Yeshua Revealed

Rabbi’s heart touched by a treasure long hidden

Returning from a conference in Staffordshire via the stunning Derbyshire Peak District, my wife and I were freshly stirred by the glorious gospel.

And it was so appropriate that our Scripture Union Bible notes the following morning focused on the pearl of great price to which Jesus refers (Matthew 13:44-46) and even mentioned the so-called Staffordshire Hoard of ancient gold and silver metalwork recently dug up and valued at £3 million.

The annual gathering of CMJ (Church’s Ministry among Jewish people), now 216 years old, drew nearly 400 attendees and was packed with powerful challenges to reach out in love to God’s ancient people at such a perilous time as this.

I was greatly moved by two priceless testimonies, further vindicating the call God has given this ministry over the years.

Fruit of years of prayer and witness

Sharing breakfast with retired clergyman Ralph Goldenberg, a Jewish man who has passionately served the Lord for decades, he told me how his 85-year-old brother Solomon has just become a disciple of Yeshua.

After all these years of prayer and witness, he has now fully given over his life to Christ and I was shown a video of his baptism at an Assemblies of God church near Austin, Texas, where he has lived for some years. He was a GP in London until he retired.

I was moved to tears as I saw him testify how his brother’s witness had been so crucial. Apparently, the minister was worried when told that Ralph was coming over from the UK to witness the ceremony because he had been described as a ‘wicca’. But, of course, there was nothing occultish about him as this was a mispronunciation of vicar (an Anglican congregational leader)!

The grandson of Sudan’s Chief Rabbi, Ralph’s call to the Anglican ministry was miraculously confirmed by a message in tongues which just happened to be Sudanese Arabic!

The grandson of Sudan’s Chief Rabbi, Ralph’s call to the Anglican ministry (he was previously an optometrist) was miraculously confirmed by a message in tongues which just happened to be Sudanese Arabic!

Having grown up in Sudan, Ralph knew the language and the message translated as: “God loves you. You are from the blood of Abraham. The gospel is in your mouth.” And the message was subsequently interpreted (as instructed in 1 Corinthians 14:27) as: “You are to proclaim the gospel and bring my people to the kingdom.”¹

Fulfilment in Jesus

We also heard the remarkable story of a Jewish rabbi from Berlin who made Aliyah² to be a chaplain to IDF soldiers on the Golan Heights. While there, Mordechai Veberman took time out to witness tourists being baptised in the River Jordan.

As he was enjoying his ice-cream, a fervent Christian lady shared the gospel with him and offered him a New Testament. Out of politeness, he accepted, without intending to read a book regarded as ‘off limits’ to Hasidic Jews like him.

But he took the plunge and was surprised at how Jewish Jesus’ teaching was.

This began a search which led him to a video on the Jewish roots of the Christian faith by David Pileggi, rector of Christ Church, Jerusalem, headquarters of CMJ for nearly 200 years. And he eventually became engaged in serious conversations with Rev Aaron Eime³, an Australian clergyman who had been studying with rabbis in Jerusalem for decades.

But he took the plunge and was surprised at how Jewish Jesus’ teaching was.

“My heart started to change,” said Mordechai, who finally became convinced that Yeshua is the longed-for Jewish Messiah and got baptised. It was a very moving moment when he shared with the entire conference how grateful he was for the work of CMJ which had touched his personal life. He said the veil which had blinded him to the truth of Jesus had been torn away (2 Corinthians 3:16) and that, quoting Romans 11:15, if the Jews’ rejection had brought reconciliation [with God] to the world, their acceptance would be but “life from the dead”.

He told the gathering: “I stand before you not as someone who left Judaism but as one who has found its fulfilment. I just came home.”

Changing times

As I have noted of late, and it needs repeating, the times of the Gentiles will soon be over. We need to recognise the time of God’s coming among his ancient people, scattered throughout the world but now being gathered into a re-born nation which is somehow – clearly miraculously – surviving all attempts to destroy it.
Yeshua is now gently rebuking us Gentiles with the same challenge he made to the Jewish disciples on the road to Emmaus: “How slow you are to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25) The Berean Jews, however, checked out Paul’s claims.

Both Jews and Gentiles need the veil to be removed concerning God’s purposes both for us as individuals and as communities within the nations. Pray earnestly for the Lord to open your eyes to what he is doing in the world.

Notes
1.As told in his autobiography Find the truth and lock it in your heart, now out of print.
2.Immigrating to Israel
3.Aaron is now General Director of CMJ UK