“I will go and return to My place, til they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me early.

“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” (Hosea 5:15; 6:1-2)

This is one of the most significant scriptures in the entire Bible dealing with the ‘Second Coming’ rapture of Jesus Christ!

Thousands of years ago, the Old Testament prophet pin-pointed the sins of the Jewish nation in: No. 1 - breaking the Mosaic Covenant and No. 2 - the rejection of their Messiah, as well as their terrible suffering and return to God in repentance and faith in the last days! 

For nearly two thousand years, the Church of Jesus Christ has lived in the hope of His promised return. Old Testament prophets HAD FORETOLD IN DETAIL the time and place of His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miraculous ministry, His vicarious death and His glorious resurrection. They also prophesied His second advent and triumphant millennial reign!

WHY HAVE JEWISH PEOPLE SUFFERED SO TREMENDOUSLY OVER THE MILLENNIA'S?

THE UNDERLYING REASON for the terrible suffering, pain and sorrows meted out to the Jews over centuries and millennia, is because they broke the covenant Moses made with God on their behalf!

If you doubt that, read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy which details the blessings of God upon Israel if they keep the covenant (vs. 1-14) and the curses of God upon Israel if they break the covenant (vs. 15-68).

THE SECOND REASON - which accounts for only a limited period of ‘one generation’ - is that they rejected their Messiah!

Jesus stated, “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: THAT UPON YOU (only that specific generation which rejected Jesus as their Messiah, not subsequent generations!) may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matt. 23:34-39)

Please Note: The rejection of the Messiah was only the tip of the iceberg in a long list of “killing the prophets & stoning them that have been sent to you”!

As a matter of fact, the crucifixion of Jesus was not included in the reason for God’s judgment upon them. Jesus specified the blood shed from Abel to Zacharias. He did not mention His own blood!               

For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church as well as some Protestant Churches said the Jewish race was cursed because of their rejection & condemnation of Jesus Christ which culminated in His crucifixion by the Romans!

That teaching was terribly flawed and became a tool which was used to denigrate & destroy Jewish people! For centuries, Jews were called Christ-killers and only recently has the Roman Catholic Church renounced that evil, devilish doctrine! It’s almost bizarre that the Roman Catholic Church would call Jews by that terrible name, since it was Italians (Romans) who crucified our Lord. Yet no one thought of calling Italians, ‘Christ-killers’!

The teaching I refer to is, that the reason for Jewish suffering is because they made a deal with Governor Pontius Pilate, saying: “Let His blood be upon us and upon our children”. (Matt. 27:25)       

Let me make myself abundantly clear on this point: It is impossible for the blood of Jesus to harm anyone or bring any curse upon Jews or anyone else! THE BLOOD OF JESUS BRINGS ONLY FORGIVENESS, HEALING & ETERNAL LIFE! IT CANNOT BRING A CURSE! (1 John 1:7; Col. 1:20)

I repeat: Israel’s grievous sin of breaking their covenant with God is the primary reason for their suffering

The Bible says, “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke...until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me. The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.”

“The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart...Moreover He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God...and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other...

“And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships...and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” (Deuteronomy  15, 20-22, 27-29, 59-64, 68)

It is of vital importance for everyone to know that even though Moses - God’s prophet & lawgiver - prophesied 2000 years earlier concerning the blessings of keeping the covenant (v. 1-14), the Jewish people had made with the Almighty as well as the curses that would come upon them if they broke the covenant (v. 15-68), his prophecy came to pass in the minutest detail!

Verse 68 states that if they broke the Mosaic Covenant, they would be taken back to Egypt - as slaves - in ships. It stated further, that no man would buy them. Here are the brutal facts: After General Titus had destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, killing 1.1 million Jews in the siege, 89,000 Jews were taken to Egypt as slaves. There was such a hatred against Jews, that it was below the dignity of any Roman to own a Jewish slave. Among our nations, only Egypt would take Jews as slaves! That’s how perfectly true God’s prophetic Word is!

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST?

Jesus was born to die! (1 Corinthians  15:3; Romans  5:7-8; 1 John 3:8) He was ordained to be the propitiation for our sins, in order to satisfy the DEMANDS OF DIVINE JUSTICE (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10) He was crucified by the foreknowledge of God. (Acts 2:23)

Although God used Judas, a human instrument to betray our Lord, the Jewish leaders to unjustly condemn Him to death and the Romans to do the terrible deed, it was according to God’s will, plan & purpose. (Romans  8:32)

IN FACT, IT WAS GOD THE FATHER WHO LAID THE STRIPES UPON HIM AND SMOTE HIM. I never fully understand God’s love, until it was revealed to me during a crusade in Kenya. When He showed me His great love, I wept for 3 days and nights! Here are the scriptures that touched my heart, and I pray will also minister to you!

“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” (Rom. 8:28)

St. Paul declared that God’s love is so great that He did not spare His only Son but turned Him over to murderers and gangsters (delivered Him up) to be humiliated, tortured & crucified on the “cursed tree” for us.

And since Jesus paid the ultimate price by making the supreme sacrifice for us, God will freely give us whatever Jesus’ death & resurrection has provided, since He is seated - even now - on God’s right hand as our Saviour, Redeemer & Advocate!

Not only did our Heavenly Father deliver up His Son to die, HE ALSO LAID OUR SINS AND SICKNESSES UPON HIM (Isaiah 53:4-6; Matt. 8:16-17; 1 Peter 2:24). God’s love regarding our salvation was so intense that He rejoiced when Jesus suffered & bled for us. The Bible says, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put him to grief”. (Isaiah 53:10)

The Norwegian translation says: “Det behaget Herren til å knuse ham - it pleased the Lord to CRUSH Him”.

MUCH BITTERNESS IN OLDER JEWISH PEOPLE & UNBELIEF IN THE YOUNG!

The ‘children of Israel’ suffered terribly for thousands of years, from the time of the Babylonian captivity until Hitler’s holocaust! This suffering continued under the cruel yoke of Soviet Communism for decades more. Since the coming of glasnost and perestroika and the dissolution of the ‘Evil Empire’ in 1991, however, hundreds of thousands of these precious people have immigrated to Israel!

In my dealings with older Jewish people, I HAVE DISCERNED MUCH BITTERNESS TOWARD CHRISTIANS, GOD AND LIFE IN GENERAL, because of the treatment their forbears received at the hands of cruel Papal armies during the Middle Ages. That is understandable because the evil, unholy acts carried out BY THAT RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION were done in the name of Jesus Christ!             

In order for Jewish people, however, to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, they must - like everyone else - stop blaming other people for their own problems!

The Bible says, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one...for there is no difference: For all have sinned and come (fallen) short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:10-23)

“For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-13)

“Where there is neither Greek nor Jew...But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.” (Col. 3:11, 24-25)

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JEWS AND GENTILES. ALL HAVE SINNED AND ALL NEED A SAVIOUR. AND JESUS CHRIST IS THAT SAVIOUR!

The truth is, that only Jesus Christ can forgive and save lost humanity! He alone has the power to forgive sins, remove fear and condemnation and give peace to troubled hearts and minds, having defeated death, hell and the grave and purchased full salvation for all who receive Him as Lord and Saviour!             

WHY IS THIS? Only Jesus Christ qualifies as the Saviour of the world, because He shed His precious blood as the sacrificial ‘pascal lamb’ on Mount Calvary and died as our substitute, according to the Old Testament Scriptures! (Rom. 1:4)

A very great injustice has been done to Christianity in general, however, and the Church of the Living God, in particular, because of:

Recent books, articles and statements made by a few Jewish authors, linking the horrible beliefs of Adolf Hilter and Nazism to the teachings of the Christian Church.

The very vocal and totally unfair books and statements made by prejudiced, liberal Protestant authors who attack Christianity and the teachings of St. Paul, employing the same biased linkage!

The totally unfair, prejudiced and accusatory film "Anti-Semitism" of the United States Holocaust Museum which lays blame for the Holocaust, on the teachings of Christianity~

MANY JEWS FEEL THAT GOD DESERTED THEM, BECAUSE OF THE HOLOCAUST! 

A recent report by ‘Christianity Today’ states: “Now, a group of prominent Jews has accused the United States Holocaust Museum...of misleading the public by blaming Hitler’s genocidal program on historic Christian beliefs about Jews. “The film paints with a broad brush. A dull voice intones disconnected facts and quotations that leave the viewer believing that anti-Jewish bias is the result of Christian influence on the Roman Empire, that it has been Christian society alone that has marginalized and oppressed Jews, and that Nazi racial prejudice against the Jews was in clear continuity with earlier religious prejudice. The Anti-Judaism that preceded Christianity and that had long existed outside Europe, is ignored.”

The New York Times quoted Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches as saying, “If you look at the Nazi regime, you can see in it the philosophy of Christian superiority.”

‘Christianity Today’ points out how inaccurate that statement is, “ignoring Nazi beliefs about the defects in historic Christianity”. And ironically, Campbell made that statement in an interview where she downplayed the awful persecution, suffering and torture inflicted upon Christians around the world today!

Incidentally, it is a Jewish Barrister, Michael Horowitz who is awakening clergymen and politicians alike to the horrible persecution, torture, enslavement and other atrocities being carried out against Christians by many governments in the world today!

In her book, ‘Faith and Fraticide’, Rosemary Radford Ruether, called upon Christians to abandon the belief that Jesus is the Saviour for everyone in favor of the notion that Jesus is the saviour of some while others will have their own ‘saviours’, stated the ‘Christianity Today’ article.

A GREAT AWAKENING HOWEVER, IS HAPPENING TODAY AMONG THE JEWISH PEOPLE. THEIR HEARTS ARE OPENING TO THEIR MESSIAH AS HE PROPHESIED!

Hundreds of years before His first coming, the Jewish Messiah stated that He would “GO AND RETURN TO MY PLACE” referring to Heaven, until the Jewish people acknowledge their offence (sin) and seek My face. They are doing that now!

In 1971,  I conducted a Gospel crusade in the YMCA building in Jerusalem. We distributed 10,000 handbills there as well as carried ads in the ‘Jerusalem Post’. A lot of Arabs, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Protestants attended. Only a miniscule number of Jews