How recent discoveries in the Holy Land continue to support Scripture

Part 3: Exposing myths about Palestinian identity

The Lord is blessing Israel, but his enemies are cursing her!

Dr Clifford Denton reviews ‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel’ by Rivi Litvin (Milestones International Publishers, 2017).

Raised in an Orthodox Jewish community, Rivi Litvin was shocked upon coming to faith in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to discover that many Christians believe that God has now rejected Israel and replaced her with the Church.

With access to sources of Rabbinic Judaism as well as the opportunity to consult with the most prominent scholars, she and her husband Danny began a quest to help others understand Yeshua in the context of God’s purposes for Israel.

After her husband’s sudden death in 1986, Litvin (a third-generation Israeli) continued with this work in Israel before later relocating to the USA, keeping her home in Migdal, Galilee, as a base for teaching.

She now has a worldwide itinerant ministry helping believers to recover the true roots of the Christian faith.

Israeli Rivi Litvin was shocked, upon coming to faith in Jesus, to discover that many Christians believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church.

Multitude of Insights

At last Litvin has found time to put her multitude of insights into a series of books, of which this is the first volume. She could have taken a thematic approach, applying her Hebraic knowledge to topics like the biblical feasts, the Sermon on the Mount and so on – but instead, she has chosen to write a commentary on the Gospels.

Inside this first volume, the reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts, including the answers to questions such as:

• What happened historically that caused the world to see Jesus as a son of Greece instead of an observant Jew?
  
• Who were the mysterious shepherds present at his birth?
  
• Were the wise men really Babylonian sorcerers - and how did they recognise the birth of the King of the Jews?
  
• Why are the Gospels so silent regarding Jesus’ Jewish education?

Divided into two main sections, the first covers the early life of Yeshua, while the second focuses on Yochanan Ha-Matbil (John the Baptist). In addition there are two appendices, one on the Tzadokim (Sadducees) and one on the Perushim (Pharisees).

Litvin’s choice of title is apt. In presenting Jesus specifically as the Son of Israel, extra light is shed on the Gospel accounts. Litvin also includes useful word analyses throughout the book, allowing those with limited knowledge of Greek or Hebrew to understand what is often missed in English translations.

The reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts.

Highly Recommended

I highly recommend this book for those already some way on with their studies of the Hebraic foundations of the faith. For those who are just beginning, it is recommended with some qualifications. Litvin’s breadth of reading and depth of knowledge are welcome – but newcomers to such studies may well be daunted by some of the conclusions she draws. While some are enlightening, others contrast those of other reputable scholars and may not sit well.

She also seems at times to call into question the accuracy of the gospel writers in places where the biblical text is seemingly at odds with other Jewish literature. Her strong desire to consider other rabbinic sources means that a mature and discerning mind on the part of the reader is required.

That said, this book is surely a major resource for the Christian Church to reconnect with the Jewish roots of the faith and the continuity of God’s covenant plan.

‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel: A Jewish Commentary on the Gospels, Volume 1’ (paperback, 237pp) is available on Amazon for £12.90. Also on Kindle.

A world shaken by earthquakes and violence can soon expect the Prince of Peace

As the Western world wobbles, rumblings of earthquakes are sending out worrying signals in Israel. The two are connected, I believe.

A quick succession of quakes have rocked parts of Galilee, significantly the region where Jesus lived and conducted much of his earth-shaking ministry which changed the world forever.

He warned that his coming again would be preceded by a number of signs including strange weather patterns – and particularly an increase in earthquakes comparable to the onset of birth pains on a pregnant woman (Matt 24:7f). As they become more frequent and severe, we will know his coming is near.

It so happens that a very big one is due in Israel, according to geologists. When a 6.5 magnitude quake struck Galilee in 1837, it killed up to 7,000 people.¹

The Prophet Zechariah actually predicts that a devastating quake will accompany the return of the Messiah to Jerusalem. So we could be witnessing the closing stages of the present age. Are we ready to face the Judge of all mankind? Are we presiding over righteous laws?

The Bible Criminalised

Here in Britain, freedoms won at great cost are being jettisoned in favour of a new intolerance of those who hold the biblical views on which the country’s great institutions were founded.

You couldn’t make it up, but a man was arrested for reading the Bible outside St Paul’s Cathedral (apparently at the instigation of staff there)² where, nearly 500 years ago, the Bishop of London burnt copies of the Bible in protest at the effrontery of William Tyndale in daring to translate God’s word into a language we could all understand (i.e. not Latin). Tyndale was later burnt at the stake, with St Paul’s staff again implicated in this travesty of justice.

We could be witnessing the closing stages of the present age. Are we ready to face the Judge of all mankind?

The man recently arrested was simply reading aloud the King James Bible, virtually the same as the one for which Tyndale was martyred – 80% of the King James New Testament is Tyndale’s work.

It would seem that this incident is related to a case in Bristol early last year concerning the arrest of a street preacher when a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer told magistrates that publicly quoting from the King James Bible “in the context of modern British society must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter”.

It is against this background that Christian charity Barnabas Fund is campaigning to ‘Turn the Tide’ against the erosion of religious freedom and calling for a new law to protect it.

Violence and Chaos

Before returning from a visit to the capital earlier this week, I picked up a copy of the London Evening Standard³ and was greeted with the front page headline ‘How do we turn the tide?’ – referring to the latest teenage victim of the violence which has swept the city in recent months.

This is another sign of the end times. For Jesus also said: “Just as it was in the days of Noah [which were marked by violence], so will it be in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26).

As the paper launched a special investigation into its causes, they are discovering – surprise, surprise – that its roots lie in what police call ‘adverse child experiences’ (ACEs). In other words, in the home, which is what many of us have been saying for decades.

The home is the breeding ground either for good or for evil, which is why it is so important for legislators to place the welfare of the family above all else. But instead the family is under severe attack from all sides.

But there is hope, according to a recent survey⁴ which found, among other things, that teenagers now enjoy spending more time with family. It certainly seems that they are crying out for meaning and purpose; for something bigger than themselves.

The home is the breeding ground either for good or for evil.

Suicide is another big killer among the young, fuelled in part by the superficial hedonism encouraged by the media which soon enough leaves its victims feeling empty and worthless. Violence is even perpetrated on a massive scale in the so-called interests of ‘health’ – nine million babies have been butchered before birth since the Abortion Act was passed more than 50 years ago. And we call ourselves civilised.

Peace, or War?

In addressing the protest against President Trump’s visit to Britain, Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “I wish to live in a world of peace, not of war.”⁵ Quite apart from the hypocrisy of such a statement from someone who has referred to terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah as ‘friends’ and has failed to effectively deal with anti-Semitism in his own party, it betrays extreme naivety. After all, Mr Trump managed to get the world’s most feared dictator to the negotiating table. Was that not a gesture of peace?

Yes, we all want peace, and it is possible, but only through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Yet there is a paradox here which needs to be understood. Jesus came as the long prophesied Prince of Peace (see Isa 9:6) who would ultimately bring war to an end at his second appearance when people “will beat their swords into ploughshares” (Isa 2:4).

But he also came as one who divides. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt 10:34). This was a warning that choosing him would cause division even among families because he stands as the ultimate test of whether you are for or against God. He is God come in the flesh. Those who are for God choose him; those who are against God reject him, leaving them as enemies of both God and his disciples.

Jesus came as the long prophesied Prince of Peace who will ultimately bring war to an end, but he also came as one who divides.

And yet he has bridged the gap between sinful man and a holy God by taking the punishment for sin we all deserve. God the Father has heaped all our sins on him so that we can enter his presence free of sin, and at peace with both God and man.

In addition, the barrier of hostility between Jew and Gentile has been broken at the cross where Jesus died; that is where you will find true peace among men. It is no fairy-tale; I have seen both Jew and Arab embracing one another in reconciliation through their common love for Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, after discovering what he has done for them at the Cross (see Eph 2:14-18).

True Security

Meanwhile, as Israeli residents – especially in Galilee – watch out for further ground movements with a degree of trepidation, we are reminded of what the Prophet Haggai reports the Lord Almighty as saying: “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations [the Messiah] will come, and I will fill this house with glory” (Hag 2:6f).

The New Testament Letter to the Hebrews reminds its hearers of this word, adding: “The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain” (Heb 12:26f).

The world around us is tottering. But are we secure? Are we living in a world which cannot be shaken because of our absolute trust in the Lord?

Notes

1 Jerusalem News Network, 9 July 2018, quoting the Jerusalem Post. 

2 Barnabas Fund, 10 July 2018.

3 17 July 2018.

4 Conducted by British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

5 Daily Mail, 14 July 2018.