Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I want you to hear, we need to honor the uniqueness of the Jewish people. They have become a blessing to the entire church. It's through them that we've come to a knowledge of God.

I've been talking about the plan of salvation, and what we've been discovering is that Israel was saved in the Tanakh or the Old Testament in the same way that believers are saved today in the New Testament. In other words, the gospel was revealed in its primitive form in the Hebrew Bible, in the pages of the Tanakh or the Old Testament. We began to look at this by showing that even as God chooses his people today upon the earth, not from amongst Jews only, but from amongst every tribe, people, and nation, so too Father God also sovereignly chose Israel in the Tanakh. The Lord said to Israel, "You alone have I chosen to be a people for myself out of all the peoples in the face of the earth." In the same way today, the scripture tells us in the book of Ephesians that we were chosen in Messiah before the foundation of the world in Father's love.

Then we looked at the fact that Israel was saved. Once they were chosen, they were able to enter into the salvation experience through the medium, through the vehicle of faith. Faith is living and it's active. When God appeared to Abraham and spoke to him and appeared to him in the book of Bereshit, in the book of Genesis, that ignited within Abraham faith. When God shows up, his spirit fills those hearts to whom he's speaking to and they automatically have faith well up within them. So God chooses his people and then he comes to those that he's chosen, and when he speaks to them, whether it be through intuition, through the written word, through a dream, and whatever means he chooses to, when he reveals himself, faith springs up. And then when we act on that faith, we enter into the salvation experience.

Moses, for example, had faith that God would be with him and he was able then to begin to walk forward and lead Israel out of bondage. Moses said to the Lord, "Unless you go with me, I will not go." And the Lord spoke to Moses and said, "I will be with you." As a result of that, Moses believed and he began to move forward and led Israel into freedom. So once again, God came to Moses. He sovereignly chose him. He appeared to him at the burning bush. As a result of that experience and the Lord's continual dealing in Moses's life, faith emerged in Moses so that he was able to act. In the same way today, God sovereignly chose at some point in your life to reveal to you that Jesus was the way to him. You believed, you began to take action, you began to read the scriptures, you began to go to church, you began to pray, you began to be obedient, and all those things that brought you into a deeper relationship with God.

Then we saw that God loves us. He chose us, he gave us faith, but we also learn that because of our sin, a blood sacrifice is required. We looked in the Torah in Leviticus 17:11 and we read that the life of the flesh is in the blood, saith the Lord, and I've given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your soul, for it's the blood by reason of its life that makes atonement. We studied how Israel was saved each year. They were forgiven of their sins through the blood sacrifice that took place each year at their highest holy day called Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and then the temple. He would pour the blood of the bull and the goat on top of the Ark of the Covenant, and when the Lord saw the blood each year, he forgave his people because the blood symbolized that a life was given, that an innocent animal had died in the place of the guilty.

The Lord accepted that as a means of atonement for Israel because that innocent animal symbolized Yeshua. It's like a credit card that you use. You go to the store and purchase something on your credit card. Your credit card has no real value, but the merchant accepts it because he knows that real payment is coming. In the same way, the Lord accepted those sacrifices in the Torah and in the time before Jesus because he knew that those sacrifices represented Jesus, that real payment in the person of Yeshua was coming. We once again looked at God's sovereignty in relation to election. We looked at how he comes to those he has chosen and instills faith in their heart. Then we act on that faith that brings us into the salvation experience. Then we looked at the blood covering as the means of atonement.

Then I ended last broadcast talking about the principle of a mediator. Many people say that I don't need a mediator. I don't need Jesus. I go directly to God. It's just God and I. But the fact is that when we study the Hebrew scriptures, when we study the Torah, we find there that there's always been the principle of a mediator. Moses interceded for Israel. Moses was Israel's mediator. Then we have the priests. The Lord chose the Levites to be able to minister sacrifices in the temple on behalf of the children of Israel. Each individual Israelite was not able to offer their own sacrifices to the Lord, but rather they had to bring their sacrifice to the priest who offered up the sacrifice on their behalf.

Do you see how the Old and New Testaments and the plan of salvation between the Old and New Testaments fits together like a hand in a glove? The plan of salvation was revealed once again in its primitive form in the pages of the Tanakh, the Old Testament scriptures. It finds its fulfillment in the person of Yeshua in the Brit Chadashah, the New Testament or the New Covenant scriptures. I want to conclude with this final principle in relationship to the plan of salvation by looking at the role of the Jewish people or the Israelites. We have within Christendom today in many circles a huge misunderstanding, and a very dangerous misunderstanding, where many Christians have assumed that because Israel as a nation in general rejected Jesus and still does not believe in him, that God has forsaken Israel.

They believe that the promises, many Gentiles believe that although Israel was at one time chosen, although God did choose them we read in the Hebrew Bible, many Christians believe that because the Jewish people of Jesus's day by and large as a nation, the religious leaders rejected Yeshua, many Christians are taught that the promises that once belonged to Israel because of their rejection of Yeshua have been given to New Testament believers. That Israel no longer holds a special role in terms of a chosen people on the earth. I want to tell you, there could be nothing farther from the truth. In fact, Paul states it so clearly point blank in the book of Romans in relationship to Israel. He says even though they have rejected Yeshua, he said the gift and call of God on their life is irrevocable. They still have a special role to play.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring you back to the beginning. I'm going to show you the chosenness of Israel, and then I'm going to, after we develop this theme of the chosenness of Israel, I'm going to show you how Israel still plays a very unique and special role in the plan of salvation and in the history of the kingdom of God. So praise God, let's just pray. Father God, we just pray that you'll give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you and that Father God, you'll help me to make this clear so all your people understand and can pray for the salvation of the Jewish people as they come to learn how important Jewish people are in relationship to the end times and the return of Jesus. Amen. Can you say Amen with me? And Amen.

Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering The Jewish Jesus, and Rabbi Schneider will be right back in just a moment. First, though, I want to invite you to explore our Messianic content on our website. You can dive deep into topics like the Feast of the Lord, the prophetic significance of Israel, and how Yeshua fulfilled prophecy. Visit DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com and click on our ministry and Messianic content tabs, helping you understand the roots of your faith today.

Deception is rising and many messages today, they're not the full gospel, but Rabbi's teachings come directly from scripture declaring truth with boldness. He's uncompromising, and if this ministry has blessed you, would you consider becoming a monthly partner today? To continue reaching the world with God's word, we need committed supporters just like you. So to become a monthly partner, call us at 800-777-7835. And now back to Rabbi Schneider.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I'm going to go back to the beginning. We're going to go back to the first book in the Bible, the book of Bereshit, and we're going to read about the call of Abraham. I'm going now to the book of Genesis, chapter number 12, I'm going to begin there in verse number one. Hear the word of God. Now the Lord, this is God's personal name here, now the Lord, Yod Hey Vav Hey, oftentimes pronounced with such reverence, a breathy Yahweh. The Lord said, "This is my memorial name forever." 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 so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."

So we read that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through Abraham. I want you to hear, we need to honor the uniqueness of the Jewish people. That's why the Lord said, "I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you." They're a chosen people. Jesus came to us through the Jewish people. The Lord says, "Don't be arrogant against the Jewish people because your salvation's foundation comes to you through them." Beloved, it's the same way with our parents. Don't we want to honor our parents for giving us birth? In the same way, we always want to honor the Jewish people because it's through them that the writings of scripture came to us, that Messiah came to us, that the apostles were Jews. So we want to honor the favor of God upon the Jewish people because they have become a blessing to the entire church. It's through them that we've come to a knowledge of God. Remember Paul, who went to all these different Gentile nations, which launched the church amongst the Gentiles, Paul was a Jew. So we want to understand from the beginning the Jewish people have played a special role in the kingdom of God.

Let's continue on here and find out what scripture has to say. Let's go to the book of Genesis, continuing verse number 17 here, verse five and six. We just read in chapter 12 that the Lord had spoke to Abraham and said, "Follow me." Once again, when God speaks, because of God's creative power, because of the life in his spirit, when he speaks, man's heart is ignited. This is why the scripture says, "In the day of God's power, man is made willing." In other words, when God pours his life out on somebody, the person who receives his life because God has poured it out on him automatically comes to life. They spring forth faith. Remember Jesus said to Lazarus, "Come forth," and what did Lazarus do? He came forth because when God speaks, humanity comes to attention. It's the nature of the relationship between Creator God and his creation. So God appeared to Abraham, he spoke to Abraham, so Abraham had faith ignited in him.

You have faith, beloved, because God has revealed himself to you. You may not realize it. You may think, "Well, I never had Jesus appear to me in my bedroom. I never encountered God at a burning bush. I never had some kind of experience where my whole room was filled with angels or light. So how have I had a supernatural experience?" Beloved, the very fact that you believe is because of the fact that God has given you divine intuition in your heart to know that he loves you, to know that he's alive, and to put your faith in his son knowing that his sacrifice paid the penalty for your sin. Even though you may have never had a spectacular experience when you compare it to others, that does not mean, beloved one, that does not mean that you have not had an encounter with the Lord. It's just that sometimes his encounters are more subtle. He appeared to Abraham, he spoke to Abraham, but in the same way, everyone that truly believes believes because God has made himself known to that individual.

You know, we sometimes hear the stories of the person that was a drug addict or the Jew or the Muslim that had this incredible supernatural experience and as a result of that experience, God delivered them and brought them to faith. And we wish that we could have those experiences. But I want you to know, some of you may have not had that kind of an experience, but you go back to perhaps when you were seven or eight years old and you were in church one day and you just believed because you believed that God loved you. You believed that you're precious to him. You put your faith in Jesus with the heart of a child. That experience is just as powerful, if not more so sometimes than the dramatic testimony. So don't discount, beloved, the supernatural relationship that God has with you.

So let's continue on. Genesis 17, we're moving forward. Here we go, verse five and six. The Lord had appeared to Abram and was speaking to him here. He said, "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I've made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings will come forth from you." So once again, what we're seeing here is the fact that the Jewish people are the foundation of the salvation that has come to the entire world. Remember the Lord said to Abraham, "Abraham, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." Well, this verse is quoted in the book of Galatians by Paul in reference to Jesus. Paul lifts up Yeshua and he says to the entire church, "This Yeshua is the seed, the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham." Paul is saying that when God said to Abraham, "Abraham, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed," Paul said in Galatians the seed that God was referring to there in Genesis is Yeshua.

So we need to get in alignment now with the fact that God has used the Israelites, he's used the Jewish people in a very special way in all of our lives. We want to honor them and even more so, we're going to be seeing how they still play a key role in the world today. Think about it. Again as I began to share earlier in the broadcast today, so many people in the church today, they think, "Oh, the Jews don't believe in Jesus. The Jews have been forsaken by God. The promises that once belonged to the Jews now belong to us." Some people unfortunately even believe that Jewish people are under a curse for rejecting Jesus. But let me ask you, beloved, can you still see the divine hand of God upon the Jewish people today? Look at all the Jewish doctors. Look at all the Jewish bankers. Look at all the Jewish people that have made great breakthroughs in the fields of science and medicine. Look at the number of Jewish people that are leading figures in entertainment. In other words, the impact that the Jewish people have had upon the earth is unexplainable because they're such a small proportion of the world's population.

One-fifth of one percent of the world's population are Jewish people. Yet look at the amount of Nobel prizes they've won. Look at the amount of medical breakthroughs that have been discovered by them. Look at the amount of scientific discoveries that they've been responsible for. It's amazing. The leading names in almost any field are Jewish people. How do you explain it? Because there's a special favor upon them even still. Even those that have rejected Jesus, the hand of God is still on their life in a special way. Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Jesus said to the Jewish people, "Unless you believe that I am he, you'll die in your sin." I'm not talking about being in reference to salvation, but I'm talking about the Jewish people are a marked people. It is evidence in scripture from the very beginning. When we look in our present history, we still see there's something supernatural about their lives. And beloved ones, they still play a supernatural role in the future of the church.

And it's important for you and I to understand what their role is. Because when we understand what the role of the Jewish people is in time going forward, it's going to bring us into the flow of God's spirit and God's going to use it and bring divine energy into our life for being in alignment with him in this particular area. Let me read for you from the book of Isaiah, chapter 49, verse six. But listen what the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah. "Is it too small a thing that you should be my servants to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel? I will also make you a light of the nations, get it now, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." And in this present time, God is raising up Jewish believers like myself and a few others right now to reach the ends of the earth with the message of the gospel. The Jewish people are playing a unique role in these end times that are leading up to Yeshua HaMashiach's return.

And I want to thank you, beloved, for supporting this ministry and supporting what we're doing. I love you today. And next time's broadcast, I'm going to show you what Paul said in the book of Romans, chapter 11, regarding the salvation of the Jewish people and the role that they're playing in the kingdom of God today. As you bless Israel, beloved one, in your heart, the Lord said he's going to bless you. Remember he said to Abraham, "I will bless those that bless you and I will curse those that curse you." I want to thank you for standing with me today. I want to thank you for standing with Discovering The Jewish Jesus. Most of all, beloved, thank you for standing with the purposes of God during this time in the earth.

I always make it a priority, beloved ones, to teach the truth of the word of God. And I know that on the earth today, sometimes it's hard to find teaching that you feel is authentic and that feeds you. I want to simply say this. It costs me a lot of money to broadcast. You see, Christian programmers like myself, we have to pay for our own airtime. And the only way that I can broadcast is when those that are receiving from this ministry respond by financially sowing into it. So I want to simply say, beloved, if you believe in me, if this ministry is feeding you, would you make a special offering to the Lord through Discovering The Jewish Jesus? The Bible teaches that we should financially support those that are feeding us. Paul said such men are worthy of support. If you're being blessed by this ministry, if you believe in what we're doing, if you want other people to be blessed by it, simply beloved, respond to the Holy Spirit and make an offering to the Lord today through Discovering The Jewish Jesus. I want to thank you in advance for your support. God bless you and Shalom.

Dustin Roberts: Amen. Give a financial gift of any amount to Discovering The Jewish Jesus. Just visit us online at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. And if it's easier for you, give us a call. Our number is 800-777-7835. That's 800-777-7835. You can also send your financial donation in the mail to Discovering The Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan 49228. That's P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan 49228.

And also, I want you to know, if you haven't signed up yet for our Seeds of Revelation, which is a simple way to stay connected with the ministry beyond the broadcast, I want to encourage you to sign up today. Every Friday, you'll receive a link to a short video message from Rabbi Schneider. Something personal, insightful, and rooted in scripture. It's not a long teaching or something that feels overwhelming. It's meant for a brief moment to help you refocus your heart, strengthen your faith, and keep your mind focused on the Lord throughout the week. To be included, all you need to do is go to DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com, click on the resources tab and then "Stay Connected," and you can sign up right there. Thanks so much for listening today to our broadcast. I hope you were blessed by this message. And if the Lord is putting it on your heart to support this ministry, visit DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. Thank you for your support. And now, here's Rabbi to share God's sacred blessing.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: 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.

Yevarechecha Yahweh veyishmerecha. Ya'er Yahweh panav elecha vichuneka. Yissa Yahweh panav elecha veyasem lecha shalom.

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.

Dustin Roberts: This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering The Jewish Jesus, and I'm your host, Dustin Roberts. Join us tomorrow when Rabbi Schneider shares the details regarding Israel and the end times. That's Thursday on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.