Monthly Archives: April 2024

April 15, 2024 · 8:30 AM

Passover Points to a God Who Keeps His Promises

I would like to wish you a Happy Passover and Easter.

Since the exodus, Jewish people have celebrated Passover as a memorial to God’s love, power, and plan for His chosen people. It is a reminder of how the Lord of the universe, against all odds, promised to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage and bring them back to the land of Israel (Genesis 15:13–14). Passover reminds us God has not forgotten His promises to His people.

If God keeps His promises to Jewish people, then we have further confidence He will keep His promises to all those who have trusted in Jesus!

Each year, on the fourteenth day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, God asks the people of Israel to stop whatever they are doing and observe the Passover—regardless of circumstances. The Jewish community observed the festival amid the darkest moments of Jewish history—the Crusades, pogroms in Eastern Europe, the Holocaust, and the wars following the formation of the modern State of Israel in 1948.

Despite the terrible loss of life on October 7, 2023, and the ongoing war we currently face in Israel, Jewish people will again remember God’s miraculous redemption and faithfulness revealed in the Passover! The observance of Passover is a higher priority than all other events or challenges we face as families and as Jewish individuals. Our busy schedules must bow to the Lord’s commands and plans—this is true not only for Jewish people but for every follower of Jesus as well!

The prioritizing of God’s will we learn from observing the Passover and other holidays is a critical lesson for those who want to follow the Lord. We need to be ready to drop what we are doing in order to obey the Lord and follow Him. This practice is an important lesson Christians can learn from Jewish people.

PASSOVER: HOPE FOR SHATTERED TRUST

On October 7, most Israelis lost trust in the army and government, whose preparation for and response to the flagrant violation of Israel’s borders was insufficient at best. I cannot blame my fellow Jewish people living in Israel for feeling this way, as they were profoundly disappointed by those entrusted to protect them. When we draw back the curtains of history and look at the story of Passover, we see there is only One who merits our complete trust—God Himself.

Egypt trusted in their numerous gods, but the God of Israel proved Himself stronger than them all. The Lord delivered His people “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 26:8). Passover teaches us God shows up at the right time, even when it seems all odds are stacked against Jewish people. We trust in God alone for Israel’s ultimate deliverance from her enemies at the end of days.

The Bible teaches all humankind is damaged by sin, which clouds our judgment and often causes us to place the concerns of this world above God’s concerns. Even the people we love sometimes disappoint us because of sin. Sin also taints all human institutions, which ultimately disappoint us.

God warned Israel not to trust in man but rather in God:

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! (Isaiah 31:1)

I understand this passage very personally, as I trusted in the world until the day I met the Jewish Messiah, who delivered me from my false reliance and enabled me to stand upon the rock of His faithfulness. Though it may take some time, and we may struggle with trusting in the Lord and not leaning on our own understanding—or the understanding of others—the Lord will always prove Himself trustworthy. My prayer for my people today is for this disenchantment with institutions and people to lead to a deeper trust in the God of Israel and His promises.

IN GOD WE SHOULD TRUST

When I think about the future of Jewish people, I think of passages in the prophets like Isaiah 62, Amos 9, and Jeremiah 31. Perhaps we can take a quick look at this last passage and remember God’s promises of Israel’s deliverance:

Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:37)

God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham will not allow Him to stand by and watch the destruction of His chosen people. The Lord Himself will make sure Israel fulfills the purposes for which He created and chose them. Passover is an excellent example. For the Israelites to fulfill their divine calling, they had to dwell in the land of promise. Egypt’s power could not stand in the way, and God rescued His people with great signs. Passover is a reminder of God’s faithful track record. Because He has saved and sustained His people thus far, we can be confident He will continue.

We already see signs of Jesus’ soon return when all Israel will recognize Him as the Savior. Many Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel in unbelief and will one day experience the fullness of the Spirit of God. The dry bones of Ezekiel 37 will come alive! Yet, this fulfillment is only the beginning. Jewish people simply living in the land does not satisfy the totality of the Abrahamic promise, as Israel must inherit the land and dwell in peace with her neighbors:

In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:24–25)

As we well know, this has yet to happen! However, it will come to pass when Jewish people turn to Jesus, and He returns to reign as King. Jerusalem, Israel, and the world will then be transformed.

Too often, we end Israel’s story at the cross and see Jewish people replaced by those who follow Jesus—including Jewish people and Gentile nations—without understanding the day will come when Jewish people return to the Lord and Messiah. Only then will the world be blessed as the Holy One promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:3).

Darrell Bock, a New Testament scholar, often says the inclusion of the Gentiles does not demand the exclusion of the Jewish people from the purposes of God (Romans 11:17–18).

Another incredible blessing we look forward to when Jesus returns is God Himself will once again rule over His creation without the limitations the fall caused. As Jeremiah wrote:

They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)

For those who follow Jesus, part of this verse has already come to pass, as God has forgiven all our sins because of our faith in the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. However, this prophecy has obviously yet to be fulfilled entirely. Nevertheless, I believe the universal reign of the one true King is one of the glorious results of the second coming of Jesus!

Passover not only reminds Jewish people of God’s plan of redemption but also reminds those who love the Jewish Messiah today He will come again to deliver our beautiful-but-broken world from the darkness and frailty of sin once and for all.

Passover makes me cry out: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

Happy Easter and Passover from your Chosen People Ministries family,
Mitch

P.S. My heart still breaks for the hostages. We must not forget about them but continue to pray for their release from captivity, especially during Passover!

Reflections on the Eclipse

My wife and I had the joy of traveling to South Carolina in 2022 to watch the last eclipse. It was quite remarkable. It was at that time that we began planning to go see the next eclipse, which took place a few days ago. The next one will be in 2044, and chances are I might see that eclipse from a true heavenly place—but, you never know!

There has been a lot of discussion, especially in various social media channels, about the spiritual implications of the eclipse. The fundamental questions are “is the eclipse in some way tied to end-time events?” and “is God trying to tell us something through the eclipse?” These questions involve discussions that imply, in one way or another, the eclipse is connected to some type of prophetic event involving Israel and the Jewish people. So, of course, these discussions always have my ear!

I have heard a variety of theories about the linkage of this eclipse to the end times, and I thought that maybe I could add a bit to the discussion by writing something biblically sound. I prayed and asked the Lord for some insight and then it hit me . . . there is a major lesson from God’s Word to learn from the eclipse that involves Israel, the Jewish people, and the end of time! May I share this with you?

The End-Time Vision of the Prophet Jeremiah

“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lorf, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah’” (Jeremiah 31:31).

This passage continues through verse 34 and shows that the original audience for the new covenant message was the Jewish people. Yet, the application of the prophecy expands beyond the children of Israel and is, in part, fulfilled among both Jewish and Gentile Christians today (Hebrews 8:7–13). Christians are now enjoying a foretaste of what the Jewish people will experience when that great day comes when all of Israel will be saved and turn to Jesus as Savior (Romans 11:25ff).

So how are believers in Yeshua experiencing the new covenant today? First, both Jews and Gentiles who enter the new covenant through faith in Jesus the Messiah have the law of God written on their hearts, which causes those who are born again by the Spirit of God to obey God rather than disobey Him. Secondly, they receive the forgiveness of their sins through the shed blood of the Messiah Jesus on Calvary.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

What will one day happen to the nation of Israel has now already taken place among both Jews and Gentiles who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah. And one day this will happen to the Jewish people at the time of national repentance, also predicted by the prophet Zechariah:

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spiritof grace and supplication. They will look onme, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son (Zech 12:10).

On the other hand, there is more to come! And this “more to come” is related to the second coming of Jesus as, when He comes to establish His earthly kingdom, the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters fill seas. Also, there will be peace among nations and all peoples, as even the torn Middle East will no longer be in conflict. According to Isaiah 19:23–24, Israel, Egypt, and Assyria will walk arm in arm in the kingdom.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

So, What Does the Eclipse Have to Do with This Glorious Future Day?

It is necessary to continue reading and move past Jeremiah 31:34 to verses 35–37 where, according to my dear friend Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum (with tongue firmly in cheek), the prophet instructs his readers on how to destroy the Jews!

Jeremiah prophesies,

Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name: “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” declares the Lord (Jer 31:35–37).

So, what does this have to do with an eclipse?

Let me offer my simple definition of an eclipse: an eclipse occurs when the moon blocks the sun (fully or partially). But thankfully, an eclipse is not permanent, it is a temporary phenomenon. Otherwise, it would mean that somehow the order of creation had changed, and this is impossible for neither people nor nature can alter the order of God’s creation.

According to Jeremiah—the weeping prophet—not only is it impossible to change the course of the sun, moon, and stars but it is also unrealistic to think we can change the tides of the seas. Have you ever noticed that the oceans stay within their divinely ordained boundaries?

Indeed, as we read in the first chapter in the book of Genesis, God created the heavenlies according to His sovereign pattern. And if the planets were to align in a way that was contrary to creation, then this would be a temporary, heavenly anomaly. Certainly, the seas sometimes cross their divine boundaries as we saw with Hurricane Sandy and the Thai Tsunami of 2004 but, thank God, the seas always return to their God-ordained limits. In other words, the order of creation is miraculous and established by God himself. Momentary changes do occur, but creation usually snaps back to its original design as ordained by the heavenly designer.

According to Jeremiah’s words, the only way to destroy the Jewish people is to do what is impossible and that is to permanently alter the course of God’s creation. If you can destroy the sun, the moon, and the stars and instruct the oceans to overflow on a regular basis, then you can force the hand of God to revoke His covenant of faithfulness to the Jewish people.

As much as God is committed to the order of His creation—the heavens and the earth—He is similarly committed to the unshakeable nature of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Neither Hamas, Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, Isis, Iran, Syria nor any other country or group will be able to destroy the Jewish people any more than we might alter the very order of God’s Creation.

According to Zechariah 12:9–10, the day is coming when we will see the nations perched on the doorstep of Israel, seething with hostility, and prepared to destroy the Jewish people. Yet, in that day the Jewish people will cry out to Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as one mourns for an only begotten Son. Then, in Zechariah 14 we read that His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which will be split in half and the enemies of Israel will be conquered. The Lord Jesus will return in power and glory and sit on His rightful Davidic throne throughout the kingdom period.

Thus, we see that God will not allow the nations supposed to be blessed by Israel to turn on Israel and destroy His chosen people. He made sure and certain promises to the Jewish people that are irrevocable. Hallelujah!

Next time you look at an eclipse, wearing the proper glasses of course, and see the light of the sun blocked by the moon, you will remember that it is a passing phenomenon, as God set a heavenly order in place that cannot be destroyed. And the same goes for the Jewish people who are bound by an unconditional covenant and destined to fulfill His plan for the nations. We cannot destroy what God has created, and we cannot annihilate the people He created and called for His holy purposes to be a blessing and light to the nations. The Jewish people cannot be permanently eclipsed any more than His creation. And you don’t need to wear special glasses to see it.

1 Comment

Filed under evangelism, Israel, Jewish Christian Dialogue, Jews and Christians, Judaism, Messianic Jewish

Tagged as eclipse, evangelism, israel, Judaism, Messiah, Messianic, ministry, mission, Yeshua

April 1, 2024 · 9:00 AM

Reflections of a Jewish “Jesus Freak”

I hope this letter finds you rejoicing in the Lord. This year, April is a joyful month for me as my birthday falls one day before Passover! Most years, my birthday falls during Passover, and I have to endure eating unleavened birthday cakes. The only tolerable ones were those made with chocolate fudge. This year, I can eat a normal birthday cake (strawberry shortcake is my favorite!).

Now, to get down to the more serious part of why I am rejoicing in the Lord this Passover.

This year is my fifty-third as a believer in Messiah. Next month, I will celebrate the twenty-seventh anniversary of leading our historic Mission to the Jewish People. I began serving as the president of Chosen People Ministries on May 1, 1997. So, I have many blessings to enjoy this April, including celebrating Passover—my favorite Jewish holiday—and reflecting on continuing to lead this incredible work among Jewish people.

I would like to tell you how I came to believe in Jesus and ultimately become a missionary among my Jewish people!

GROWING UP IN NEW YORK AND HEADING WEST

I was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Queens, and lived in a very traditional Jewish home. I had my bar mitzvah (a Jewish rite of passage) when I was thirteen and then, like so many of my Jewish friends, stopped attending synagogue regularly. Each year, my parents sent me to Orthodox Jewish summer camp when we were not going to the Borscht Belt—the Catskill Mountains—where many Jewish people went to spend cooler summers outside the heat of New York City.

Eventually, my parents moved our family to central New Jersey, where I graduated high school at seventeen. My high school career had gone rapidly downhill when I started doing drugs. I still went to college, but only briefly before dropping out a few months later.

While at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, I made some new friends, Fred and Joan. Fred and I decided to move to Sausalito, California, to build a houseboat with his brother Bruce and best friend Jhan. In early spring 1970, we hitchhiked to San Francisco and eventually landed in Sausalito.

At the time, I knew nothing about the Jesus movement going on in San Francisco. I did not read Christian literature and gave no thought to Jesus. After a while, I was tired of doing drugs. We also had to move out of our houseboat because the building inspector condemned it. We left thousands of dollars of wood and supplies—as well as our dreams—floating on Sausalito Bay. We moved into a hippie commune called the Freaky Dude Ranch, which, though not a proper dude ranch, was quite freaky! I was there with about seventeen other people and lived in a closet with someone who eventually turned out to be a Satan worshiper!

I started doing transcendental meditation but was not very successful at it! I slowly moved away from drugs and got a job through the Marin County Board of Education, teaching in their outdoor education program at a campground near Pescadero, California.

THE REVOLUTION BEGINS

I loved the 2023 film Jesus Revolution. Seeing our lives reflected in a movie made me laugh and cry. I lived through it, and I can tell you the film is accurate. In the 1960s and 70s, the Lord moved powerfully among young adults, and many of us were Jewish. I believe He can do it again, in any place and at any time, regardless of social conditions and even above and beyond our evangelistic efforts. I believe this outpouring of the Spirit upon my generation was perhaps due more to prayer than evangelism. As the movie portrays, there were hundreds, even thousands, of young seekers who were simply hungry for God! What a time!

One weekend, I went back to Sausalito to visit the spot where we used to keep the houseboat docked and ran into my friend Joan. She had also dropped out of college, stayed with us for a few weeks, and then left for Oregon to try to find some answers to life. She was picked up hitchhiking and brought to a commune in Coos Bay, Oregon, where she accepted the Lord. Finally, after some months, she came south from Coos Bay to San Francisco to tell Fred and me about Jesus.

Of course, she began witnessing to me by telling me the world was ending and other comments I perceived as foolishness. I tried to talk some sense into her as I felt she had either been drugged or hypnotized. Yet, she seemed happier, and after some convincing, she and Fred left for Coos Bay, and I was “left behind!” I was still working at the kid’s camp and enjoying the job quite a bit.

Eventually, I visited Fred and Joan and met the Christians at their commune, or “ranch.” It was one of the unnamed small Christian cooperatives started by a couple who believed God had told them to love and feed all their visitors. The first night I came to the ranch, I was picked up by rowboat. I was anything but a believer in Jesus then, and the whole experience was quite exotic and spooky but also intriguing!

I met wonderful people, and every time I had a question, they pointed me to a Bible, which I began reading. I had read the Old Testament before, but it was mainly in Hebrew, which I did not understand very well. Now, I was reading it in English and enjoying it very much. I think I was probably beginning to search for God and was tired of my ragged lifestyle.

I was already thinking about going back to the New York area to return to college as I was frustrated with the selfishness and drugs.

HOW I MET JESUS

So, I was open to God but not very open to Jesus. I grew up in a strong Jewish community, was raised in a loving Jewish home, and could not possibly imagine how a Jewish person could believe in Jesus the Messiah and remain Jewish!

When I returned to the campground, all I could think about was God and Jesus. I kept reading the Old Testament, and finally, one day, I called out to God and said, “If You are real, show me.” A few hours later, I found a copy of Good News for Modern Man glowing in the moonlight, sitting where there should have been a phone book on the ledge of the only phone booth in the camp. Of course, I stole the book, which turned out to be a copy of the New Testament in modern English!

I could not stop reading the New Testament. I fell in love with Jesus. I thought He was great. I finally realized He was God in the flesh and felt much more comfortable with Jesus than I did with Eastern religions.

So, I told the Lord if He could possibly forgive and use someone who had almost destroyed his mind and soul, then I would do anything He wanted. I knew there was only one decision to make—whether I would dedicate myself to Jesus. Frankly, it was not a very hard choice. I knew He was the true Messiah of Jewish people and the Lord of my life, and all I wanted to do was follow Him.

I am happy to identify as a Jesus-movement baby or even a Jesus freak! I wear it as a badge of honor, but the true honor goes to the God of grace, who saved me and has given me an abundant life. There is so much more to say! Just imagine the testimony book we will all write together when we have eternity to sing of His greatness!

JOINING WITH CHOSEN PEOPLE MINISTRIES

After I came to faith, missionaries from Chosen People Ministries discipled me, and the Mission paid my way through Bible college! I am personally grateful for our Mission, and I hope my story inspires you to pray for Chosen People Ministries as we have entered our 130th year of ministry.

Monthly Archives: April 2024

Passover Points to a God Who Keeps His Promises

Reflections on the Eclipse

Reflections of a Jewish “Jesus Freak”

Subscribe

Twitter Updates

Media

Archives