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Sharing the Gospel with Jewish Friends · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back. You are listening to Reformed
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  Thinking. I'm your host and as always, I'm
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  sitting across the table from my good friend and our resident
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  expert. It's really good to be back.
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  It's great to be here and looking at the notes in front of
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  us, I think we have a pretty significant topic to get into
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  today. We really do.
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  And for you listening, we always want to be clear about our
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  starting point. We're two Protestant Christians
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  and we try to look at everything through the lens of Reformed
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  theology. We hold to the Westminster
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  Standards and we believe good doctrine is vital.
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  But it can't just be in academic exercise.
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  Theology have to hit the pavement.
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  It has to mean something for how we actually live and interact
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  with the world. If it doesn't, we've missed
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  something. Exactly.
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  And today we're going to tackle a subject that I think a lot of
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  us care about but maybe feel a little, I don't know, hesitant
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  or awkward about. We're going to do a deep dive
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  into the biblical mandate to share the gospel with Jewish
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  people. Yeah, this is a big one.
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  It's an area where theology, a very difficult history and
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  current events all seem to crash into each other.
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  They really do. We're basing our discussion
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  today on a couple of main sources. 1 is a book, Biblical
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  Missions, Principles, Priorities and Practices, and the other is
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  a really insightful article by David Zadok called The
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  Importance of Israel and Jewish Evangelism.
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  And what's great about these sources is that they don't just
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  give us a list of techniques. They ground everything in the
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  why. Why is this a priority?
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  What does the Bible actually say?
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  And the why is really where we have to begin.
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  I think there's this sort of common misconception floating
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  around that God is in a way done with the Jewish people, or that
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  maybe they have their own path to God and we should just leave
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  them be. That's a very common idea, but
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  it's a dangerous one. Some people call it dual
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  covenant theology, the notion that Gentiles are saved through
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  Jesus but Jewish people are saved through the Mosaic Law.
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  The sources we're looking at make it very clear that's not
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  biblical. And they highlight a pretty
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  staggering number. They do.
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  There are about 15.3 million Jewish people around the world
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  and the vast, vast majority of them are unreached with the
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  gospel. 15.3 million. When you put a number on it like
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  that, it really changes things. It does.
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  And if we really believe the Great Commission, when Jesus
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  said to make disciples of all nations, well, all nations has
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  to include the Jewish people. We can't just put an asterisk
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  next to them because the history is messy or the conversations
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  are hard. So here's our plan for this deep
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  dive. We're going to try to move
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  through this methodically. We'll start with the theological
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  foundation. What was the Apostle Paul's
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  burden for his own people? Then we have to look at the
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  history and frankly, it's a very dark history.
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  We have to understand the barrier.
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  The wall of persecution, as one of the sources puts it.
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  Yes. From there we'll try to
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  demystify modern Judaism, because it's not just Old
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  Testament religion, it's much more layered.
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  And then we'll get really practical.
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  What do we do? What do we say?
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  What should we not say? And we'll finish up by looking
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  at some pretty incredible things that are happening in Israel
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  right now that the source is called Restorations.
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  The numbers are fascinating. They really are.
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  So let's just jump right in. Section 1.
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  The theological Foundation you mentioned the Great Commission
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  in Matthew 28 make disciples of all nations.
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  Right. And in the Greek, that phrase
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  penta ethne, it means all people groups, all ethnicities.
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  It's not just about political nations.
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  It's a universal command that by definition has to include the
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  very people group that the whole story started with.
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  Right. But the sources, really, they
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  really zero in on the Apostle Paul, which makes sense for us
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  coming from a Reformed perspective.
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  We love the book of Romans, but I think we sometimes read
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  chapters 9 through 11 and we focus so much on the doctrine
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  that we miss the emotion. I think that's right.
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  We see the doctrine of election and it's absolutely there, but
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  we can filter out the heartbreak of the author.
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  Let's look at Romans 9 verses one through 5.
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  Paul isn't just making a casual theological point here.
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  No, not at all. The language he uses is so
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  intense. He says he has great sorrow and
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  unceasing grief in his heart. I mean, he goes so far as to say
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  he could wish that he himself were a cursed separated from
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  Christ for the sake of his kinsmen.
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  To stop and think about that for a second, this is the same man
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  who wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of God
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  in Christ Jesus and he's saying if it were possible, I would
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  trade my own salvation for theirs.
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  That that's a level of spiritual burden that is hard for me to
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  even wrap my mind around. It's deeply challenging.
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  It wasn't just a passive I hope they get saved.
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  It was an active, painful theological distress over their
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  unbelief. And this is where we have to
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  check our own hearts, right? Do we look at Jewish people with
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  that kind of genuine sorrow and love, or is it just
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  indifference? Or worse, sometimes we can treat
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  it like a theological debate topic instead of being about
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  real people who need the Messiah.
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  That's good. And this leads directly into
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  this idea of remnant theology, which comes right out of Romans
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  11. Paul asked the question.
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  God has not rejected his people, has he?
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  And the answer is emphatic. May it never be.
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  But then he clarifies in Romans 11, verse five, he says at the
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  present time a remnant, according to God's gracious
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  choice has also come to be. Gracious choice.
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  OK, that sounds like election to me.
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  It's 100% the language of election.
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  And this is where a reformed framework is so helpful.
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  We can understand that God hasn't rejected the Jewish
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  people as an ethnic group wholesale.
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  Instead, He is sovereignly saving a specific remnant out of
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  that group by grace. It's the same way He saves
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  anyone from any nation. So the source makes a really
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  helpful distinction here that I want to highlight.
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  It says that Jewish people are not unique in their need for
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  Christ. That's right, the ground is
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  level at the foot of the cross. All have sinned and fall short
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  of the glory of God. Jew, Gentile, it makes no
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  difference. The fundamental problem is sin,
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  and it's universal. But, and this is the key, the
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  source argues they must be 1 uniquely.
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  Yes, and that's because of their very specific history, their
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  covenant background. You can't just walk up to a
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  Jewish person with the same approach you might use for a
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  secular person in California or an animist in Africa.
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  They have a unique story. They have the covenants, the
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  Father's, the giving of the law, and they also have a unique set
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  of historical wounds inflicted tragically by people who call
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  themselves Christians. And that's the perfect
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  transition to our second section, the historical barrier.
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  The source calls this the wall of persecution.
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  And this is the part of the conversation that's it's
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  difficult for us as Christians to really face.
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  It's not a flattering history. It isn't.
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  I think for most of us, when we hear the word Christianity, we
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  think of positive things. We think of grace, forgiveness,
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  love for neighbor. We think of the church building,
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  hospitals and universities. You see the good fruit.
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  We see the good fruit, but the sources we're looking at say
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  that is not what a Jewish person historically sees when they look
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  at Christianity. Not at all.
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  For much of Jewish history, the word Christianity has been
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  synonymous with persecution, not just disagreement.
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  We're talking about violent, systematic persecution.
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  Let's let's walk through the timeline the source gives,
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  because I think we need to feel the weight of this.
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  It goes all the way back to the Crusades.
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  Right, 1095 to 1291. We tend to think of the Crusades
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  as Christians fighting Muslims in the Holy Land, but what often
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  gets edited out of the story is that on the way to the Holy
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  Land, crusading armies marched through the Rhineland in Germany
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  and slaughtered entire Jewish communities.
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  That's horrific. They saw them as infidels living
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  in their midst. They'd make a big distinction.
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  And then you move forward a few 100 years to the Spanish
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  Inquisition. The.
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  Forced conversions. Forced conversions, expulsion,
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  torture. The institutional church was
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  literally hunting Jewish people. The source mentions that the
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  first Jewish settlement in North America in 1654 was made-up of
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  refugees fleeing the Inquisition, which had spread to
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  Brazil. So the very story of Jewish
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  people in America begins with them running away from Christian
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  persecution. It's a foundational part of
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  their experience in the West. Absolutely.
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  Then you have the pogroms in Russia in the 19th and early
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  20th centuries, state sponsored riots, burning villages, mass
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  murder, and then of course the darkest chapter of them all, the
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  Holocaust. And the source makes a point
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  here that I think we need to sit with.
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  It says that many Jewish people view the Holocaust, the murder
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  of 6,000,000, as being partly the fault of Christianity.
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  And our immediate reaction is to protest that, right?
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  We want to say, but Hitler wasn't a Christian.
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  Nazism was a Pagan anti Christian ideology.
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  And theologically we'd be right. But from a historical
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  perspective, Germany was a Christian nation.
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  It was the land of Luther. The church was a dominant
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  cultural force, and the silence of so many churches in the face
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  of that evil was deafening. So from their perspective, they
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  don't see a clean break. They see the Holocaust as the
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  brutal culmination of centuries of Christian anti-Semitism in
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  Europe. Exactly.
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  So when we as Christians walk up to a Jewish person to talk about
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  Jesus, we aren't just dealing with a theological disagreement.
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  We are wrestling with the ghost of that entire history.
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  We're asking them to consider joining a group that, from their
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  historical vantage point, has tried to wipe them out for over
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  1000 years. When you put it like that, it
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  changes everything. It has to.
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  And there's one specific painful slur that the source says we
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  have to address head on the label of Christ killers.
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  I've heard this the idea that all Jewish people for all time
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  are collectively responsible for the crucifixion.
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  It's a poisonous and deeply unbiblical idea that has fueled
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  so much violence. But the source gives us the
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  biblical correction. Look at Peter's sermon in Acts
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  chapter 2. On the day of Pentecost.
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  Yes, Peter speaking to a crowd in Jerusalem and he says Jesus
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  was delivered up according to the definite plan of God, and
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  you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
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  So yes, he's holding them responsible, but who was the
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  you? It was that specific group of
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  people in that place at that time.
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  But there's more to it than. That there is.
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  You have to pair that with a verse like First Corinthians
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  15.3. Paul says Christ died for our
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  sins. Whose sins?
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  Our sins? Jew and Gentile alike.
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  If you really want to know who is responsible for the death of
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  Christ, the Reformed answer is you look in the mirror.
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  My sin held him there, your sin held him there.
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  We all drove the nails. That's such a critical
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  reframing. We're not pointing a finger of
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  lame. We're all standing together as
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  guilty people in need of the very grace that Cross provides.
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  Exactly right. OK, so we've got the theological
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  burden and we've got this very heavy history we have to be
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  aware of. Let's move on to the people
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  themselves in the present day. Section 3.
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  Demystifying modern Judaism. This is so helpful because I
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  think most of us operate with a lot of stereotypes.
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  The source lists several. One common misconception is that
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  all Jewish people are wealthy. Which is just not true.
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  It's a harmful stereotype. Another is that they all have a
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  deep knowledge of the Old Testament, what they call the
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  Tanakh. And I found this to be true in
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  my own conversations. You might assume you can have a
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  deep debate about Deuteronomy, but you might be talking to a
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  completely secular Jewish person who has never seriously read it.
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  They may not even own a copy. Which is so counterintuitive for
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  us. It is, and another big one is
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  the assumption that all Jewish people reject Jesus.
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  The source offers a simple but really powerful counterpoint to.
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  This the first Christians were all Jewish.
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  Everyone of them. Peter, James, John, Paul, Mary,
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  Martha, the entire Jerusalem church believing in Jesus as the
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  Messiah is not some foreign Gentile concept.
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  It's the most Jewish thing a person can do.
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  But there's this issue of identity that gets in the way,
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  right? The source explains that for
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  many, being Jewish is an ethnic or family identity, not
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  primarily a religious one. Yes, this is a huge hurdle.
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  Think of it this way. If you're born into a Methodist
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  family, but you become an atheist, you're not really a
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  Methodist anymore. But if you're born into a Jewish
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  family and you become an atheist, you are still
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  considered Jewish. It's about your people, your
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  heritage. And they apply that same
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  cultural lens to us. They do.
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  The source says that if you're not Jewish, you're automatically
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  assumed to be a Christian. Doesn't matter if you're an
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  atheist from Sweden or a Buddhist from Japan.
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  In their worldview there are two categories, Jewish and the
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  nations, and the nations are basically Christian.
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  So when we use the word Christian we mean a born again
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  follower of Jesus. But when they hear the word
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  Christian they might just hear non Jew.
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  Exactly. It creates a massive
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  communication gap right from the start, and that's before we even
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  get into the different branches or denominations within Judaism
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  itself. Let's break those down.
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  The source outlines 3 main groups.
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  The first is Orthodox Judaism. OK, so Orthodox Judaism is
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  probably what most people picture the strict observance of
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  the law. Yeah, traditional clothing in
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  some communities, they believe the Torah, the first five books
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  of the Bible is divinely inspired.
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  But, and this is a really big but, the Talmud is the real
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  functional authority in their daily lives.
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  And the Talmud is the Oral Law and all the rabbinic
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  commentaries on it, right? The source quotes a famous
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  rabbi, Aden Steinsaltz, who said that the Talmud has shaped
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  Jewish life more than any other book.
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  So for them, tradition and the interpretation of the rabbis are
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  paramount. And their view of the Messiah.
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  It's very different from Mars. They're not primarily looking
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  for a savior to atone for their sins.
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  They're looking for a national Redeemer, a political, military,
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  kingly figure who will restore Israel to greatness and bring
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  peace on Earth. So the whole concept of a
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  suffering servant who dies for sin doesn't really fit their
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  framework. It's a huge stumbling block for
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  them. It contradicts their expectation
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  of a conquering king. OK, so that's one end of the
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  spectrum. Then we have Reformed Judaism on
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  the other end. Completely different.
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  This movement started in 19th century Germany as a way to
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  adapt Judaism to modern, enlightened life.
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  They abandoned many of the traditional rituals, the source
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  notes. They started ordaining female
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  rabbis back in 1972. But what's the key theological
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  difference? The key is their view of
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  scripture. Reformed Judaism generally does
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  not hold that the Tanakh, the Old Testament, is the inspired,
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  inerrant word of God. Wow.
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  So if you open up Isaiah and say look what God says here, they
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  might respond with, well, that's a beautiful piece of our
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  people's ancient literature that contains some ethical wisdom.
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  They don't see it as divinely authoritative.
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  Their focus is on what they call ethical monotheism.
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  And they'd see him as a great Jewish teacher, maybe a moral
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  reformer, very similar to how liberal Protestantism views
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  Jesus. The idea of a personal Messiah
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  who you must believe in for salvation is gone.
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  And then squeezed in the middle is Conservative Judaism.
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  Right. And the name is a bit confusing.
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  It started in America in the 20th century, really has a
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  middle ground between Orthodox and Reform.
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  They want to conserve the traditions and the Hebrew
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  liturgy, but they're open to adapting them.
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  It's a much more flexible movement.
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  So it really matters who you're talking to.
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  You can't just have one-size-fits-all approach.
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  You absolutely can't. You have to listen first and
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  understand where they're coming from.
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  Which is a great lead into Section 4, practical evangelism.
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  How do we actually do this? With wisdom and sensitivity?
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  The source just keeps coming back to 1 main idea, relational
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  evangelism. It has to start with genuine
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  friendship. Not a project, not a notch on
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  your evangelism belt. A real, sincere friendship.
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  And, the source wisely adds, expect skepticism.
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  Because of that wall of persecution we talked about,
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  yeah. Of course, don't be surprised or
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  offended if they're guarded. You have to earn their trust
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  over time. And there's this fascinating
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  biblical concept the source brings up from Romans 11
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  provoking to jealousy. OK, that sounds a little weird.
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  How do you provoke someone to jealousy in a good way?
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  It's not about making them jealous of your car or your
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  house, it's about them seeing the spiritual blessings you
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  have. Peace with God, forgiveness of
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  sins, a sense of purpose, and realizing that these are the
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  very blessings promised in their scriptures to their people.
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  So when they see a gentile enjoying the feast that was
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  originally prepared for them, it's meant to make them ask,
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  Wait a minute, what am I missing out on?
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  That's the idea and we should be open about where we got these
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  blessings. We can say, you know, the reason
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  I have peace with God is because of what your king, the Jewish
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  Messiah did. We acknowledge the debt we owe
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  them. Let's get into some of the real
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  tactical do's and don'ts the source gives.
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  These are so practical it talks about something as simple as
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  dinner. This is a big one.
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  If you invite a Jewish friend over for a meal, Just don't
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  serve proker shellfish. Avoid the ham, the bacon, the
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  shrimp. Even if you know they aren't
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  strictly kosher and they eat that stuff themselves.
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  Even then, it's a sign of respect.
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  It shows that you are aware of their heritage and you care
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  enough to honor it in your home. It removes a potential barrier
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  before the conversation even starts.
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  It's just a simple act of love. That's great advice.
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  What about attending a synagogue service?
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  The source encourages it, but you have to go with the right
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  posture. Go as a guest, as a learner.
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  Do not show up with a stack of gospel tracts to hand out in the
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  foyer. That's incredibly disrespectful.
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  And there's one specific tip in here that I just never would
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  have known. Don't take notes.
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  Yes, on the Sabbath, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown,
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  Orthodox and Conservative Jews consider writing to be a form of
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  work, which is forbidden. So if you're sitting there as a
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  guest scribbling away in a notebook, you are flagrantly
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  breaking their Sabbath rules right in front of them.
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  It just shows ignorance. Such a small detail, but it
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  speaks volumes about your respect for them.
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  It really does. OK, let's talk about language.
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  The source has some key adjustments.
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  Some are obvious, like don't tell Jewish jokes.
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  You would hope that's obvious, but sadly it probably needs to
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  be said. But it also suggests a specific
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  vocabulary shift. Instead of saying Jesus Christ,
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  try saying Messiah Jesus. What's the thinking there?
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  Well, for us, Christ is a title. It's the Greek word for the
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  Hebrew mashiach, or Messiah. But in wider culture, Christ has
• 17:52
  almost become Jesus's last name. Or worse, it's used as a swear
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  word. Using the word Messiah
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  immediately connects Jesus back to the Old Testament promises
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  they're familiar with. And we have to define the word
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  Christian. Yes because of that cultural
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  confusion we mentioned. You can't let them assume it
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  just means non Jew. You have to explain when I say
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  I'm a Christian I mean I'm a follower of the Messiah.
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  I had to repent of my sins and trust in him.
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  I wasn't just Born This Way. You're defining it as a faith
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  commitment, not an ethnic identity.
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  The source also recommends what it calls a Socratic approach
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  using questions. Right, Asking good questions is
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  so much more effective than just lecturing.
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  It's non threatening and it invites the other person to
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  think for themselves instead of just putting up their defenses.
• 18:37
  There are a few great examples here. 1 is how do you observe
• 18:40
  the High Holidays like Yom Kippur?
• 18:42
  That just shows personal interest.
• 18:44
  It's a relational question. Here's a deeper one.
• 18:47
  If you believed in the Messiah, how would you recognize him?
• 18:51
  What would you be looking for? That is a brilliant question
• 18:55
  because it gets them to articulate their own theology,
• 18:58
  and once you know what they're looking for, you can compare it
• 19:00
  to what the scriptures say. Which leads right to the last
• 19:03
  question. Can you think of any person in
• 19:05
  all of history who has fulfilled these prophecies?
• 19:08
  It lets them connect the dots themselves.
• 19:10
  It's so much more powerful. So that brings us to the Apology
• 19:13
  and Toolkit, Section 5, the Messianic prophecies.
• 19:16
  Let's say you've built that friendship, you've earned that
• 19:19
  trust, and you have an opportunity to open the
• 19:21
  Scriptures with them. And the source is clear, you
• 19:24
  should ask permission. Do you mind if I show you a few
• 19:27
  passages from your own scriptures that I find
• 19:29
  fascinating? It's respectful.
• 19:30
  OK, so you have the permission the Bible is open.
• 19:33
  Where do you turn? The source lists a few key
• 19:35
  texts. The first one it mentions is
• 19:37
  Isaiah 9.6. For a child will be born to us,
• 19:41
  a son will be given to us, and his name will be called
• 19:46
  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
• 19:51
  So right there it establishes the Messiah's divinity.
• 19:54
  He's not just a man, he's mighty God.
• 19:56
  Exactly. It sets the stage.
• 19:58
  Then you can go to Micah 5.2 but you O Bethlehem Efrava.
• 20:03
  It pinpoints the exact location of his birth.
• 20:06
  It's foretold hundreds of years in advance.
• 20:08
  And then you have to go to Isaiah 53.
• 20:10
  This is the big one. The source calls it the core of
• 20:12
  the Gospel in the Old Testament. It is.
• 20:14
  I've heard stories that some synagogue reading cycles will
• 20:17
  actually skip over this chapter because it's so problematic for
• 20:20
  a non Christian reading. Verse 3 talks about him being
• 20:22
  despised and rejected. And then verses 4 through 12
• 20:25
  layout his suffering and substitutionary atonement.
• 20:29
  He was pierced for our transgressions.
• 20:31
  He was crushed for our iniquities.
• 20:33
  If you just read that chapter aloud to a Jewish friend who has
• 20:36
  never heard it and ask who is this talking about?
• 20:38
  The obvious answer is Jesus. And then you get to tell him it
• 20:41
  was written 700 years before he was born.
• 20:44
  It's incredibly powerful. And the last one the source
• 20:47
  lists is Zechariah 12.10. And they will look on me the one
• 20:51
  they have pierced. A clear prophecy.
• 20:53
  The crucifixion. These are amazing tools, but it
• 20:56
  all comes back to relationship and to what God is doing on a
• 20:59
  bigger scale. And this is where that second
• 21:01
  source from David Zadok really zooms out.
• 21:03
  Section 6. The great restoration.
• 21:06
  This part is just incredible. Zadok starts from Romans 11.29
• 21:10
  that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
• 21:13
  He's arguing God is not done with Israel, and he points to
• 21:16
  three massive historical restorations we can see with our
• 21:20
  own eyes. The first one is a restored
• 21:21
  language. Just think about this for a
• 21:23
  moment. For almost 2000 years, Hebrew
• 21:26
  was essentially a dead language. It was like Latin is today.
• 21:29
  Scholars knew it. It was used in religious
• 21:31
  services, but nobody spoke it in the marketplace.
• 21:34
  I told this one man, Eliezer Ben Yehuda.
• 21:37
  A Lithuanian Jew born in 1858. The source says God used this
• 21:41
  one man's obsession to single handedly revive Biblical Hebrew
• 21:45
  and turn it into a modern spoken language.
• 21:47
  He had to invent words from modern things like newspaper and
• 21:50
  electricity using ancient Hebrew roots.
• 21:53
  The source compares his impact to Martin Luther's.
• 21:55
  It's a fascinating comparison. Luther's Bible translation
• 21:59
  basically unified and standardized the German
• 22:01
  language. Ben Yehuda's dictionary and
• 22:03
  advocacy gave the scattered Jewish people a common tongue,
• 22:06
  which is a prerequisite for being a nation.
• 22:08
  Which leads right into the second restoration, A restored
• 22:11
  land. The Miracle of 1948.
• 22:14
  The re establishment of the State of Israel after 2000 years
• 22:16
  of exile. And the source points out this
• 22:18
  incredible historical irony. It mentions a specific Israeli
• 22:22
  defense system called the Arrow 3.
• 22:24
  This is just mind blowing. About 75 years after the
• 22:28
  Holocaust, the modern state of Germany bought the Arrow Three
• 22:31
  missile defense system from the modern state of Israel.
• 22:34
  To protect Germany from its enemies.
• 22:36
  Exactly. The very nation that tried to
• 22:38
  exterminate the Jewish people is now paying the Jewish state to
• 22:42
  protect them. The source calls this a
• 22:44
  providential reversal of roles that you just can't make.
• 22:48
  Up and that leads to the third restoration, A restored
• 22:51
  population, which sets the stage for the gospel.
• 22:54
  This is the logistical miracle. A century ago, if you wanted to
• 22:57
  be a missionary to the Jewish people, you'd have to go to a
• 23:00
  dozen different countries, Poland, Argentina, Yemen,
• 23:04
  America, and learn half a dozen different languages.
• 23:06
  Written now. God and His sovereignty has been
• 23:10
  regathering them from the four corners of the earth back to one
• 23:13
  small piece of land where most of them now speak one common
• 23:16
  language. From a strategic missions
• 23:18
  perspective, it makes evangelism exponentially more possible.
• 23:22
  And the statistics bear this out.
• 23:23
  This, for me, was the most stunning part of the whole deep
• 23:26
  dive. Let's just layout the numbers.
• 23:28
  In 1948, when the state was founded, there were about
• 23:31
  650,000 Jewish people in Israel. By 2021, that number had grown
• 23:36
  to 7 million. That's about an 11 fold
• 23:39
  increase. Incredible in its own right.
• 23:41
  But that's not the most amazing number.
• 23:43
  Not even close. In 1948, it's estimated there
• 23:46
  were only 23 known Jewish believers in Jesus as the
• 23:49
  Messiah in the entire land of Israel 23.
• 23:52
  You could fit them all in one room.
• 23:54
  Easily, and today the estimate is around 30,000.
• 23:57
  Wow, from 23 to 30,000. So do the map.
• 24:01
  While the general Jewish population grew by 11 times, the
• 24:05
  population of Jewish believers grew by more than 1100 times.
• 24:08
  That's not just growth, that's a spiritual explosion.
• 24:11
  It is. It's a clear sign that God is at
• 24:12
  work fulfilling His promises in our time.
• 24:15
  As Paul says in Romans, who has known the mind of the Lord, we
• 24:18
  are watching prophecy unfold. So that brings us to our
• 24:20
  conclusion. We've talked about the apostles
• 24:22
  burden, the heavy history, the complexities of Jewish identity
• 24:25
  today, and some really practical ways to engage in conversation.
• 24:29
  And we've ended on this incredible note of hope, seeing
• 24:32
  God's hand at work in the restoration.
• 24:33
  So for the person listening to this on their commute, what's
• 24:37
  the big take away? I think it has to circle back to
• 24:39
  Romans 1.16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation
• 24:43
  for everyone who believes to the Jew first, that biblical
• 24:47
  priority has never been rescinded.
• 24:50
  And with that priority comes the need for incredible sensitivity.
• 24:54
  We can't just be a bull in a China shop.
• 24:56
  We need to do our homework, we need to listen, and we need to
• 24:59
  approach people with genuine Christ like love.
• 25:02
  There's a great line in one of the sources.
• 25:04
  It says our Jewish friends may not be reading the Bible, but
• 25:06
  they're reading us. They're reading our lives.
• 25:08
  They're watching our attitude do.
• 25:10
  We have a love that is unexplainable, especially given
• 25:13
  the history of animosity. Yeah, that in itself is a
• 25:16
  powerful apologetic. So the final charge from the
• 25:19
  sources is really threefold. First, we need to pray.
• 25:22
  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and as Paul did in Romans 10.1,
• 25:26
  pray for their salvation. 2nd, we need to recognize the debt we
• 25:29
  owe. We are, as Romans 15 says, wild
• 25:33
  branches that have been grafted into their rich olive tree.
• 25:36
  We have a spiritual debt to repay them with the gospel.
• 25:39
  And third, don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated by all the
• 25:43
  history and theology. Start simple.
• 25:46
  Start with a meal, Start with a question.
• 25:49
  Start a friendship. Amen to that.
• 25:51
  I want to leave you with one final provocative thought that
• 25:53
  comes out of this material. The source by Zadok points out
• 25:57
  that modern Israel is already a light to the nations in many
• 26:00
  secular ways, in technology, medicine, agriculture, defense.
• 26:06
  But, he says, not yet. Spiritually, not yet.
• 26:09
  But think about it. If the physical restoration
• 26:12
  bringing a people home, reviving a dead language, making the
• 26:15
  desert bloom, if that has been so dramatic that it captures the
• 26:19
  world's attention, what will happen when the spiritual
• 26:21
  restoration fully takes hold? Paul tells us what will happen.
• 26:24
  He says it will be nothing less than life from the dead for the
• 26:27
  entire world, a global spiritual resurrection.
• 26:30
  And that is a future worth praying for.
• 26:32
  Thanks for joining us for this deep dive.
• 26:34
  This has been reformed thinking. We'll see you next.
• 26:36
  Take care.