Module 3-Vocation Messianic Community-Jews

covenant harvest of the Jews

Israel’s promises Israel’s stumbling

Israel’s provocationIsrael’s fullness

© john clements 2007 / www.eternalpurpose.org.uk

covenant harvests

© john clements 2008-2009 / www.eternalpurpose.org.uk

harvest ofMESSIANIC

COMMUNITY

harvest ofGENTILE PEOPLES

harvest ofJEWISH PEOPLE

A GREAT NATION, BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING to every family on earth

a global shaking

new heaven and earth

who is Israel?

Jacob renamed Israel after wrestling God

like Israel, chosen nation, ‘wrestling’ with God, as recorded in Tanakh and New Testament

2000 years wrestling with Yeshua—Jesus—God’s Messiah and Son

waiting for the Jewish people to say,• “I will not let you go unless you bless me”

― Matthew 23.37-39


Israel, messianic nation

my own treasure from among all peoples… a kingdom of priests for me, a nation set apart

— Exodus 19.3-6they were made God’s children, the

Sh’khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise, the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promises,

the Patriarchs are theirs and from them, as far as physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah

— Romans 9.4-5; also Deuteronomy 4.7-8, 32-40


Israel, God’s son

Israel is my firstborn son. I have told you to let my son go in order to worship me…

— Exodus 4:23can a woman forget a child at the breast,

not show pity on the child from her womb?even if these were to forget, I would not forget you; I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…”

— Isaiah 49.15-16out of Egypt I called my son

— Matthew 2.15


I will not forsake Israel

this is what the Lord says, who gives the sun as light for the day, who ordained the laws for the moon and stars…

‘if these laws leave my presence… then the offspring of Israel will stop being a nation in my presence forever…

‘if the sky above can be measured and the foundations of the earth be fathomed, then I will reject all the offspring of Israel, for all that they have done’

— Jeremiah 31.35-37


I will not forsake Israel

new covenant does not replace Israel with church, but unites Jew and Gentile together as one new humanity

• beware replacement theology, popular within western charismatic churches!

does God continue to have a purpose for the national people of Israel, the Jews?


I will regather them

I will take you from among the nations, gather you from all the countries and return you to your own soil;

then I will sprinkle clear water on you, and you will be clean…

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you; I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh

— Ezekiel 36.24-26



I will put my Spirit inside you and cause you to live by my laws;

you will live in the land I gave to your ancestors; you will be my people and I will be your God

— Ezekiel 36.27-28I will take the people of Israel from

among the nations where they have gone and gather them from every side and bring them back to their own land; I will make them one nation in the land…

— Ezekiel 37.21-22



I will save them from all the places where they have been living and sinning and I will cleanse them, so that they will be my people and I will be their God;

my servant, David will be king over them and all of them will have one shepherd…

they will live in the land I gave to Jacob my servant, where your ancestors lived; they will live there… forever and David my servant will be their leader forever…

— Ezekiel 37.23-26



I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant; I will give to them, increase their numbers and set my sanctuary among them forever;

my home will be with them; I will be their God and they will be my people

— Ezekiel 37.27-28


I will preserve them

This is what Adonai says, who gives the sun as light for the day, who ordained the laws for the moon and stars to provide for the night, who stirs up the sea until its waves roar —

“If these laws leave my presence…then the offspring of Isra’el will stop being a nation in my presence forever”

“If the sky above can be measured and the foundations of the earth be fathomed, then I will reject all the offspring of Isra’el for all that they have done.”

— Jeremiah 31.35-37



Israel’s stumbling


Israel’s stumbling

isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?

heaven forbid! quite the contrary,

it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles …

their stumbling is bringing riches to the world

— Romans 11.11-12


Israel, first covenant cycle


God’s vineyardmessianic nation

blessed to be a blessing

disobedientidolatrous

rejected prophetsdisobeyed covenantdominated by gentiles

expelled from land

remnant returnsto covenant,restored to land

IsraelGod’s son

Israel, new covenant


messiah comesin grace, humility

Messiah rejectedby Israel’s leaders

‘stumbling over the cornerstone’for sake, acceptance

of Gentiles

Gentile mercyprovokes Jews

to jealousy

IsraelGod’s son

messiah comesin power, glory

priestly nation

like high priest• reluctantly drawing near to God• entering holy place; only to be rejected,

die— Hosea 4.6

• bearing witness to God’s kindness, severity

Israel, son of God• sharing in suffering of Messiah

hardened in part…a ransom nation• …will be resurrected



Israel’s provocation


Israel’s provocation

Isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?

Heaven forbid!...Isn’t it that they have stumbled with

the result that they have permanently fallen away?

Heaven forbid!...Quite the contrary, it is by means of

their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy

— Romans 11:1, 11:11


Gentile responsibility

I make known the importance of my work in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them…

don’t boast as if you were better than the branches… the root is supporting you

by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy

— Romans 11.14, 18, 31


“do not boast”

anti-Semitism, Church’s involvement 1st C., Romans Jerusalem, Israel

1,100,000 killed; 97,000 taken into captivity; bringing Jewish national existence, i.e. within Jerusalem and the Land, to an end

early church church fathers took over Jewish NT polemic, allegorised OT, eradicating hope of God’s ongoing commitment to Jews, causing vitriolic preaching against Jews… “Christ-killers”


a brief history of anti-Semitism

1095-1244 IsraelCrusades launched to “liberate the Holy Land”; Jews refusing baptism murdered in streets, synagogues torched

1215 EuropeChurch’s Lateran Council: Jews forced to wear identifying patches; pay tithes etc.

1290, 1306Jews expelled from England, Francethen Spain, Germany, Austria



1492 Spainthe Inquisition; thousands tortured, burnt at stake, forced to convert; Jews ordered to leave or face death; not allowed into Europe

1543 GermanyLuther labelled Jews “venomous… thieves… disgusting vermin,” called for their expulsion

1648-60 Poland, Europehalf a million killed, caught in midst of Cossack Revolt; in Europe, Jews persecuted, viewed with suspicion, contempt



1640 – 1881 Russia vicious pogroms—ethnic cleansing of villages and districts—thousands dead, impoverished

1880-1910 Americaover two million immigrated to United States where President George Washington promised “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”at last, Jews found a refuge



1938-1945 Germany• Nazi Holocaust : SIX MILLION JEWS

murdered in specially built gas chambers

• European governments complied, refusing Jewish refugees, forcing return to Germany

• Denmark only European nation to actively resist; some individual Christian groups intervened; many did not, especially German



1948, 1952 • Arab wars against the infant Israeli state

1967, 1973• Six-Day War• Yom Kippur War

1970’s onwards• Palestinian uprising; persecution of Israel

using terrorism as primary weapon• fuelled by Islamic ideology• bankrolled by oil-rich Arab dictators


root causes of anti-Semitism

covenant curse, following God’s judgement upon the nation, when Messiah was rejected

Why did the Lord do this? What is the meaning of such frenzied, furious anger? People will answer: It’s because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers…they went and served other gods…the Lord uprooted them from their land and threw them out into another land…

— Deuteronomy 28:15-68; 29• satanic hatred against Israel, Messianic

nation, • jealousy of other nations


“show them mercy”

by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy

— Romans 11.31Gentiles have shared with the Jews in spiritual matters, then the Gentiles clearly have a duty to help the Jews in material matters…

— Romans 15.27pray for the peace of Jerusalem

— Psalm 122.6


“show them mercy”

messianic community called to show mercy to Jews, provoking them to jealousy over their Messiah

interceding for Jews to be delivered to faith in Messiah and for Israel, the nation, to serve God’s purposes

State of Israel provides protection…I raise my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

— Psalm 121


provoke them to jealousy

don’t be ashamed of Good News• make Messiah’s work known to Jews

don’t be arrogant• be merciful, patient, kind

speak of Messiah’s commitment to Israel• “Yeshua is a friend to every Jewish heart”

use scriptures in debate• though not endlessly!

allow joy, shalom in your life to be a witness

• willingness to learn be generously hospitable

• accept hospitality



Israel’s fullness


harvest of all Israel

if Israel’s … condition … is bring riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Israel in its fullness bring them!

if their casting Jesus aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? it will be life from the dead!

if you were… grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their olive tree!

...in this way, all Israel will be saved— Romans 11.12, 15, 24, 26


natural branches grafted back

Messianic Judaism• Jews who believe Y’shua, Jesus is Messiah

recovery of Jewish roots of Messianic faith

• marriage, hospitality, work riches in understanding Torah

• restoration, revival of new covenant faith repairing schism of Judaism,

Christianity• repudiating replacement theology• prophetic witness and testimony to God


“life from the dead”

…until the time comes for restoring everything, as God said long ago

— Acts 3.19-21…until the Land of Israel has fully

absorbed Gods’ judgement— Isaiah 6.10-12, also Ezra, 1 Chronicles

…Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the age of the Gentiles has run its course

— Luke 21.24


“life from the dead”

…until the Gentile world enters in its fullness

— Romans 11.25, Matthew 24.14…you will not see me again until you

say, ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’

— Matthew 23.39…he may send the Messiah appointed in

advance for you, that is Yeshua; he has to remain in heaven until…

— Acts 3.20-21


“all Israel shall be saved”

who is “all Israel”? • main body of Jewish people• not necessarily every single Jew

what will their full acceptance of Messiah mean? a herald of…

• resurrection• Messiah’s soon return• restoration of creation



restoration of Messianic remnant in biblical, historical Land of

Israel leading to salvation of “all

Israel” manifestation of unprecedented

riches for the world physical return of Messiah,

Jesus


covenant harvest of the messianic

communityrevival for mission


NEXT SEMINAR…

Documents

Module 3-Vocation Messianic Community-Jews