Rabbi Schneider - Israel and the End Times

TOPICS: Replacement Theology, Israel, End times, God's Plan, How Jesus Completes Biblical Judaism

We're looking at how the plan of salvation was revealed in the Tanakh, or the Old Testament and how it's fulfilled or completed in the New Testament. And what we've been discovering is, those of you that have been tuning in know, is that Israel was saved in the Hebrew Bible in the same way the believers are saved today in the New Testament. I'm not gonna go back and review today, because I've done that so many times. I really want to encourage you, go watch the previous episodes. We are now on the final section of the plan of salvation today and we're discussing the role of Jewish people, or the role of Israelites as it relates to the plan of salvation and the kingdom of God working out its purposes on the earth. We've talked about the fact that in the Hebrew scriptures God chose Abraham and then his descendants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to be the chosen people of Him that brought revelation to the world.

God said to Israel, "Through your seed," He began with Abraham, "through your seed Abraham, I'm gonna bless all the nations of the earth". That seed Paul tells us in Galatians, is Yeshua. So salvation began and comes to the whole world through the Jews. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, chapter 4 verse 22, to the woman at the well, "Salvation is from the Jews". So if Jesus Himself said salvation is from the Jews, why would you want to curse them? Paul said, "We need to honor the people of God through whom our salvation has come to us". The Apostles were Jews, the scriptures were written by Jewish people, Jesus Himself is a Jew. Why would we want to curse the Jewish people when God's goodness on the earth has been filtered to the world through the Jewish people.

I want to encourage you today to step out of any antisemitism that you may have picked up on the earth over the years. You know the priests in the temple, they had to come to the brass laver daily to wash themselves from all the filth that they picked up as they were walking around the dusty ground. And that is a pattern for us today, that we need to be washed beloved, even daily, from the things that we pick up just living on earth. And some of you have been in an environment, maybe it came to you from your parents, maybe it's just been in your family lineage, that there's just been a prejudice against Jewish people. You know we've inherited this through the centuries. Early on the church began to develop an attitude towards Jewish people, that they're the Christ killers, that the promises of God have been taken away from them, because they rejected the Jews.

I remember being on a trip one time in Israel and I was with a Lutheran pastor and he said, "Yeah". He said, "Paul met Jesus and he came away with pork on his breath". I mean he, it was just such a bias spirit against Jewish people. At least I perceived it that way, as if God no longer had anything that He was doing amongst the Jewish people that had any significance in contemporary times and all that was done away with. We're looking today in the Word of God to discover that it's through the Jewish people, beloved, that God's favor has been released into the earth; that Jewish people are still playing an important role today and that Jewish people, beloved, still have a very important role to play as we move deeper into the end times, even coming up, beloved ones, to the return of the Lord.

Now I understand that most Jewish people today do not receive Jesus. I'm a Jewish believer, as most of you know. You know I love Jesus, but I want you to hear me, even the Jewish community that has rejected Jesus, still has a supernatural marking upon their life that goes all the way back to Abraham. In other words, when we look at the Jewish people today, even though most of them in general do not receive Jesus as their Messiah, we still can not deny that there's something special upon the Jewish people. I mean you think about for example, the richest people in the world. I was reading just recently about a Forbes list of the world's richest men. In the top 50 richest men in the world, 10 of them were Jews. How do you explain it? 20% of the world's richest men or women are Jews and yet Jewish people make up only one fifth of 1 % of the world's population. How do you explain that? What's going on?

You think about Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Steven Spielberg, Bob Dylan, Mark Zuckerberg. The list is endless. All these people in the earth that have had such incredible impact. A disproportionate amount of them are Jewish people. It's evidence of the fact that the Bible is true and that God is still doing something very special, as He's working on the life of the children of Israel and specifically what He's gonna do through Jewish believers like myself, that will preach the Gospel at the end of the age. Even now when we look on television, we see that some of the ministries that are really having great impact on the earth are Jewish Christian ministries. Discovering the Jewish Jesus and other of the Jewish ministries that are out there, are having real; I mean it's really disproportionate to the number of Jewish believers in the world today to the amount of impact that they're having on the world. It's just again beloved ones, a sign of the fact that God has His hand upon the Jewish people and He wants you and I to recognize this, to appreciate it, to support it and to rejoice in it. After all God said to Abraham, "Abraham I'm gonna bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you".

So with that introduction I want to get back into the scriptures today and trace a little bit of this out and then we're gonna finally end today at the book of Romans, as we look at Paul's words to us concerning how we should relate to the Jewish people and what their role is. I want to begin right now where I left off last week. I'm in the book of Isaiah now, chapter number 49, reading verse 6. The Lord says there, "Is it too small of 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," He's speaking to Israel here, "I will also make you the light of the nations so that My salvation," listen now, "may reach the ends of the earth". So the Lord is saying that, "Through you Israel My salvation will reach, hallelujah, the ends of the earth".

Again think about it, the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, who are they written by? They're written by Jewish people. The bedrock of Western civilization's morality comes from what? It comes from the Ten Commandments. And where do the Ten Commandments come from? They come from the Jewish people. The prophets, the patriarchs, the Ten Commandments, the Torah, all comes to us through the Jewish people. The writers, beloved, of the Hebrew Bible, came to us from the Jews. We look at the time of Jesus, who were the Apostles? They were Jews. Jesus Himself obviously, He died with a sign over His head, "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews". And finally once again, I repeat John 4:22. Yeshua said to the woman of Samaria, He said, "Woman you don't know what you're worshiping. We know what we worship. For salvation is from the Jews".

So we need to jump into this beloved church. We need to jump into this. Revelation has been released to the world through the Jewish people. It has nothing to do with who they are. There's nothing better about the Jewish people in and of themselves, it's just that God chooses who He wants to for His own purposes and He's chosen to work through the Jewish people in a very special and spectacular way. Now obviously today in the church Jew and Gentile are one in Messiah. There's no discrimination and Gentiles can receive just as much revelation and go just as far in their faith and have just as much impact on the earth as any Jewish person. But we can't on the other hand discount the paradoxical principle that God is still using Jewish people in a very unique way.

We're going to the book of Romans and I want to bring you there to chapter number 11. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but hallelujah, the Word of the Lord, bless His name, abides forever. I'm gonna begin reading first of all at the 18th verse. Paul was speaking to the church and he says this, "Do not be arrogant towards the branches," he's speaking of the branches being the Jewish people, "but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the roots supports you". So Paul is saying, "Don't be arrogant towards Israel, that's the support of your faith". When you get to heaven beloved one, listen, when you get to heaven you're gonna see the city New Jerusalem. Jesus showed it to John in the book of Revelation. And when John looked at the gates of New Jerusalem, what he saw was, that the gates of New Jerusalem, the city of heaven, were inscribed with, listen now, the twelve tribes of Israel. And the name of the twelve apostles, who were also Jews. So Paul says, "Don't be arrogant towards Jewish people and support your faith". When you get to heaven, the heavenly city New Jerusalem will be inscribed with the names of not only the twelve Jewish apostles, but with the names of the twelve, hallelujah, tribes of Israel.

Let's continue on here in the 28th and the 29th verse. Hear the Word of God. "From the standpoint of the Gospel they are enemies for your sake". In other words, even during Paul's day most Jewish people, because of the religious Jewish establishment, were rejecting Jesus. Not all, but many, most. So Paul's saying here, "From the standpoint of the Gospel," because they're rejecting the Gospel, "they're enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable". In other words, they're opposed to the Gospel, but God has still chosen them and the gift and the calling that God has upon Israel is irrevocable. God has not replaced Israel with the church.

Let me say it again, God has not rejected Israel, taken away the promises He's given to Israel and given them to the church instead. Many of you know this is called Replacement Theology. God has not replaced Israel with the church. God still has a call upon national Israel. Listen once again. Paul says, "From the standpoint of the Gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable". God still has a promise and call upon the Jewish people. It's not been taken away. He still has a future destiny for them. Zechariah talks about the last days and what's going to be happening on the earth in the last days. You know what's going to be happening beloved ones in the last days? God is gonna raise up Jewish believers like myself and other people even on the earth right now. He's gonna use us to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth and it's gonna usher in a huge revival that will culminate with Yeshua's return.

You don't believe me, go with me in your Bible now to the book of Zechariah. Some people will say, "Oh listen to him, he's just bragging. He's just talking about himself". It's not about me beloved. This is what scripture teaches. I'm just asking you to get into alignment with it, to bless Jewish people, to pray for Jewish people, to pray for God's purpose and call in their life to be fulfilled, because in so doing you are going to be blessed. Zechariah is talking about the end days. Listen to what he says in the 23rd verse. Chapter 8 verse 23, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'In those days," again speaking about the last days culminating with Yeshiva's return, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you"'".

We see this happening in the world right now. When we go to different nations around the world, there's such respect for the Jewish people, there's such a sense that their destiny is tied up with the destiny of the Jewish people. There's such honor, just like Zechariah 8:23 prophesied. They come up, they want to take hold of my garment. They say, "We want to go with you. We know that God has a special call upon Jewish people. We believe we can receive an impartation from you. We believe that we can receive a blessing from you". And because they have that attitude beloved, they receive something special, because he that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, hallelujah, receives a prophet's reward.

Zechariah 8:23 is already partially being fulfilled in many places on the earth right now. In fact we might just roll a little B-roll at this point, showing you some of the things we experienced. For example, when we go to different cities in Africa, people lining the streets waiting for us to drive in. They're so thirsty, they're so hungry, just because a Jewish believer in Jesus is coming to their town to preach the Gospel. We read in the book of Revelation that on the earth and in the last days, during the Tribulation, there's gonna be a 144,000 Jewish believers like myself upon the earth, preaching the Gospel. And many believe that these last 144,000 Jews on the earth preaching the Gospel are gonna usher in the greatest revival that the world has ever known. Beloved, understand God is not done with the Jewish people, He's not done. Praise God.

And those of you that are being connected to the Jewish roots of your faith through this ministry and others like it, I want you to know you're being connected to the truth. Remember what Jesus said to the woman of Samaria in John 4, the woman at the well. She was worshiping, but she didn't have the Jewish knowledge. She didn't have the revelation that came to the Jewish people. And Jesus said to her, "Woman". He said, "You don't know what you're worshiping". He wasn't putting her down. He didn't say she wasn't sincere. He just said that there was ignorance there, because she wasn't worshiping God according to knowledge. And Yeshua is saying, "If you're wanting knowledge of the truth, you need to take that knowledge from the root of the Jewish people, because salvation," He said, "Is from the Jews". This is what Paul was saying in the book of Romans chapter 11. "Don't be arrogant towards Israel and that which Israel has brought to the world," because Israel and the things that have come from Israel is what supports beloved our faith in Yeshua Hamashiach, who is the King, hallelujah, of the Jews.

Where's all this going? What's God's final plan for the Jewish people? God's final plan for the Jewish people beloved, is a mass harvest. We're seeing an escalation of Jewish salvations right now. This escalation is continuing to increase. It's gonna build and build and build and build and build. More and more people are coming to faith. More and more Jewish people are coming to faith upon the earth right now then ever before and it's only going to increase. It's gonna culminate beloved, at Yeshua's return, where Zechariah tells us that every Jew will see Him and they'll look upon Him whom they pierced and they'll put their faith on Him. And every Jew I believe to the best of my knowledge as I study the scriptures, that every Jew that's alive when Jesus returns that sees Him, will be saved. It sounds like that's not fair, how could they be saved when they only believed in Him when He returned?

But it's kind of like the parable that Jesus told, when He said that He sent out labors into the vineyard and some worked a full day, some worked six hours, some eight hours, some two hours and the ones that worked eight hours got paid the same as the one that worked two hours. And the ones that worked eight hours were upset. Why did you only pay me the same as the one that worked two hours? And Yeshua said, "Well why are you upset? Didn't I pay you what I told you I'd pay you? Why should you be upset with Me if I want to be gracious to these who have only worked two hours"? Now the scripture teaches that Jewish people right now if they die without Yeshua, that they're gonna be separated from God and in darkness; That's why Jesus said to the Jewish people, "Unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins". But the Jewish people that are living when Jesus returns, I believe that they'll be saved according to the book of Zechariah chapter number 12 verse number 10. Let me read it to you.

Zechariah chapter 12 verse number 10. The grass withers and the flowers fade, hallelujah, but the Word of the Lord, bless His name, abides forever. Hear the Word of God. The Lord says, "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn".

And so when Jesus returns, I believe the Jewish people will see that this One that they rejected, this One that they wanted to see crucified, was God Himself. And they're gonna weep and they're gonna be pierced in the heart. It's gonna be uncontrollable weeping, but they'll be saved. Until that time what's happening beloved, is that more and more Jewish people like myself are putting their faith in Jesus. And according to the book of Romans chapter 11, I believe what's gonna happen is, when there's a critical mass of Jewish believers like myself, putting their faith in Jesus, calling upon Him to return, it's gonna usher in the Lord's return. That's why it's important for you to support this ministry and others like it, because you're giving us opportunity beloved, to speak the Gospel into the whole earth and many Jewish people are coming to the knowledge of the truth through this ministry, as well as people in every tribe, tongue and nation.