This week we have heard of the open wound of conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians breaking out in the ancient city of Jerusalem the capital city of the land of Israel.
Some Israelis believe the land is their Messiah. [1]
May 5th 2000, I attended a Holocaust Memorial Day at the Menorah Synagogue, Manchester. England. Rabbi Fox told us gathered there, that the Jewish people who suffered the reproaches of Hitler in the concentration camps, fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy in Chapter 53 ‘the suffering servant.’ He said that the people of the Holocaust were the burnt offerings for the atonement of their nation’s sin against God. Rabbi Fox continued, “God established the new covenant when the state of Israel came into being in 1948, and the land of Israel was their Messiah.”
At the end of the WW2 the British along with the other allies decided that the time had come to respond to the Jewish people’s request to establish their homeland in Palestine.
Wikipedia “The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel. It often surfaces in political debates on the status of the West Bank, which is referred to in official Israeli discourse as Judea and Samaria, from the names of the two historical Israelite and Judean kingdoms.[13] These debates frequently invoke religious principles, despite the little weight these principles typically carry in Israeli secular politics.”
The British Mandate in 1948
Wikipedia “During the Mandate, the name Eretz Yisrael (abbreviated א״י Aleph-Yod), (Land of Israel) was part of the official name for the territory, when written in Hebrew. These official names for Palestine were minted on the Mandate coins and early stamps (pictured) in English, Hebrew “(פלשתינה (א״י” (Palestina E”Y) and Arabic “( فلسطين”). Consequently, in 20th-century political usage, the term “Land of Israel” usually denotes only those parts of the land which came under the British mandate.”
The 6 Day War in 1967 where the surrounding Arab nations gathered against Israel. The outcome of this war resulted in more of the Biblical land was returned to the land of Israel. Rabbi Fox would no doubt have seen this restoration of the land as God confirming his belief in the land being the Messiah.
The Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty 1993
Wikipedia Land of Israel. “The Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, signed on 1993, led to the establishment of an agreed border between the two nations, and subsequently the state of Israel has no territorial claims in the parts of the historic Land of Israel lying east of the Jordan river. (Judea and Samaria.)
According to Palestinian historian Nur Masalha Eretz Israel was a religious concept which was turned by Zionists into a political doctrine in order to emphasize an exclusive Jewish right of possession regardless of the Arab presence. Masalha wrote that the Zionist movement has not given up on an expansive definition of the territory, including Jordan and more, even though political pragmatism has engendered a focus on the region west of the Jordan River.”
At the time of Jesus ‘the land of Israel’ was all but complete.
Wikepedia – Land of Israel. The term ‘Land of Israel’ (γῆ Ἰσραήλ) occurs in one episode in the New Testament[2] where, according to Shlomo Sand, it bears the unusual sense of ‘the area surrounding Jerusalem’. The section in which it appears was written as a parallel to the earlier Book of Exodus.
The reference – Matthew 2: 20, 21 “But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 20 “Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archela′us reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.”
At the time of Jesus, the part of the Biblical land that was still not yet under the Sanhedrin’s control was Samaria. The Jews and Samaritans in the New Testament are recorded as being enemies.
Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible describes the Samaritan village. “These were the descendants of the pagans that settled in the land at the time of the captivities along with the few Jews who remained in the land. (2 Kings 17: 24-34.) They formed their own religion, a mixture of Judaism and paganism. They adopted the Pentateuch as the sole sacred book and erected a temple on Mt Gerizim near Shechem. 331 BC. The returning exiles rejected their help in rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple.[3] The breach between the returning Jews became permanent and so acute that the Jews would not pass-through Samaria to go into Galilee but had a circuitous (round about) route east of Jordan.”
The Jews and Samaritans were looking for the coming of the Son of Man, the Messiah.
Jesus quiet often referred to himself as the Son of Man, both Jews and Samaritans expected the Messiah to be in the form of a man. At Jesus’ trial before the Jewish council, he was asked by Caiaphas the Chief Priest, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I AM, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”[4] This was the first time that Jesus publicly acknowledged that he was the Messiah. Also, he used the title Son of Man which Caiaphas knew to be the same person, the Messiah.
God appointed meeting at Jacob’s well
The Samaritan woman would have been unprepared when Jesus spoke to her at Jacob’s well. It was so significant because Jesus told her that he was the Messiah. The Samaritans were looking for the coming of the Messiah. The woman went home and told her family and friends that she had met the Messiah. Jesus was invited to Sychar and he stayed there for two days. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah. [5]
Jesus’ mission was to the ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel’ Jesus healed the leper from Samaria. Jesus and his disciples were passing through Galilee and Samaria on their way to Jerusalem, when going through a village they met ten lepers. They asked Jesus to pray for their healing, he replied, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they walked away from him, they were healed. Only one out of the ten lepers came back to Jesus and thanked him, and he was a Samaritan. [6]
The parable of the Good Samaritan.
This parable is an example of Jesus wanting to restore the Samaritans into the fold of Israel.
In the parable Jesus portrait himself as the Samaritan, the introduction of the Samaritan would have raised a few eyebrows amongst his listeners. When the Samaritan saw the injured man, he threw caution to the wind and did what his conscious demanded. He took out of his bag oil and wine to bathe the injured man’s wounds.
After tending to the man, the Samaritan put him onto his donkey and made his way to the Inn.
The Samaritan asked the Innkeeper to take care of the injured man, as he had to continue his journey and whatever the costs for the man’s care, he would repay when he returned.
The Samaritan showed generosity above the call of duty. He did not expect the man when he was better to pay the Innkeeper because he had been robbed of his means to pay.
The instructions he gave to the Inn keeper ‘ I will repay your costs’ indicated that he would return and reimburse him in full. I believe this is a prophetic word from Jesus referring to his return with the angels. Jesus told his disciples that he was going to leave them, and he also indicated that he would return and settle accounts revealed through the parable of the talents.[7]
The ministry of the Innkeeper to the injured man reflects the ministry of the disciples, who were to continue Jesus’ ministry after his ascension until he returned. Jesus had indicated he would return within their lifetime. “When he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”[8]
Peter when he spoke to the crowd at Solomon’s Portico expected Jesus to return.
Peter spoke of the ‘times of refreshing,’ this was reference to the restoration of the land of Israel and the throne of King David at the coming of the Messiah.
”Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.[9]
The death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus was hidden from the Jewish people until Peter at and after Pentecost proclaimed that Jesus was their Messiah.
At Solomon’s Portico, Peter said that their rulers and the people had acted in ignorance, when the handed Jesus over to the Romans for sentencing. [10]
It was in the foreknowledge of God that the Messiah would be the Saviour of the world through dying for our sins on the cross. Jesus was the final sacrifice for sin. God raised Jesus from the dead, fulfilling the Hebrew prophesies.[11]
Jesus made the atonement for the sins of the people of the whole world through the Gentile Roman involvement in his death.
God included the Gentiles, like the Persian King Cyrus allowing the Jews in exile to return and rebuild their temple at Jerusalem.[12] The Gentile wise men from the east who came to worship the one born a king, the King of the Jews and the British Mandate at the end of WW2.
Is the land of Israel the Messiah?
Many Jewish people today believe that the Messiah is a human being.
Judaism 101 The Messianic idea in Judaism.
Judaism 101 or “Jew FAQ” is an online encyclopaedia of Judaism.
The Mashiach
The mashiach will be a great political leader descended from King David (Jeremiah 23:5). The mashiach is often referred to as “mashiach ben David” (mashiach, son of David). He will be well-versed in Jewish law, and observant of its commandments (Isaiah 11:2-5). He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example. He will be a great military leader, who will win battles for Israel He will be a great judge, who makes righteous decisions (Jeremiah 33:15). But above all, he will be a human being, not a god, demi-god or other supernatural being.
It has been said that in every generation, a person is born with the potential to be the mashiach. If the time is right for the messianic age within that person’s lifetime, then that person will be the mashiach. But if that person dies before he completes the mission of the mashiach, then that person is not the mashiach.”
National calling to recognise the Messiah.
The Jews today continue not to believe their Messiah would come and die before completing his mission. The Messiah’s Secret Revealed seeks to prove that it was God’s intension that the Jewish Messiah would die to save the world from sin and its’ causes [13]and in his resurrection for humanity to become children of God and all the nations of the world being blessed, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. Jesus’ mission would have been completed if the leaders and people of Israel had discerned that Jesus was their Messiah during the lifetime of the apostles.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would take from both Israelis and the Palestinians the reproach against each other. I bring to the cross the years of suffering and pain, the argument of who is right and who is wrong, both are part of the history of that region. I pray for peace and not the escalation of further violence as the means to end this situation. I ask this in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. In Jesus’ name Amen.
[1] Acts 2: 31, 32. Psalm 16: 10. 49: 9.
[2] Matthew 2: 20,21.
[3] Ezra 4: 19, 25. Nehemiah 1. 3
[4][4] Mark 14: 53, 61, 62.
[5] John 4: 1-42.
[6] Matthew 10: 6. Luke 17: 11-19.
[7] Matthew 25: 14-30
[8] Mark 8: 38. 9: 1.
[9] Acts 3: 19-21.
[10] Acts 2: 23.
[11] Blog‘34 Prophesies Fulfilled in One Day’ 16/6/2010
[12] Ezra 1: 3. Matthew 2: 20,21.
[13] Acts 2: 23.36.