HF108 - Struggles in Israel (Part 1)

To:  Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From:  "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Mon, January 12, 2004  
Subject:  Bible Study HF108 - Struggles in Israel (Part 1)

Hebraics,

Since this forum is designed to provide studies within Scriptural boundaries, in particular to the pre 323 A.D. Church era, in the study to follow we will be looking in part at how the modern state of Israel relates to Biblical prophecy. Everything will be kept within Biblical parameters. I will attempt to avoid technical terms and issues so that the study doesn't get bogged down in minutiae.

It is also important for our members to understand that while I will draw attention to particular hate groups in Judaism, I am not speaking of all Jews. Many Jews are simply indifferent to Jesus. Others accept Him as a great Rabbi or teacher. While many others have actually come to embrace Jesus fully as their Lord and Messiah. You can expect this number to increase in the days ahead.

But there has always been and there remains to this day an element in Israel who have an intense hatred for all that speak of Jesus. Our study will include some insight into this group. This initial study is more of an introduction to the studies. We will get involved in more Scriptural settings in what is to follow. (Unless discussions cover most of what I intended to share in additional studies.)

This is Bible Study HF108 - Struggles in Israel (Part 1)

It was known and recorded by the prophets that the Jewish nation would turn her back on Jesus. Jesus had something to say about this, when He said,

"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. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 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.'" (Calling Jesus Lord and Messiah. Cf. Matt23:37-39)

According to the Lord, there will be a moment in history when Jerusalem calls upon Jesus as Lord and Messiah, but a problem remains. Jerusalem has a history of killing those sent to her from God Almighty. What will bring about this momentous event of turning? I'll share on this later in the study.

For now let's get a feel for modern Israel. There is a struggle in Israel of which many are not aware. The struggle is so intense that it is not uncommon to hear the term 'civil war.' Believe it or not, the struggle is between religious Jews and secular Jews. Politicians are caught in the middle; and while the religious Jews make up only 20% of the population in Israel, they wield far greater influence than their numbers seem to allow.

The issue is over power. An intense hatred exists among the orthodox Jews, especially those of the ultra-conservative sects, for anyone who is not of their sect. This hatred is essentially directed to the secular Jew. In some instances it is more intense against the secular Jew than it is against Gentiles. Secular Jews are considered traitors. But these ultra-conservative groups also have war going on with one another - even over such things as whose rabbis are the greatest, and such like. So the hatred is wide spread.

Before I go any further I need to point out that Judaism has never been a monolithic religion or even a people group. It has always been a mixture of many racial groups. This is why most governments today do not look at Jews as an ethnic group, but rather more as a religion. The idea of Jewish blood is set aside by many Jewish writers today. It is found mainly in groups who are Talmudic.

In any event, infighting among Jews has coursed its way through history, with one group accusing the other of being heretics. A great many Christians Jews were slaughtered in the Bar Kochba rebellion in 132-135 A.D., because the Christians would not recognize Bar Kochba as Messiah. This is only a sampling of blood letting among the Jews. There are many, many other instances, but for the sake of time we'll leave this area unsaid.

Orthodox Judaism with its ultra-conservative branches considers all non-orthodox Jews to be traitors. Orthodox rabbis in Israel have declared Conservative and Reform rabbis to be heretics. (If you recall, this also took place in New York not so long ago.) This comes through Talmudic writings, which the Orthodox hold as the only authentic guide to knowing and serving God. As a rule the only Bible the Orthodox are permitted to study is the Bible as seen through the lens of the Talmudic writers.

This is why the greatest thing you can do for any Jew is get him to read his own Bible. More Jews, including a great many rabbis, have come to know Jesus by reading the Scriptures for themselves than any other way. Isaiah 53 remains God's chief calling card. This is why in many Jewish Scriptures, you will find much of the prophets left out.

Secular Jews on the other hand do not wish to be brought under the austere dictatorship of the ultra-orthodox rabbis. A great many Jews in Israel today will not even step inside a synagogue. The larger part of the Israeli population is non-religious, that is, secular. They have good reason for feeling this way. Does that surprise you? Israel has one of the highest percentages of atheism among the nations today. (Ties in with the holocaust. We can talk about this at some point.)

And while we think that the secular sector has little interest in Jesus Christ, this really isn't the case. The fact is that secular Jews are really more so against orthodox Judaism, especially in its more radical forms, than against anything else. Did you know that the Orthodox Jews are agitated over secular Jews who put up Christmas trees? The Christmas tree business in Israel is flourishing.

There is a cue card here. A little known fact is that there is a Jesus revival sweeping Israel. Not a revival in the sense that Americans understand it, but a revival of wanting to know more about Jesus. According to Pinchas E. Lapide, the recently deceased orthodox professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, there is a "Jesus wave" passing through Israel. The wave is not about a Catholic Jesus or a Protestant Jesus or a Charismatic Jesus. It is about the Jesus of the land, the Jesus of the gospels. The ultra-conservative orthodox groups are not very happy about this. Talmudic Judaism has erased Jesus from the history of the Jewish people, but the tables are now turning on them. The people want to know!

It still remains hard for Christians to understand this enmity in Israel. The reason is that most people in the west know so little about the third period of Judaism. The third period is considered to begin with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. up to our present time. It essentially forms itself around rabbinic Judaism. The rabbis considered themselves the final mouthpiece of God, even exceeding that of Moses and the prophets.

Then you have the problem of false Messiahs. The Jewish people have been deceived so often over supposed Messiahs. Their history is replete with this concern, and these Messiahs are largely a result of Talmudic teachings.

For your information, the first temple period concerned itself with the original temple in Jerusalem, up to the scattered tribes in the Old Testament. Second temple Judaism began with Nehemiah and the repopulating of Israel, and runs up to the destruction of 70 A.D. Historians tell us there were twenty-four distinct Judaisms during that time. The third period picks up from there.

Now for the enmity against Jesus. This enmity reaches back to the times of Jesus and to the apostles and even before. In fact it reaches back to the fall of Adam. Jesus and John the Baptist called the hate element in Israel, "a brood of vipers." Jesus said of them, "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well." (John 15:24) So the hate element has always been there.

For the purpose of this study we need to narrow things down a bit. The point being, if you know anything about the scribes and Pharisees, about the traditions of the elders, or about Talmudic Judaism, then you already know something about the ultra- orthodox groups in Israel. They are actually one and the same. They are of the same spirit as those who renounced Jesus so strongly.

Jewish orthodoxy has made little to no changes over the centuries. Their hatred for Jesus Christ and for all things Christian is often covered up, but it always lies just below the surface. In fact if it came to the need for a blood transfusion, this group of Jews would prefer to die rather than accept the blood of a Christian, or of any Gentile, or even the blood of a secular Jew. They believe other bloods are defiled. They cannot take a chance on defiling their own sacred "divine" blood.

Does this sound strange? It shouldn't. It was pretty much the same during the time of Christ. Do you recall how the apostles had to process this. It wasn't easy. When Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius, he said, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean." (Cf. Acts 10)

Keep in mind that the Law of Moses never said any such thing about entering the house of a foreigner. This came from the traditions of the elders. It later became encoded in Talmudic writings. Even back then the rabbis had a choke hold on the peoples in Israel. This helps us understand why Jesus often went outside the religious establishment to minister to those who were considered outcasts.

As for the religious powers, Jesus called them what they were. He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." If you would like to see the dressing down that Jesus gave the "hate" element in Israel, take time to read Matthew 13. It was immediately following this dressing down, that Jesus said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... your house is being left to you desolate."

The point is that since there is such a disunity among the Jews in Israel, then why are they there? They are there because the Lord brought them there. Israel after the flesh has a purpose to be fulfilled in its time, and one day this same Israel will cry out to the Lord Jesus and say of Him, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."

Let me share some snippets of beliefs noted in common by the ultra-orthodox groups in Israel. They are strictly Talmudists.

(1) They forbid Jewish men to listen to a woman singing in a choir or solo, regardless of what she is singing. They believe the voice of a woman is adultery. (Many Talmudic teachings are against women in general. These teachings are very much in favor today.)

Compare this to Paul: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28 - Peter adds that husband and wife are fellow heirs of the grace of life.)

(2) They believe that when they come to power, all Christian churches are to be destroyed and all non-Jews to be expelled from the country, including secular Jews.

(3) Haredim rabbis often teach that the Holocaust was a well- deserved divine punishment for failure to keep Talmudic studies. (Among other things.)

(4) Their hatred for non-Jews comes from their continuous cabbalistic tradition. They are much much into magic. (They try to hide this fact from westerners.)

(5) For them the gravest sin is for a Jew to deny Judaism. The Jew who denies Judaism becomes a Canaanite, and to kill such a person is an act of righteousness. (Thus we see their hatred against the secular Jew.)

(6) The doctor Baruch Goldstein who slaughtered 20 Muslim worshippers, including children, in Hebron in 1994, is considered a saint by this group and is seen as their intercessor in heaven.

Note: Perhaps it should be said that what this ultra-religious hate group may not realize, is that they are doing pretty much the same as did Hitler in his own hate against the Jews. This shows how very wicked and prideful the heart can become when it gives no place for Jesus Christ.

So --- What is it going to take to turn the eyes of Israel to Jesus? I am so glad you asked. We can cover this more in further discussions. The answer isn't as difficult as it may seem. It is clearly set forth in the prophets, that the Messiah would not return to His place until Israel acknowledges her guilt and seeks His face. The Lord said, "In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me." (Hos5:15)

Jesus told the rejecters, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sins; where I am going, you cannot come." (John 8:21)

The fact is that Israel is going to desperately need a Savior. When the moment comes, they will cry out to Jesus. The apostle said, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins." (Rom11:26-27)

Then we have a prophecy that sets the stage for these happenings. The Lord said, "In that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And and the nations of the earth [United Nations] will be gathered against it."

And again, "In that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem ... 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 OVER HIM, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." (Cf. Zech12)

Every statement made in Zechariah 12:10, connects to something said about Jesus Christ in the new covenant writings.

(1) "They will look on Me...." Response: "You will not see Me until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" [This is a clear statement that Jesus is Yahweh revealed fully in human form.]

(2) "...whom they have pierced." Response: "...this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." (Acts 2:23 - In the Talmud the rabbis never credit Rome with the crucifixion of Jesus. They take it to themselves.)

(3) "They will mourn over Him as one mourns for an only Son." Response: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

(4) "They will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." Response: "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren." (Rom8:29)

That's it for now. Feel free to contribute to the study.

The Lord bless you,

Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host 
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org

Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/

"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)

Hebraic-Foundations is an online email conference which provides studies as well as offers open discussion on the Biblical Christian. Its special emphasis is towards the pre-325 A.D. Church.

To subscribe send an email to Hebraic-Foundations-subscribe@yahoogroups.com  Once you've subscribed, messages should be sent to Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com. Or you can subscribe by filling out the form below.

(Special note - This forum is not for Yahwists or Sabbatarians, or for any who view the term 'Christian' in a derogatory way. Membership is considered upon completion of a questionnaire.)