Jews and Jesus Christ: Pt. III

Over 2,700 years ago, the ancient Hebrew prophet Hosea wrote this: "For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward, the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days." (Hosea 3:4-5)

What was the meaning of the prophet's message? It was this: The Jews would reject God and wander throughout the world for many centuries without a political or spiritual leader over them, and they would have no sacrifice for their sins.

Since the Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the Jews haven't had any sacrifices for their sins.

And then, according to Hosea, the Jews would begin returning to the Lord in the last days. But David? Hadn't he died three centuries before Hosea recorded his prophecy? Then how could the Israelites return to him?

Hosea's prophecy was allegorical. David represented the Jewish Messiah who will be both human and divine. That is; he will be the physical incarnation of God who will rule over a global kingdom. And Jerusalem will be the capital city of his kingdom.

Many folks will point out that the Jews already have a religion, and so the prophet must have been referring to something else. But he wasn't. Hosea clearly revealed that the Jews are going to embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in the final days on earth preceding Christ's second coming.

The apostle Paul was familiar with Hosea's prophecy and he also revealed that after a long period of unbelief, the Jews would finally begin to recognize Christ in the end times. Paul wrote this: "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved." (Romans 11:25-26)

Paul revealed that when the church age comes to an end, the Jews will embrace Jesus Christ as their Messiah. When will the church age end? When the Rapture occurs and God removes what's left of His true church from the world directly preceding Christ's return.

Are the Jews beginning to recognize Christ? Indeed, they are. Although there are no hard numbers, cbn.com estimated that there were 10-15,000 Jewish believers in Christ living in Israel as of 2008. Though that number sounds paltry, CBN estimated that there were approximately just 3,500 Jewish believers living in Israel in the late 1990s.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/407139.aspx

What did CBN base its estimate on? The number of Messianic congregations in Israel that have increased from about 80 in the late 90s to 120 as of 2008.

Furthermore, a recent Pew Forum Survey of American Jewry revealed this startling result: Approximately 34 percent of American Jews now believe that they can believe in Jesus Christ and retain their Jewish identity.
http://religiondispatches.org/a-startling-number-believe-you-can-be-jewish-jesus-follower

That would've been unheard of just 50 years ago. Once upon a time, a Jew who dared to openly confess Jesus Christ as the Messiah would've been ridiculed, mocked, condemned and ostracized by the Jewish community. They would've been declared a traitor to Judaism and disowned by their family and friends. I know, because that happened to me.

But the times are changing. Unfortunately, some folks refuse to change. They prefer to live in the distant past. And despite the overwhelming evidence that declares Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah, they refuse to even consider the evidence.

In the final part of Jews and Jesus Christ: Those who choose to remain loyal to a doomed ship.