Life from the Dead

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Romans 11:13-15

I am saying all of this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I lay great stress on this, 14 for I want to find a way to make the Jews want what you Gentiles have, and in that way I might save some of them. 15 For since the Jews' rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, how much more wonderful their acceptance will be. It will be life for those who were dead!

NLT

Saul, the one who once oversaw the martyring of Stephen experienced a dramatic change in his life when he encountered Yeshua on the road to Damascus.  So dramatic was this change in Saul’s life that God Changed his name to Saul and instead of overseeing the martyring of Christians, Paul became Christianity’s greatest evangelist taking the message of the Gospel outside of Israel to much of the known world at the time.  In a spiritual way, Paul experienced life from the dead and spent the rest of his live, eventually being martyred himself for the message of the Gospel.

Wherever Paul went in his missionary journeys, he always made it a point to visit the local synagogue first, giving the Jewish people living in the community the first opportunity to experience the newness of life he had experienced.  Acts 13:13-52 tells of Paul and Barnabas visiting the synagogue in Antioch.  Paul shared the Gospel first with the Jews living in the city and after sharing, many did believe.  However, the Jewish leadership of the synagogue began to slander Paul and Barnabas prompting them to take the message to the Gentiles instead of the Jews. 

This rejection by the Jews, especially the Jewish leadership, was common for Paul so one would expect Paul to have as his greatest desire, the sharing of the Gospel with the Gentiles who appeared more open to the message.  However as we see in Romans 11:14, his heart’s desire remained a desire to see his fellow Jews come to experience the new life he experienced in Jesus Christ.  In Romans 11:15, Paul explains the reason for his heart’s desire by acknowledging how the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews did mean the Gospel would spread to the rest of the world but that the greatest event that will occur will be when the Jews accept the Gospel, for that will mean “life for those who were dead.”

Over the last few Saturdays, I have been basing my postings on the book ‘A Rabbi Looks at the Last Days’ authored by Rabbi JonathanBernis.  Rabbi Bernis is a messianic rabbi who heads Jewish Voice ministries.  His ministry is primarily to the Jewish people but the ministry does reach out to Gentiles as well.  Chapter 8 of the book begins the second section of the book, which teaches readers what they can do to help usher in the Kingdom of God.  Chapter 8 is entitled Bringing ‘Life from the Dead.’  In this chapter, Rabbi Bernis stresses the importance of taking the Gospel to Jewish people.  He believes that in so doing we can usher in the wonderful revival Paul spoke of in Romans 11:15. 

I am a Gentile but after visiting Israel in 2008, I developed a love and connection with the Jewish people.  I saw a people in Israel who in spite of constant threats to their existence as a nation, live lives of faith knowing that the God of Abraham will continue to take care of them as he has done throughout their existence.  This faith is not any different than the faith of Job who maintained his faith in God in spite of great trial.  Just as God honored Job’s faith by the restoration of what he had lost, I believe the faith now present in the Jewish people will lead to their acceptance of their Messiah, Yeshua.  I also believe that the wonderful thing Paul spoke of will be the world seeing the power of God in action through the Jewish people as they come alive from the spiritual death they experienced when they rejected Yeshua.

However, this acceptance of Yeshua as Messiah will only occur as Jews and Gentile believers begin sharing the message of the Gospel with the Jewish people.  I therefore encourage my readers that have Jewish friends to begin praying for them asking the Holy Spirit to begin opening their eyes to the truth that Yeshua is Messiah.  We also must pray for God to open doors of opportunity to share the message of the Gospel with them trusting that the Holy Spirit will soften their hearts to accept the message of the Gospel. 

If you have no Jewish friends, pray for the Nation of Israel.  You can also support messianic ministries like Jewish Voice who have a mission to spread the Gospel to the Jews.  You can also pray for God to put Jewish people in your life with whom you can share the Gospel. 

Many, including myself, believe that prior to the second coming of Jesus, there will be a great revival or awakening among the Jewish people that Jesus or Yeshua is Messiah (Zechariah 12:10).  In 2010, I authored the book ‘Jesus Trial,’ a fictional story of a Jewish man’s discovery of Jesus as his Messiah.  Since I am one with no Jewish friends, I authored the book as a way of ministering to the Jewish people.  I urge my readers who may not have any Jewish friends to seek God, asking Him what they can do to reach out to the Jewish community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I believe that working together we can all contribute to the great awakening among the Jewish people and in so doing help usher in the Kingdom of God.