When you think of what we have been taught thus far through end-time books and DVDs on Israel and the church, it seems as if the church has no spiritual ties or connection to Israel toward the end, that G-d is going to awaken them all by Himself and bring us together after Jesus returns to the earth.
However, when has G-d ever done anything on the earth of such great significance without using humankind as His intercessor? From Noah to Abraham and Moses and David to the prophets and of course to Christ Himself who came in the flesh, G-d has always chosen His earthly vessels to do His bidding here on the earth, and there has always been an intercessor to bring about G-d’s plans and purposes for humankind. So, why would the end be any different from the beginning, or even the middle?
With all my heart, as a Jewish believer in the church, one who has come to love his Gentile family as his very own, I believe this theology to be incorrect and in great need of correction. In fact, I believe the church is to play a most significant role in G-d’s end-time glory plan to show Himself to the world through Israel, which will become a great honor for all of us in the church who ultimately make this connection.
How Come We Can’t See?
Please understand that I am not making this up but rather bringing to light what has already been spoken to us through the Word of G-d, which I will lay out in this article. But let me also state at the same time that there are important reasons for us to understand why we have not been able to properly see this until this time, which I will also address.
Some of this is a delicate matter and could be a challenge for us to process as Gentile believers in the church. However, please know this is written and bathed in a sea of Christ’s love with no condemnation and is being addressed for the sole purpose of releasing G-d’s healing touch in this area, which I believe is greatly necessary for the church at this time.
As we enter the time of transition in the kingdom of G-d between the fullness of the Gentiles and Israel’s awakening, now is the appointed time for us to properly address these issues, so His family can finally become one between Jew and Gentile (Rom. 11:25-27).
G-d’s Mercy Plan
“Just as you who were one time disobedient to G-d have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of G-d’s mercy to you” (Rom. 11:30-31, NIV).
This is G-d’s mercy plan: to actually awaken Israel through prayer and intercession and stir them to repentance and life through the mercy of G-d, for believers and followers of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua/Jesus to properly reflect the intimacy and personal connection that our new covenant relationship brings us into with their G-d, who is now also our G-d. For are we not grafted into their vine and their covenants? Even though at this time they have been temporarily broken off through unbelief (Rom. 11:23).
The Mysteries
Though Israel came first and was given all of the covenants, G-d has actually chosen those who came after to give life back to those who came first. Wasn’t it a mystery at one point how the Gentiles were to be brought into the kingdom of G-d? (See Colossians 1:25-27.) And now it is a mystery how Israel will be reconnected, which the apostle Paul challenges us not to be ignorant about, especially in this day as it is all about to take place (Rom. 11:25)!
We may conclude from this that the Father definitely likes mysteries and always manages to show up right in midst of them. How often in our own walks with the King does He decide to show up at the last minute, like He is an 11th-hour and 59th-minute G-d? So why should the end be any different? What an awesome plan of G-d to show Himself to the world through the reconnection of His own spiritual family between Jew and Gentile—all for the glory of G-d upon the earth!
The Paradox
The G-d of Israel actually has chosen the other children in G-d’s family (John 10:16), the Gentiles, to be the vessel of mercy and grace to stir Israel to jealousy and win them back to faith. And indeed that this is G-d’s mercy plan to show Himself to Israel. In fact, I believe it is G-d’s mercy plan to show Himself to the world through Israel, with whom the church is to be reconnected as a spiritual brother and join the Father and the Son in their quest to reawaken them. What an honor for Gentile believers.
However, up to this point in time, the church has not properly understood this, and because of Israel’s rejection and hardness, we have been unable to love them in our own humanity. Our ancestry greatly failed in this area.
Let’s be honest: It is extremely challenging to love people who constantly reject you, which has been a dichotomy for the church regarding Israel. But beyond the church’s misunderstanding regarding Israel, a good deal of the church actually believes they have replaced Israel, of which the apostle Paul strongly cautioned us not to be arrogant and to always remember our humble beginnings of being grafted in as a wild olive shoot (Rom. 11:17-24).
However, in light of Israel’s hardening, we have not properly understood the timing of G-d in keeping them to the end. Just as it is written, the first will be last!Not only so, but when the church began to organize by the fourth century, we broke away completely from the apostolic Jewish roots of our faith and turned vigilantly against the Jewish people, thinking that their judgment was final. Despite the numerous Scriptures and prophecies to restore them after they had been brought back to the land, it is a little easier for us to see now because of Israel’s physical restoration.
Have the Gentiles in the church not been given an edict to make Israel envious?
“I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Rom. 11:13-16).
Has Israel not been loved on the account of the patriarchs, even though Paul warned us that they would be enemies of the gospel? (See Romans 11:28.)
Is Israel not a covenant nation? And yet how did the ancestral church behave toward the Jewish people? Did they not really behave like Joseph’s brothers, who sold him into slavery and death?
The very vessel (the Gentile church) that G-d has chosen to win the Jewish people back to Himself through the mercy of G-d was instead used to persecute the Jewish people and wipe them out. I never want to give credit to the enemy, but what a despicable plan! This is why Jewish people have such an aversion to Christian symbols, because what may be sacred to us as believers have been used as weapons against them.
As a result, the devil has built huge rifts and divisions between the two groups, especially through the bloodline that only now the grace and mercy of G-d could possibly touch and heal, which is the plan of the Father at this time to bring His body together.
“For G-d has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all” (Rom. 11:32), and this has certainly been the case between the Jew and the Gentile.
Nor is Israel innocent either, who actually initiated the first persecutions. However, the church more than made up for it over the centuries. But G-d wants to heal the divides, the misunderstandings, the judgments, the hatred, the jealousies, and to clean the bloodline from our ancestral past so we can receive the Father’s love for this momentous task to help awaken Israel spiritually and see it restored. And nothing short of this will do, because we cannot love Israel in our own strength, as history has already clearly demonstrated.
Rather, we need the supernatural love of the Father to unite us, so that G-d’s spiritual family between Jew and Gentile can finally come together and that our L-rd can return to the earth and take full dominion. For this cannot happen until they say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L-rd” (Matt. 23:39).
And who is going stand in the gap for them, that the Spirit of G-d may be released and breathed into them, that this may actually take place? Have we missed something significant here? For surely at this point, the first shall be last.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”(Rom. 10:14-15).
It’s Likened Unto a Wedding
The best way I can describe this whole relationship between Jew and Gentile is likened unto a wedding ceremony. We know from Scripture that Yeshua/Jesus is the bridegroom and that His body between Jew and Gentile is His bride, for whom He is coming back when He returns. And when the bride walks down the aisle, she is absolutely beautiful, and everything is glorious and wonderful, as it should be.
However, the hour before the ceremony, there is pandemonium, and everything is going wrong. This is the current state of Jew/Gentile relations that G-d has now decided to focus upon to release His mercy to bring forth healing and reconciliation, that we can truly become brethren in the Spirit so the end may finally come. What a glorious picture for the Father and for the end-time church (the other children in His family) to help take on the burden to reawaken Israel (His firstborn children), that we may become one and rule and reign with Christ when He returns!
My first book, The New Covenant Prophecy, addresses my own bloodline issues as a Jewish person coming to faith and the challenges G-d had to help me overcome. It’s a fascinating read and will help you better connect with the Jewish mindset that we must learn to better understand in the hope of winning Israel back to faith.
As we enter the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), let the trumpet sound into the heart and soul of the church to awaken to its firstborn brethren to the call of unity in the family of G-d and say, “Israel, come forth!”
For part 1, click here. Stay tuned for part 3 in early October.
Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He has founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of G-d in the last days. His message focuses on the unity, love and healing that the Father wants to bring between Jew and Gentile yet clearly points out the differences and misunderstandings between the two groups. Now is the time to look more carefully into this mystery to make way for healing and reconnection in the Spirit. For more information, please visit reconnectingministries.org.
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