Through the Lens of Prophecy | Revelation Decoded Season 1

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The tribulation is hinted at in the Hebrew Bible through the prophet Jeremiah where Jeremiah alludes to a time that he calls the time of Jacob's trouble. Baruch Hashem, bless the Lord. What is happening is unbelievable, the things that have broken out in the world today. We're literally seeing the things recorded in John's Apocalypse revealed before our very eyes. Those of us that are alive on the planet today, we're seeing John's words manifested in our lifetime. The book of Revelation was given to us by King Jesus to prepare us, equip us, and strengthen us to live through the last days or the end times. This is a long message and a long series. We're jumping in today looking at the role that Israel plays in the end times and how the tribulation will first be manifest in Israel. We have to understand, beloved, that when God said to Israel that he chose them out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the covenant that he made with them is irrevocable. Despite Israel's unbelief, God said to Israel that the gift and calling upon you is irrevocable. This is recorded for us in the book of Romans. Growing up as a Jew myself, I was surrounded by Jewish people. I lived in Jewish neighborhoods and had Jewish friends, so I didn't really know anything else but being Jewish. But as I grew older, I began to get experiences beyond my own community and beyond my own friendships. The older I got and the more anti-Semitic the world became, the more I recognized how unique the Jewish people are and how they've been hated by the world from the time that they were birthed as a nation, beginning of course with Pharaoh's persecution of them and the killing of the firstborn. We could go on and on looking at anti-Semitism over the course of world history. As we do that, we see that anti-Semitism is a disease. It is spiritual, and it gets down to the fact that the devil hates God. The devil is the opposite of everything God is. He is the reverse of God and the anti-God. God loves the Jewish people. He loves Israel with an irrevocable love. I remember just recently, up close and personal, how I experienced such vile hatred from an anti-Semite. I had some work being done on my property, and as I had this work being done, I began to talk with one of the workers there. I began to share the gospel with this worker. This person that I was sharing the gospel with, obviously knowing I was Jewish because of my peyos and things that he learned about me through the course of working on my property, began to vent his hatred for Jewish people with such utter violence. I had never experienced the poison so up close and personal before. He began to say Israel is doing to the Palestinians what Hitler did to them, and I can't even share in the same spirit that he was coming at me with. He just went on and it was incredible. Israel, beloved, plays a key role in the end times. Not only do they play a key role from the time that God chose them, as recorded in the early pages of scripture, but Israel continues to play a role in the end times. We see recorded in the book of Jeremiah a scripture that speaks to us about a time that's coming that Jeremiah calls Jacob's trouble. Before we get into the words of Jeremiah, I just want to lay a foundation. We're looking at Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six. The Lord says here to Israel, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people, treasured above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." From the very beginning, we see that there's something unique about Israel. Just as there was something unique about Israel from the beginning, the whole history of salvation is traced through the Jewish people: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. From Jacob, we have his 12 sons that become the 12 tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, we have our Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth. Yeshua says to the Jewish people, "You'll not see me again until you're saying Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai." In other words, Jesus isn't coming back until the Jewish people are saying, "Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord." That's the English translation of Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai. Paul said that at Yeshua's return, all Israel will be saved. Salvation begins with the Jewish people, and the culmination of God's plan of salvation, the return of Messiah, will culminate with the Jewish people coming to faith. In between that time, we know that the Jewish people rejected Messiah Yeshua at his first coming. Yeshua will return when there are enough Jewish people that believe in him and are calling upon him to return, that their call upon him to return will usher in his return to the entire planet. The Jewish people were chosen not just because they were to remain unique in the earth as the only people that were treasured by God, but the Jewish people were chosen to be God's vessel of blessing to the world. Even at Messiah's return, the Jewish people will play a role of the world being blessed because it's the Jewish people's call upon him to return that will usher in his return that will manifest the fullness of his salvation to the entire world. Why did God choose the Jewish people? He chose them because he loved them and because he was keeping the oath that he made to Abraham: "Through your descendants, Abraham, all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed." God uniquely loved the descendants of Abraham. He was keeping his word to Abraham. God also chose the Jewish people to be his channel of blessing, beloved ones, if you're Gentile, to you. God chose Israel to be his conduit or channel of blessing to the entire world. For example, in the book of Genesis chapter 22, verse 17 and 18, he says these words. "I indeed will bless you, and I will indeed multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven." God is speaking to Abraham here, so he's speaking about Abraham's descendants. "I will multiply them as the stars of the heavens and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies. Through your offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed." God chose Israel to be his channel of blessing to the world. When Abraham obeyed God, God declared, "Abraham, because you've done this, your descendants now are going to be my channel of blessing to the entire world." We see this illustrated in the life of Yeshua. When Yeshua came to earth, who did he go to? He went to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We read, for example, in the book of Matthew chapter 10, verse five and six. When a Canaanite woman came to him looking for his help, Yeshua said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Paul, when he went into a city, the first place he would go would be to a synagogue. It wasn't meant to stay in Israel or a synagogue, but as Paul said over and over again in the book of Romans, it's to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Dustin Roberts: This is Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi Schneider will be right back. But first, we have a free gift for you. If you're battling heaviness or patterns that you just can't shake, it may be spiritual oppression. Don't wait for others to deliver you. Rabbi's free self-deliverance bundle includes a step-by-step PDF of scripture and an MP3 guide to help you close every door to the enemy and live free in Jesus. Get yours at myfreegift.com/freedom. Did you know that the shofar is a biblical instrument used to announce God's presence? We would love to send you one when you become a new monthly partner. It's a special thank you gift that's been handcrafted in Israel. To join us and receive your shofar, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Thank you for partnering with us each and every month. Your support helps us continue to share the gospel worldwide. Now, back to Rabbi Schneider.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Even as God chose Israel from the beginning, we've learned that his return is tied up to a critical mass of Jewish people calling upon him to return. So too, beloved, as we're thinking about the book of Revelation and end times, we know that the end times are going to involve the tribulation. The tribulation is hinted at in the Hebrew Bible through the prophet Jeremiah where Jeremiah alludes to the time of Jacob's trouble. Jeremiah chapter 30, verse five through seven, says, "For thus says the Lord, I have heard a sound of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, can a male labor with child? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale?" God is describing men holding their groin section as if a woman is giving birth. God is saying, "Why are men doing that in fear, trembling, and pain as if they're a woman in labor?" Alas, for that day is great so that no one is like it. There's no other day like this day that's coming. The Day of the Lord in scripture is both a single day and a season. Alas, for that day is great so that no one is like it. That is even the time of Jacob's trouble. Jacob's trouble is a prophetic code word for the Great Tribulation. It starts with Israel. Think of what's going on with Israel right now and the trouble they are experiencing and the threats on all sides. It starts there and then it spreads to the entire world. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. God's remnant in Israel will be saved, and those grafted into the commonwealth of Israel from all the nations of the earth, Gentile believers, will also be saved. Now, as I indicated earlier, the Hebrew Bible has a lot to say about the tribulation and the last days. The Hebrew prophets spoke a lot about this. Jeremiah named it, but listen to what Daniel said. By the way, Yeshua referred to Daniel's teaching on the last days. Jesus quoted Daniel in Matthew 24 in describing the last days. Jesus said, "As Daniel said," and then Jesus talked about the last days. Listen to what Daniel chapter 12, verse one, says. "And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even so to that time." In other words, Daniel's saying there's going to be a time of trouble and there was never a time like it before, nor will there ever be again. Daniel continues, "And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who should be found written in the book." He's talking about the Lamb's Book of Life here. So we have these prophetic visionaries, these seers, these Hebrew prophets that saw into the future. They saw what we call the Great Tribulation. They saw how it starts with Israel and it would quickly spread to the entire world. We're more familiar with Matthew chapter 24. Jesus is speaking here and says, "For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, nor shall there ever be." That's exactly what we just got done reading in Daniel's words. Yeshua continues, "Unless those days were shortened, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened." Yeshua continues to give us insight into when this time would happen. The first insight that I want to reference is when Yeshua compared the time immediately preceding his return to the days of Noah. In Matthew chapter 24, Yeshua said, "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." For as in the days of Noah before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. So what was it like during the days of Noah? We have to go to the Tanakh, to the Hebrew Bible, to find out. Genesis chapter six says, "Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was continually only evil. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him in his heart. The earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. God looked on the earth and saw it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I'll destroy them with the earth." Corruption and violence. Just think about corruption from the top of governments all the way down through corporations and businesses and the way people deal with one another, and violence. Let me ask those calling ourselves Christians right now: When was the last time that you watched a movie on YouTube or on television that was filled with violence? How many of today's blockbuster movies are filled with violence? Sex and violence is what sells. The next thing Yeshua quoted was the days of Lot. What were the days of Lot like? A culture and society filled with sexual immorality. We are living in the last days immediately preceding Yeshua's return. I'm going to be talking more about this, but for now I just want you to understand that Yeshua's return is not far away from us. Yeshua said he is going to come like a thief in the night, but those of us who are believers are not in the darkness. We can see what's happening. If you are not fully committed to the Lord, if you don't realize that you're going to stand before him and give an account for your life, I am going to sincerely ask you to get on your knees. Turn to him right now and ask him to forgive you. Sincerely be sorry for your sin. Turn to him, repent, and give your life to him. By his grace and power, make up your mind right here and right now to live for Jesus. Pick up your cross, deny yourself, and obey him from this day forward. When he does return, which is sooner than you think, you will be saved. God bless you and Shalom. When a rocket takes off from planet earth, it has to break through the gravity that surrounds the world in order to become weightless. In the same way, there are certain things, beloved, that you and I must do to get free in Yeshua. Jesus said, "He that tries to save his life will lose it, but he that loses his life for my sake shall save it." In order to lose our life, live lives of sacrifice, and be givers, we have to break through the resistance of being takers and being selfish. I want to encourage you, beloved ones, to practice this principle with your finances. It may seem like I'm just a preacher asking for money, but what I'm sharing with you is true. All of us need to be givers and all of us need to honor the Lord with our finances. 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Dustin Roberts: If the Lord is calling you to give to Discovering the Jewish Jesus, the gift of any amount today, make sure and connect with us online. Our website is discoveringthejewishjesus.com or you can call us at 800-777-7835. If you'd rather text in your donation, you can text the keyword "GIVE" to the phone number 88777. This ministry is fulfilling the Bible's mandate to bring the gospel to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Right now, we're reaching Jewish people around the globe with the good news of their Messiah. Your monthly partnership allows us to do our part to help usher in the Lord's return. Jesus said he won't come again until the Jewish people say, "Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." If you would like to join us in encouraging Jewish men and women to take that step of faith, give online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. If you'd rather give by mail, here's our address: Discovering the Jewish Jesus, PO Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan, 49228. That's PO Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan, 49228. We look forward to connecting with you soon, and it's our hope that today's message has encouraged you and brought you to another level of understanding in your walk with God. Now I want to turn things back over to Rabbi. He's going to wrap up this message with God's sacred and special blessing.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: In the Old Testament book of Numbers, we find a blessing God speaks over his children through Moses and Aaron. It carries the idea of favor and expression. Open your heart to the spirit and the word today and receive Father's goodness into your life with confidence. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now, in Hebrew. (Sings Aaronic Blessing). God bless you and Shalom.
Dustin Roberts: I'm your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again when Rabbi Schneider explains the importance regarding the days of Noah and Lot in light of the end times. That's Friday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.