The Unity of the Olive Tree: A Challenge for Both Jews and Christians.

One of the greatest challenges facing Jews and Gentiles [Christians] today is God’s prophecy of the End-time Redemption and Restoration of Israel.  The prophet Ezekiel describes it in the following:

Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them to their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms. (Ezekiel 27:21-22)

This is a prophecy regarding the “Gospel of the Kingdom” that was proclaimed by Yochanan (John) the Immerser (or Baptizer) and his disciples, and Yeshua (Jesus) and His disciples all throughout the land of Israel.  The “gospel of the kingdom” was not about Yeshua’s (Jesus’) death, burial, and resurrection since when Yeshua (Jesus) does tell His disciples about His upcoming arrest, trial, death and resurrection, His disciples are devastated and in shock; in fact, in the very next verse after He tells them, we discover that Shi’mon Petros (Peter) rebukes Him for even thinking of such a thing:

And Peter took Him aside to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord!  This shall not happen to You.” (Matthew 16:22)

Not only had His disciples heard Him proclaim the gospel, but they had been sent out themselves – two-by-two – to proclaim it, and yet when He told them He was going to die and then resurrect three days later, they are in complete shock!  This clearly indicates that this was not the message they heard Him preach, nor was it the message that they, themselves, had been sent out to preach.

What, then, was the “original gospel”?  Since the disciples asked the question, after His resurrection and Him teaching them “about the kingdom of God:” “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)  And what had provoked their question? His discussion of “the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

But I believe a parallel passage to the one in Ezekiel is in Romans 11, where Sha’ul Paulus’ (Paul’s) is teaching about the Olive Tree:

But if some of the branches [not “All”] were broken off, and you [Gentiles – “non-Jews”], being a wild olive, were grafted in AMONG THEM [not “instead of them”] and became partaker WITH THEM of the rich root of the olive tree [“Israel”], do not be arrogant toward the branches [the Jewish people]; but if you are arrogant, remember that it si not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.”

Here we can see that us Gentiles [non-Jews] were “grafted in AMONG THEM,” the Jewish people.  We have not “replaced them,” nor have we been engrafted into a whole different tree of our own, but that we come a “partaker WITH THEM” of the rich root (history, culture, and teachings) of Israel, the olive tree.  He also instructs us that we are not to “be arrogant,” which is to think that we are in any way better, or more superior, than the Jewish people since we do not support the root – “the patriarchs of Israel” – but the root supports us.  He then continues on by saying,

You will say then, “Branches were broken off so I might be grafted in.”  Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith.  Do not be conceited but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches [some of the Jewish people], neither will He spare you.  Behold, then, the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, IF YOU CONTINUE IN HIS KINDNESS; otherwise you also WILL BE CUT OFF.” And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. (Romans 11:19-23)

Here we can see Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) advising us Gentiles [non-Jews; “Christians”] that God treats Jews and Christians exactly the same.  He doesn’t treat one group any differently than He does any other group.  If He can break off “some of the natural branches” (the Jewish people), due to their “unbelief,” then this makes their “cutting” from the tree, a “conditional act”: and then, if we are engrafted into the same tree, then we will be allowed to continue being a part of the Olive Tree, IF (a condition) we CONTINUE in His kindness.”  And not only that, but if they change from “unbelieving” to “believing,” then God is able to graft them back into their tree once more.  Therefore, just as the continued engrafting of the Gentile [non-Jewish] believer is “conditional,” so the re-engrafting of “the natural branches” is also “conditional.”  He then continues on by saying,

For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:24)

God has cut us off of “a wild olive tree” [the Gentile nations of the world] and grafted us “contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree” – in other words, us becoming a part of the Jewish people does not feel at all natural to us, since it is “contrary to nature,” but then, God says,  how much easier will it be for God to “engraft the natural branches” (i.e., the Jewish people) back into “their own olive tree”?  The fact that the “olive tree” belongs to them, “the natural branches” (the Jewish people), clearly indicates that the “olive tree” is “Israel” – not “the Christian Church,” nor is it “the Christian religion.”

Jews and Gentiles [non-Jews] becoming “one people under one law” has always been God’s plan for His Kingdom.  For example, in Numbers 15, we read,

As for the Assembly, there is to be one statute for you and for the alien [non-Jew] who sojourns with you, a perpetual [or eternal] statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien [non-Jew] be before the LORD.  There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien [non-Jew] who sojourns with you.” (Numbers 15:15-16)

In fact, Israel from the very beginning has been a combination of Israelites and Gentiles [non-Jews].  Even when Avram was called out of Ur Kasdim (trans. “Ur of the Chaldees”), he came out of Ur, not only with his father, nephew, and wife, but there was a group of Gentiles [non-Jews] that came out with him.  In fact, when God tells him to circumcise everyone in his camp, he ended up circumcising all of the Gentiles [non-Jews] that came out with him.  Also, when God changed Jacob”s name to “Israel,” this was not just a renaming, but it was “a creation account.”  For example, in Isaiah, we read,

But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” (Isaiah 43:1)

Here God is using both names “Jacob” and “Israel,” and He is identifying Himself as their “Creator” since He “formed” Israel out of Jacob in the same sense as He “formed” the woman from Adam.  Now in Genesis 35, we find Him reaffirming Jacob’s name change, and at the same time, He is defining this new creation, called “Israel:”

Your name was Jacob.  No longer will your name be Jacob, for your name will be Israel.” So He named him Israel.” (Genesis 35:10)

Here we can see that God names Him “Israel,” but this is not just a “renaming” but “a creation account,” because in the next verse, He not only introduces Himself to His new creation, but He tells his new creation – Israel – to “be fruitful and multiply.” The same thing that He told the birds and animals (Genesis 1:22) and Adam and Eve when He created them (Genesis 1:28) in Genesis 1.

 God also said to him: “I am El Shaddai.  Be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 35:11a)

And now in the next line, God defines His new creation:

  “A nation and an assembly of nations will come from you.” (Genesis 35:11b)

There is not one verse in the whole Hebrew Scriptures, or even in the whole Bible, where God defines or calls any one of the tribes “a nation,” nor does He ever describe or call the Twelve Tribes an “assembly of nations.”  Instead, it would seem logical to conclude, then, that the nation and people of Israel are what constitutes “a nation,” but what has been called “the church” is what is being called “an assembly of nations.”  In other words, both “the Jewish people” and “the Church” combined are what constitutes what God defines here as “Israel.”

In addition, we see this when Mosheh (Moses) led the Israelites out from Egypt in the Exodus, there was a “mixed multitude” of Gentiles [non-Jews] that went out with them (Exodus 12:38), and they were still with them in the wilderness in Numbers 11:4, which means that this same “mixed multitude” of Gentiles [non-Jews] were with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai when God gave His Ten Commandments to all of them there.  Consequently, God’s commandments were given to both physical Israelites and Gentiles [non-Jews].  So much, then, for the idea that God gave the Law to only the Jewish people.

And what about Asenath, the daughter of Potipera, priest of On; or Mosheh’s (Moses’) father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian; or Rahab and her family; or Ruth; or Doeg the Edomite; or even Uriah the Hittite?  All of these Gentiles [non-Jews], were part of Israelite families, or had attached themselves to Israel, and almost all of them, excluding Jethro, were even living in Israel with them.  They were not segregated from being a part of Israeli society, but they were an intricate part of it.  So much then for the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e., the “Old Testament”) is for the Jews and the “New Testament” is for everyone.  The whole Bible is for everyone.

However, the one who actually began the practice of segregating the Gentiles [non-Jews] from the Israelites were the post-exilic Jews, but it okayed by Ezra, the priest.  After both the Jews and their Gentile [non-Jewish] wives and children had come back to Israel from the Babylonian exile, it was some of the Jewish people who wanted to segregate the Gentiles [non-Jews] from Israeli society when he had the Jews who had returned to divorce their Gentile [non-Jewish] wives and send them and their children away [Ezra 9-10].  We see Nehemiah also writing about this event.  We read,

On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them.  However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.  So it came about, that when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel. (Nehemiah 13:1-3)

There was no reason for them to send away their Gentile [non-Jewish] wives and children.  They are not “Ammonites,” nor are they “Moabites,” nor were they attempting to coerce their husbands into any form of idolatry or any other sin.  Consequently, many of the Jewish people overgeneralized this teaching into applying it to all Gentiles [non-Jews], rather than realizing that it was a prohibition against certain people for a certain reason – not for all Gentiles [non-Jews] for all time.  Also, they negated part of the verse:

No one who is emasculated, or has his male organ cut off, shall enter the assembly of the LORD.  No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD.  No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, EVEN TO THE TENTH GENERATION, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pathor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.  Nevertheless, the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.  You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.  YOU SHALL NOT DETEST AN EDOMITE, FOR HE IS YOUR BROTHER; YOU SHALL NOT DETEST AN EGYPTIAN, BECAUSE YOU WERE AN ALIEN IN HIS LAND.  (Deuteronomy 23:1-7)

By going back to the original passage in the Torah, we can see that certain things are omitted in the Nehemiah passage.  God prohibited the “Ammonite” and the “Moabite” from entering “the assembly of the LORD,” but only up through “the tenth generation.”  Also, it was not a prohibition against all Gentiles [non-Jews] since they are told that they were not to “detest an Edomite, for he is your brother” (Edom is another name for Esau) or “an Egyptian, because you were an alien (or foreigner) in his land,” but by that same token, they should not detest the Babylonians for the same reason.  Consequently, they were in violation of the Scriptures in sending them away, nor is there any indication that this was in keeping with what God wanted them to do.

Therefore, by God extending His salvation to the Gentiles [non-Jews] and making them a part of Israel, His Bride, and therefore, a part of His Kingdom, He is not overturning what He taught in the Torah; instead, what I see in the “New Covenant” is that God is working to return Israel to what they were prior to the Babylonian Exile, a kingdom with a “mixed society” of Jews and Gentiles [non-Jews]. So the Christian idea that God was “doing away with the Torah”, or trying to get them to accept some “new revelation” demonstrates their ignorance, or lack of understanding, when it comes to the Bible as a whole or what was actually taught within the Torah, or how God actually views His commandments.

Also, it was not God who separated the Bible into two different revelations – but Christianity.  For example, Christianity has historically taught that the Bible is a “divided” book with “two distinctly different revelations from God”: the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament.”  But this is not true.  Instead, the Bible should be seen and taught as one continuous revelation from God.  What is called the “New Testament” should be seen as a continuation or a complement of the first part of our Bible – not a completely different revelation.  Did God modify some things – sure – but does that mean He made it into a completely different revelation? No.

The only verse in the whole Bible where we find the phrase “Old Testament” is in 2 Corinthians 3: 14.  And in this chapter, the believing Pharisee, Sha’ul Paulus (Paul), is contrasting the “Old Testament” – or a more accurate translation would be the “Older Covenant” or the “ancient covenant” – where he is using it to refer to the Ten Commandments that had been carved on the two stone tablets since he talks about Mosheh (Moses) carrying them down from Mt. Sinai and reading them to the Israelites.  He did not use that term to refer to the “five books of Moshe (Moses),” which were never written on “stone tablets” but on scrolls.

In this chapter, he refers to the Torah as “the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones” (2 Corinthians 3:7) and as “the ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:9) because what happened when Mosheh (Moses) brought the two tablets down from Mt. Sinai and he found the Israelites and the “mixed multitude” of Gentiles [non-Jews] worshipping the golden calf: 3,000 people were killed (Exodus (Exodus 32: 19-28, specif. 32:28).  In the same chapter, the term “New Testament” would be better translated as the “Newer Covenant” or the “Renewed Covenant,” or even “the Covenantal Renewal.”  In this chapter, the “New Covenant,” or the “Newer Covenant,” is defined as “the Ten Commandments written upon our hearts and mind,” once we realize that Jeremiah 31:31-34 is the passage where the “New Covenant” is defined and first mentioned in the Bible.  Consequently, the “New Covenant” is described by Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) as “our letter, written in our hearts,” on “tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). What many people do not think about is that the Holy Spirit wrote both the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets, and the Holy Spirit wrote the same Ten Commandments upon our hearts.  Consequently, the “New Testament” is the Ten Commandments internalized.  Also, the “Older / ancient covenant” is the Ten Commandments written on the two stone tablets; and therefore, it is an “outer motivator;” whereas,  the “New Covenant” is the same Ten Commandments written on our hearts and mind; and therefore, an “inner motivator.”  Consequently, in Hebrews 8, we read,

When He said, “a new covenant,” He has made the first [the Ten Commandments as an outer motivator] obsolete.  But whatever is BECOMING obsolete and GROWING old is ready to disappear. (Hebrews 8:13)

As God writes His Ten Commandments on each new heart, then the need for “an outside motivator” becomes less and less (i.e., “becoming obsolete and growing old”), since the Ten Commandments is “becoming more and more” “an inner motivator” where we are being empowered to walk in obedience to it through the Spirit of God (Heb. Ruach Elohim).

So how do we go from the Bible being “one continuous revelation from God” to believing that the Bible is a “divided” book comprised of “two distinctly separate revelations”?  I believe there are several reasons for this:

• We do not believe in only one eternal revelation from God.  Christianity believes in a “divided” Bible comprised of “two distinctly different revelations from God.”
• We do not understand how truly intricately intertwined the two parts of the Bible: the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Covenant truly are.  They are both written for all people for all time.
• We do not understand that as Gentiles [non-Jews] we have been engrafted into the Patriarchs of Israel, particularly Abraham, and therefore, we become a part of Israel.  For example, the believing Pharisee, Sha’ul Paulus (Paul), wrote,

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” know then that those who have faith are children of Abraham.  The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the Good News to Abraham in advance, saying “All the nations shall be blessed in you.”  So then, the faithful are blessed along with Abraham, the faithful one.”  (Galatians 3:6-9)

And then, later on in the same chapter, we read,

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 [Messiah Yeshua].  And if you belong to Christ [Messiah], then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:28-29)

In this verse, we are told that when we “belong to” Messiah, then we are “Abraham’s descendants [seed], and therefore, because we are in Abraham [or one of his descendants], then we are “heirs according to the promise.”  He doesn’t write that if you are in the Messiah, that you are “heirs according to the promise,” but that by being “in Messiah, then we are Abraham’s seed [descendants], and therefore, because we are “Abraham’s seed [or descendants], we are “heirs according to the promise.”

Does this mean that we are all “Jewish”?  Technically, a “Jew” is a descendant of Judah, or the tribe of Judah.  The means the eleven other tribes are part of Israel – but technically, they are not “Jews.”  In the same way that Rahab, Ruth, Doeg, and even Uriah were intricate part of Israel, but they were not “Jews” either, so are each of us Gentile [non-Jewish] believers in the Messiah.  We do not belong to any other group or Community or religions, but we are all family.

Here is the challenge: How do Christians and Jews reconcile with one another?  Can’t we forgive one another and become the family that God intended for us to be?  I realize that this will not be easy for either side, since we have a long history that we need to overcome, but I believe that it is possible.  And with this blog article, I am reaching out my hand to the Jewish community  Will someone take my hand or will you continue the division between us?

As someone who grew up in the Christian faith, what are some of the problems that we need to address:

• We do not understand that God has One and Only One Bride, Israel.  There is no other.  Israel is defined as “a nation and an assembly of nations.”  This is God’s definition of His creation, and regardless of how Jews or Christians define (or have defined) themselves, the only definition that matters is His.  It is not that “the Church”  has “replaced” Israel (This is Replacement Theology), nor is it “the Church” and “Israel” two different groups, nor has the Church set Israel aside (This is Dispensationalism).  But we are the same people, the same family, the same Community (This is what the Bible calls the “One New Man”).  Therefore, there should  be the same standard for both – the same Torah, the same ordinances for both the physical native Israelites (or Jews) and “the aliens (non-Jews) who sojourn with them, i.e., “Christians.”
• We do not understand that there was a change in meaning of “law” between the Hebrew Scriptures and the “New Testament.”  In the Hebrew Scriptures, when the word Torah is used, it is referring specifically to the first five books of the Bible.  However, in the “New Testament,” when the word “law” is used, it has a much broader spectrum of meaning,  It can refer to a single verse, a single passage, a chapter, a selection of chapters, a book of the Bible, the first five books of the Bible, the whole Hebrew Scriptures, or the Oral Law, also called “the traditions of the elders,” or the Mishnah, which became the basis of the Talmud.  Also, the word “law” is also sometimes used for non-biblical laws as well.  Such as “the law of sin,” “the law of sin and death,” Roman laws, Grec0-Romans laws, or just general principles of truth.  Thus, you are going to end up misinterpreting the Scriptures if you interpret the word “law” the same way every time.

For example, in Acts 10 when Shi’mon Petros (Peter) goes to the home of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, he tells him, “You yourselves know how UNLAWFUL it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call man unholy or unclean.” (Acts 10: 28)  There is not a single commandment in the first five books of the Bible where God ever gives such a commandments at all.  However, we do find something similar in the Oral Law, the Mishnah:

And a woman should not be alone with them [Gentile men], because they are suspect in regard to fornication. 
And a man should not be alone with them [Gentile men], because they are suspect in regard to bloodshed. (Abodah Zarah 2:1 c-f; trans. Neusner 662)

However, this teaching found in the Oral Law, or “the traditions of the elders,” I can see being the basis of what Shi’mon Petros (Peter) telling Cornelius and those of his household.  And notice, when you go back and read the chapter, God gave Shi’mon Petros (Peter) a vision to correct this teaching about all Gentile [non-Jewish] men.   However, most Christians interpret his statement the same way.  His reference to the “unlawful” visit is seen to refer to the commandments in the first five books, but as we can see that is not at all accurate.

For example, in Acts 10 when Shi’mon Petros (Peter) goes to the home of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, he tells him, “You yourselves know how UNLAWFUL it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call man unholy or unclean.” (Acts 10: 28)  There is not a single commandment in the first five books of the Bible where God ever gives such a commandments at all.  However, we do find something similar in the Oral Law, the Mishnah:

And a woman should not be alone with them [Gentile men], because they are suspect in regard to fornication. 
And a man should not be alone with them [Gentile men], because they are suspect in regard to bloodshed. (Abodah Zarah 2:1 c-f; trans. Neusner 662)

However, this teaching found in the Oral Law, or “the traditions of the elders,” I can see being the basis of what Shi’mon Petros (Peter) telling Cornelius and those of his household.  And notice, when you go back and read the chapter, God gave Shi’mon Petros (Peter) a vision to correct this teaching about all Gentile [non-Jewish] men.   However, most Christians interpret his statement the same way.  His reference to the “unlawful” visit is seen to refer to the commandments in the first five books, but as we can see that is not at all accurate.

• Another problem that we have to work on is our English translations.  For example, we can have one word in the Hebrew Scriptures, like the Hebrew word ‘edah has the Koine Greek word ‘ecclesia as its equivalent, and it should be seen in the same way, but while we translate ‘edah as “congregation,” we translate ‘ecclesia as “church.” Another example of this is seen in the Hebrew word b’rit (“covenant”) has the Koine Greek word diatheke as its equivalent term.  However, rather than defining it the same way, it is translated as “testament” instead.  By doing this, we make it seem like they are different things, rather than the same thing.

In other words, the problem is that the “New Testament” has not been seen as a continuation of the  Hebrew Scriptures (i.e., the “Old Testament”) but as a totally different revelation.  Therefore, many people do not know that the same group of Israel, but at the time of Jeremiah, it had broken into two different groups – the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah – are still the primary focus of the Scriptures.  For example, the prophecy of Jeremiah is repeated verbatim in Hebrews 8,

Behold, days are coming, says the LORD, when I will effect a new covenant with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL [the Northern Kingdom of Israel] and the HOUSE OF JUDAH [the Southern Kingdom of Judah]. (Hebrews 8:8)

And it is for this same “new covenant” that Yeshua (Jesus) shed His blood and died on the cross, so that the next step in God’s plan in restoring the two Houses of Israel could be redeemed and restored.  For example, in the four Gospels, we read,

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the NEW COVENANT, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28)

And when He had taken a cup, and given thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank from it.  And He said to them, “This is My blood of the NEW COVENANT, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:23-24)

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the NEW COVENANT in behold.” (Luke 22:14)

In all three of the synoptic gospels, we are clearly told that He poured out His blood for many people to establish the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah and the other prophets.  However, many people thought that the restoration of the two kingdoms into one kingdom would happen suddenly, where they would be able to see it happening, not realizing that it would happen over a long time period, about 2,000 years.  We are now approaching the end of this stage of the process, and we are about to enter a short transitional period of about seven years, which will culminate in the return of the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) and the establishment of His Messianic Kingdom.

And when we read Romans 11 and Ephesian 2, it is evident that the “redemption and restoration of Israel” is what Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) has in mind.

We’ve already discussed Romans 11, so let’s discuss Ephesians 2.  In Ephesians 2, the redemption and restoration of Israel is the backdrop for the following teaching:

 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups [the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah] into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the [violations of the] Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two [kingdoms] into one New Man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity [our sins, or our violations of the Law]. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away [the Northern Kingdom of Israel], and peace to those who were near [the Southern Kingdom of Judah]; for through Him we both have our access in One Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:14-18)

By viewing it in context, it helps to better understand this passage and what Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) is saying.  He is not teaching a whole new message, but He is telling us that what Mosheh (Moses) and the ancient Hebrew Prophets had prophesied, and that now through the Messiah, God has provided the basis for this process to begin to come true.  So am I saying that one of the reasons that Yeshua (Jesus) died was for the redemption and restoration of Israel?  Absolutely!

We need to understand that God has no other Bride – but Israel.  So let’s think about this logically.  If God has a Bride, called Israel, and the Messiah has a Bride, whom Christians believe is a separate community, called “the Church,” then why does Israel have to be placed on the “back burner” at all, as many Christians believe?  Why can’t God continue to work through Israel, and the Messiah continue to work through “the Church” all at the same time?  However, the truth of Scripture is that God and the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) have the same Bride – Israel, and He has been working in and through His One and Only Bride this entire time.  The problem has been how the Jews and the Church have defined “Israel.”  They have been using their own definitions, rather than God’s definition that He gave within the Torah, as we have seen above.

There is not one verse in the whole Hebrew Scriptures, or even in the whole Bible, where God defines or calls any one of the tribes “a nation,” nor does He ever describe or call the Twelve Tribes an “assembly of nations.”  Instead, it would seem logical to conclude, then, that the nation and people of Israel are what constitutes “a nation,” but what has been called “the church” is what is being called “an assembly of nations.”  In other words, both “the Jewish people” and “the Church” combined are what constitutes what God defines here as “Israel.”

CONCLUSION

So let’s embrace the challenge ahead of us, for Jews and Christians to recognize and embrace one another as part of the same family.  In fact, God has recently spoke to my wife, and in His message to all of us, He said:

Israel and Judah need to stop fighting and being in battle with one another. I am told that Israel is the Northern Kingdom and Judah is the Southern Kingdom, and now I have been also reminded that this has been going on for centuries from way back in the first century when G-D had divorced them for wanting to become their own people with their own identities. When they chose to be like all the other nations to rule and reign with Kings and princesses

Israel chose to be a nation all of her own and went off to the North, while Judah stayed put and stayed in the South where they were meant to be with Me, their King of kings and L-RD of lords this very day. For My people Israel, I have dispersed them throughout the world and into all the nations of the world, as you know and see it to be today. For thus saith the L-RD G-D of Israel, this cold brewing day there in Poplar, Montana, where I have placed you and your family, I have not forgotten My Bride, Israel, and yes, this is why I wanted to have all of your children with you this very day to tell and to share with them that I. the L-RD G-D Almighty, am and do see and remember all of My promises to your father Abraham way back in Genesis 15 on, and I will continue to show Myself to each and every individual who will show themselves faithful to Me, your Awesome, Outstretched G-D of the entire Universe, here today.

It is time for us to “quit fighting,” reconcile, and come back together as one family, one people, one kingdom, for the glory of God. Amen.

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