This is “Israel’s Inextricable Link to our Salvation Part 1.”

Back on 10/13/2023, I posted a teaching and discussion entitled Ministry Update and My Thoughts and Reflections on Hamas’ Invasion of Israel. In the Hamas’ Invasion of Israel portion of the post I expressed my concerns that the evil that Israel experienced and has since 10/7/2023 may have been, in great part, because of Yehovah’s arms of protection being loosened from Israel because she has and continues to violate the terms of the covenant agreement she’s had with Yehovah from back at Mount Sinai, as recorded in the Book of Exodus. Israel is as secular a nation as any of the modern western nations of the world are today. However, Yehovah, their Elohim, still shares a covenant agreement with her that requires she keeps the tenants of their covenant agreement. If she keeps her end of the covenant agreement, she will receive countless blessings (Deu. 28:1-14). Failure to keep the tenants of the covenant, according to Yehovah, would cause her having to endure many curses (Deu. 28:15-45). Part of the curses for her failure to walk in Yehovah’s covenant involves Yah’s hedge of protection being lifted from over her.

I also addressed several other concerns related to Israel, especially as it relates to End Times Prophesies.

Since that post, a lot has happened in the world revolving around Israel’s war against Hamas. Unfortunately, much of what has occurred around the world in response to this crisis has tended, shockingly, to lean on the side that is against Israel.

Now, I’m not here to rehash world events since October 7th since I’m pretty sure this audience is pretty much up to speed on such things.

But I will make this one comment regarding the violent protests we see taking place around the world in favor of the terrorists and that are calling for the extermination of all Jews in Israel and throughout the world.

When we put ourselves in positions where we are promoting and advocating for the destruction of Israel, who happen to be the only people that have a covenant relationship with the Creator of the Universe, political opinions aside (although I’m not a fan at all of the Zionist government of the nation state of Israel because of their extreme secularism), when the people of this nation engage in such ignorant and foolish behavior, they are cutting off our noses to spite their faces. Let us never forget that there is a remnant or a true Israel in the Land that we must love and pray for, regardless of what our political views of the modern nation of Israel happen to be.

And let us not forget Yehovah’s declaration to Avraham that He would bless those that bless Him and His descendants, as well as He would curse those that curse Israel (Gen. 12:3). So, when this nation calls for the extermination of Israel (and by extension we who are Nazarene Israel), they are actually calling for their own destruction, which by the way, is only adding to the mounting charges against them and the other western nations that stand before the Court of Heaven. How foolish is it to call for the elimination of Yehovah’s covenant people on top of the nation’s moral crimes of abortion and advancement of the LGBTQ agenda, just to name a few of this nation’s trespasses against the Almighty? Indeed, Yah’s righteous judgment is coming to this nation in a terrible way, and when it finally does come, what will the nation’s peoples of the world have to say? How can and will they defend the foolishness and rebellious actions they’ve waged against Yehovah and His chosen ones? They won’t be able to say anything to sway Yah’s righteous indignation.

Because of the broad display of antisemitism that has overtaken the world in the past 55 or so days, it has led me to conduct a teaching series on Israel’s inextricable link to humanity’s salvation.

What do I mean by this? Well, quite frankly, without Israel, there is no salvation to be had by anyone.

It was in the Spring of 27 CE when Yeshua, attempting to avoid a premature confrontation with the Jewish religious establishment, packed up, gathered His disciples, and departed Judaea for the Galilee. The trip required Him to transit Samaria or Shomeron (Joh. 4:1-4), a trip of about 70 or so miles.

One of the first cities in Samaria that He transited through on this trip was Shekem, which is in Samaria. As the story goes, Yeshua, tired from the journey, sat by Jacob’s Well while His disciples went on to another Samaritan city to purchase provisions (Joh. 4:5-6; Gen. 33:19). It just so happened that a woman of Samaria came to draw water from the well where Master Yeshua had sat down to rest. The Master was thirsty from the long journey but unfortunately, He did not have any implements or containers in which to draw water. So, He asked the woman if she would be so kind as to draw some water from the well for him to drink (Joh.4:7).

Shocked that a Jew would ask a Samaritan for a drink of water, much less a Samaritan woman at that, she queried Yeshua what was behind His going against the cultural norm of the day which held that Jews had nothing to do whatsoever with Samaritans. The first-century Jew, by the way, viewed and treated Samaritans as dogs (Joh. 6:9). This was an unfortunate mindset shared by most first-century AD orthodox Jews who, not only with arrogant pride, looked down upon Samaritans as being worthless beings, but this bigoted mindset applied to all non-Jews (aka Gentiles). Rabbinic Orthodox Jews firmly believed that their bigotry against non-Jews was warranted because the Torah instructed them to not have anything to do with any people who were not Jews. But this mindset and treatment of Gentiles by Rabbinic Jews of the first century was a lie from the pit of Hades itself. Anyone who possesses even a modicum of Torah understanding knows that Yehovah’s Torah was meant to be followed by all of humanity; Hebrew and non-Hebrew alike.

Yah declared: “There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger (non-Hebrew) who sojourns among you” (Exo. 12:49; The Scriptures ISR).
“One Torah and one right ruling is for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you” (Num. 15:16; The Scriptures ISR).

Exodus 22:21, Yehovah commanded native Israel: “Do not tread down a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Mitsrayim” (Exo. 22.21).

Again, Yah instructs: “And do not oppress a sojourner, as you yourselves know the heart of a sojourner, because you were sojourners in the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)” (Exo. 23:9; The Scriptures ISR).

Love for the sojourner or stranger was to be the same as love one would have for a fellow Hebrew: Leviticus 19:10–“And do not glean your vineyard or gather every grape of your vineyard, leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Yehovah your Elohim” (The Scriptures ISR).

And there are other Torah passages where Yehovah shows His love and care for non-Hebrews, despite the stiffnecked Jews of the first century having an opposite feeling and mindset towards them. Indeed, Yeshua, our walking-talking Torah Messiah, defied the anti-Gentile sentiments of His day. Despite his earthly ministry targeting the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, He not only healed a Gentile Woman (Mat. 15:21-28) and the servant of a Roman Centurion (Mat. 8:5-13), He revealed His identity as HaMashiyach (the Messiah) to this Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well (Joh. 4). Thus, we can clearly see that the first century orthodox Jew’s despisement of the Gentile or the non-Jew was not biblically warranted, otherwise Yeshua would not have done what He did with these non-Jews.

Getting back to our original story, the Samaritan woman’s questioning of Yeshua about her drawing water for Him to drink led to a fascinating conversation that included (1) Yeshua publicly declaring to the woman, who then spread the message throughout the city of Shekem, His Messianic identity. (And get this, one of the first people that He publicly announces His true identity to is not to another Jew, but to a Samaritan woman–a non-Hebrew woman! Imagine that!) (Joh. 4:25-26). (2) Her life’s story without the Samaritan woman ever revealing it to Yeshua (Joh. 4:15-17). And (3) a revealing Yah’s earth-shattering Plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration to the woman that would take human communing with the Creator of the Universe from the physical to the spiritual (Joh. 4:19 -24).

And this is the passage that forms the crux of my discussion today. It reads:

(19) The woman said to Him (the Him being Yeshua), “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. (20) Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but the Yehudim (that is, the Jews) say that Yerushalayim is the place where men should worship.” (21) Yeshua replied, “Madam, believe Me, the day is coming when they will not worship the Father in this mountain or in Yerushalayim. (22) You gentile Samaritans worship, but you do not know Him who is to be worshipped. We Yehudim know whom we worship, for salvation comes from the Yehudim…” (Joh. 4; Rood’s Chronology).

Salvation comes from the Yehudim or the Jew. What in the world did Yeshua mean by that shocking statement? Well, we intend to take somewhat of a deep dive into this statement and see if we can answer this question.

Denominationalists have been indoctrinated over the centuries to believe that their salvation has nothing whatsoever to do with the Hebrew or the Jew, despite Yeshua making the clarifying statement to the Samaritan Woman that salvation is of the Jew or Yehudim (Joh. 4:22). The rejection of the Jew from Yehovah’s salvation, redemption, and restoration equation smacks of antisemitism and the erroneous doctrine of “replacement theology.”

In many ways, the Samaritan Woman was like so many nominal Christian believers who believe that they and their faith hold the keys to the Kingdom when she confidently declared that her religion’s fathers worshiped God on Mount Gerizim which was held as the holy mountain upon which the community worshiped Elohim (Joh. 4:20) . But it took Yahoshua to put the woman in her place, correcting her and informing her that her people were ignorant as it relates to the true worship of the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov (Joh. 4:22). Clearly, the Samaritans had a head knowledge of Yehovah, but they did not possess a true and substantive relationship with Him, which sadly is the same case with so many people of faith.

There are several interpretations of John 4:22 where Yeshua tells the Samaritan Woman that salvation is of the Jew, but they all pretty much fall short of the full story that is behind what Yeshua was attempting to put forth to the woman at the well.

The vast majority of conservative, denominationalist believe that Yeshua in His statement that “salvation is of the Jew” was referring to two sides of a spiritual equation that directly involved the Jew’s tenuous link to the salvation of humanity. The first side of the equation conceded Judah’s preservation of the oracles of God (as stipulated in Rom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12; 1 Pet. 4:11), which foreshadowed Yah’s ultimate plan of salvation, working first with the Hebrews, and then to be worked and made accessible to all humanity under the auspices of the renewed covenant and the Gospel Message. The second half of the equation holds that the Machiyach, the savior of the world, would descend from Judah as opposed to being descended from the Samaritans or any other Gentile, non-Jewish people. And this second portion of the equation is the prevailing understanding and belief of much of Christendom.

In making what may appear as a rather rude statement from our Master in Him saying to the Samaritan woman that you (i.e., you Samaritans) 22“You worship what you do not know…”The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Jn 4:22…was taking the position that He was indeed a Yehudi (i.e., a Jew) and that He and His people were correct in the manner and in the God to whom they worshiped. This, of course, suggests that the Samaritans were off in the manner of their worship and the God to whom they worshiped. It was not simply a question of the rote manner in which the Samaritans worshiped compared to Him and His fellow Yehudi brethren. Rather, it was, as always the case, a question of relationship. What is the relationship that the Samaritans had with the Elohim of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov compared to the relationship that Yehudah had with Yehovah Elohim? For it was the relationship that Yehovah held with Yehudah that facilitated or provided the pathway or through-point by which it may save humanity. You see, the nature of the relationship that Yehudah had with Yehovah was that of covenant. Consider how Yeshua responded to the Samaritan’s question: You worship what you do not know.

Now, we’ve spoken quite often on this program about the Hebraic concept of knowing Yehovah and His Ways as opposed to knowing about Yehovah and His Ways. The Hebraic term for “to know” is “yada.” Yada, beloved, denotes an intimate level of recognizing or personally knowing, not about, but knowing Yehovah and His Ways. I know about a great many people, places, and things, but I personally know just a few individuals. And when it comes to the yada level of knowing, I know my Elohim and my Savior, and on a human level, I know just a few individuals like Hilary, my children, my dad, and my brothers.
Unfortunately, this crucial element of the relationship is missing from many denominationalists’ understanding of this verse. For without the essential element of Yah’s covenant relationship with Yisrael, Yeshua’s statement that salvation is from or of the Jews is simply a parenthetical statement of fact, when the truth of the matter is that Master’s statement encompasses so much more.

The scriptures, the very foundation bedrock of our Faith, record Yehovah cutting a covenant with just one nation: Yisra’el. It goes back to the day when Yisra’el was encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai and Yehovah proposed to Yisra’el the following covenant that would form the framework upon which our salvation would rest:

3And Mosheh went up to Elohim, and יהוה called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you are to say to the house of Ya‛aqoḇ, and declare to the children of Yisra’ěl: 4‘You have seen what I did to the Mitsrites, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5‘And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples—for all the earth is Mine—6‘and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation.’ Those are the words which you are to speak to the children of Yisra’ěl.” The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Ex 19:3–6.

And it was there, at the foot of the Mountain of Yehovah, that He spoke the non-negotiable terms of His covenant agreement to Yisra’el (Exo. 20:1-23:33). Yisra’el had previously consented to the terms of this covenant agreement before Yah had even delivered it, and even after hearing the terms of the covenant agreement, they once again consented to it (Exo. 19:7-8; 24:3-4 respectively). But Yehovah had Moshe codify the terms of the covenant in a cepher (or simply in writing) and sealed the covenant with blood sprinkled upon it and upon the children of Yisra’el, the recipients of the covenant (Exo. 24:4-8) and with a celebratory meal with 70 of the Elders of Yisra’el on the Mount of Yah (Exo. 24:9-11).

Of course, biblical history bears out that Yisra’el broke covenant with Yehovah multiple times. Because Yisra’el did not keep her end of the covenant agreement, Yehovah had every legal right to annul the covenant agreement and end His relationship with her. Yet His steadfast love, righteousness, will, and plan would not permit Him to do that. Instead of annulling His covenant with Yisra’el, His unfathomable wisdom led Him to create and establish an upgrade to the Mosaic Covenant that would put much of the spiritual heavy lifting upon the Father’s shoulders:

(31) “See, the days are coming” declares Yehovah, “when I shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Yisrael and the house of Yehudah…” Stop!
Nowhere does the Father stipulate He was making a covenant with any people outside the House of Yisrael and Yehudah. Period. This is crucial information that anyone who has aspirations of making it into the Kingdom of Elohim (aka the Malchut Elohim) understands: there is but one covenant between Yah and humanity and that covenant with the one that exists between Yehovah and Israel.

Continuing:

(32) “Not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I strengthened their hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares Yehovah. (33) for this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisrael after those days, declares Yehovah: I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. (34) And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbour, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Yehovah, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yehovah. “For I shall forgive their crookedness, and remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31; The Scriptures ISR).

Beloved, despite the replacement theology advocates’ firmly entrenched belief and teaching that the renewed covenant is all about the Church Triumphant, they are sorely lacking in their understanding. Yah says here through the Prophet Jeremiah that He was going to make a renewed covenant with “The House of Yisra’el (i.e., the exiled tribes of Yisra’el, otherwise referred to as the 10-Lost Tribes of Israel) and with The House of Yehudah” (i.e., the Jews). This covenant does not name any other signatories or parties, which means if any who are not of Yisra’el who want to reap the benefits of the covenant promises, they must somehow become Israelites themselves.

And the process by which the non-Hebrew is transformed or made into an Israelite we will cover the next addition to this series: “Israel’s Inextricable Link to our Salvation Part 2.” In that and the following additions to the series, we will come to learn that without Israel, the world is without hope, for salvation was and is of the Jew.

So, when we see countless thousands throughout the world blindly calling for the destruction of the Jew, it becomes abundantly clear that the world at large does not know the amount of fire and brimstone they are calling upon themselves, not just from a moral standpoint (Gen. 12:3–such that Yehovah will bless them that bless Israel and curse them that curse Israel), but also from a salvation standpoint whereby the salvation of humanity is founded only through the renewed covenant of Yehovah for Israel. Without Israel, there is no salvation.