The Ongoing Challenge of Jewish Mission
They live on every continent and in almost every country, from India to Ireland, from New York to New Zealand. They represent just 14 million of the total world population of 6 billion, yet have impacted virtually every sphere of human life out of all proportion to their numbers. Their forefathers received astonishing privileges and promises from God but, tragically, the vast majority today have never heard the message of their true Messiah shared in love. Who will weep?
The rabbis have raised numerous objections to the Jewish people believing in Jesus: claiming that he did not rise from the dead, that he did not fulfil the Hebrew Scriptures, that he was a false Messiah, that he was not the true Passover Lamb. Today, many Jewish people follow the false gods of secularism and postmodernism, while paying lip service to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Virtually any belief is acceptable within the Jewish community, except for the belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Who will pray?
For nearly two millennia, they have been the most persecuted people on earth. Much of this persecution has come at the hands of those claiming to follow Jesus, which has become a formidable stumbling-block to Jewish people believing in Him. The Gentile church was and is to provoke Israel to jealousy, but has more often provoked her to anger and grief. How is she being provoked today?
Before the Holocaust, many European countries had thriving Hebrew Christian movements; these had all but vanished by 1945. Some of Hitler’s speeches came direct from Luther’s pen; unsurprisingly, some rabbis now see Christian mission to the Jewish people as “spiritual Nazism”. Yet more Jewish people have come to faith in the last 30 years than in the previous 19 centuries put together. In the USA and Israel, especially, there is much openness. The work requires patient relationship-building and deep awareness of Jewish sensitivities. Who will go?
There have been Jewish believers in Jesus in every generation – a remnant saved by grace. As far as the gospel is concerned, unbelieving Jewish people are outside of salvation; yet they are loved on account of their ancestors, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Israel has been partially hardened until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, yet God promises that one day all Israel will be saved. Even now, it remains natural for Jewish people to be grafted back into their own olive tree. Their loss brought riches to the nations and the reconciliation of the world; their acceptance of the gospel will mean nothing less than life from the dead. Even as the gospel goes out to the nations, God longs for the return of Israel, His firstborn son: he has not cast away His people. British Christians once had a strong interest in Jewish mission, but this has fallen in recent years. Who will catch God’s vision?
Recommended websites:
www.cwi.org.uk – Christian Witness to Israel
www.cmj.org.uk – Church’s Ministry among Jewish People
www.shalom.org.uk – tackling Jewish objections to Jesus
http://www.om.org/challenge/view.jsp?fromCountryId=GB&fieldId=0037000000&optionId=G492 and http://www.ywam.org/Searches/BProfile.asp?BID=97 – short-term opportunities in Israel (knowledge of Hebrew, Russian or Arabic an advantage)
www.yeshua4israel.com – more short term opportunities – contact pastor Tony Simon at antony@inter.net.il
Books:
Betrayed (Stan Telchin, Zondervan) – the bestselling story of one Jewish family’s search for the Messiah
Hated without a Cause? (Graham Keith, Paternoster Press) – a theological and historical survey of anti-Semitism
Share the New Life with a Jew (Moishe Rosen, Moody Press) – a useful introduction to Jewish evangelism
The author can be contacted via the 9:38 administrator