The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah
Entire Study Recently Updated January 2006
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The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah Entire Study Recently Updated January 2006
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Lesson Four: Christian Anti-Semitism Part One: The Church Fathers
TEXT: Exodus 20:12 - Honor thy father and thy mother: that
thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee.
Malachi was the last book of the "Bible" the early church read. The New Covenant was not added to the canon of Scripture for nearly 500 years after Messiah was resurrected. The last prophecy in the Old Covenant describes how important this matter is to God:
Malachi 4:6 - And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse
If the "fathers" are the Jewish people, who are the 'children?' The children are the Christians because they have received a spiritual heritage from the Jewish fathers of the faith. God says if the hearts of the Jewish people are not turned to the Christians and the hearts of the Christians to the Jewish people, He will strike the earth with a curse.
The devil has worked hard to keep the two groups apart. With cunning like a master chess player, he has placed a barrier that seems insurmountable between believers in Jesus and the Jewish people. Jesus came to break down the wall between Jew and Gentile. Ephesians 2:14 says Jesus has made "the two (Jew and Gentile) one." Jesus prayed in John 17:21 "that they all may be ONE - that the world might believe. Whom does "all" refer to? I can tell you know it does NOT refer to the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals as some try to teach this verse urging unity among denominations. We need unity among denominations but denominations did not exist in Jesus' day. Jesus was not praying for denominations. He was praying for His followers, who were Jewish, and for those who will believe from their words - the Gentiles. The stakes are high. Jesus says when Jewish and Gentile believers are one -THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE. When this happens, the same degree of glory that is on Jesus will be released on the church as stated in John 17:22:
John 17:20-22 - Neither
pray I for these alone, (His
followers who were Jewish) but for
them also which shall believe on me
through their word; (the
Gentiles) [21] That they (Jewish
and Gentile believers) all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they
also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. (When the church sees the unity between the Gentile Church and the Jewish
believers- HARVEST!) [22] And the glory
which thou gave me
I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
John 17:26 - And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Romans 11:11 - I say then,
Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their
fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles,
for to provoke them to jealousy.
For the Jew it is different. The greatest stumbling block to the Jew are signs and wonders. The Jewish mind has always required a sign. It's what got the Jewish religious leaders so angry at Jesus when they were demanding He show proof He was the Son of God. When He told them the only sign they'd be given was the CROSS, it enraged them! The Jewish mind still requires a sign today:
Although there have been many in the Christian faith who gave their lives in trying to stand up for the Jewish Race (Germany's Dietrich Bonhoffer comes to mind) some of the most anti-Jewish people in the last 2,000 years have been those who have called themselves "Christian." Through the centuries, accusations and statements by the church and its leaders against the Jews have led to a form of vicious "Christian" anti-Semitism:
Martin Luther said quite a few derogatory things actually about the Jews. In his Von den Juden und Iren Luegen treatise of 1543 he wrote, "what then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews? Since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing, we cannot tolerate them if we do not wish to share in their lies, curses, and blasphemy...We must prayerfully and reverently practice a merciful severity."
Encyclopedia Judaica comments on Luther's statements: "Short of the Auschwitz over and extermination, the whole Nazi Holocaust is pre-outlined here." In another tirade against the Jews, Luther said, quoting, "those rulers who have Jewish subjects need to exercise a sharp mercy toward these wretched people...They must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in, proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone and marrow...burn down their synagogues...If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs." (From Luther Works, Vol. 47: The Christian In Society IV)
Indeed Luther's words were prophetic because in 1933 in Adolph Hitler's infamous book, Mein Kampf he wrote, "hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." And in the name of "Christianity" and "God" Adolph Hitler used the nation of Germany to slaughter six million Jewish people through genocide. We are going to take an in-depth look at Hitler's' holocaust of the Jewish people in our next lesson. What makes the holocaust so horrible was the role the church in Germany (AND AROUND THE WORLD INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES) played in this demonic demented act of humanity.
Speaking as part of the church - we need a miracle to remove this wound. Only God can restore the damage between the church and the Jewish people. Repentance is the first step. Maybe none of us reading this are Anti-Semitic, but as members of His Body, we must and need to repent for the sins of the whole church. Daniel did not rebel against God, but he repented on behalf of Israel. Some feel we should not talk of this sad history but I believe its what's holding back God's total glory and blessing on the 21rst Century Church. The church must get rid of this horrible SIN! Repentance will prepare the way for a great Jewish revival. As the Gentiles who believe in Jesus repent and mature in Jesus, the Jewish people will become more open to the Gospel. Step one toward maturity is REPENTANCE! It's the Passover Lamb - YESHUAH - who takes away the sins of the world.
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