sea.
The prophet said of Israel,
In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.” (Isa 27:6 NASB)
The greatest friends of Israel today are evangelical Christians. We know that one day the promise will be fulfilled when ‘All Israel will be saved.’ Yes, Indeed – One day that nation in the middle east called Israel, will call upon the Lord Jesus.
What does this have to do with ‘Sea to Shining Sea.’ Much indeed. This Thursday is Veteran’s Day. I’ll complete this entry with a video of the Christian warriors of Christian Challenge. And, yes, we love Israel. Her weeping may last for a night but a shout of joy comes in the morning. (Psa30:5)
Much love coming your way,
Buddy
Veteran’s Day Tribute from Christian Challenge on Vimeo.
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