In this enlightening episode, Rabbi Schneider dives deep into the intricate role that Israel plays in the grand tapestry of God’s redemptive plan. Referencing ancient Messianic prophecies, he illuminates the idea that the Messiah’s mission extends beyond the Jewish people to encompass all nations. Highlighting the unity between Jew and Gentile under Messiah Yeshua, he emphasizes that the divisions of the past are broken down as we come together in faith.
00:00:01 Critical role of God in history and Messianic prophecy
00:12:04 Paul’s message in Romans about the role of Israel
Let’s not forget that God still has a critical, redemptive role that he is bringing forth in history to reach Jewish people. Baruch Hashem, beloved ones. Bless the name of the Lord. We are continuing our study today in Messianic prophecy. Last time I was talking about how the Hebrew prophetic writings indicated that when Messiah came, his ministry would extend beyond Israel and it would reach the entire world. It would reach all the nations. Paul said in the book of Romans, chapter three, verse 29, this, “‘Or is God the God of Jews only?’ Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, Paul said, of Gentiles also. This is what Isaiah was speaking of before Messiah appeared in Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1. “…behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.” He will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 60 verse three, nations would come to his light. So I was stressing the fact that we as Jewish people oftentimes we think of ourselves as God’s chosen people, but we have to understand what it means to be chosen. We were chosen to be the couriers through which Messiah would come to the entire world through. And so we need to understand that God is the God of the entire world, that he loves Jew and Gentile equally and alike in Messiah Yeshua. That’s why Paul tells us that in Yeshua, the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been broken down. That Jew and Gentile have become one in Jesus. It’s an interesting thing that the Lord kept Israel separate to keep them as a special people through whom which Messiah would come into the world through. But unfortunately, sometimes the separateness of the Jewish people has caused a division between Jew and Gentile relating to each other. This is why Paul was upset in his prophetic writings when one of the other apostles was kind of being double-minded and two-faced. When he was with Jewish people, he lived like a Jew. Then when he was with Gentile people, This other apostle let his guard down a little bit and was friendly with the Gentiles. But then when the Jewish people came to where Peter was being friendly with the Gentiles, Peter then began to kind of like withdraw from the Gentiles because he didn’t want the Jewish people that had come to observe him. being friendly with Gentiles. So Paul rebuked Peter to his face and said, you’re being a hypocrite. God has called us to be one in Messiah, Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah. So don’t bow down to this political and religious pressure, thinking that you can’t have fellowship with Gentiles when Jewish people are around. So I’m simply saying that we see revealed in the ancient prophetic writings that when Messiah came, he would break down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, that we’d become one in Messiah, that there would be only one pathway to the Lord. It’s not through the law. It’s through Messiah who became our righteousness and took our iniquity and sin in his own body on the tree. And some of us that are schooled in doctrine, and in faith, we understand this. I wanted, however, to take things a different direction now, now that we understand that Jew and Gentile are one in Messiah, that there’s no discrimination in the Lord, now that we’ve laid that foundation and see how this was indicated in Messianic prophecy that it would be the case, going back to the book of Isaiah, but now I want to go a different direction And I want to talk about the fact that we have gone so far in minimizing the role that Jewish people play that we have lost something in the process. You see, the scripture says there’s no longer Jew or Gentile. There’s no longer Jew or Greek. It’s no longer male or female. We’re all one in Messiah. And what Paul was referring to there when he said there’s neither Jew or Gentile, there’s neither male or female, we’re all one in Messiah. What Paul was referring to there is not that there are not still distinctions. There are differences between men and women, right? I mean, does anybody have to really argue with that? All we have to do is look at the anatomy of male and female. Oftentimes there’s a huge psychological difference between the female brain and the male brain. I realize there’s exceptions and there are some of each of the male and female qualities in both male and female. even as some women are real drivers, which is generally a male characteristic. But still, there’s distinctions between men and women. Generally speaking, women are more nurturing, men are more drivers, women are more relational-oriented, men are more goal-oriented. And putting that aside, if some wanna argue with that, let’s just simply say, if we just look at the scientific anatomy of men and women, there’s a difference between a male and a female. So when Paul said there’s no longer male or female, he wasn’t saying that there’s no distinction anymore. What he meant was, beloved ones, that there is no discrimination. Paul said there’s no longer male or female, Jew or Gentile. He wasn’t speaking about distinctions. He was speaking about discriminations. that Jew and Gentile now come to Messiah on equal footing, that male and female come to Messiah now on equal footing. But there are still distinctions. And unfortunately, many in the church in Christendom have gone so far to neutralize the role that Israel plays the role that the physical descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob play, and the future destiny that God has for the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The church has so minimized that, saying that there is no longer anything special about Jewish people anymore. Jew and Gentile are one in Messiah. The church has gone so far that direction that we have lost a huge core part of the heart of God, and indeed… The revelation of scripture. I want to communicate to you, beloved one, today that God still has a huge distinctive role for Israel during this time. And there’s a huge role that Israel is going to be playing eschatologically or in the future of God’s redemptive plan. I want to talk with you about that today. I’m going to the book of Deuteronomy. Chapter number 32, this is often called the Song of Moses, and there’s a very mysterious and oftentimes overlooked verse here. Some of you are in the habit of reading through the Bible every year or every three years, and undoubtedly, in your reading through the Bible, you’ve read this verse before. But I would guess that for many, this verse has gone right over our heads when we’ve read it. Let’s read it now, beloved ones, with a new consideration. Hear the Word of God, Deuteronomy 32.8. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the people… according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people. Jacob, who is Israel and his 12 sons, is the allotment of his inheritance. Let’s consider verse eight again. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated This is creation. The sons of man, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number… of the sons of Israel. Beloved, this is creation language. When God created the world, when he created the sons of men, when he set the boundaries of the nation, he did it through the funnel, through the lens of Israel. Israel is center, Israel was center, and Israel will be center. Yeshua said in the gospels to the Jewish people, you will not see me again until you’re saying, Baruch haba b’shem Adonai, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. In other words, Yeshua was saying, he will not return until his Jewish kinsmen the Israelites in the flesh, his own people, until his own people, the Jewish people, are saying, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus said, I’m not coming back until my own people, the Hebrews, call upon me to return. You see, beloved, His coming back will not happen for you until it happens for Israel. Listen to what I just said. Jesus is not coming back for you until Israel is calling upon him to return. God’s redemptive purposes are intricately bound with the salvation of Israel. But many in the church today have completely overlooked Israel. They don’t teach on Israel. All they talk about is the kingdom now, the kingdom is here, the charismatic gifts, body life, spirit life. They turn up the amplifiers in the sanctuaries to try to make people feel what they’re telling them is the Holy Spirit. And Israel is completely left out of the picture. But when you read the writings in the Hebrew Bible, and when you read the writings of the Apostle Paul, it’s far from the case. When you read the writings of the Apostle Paul, you find that Israel’s salvation And God’s covenant people, His first covenant people coming to faith is intricately bound up in all that God is doing on the earth.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi Schneider will be right back. But first, here’s a testimony from a listener who’s been touched by Rabbi’s teachings.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Listen to what Paul said, for example, in the book of Romans chapter 11, beginning in verse number 15. The grass withers and the flowers fade and the word of God abides forever. Now, why am I talking about this? Because I’ve been talking about the messianic prophecies that enlighten us to the fact that when Messiah came, his ministry would extend to the entire world, Jew and Gentile alike. The Jew and Gentile would be one in Messiah. But in that understanding, too many have cast Israel’s special role off completely. They don’t want Israel to be special. It threatens them. They want to be first. They don’t want Israel to have a special role because that threatens their own role. And so they’ve cast the role of Israel in God’s redemptive plan out of their theology. They don’t talk about Israel. Many within the church don’t even preach the gospel of the Jewish people, and they condemn Jews like myself that are… because it makes Jewish people mad and they’re more concerned with being friends with Jewish people than they are with preaching the truth to Jewish people. Jesus came to his own people. Jesus said to his own people, unless you believe that I am healed, you’ll die in your sins. It’s to the Jew first and also to the Greek that the gospel comes. So we have too many in the church. They’ve cast out Israel’s role. They even condemn Jews like myself that are preaching the gospel to Jewish people. They just want to be loved and affirmed by Jewish people, but they don’t want to offend them by sharing the gospel with them. They’re so romanticized by the fact that the Jews are God’s first covenant people, they think, who am I to share my faith with them? And when someone has that type of attitude, it shows a deep lack of faith in the Word of God. Listen to what Paul said. He said, if their rejection, I’m reading from the book of Romans 11, verse 15. He’s speaking of Israel to the church, to the Gentiles. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what does he mean? That because Israel, the Israelites in the flesh, rejected Jesus by and large, Paul was sent to the Gentiles. So Paul’s coming to the Gentiles was because when he went to the Jewish people, they wouldn’t listen to him. So Paul says, For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? In other words, Mr. and Mrs. Gentile, if you were blessed when Jewish people rejected Jesus, how much more are you going to be blessed when Jewish people receive Jesus? That’s the point that Paul’s making. If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. And if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, he’s speaking to Gentiles, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, and this is becoming a partaker of the olive tree, which comes from the God of Israel, and you’re now receiving the life of the God of Israel through Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. Paul continues, if you’re now partaking with them of the rich root of the olive tree, listen to this, do not be arrogant toward the branches, But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. And yet there is a lack of the fear of God in much of the church concerning God’s role and scriptural call upon the Jewish people. I mean, how many Jewish preachers are there like myself in the world? Jewish evangelists reaching the ends of the earth. And yet there are Christian networks that won’t let me teach on their network because I’m too much of a political hot potato and I offend Jewish people. It’s just unbelievable. And we continue on, Paul says in verse 25 here, for I did not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation. that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved and the deliverer will come forth from Zion. What is Paul saying? That there’s a mystery going on. And the mystery is, in God’s unsearchable ways, there is a blindness upon Jewish people, upon Israel today, and this blindness will remain until the fullness of the Gentiles has come into the faith. I believe that the fullness of the Gentiles coming into the faith that Paul is referring to here has to do not only with the number of Gentiles that have come to faith in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah and Savior of the world, but it also pertains to Gentiles understanding their call to reach Israel with the good news of Messiah. Because Paul said in the same book that he was a Jew whose heart was to see Jewish people saved, but he still rejoiced in his call to the Gentiles because Paul knew that through reaching the Gentiles, Jewish people would be provoked to jealousy. So Paul said, I magnify my call to the Gentile because in reaching them, I’m going to reach my own people because I know the Gentiles that have a genuine, passionate, fiery love for Jesus will provoke Jewish people to faith in Jesus. And in fact, most Jewish people today have come to faith in Yeshua through the witness of a Gentile. You see, when I witness to a Jewish person as a Jew, They feel they automatically have to defend themselves against me because they think it’s such a shameful thing for a Jew to believe in Jesus. But when a Gentile believes in Jesus and starts sharing their faith honestly and humbly, the Jew thinks, well, I know that’s what they’re supposed to believe. And so they’re willing to listen to a Gentile. And so Paul said he magnified his ministry to the Gentile because he knew that through them, he’d reach his own people. Listen what the apostle Paul said in verse number one of chapter 11 of Romans. I say then, God is not rejected as people, Speaking of Israel here, has he? May it never be. For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. And then he says, no, the gifts and calling of God upon the Jewish people are irrevocable. Listen to what Paul said in Romans. Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them. Who’s the them? Israel is for their salvation. And so today we looked at Messianic prophecy dealing with the role of Messiah in reaching the world. But let’s not forget that God still has a critical, redemptive role that he is bringing forth in history to reach Jewish people. And in fact, the Jewish people people, reception of Jesus is intricately bound to his return. He’s not coming back for you, beloved one, until there’s a mass of Jewish people that believe in him and are calling on him to come back. So I want to thank you for supporting me and others like me that are Jewish forerunners preaching the gospel to Jew and Gentile, declaring that Jesus is not just the savior of the world, He’s the Messiah of Israel. Beloved, let’s celebrate the Jewish Jesus because when we meet him, we’re going to meet the one that is going to be called in heaven, the lion from the tribe of Judah. And we’ll meet him in that heavenly city called New Jerusalem, whose gates are inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. Many are familiar with the story of the widow that the Lord appointed to feed Elijah during a time of famine. When Elijah approached the widow, he said, give me something to eat. And she said, well, all I have is a little bit of bread and a little bit of oil, and it’s enough just for my son and I to eat it. Then we’ll have nothing and die. Elijah said, just do as I say and go prepare it for me. She obeyed, and not only did Elijah have a meal, but it sustained the widow and her son until it was no longer necessary to do so. The point I’m making is something supernatural happened when she entrusted her possessions to the Lord. I believe that the same thing happens in your life and my life when we honor the Lord with our possessions and trust him with them. I want to encourage you. If the Lord is using this ministry to bless you and feed you, honor him with your possessions through it, I’m confident that you’re going to receive a supernatural blessing back. This is Rabbi Schneider. Thank you. I love you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. And you know, we couldn’t reach people around the world without your financial support. And if God is calling you to give, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call us at 800-777-7835. and give today right now the ministry team has traveled to enugu nigeria and we are in the midst of an evangelistic crusade where rabbi is preaching the gospel to thousands of people this began on wednesday with a big parade And then Thursday was the first night. And today, Friday, is night two. And, you know, I love how Rabbi preaches the gospel and shares at these festivals. We see tears coming down people’s faces. People repent. People return to the Lord. And many people accept Jesus for the very first time. And I want you to know we don’t just go there and leave. We have a follow-up team. We partner with local churches in the city and surrounding region. That follow-up team calls every person who gets saved and directs them to the local churches. So we want you to know we’re not just getting people saved. We’re making disciples. So I want to thank you so much for your giving, for enabling us to reach people through radio and on the ground festivals, just like the one in Enugu, Nigeria right now. Would you pray for us today? today that God would touch lives. Thank you so much for listening to our program. God bless you. And now here’s Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.
SPEAKER 03 :
The Aaronic Blessing in the book of Numbers chapter six is not a blessing that comes from an impersonal being out there somewhere in the heavens. This special blessing comes from a person, Yahweh, God Almighty, our creator and maker. So receive God’s blessing into your life right now.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And I’m your host, Dustin Roberts. Be sure to come back next week when Rabbi Schneider reveals the gentle nature of God. That’s coming up Monday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
