Sid Roth - This Is Why Jewish People Are So Important to God
Sid Roth: Hello, Sid Roth here. Welcome to my world, where it's naturally supernatural. Now, most of us understand why, at the first coming of Jesus, the devil tried to kill the Jewish people, because he didn't want Jesus to come! However, why is the devil trying to still kill Jewish people? Why has he been doing it for 2,000 years? What does the devil know, that unfortunately not too many Christians understand next!
Sid Roth: I've been so looking forward to this interview with my friend, Jonathan Bernis. Jonathan and I go back, I think I met you were barely out of your teens and we had so much in common, both Jewish, both came to the Lord supernaturally, and both had a passion to tell our people about the Messiah, and we used to get together and pray. But Jonathan started doing something that was out of my paradigm, out of my understanding. We would pray in tongues that I understood, but then he went into a deep form of prayer called travail. How did this start with you even?
Jonathan Bernis: You know, Sid, it took me by surprise, I didn't know that it at the this at the time, but God was preparing me for ministry in the Former Soviet Union.
Sid Roth: It i is the groaning's and utterings that we read about in Romans, the 8th chapter, and what you walked into, and I was privileged to walk into it with Jonathan as his guest, I believe was the most significant Jewish ministry in 2,000 years in the Former Soviet Union.
Jonathan Bernis: It was an incredible time in history, and I think, moving into this realm of birthing, of "groaning's that cannot be uttered" was actually bringing that to pass. I didn't understand it with my natural mind, and good thing, Sid, right, because you don't want the mind in the way.
Sid Roth: If you and listen, if you had known the hotels that he put me in when I went to the Former Soviet Union!
Jonathan Bernis: You know, Sid, it was worth the cost, it really was.
Sid Roth: It was.
Jonathan Bernis: There was a price to pay!
Sid Roth: I want to take you back, to the first meeting Jonathan and I were at. We, Jonathan, had no idea if anyone would show up, and I, of course, didn't know. The auditorium was jam-packed with unsaved Jewish people. The altar call went forth, and Jonathan and I saw something we have had never seen before! What did we see?
Jonathan Bernis: This particular hall sat 4,000 people over 4,000 and we saw people rushing forward, packing the altar.
Sid Roth: To come to know the Messiah!
Jonathan Bernis: Yes. It was an Ima fighting over Bibles, Sid!
Sid Roth: Yea!
Jonathan Bernis: Fist fights over Bibles.
Sid Roth: Well I'll tell you what, that groaning that Jonathan did in the Spirit and that I did in the spirit that praying in tongues laid the foundation for one of the greatest moves of God among Jewish people in 2,000 years. And then, it kind of subsided for years. And Jonathan told me the groanings are coming back.
Jonathan Bernis: They are indeed. And the Lord has really prompted me, again, to spend extended times in fasting and prayer.
Sid Roth: That tells me something as big I believe bigger is about ready to happen. We're about ready to see the greatest outpouring on Israel and by the way, who is Israel? A lot of people are confused on that.
Jonathan Bernis: Well that's a good question, and I think there's some misunderstanding. When people when Christians hear Israel, they think of a little sliver of land in the Middle East about the size of New Jersey. But in fact, biblically, Israel is a people that God has sovereignly preserved, despite all odds and efforts to destroy them. Jeremiah 31 as the as long as "the sun shines by day, and the moon and stars by night", they will declare the supernatural preservation of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Sid, God scattered us to the uttermost parts of the Earth. And Sid, the reason I the reason that God wants me to here to talk about this today, is because, that every Believer, every person watching that knows the Lord, has been called to a supernatural destiny, in a supernatural time. This is the greatest time in history to be alive, and I don't want anyone to be on the sidelines. God doesn't want anyone to be on the sidelines.
Sid Roth: Okay, but this begs the question. Everyone knows why the devil tried to kill all the Jewish babies 2,000 years ago, b because he wanted to stop the Messiah from coming. But now he's here, so why is God still concerned about the Jewish people? About the nation Israel? Why now? We understand why he, well you know, why that was very important at the First Coming of the Messiah.
Jonathan Bernis: Right.
Sid Roth: Why now?
Jonathan Bernis: That's a great question, and I that's really one of the themes going through my book, "Unlocking the Prophetic Mysteries of Israel", that the Jewish people are the centerpiece of God's plan for redemption. Jesus came through the Jewish people. God's destiny for the Jewish people was to bless every household, to bless every individual, and that's why Abraham was blessed. The greatest the greatest blessing through the Jewish people is the Messiah, but the Jewish people play a role in His return, just as they played a role in His First Coming. And so Satan knows something that most Christians don't, and that is the role that Israel has to play in the Messiah's return. And the plan of the enemy is to stop Israel, destroy Israel, and keep the Messiah from returning, and God's plan of redemption for the whole Earth from taking place, because the ultimate end of that is the destruction of Satan himself.
Sid Roth: I'm going to tell you something. I know why this travail has started! Because there's recently a poll which changes the whole paradigm of reaching Jewish people with the Gospel. A poll was done by the Barna Survey Team that 21% of North American Jewish millennials believe in the deity of Jesus! And now a lot of people say, "Oh wonderful"! Yes, and no, yes it's wonderful, but they don't know Jesus, they don't have experiential knowledge with Him. This is why I've created a booklet, a and this booklet is called, "There Must Be Something More"!, and I am mailing this. We got a mailing list of 720,000 Jewish millennials. We are mailing this to these Jewish millennials, it's part of our Project 77. And I'm going to tell you something. These Jewish millennials will change the world. But I am so grateful that in the United States of America, President Trump has just done something that has rocked the kingdom of Satan and darkness, I mean that's why there's so much junk going on against him. He has just said we recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and in a year, we are going to put our embassy there. Jonathan, why is the restoration of Jerusalem so significant to these End Days?
Jonathan Bernis: Well that's a good question. Jerusalem, Sid, is the centerpiece the bullseye. Jesus died in Jerusalem. Jesus will return not to New York, or to Rome, He's returning to Jerusalem, and He's returning to a Jerusalem, we're told, that's back in the hands of the Jewish people. These the words of Jesus Yeshua, Himself: "you will not see Me again", speaking over Jerusalem, "until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" He also tells us, in Luke 21:24, that, "Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles", by the nations, "until the time of the Gentiles, be fulfilled". That little word "until" is a very prophetic word, it's it's a prophetic mystery. "There is a set time", Jesus is saying, where Jerusalem will come back into the hands of the Jewish people, and it's the prophetic time clock. When that happens, it signals a transition back to a focus on the Jewish people, and His near return, it happened in '67.
Sid Roth: You know it's like the clock is speeding up when you see Jerusalem as, a Jewish nation again.
Jonathan Bernis: Two minutes to 12, Sid. That happened in 1967, and that's when Jewish people started coming to faith in great numbers! That's when everything changed, and now we're aligning with that as the U.S. is recognizing finally Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Sid Roth: So you're saying that this was not just a good diplomatic move by President Trump. This was literally fulfilling Bible prophecy.
Jonathan Bernis: I don't know if President Trump had any consideration of Scripture, but God used him. When he made the decision we're no longer delaying actually a decision that was made back in 1995 by the Congress I'm not signing this ongoing order to delay this, he was aligning America with Genesis 12, "I will bless those that bless my people". I'm expecting, unprecedented blessing, to come to America as a result of this. I am expecting prosperity, and more importantly, revival to come, that's the first thing. The second thing is peace the peace process has to be built on truth. Now I don't believe there's any other peace plan that will work outside of the Prince of Peace, but this is truth finally being we're aligning with truth, that Jerusalem has always been and remains the capital of Israel, and Jesus will rule physically out of Jerusalem.
Sid Roth: ...because Israel is so important, there is so much misunderstanding on Israel. For instance, I meet many Christians that literally feel that we're under the New Covenant, and the Church has replaced Israel. Give me one reason why that's not true.
Jonathan Bernis: The fact that Jewish people are coming back to faith in greater numbers. The fact that Israel has been restored as a nation. That Jerusalem is back under Jewish control. All these things were prophesied in the Jewish prophets, thousands of years ago! They're all coming to pass. And here's another thing, Sid. If God reached a point where he said I'm done with Israel, then how can Christians trust that He doesn't reach a point where He says I'm finished with the Church? Or I'm finished with you because you've sinned too much? No? We trust in a faithful God because He's demonstrated His faithfulness to a people throughout history that have not been faithful. That's the God we serve.
Sid Roth: You know it reminds me of the story of the prodigal son. The eh I I see the older brother as a type of the Gentile Church, and the younger brother as a type of the Jewish people. And the Jewish people have not deserved for 2,000 years because they've been like the prodigal son, and the older brother has been plowing in the field for 2,000 years. And then there's a big celebration because the Jewish son comes home, and the older brother is very sulking over this! And the father says to the older brother, "Son, everything I have is yours". You get it? The whole thing it's a team! It's called the one new humanity.
Jonathan Bernis: Yes.
Sid Roth: The "one new man", the two working together to expand the Father's Kingdom. And that's what I'm going to ask you to do right now. We have Project 77. Why? Because there's a brand new Barna poll that p reveals Jewish millennials in North America don't have any reservations about accepting Jesus. 21% say that they believe in the deity of Jesus, but no one is telling them how to have experiential knowledge, with Jesus. I want to send a book. We have a mailing list of 720,000 millennials, and I want to send this to them. I'll I want to have a web page to answer their questions. And Jonathan, you and I know when you pray for the salvation of Israel, I'll be right back.
Sid Roth: So the question that a lot of you are asking, Jonathan, why should Believers care about Israel? Why?
Jonathan Bernis: Yea. So...
Sid Roth: I mean it's just another nation! That's what that's what many say.
Jonathan Bernis: Right, but that's not what the Bible says. So two reasons: One, the debt of responsibility, when we realize that the salvation of the nations, the salvation of everyone watching, is the result of the obedience of the first Jewish Believers that took the Gospel around the world, including the Apostle Paul, who was a Jewish rabbi. But the other is the future. Four words, Sid, "life from the dead"! Paul says, "if their rejection brought you salvation, what is going to happen when they come back"? And by the way, he talks about the responsibility of every Christian to "provoke the Jewish people to jealousy". Because of the rejection, salvation has come to you through them, too with the responsibility to "provoke them to jealousy". So the greatest blessing that you can give a Jewish person, of course, is the Gospel, to pray for them, to proclaim to share your faith with them and to bring them into the Kingdom of God. And then Paul says, "life from the dead". The result of their return will bring "life from the dead". So if you want your family saved, if you want your city saved, if you want your nation saved, if you want to see the world waved, it's the Jewish people coming back that's the catalyst to release that revival.
Sid Roth: And that's the word that I'm hearing also: catalyst. There is a catalyst in the Last Days. There was a spark at the First Coming of the Messiah, and there was "salvation was through the Jew". And I believe that just before Messiah returns, there will be a great revival in Israel. There will be Jewish people that will be ablaze with the first of God. In fact what does Joel say about that?
Jonathan Bernis: Well Joel talks about this final day, and Sid, I don't believe it's f it's it's far in the future, it's started already. And I have lots of stories f about Jewish people, in the land of Israel, ultra-orthodox rabbis being saved. I have great stories about Jews that have been scattered to other nations. We've seen an incredible revival in Russia! That's part of the Last Days revival that's growing. There's going to be this crescendo, and every Believer is called to be part of it. That's what Joe's talking about! The p outpouring of the Spirit in the Last Days it's going to overshadow every other revival in history, including Pentecost, and we get to be part of it, Sid!
Sid Roth: There is such a presence of God in what we're talking about because this is so close to God's heart at this moment that you understand this. This is why we have Project 77. This is why we are mailing books to Jewish people, throughout North America, the Former Soviet close to 3 million, Jonathan, we have mailed now. And now we're mailing, under Pr under Project 77, to millennials, because for the first time, there's a segment of the Jewish society that is so open to the Gospel, the latest Barna poll said 21% of Jewish millennials already believe in the deity of Jesus! You know, Jonathan, this travail opened up one of the greatest ministries I know of to reach Jewish people. This travail opened up I've reached thousands of Jewish people over the last few years. When we come back, could you pray a prayer of impartation, because I know when he prays, people start moving into this travail! It's going to change your life. We'll be right back.
Sid Roth: When you engage in the deep intercessory prayer of travail, you birth something in your life. I saw Jonathan birth one of the greatest ministries in 2,000 years, in the Former Soviet Union, and he said this travail is coming back on him really strong now. He's about ready to birth something new. I want to birth something new, and I want you to birth something new!
Jonathan Bernis: Yes!
Sid Roth: Are you interested? Alright, Jonathan, if you would pray corporately for those that are watching at home, and those in the audience right now, to move into travail. And I want you to pray something that is more important even at this moment than travail, and that's more important to God, and that is that everyone watching has God's heart for the Jewish people in Israel.
Jonathan Bernis: Amen. Would you join with me? And if you have a prayer language and you at home also just begin to pray in the spirit. And this is r there's an anointing that God wants to release in your life, to bring you into a new place. There's a gap, we know from Ezekiel, that needs to be filled by his people, that will stand in that gap, and everything changes when that happens. Are you ready? Receive it. In the name of Yeshua, I release an anointing, a fresh anointing for travail. Lord, You're calling the deep to go to into deep, in the name of Yeshua. In Jesus' name, I release that anointing, I release that travail, that supplication, that deep prayer that brings us into a place of creative miracles, into a place of birthing, that which You desire to do, Lord, bringing into the natural that which already exists in the unseen world. I release it, over everyone watching. I release it, over this audience. In the name of Yeshua, come forth, come forth, come forth, those that will pray for Israel, those that will pray for Jerusalem to be a praise in the Earth. You've set watchmen on the walls who will give You no rest until You make Jerusalem a praise in all the Earth. Release that anointing, over the television, in this studio. In the name of Yeshua, come forth. Deep from within, Lord, deeper, deeper, deeper into the things of God. Receive it right now. It's a new day! It's a new beginning. It's a fresh anointing that God is releasing, from Heaven above, onto the Earth, into His people, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. What you're feeling is the Holy Spirit.
Sid Roth: And as we Jewish people say, "Amen"!, which means "so be it"!
Jonathan Bernis: So be it.