"You shall be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria ... - Acts 1:8"
#6 - YESHUA - FOR THE JEW FIRST
Genesis 27:29 - "... May peoples serve you [ the Jewish people ]
and nations bow down to you ..."
- 14 minute read -
This is the 6th in a series of 7 blogs.
They address 7 foundational matters that Yehovah has set in place.
Our loving Father in Heaven has set up His creation so that when we pay attention to what HE says, when we submit our lives to be shaped by HIS Word - there is blessing in that place of submission to HIS ordering of the world.
Therefore, if we start the year in agreement with FOUNDATIONAL Truth revealed in Scripture, we set ourselves on The Path [Yeshua's Way] to experience our Father's greatest blessings!
If your preference for the rest of your life is to AVOID experiencing Yehovah's blessings... then pay no attention to these blogs.
But if you settle in your soul that these 7 matters are the bedrock from which you will conduct your life - you find 2 things will happen -
(1) You will experience Yeshua making Himself known TO you and THROUGH you. You will move towards wanting to say, as did the Apostle Paul "Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Messiah Yeshua (Philippians 3:8)."
(2) All hell and most of the "world" will actively oppose your efforts to "give earnest heed to the voice of Yehovah and do what is right in His sight (Exodus 15:26)." If you make it a settled matter in your soul to have Yehovah and what He says as your foundation - you are picking a fight with everything opposed to Him.
You and I need to decide ... is following Yeshua worth the battles that will come?
Here is a little secret - the battles of life are going to come ANYWAY! So why not face them WITH Yeshua, rather than without Him?
To review, the foundational truths I have set out so far, to set us on a path of walking Yeshua's Way, are these (click the title to go to that blog) -
1 - Yeshua ALONE is THE Answer - there is no other One to follow for lasting goodness.
2 - Yeshua ALONE is THE Answer in EVERY SITUATION - YESHUA is our "ALL" IN "ALL".
3 - Yeshua is THE GOOD SHEPHERD - we have grace greater than all our sin because
He laid down HIS Life for us sheep
4 - Yeshua Has SET US FREE - His love casts out the fear that comes from guilt and shame
5 - Yeshua HEALS - HIS River of Life washes away sin's destruction and washes into us New Life
Now, here is another foundational truth of Scripture, but one you will rarely hear preached from any pulpit - God created Jewish people in order to get His blessing from Himself to all the nations of earth.
In you [Jacob] and in your descendants
shall all the families of the earth
be blessed
Genesis 28:14
Should God have to repeat Himself?
Yet He does -
He first made this promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Then He repeats it to Isaac (Genesis 26:4). And again, here, He repeats this promise to Jacob.
Yehovah, Himself, set his fixed order in place - He would bless the Jewish people so that they could then be a blessing to everyone else on planet earth.
Do we acknowldege? - The Infinite, Almighty, All-Wise Yehovah God spoke and set up The Universe the way HE desired it to be.
He gets to do that with His "stuff" - He made it, it is HIS - He gets to say what happens with it.
The same is true of humankind.
He made us. We are HIS. He gets to say how things happen among humankind.
Just like Yehovah set up the "laws" of The Universe to have it run the way He wants it to run, He also set up how He wants things to go among humankind. Violate the laws Yehovah set up for how the universe operates. What should one expect - a good result? Or not so good?
One simple example ... You are touring New York City. You've just enjoyed the view from the Observation Deck on the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building - 1050 feet above street level.
You noticed LITTLE ITALY Pizza Shop across Fifth Ave. from the Empire State Building and now you want to get a fresh slice of New York Pizza. So... you WALK from the Observation Deck to the Pizza Shop across the street.
Hear me ... you do NOT use the elevator, you do NOT use the stairs, you do NOT use a scaffolding system nor the platform on wires that the window washers use, nor do you use a rope to repel down the building. You just get up on the wall of the Observation Deck and "walk" over 1000 feet down and about 30 feet across the street.
May I please ask ... how well is that going to go?
Will you be "just fine" - ignoring gravity, an important part of how Yehovah set up HIS Creation - and enjoy a lovely walk from the Observation Deck to the Pizza place across the street?
If there are consequences for violating how Yehovah set up the PHYSICAL world, are there not even GREATER consequences for violating how HE set up the spiritual realm?
HE spoke, HE ordained, HE set it up that one of the primary ways He was going to get HIS blessing from Himself to ALL humankind was by pouring HIS blessing into the Jewish people so they could then distribute that blessing to "all the families of the earth."
To Abraham He said, "I will bless you, and so you shall be a blessing"
He repeated this plan to Abraham's son Isaac and to Isaac's son Jacob.
MANY blessings have come to the world through the Jewish people. In the area where I live there was Jonas Salk who developed the polio vaccine. Through this one man MILLIONS of people around the globe were set from that horrible scurge of a wasting disease - polio!
So many blessings of many kinds have come though the Jewish people.
And... The GREATEST BLESSING EVER - Yeshua - came to humankind through the Jewish people.
No wonder Yehovah wanted humankind to be a help to the Jewish people and wanted humankind to bend its will to be submitted to the mission Yehovah gave the Jewish people (Genesis 27:29) - He wanted everyone to receive blessing through the way HE has set up for blessing to be received!
And Yehovah is NOT done with this plan!!!
Paul explains in Romans 11:29, concerning God's declaration regarding the Jewish people - "The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable."
Here in the Church Age (the time after The Cross, Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost) the way Yehovah set things up in the spiritual realm is STILL in effect - God wants to get His blessing from Himself to "all the families of the Earth" by sending that blessing THROUGH the Jewish people.
However, the Jewish people can not bless the world with a blessing they do not have hold of!
Only 1/3 of 1% of Jewish people know Yeshua and are saved!!! They do NOT have Yeshua - Salvation themselves and therefore cannot give HIM to humankind (except for the .003% of Jewish people who have accepted Yeshua as Messiah, Savior and Lord.)
THIS MEANS THERE ARE THREE ACTIVE TRAGEDIES AS A RESULT -
1- Jewish people are suffering the pain on not having The Salvation that came to Humankind through them!
2- Humankind is not receiving The Blessing Jehovah wants to send through the Jewish people because they do NOT have that blessing. Therefore the order HE set up - "be blessed and be a blessing" - is short-circuited. Remember, Romans 11:29 says that this is STILL God's plan !!!
3- The Church has less than it other might otherwise have of Yeshua's Resurrection Power to meet its own needs, and The Church also has less that it might otherwise have of Him to minister to the needs of Humankind.
How can I say this? Because PAUL said it -
If the Jewish People's downfall meant
riches (Yeshua and life in HIM) for The Nations
HOW MUCH MORE (Yeshua and life in HIM) will there be
when Israel is fulfilled [restored to their role of distributing
Yehovah's blessing to humankind - which can ONLY
happen when they are redeemed by Yeshua's blood and
FILLED with Yeshua's Spirit!]
Romans 11:12
No wonder Paul says -
Acts 13:46 - "it was NECESSARY that the Word of God (The Gospel) be spoken to you (Jewish people] FIRST."
Romans 1:16 - "The Good News of Yeshua is for the Jewish people first, then for the Gentiles"
And Yeshua says -
Matthew 10:6- " go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel"
Matthew - 9:35-39 "He was in their synagogues (where Jewish people worship) ... and He had compassion on them, they were like sheep without a shepherd (an Old Testament term for the Jewish people) ... Then He said to His disciples "These are the harvest which is plentiful, but the workers are few. Beseech, therefore, the Lord of this harvest, to send workers into this field."
Acts 1:8 - "You shall be witnesses of me BOTH in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria..."
Thus, it makes sense that Jehovah commands -
All Gentiles!
Tell Jewish people,
"Behold, Yeshua has come and is coming!"
Isaiah 62:11
So each of us has a decision to make - are we going to participate in making these three tragedies worse -
> Jewish people lacking the very Salvation they gave to the world,
> Humankind lacking blessing because it is not flowing through Yehovah's ordained conduit - the Jewish people, and
> The Church operating without the "how much more" blessing of Romans 11:12 ???
Or, are we going to cooperate with Yehovah's heart for the salvation of His Jewish people and see these tragedies averted and experience the blessing Yehovah ordained for those who cooperate with HIS heart and plan?
PRAY - "Yeshua, please, I ask that Your Holy Spirit show me what YOU have to say about the Salvation of YOUR Jewish people and the role YOU want me to play in YOUR plan! Work in me so that I come into full cooperation with YOUR plan. Amen!"
SONG - Comfort Ye My People
This is another crucial song from Lamb. "Comfort Ye My people [the Jewish people)] Isaiah 40:1" is spoken by Yehovah in the COMMAND voice. Yet - is most of The World comforting the Jewish people? Or, are they threatening the Jewish people's very existence? Is The Church giving comfort to the Jewish people who suffer under constant mortal threat, or is The Church largely staying silent while The World calls and works towards the annihilation of the Jewish people?
Hear what Yehovah has to say about His plan and vision for His Jewish people. If your desire is to please The One Who Is God Alone - ask Him to tune your heart to His. May we see the Jewish people receiving what their God longs for them - to "heal your wrong ways, love you so freely" and see Him "be as the dew to My people."
CLICK SONG TITLE ABOVE FOR ANOINTED VERSION OF THIS SONG.
No more will you turn to another for help
Nor will you turn to yourself, to yourself
Nor will you say, "My God" to some other
For in Me you'll find mercy
I will heal your wrong ways, I will love you so freely
You will dwell beneath my shadow
I will be as the dew to my people
And they will blossom as the lily
Your beauty will be like the olive tree
Your fragrance as Lebanon, Lebanon
You will live as a well watered garden
And you will flourish like the vine
I will heal your wrong ways, I will love you so freely
You will dwell beneath my shadow
I will be as the dew to my people
And they will blossom as the lily
Comfort Ye My People !
Comfort Ye My People !
Comfort Ye My People !