This is the second part of an abridged and edited version of a Powerpoint series compiled by Margie Kinsella.
THE LAW OF RETURN
The Law of Return includes in its definition of a Jew every person who was born of a Jewish mother. The law further provides that the rights of a Jew are vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, except for a person who has been a Jew and who has voluntarily changed his religion. This once meant those who have become followers of Yeshua, i.e., have received baptism. The supreme court of Israel ruled in 2008 that even Jews who believe in Yeshua are still Jews and must be accepted.
Once in Israel, Jews are free to accept Yeshua and be baptized because in Israel there is ‘freedom of religion’ although the ultra orthodox do everything possible to stop any evangelism by Messianic Jews.
While many consider themselves Jewish and qualify for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, Jewish marriage and divorce in Israel is under the jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which defines a person’s Jewish status strictly according to halakha. According to ‘halacha’ (Jewish law) only children born of a Jewish mother are eligible to be registered as “Jews” in Israel. Reform Jews in America recognize as Jewish anyone with mother or father who is Jewish. The rabbinate’s standards and interpretations in these matters are generally used by the Israeli Interior Ministry in registering marriages and divorces. Therefore, a person not proven to be a Jew to the Rabbinate’s satisfaction is not legally permitted to marry a Jew in Israel today. There is no provision for interfaith marriages. Although the majority of Israelis are secular the ultra- orthodox Haredi-oriented Shas party controls the ministry — and discriminates against other groups. As a result thousands of Israeli citizens go abroad, often to Cyprus, to get married.
Yonatan Touva, a foreign policy analyst based in Tel Aviv comments: “The debate inside Israel over these issues is passionate and ongoing. It prevents Israel from articulating a coherent definition of its own identity, let alone one that is accepted and recognized by the majority of its citizens, most of whom are secular and liberal by any Western standard.” (Nytimes.com July 29 11).
IS GOD GATHERING ALL THE JEWS TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL?
There are many Old Testament verses that speak of returning to the Land. What do these verses point to?
Words used in the New Testament help us to understand the Old Testament: A pattern, a copy, an example, a shadow, a tutor (to lead us to Christ), a model, a type, a figure, a foreshadowing, a proverb, an allegory, a symbol, a parable –translated in Hebrews as ‘type’ & ‘symbolic’.
What then does entering the “Promised Land” point to? What is being ‘foreshadowed?
Numbers 14:23: The spies who were sent to spy out the land brought back a bad report because they allowed fear to overcome their faith in the promises of God? Because of lack of faith – “they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to give their fathers”.
Psalm 95:10-11 ….So I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’
Hebrews 3 & 4 shows what this “rest” was pointing to:
For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his(Hebrews 4:8-10).
This is the eternal “rest” we enter into by faith.
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:11
By grace you are saved through faith . . . Not of works. . Ephesians 2:8-9
To say that today Jews should enter the physical land called “Israel” in fulfilment of the Old Testament, is to completely ignore the teachings of the New Testament and overlook what the experience in the Old Testament was foreshadowing!
The Old Testament finds its fulfilment in the New Testament—in Yeshua/Jesus. Jewish people find their fulfilment by receiving their Messiah not by returning to the land.
But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:11).
This means to provoke them to salvation, not to returning to the physical land.
Let us wage war against the anti-Semitism which makes life in various nations fearful and perilous for the Jewish people. Let us drive out anti-semitism and hatred for the Jewish people rather than letting that hatred drive out the Jewish people.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds… 2 Corinthians 10:4
The Scriptural truth: the return is to God – the gathering is to Shiloh – the Messiah!
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shilohcomes; and to him shall be the obedience/gathering of the people (Genesis 49:10)
SHILOH THE PLACE:
- Place of gathering and provision: Joshua 18:1
- Place of wives presented: Judges 21:12, 20-21
- Place of worship: 1 Samuel 1:1-3
- Place where petitions answered: 1 Sam. 1:9
- Place where the Lord revealed himself 1 Sam 3:21
- Place where God’s name dwelt: Jeremiah 7:12
- Place from where the ark was captured and taken away : 1 Samuel 4:10
- Place cursed: Jeremiah 26:4-6
- Place abandoned by God; forsaken: Psalm 78:59-61
Now we see that Shiloh, the place, was pointing to and foreshadowing the very Messiah Himself:
SHILOH, THE PERSON
- Jesus is the source of our provision,
- the One who receives the bride,
- the One through whom we petition God,
- the One who holds the Name of God,
- the One we worship God through—i.e., the Mediator,
- the One who has revealed God to us,
- the One captured and led away,
- the One cursed by hanging on a tree and
- the One forsaken because of our sins.
“Shiloh” the one who is to come… the coming one…
Matthew 11:3 “Are you the coming one or do we look for another?”
And to him shall be the gathering of the people…
“and then he will send his angels, and gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.” Mark 13:27
….he might gather together in one all things in Christ, Eph. 1:10
PRAY THAT YESHUA REVEAL HIMSELF – AS JOSEPH REVEALED HIMSELF TO HIS BROTHERS! LET ISRAEL FIND ITS IDENTITY IN THE MESSIAH: YESHUA. PRAY THAT THEY FIND REST IN HIM.
Note: See article on The Hope of Israel/Ezekiel 37 for a more in-depth discussion on the promise of restoration.