AP

Isaiah 48:1-2  “Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel – but not in truth or righteousness – you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel – the LORD Almighty is his name:”

Saul of Tarsus, a devoted Pharisee in Judaism, had his ‘eyes opened’ in a most dramatic way by the appearance of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ in a glaring light (causing temporary blindness) and saying to him “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:5)  This event led to Saul’s becoming a baptised believer and an ‘Apostle’ of this same Jesus, and his name being changed to ‘Paul’.

I think of his heartfelt words written later to the Church in Rome: “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” (Romans 10:1-3).  He obviously felt the full impact of Isaiah’s condemning words to his ancestors because he now realised that he, for half his life, had been just like them – Isaiah was describing his pre-Damascus stance exactly!

As I type this, I am travelling home in the train from a meeting of the Council of International Mission to Jewish People (IMJP).  We received reports from our missionaries in Sydney and Melbourne and, although it is encouraging to hear them speak of Jewish people who have come to recognise Jesus (Yeshua) as their Promised Messiah and have turned to him as their Saviour and Lord, it is also sad to hear of the many cases where Jewish hearts remain just as Isaiah said.  Two of the missionaries are children of Holocaust survivors, and one spoke of her schooling in a Jewish School where they were required to read through Isaiah but Chapter 53 was omitted, without explanation!  In what follows today’s verses, the Prophet goes on to describe how all the clear, unambiguous evidence that ‘Yahweh’ (the LORD) truly is the powerful God who chose them, saved them, and therefore seeks their obedience, they choose to ignore the evidence , having blind eyes and deaf ears, just as Isaiah was told would happen when the LORD commissioned him in chapter 6!

But there is hope!  Later Prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, speak of a future time – pointing forward to Jesus – when he would make a new covenant, when he would give them a new heart and a new mind (Jeremiah 31:33-34, Ezekiel 36:24-27).  So, it is always God who must take the initiative.  With this in mind, let us try to capture some of Paul’s heartfelt concern for the Jews today, and let us be much in prayer for Jewish evangelism.

– Bruce Christian