"Tell the Jews Their Messiah Has Come"

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This story is based on a short article.

SESSION 3

Welcome to another broadcast of ComfortForToday.com. My name is Doreen Palmer, author of a website of the same name. The articles, poems and other writings on the website ComfortForToday.com will be presented and explained on these broadcasts.

Today's message is "Tell the Jews Their Messiah has Come."

But before I read this article to you, I would like to tell you about a plane ride a few years ago when I was given an opportunity to do just that - to tell a Jew that his Messiah has come!

My husband and I were sitting in the Toronto airport awaiting a flight to Florida. The plane on which we had been scheduled to fly had been cancelled, and we were waiting for a seat on a later plane. As we were waiting, I remember remarking to my husband, "I wonder what God has in mind with this delay. There must be a reason for it." Well as it turned out, God did have a reason for it as I will now explain.

One hour later, the airline gave us seats on another plane, but because of space, we were seated separately. When I took my allotted seat, I couldn't believe my eyes when a Jewish gentleman came to sit beside me. I recognized that he was a Jew because he wore on his head a yamaka.

I decided not to say anything to him unless the conversation opened up naturally. Well, it did, and very quickly turned to the Christian faith. As soon as he discovered I was a Christian, and also a Christian author, he was very anxious to talk about it.

I happened to be carrying with me a copy of what I had written about future events as recorded in the Bible, mainly about the future of Israel. This gentleman was well-educated, and well-versed in Judaism. Although he didn't tell me, I gathered from what he told me that he was a prominent leader in a synagogue in Toronto. He told me that he had been wanting to talk to a Christian who really believed, and how happy he was to meet me. He read some of what I had written in my booklet, then suddenly stopped as if hit by a thunderbolt! He leaned forward in his seat and said, "Did Zechariah say THAT?"

He pointed to what I had copied from Zechariah 12, verses 10 and 11. The verse is in the Old Testament with which he was familiar: This is what it says:

"They shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son,...in that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem."

I showed him in Revelation 1, verse 7 of the New Testament where he read essentially the same message.

I knew he had suddenly seen the truth. The veil had been removed from his spiritual eyes to see that both Old and New Testaments were foretelling a time of mourning when the Jews will realize that the One who was "pierced" was indeed their Messiah. Although this Jew did not mention it, perhaps he also saw that because in this prophecy the people "LOOK" on Him who was pierced, He must be coming back!

It was then that my Jewish companion remarked that our meeting together was a "divine appointment." But when I told him that my plane left one hour LATER THAN SCHEDULED, you would never believe what his answer was.

He said "Well that is amazing. I am on a flight one hour EARLIER THAN SCHEDULED!

Before he got off the plane, he went over to his wife and Jewish friends who were travelling with him, and I overheard him telling them something of what had taken place.

God is creating divine appointments everywhere for the Jews to hear about Jesus. I have heard many more stories such as mine. Our job is to pray that they will ALL have divine appointments. So today we must tell our Jewish friends what the Bible says about their future. Passages such as Romans 11, beginning at verse 11 explain it well.

I shall now read the article "Tell the Jews Their Messiah Has Come" omitting some of the scripture references which you will find in article 3 on the website.

"TELL THE JEWS THEIR MESSIAH HAS COME"

"We need only to listen to today's newscasts to know that Israel is in trouble, deep trouble. She has many enemies, and has become the "burdensome stone" and the "cup of trembling" to all nations as the prophet Zechariah said she would (in Zech.12:2-3). But Jesus Christ brought good news of a happy ending for Israel. There are many, many scriptures which tell about this. For example, in Revelation 21 Jesus tells us of His return to govern the world with government headquarters in Jerusalem. You see, the land of Israel belongs to God, and her people are His beloved chosen race. The Bible never ceases to affirm this fact, for example in Jer.31:1-6).

"If God loves Israel, why does she continue to suffer"? you may ask. The Bible says that as a loving parent disciplines his child, so God also disciplines those He loves (see Heb.12:6). After Israel's leaders cried to the Roman governor to crucify Jesus (Mark 15:13), the people said "Let His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt.27:25). History tells us that seventy years after Jesus'crucifixion, the Jews were forced to flee to other nations of the world, and we know this to be a fact today with millions of Jews living in many foreign lands.

But the prophets all foretold that the Jews would one day return home, and in our day they have been pouring back into Israel from every corner of the earth. Yet scriptures such as Jer. 30:10-11 tell us this will not be the end of their troubles.

As the cry of "peace, peace" resounds throughout the world for the tiny land of Israel, we heed the scriptural warning in I Thessalonians 5:3 that such a cry precedes a time of terrible trouble. A false messiah will precede the return of the true Messiah. This false messiah will be very popular, a leader of world renown, a leader who will sign a seven-year covenant of peace between Israel and her enemies. But this peace will be short-lived, and the leader will become very evil. We also read that BEFORE this false messiah is made known, those of all nations who have been looking for Jesus Christ to deliver them from this time of terrible trouble will be snatched up to heaven (Luke 21:36, I Thess.5:9 and other scriptures). We would want our Jewish friends to be saved.

Although the Jews always believed what the Old Testament prophets foretold, they did not understand that the prophecies about their Messiah had intertwined His first coming and His second coming, often within a single verse. For example Isaiah 9:6 foretells that God's Son would be born, the government would be upon His shoulders, and He would be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah himself obviously did not understand that his prophecy covered both advents of Jesus Christ!

Israel, according to scriptures, is in for a continuing bad time. The good news is that after Israel's troubles have ended and she recognizes that Jesus Christ is her Messiah, a new and perfect world order will be established, with the government upon His shoulders, as Isaiah foretold.

Jesus Christ is Israel's coming King. Rev. 21:1-4 tells us that He will rule the entire world from Jerusalem. Let us tell our Jewish friends the good news, and encourage them to accept Him as their own personal Messiah. He loves them dearly and does not want them to suffer any more!

I shall now read a poem I wrote in 1987, but it takes on new meaning today as we consider it a command for Christians to tell the Jews that the Lord Jesus Christ is their Messiah who is coming again as King to rule not only over Israel, but over the entire world.

TELL MY PEOPLE THE GOOD NEWS

Away My child, and carry out
The message sent from heaven.
Tell My people of My love
And of the hope you're given

Though tempests rage and wild winds blow
Fear will not grip your heart.
My love will then your spirit fill,
And joy and peace impart.

The evil one will have no power
To cause you to dismay,
My Spirit will dispel his grip -
It is a brand new day!

So peace and power and hope and love
I send down from My throne;
There'll be no cause to doubt Me now,
You're all My very own!

Remember, now, I'm coming soon
To take you home with Me.
Every need you have is met,
I'm yours, you're Mine - you're free!

PRAYER:

We come before You this afternoon Lord Jesus, and thank You for the Bible with its proven words of prophecy to tell us what must take place in Israel before Your kingdom can be established on this earth.

We pray now for the peace of Jerusalem as You asked us to pray. We ask that the darkness over Israel be bound, and that the light of your Holy Spirit will shine through that darkness. We ask for peace, but we also know that until all acknowledge You as the true Messiah there can be no lasting peace. Let none be deceived by the false messiah who will precede Your return, but that all will heed the Biblical warning before it is too late.

We ask that You send forth laborers into the harvest - that every man, woman and child will have "divine appointments" to learn the truth about who You are and how history is unfolding to usher in true peace under Your government. Help the Jews to understand that we who are Christians are their best friends, and are praying for that day when "all Israel shall be saved." To them we owe our faith.

"God bless Israel."

"WORSHIP: "A Love Song to Jesus"