JEWISH PEOPLE NEED THE GOSPEL

The Jewish people need the Gospel of their Messiah Jesus! There is a
great need for the Good News of Messiah to be given to them. This subject is very near to the heart of God, and to my own heart. It should be near to the heart of every believer in Messiah Jesus, both Jew and Gentile. We find this subject mentioned, not only throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, but also in the second half of the Bible, the New Testament. But even though it is so very important it has been neglected for the last two thousand years.

Some might say: "Hasn't there been an effort on the part of the Church to win Jews to their Redeemer? I would answer this with: "Yes, but very little of this effort has been done until recently."

The Word of God tells us that "The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek (that is, to the Gentile)." Notice that it does not say only to the Gentile, but "also" to the Gentile. This statement infers that the New Testament pattern of the apostles was to preach the Gospel to the Jewish race first, then to the Gentile also! In the book of Acts it was recorded that there were at least five thousand Jewish believers before there was scarcely a single Gentile convert! Think of that!

In the time of the Apostles there were objections to giving the Gospel to the Gentile. Today there are objections by the Gentile believer to giving the Gospel to the Jew! Peter, the Jew, refused to preach to the Gentiles in his day. He felt that those outside the commonwealth of Israel were strangers. They were unclean.

Peter thought that Gentiles could not come into the family of God. He felt that the Good News, the message of salvation, only belonged to Israel and that God was not interested in Gentiles for they were outsiders. But God changed all that by giving him a vision and explaining the vision: that Gentiles could be cleansed and brought to God, to become a part of His family, as well as the Jews!

In these days, the attitude of Peter is in reverse. Some Gentile believers consider the Jews as outsiders. They feel that God is finished with them; they are cast off and forgotten. But a change is coming. God is now giving a vision to Gentile Christians. We can almost hear the Lord saying that the Jew can be won; Jews can believe, and He is giving the command as never before - "Go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel."

Some believers in Messiah Jesus have given certain reasons for not
sharing the Gospel with the Jew. To answer some of these objections let us look to a scene in Moses' time. The Israelites had complained against him and God. They were a rebellious, disbelieving people according to God's description of them. What did Moses do? Did he give up? Did he feel that God had cast them off? Did he complain to God against these Jews?

No, he did not.

Rather, we find he interceded on their behalf. Moses' love and compassion for his own people was such that he was willing to be separated from God forever if by this means the Jews could have been forgiven. Of course, Moses was a type or picture of the Messiah of Israel. He was like the Saviour of the world who came to His own people and died in their stead so that they might be forgiven by believing in Him.

The Jewish people, as a nation, refused their Messiah and turned Him over to the Gentiles to be crucified. But what was our Lord's reaction to all this? Did He rebuke Israel? Did He call down the wrath of God upon them? Did He refuse them His salvation? Did He cast them off forever?

He did none of these things, but He prayed in His great love and
compassion for Israel: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." We see a partial fulfillment of this forgiveness on the Day of Pentecost when three thousand Jews believed in Messiah Jesus at the preaching of Peter!

My heart cries out today that as God gave Peter, my fellow-Jew, a vision for the Gentiles, may He give Gentile believers a vision for Jews. They can be saved. They can be won to God. There is a greater opportunity today to reach them because their hearts are being opened by the Lord.

Oh, how the orthodox Jewish people have longed for the coming Messiah. How, during the Passover, and at the Western Wall, the cry has been for Messiah to come. But now there is a change in all this! Now, there are many Jews who do not wail at the Western Wall for the coming of their Messiah anymore!

They do not wait at the open door at Passover for Elijah to announce His coming. They do not say concerning their Messiah: "Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord!" Do you know why they don't? Because many of my fellow-Jews know that He has already come and that He is coming again very soon!

Dear Gentile believer in Messiah Jesus, please give this glorious Gospel, not only to your Gentile friends and loved ones, but give it to my Jewish people who so need this same wonderful Messiah that you know. And dear Jewish Reader, will you believe this Good News and receive Yeshua as your Messiah so you can give this same Gospel to your Jewish friends and loved ones as God has commanded? Do so today!