Does God not have a Son? /
Commentary by a member of the believing Jewish community in Germany 00,
2010-08-07
Jesus’ last Passover before
his death.
The "Israel movement" in
the Christian congregations. / Christian Evangelical Zionism - Discourse 101
The "Mitternachtsruf" ["Call at
Midnight"] – a call in the wrong direction? / Continuation Part 1, Discourse 1011
Looking up the biblical quotations
of the "Friends of Israel" in the Bible / Continuation Part 2, Discourse 1012
Report from the camp of the
"Israel movement". / Continuation Part 3, Discourse 1013
The Jewish Anti-Defamation League
rewrites the New Testament. / Continuation Part 4, Discourse 1014
The Foundation of the State of
Israel in 1948 prophesied in the Old Testament! / Continuation Part 6,
Discourse 1016
Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is
one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your might. |
By contrast with the promises relating to the Millennial Kingdom
of Peace, where Israel, having been converted to its Messiah ‒ our Lord
Jesus Christ ‒ will become a world power ("the chief of the nations",
Jer 31,7) and reign with him and the resurrected martyrs on earth, God the
Almighty has pronounced the following judgment on Israel, still unconverted to
this day, through the mouth of his prophets.
Israel does not know, My people do not understand.
Isa 1,2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD
speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against
Me. 1,3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But
Israel does not know, My people do not understand. 1,4 Alas, sinful nation, People
weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They
have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have
turned away from Him. 1,5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your
rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. Isa 1,2-5;
When God, almost two thousand years ago, sent the people of
Israel his Son as their Messiah and Savior, they rejected him. They abused him
as an impostor and blasphemer, beat him and condemned him to death. What they
did not know at the time ‒ and still do not want to know today ‒ is
the biblical fact that in rejecting the Son they have rejected the Father as
well, and turned away from him. In turning down his Son they have separated
themselves from their God, and consequently are a God-less people.
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father.
1Jn 2,23 Whoever denies the Son does not have
the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 1Jn 2,23;
Jn 15,23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also. Jn 15,23;
No one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jn 14,6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Jn
14, 6;
Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins. (i.e. go to hell)
Jn 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He
will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot
come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am
from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore
I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am
He, you will die in your sins." Jn 8,22-24;
As their God tells them in the passage quoted earlier (Isa 1,4),
they are a sinful nation, a people weighed down with iniquity, and until they
are converted to Jesus Christ ‒ whether as an individual or as an entire
people ‒ they no longer have any possibility remaining of having any
contact with their God. However much they pray, God does not hear them. Their
hands are covered with blood ‒ including the blood of the Son of God.
Even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
Isa 1,14 I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed
feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 1,15 So when you
spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even
though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with
blood. 1,16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds
from My sight. Cease to do evil. Isa 1,14-16;
Any Christian who denies these statements of the Bible, or seeks
to relativize their bitter reality by seeing them as symbolic metaphors, places
himself or herself on the same level as those who had our Redeemer crucified. He
makes himself guilty and crucifies the Lord once more.
THE PARABLE OF THE
UNFRUITFUL VINEYARD Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my
beloved concerning His vineyard. |
Although they say, “As surely as the Lord lives,” still they are swearing falsely.
Jer 5,1 ‘Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. 5,2
Although they say, “As surely as the Lord lives,” still they are swearing falsely.’ Jer 5,1-2;
And because Israel has now been a godless nation for almost two
thousand years, we find lying and deceit in the highest offices of state, as is
the case with other nations of the world as well. Presidents (Ezer Weitzmann,
Moshe Katzav) and Prime Ministers (Benjamin Netanjahu, Ehud Olmert)
of Israel have been condemned by the courts and have been forced to resign on
charges of corruption. Even the member of parliament and leader of the religious
Shas Party, Ariel Deri, was condemned by the courts for corruption and
fraud.
You have smitten and consumed them – but they have refused to repent.
Jer 5,3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its
master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand." 5,4
Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the
Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 5,5 Where will you be
stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And
the whole heart is faint.5,3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have
smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused
to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They
have refused to repent. Then I said, "They are only the poor, They are
foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD Or the ordinance of their God.
"I will go to the great And will speak to them, For they know the way of
the LORD And the ordinance of their God." But they too, with one accord,
have broken the yoke And burst the bonds. Jer 5,3-5;
One might have supposed that the destruction of the Temple and
the city of Jerusalem by Titus’ Roman legions in the year 70 and the dispersal
of the people of Israel from its country, together with the many painful pogroms
in some European countries, not to speak of the millions who suffered in the
Shoa ‒ the Holocaust ‒ would have been a sufficient reason for the
people of Israel to convert to their God and come to have faith in his Son. But
Israel has been too stiff-necked to do so, and to this day they still refuse to
convert and walk in the good way. As God already told Moses:
The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and
behold, they are an obstinate people." (Ex 32,9)
The LORD says: "See and ask where the good way is, and walk in it." But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Jer 6,16Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways and see
and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you
will find rest for your souls." But they said, ‘We will not walk in
it.’ 6,17 "And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of
the trumpet!’" But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
6,18"Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them.
6,19 "Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit
of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law,
they have rejected it also. Jer 6,16-19;
But it isn’t just that Israel has refused to be converted
‒ they even go further. As it appears from the statements of
representatives of the Israel movement in the Christian congregations, the Jews
‒ who have no God any longer, because they rejected him and his Son
‒ are now trying to tell the Christians, who believe in this Son of God
and worship him as their God and Lord, how they should understand their sacred
duty as Christians.
In some German congregations naive brethren and sisters are
hearing sermons by German and Jewish preachers telling them that the Lord’s
command in Mk 16,15 ("Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all
creation") may have had validity for the rest of the world but does not apply
to Israel. In accordance with the behest of the Jewish Agency (the Israeli
immigration authority), people have to sign a contractual agreement to the
effect that they will not missionize in Israel and will not mention Jesus
Christ, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter the country.
(See also Discourse 1013: "Report
from the camp of the Israel movement")
How can you say, ‘the law of the LORD is with us’? The lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
Jer 8,4 "You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD,
"Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent?
8,5 "Why then has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy?
They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. 8,6 "I have listened and
heard, They have spoken what is not right; No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, Like a horse
charging into the battle. 8,7 "Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And
the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration;
But My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD. 8,4 "How can you say,
‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen
of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 8,9 "The wise men are put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
And what kind of wisdom do they have? Jer 8,4-9;
Although they have rejected their God and so are a God-less
people, they attempt to pretend to the world that they alone are wise and have
the law of the Lord with them ‒ as the Lord complains in the above passage
(Jer 8,8). And if we study the Bible we may well begin to suppose that they are
currently well on the way from being a godless nation to being a nation that is
anti-God.
(See also Discourse 101: "Does
the Bible say that the Antichrist will be a Jew? – an analysis.")
For they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.
Eze 5,5 "Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘This is Jerusalem;
I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. 5,6 ‘But
she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and
against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have
rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’
5,7 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because you have more turmoil than
the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed
My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’
5,8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and
I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. Eze 5,5-8;
Just like the Christian world, Jews in Israel likewise long
since left off following the ordinances of their God. While in Christendom the
Catholic church has falsified the judgments of God and adapted them to its own
conceptions, e.g. through their keeping church believers ignorant of the second
of the Ten Commandments (while they divide the tenth commandment into two, so
that the total still remains ten), in Jewry "the lying pen of the scribes"
has made the law of God into a lie, as confirmed by God in the above passage
(Jer 8,8). The "holy festivals" of the Christians, like the Christmas
festival for instance, have become mere entertainment today; and likewise the
religious festivals of the Jews are now celebrated more for reasons of tradition
than for the praise of God.
In both cases the proper and correct way of praying has long since been lost,
and if a Jew in Israel today puts on a kippa (a Jewish head covering worn for
prayer, yarmulke or kappel in Yiddish), this is done not so much with a view to
entering within in order to speak with God, but rather ‒ just like the
same head-dress, the biretta, worn by Catholic cardinals and by the Pope himself
‒ so as to give people in the vicinity a spurious impression of wisdom and
"holiness".
So it is hardly surprising that this kind of "prayer" should
fail to reach the ear of God. Our Lord never wore a head covering when he prayed
to the Father. And Paul actually tells us that if a man wears a head covering
when praying, he disgraces his head. This separates him from the Holy Spirit of
God and breaks his connection with God. So the clerical hierarchy of the
Catholic church too can pray all they like, God isn’t ever going to hear them.
Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
1Cor 11,3 But I want you to understand that Christ
is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the
head of Christ. 11,4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or
prophesying disgraces his head. 1Cor 11, 3- 4;
It isn’t just that Israel no longer lives by the ordinances of
its God, it has also become an aggressor in the Near East, a state based on
violence. In the year 2006 Israel attacked its neighbor, the Lebanon, with
rockets and aerial bombardments (the Second Lebanon War), completely unprovoked,
and bombed its cities. As a result thousands of families had to flee and
hundreds of civilians, including women and children, were killed. In this
campaign the Israeli military also kept on firing rockets in the close vicinity
of the UN (UNIFIL) observation post in Lebanon. Although the officer in charge
of this UN support point contacted the Israeli commanders ten times (!) by radio
and requested them to desist from shooting rockets so close to the observation
post, the building suffered a direct (!) hit on 25 July 2006 and was completely
destroyed. The four UN officers manning the post ‒ a Chinese, a Finn, a
Canadian and an Austrian ‒ were killed.
And just recently a Gaza aid fleet bringing emergency supplies (foodstuffs,
construction materials, fuel and consumer goods) to the Palestinians suffering
from Israel’s three year long blockade of the Gaza strip was intercepted and
attacked by the Israeli military in international waters (!), an action in which
ten unarmed peace activists lost their lives. The ships were then compelled to
put in to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The land is filled with blood and the city is full of perversion.
Eze 9.9Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the
house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood
and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken
the land, and the LORD does not see!’ Eze 9,9;
This real violence in Israel, which is evident to the whole
world, the Jews now try to relativize by talking about "violence in Christian
pulpits". The Jewish Anti-Defamation League in Germany has complained that
statements in the New Testament gospels are dangerously anti-semitic. The head
of JADL, Abe Foxman, asserted, with reference to the 2010 Oberammergau Passion
Plays:
"with every annual reading or reenactment of the
story of the death of Jesus in Christian churches, millions of Christians
imbibed the notion that the Jews had been guilty of the worst crime in history.
Into our own time, the deicide libel has been used to justify hatred of Jews and
violence against them, including from Christian pulpits."
The deicide libel? That was deicide, as it is also documented in the Bible:
His blood shall be on us and on our children!
Mt 27,23 And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all
the more, saying, "Crucify Him!" 27,24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was
starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to
that yourselves."
27,25 And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"
27,26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Mt 27,23 – 26;
So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!"
Jn 19,12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews
cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king
opposes Caesar." 19,13 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat
at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 19,14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it
was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!"
19,15 So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!"
Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 19,16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. Jn 19,12–16;
This was clearly God's murder but where Foxman is right: it was the worst crime in history committed by the Jews here. But they deny it, even though it has been documented in the Bible for two thousand years! But Foxman sees it differently. Under the heading of violence from Christian pulpits Foxman also includes Christian evangelization among the Jews, which is "seen as a genocide attempt on Jewish souls".
In all consistency, JADL has now modified the text of the gospels, which serve
as the basis for the Oberammergau Passion Plays. Jewish crimes have been blotted
out. Today the Jews play a whitewashed and disinfected role in the death of
Christ. Now the Roman guards are standing by on Jesus’ first entry to
Jerusalem "in order to get it clear who really has power". In this
production, the Jewish high priests who condemn Jesus to death in the gospels
now debate about theology, so diverting attention from Jesus himself.
Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, "You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.
Mk 14,60 The high priest stood up and came
forward and questioned Jesus, saying, "Do You not answer? What is it that
these men are testifying against You?" 14,61 But He kept silent and did not
answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are
You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 14,62 And Jesus said,
"I am; and you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the
Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." 14,63 Tearing his
clothes, the high priest said, "What further need do we have of
witnesses? 14,64 "You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to
you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. 14,65 Some
began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists,
and to say to Him, "Prophesy!" And the officers received Him with
slaps in the face. Mk 14,60-65;
The notorious blood oath ‒ "His blood shall be on us and
on our children!" (Mt 27:22-25) was deleted from the screenplay. But for the
Jewish Anti-Defamation League, even this censorship and corruption of the text
was not enough. On 8 May the League’s experts gave a preview, and reported,
"These Passion plays continue to present Jewry in damaging stereotype terms,
seeing Jewish leaders as crafty, vindictive and xenophobic."
(See also Discourse 1014: "The
Jewish Anti-Defamation League rewrites New Testament.")
So it almost looks as if Jews wanted to forbid Christians to
read the New Testament and the gospels altogether. But even if one day they
should succeed in this, we have enough information in the Old Testament, in the
prophets of Israel ‒ as this example here shows ‒ to recognize the
true character of the Jewish leaders (whom our Lord refers to in Mt 23:32-39 as
"You serpents. you brood of vipers") and the Zionist Israelites. Presumably
the Jewish ADL is not going to succeed in forbidding us to read their very own
Old Testament.
But we can hardly expect, either, that the Jewish Anti-Defamation League is
going to cancel out all those passages in their Old Testament which present
Israel in terms of "damaging prototypes", like the following for instance:
o "Alas, sinful nation, People
weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly!"
(Isa 1:4;)
o "the whole head is sick and the whole heart
is faint" (Isa 1:3-6;),
o "their hands are covered with blood from the
evil of their deeds-" (Isa 1:14-15;) And although they say,
o "‘As the LORD lives,’ Surely they swear
falsely." (Jer 5:2;). The LORD
o "has smitten them, but they did not weaken,"
He has
o "consumed them, but they refused to take
correction" (Jer 5:3;). They said,
o "‘We will not walk in the good way.’"
(Jer 6:16;). Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD,
o "‘They have not walked in My statutes, nor
observed My ordinances behold, I, even I, am against you, and I
will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.’" (Eze 5:6-8;).
So in all these statements, has Almighty God been defaming the
Jews? Or did our Lord Jesus Christ ‒ who says of himself that he is the
Truth ‒ lie in describing their religious leaders as "serpents" and a
"brood of vipers"? Perhaps, in the coming kingdom of the Antichrist, the
Jews will take God to court on the charge that he has defamed them in the Old
Testament ‒ and take his Son to court as well, for having propagated lies
about them in the New?
The biblical passages quoted in this discourse are only a small
part of the complaints that God has made about his people of Israel through the
mouth of his prophets. The books of the prophets are actually full of this kind
of stuff, and of the judgments which God will execute on this people. Only close
study of the scriptures makes it possible to come to a correct estimate of the
stubborn character of the people of Israel, starting with their exodus from
Egypt and their wanderings in the desert (with the episode of the golden calf),
and going on to their rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah, followed by
their return to the land of Israel without God’s blessing in our own time.
But for all that we must not forget that God will again have mercy on this
people, when they convert at the beginning of the Millennium and come to believe
in our Lord Jesus Christ. But of course this offer on the part of God for
salvation from their sins, through belief in the vicarious sacrifice of their
Messiah, remains open to every individual Israeli, as it does to all the peoples
of the world.
Whenever Israel turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, because it is removed in Christ.
2Cor 3,14 But their minds were hardened; for
until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains
unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 3,15 But to this day whenever
Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 3,16 but whenever Israel turns
to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2Cor 3,14-16;
But in our own days Israel is far removed from any conversion to
our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their Messiah. Quite the reverse, as
seen in the above documented evidence ‒ they even make it impossible for
Christians in Israel to speak of Jesus Christ at all. And as we can learn from
the Bible, this is not going to change until the beginning of the Millennium.
All prophecies which accordingly speak of this conversion, and in the sequel of
the forgiveness of sins, consecration and gathering of Israel by God (e.g. Isa
49:22; Jer 23:5-6 24:6-7 29:13-14 50:4-5; Eze 36:24-25 etc.), refer exclusively
to the future Millennial Kingdom of Peace of the Son of God. And for this it is
a condition that Jesus Christ has come again, and that the Jews have come to
believe in him.
There is no salvation for Israel, unless they convert to
Jesus Christ!
(See also Chapter 09: "The
return home of the redeemed.")
So when some preachers in the Christian congregations make
repeated attempts to refer these passages to our times, and to the still
unconverted Israel of today, this is patently an endeavor to pull the wool over
the eyes of the brethren and to persuade them, on the basis of these temporally
foreshortened biblical passages, that the Israel of the present day already
represents the "saved people" of the prophecies ‒ with the aim of
acquiring "Friends of Israel" by this form of wheeling and dealing. This
kind of imposition is generally successful in situations where the brethren have
little or no knowledge of the Bible ‒ or alternatively, where the leaders
of the congregation concentrate on the study of the New Testament, so that the
brethren have little knowledge of the Old Testament and the prophetic books.
This very ignorance, among Christians, is one of the reasons why denominations
(Calvinists for the most part) deny the Millennial Kingdom of Peace of our Lord
Jesus Christ altogether, because they refuse to allow the people of Israel any
expectation of salvation and so deny the fulfillment of all prophecies referring
to Israel in the Millennium. They like to see themselves as the "true Israel"
and commandeer all the blessings referring to Israel for themselves (leaving the
prophecies of judgment out of account, of course!). But the following biblical
passage from Eze 37,26-28 is an excellent refutation of such false statements
‒ both, those that claim that these prophecies have already been fulfilled
today, and those asserting that there is no Millennium at all:
The dwelling place of the LORD will be with them; and He will be their God, and they will be His people.
Eze 37,26 "I will make a covenant of peace
with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them
and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.
37,27 "My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their
God, and they will be My people.
37,28 "And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel,
when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."‘" Eze 37,26-28;
This now is just the beginning of the Millennium, where God
concludes a covenant of peace with Israel, which will hold good for the entire
one thousand years. In the Millennium, Israel will no longer make war (Isa 2:2-5
9:4-6; Hos 2:18-25; Mi 4:3-5; Zech 9:10) ‒ quite in contrast with the
situation today!
(See also Chapter 10: "The
Millennium.")
Furthermore the Lord promises that his sanctuary will be among
them, and that he himself will dwell among them. Today Israel has no sanctuary
or temple at all ‒ and even the Israelis of today would hardly be inclined
to believe that the Lord is dwelling among them. As for the heathen coming to
know that God is the Lord who sanctifies Israel, that falls down in the view of
the fact that today’s Israel is anything but sanctified and so the heathen of
this world have not been able to find out anything about God either. The world
picture continues to be chaotic.
So we can see that it would be completely absurd to deny these very concrete
prophecies of the Millennium, and many others of similar import. But to see them
as having been already fulfilled would be, in the light of facts, a complete
denial of reality ‒ or else, a deliberate attempt to deceive. But what is
unfortunately often overlooked by Christian commentators is this ‒ the conditio
sine qua non for the acceptance of Israel by its God, and the fulfillment of
all these prophecies, is that they must reverse what they did to their God
nearly two thousand years ago, when they rejected his only Son and had him
murdered. They must do this by giving up their obstinacy and converting to Jesus
Christ.
But as the Old Testament and the books of the prophets of Israel show, the
obstinacy and recalcitrance of Israel as an entire people will only be broken
through further bitter trials of their God ‒ this is the only way they can
come to conversion. Only when they are able to say to the Son of God on his
Second Coming, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" and when
they weep bitterly over him whom they have pierced on the cross (Rev 1:7; Mt
24:30; Zech 12:10) will the fate of Jacob be turned around, and the remnant of
Israel will be reconciled with its God. In the Millennial Kingdom of Peace of
their Messiah and with their King David, whom God will have raised from the dead
(Jer 30:8-9; Eze 34:23; Hos 3:4-5), they can then embark on a glorious future as
"the chief of the nations" (Jer 31:7; 2Sam 22:44; Ps 18:44).
Behold, your house is being left to you desolate until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’"
Mt 23,32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the
guilt of your fathers. 23,33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how
will you escape the sentence of hell? 23,34 "Therefore, behold, I am
sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and
crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute
from city to city, 23,35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the
righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the
altar.
23,36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation. 23,37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and
stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were
unwilling.
23,38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 23,39
"For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’" Mt 23,32-39;
(See also Discourse 08: "The
gathering of Israel: already since 1948, or not to happen until the Last Days?")
As a member of the believing Jewish community in Germany, I
was recently referred to the article "God’s Judgment on his People" on
your website. Although we generally avoid discussing our faith with
Christians, I would not like to leave your scribbled lucubrations entirely
unchallenged. Here you quote our prophets, but you restrict yourself to
those statements which relate to Israel because of its disobedience at the
time. This is not only lacking in objectivity, it also patently comes from
the anti-semitic camp and so must be rejected. Above all because you present
these statements in such a way that they militate against the Israel of
today. You then quite embarrassingly avoid referring to all the other
promises of our prophets that speak of a blessed future for the people of
Israel. (…)
At the beginning of your article you refer to the great Jewish prayer "Shema
Yisrael" from the book "Discourses" (Devarim) of the Torah,
where we read, "Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is
one!" Just try reading this Old Testament passage (Deut 6,4) from the
point of view of a Jew. Here we find it written, "The Eternal is our
God, the Eternal is one" There is nothing here about a Son of
God, who is supposed to be a God in his own right. There is nothing here
about our being expected to worship a "Son"! And above all, we do not
find it written here, "There is no salvation for Israel unless they
convert to Jesus Christ!". The words here are – "The Eternal is one".
You can turn it and twist it however your like, but you can’t read
anything else into it, if you are at all honest. (…)
(Anonymous ‒ the visitor preferred to withhold his identity).
I would like to thank you for your comments and for your visit
to Immanuel.at. You are perfectly right in saying that in the commentary above I
focus on a small selection of those prophecies which are addressed to a
disobedient Israel. And your further remark ‒ "because you present these
statements in such a way that they militate against today’s Israel" ‒
is also completely correct. That, after all, is exactly the drift of this
commentary ‒ to demonstrate that today’s Israel is not only just as
disobedient as in that former time, but that they turned away their God
altogether, almost two thousand years ago, so that since that time he has turned
away from them.
In your following assertion, however ‒ "You then quite embarrassingly
avoid referring to all the other promises of our prophets that speak of a
blessed future for the people of Israel" ‒ you are actually off the
mark. Under the heading "The future of Israel" at the end of the above
commentary, I cite (admittedly in reference links, not in the form of full
quotations) some of those promises of God which will make Israel a blessed
people and "chief of the nations" in the Millennium. Only in the far distant
Millennium (the thousand years kingdom of peace), however, not right now!
But as you surely must know, the book of Deuteronomy to which your refer, the
5th book of Moses, "SPEECHES" (Devarim) not only includes this "The Lord is one" but also gives
us the following condition for the fulfillment of all these promises for the
people of Israel:
If you diligently obey the LORD your God, all these blessings will come upon you.
Deut 28,1 "Now it shall be, if you diligently
obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command
you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the
earth. 28,2 "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if
you obey the LORD your God. Deut 28, 1- 2;
The commandments which the Almighty this day lays on his people,
as reported in this passage (Deut 28,1), have just been listed one by one in the
previous chapter (Deut 27,15-26):
‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Deut 27,15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes an idol
or a molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the
craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say,
‘Amen.’
27,16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And all the people
shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,17 ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.’ And all
the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,18 ‘Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the
people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,19 ‘Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and
widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,20 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has
uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,21 ‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And all the people shall say,
‘Amen.’
27,22 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or of
his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,23 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people
shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,24 ‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people
shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,25 ‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’
And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27,26 ‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing
them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Deut 27,15-26;
And here the verses Deut 27,17 and 19 are particularly
interesting, where God commands "Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s
boundary mark! …" and "Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien!
…". In the occupation of Palestine by the Israelis in the year 1948 not just
one alien, but an entire people was affected. And the Israelis have not only
moved this boundary mark ‒ at the time they actually drove large parts of
the Palestinian population out of their homeland. This means that two of these
commandments, to which the people of Israel had committed itself in the sight of
its God, have been broken already. When it comes to the commandment against
taking bribes (see the condemnations of Presidents Ezer Weitzmann and Moshe
Katzav and Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanjahu and Ehud Olmert)
and that forbidding the shedding of innocent blood (shelling of the UNIFIL
support point, with the murder of four innocent UN officers, on 25 July 2006),
the less said the better.
So in Deut 28,15 God goes on to prophesy to his people Israel the other side of
these promises of blessings:
If you do not obey the LORD your God, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.
Deut 28,15 "But it shall come about, if you
do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His
statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you
and overtake you. Deut 28,15;
And following this, God then (Deut 28:16-69) lists all those
curses which will come upon Israel if they do not obey the above commandments of
the Lord (Deut 27,15-26).
I think we are agreed that these prophecies, both the blessings and the curses,
have validity not just for certain periods of Israel’s history, but that these
are the commandments of God to Israel from the day on which Israel became the
people of the Lord its God (Deut 27:9) and continuing for all time. Given these
premises, it should be enough just to establish whether Israel is following and
fulfilling the commandments laid on them by God in the present, in order to
demonstrate whether Israel can look forward to the blessings of God today or
not.
And this is exactly what I have tried to do in my above commentary, by setting
various current events in Israel alongside the prophetic texts. Whether that can
be described as anti-Semitism, as you write, I invite the reader to judge. It is
however conspicuously evident that the Zionist Jews, when confronted by any
statements of opinion by people who think differently from them, fetch the
anti-Semitism cudgel out of that very same corner in which you are trying to
place me.
You then come to an issue which of course is not a new topic of discussion
between Jews and Christians ‒ namely, the question whether God has a Son.
To avoid putting an unnecessary strain on the atmosphere of the discussion, I
would like to leave this question in the air for a moment and instead respond to
your challenge of just taking a look at these matters from the point of view of
a Jew. And here I would like to go further back in your scriptures, to the
second book of Moses/Exodus, "NAMES" (Schmot) ‒ to Israel’s
exodus from Egypt and the Passover festival, the main festival of the Jewish religion.
To make it easier for those unfamiliar with the Bible to
understand what is going on, I would like to give a short explanation here of
the origin of this Passover feast. For the Israelites to get permission to
reside in Egypt, they were compelled by Pharaoh to perform forced labor. Israel
had already been 430 years in Egypt under this regime when Moses came into the
country, and called on the Israelites in the name of their God to withdraw from
this unjust servitude. It was then Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord gave the
task, in Ex 6,26, of bringing the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.
Ex 6,26 It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the
LORD said, "Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt
according to their hosts." 6,27 They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh
king of Egypt about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same
Moses and Aaron. Ex 6,26-27;
Aaron and Moses visited Pharaoh nine times in all, acting on God’s
instructions, to obtain his consent to the exodus of their people from Egypt.
When Pharaoh refused for the ninth time to let the Israelites leave Egypt, God
promised that at midnight he would bring about the death of every firstborn male
creature in Egypt ‒ from the firstborn son of Pharaoh himself to the
firstborn son of the most insignificant slave, and including the firstborn of
all domestic animals.
The Israelites however were instructed by God (Ex 12,5-8) that on this day,
which was the 14th day of the first month (Nisan), each family was to slaughter
an unblemished male a year old, either of the sheep or of the goats, "between
the two evenings". According to the Jewish divisions of the day, whereby a day
starts and finishes at 6.00 pm (sunset), the time referred to is that between sunset
(6.00 pm – first evening or eve) and the sunset of our next day today (at 6 p.m.
- second evening).
They were then to smear the blood of the slaughtered lamb
on the two doorposts and the lintel, so that the angel of the Lord would
recognize these houses and spare them from the plague. The meat however was to
be eaten on the same night, roasted with fire, along with unleavened bread (maze
bread) and bitter herbs.
You shall kill it on the fourteenth day of the month and take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts.
Ex 12,5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a
year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 12,6 ‘You shall
keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. 12,7 ‘Moreover,
they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the
lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 12,8 ‘They shall eat the flesh
that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs. Ex 12, 5- 8;
The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live.
Ex 12,12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt
on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both
man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments
‒ I am the LORD. 12,13 ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the
houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no
plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Ex
12,12-13;
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Ex 12,17 ‘You shall also observe the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of
Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a
permanent ordinance. 12,18 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day
of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first
day of the month at evening. Ex 12,17-18;
Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the f irstborn in the land of Egypt.
Ex 12,29 Now it came about at midnight that the
LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the
dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. 12,30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he
and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt,
for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 12,31 Then he called for
Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, get out from among my
people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have
said. Ex 12,29-31;
From the next day, the 15th day of Nisan, the Israelites were
then to eat only unleavened bread for a period of seven days. This is the Feast
of Unleavened Bread (the Passover), to commemorate Israel’s exodus from Egypt,
which started with the slaughter of a male lamb in the evening hours of the
first day (the day of preparation for Passover, known today as the Seder meal)
on the 14th of Nisan, and then lasted for a further seven days, up to the 21st
day of the month, and which is still celebrated in Israel at the present day.
So the blood of the lamb preserved the Israelites from the wrath of God, which
had killed all the firstborn of Egypt. And the meat of the lamb was to give them
strength for the march into the desert which they started on the following
morning. So God saved the Israelites from the hand of their oppressor, and
commanded them to observe this day through all their future generations.
Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.
Ex 12,14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to
you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your
generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 12,15 ‘Seven
days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove
leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day
until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 12,16 ‘On the
first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the
seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by
every person, that alone may be prepared by you. 12,17 ‘You shall also observe
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of
the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your
generations as a permanent ordinance. Ex 12,14-17;
And it was this same Passover feast which Jesus and his
disciples celebrated in Jerusalem. This was the Lord’s Supper or "evening
meal" ("Seder meal" in Hebrew) at which Jesus said goodbye to the
disciples. And here there are some interesting parallels with the exodus from
Egypt, which it would be worth taking a closer look at. In the course of the
13th day of Nisan, Jesus asked Peter and John to find a room where they could
prepare the meal with the slaughtered lamb for the Twelve.
And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it."
Lk 22,7 Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread
on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 22,8 And Jesus sent Peter
and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat
it." 22,9 They said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare
it?" 22,10 And He said to them, "When you have entered the city, a man
will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he
enters. 22,11 "And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher
says to you, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with
My disciples?"‘ 22,12 "And he will show you a large, furnished
upper room; prepare it there." Lk 22, 7-12;
On the evening of this day, perhaps around 6.00 pm (according to
Jewish time divisions, this would then be the start of the 14th of Nisan), the
Lord sat down at table with the disciples and revealed to them that this was the
last time that he would eat this Passover with them.
For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Lk 22,13 And they left and found everything just as
He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. 22,14 When the hour had come,
He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 22,15 And He said to them,
"I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
22,16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in
the kingdom of God." Lk 22,13-16;
And here Jesus now adds the passing remark, in Lk 22,16, "…
until it (the Passover) is fulfilled in the kingdom of God". This is the first
time that we have been given to suspect that the Passover is not just a
celebration of the exodus of Israel and their being saved by their God from
Egyptian servitude, but that this Passover was always meant as a prophecy as
well ‒ a prophecy which now, with the death of Jesus, has been fulfilled.
This suspicion is then reinforced by Jesus’ further statements in the course
of the meal.
This is My body which is given for you; This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is poured out for you.
Lk 22,19 And when He had taken some bread and given
thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which
is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 22,20 And in the same
way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new
covenant in My blood which is poured out for you. Lk 22,19-20;
Just as in Egypt the blood of the lamb preserved the people of
Israel from the wrath of God and as the slaughtered lamb strengthened them, so
too the death and the blood of Jesus has saved all sinners from the wrath of
God. In order to propitiate the justice of God, he took our sins on himself and
suffered vicarious punishment for us. This is the deeper significance of the
Jewish Passover feast ‒ the prophecy of the saving sacrifice of atonement
through the death of the Servant of God – Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, who
had never seen Jesus before he appeared, was moved by the Holy Spirit to call
him "the Lamb of God" (in Jn 1,29) and "the Son of God" (in Jn 1,34).
Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.
Jn 1,29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and
said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world! 1,30 "This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a
Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 1,31 "I did
not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came
baptizing in water." 1,32 John testified saying, "I have seen the
Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 1,33 "I
did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He
upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One
who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 1,34 "I myself have seen, and
have testified that this is the Son of God." Jn 1,29-34;
But John the Baptist wasn’t just anybody. At his birth, the
Holy Spirit had said of him:
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the LORD.
Lk 1,76 "And you, child, will be called the
prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the LORD to prepare His
ways; 1,77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the
forgiveness of their sins, 1,78 Because of the tender mercy of our God, With
which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, 1,79 To shine upon those who sit
in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of
peace." Lk 1,76-79;
And Jesus too said of him that he was more than a prophet. He is
the one of whom it is written in the Book of the Prophet Malachi, "Behold, I
am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me" (Mal 3,1).
This, now, is extremely interesting, inasmuch as this very prophecy was always
understood in Israel ‒ correctly, as we know today ‒ as referring to
the coming of the Messiah. This was backed up first of all by a prophecy from
the prophet Isaiah, where it is written, "A voice is calling, Clear the way
for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God"
(Isa 40:3; Deut 18:15-18), and secondly by another prophecy from Malachi, where
this messenger of the Lord is identified with the prophet Elijah.
Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.
Mal 4,4 "Remember the law of Moses My servant,
even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
4,5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 4,6 "He will restore the
hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their
fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." Mal
4, 4- 6;
This is also the reason why the scribes of Jesus’ day
repeatedly asked John whether he was "the prophet", the Elijah. But John
quite honestly said that he was not, and prophesied in his turn: "As for me, I
baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier
than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3,11). And when the Jews then asked Jesus as well
whether John was the prophet Elijah, he announced to them that John was the very
one foretold in Malachi’s prophecy: "Behold, I am going to send My
messenger, and he will clear the way before Me" (Mal 3,1).
For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.
Mt 11,9 "But what did you go out to see? A
prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. 11,10 "This
is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of
you, who will prepare your way before you’ 11,11 "Truly I say to you,
among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the
Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
11,12 "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. 11,13 "For all the
prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 11,14 "And if you are
willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. Mt 11,9-14;
But as Scripture shows us, the Jews were not prepared to accept
it. And here, from our point of view today, it is completely incomprehensible
how even the scribes in Israel, who must after all have been thoroughly familiar
with all these prophecies, should have failed to examine the scriptures ‒
remaining fixed in their prejudice instead, and so rejecting Jesus. Though Jesus
himself, of course, gave frequent indications that what had been written about
him through the prophets would also be fulfilled in him.
All things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.
Lk 18,31 ¶ Then He took the twelve aside and said
to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are
written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.
18,32 "For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and
mistreated and spit upon, 18,33 and after they have scourged Him, they will kill
Him; and the third day He will rise again." 18,34 But the disciples
understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden
from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. Lk 18,31-34;
How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?
Mt 26,51 And behold, one of those who were with
Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest
and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into
its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 26,53
"Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once
put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 26,54 "How
then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?"
Mt 26,51-54;
But from our point of view today, all the other prophecies in
the Old Testament as well can be understood as referring to the Servant of God.
For example, in the book of Isaiah:
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; And by His scourging we are healed.
Isa 53,3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
53,4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet
we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
53,5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for
our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His
scourging we are healed. Isa 53, 3- 5;
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter.
Isa 53,6 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. 53,7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did
not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that
is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. Isa 53, 6-7;
By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.
Isa 53,8 By oppression and judgment He was taken
away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the
land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was
due? 53,9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man
in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His
mouth. 53,10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If
He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will
prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
53,11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By
His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will
bear their iniquities. 53,12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the
great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out
Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore
the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. Isa 53, 8-12;
Or consider, as well, these other prophecies from Isaiah:
The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.
Isa 49,1 Listen to Me, O islands, And pay
attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the
body of My mother He named Me.
2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has
concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His
quiver. Isa 49, 1- 2;
- which are confirmed by what we find stated in the New
Testament:
His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
Lk 2,21 And when eight days had passed, before His
circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel
before He was conceived in the womb. 2,22 And when the days for their
purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up
to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 2,23 (as it is written in the Law of the
Lord, "every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the
LORD"), 2,24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law
of the Lord, "a pair of turteldoves or two young pigeons." 2,25 And
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous
and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon
him. 2,26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would
not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 2,27 And he came in
the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to
carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 2,28 then he took Him into his arms,
and blessed God, and said, 2,29 "Now Lord, You are releasing Your
bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; 2,30 For my eyes
have seen Your salvation, 2,31 Which You have prepared in the presence of
all peoples, 2,32 a light of revelation to the gentiles, And the glory of
Your people Israel." 2,33 And His father and mother were amazed at the
things which were being said about Him. 2,34 And Simeon blessed them and said to
Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of
many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed. Lk 2,21-34;
Even the designation of Jesus in the above passage (Lk 2,32) as
"a light of revelation to the gentiles" is something we find repeatedly in
the Old Testament:
Christ is the covenant to the people and the light to the nations.
Isa 42,6 "I am the LORD, I have called you in
righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I
will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,
42,7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those
who dwell in darkness from the prison. Isa 42, 6- 7;
I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Isa 49,5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me
from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel
might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My
God is My strength), 49,6 He says, "It is too small a thing that You should
be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones
of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation
may reach to the end of the earth." 49,7 Thus says the LORD, the
Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by
the nation, To the Servant of rulers, "Kings will see and arise, Princes
will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of
Israel who has chosen You." Isa 49, 5- 7;
But alongside all these statements, it was above all the events of that Passover before the death of Jesus that demonstrated that Jesus was the promised Servant of God. So Isaiah tells us in the passage Isa 53,7:
Isa 53,7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a
sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. Isa
53, 7;
The evangelist Matthew confirms this Old Testament prophecy in
his account of Jesus’ interrogation by the high priest Caiaphas, where the
members of the Sanhedrin spat in the Lord’s face and struck him in the face
with their fists. And at the hearing before Pilate, where Jesus remained silent
and said nothing, Pilate had him flogged.
Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him.
Mt 26,65 Then the high priest tore his robes and
said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses?
Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 26,66 what do you think?" They
answered, "He deserves death!" 26,67 Then they spat in His face and
beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, 26,68 and said,
"Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?" Mt
26,65-68;
And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.
Mt 27,11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and
the governor questioned Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?"
And Jesus said to him, "It is as you say." 27,12 And while He was
being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. 27,13 Then
Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against
You?" 27,14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a single
charge, so the governor was quite amazed. Mt 27,11-14;
Having been accused by the high priests and condemned by Pilate,
Jesus was crucified and died on the cross at the ninth hour, in other words
around 3.00 pm.
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spiritf.
Mt 27,45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon
all the land until the ninth hour. 27,46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out
with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is,
"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" 27,47 And some of
those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man
is calling for Elijah." 27,48 Immediately one of them ran, and taking a
sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.
27,49 But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to
save Him." 27,50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and
yielded up His spirit. Mt 27,45-50;
And it is peculiar that this behavior of remaining mute before
their shearers has persisted with the sheep to this day (or has it always been
in them as a prophecy of creation upon their Savior?). I had sheep myself and
can testify to that. And also if in film recordings sheep are shown which are
shorn, one sees that immediately are quiet if they lie between the legs of the
shearer.
When we now look at the commandment of God about the
slaughtering of the Paschal lamb in Ex 12,6, we are told there that the lamb
should be slaughtered on the 14th day of Nissan "between the two evenings".
So this is the time between the first evening, after the starting of the day
with sunset (6.00 pm) until the complete fall of night, and the second evening
on the next day from today’s point of view ‒ i.e. the time between the
sun’s descending in the sky (3.00 pm) and sunset at 6.00 pm. And right at the
end of this time between these two evenings, at about the ninth hour, 3.00 pm,
is when the death of Jesus occurred. So this Lamb of God was offered as a
sacrifice pleasing to God and without blemish, fully in accordance with all the
requirements of the Mosaic rite.
And yet another Old Testament prophecy came to fulfillment in the death of
Jesus. In Isa 53,9 it is prophesied that the Servant of God would find a grave
among godless men, and would be with a rich man in his death.
Isa 53,9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor
was there any deceit in His mouth. Isa 53, 9;
This prophecy too finds fulfillment in Matthew’s account:
A rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, laid the body in his own new tomb.
Mt 27,57 When it was evening, there came a rich
man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of
Jesus. 27,58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then
Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 27,59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped
it in a clean linen cloth, 27,60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which
he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of
the tomb and went away. Mt 27,57-60;
When Jesus died on the cross between criminals, a rich member of
the Council, Joseph of Arimathea, got permission from Pilate to have him taken
down from the cross and laid in the tomb. He then had the body laid in a new
tomb which he had recently acquired and buried just provisionally, in view of
the short time available, with a view to carrying out a ritually proper burial
later, after the two Sabbaths.
(See also Discourse 87: "The
Turin Shroud ‒ The ‘Holy Week’.")
There are undoubtedly still more prophecies from the Old
Testament which we could bring forward in this connection (Gen 22:1-2; Num
21:7-9; Jn 3:14-17; Dan 9:26 etc.), but we are concerned here just to highlight
the most significant connections.
As would naturally be expected, however, we find the most important and the
clearest statements about the Son of God in the New Testament. When Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist, the heavens opened and the voice of God gave
public acknowledgement of his Son:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.
Mt 3,17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens
said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." Mt
3,17;
And at the Transfiguration of Jesus likewise, when he went up a
mountain with Peter and the apostle John, where Moses and Elijah appeared before
the eyes of the two disciples and spoke with Jesus, again the voice of God came
from the sky and gave further confirmation:
This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"
Mt 17,5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is
My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" 17,6 When
the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.
Mt 17, 5- 6;
And here it seems important to recall that both confirmations of
the Son by the Father were addressed to the Jews ‒ first of all to John
the Baptist, that is, and then to Peter and the apostle John. That voice which
here twice testifies to Jesus as the beloved Son of God is the same voice which
had designated Israel as God’s people in Deut 27,9.
And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me.
Jn 5,37 "And the Father who sent Me, He has
testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His
form. 5,38 "You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe
Him whom He sent. Jn 5,37-38;
So if the Jews today assert that Jesus is not the Son of God, it
follows that Israel cannot be the people of God either. But as it seems, the
denial of Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and Messiah of Israel, is only a
preparation for those events in the end times, in which Israel will take its
godlessness to the extreme and receive a devilish impostor as its "Messiah".
The fact that the Israelites still call Jesus Christ a deceiver and blasphemer
is the actual prerequisite for the fact that the false Christ, the Antichrist,
will be able to appear as the "real" Christ/Messiah and – for the time being –
will find belief in Israel. The Jews will be downright thrilled, because that is
exactly what they have been claiming for two thousand years, that Jesus was an
impostor.
And this is also what the real Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, prophesied to the
Jews during his lifetime:
I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Jn 5,39 "You search the Scriptures because
you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
5,40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 5,41 "I do
not receive glory from men; 5,42 but I know you, that you do not have
the love of God in yourselves. 5,43 "I have come in My Father’s
name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will
receive him. Jn 5,39-43;
So the Antichrist will come in his own name. He will of course
be a Jew, because the Jews would never accept a "Goy" as their Messiah. He will
claim to be the "anointed of God" (Messiah=Hebrew "mashiach", Aramaic "meschicha",
Greek "Christos", Latin "Christus", English the "Anointed One") and will
initially come to power in Israel. Here we see that the Greek prefix "anti" in
"Antichrist" must not be translated with "against" but with its other meaning
"instead of".
He comes instead of Christ and will refer all the prophecies of the Torah, which
apply to the real anointed of God, to himself and make the Jews believe that he
will lead Israel to the Jewish concept of the "kingdom", to the prophesied world
domination of Israel (head of the nations, Jer 31:7). After some time, however,
the Israelis will realize that their "Messiah" will no longer represent the
Mosaic religion, but will only usurp more and more power himself, and will
separate themselves from him.
After this deceiver will namely realize that not only the Mosaic Jews but also
the Christian churches and especially the "friends of Israel" in the evangelical
churches and even the Messianic Jews, who also see in this deceiver their
"Messiah", will cheer him as the "returned Lord", he actually tries to gain
world domination himself and sits down in the temple in Jerusalem which he has
newly built and claims to be the Son of God and a God himself.
At the actual Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for the Rapture of the dead
and still living believers in Christ, he will then kill this devilish impostor.
But Satan, with the ability given to him by God, will bring this dead person
back to life and endow him with all his own miraculous powers.
This will then be the second, demonic Antichrist, who will bring about the most
severe judgments of God that mankind has ever seen, on the Day of the Lord and
the Wrath of God. Nevertheless, he will gain world power with his false prophet
(pope?), but will then be defeated with the rulers supporting him, in the battle
against Christ and his heavenly army at Armageddon.
This is the short summary of an interpretation of all those biblical prophecies
which refer to the Antichrist in the end times. The detailed version can be
found in Discourse 145: "The convoluted path of the Antichrist to world
domination." can be read.
Following this biblical demonstration of proof that Jesus of
Nazareth was the Messiah of the Jews and the Son of God, I would like here to
give a brief account of the consequences for the Jews which follow from their
having rejected the Son of God, condemned him and handed him over to be
crucified.
First of all, obviously, we can point to the biblical consequence that as a
result of their rejection of the Messiah, the Old Testament promise that Israel
would be saved by their Messiah could no longer apply. The Israelites have cut
the ground from under their own feet, as we might say. But as we will see
shortly, this was not the worst of it.
On the other hand, though, this downfall of the people of God of the Jews became
the rise of another people ‒ the people of God of the heathen, the
Christians. If Israel had not rejected its Messiah, there would have been no
Christian religion and no salvation through grace.
But Israel itself, through its rejection of the Son at that time, has also lost
its God and has been repudiated by God. As a result, the Israelites have been a
people without God for practically two thousand years. They are God-less. This
was also the reason why, in accordance with Jesus’ prophecy in Mt 24:1-2,
Jerusalem and the Temple were laid waste by the Romans in the year 70 AD and the
people of Israel were subsequently driven into the Diaspora.
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father;
1Jn 2,23 Whoever denies the Son does not have
the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 1Jn 2,23;
Jn 15,23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also. Jn 15:23;
No one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jn 14,6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jn 14, 6;
But as a result Israel is now faced with another very serious
problem. As the entire Old Testament tells us, any violation of God’s
commandments is sin and will be punished by God with the death of the sinner.
The Israelites’ God did allow them, in Old Testament times, the possibility of
having their sins forgiven through animal sacrifice (Lev 4 and 5). But in order
to perform this animal sacrifice in conformity with ritual, and so with "legal
effect" so to speak, according to the laws of the Torah it is absolutely
essential that the sacrifice be made on the altar of burnt offerings at the
Temple in Jerusalem.
Now, however, the Israelis have had, ever since that time, neither a Temple nor
a sacrificial altar in Jerusalem. So for that reason, they have had no
possibility, for nearly two thousand years, of having their sins forgiven by
God. And this is just what the Son of God prophesied to them, while he was still
alive:
Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins.
Jn 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He
will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot
come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am
from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore
I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am
He, you will die in your sins." Jn 8,22-24;
The statement "You will die in your sins", however, has a
fatal consequence: the Jews did not know at the time (and sadly refuse to
acknowledge it to the present day, because they do not recognize or read the New
Testament) that in rejecting their Messiah they were not only rejecting the Son
of God, but at the same time rejecting the judge of the whole world and handing
him over to death on the cross. At the Last Judgment, then, at the end of the
world, not the Eternal but his Son will sit on the throne of judgment and judge
in absolute righteousness.
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.
Jn 5,22 "For not even the Father judges
anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 5,23 so that all will
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does
not honor the Father who sent Him. 5,24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he
who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not
come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Jn 5,22-24;
And he will say to these unconverted Israelites, "Depart from
me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil
and his angels!" ‒ for they have not only rejected the least of his
Christian brothers, but have condemned and executed the highest judge of all
personally.
Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mt 25,40 "The King will answer and say to
them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these
brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 25,41 "Then
He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into
the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; Mt
25,40-41;
The reason for this stubborn attitude of the Jews is partly to
be found in their holy scriptures (the Talmud and the Gemara). Here we find
thousands of interpretations by hundreds of rabbis. They interpret the
scriptures with the help of tools like cabbalism, gematrics and all sorts of
senseless methods for explaining the Bible, rather than interpreting it in the
simplest and only correct way ‒ namely, to explain Scripture with the help
of Scripture. This was what Paul of Tarsus did, almost two thousand years ago,
in his letter to the Christians in Corinth. And as Paul writes in this letter,
the Jews have a veil over their heart when they read the five books of Moses.
But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart.
2Cor 3,15 But to this day whenever Moses is
read, a veil lies over their heart; 3,16 but whenever a person turns to the
Lord, the veil is taken away. 2Cor 3,15-16;
And so it remains to this day, for this veil cannot be removed
unless they convert to Jesus Christ. So in answer to the call in the comments of
the above quoted visitor of Immanuel.at, "Hear, O Israel: the Eternal has no son!", we as
rightly believing Christians are obliged to respond, "Wake up, Israel! Your
God has abandoned you".
So since all these prophecies of Scripture must be fulfilled, Israel as a people
can only reconvert to its God after the Second Coming of its Messiah, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Only when they say to the Son of God on his return, "Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord!" and when they "look on him whom they
have pierced on the cross and mourn for him" (Zech 12:10; Rev 1:7) will the
destiny of Jacob be changed, and the remnant of Israel will once again be
reconciled with its God. They can then look forward to a glorious future as the
"chief of the nations" (Jer 31:7; 2Sam 22:44; Ps 18:44) in the Millennial
Kingdom of Peace of their Messiah, under their King David who will be raised
again by God (Jer 30:8-9; Eze 34:23; Hos 3:4-5).
Behold, your house is being left to you desolate until you say, ‘blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’
Mt 23,32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the
guilt of your fathers. 23,33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how
will you escape the sentence of hell? 23,34 "Therefore, behold, I am
sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and
crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute
from city to city, 23,35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the
righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the
altar.
23,36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation. 23,37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and
stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were
unwilling. 23,38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
23,39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say,
‘blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’" Mt 23,32-39;
But even if Israel as a people will not admit its guilt, will
refuse to acknowledge its guilt and so will not convert until the Second Coming
of the Lord, God in his grace has still left them an alternative. Like any other
person in this world, so each individual Israeli can avert this curse from
himself and his family, and by taking just one step recover the blessings of his
God this very day ‒ just by taking the step to believe in Jesus Christ and
by coming to believe that at that time, almost two thousand years ago, the death
of the Lord at this Passover feast of their ancestors was the vicarious
sacrifice for the sin of all mankind, and for their sins as well. Then God will
forgive them their sins, and then too this veil will be lifted from their hearts
and they will finally come to understand the words of Moses correctly.
Now of course I am aware that any amount of argument, explanation and analysis
is useless and will fail to have any effect, unless the person addressed
actually himself has the wish to recognize the truth about God and about his
actions. And seeing that the Israelites, as Paul writes, have a veil over their
hearts when they read Moses, it is certainly far from easy for these
realizations to penetrate their awareness. But when we are told in Scripture
that the angel of God in heaven rejoices more over a single sinner who repents
than over 99 righteous persons who have no need of repentance (Lk 15:7-10), the
angels will undoubtedly rejoice more over one Jew who converts than over 99
converted heathen.
Please do not misunderstand me here. I wouldn’t want, on any account, to
convert a Jew to Christianity! ‒ for the simple reason that it just is not
possible. It is one of the fundamental principles of the Christian faith that
every individual must decide for himself or herself whether or not to believe in
the Son of God. And they must then adhere to this faith for the whole length of
their lives (Hebr 3:6 6:4-6). There are no "born again" Christians who "cannot
be lost". That is wishful thinking, a pious fairy tale!
What I am aiming for here, however, is to make it clear to people that it is
reality ‒ the reality of the past and that of today ‒ which shows us
that this path is the only correct one. There is no alternative for the Jews,
any more than for all other human beings, up to the Second Coming of the Lord
but to accept faith in salvation by grace through Jesus Christ.
(See also Discourse 85: "True
and false rebirth.")
Here, be it noted, it is not a matter of receiving "eternal
life". Every human being has been created by God for eternal life, for an
eternal existence, and has already had eternal life since birth. The important
question is where, after our resurrection, we will spend this eternal life
‒ with God, under his love and protection, or in separation from God for
all eternity, with weeping and gnashing of teeth in rage over the fact that we
have rejected the only possibility for being saved from this situation while we
were still alive, and now cannot ever make up for it subsequently (Mt 8:11-12;
Lk 13:26-28).
(See also Discourse 96: "Why
believe?")
So in speaking to an upright Jew who really loves God with all
his heart and all his soul and all his might, we can only give the following
advice: just give your heart a jog, and go into a room where you can be
undisturbed for the next half an hour and speak there in your spirit with the
Eternal, with your God, and ask him to give you wisdom and understanding so that
you may recognize the truth, the real truth. I am convinced that if you do this
with a genuinely upright heart, the angels will soon be rejoicing over another
convert from the people of Israel.
Incidentally ‒ in the confession of faith of the Jews given in Deut 6,4:
"Hear, O Israel! The Eternal (YHWH) is our God, the Eternal is one!", in the
expression "YHWH, our God" the Hebrew word for God (Elohim) is actually a
plural, so that the literal translation would be "YHWH, our gods". An
excellent analysis of the background to this may be found at
https://www.amzi.org/html/schma_israel.html
Israel in the light of the Bible.Based on the Old Testament God has completely taken away his compassion from the house of
Israel (Hos 1:6). They are no longer his people (Hos 1:9). Only the house
of Judah will be saved by the Lord. Not by war, however, but by his Spirit
(Hos 1:7). And only in the Millennium, when the Son of God has entered on
his thousand years rule on earth (Hos 1:10; 2,18 Eze 34:25; Isa 2:4), will
the Lord once more accept Israel as his people (Hos 2:23; Jer 31:27-28). Based on the New Testament It is God’s will that we should listen to his Son (Mt 17:5). This same Son
of God has told us that anyone who rejects him rejects God as well (1Jn
2:23; Lk 10:16; Jn 5:22-23. 15:23). The people of Israel today deny the
Son of God and abuse him as an impostor and blasphemer. As a result of
this denial of the Son, Israel has also rejected the Father and so is a
God-less people. (Jn 8:24) |
The "Israel movement" in
the Christian congregations. / Christian Evangelical Zionism - Discourse 101
The "Mitternachtsruf" ["Call at
Midnight"] – a call in the wrong direction? / Continuation Part 1, Discourse 1011
Looking up the biblical quotations
of the "Friends of Israel" in the Bible / Continuation Part 2, Discourse 1012
Report from the camp of the
"Israel movement". / Continuation Part 3, Discourse 1013
The Jewish Anti-Defamation League
rewrites the New Testament. / Continuation Part 4, Discourse 1014
The Foundation of the State of
Israel in 1948 prophesied in the Old Testament! / Continuation Part 6,
Discourse 1016