Shalom Partner and Friend of Israel,

Truly, it is no secret that we are living in unprecedented times. The unfolding of history in our century has been so remarkably fast and at times shocking, as societies, nations and whole cultures have been shaped and reshaped in a single generation. Not only has this generation witnessed the rise and fall of ideological and political empires, but also the coming forth of nearly 100 sovereign nations since World War II.

For the first time in nearly nineteen hundred years, the world and the church are faced with the phenomenon of restored Israel. And as the social, political and strategic challenges surrounding Israel seem enormous they are nevertheless small in comparison to spiritual implications of her resurrection and survival.

Most doctrinal errors are born when an over emphasis is placed on part of a truth rather than on the whole. It is like trying to put together a puzzle; trying to decipher the whole overall design by looking into the many and varied pieces while ignoring the picture on the box which alone provides the complete design. In the same way, inside into the mystery of Israel and the Church can come only as we consider the “Big Picture,” thus understanding God’s overall design.

There is no greater “picture” than that of “the summing up of all things in the Messiah, things in the heavens and things upon the earth” (Ephesians 1:10). All things ages and realities find their true essence in Yeshua alone and will come to their true fulfilment in Him only. Yeshua (Jesus) is the beginning and the end of all things.

He is the reason, the means and the purpose of all creations. Whatever is not “from Him and through Him and to Him” (Romans 11: 36) is not real, but is merely a fleeting illusion.

Israel, the church and the destiny of the nations also have no reality apart from the Messiah. The resurrection of ethnic Israel in our century is not accidental. Indeed, the mystery of God in Messiah as it unfolds in these last days encompasses the drama of His Bride drawn from among the nations, and the national and the spiritual resurrection of the people of Israel in their land.

And as the Father is summing up all things in His Son, it is in His heart to bring forth at the closing of this age a most glorious demonstration of His new creation, the “ONE NEW MAN” (Ephesians 2: 15).

This creation, which is neither Jew nor Gentile, but is derived from both, is taking on the very nature and life of the Son of God. Thus, in this ultimate display of both humility and unity, the full blessing of ever lasting life will find its richest, most glorious and eternal expression (Psalm 133).

“I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig tree.” Hosea 9:10

The Mystery of the One New Man - Jew and Gentile

Before the church can come into a full understanding and appreciation of who ethnic Israel is, and before Israel can fully come into the embrace of the Messiah, there MUST be reconciliation of the two. The fact is that both parties have failed the Lord and each other; they are in need of healing and restoration and MUST extend forgiveness in order to be forgiven. Just as the Jewish people, according to Scripture (Ezekiel 36:16–23), have defiled themselves and the land with uncleanness and unbelief, so has the church forsaken her foundational devotion to the Messiah and grazed for centuries in the fields of secular humanism and pharisaic doctrines.

However, as much as Israel’s need for restitution and repentance is concerned we find no clearer scriptural indictment than that breathed through the Prophet Ezekiel as he prophesied of Israel’s drama of failure and restoration.

Israel the very nation chosen and fashioned to represent God to the world has missed the mark. Israel has failed and the only scriptural remedy for re-entering the graces of God and the fellowship of his saints is through repentance.

It is our conviction that God is drawing Israel and the Church into the precious and glorious oneness of the One New Man spoken of in Scripture. Yet, for reconciliation to fully have its redeeming impact both peoples must humble them and receive the forgiveness of one another and of God!

The Roots of all Divisions

As we prayerfully look into the unfolding drama of Israel, the maturing church, and the coming together of the two, we face, by necessity, the deepest, widest, and most ancients of divisions in fabric of humanity. There has never been a more separation with such devastating results than the one between Jew and Gentile. The separation that exists between the two peoples started as soon as God called Abraham to become the father of a nation. (Exodus 19: 5 – 6)

As is often the case the setting apart of the one distances itself from the others and becomes somewhat exclusive. Indeed the Nation of Israel was placed on the lonely path! In the midst of global anarchy, has all humanity opposed God, denied His Lordship, and resisted His messengers; this nation was sovereignly created by God by grace for the work of GRACE.

From Genesis, Chapter 12 and on to the end of Malachi we witness the specific and exclusive dealings with God with one nation only. The nation was the sole recipient of the revelation of God – His favour, His blessing and His chastisement.

As the testimony of the Old Testament records God’s dealings with the human race through one chosen nation, so the testimony of the New Testament clearly displays the expansion of the divine plan.  The Holy Seed of God was planted in the earthen womb of Israel, and the Messiah was born. As He, in turn fell into the ground as seed and was raised again, the church was born. (Hebrew 1: 1 – 2) (See - February Newsletter “Ancient Womb.”)

The church was now anointed and commissioned to carry the Testimony of The living God to all creation. Healing, Forgiveness and Divine Acceptance were carried throughout the lost nations of a dying world. As the church declared and demonstrated the Kingdom of God, a new race was born; a race whose members carried the image of God. However, the ancient division between Jew and Gentile resulting from Israel’s election was still not bridged. The deepest of all divisions; the one between Israel and the Nations, worked its way into the new race of the redeemed, finding even more poisonous expressions within the church!

Whole Jewish communities were forced into physical ghettos in order to heighten the effect of their distinctiveness and cut them off from the gentile world.  As long as Jew and Gentile remain un-reconciled in the truest and deepest meaning of Christian harmony their will always be various divisions through out the Body of Christ. Thus, the root of all divisions is hidden in the ancient soil of hostility that still exists between Jew and Gentile, between Israel and the nations. This cursed soil has produced nothing but thorns and thistles for millenniums, worsening their breakdown. But, the blood of the Messiah even the soil can be cleansed. By the Word of God our minds can be changed, and by the Spirit of Heaven our hearts can be created new. 

Was it not the Lord’s own prayer in John 17: 21 – 23 that they may all be one?

Who was to blame?

Listen to Raul Hillberg, a foremost scholar of the Holocaust; “Since the forth century after Christ there have been three anti-Jewish policies: (forced) conversion, expulsion, annihilation. The second appeared as an alternative to the first, and the third emerged as an alternative to the second… The missionaries of Christianity had said in effect: You have no right to live among us as Jews. The secular rulers who followed proclaimed: You have no right to live among us. The Nazis at last decreed: You have no right to live.

The process began with the attempt to drive the Jews into Christianity. The development was continued in order to force the victims into exile. It was finished when the Jews were driven to their deaths. The German Nazi’s then, did not discard the past; they built on it. They did not begin a development – they completed it!”

Of course Israel has not been perfect and blameless. The Bible itself is full of words of rebuke for God’s chosen people. The word the Lord told Moses that they were stiff-necked (Exodus 32:9) and He informed the Prophet Ezekiel that if He had sent him to the gentile nations they would have listened to Him (Ezekiel 3:4 – 7).

The Gospels record conflict after conflict between Yeshua and the leaders of His people and the book of Acts states that the first believers were persecuted by abusive Jewish groups.

False teachings and Replacement Theology that was taught by Augustine during the 3^rd Century AD basically concluded that God was finished with the natural Jew and that all God’s wrath is upon the Jew. While all His blessings are upon the Gentile believers.

Psalm 25: 16 – 19 gives us a small look into the heart of King David.

How tragic that Christians - a people redeemed by a Jewish Messiah and instructed by Jewish Apostles, joint heirs of Israel’s Scriptures and grafted into Israel’s olive tree – should be almost totally ignorant of 2000 years of Jewish agony?

During times of great Jewish suffering right up to this century much of the church has remained indifferent to the Jewish people’s pain. For this sin too, we must take blame. These are the seeds of anti-Semitism that fester among believers today. For all these things too, we must repent. We are convinced that international Christian repentance for the church’s past (and present) sins against the Jews will lead to international Jewish repentance for Israel’s past (and present) sins against Yeshua.

The One New Man

Yeshua (Jesus) cried out on the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19: 30) However the consummation of His finished work was to cover the span of the whole Christian era, with great concentration of prophetic fulfillment at its very end. Thus, the reality of the “One New Man” pressed upon us these very days.

Paul, in his appeal to the Ephesian Disciples to properly recognize their glorious position in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) and their place in the Body, placed a special emphasis on the term “One New Man.” Read Ephesians Chapter two.  Paul continues to explain that God through Yeshua abolished the enmity between Jew and Gentile, broke down the dividing wall and made both groups into one.  (At this stage we must remind ourselves that God did not break His Covenant with the Jews)

It is only by the Cross of the Messiah that these two un-reconcilable groups, who were locked in mortal animosity and conflict, were brought into “One Body.” In fact, so profound is the unity of this new body of redeemed persons that the scripture testifies, “through Him we both (Jew and Gentile) have our access in one Spirit through the Father.” (Ephesians 2: 18) Thus establishing this unity as Spiritual in nature!

We understand that this miracle was brought about to fulfill a specific and very special desire in the Father’s Heart. Our God longs not simply to save many souls from eternal damnation, but to surround Himself eternally with people of faith, vision and passion. As the Scripture continues to unfold this marvelous revelation, Paul enters a construction mode “this master builder” describes the newly created race (drawn from both Jewish and Gentile heritage, yet growing into the likeness of Messiah Himself) as “building material.”

Paul wrote that in Yeshua the whole “the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2)

This ultimate and mutual humbling of both Jew and Gentile, laying aside those things that divide while being poured into God’s new mould will result in the ultimate exultation and glory that is promised to characterize the complete house of the Lord!

How magnificent our God is that kept the best until the end! This house of the Lord; this dwelling of God in the Spirit will have as its building material God’s best creation -The One New Man.

In the mind of God, the church was never a “replacement” of Israel; it was simply a continuation of the covenant made with Abraham. Therefore, to win Jews to Messiah and not impart to them a vision of God’s eternal vision for His house is to hinder them from entering into the fullness of their potential inheritance in Yeshua. (Ephesians 1: 3 – 11)

Truly, even as it required both Jew and Gentile to join together in crucifying the Lord, so it requires both Jew and Gentile to harmonize again, this time to bring about the full expression about His resurrection life. As the Psalmist David sums it up, “how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! ... For there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forever. (Psalm 133)

These walls constitute fortresses of prejudices, anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry, religious pride etc that must be destroyed before we can walk together as “One New Man” in Christ.

God’s plan of Salvation

While at the cross of Yeshua, complete reconciliation was accomplished and we don’t yet experience the fullness of it. At the cross, man was not only reconciled to God, having our sin atoned for, but man was also reconciled to man and to creation, as all hostilities, rivalries melt in the presence of God.

Standing in gap

The Lord does not desire a Jewish Church and a Gentile Church. He is building His church to be without walls so that Jew and Gentile believers can walk together in One Body. However, before walls in the church will come down, they must be first be torn down in the minds of believers. 2 Corinthians 10: 5

Before Jews can distinguish between true believers and nominal church members they must have had a personal encounter with God. Yet how can they obtain such experience if believing Gentiles constantly confront them with alien symbols which prevent them from giving the New Covenant fair evaluation? In order to get their fair hearing, it is reasonable to expect the believer to go out of his way to avoid offending Jewish people. Remember, for almost 2000 years these church symbols have only driven Jewish people further from their God.

The Messianic Jew (believer in Yeshua) directs his efforts toward removing these obstacles. He has a built in incentive to do so. His family and friends haven’t gotten into God’s program yet. So he carefully tries to remove roadblocks to understanding. For this reason, discussion emphasises the Scriptural Jewish ness of these seemingly Gentile concepts. For example, the name “Jesus Christ” generally is a bone in the throat of Jewish people. This is because so much wrong has been done in His Name by those who affiliate with the church, but who have no knowledge of God. Since it creates a problem for Jewish people, why not call Jesus by His Hebrew name, Yeshua HaMashiach? This in no way indicates shame of His name; it simply removes a linguistic obstacle. Besides, the Hebrew name Yeshua HaMashiach is more technically correct.

When followers saw the Carpenter from Galilee they didn’t say “there goes Jesus Christ.” They spoke Hebrew or Aramaic and properly referred to Him by his given name and title. When His Hebrew name was translated into Greek, it became “Hesus Christos.” This was later Anglicized to “Jesus Christ.” The literal translation of Yeshua is “Salvation” and HaMashiach means “The Messiah” (the Anointed One). Thus, Jesus Christ literally means, “Salvation is of the Messiah.” Isn’t it much more reasonable and more palatable to use His Hebrew Name when talking to a Jew? This explanation will also help clarify the term “Messianic Jew.”

Since the word “Christian” comes from the Hebrew word meaning Messiah, why not call a Christian Jew a “Messianic Jew?”

It is a privilege and a responsibility for the church everywhere to intercede for what God is sovereignly doing by His Spirit in the land of Israel, and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

And More Tears...

The Church will be healthy only when it grieves for the Jewish people. The Jewish people have suffered for their sins against God. And the Jewish people have suffered because of mankind’s sins against them. For all this suffering, the Church must grieve.

Did the Jewish people sin in Yeshua (Jesus) time? That didn’t stop the Son of God from weeping!

Did the Jewish people sin in Jeremiah’s day? That didn’t stop the Prophet from weeping! Jeremiah 9:1. Even if they refused to repent, the Prophet lamented still; Jeremiah 13: 17.

Isaiah wept when he prophesied destruction over Moab and Babylon, enemies of Judah and Israel. He wept for his own people too; Isaiah 22:4

During the days of Yeshua’ s life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears. Hebrews 5: 7 Now, in heaven “He always lives to intercede” Hebrews 7: 25.  Do you think He’s tears flow today?

Yeshua (Jesus) still weeps over Jerusalem. It is hard to understand how children of God claim to know His voice so well never seem to hear Him cry.

Baruch Haba B’shem Adonai (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord)

Today, God is rising up Apostolic Ministries, spiritual fathers, who by the Spirit will lay foundations for “His” house; Churches where Jew and Gentile constitute “One New Man,” being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit  (Ephesians 2: 13 – 22).

Believers throughout the world are crying out, “Maranatha! O Lord come!” People from every nation are praying for the Messiah’s return. But He is waiting for something very important to Him. He must be received by His brothers. Until then, He will not come. Jerusalem, standing for Israel and the Jewish people, must welcome Him Back.

Our Jewish Saviour sends this message through the Church “Ask My Jewish people, ‘You are My brothers, My own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the King?’” Israel the world is waiting for you!

John said that when the Lord comes back on the clouds, “every eye will see Him” Revelations 1:17. But Yeshua said to Jerusalem: Look your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

Matthew 23: 38 -39; "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!  See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

He must be received as the Messiah by His very own people before He will return to Jerusalem. Only the family of David can welcome the Son of David back to the City of David.

This simple conclusion is inescapable … If every eye will see Him when He returns, and if Jerusalem will not see Him until she welcomes Him back, then no eye will see Him until Jerusalem receives Him! All eyes worldwide are already on Jerusalem. Soon they’ll focus on Jerusalem’s King!

We sincerely believe that God has raised up Pray4Zion and all the Partners at this very important time in History, to STAND with Israel, be the VOICE, and bring awareness to the Body of the Christ. To all our precious Partners we would like to thank you for your continual support to Pray4Zion and the Jewish Nation, Israel. God bless.

Alf & Julie Saunders

15^th August, 2009