JEWS’ ACCEPTANCE OF CHRIST USHERING IN THE MILLENIUM
Before the glorious messianic era, Israel must be regathered from their worldwide dispersion and settled in her promised land. Among the Jews, the remnant who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah will be restored in His millennium kingdom, where all believers in Christ will probably live forever... The following articles show us how we are close to the time of fulfillment of these prophecies concerning Israel, which is a recent, exciting development...In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.Prophet Micah pronounced judgment on Jerusalem and the cities of Israel because of her sins against God, against each other and sins of her leaders, which are explored in the first three chapters in the Book of Micah. The cities were full of violence, corruption, robbery, covetousness, materialisms, spiritual bankruptcy, and immorality. Yet, in the midst of impending judgment, Micah foresaw the coming glory of the redemption of Israel and the millennium reign by the Messiah, which is illustrated in Chapter 4, and which has been quoted in the beginning of this month letter.
Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.
Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig-tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. The LORD’s plan
‘In that day,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief.
I will make the lame my remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and for ever.
As for you, watchtower of the flock, stronghold of Daughter Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.’
MICHA 4:1-8.
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos, and he was one of the very few prophets whose messages were heeded and followed by repentance, along with the Prophet Jonah. The majority of the messages spoken by God’s prophets were rejected and judgment inevitably followed. However, in Micah’s case, the pronounced disasters were postponed and Jerusalem was spared for more than a century until Prophet Jeremiah’s days. When Jeremiah prophesied of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, he was arrested and sentenced to death by offended religious leaders and false prophets. It was within this context that Jeremiah quoted Micha’s example as his defense:
‘ “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: Zion will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.’ Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favour? And did not the LORD relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!” ’ (Je.26:18-19).As a result, Micah’s words were used by God to spare Jeremiah. Micah’s prophecies were also authenticated by being quoted in the New Testament.
In the New Testament, the promise of a literal millennium reign by Christ, Jewish Messiah was confirmed by the announcement to Mary by an angel, as early as her conception:
‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants for ever; his kingdom will never end’ (Lk.1:30b-33, Line added).Christ did not completely fulfil this prophecy during the duration of His earthly ministry and so, He will come again to complete it eternally at His Second Coming. Along with Isaiah Ch. 2 and Ch.65, Micah heralded and depicted Messiah’s millennial reign at the end of days. Zion will be the governmental and spiritual centre of the whole world and the Temple will be rebuilt where all nations will come to worship the Lord. The Lord’s rule will completely overturn anything opposing to God’s Law and the whole world will be filled with peace, prosperity and security, in which a spiritually renewed Israel will wholeheartedly worship the Lord, even if heathen people worship their own gods.
However, before the glorious messianic era, Israel must be regathered from their worldwide dispersion and settled in her promised land. Among the Jews, the remnant who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah will be restored in His millennium kingdom, where all believers in Christ will probably live forever. In other words, in the messianic kingdom only unbelievers will die before the age of hundred as depicted in Isaiah 65:20:
‘Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed’.According to Jeremiah’s prophecy of the New Covenant:
‘ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” ’ (Je.31: 31-34),in the millennium kingdom there will be no Jewish unbelievers and thus, Apostle Paul’s declaration will come true:
‘I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” ’ (Ro.11:25-27, Line added).The following articles show us how we are close to the time of fulfillment of these prophecies concerning Israel, which is a recent, exciting development. The first article, entitled in ‘Jesus is Making Headlines in Israel’ is by David Lazarus on Monday, 14th Dec. 2015.
The second largest internet portal in Israel is putting Hebrew-language testimonies about Jesus on their front page, and 95% of Israelis are hooked into the internet everyday, all day. Walla!, the mainstream Israeli media giant, is producing, at their own expense, a series of up to 24 live interviews with Messianic Jews about Jesus. In the interviews, a well-known Israeli actress asks Israeli believers questions about faith in Jesus. Some of the topics being discussed are:
1. Who are these Messianic Jews;
2. What is the difference between Messianic Judaism and Christianity;
3. Talmudic fables intended to dismiss Jesus;
4. Why is the Hebrew New Testament not available in Israeli book stores;
5. Isaiah 53
Management at Walla! had noticed popular video clips about Jesus produced by the Israel College of the Bible (ICB) on social media. In an unprecedented and exceptional move for a mainstream Israeli media company, Walla! asked the team at ICB if they could produce their own series about Jesus for the Israeli public. Walla! has already begun placing the clips about faith in Jesus on the front page of their site, and they are uploading new clips during the busiest hours of their Internet traffic. Already on the first day of exposure, the numbers of visitors and comments are enormous.
Of the multitude of subjects argued and debated in Israel, Jesus is by far the most controversial. Walla!, the second largest Internet news company in Israel, has taken a bold and risky step by promoting interest in Jesus, and in Messianic Jews, to their massive audience. There are likely to be repercussions and resistance to such a major promotion about Jesus, but the management of Walla! seems to think that Israelis are ready to listen. Eitan Bar, one of the Messianic Jews being interviewed for the series, says that Messianics in Israel can expect strong reactions as well. “Please pray for us and for all of the Messianic Jews in Israel. We know that there will be unyielding opposition.”
Bar and the team at ICB are also asking for prayer that this massive exposure to Jesus would bring the Gospel closer to Israeli hearts and minds. They are garnering support from Messianic believers across Israel to get active in the discussions with the thousands of comments and interactions about Jesus with Israelis on the website. Bar also suggests some practical ways Christians around the world can help. “Use your blogs and websites to link to the Messianic websites being promoted by Walla!. This really helps as it increases exposure to these sites and raises the sites rating on Google’s search engine. When Israelis search for keywords in Hebrew like 'Yeshua the Messiah', 'New Testament', 'Jesus of Nazareth' or 'Messianic Jews' they will be pointed to the Hebrew websites where they will be able to learn more about who Jesus really is, rather than to the many anti-Messiah, deceitful websites, some even denying that Jesus ever existed!" Here is a link to the first Walla interviews about Yeshua. …
(http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/27964/Default.aspx)The next article, entitled in ‘Orthodox Rabbis Bring Jesus Home for Christmas’ on Thursday, 24th Dec. is also by David Lazarus.
More than 25 prominent rabbis from Israel and abroad recently issued a statement calling for a renewed look at Jesus, Christians and the New Testament faith. Quoting from their own sages, these outstanding Orthodox rabbis are not ashamed to exalt the name of Jesus, welcoming the carpenter from Nazareth back into the Jewish fold. “Jesus brought a double goodness to the world,” declare the group of well-known rabbis. “On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically… and not one of our Sages spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah,” and on the other hand “he removed idols from the nations.” Saying that Jesus, even more that any other Jewish Sage, honored, strengthened and protected the “immutability of the Torah,” is an extraordinary acknowledgement. These leading rabbis are turning the tides of history by removing one of the main stumbling blocks in the path of a major Jewish reclamation of Jesus!
You will recall, that religious Jews rejected Jesus from the beginning, with the accusation that he did not obey the Torah, therefore he could not be the awaited Messiah. In the New Testament, we find the Pharisees arguing with Jesus over Sabbath rules, dietary laws, ritual cleanliness, marriage regulations and more. They insisted that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because “he is teaching everywhere not to obey Moses.” (Acts 6:14) What we are now witnessing is the undoing of 2,000 years of Jewish rejection and animosity towards Jesus, a miracle by any estimation. For the out-and-out refusal by Jews to accept Jesus is slowly, but surely, coming to an end, as growing numbers of prestigious Orthodox rabbis welcome Jesus back.
And there is more. “After nearly two millennia of mutual hostility and alienation, we Orthodox Rabbis who lead communities, institutions and seminaries in Israel, the United States and Europe… seek to do the will of our Father in Heaven by accepting the hand offered to us by our Christian brothers and sisters,” the statement reads. Two thousand years of Christian Anti-Semitism, Crusades, Inquisitions and a Holocaust can not keep the Star of Bethlehem from rising again in Israel. This call by these distinguished rabbis to embrace Christians as “brothers and sisters” is no less a miracle. For Jews to accept Christians with such endearment, after so much misunderstanding and anti-Semitic ugliness, can only be understood as a divine work of heavenly grace, the likes of which I find unfathomable. For as this group of Orthodox rabbis points out, it is their “Father in Heaven” who is calling the Jewish people to lay down the past, put aside the enmity, and willingly embrace Christians and their faith in Jesus. That, my friends, is the deeper work of the Holy Spirit as spoken about throughout Scripture.
As Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, Academic Director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation points out, “This proclamation’s breakthrough is that influential Orthodox rabbis across all centers of Jewish life have finally acknowledged that… Christianity and Judaism have much in common spiritually and practically. Given our toxic history, this is unprecedented in Orthodoxy.” In their statement, the rabbis want to find a way to acknowledge the differences between Christian and Jewish beliefs, without taking, or giving, offensive. _“As did Maimonides and Yehudah Halevi, we acknowledge that Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations. In separating Judaism and Christianity, G-d willed a separation between partners with significant theological differences, not a separation between enemies,” _the statement concludes.
These so-called “significant theological differences” between Christianity and Judaism are really about Jesus. He is the stumbling block. Jesus may be Messiah, Son of the Living God for the Gentiles, but my Jewish people are still not quite sure just who he is for them. So while these rabbis are making major and unprecedented strides in bringing my people closer to Jesus, they are still far from the truth. For if Jesus is the Messiah for the Gentiles, how much more must he be for the Jews? Perhaps Jesus will not quite be at home this Christmas in Israel, or Jewish homes around the world, but he is certainly knocking on the door. (http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/28027/Default.aspx)
