In this enlightening episode, Rabbi Schneider delves into the seamless relationship between the Old and New Testaments, illustrating how God’s plan of salvation has been a consistent narrative throughout. By examining key biblical figures like Abraham, Rabbi Schneider reveals how the faith of such leaders was not self-cultivated but divinely gifted. The discourse elaborates on the concept of election and God’s sovereignty in deciding who receives divine revelation and faith, offering listeners a profound insight into their spiritual journey.
The reason that I’m going to teach this is not because I want to create controversy, but the reason is because it’s so clearly revealed in the Word of God. It’s such an important pillar in the Word of God. Baruch Hashem, beloved ones. Bless the name of the Lord. The Bible tells us that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. Father, we ask today that your Word would run forth swiftly and smoothly through the proclamation of it in Discovering the Jewish Jesus today. the Old Testament, which in Judaism we call the Tanakh, and the New Testament fit together like a hand in a glove. That God never meant them to be two disconnected books, so to speak, two disconnected Testaments. But in reality, the Bible is a flow of progressive revelation. That’s why the first book of the New Testament, Matthew, begins in the first chapter of Matthew with these words, This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So the New Testament begins by tracing Yeshua’s genealogy all the way back to the book of Genesis. But today, beloved ones, and I want to talk today as we begin, I want to talk about the plan of salvation. Oftentimes what happens is people read the Old Testament or the Tanakh and then they turn to the New Testament and they don’t see how everything fits together. And what we’re endeavoring to do in this series is once again show you how the Old and New Testaments do fit together. It’s seamless revelation. One flows into the other and God’s culmination of revelation comes to us through Jesus. And so to help illustrate that today, we’re going to begin looking at the plan of salvation and how it unfolds. What we’re really asking ourselves, beloved one, is this. Was the plan of salvation in the Tanakh or the Old Testament different from the plan of salvation that we find revealed in the New Testament? Or have they always been the same? I’m going to show you, because once again, this series is about how the Old and New Testaments fit together like a hand in a glove and how Jesus completes biblical Judaism. I am going to show you how the plan of salvation has always been the same. That in the Hebrew Bible, we find the plan of salvation as is fully revealed in the New Testament. We see it revealed, listen now, we see it revealed in its primitive form in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. So let’s begin. Father God, once again, we ask you to come. Bring revelation, Father, into clarity for us in Jesus’ name. Amen. I want to begin with a doctrine that many people have not been taught and has been very controversial for many, many years. I want to talk to you, beloved, about the sovereignty of God as it relates to salvation. We sometimes speak of this doctrine as the doctrine of election. It’s a clear biblical doctrine. I’m going to show it to you in the Word of God. Again, some of you have not been taught this before, and it may potentially make some very uncomfortable. I’d like to ask you, would you just stay with me for a few episodes here? And rather than reacting, I want to ask you just to hold your emotions and let me walk you through the Word of God, and be willing to hear the Word of God. The reason that I’m going to teach this is not because I want to create controversy, but the reason that I want to teach this, beloved, is because number one, it’s so clearly revealed in the Word of God. It’s such an important pillar in the Word of God. And thirdly, church, because I believe that by receiving it, you can greatly be helped and be blessed. So to begin, I want to take you now to the book of Genesis, chapter number 12. I’m going to read here verse number one. We’re going to be looking at the life of Abraham. We know that Abraham is called in the New Testament the father of all believers. Abraham is the patriarch of Judaism. When we speak of the patriarchs of Judaism, we speak of who? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So everything really begins with Abraham in terms of our faith really becoming defined. We find in the New Testament that the blessing of Abraham has come upon all those that believe. So Abraham’s life story is really critical and very important for us to understand. So I want to begin today, as we talk about this doctrine of election, of God’s sovereignty as it relates to salvation, I want to go back to the life of Abraham, since Abraham is known as the first believer. We know that others believed before Abraham, but Abraham is really defined in Scripture as the one through whom our faith is launched through. Let’s look at Genesis chapter 12, verse number 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. And the scripture goes on here. What we find here is that God comes. He speaks to Abraham. He calls Abram to follow him. And he makes a promise to Abram. Abram, you follow me. I’m going to make you a great nation. And I will make you a blessing, the Lord eventually says to him, to all the peoples on the face of the earth. God said to Abram, in your seed. Abraham, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. We know that God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, so whether I speak of Abram or Abraham, I’m referring to the same individual. The question, beloved ones, that I want you to consider with me for a moment, that I want you to ponder for a second, is this. How did Abraham come to faith in the one true God? We know that Abram’s family were idol worshipers. They had no revelation of the fact that there was one true God. They did not know the God of Israel. So how did Abram come to faith in the Creator? And how did Abram become the individual that was the one that released the revelation of monotheism, the fact there’s one God to the world? How did Abram become that individual? Was it because Abram was simply sitting on a rock meditating one day? And through his meditative efforts and through the strength of his will, as he focused in his mind to try to understand spiritual realities, he came to the eureka moment that he realized there was one true God? In other words, did Abram’s revelation of the fact that there’s only one God come to him because Abram was meditating hard enough, because he was spiritual enough, because he was religious enough that he pushed himself into that revelation? Is that how it happened? Or did it happen conversely instead because God himself descended to make himself known to Abram? I hope that the answer is obvious. The point is, Abram did not come into this revelation that there was one God and his own, but rather, Abram came to faith in the true Creator, the God of Israel, who’s also the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, because, listen now, God came to him and revealed to him. God appeared to Abraham, we read in the book of Bereshit, or the book of Genesis. Here, in Genesis 12, now the Lord spoke to Abraham. Abram was not able, because of his great spiritual ears, to hear God’s voice, so because he had better spiritual ears, but rather, listen beloved one, God sovereignly spoke to him. We read that God again appeared to Abram in the book of Bereshit, in the book of Genesis, at the Oaks of Mamre. The point is, beloved, that Abraham’s faith in the Creator was given to him as a gift. The Creator didn’t appear to everybody. The Creator didn’t speak to everybody. Abram received faith because the Creator spoke to him and appeared to him. You see, Abram’s faith, listen now, was a gift that had sovereignly been given to him by the Creator. We find this same circumstance happening in the book of Genesis, chapter number 17, verse number 1. Listen. Now, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord, listen to this, appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. So the point is, is that God Almighty didn’t appear to everybody. That’s why everybody didn’t have faith, because they hadn’t received the revelation. You see, revelation produces faith And faith is the gift of God. This is why Jesus said at one point in his ministry, He said, Father, I thank you that you revealed these things to the babes and hid them from the wise and prudent. In other words, people have faith when they receive revelation. And people can only receive revelation when God himself chooses to give revelation. This is why Jesus said, no one knows the Father but the Son, and whoever the Son, listen now, chooses to reveal him to.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi will be right back. But first, I would love for you to download the Rabbi Schneider mobile app. When you do, you’ll have access to Rabbi’s daily devotionals, messianic content, and full-length shows of Rabbi’s teachings. We’ll also have a link to Rabbi’s teaching notes for each and every teaching. All you have to do is search for Rabbi Schneider in your phone’s app store and download the app today. Every day, Israelis, young and old, are encountering Jesus through discovering the Jewish Jesus because of friends like you. Your gift is opening hearts in Tel Aviv, the Galilee, Jerusalem, and beyond. But the impact, it doesn’t stop at Israel’s borders. Across Africa, massive crusades have drawn crowds by the thousands. Your gift is reaching Israel and the world. Visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com and give today. Now, back to Rabbi.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m trying to make the point, beloved, that Jesus made. Jesus said, no one comes to me unless it’s been granted from the Father. He said, all that are taught from the Father will come to me. The point that Jesus was making in John 6 regarding these things is that the only ones that would come to him were those that had received revelation, and the only ones that received revelation are the ones whom the Father sovereignly gives it to. Jesus was reiterating the same point in the Gospel of John chapter 15 when Jesus said, “‘You did not choose me,’ Yeshua said.'” but I chose you. Let me say it again. These are the words of Jesus himself. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I’m going to get into these things a little more specifically. Let’s just continue on with some of the text here. The point that I’m trying to make is, even as Abraham didn’t come into the revelation of the one true God, the God of Israel, through his own meditative efforts or somehow because of his own righteousness, so also today, beloved ones, you and I have not come to faith in Jesus because of anything we’ve done, but rather because of what God’s done, that God chose to reveal himself to you and I if we’re true believers. even as God sovereignly chose to reveal Himself to Abram. We’re going to the Torah now. Listen, the Torah is the foundation of the Bible. I want you to understand this. When Jesus was in the wilderness, The devil came to try to destroy him. What did Jesus do? He quoted from the book of Deuteronomy four times to defeat the devil. The book of Deuteronomy, beloved, the Torah, this is the foundation of our faith. Everything comes from the Torah. Jesus said, don’t think I’ve come to abolish the law and the prophets. I haven’t come to abolish but fulfill. So with that said, knowing that the Torah is the foundation of our faith, and that’s why it’s so important to know the Torah so that we’re building our faith on a firm foundation, that we can’t know truth, beloved, in a very refined way without knowing the Hebrew Bible, I want you to get this. If you want to understand truth, beloved one, in a refined manner, we have to have some familiarity with the Hebrew Bible because truth flows out of the Hebrew Bible. We can’t just look at the New Testament in a vacuum and think we’re going to come up with a good comprehension of biblical truth. We have to understand the New Testament’s relationship to the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. And as we know how the two fit together, we’re going to be able to understand truth much more accurately. This is why Jesus said in the book of Matthew chapter 13, he said that every scribe, and a scribe was someone that wrote copies of the Hebrew Bible. They knew the Hebrew Bible. Jesus said every scribe that becomes a disciple of mine will be like the owner of a mansion that brings forth out of the mansion treasures old and new. In other words, we need to appreciate the revelation in the Hebrew Bible. We can’t discount it. We need to understand this is foundational. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 and 7. The Lord is speaking once again to Israel. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you. Notice here, God is saying to Israel, listen, He chose them. I want you to get this, because the same God that chose Israel is the God that gave us the New Testament. He’s not a different God. The God that we see revealed in the Torah is the same God, beloved, that gave us the New Testament. He’s not a different God. It’s the same God. So we need to be willing to soften our hearts and receive revelation from the foundation. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you, he said to Israel, to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. There’s a few things that are obvious here. Number one, that it’s the Lord that chose Israel. Isn’t that what he’s saying? For the Lord your God has chosen you. He didn’t say that Israel chose God. I know that many people out there teach that God offered the Torah to all the peoples of the world, but only the Jewish people would receive it. That’s not true. The Word of God is very clear on this. God chose Israel. You did not choose me, I chose you. For the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people, now listen, for his own possession out of all the peoples. Get that again. God said to Israel, I chose you out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Isn’t it obvious? Isn’t the meaning, beloved one, at face value easily understood? God chose Israel out of the world, out of all the peoples of the earth. It wasn’t that Israel chose God. God said, I chose you. It wasn’t that God chose everybody. God said to Israel, I chose you out of all the peoples of the face of the earth. God singularly chose Israel. And the truth is, is that most New Testament believers don’t have a hard time receiving that. We know the Bible over and over again says that God made a very specific relationship with the Jewish people, that God’s favor was on the Jewish people. Now listen what the next verse says in verse number seven of Deuteronomy. The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the people, for you were the fewest of all the people. But because the Lord loved you, and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers.” In fact, not only did the Lord say to Israel, he didn’t choose them because they were great, God went on to tell us that Israel was a stubborn people, that they were an obstinate people, Jesus said to them when he walked upon the planet, he said, which one of the prophets did you guys not persecute? Which one of these prophets did you not murder? In other words, God did not choose Israel because they were better than the other people. He chose them simply because he loved them and he was honoring the oath that he made to Abram. And remember, Abraham’s faith was given to him as a gift. The point is… That we oftentimes teach that God treats everybody the same way, and we bind Him as someone that has to treat everybody the same. And we think that unless God treats everybody the same, He’s not fair. That’s the way we think as human beings. But the Word of God is very different, because God did not choose all the peoples on the face of the earth. He didn’t treat everybody the same. We just got done reading He chose Israel out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. So we see that God did make a distinction, and that it wasn’t because Israel was great, because God said to Israel, you are the fewest of people. I chose you because I loved you, and I’m keeping the oath that I made to Abram. And we read in Scripture that the Jewish people, God described them as an obstinate people. Moses, right before he died, said to Israel, you’re a stubborn people. And I know you’re going to reject those ordinances of the Lord when I die. So God, who is all knowing and can see into the future, certainly didn’t choose Israel because he knew that they would follow him. He did it, beloved, out of his own sovereignty. Even as God chose Israel out of all the peoples in the face of the earth, not because they were better, but simply because He loved them and it was His sovereign choice to do so, the Bible clearly teaches that so too, in the present time, God has a chosen people in the earth, people from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s descent, but not only the Jewish people, from amongst Gentiles, people in America, people in Africa, people in Asia, people all over the planet, God has a chosen people. And we’re going to see that what God does is He reveals Himself to His chosen people and He supernaturally gives them faith as a gift and draws them to His Son. When you know you’re chosen, beloved, your faith is going to be anchored and you’re going to receive a boldness and a confidence that you may have never known before. Make sure to join me through this entire series. This is a very critical, important series, beloved one, that can absolutely change your life. Thank you. Beloved, I say this with authenticity before the Lord, discovering the Jewish Jesus is one of the best and most important ministries that you can partner with on the earth. We are reaching the world with the gospel and more precisely today, we’re reaching Jewish people with the gospel, which is the mandate of the church. Paul said to the Jew first and also to the Greek or to the Gentiles. Yeshua came and he first brought the message to the Jewish people and then the message spread from there around the world to Jerusalem, Samaria, and all the nations of the earth. We are broadcasting right now in 97% of the homes in Israel that have television sets, as well as a big portion of the entire Middle East. By you becoming a monthly partner with this ministry, you take a step forward and be part of God’s steps on the earth to reach around the globe to gather in a harvest of precious Jewish souls. When Jewish people come to faith in Him, that creates a spiritual climate for the Lord’s return. Now is the time, I believe more than ever before, to bring the good news of the Jewish Messiah Jesus to them. And you can be a part of doing that by becoming a monthly partner today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Amen. And you can give a one-time donation to this ministry by connecting with us today. Just give us a call. Our number is 800-777-7835. And you can give online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Or if you’d like, you can also send your donation in the mail. Our address is discoveringthejewishjesus.com. PO Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan, 49228. And friends, we’re witnessing a movement where Jewish people are discovering their role in the return of Yeshua, the Messiah. And Rabbi Schneider’s unique testimony has opened doors to reach people right where they live. With 80% of the audience being Israeli residents who speak Hebrew as their main language, our Hebrew YouTube channel is making strides where others have not been able to reach. We’re seeing real testimonies of transformation, and we would love for you to stand with us. We just received someone inquiring about Jesus the other day in Hebrew to our Hebrew website. And they said, I’ve always wanted to learn more about Yeshua. And I’m finally getting around to asking questions. So friends, we’re making a difference. And if you want to stand with us by supporting this ministry, give at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now here’s Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.
SPEAKER 02 :
In the Old Testament book of Numbers, we find a blessing God speaks over his children through Moses and Aaron. It carries the idea of favor and expression. Open your heart to the Spirit and the Word today and receive Father’s goodness into your life with confidence.
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 03 :
I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider asks, Did God choose you? Learn the answer Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
In this enlightening episode, Rabbi Schneider delves into the seamless relationship between the Old and New Testaments, illustrating how God’s plan of salvation has been a consistent narrative throughout. By examining key biblical figures like Abraham, Rabbi Schneider reveals how the faith of such leaders was not self-cultivated but divinely gifted. The discourse elaborates on the concept of election and God’s sovereignty in deciding who receives divine revelation and faith, offering listeners a profound insight into their spiritual journey.
