A letter to a dying Jew. If you are a son or daughter of Abraham and your days on this earth are swiftly coming to a close, then consider that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has led you to read this urgent letter. Perhaps it was written just for you, dear one.

Beloved, I have a lot on my heart to speak to you about. Reason will tell you that you can't lose anything by considering an argument. I feel urgency to put an important argument to you. If it is false, you can always find the evidence to refute it, but you won't be worse off for simply hearing it.

I notice from the Scriptures that a number of men found themselves alone in following the true God. Many men of God were also rejected by their Jewish brethren, or even by the nation of Israel as a whole. This is a pattern that recurs throughout the Tanakh.

Joseph is one of my favourite Old Testament characters. The Bible has no bad word to say about him at all, although he is criticised by some Bible scholars today. He was rejected by the other sons of Jacob, thrown in a pit and sold to traders. In Egypt he was exalted to a position of glory and honour. Gen 41.43: "They cried before him, 'Bow the knee!': and he [Pharaoh] set him over all the land of Egypt". The other sons of Jacob visited Joseph in Egypt when they were suffering from severe famine. The brothers saw Joseph held in honour by all the Egyptians and clothed with glorious Egyptian apparel that was foreign to the Hebrews. They could not have recognised Joseph as their own brother; Joseph also did not choose to reveal himself to his brothers until his brothers had realised their guilt in their treatment of him. The brothers finally made the confession, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us" (Gen 42.21). About the whole event, Joseph said to his brothers, "Ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (Gen 50.21). His exaltation in Egypt saved the lives of probably thousands of Egyptians and other surrounding Gentile nations, and finally, in one of the most touching episodes in Scripture, the lives of the sons of Jacob were saved also, after they acknowledged their guilt against Joseph and repented from it. Thus, Joseph was rejected by his brethren and was afterward raised to a position of honour among the Gentiles. During his rule among the Gentiles, he was unrecognisable to his brethren as one of them until they acknowledged their guilt concerning what they had done to him. After this, Joseph's brothers were restored to a level of fellowship with Joseph that they hadn't enjoyed before; they also enjoyed all of the material benefits that accompanied that fellowship.

Looking at Elijah, he was one of a very small remnant of Israelites who continued to worship the God of Israel during his day. Like Joseph, he was persecuted by his Jewish brethren. He was a prophet during the time of Israel's King Ahab, one of the most wicked kings of the Old Testament. Jezebel, Ahab's wife, slew the prophets of Jehovah (I Kings 18.14). Israel's leaders not only encouraged the nation in worship of Baal but also killed and persecuted anyone who followed the true God, Who had redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt. When Jezebel threatened Elijah's life, Elijah complained to God, "I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." Elijah seemed to think that he was the only worshipper of the true God left in the whole nation of Israel. God assures Elijah of coming judgement on the leadership of the country and says, "Yet will I leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him" (I Kings 19.18). God had a remnant of Israelites that had remained faithful to worship Him, while the majority of the nation were following after idols.

Moses, one of Israel's greatest prophets, also suffered rejection by the people of Israel, who several times would have liked to kill him. He also found himself alone in following God many times while the nation rejected God's promises and followed other gods. He was rejected by the Hebrews at first, when they said to him, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" Exodus 2.14. After this, Moses fled to Midian because Pharaoh sought to kill him. It was only after another forty years that Moses returned to the children of Israel in Egypt and God brought redemption to Israel through him.

Throughout the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, there were a number of rebellions against God's men. First, of course, when Moses was receiving the tablets of the Law, the people were busy building a golden calf, worshipping it and sacrificing to it. God was so angry that if it was not for the intercession of Moses, He would have wanted to kill the entire nation, with the exception of Moses: "Let Me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them..." Exodus 32.10. A number of times the whole nation rose up against Moses and Aaron, complaining against God. See Numbers 20.2, where they complained that God had brought them out of Egypt at all; following this, God brought water for the people out of the rock. In Numbers 25, the people of Israel began worshipping the gods of Moab and God sent a plague against them. In Numbers 13 and 14 is the worst sin on the part of this generation of Israelites, when the vast majority rejected God's offer of the Promised Land because they did not believe God. The people were ready to stone Moses and Aaron in Numbers 14.10. God says, "How long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?" Again God wanted to destroy the nation of Israel (again with the exception of Moses), but Moses interceded for them. Because the people committed this specific sin, rejecting God's offer of the Promised Land, all of that generation who had sinned in this way died in the wilderness. Only the next generation entered the land. The corpses of those men that had rejected God's promises fell in the wilderness - that was the vast majority of the men of Moses' generation, with only a handful of exceptions out of the entire people.

Now, dear one, God predicted that the nation of Israel would treat the Messiah that God would send in a similar way, rejecting and despising Him, just as Joseph was rejected and despised by his brothers and just as God's promise of the land of Israel was rejected by an entire generation.

One generation of Jews rejected Jesus when He was offering to start the Messianic Kingdom on earth. Jesus came claiming to be Israel's Messiah, with accompanying miracles. Jesus' miracles were not denied by the rabbis, but the rabbis and leaders of the nation told the people that the power by which Jesus performed His miracles was given to Him from Satan (See Matthew 12 verses 23 and 24). This answer was given by the leadership to the people who were asking them, "Can this be the Son of David?" This official answer came after the leadership had been following Jesus and investigating His claims for a long time. Thus, the nation of Israel officially rejected their Messiah, as they had rejected the prophets and men sent from God throughout the pages of the Old Testament. Just as one generation of the children of Israel rejected God's offer of the Promised Land and the offer was withdrawn from them, so in the first century, the children of Israel rejected God's Messiah and the offer of the Messianic Kingdom foretold in the prophets, was withdrawn from that generation. That generation suffered the judgement of being thrown out of the land of Israel in the year AD 70, 40 years after the crucifixion of Israel's King, God's Anointed Messiah. The Temple was destroyed. Many Jews lost their lives. So great was the judgement, that the people of Israel were for the most part scattered outside of their land for almost 2,000 years. Because they were scattered in foreign lands, they suffered terrible persecution, like no other nation, throughout that period of 2,000 years. The exile of 70 AD was worse in its extent and consequences than even the Babylonian exile described in the Bible (especially Jeremiah), which lasted for 70 years before God returned them to their land again. In fact, the results of the judgement of 70 AD and the Jewish diaspora are still abundantly evident to this day. One must ask oneself, what sin was so terrible that led to a punishment worse than those punishments we see inflicted on the nation in the pages of the Tanakh? We are told in Leviticus 26 verses 14 onward, that expulsion from the land will happen as a punishment for sin. Verse 38 says, "And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them."

The good news is that a future Jewish generation will repent of their rejection of Jesus, the Messiah. Leviticus 26.40 continues, "And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers ...". Only after such confession will Israel be truly restored. God will save and restore that future generation, just as He saved Joseph's brethren from famine after they repented and just as God took another generation into the Promised Land, after the generation of their fathers had rejected God's promises. This Jewish generation will be one that will undergo terrible suffering before they turn to the Lord and "confess their iniquity". Zechariah 12.10 says, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced [when did Israel pierce God?]; and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem ...". Leviticus predicts the same event in chapter 26 verses 40 to 42, "And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto Me, I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; then will I remember My covenant with Jacob; and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land."

The most touching passage speaking of this future repentance of Israel in regard of their rejection of Jesus, is a passage feared by religious Jews, who cannot bear its profound message. In despair, the nation of Israel cries and confesses, "He was despised, and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face He was despised; and we esteemed Him not"(Isaiah 53.3). We esteemed Him not! Israel's tragedy! And yet God meant it for good, to bring salvation unto the ends of the earth and to make Him a light to the Gentiles! God says to the Messiah in Isa 49.6,"It is too light a thing that Thou shouldest be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth."

The stunning confession of Israel continues, "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53 verses 4 to 6). Isaiah carries on to say, "As for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?" (verse 8)

Like Joseph, whose brothers sought to kill him, ended up throwing him into a pit and selling him to traders, Jesus has been rejected by His Jewish brethren and was sold into the hands of the Gentiles who crucified Him, just as Joseph suffered imprisonment and abasement in Egypt before his exaltation. Like Joseph, Jesus has become highly exalted among the Gentiles. Although Jesus is Jewish, of the seed of Abraham, He has become unrecognisable to His Jewish brethren who for the most part still do not see and know Him. Jesus is regarded by His Jewish brethren as the 'God of the Gentiles', just as Joseph's brethren knew their brother for a while only as the ruler of Egypt. Like the brothers of Joseph, when they were brought into a period of affliction, so the Jews, when they are brought into a period of affliction, will turn and acknowledge their guilt as I quoted to you already from Leviticus: "And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto Me, I also walked contrary unto them". Similar to the stunning confession of Israel concerning the Messiah (Isaiah 53), Joseph's brother's confessed, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us" (Gen 42.21). As Joseph's brothers were brought back into fellowship with Joseph, so it will be also with the Jews of a future generation who will be brought into restored fellowship with the God of Israel and with Israel's Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Just as material blessings followed on for Joseph's brothers, so it will be for the generation of Jews that believe in Jesus. They will be fully restored in their land, Israel will be the head of the nations and all of the prophecies of God's Kingdom will be fulfilled.

God has always had a remnant - and usually only a remnant - of true worshippers among the children of Israel. So it was during the days of the great prophets of God, Moses and Elijah (not to mention Ezekiel, Jeremiah and many others). So it is also at this present time. God has kept for Himself His seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal; in fact at this present time, I should think I'm not exaggerating at all to say that there are probably far, far more than seven thousand Jews alive today who acknowledge Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, as their Saviour. In Israel alone, there must be over one thousand Jewish believers in Jesus. That is a generous remnant of true worshippers, by the standards of the Old Testament Scriptures. These Jewish believers are described in the New Testament as the 'Israel of God', those who are physically Jewish being circumcised in the flesh and of the stock of Abraham, and who are circumcised in heart also, having faith in God through His Son, Jesus. And not only does God have His remnant of true worshippers amongst the Jewish people, He has also brought salvation to the Gentiles through His Son, Yeshua. The Israel of God, those Jews that believe in Jesus, are God's special hidden treasure. Those among the Gentiles that have true faith in Jesus (that doesn't include the majority of 'Christians' who attend church, I'm afraid), are His pearl of great price; this is the description given in the parable Matthew 13.44 and 45.

Beloved, be among that number of Jews that call now upon the Name of Jesus. Moses said, "Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken". God would raise up a prophet from Israel like Moses. That prophet has come - Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of the line of David. Like Moses, the children of Israel murmered against Him and rebelled against Him. Yet God says, "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him"! Matt 17.5. Hear Him! Psalm 2.12, "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way ..." Whoever believes in Him, the Son of God, will not perish but have everlasting life - John 3.16. Verse 18 of John 3 says, "He that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God". Acts 2.22: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God unto you by mighty signs which God did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts 4.11 and 12 addresses the religious leaders of Israel. It says of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "He is the stone which was set at nought of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved."

Now hear Him! Here are some things that Jesus Himself has said. Jesus said in Matthew 11.28-30, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He said in John 8.12, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life." This discourse between Jesus and the Pharisees continues in John 8.24, " 'Except ye believe that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.' They said therefore unto Him, 'Who art thou?' Jesus said unto them, 'Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning' ". From the beginning Jesus has told us Who He is! Look at Isaiah 48.12-16, for example. This passage is spoken by Yahweh Himself - the One who is the First and the Last, Whose hand laid the foundation of the earth: "and My right hand spread out the heavens". This One, the First and the Last, says in verse 16, "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now, the Lord Jehovah hath sent Me, and His Spirit". The One speaking, sent by Jehovah, is none other than Jehovah Himself, Who laid the foundations of the earth and stretched out the heavens - the First and the Last! Jehovah Himself, Who spread out the heavens, declares, "the Lord Jehovah hath sent Me"! How can Jehovah Himself say, "Jehovah hath sent Me"? In Revelation 22.13, Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last". The Scriptures leave us in no doubt about the fact that God's Messiah, the One that God sent into the world, is none other than the Person of Jehovah Himself. Both Old and New Testaments testify clearly of this awesome truth.

Jesus prays at one point to God the Father. He is praying for all of those who would believe in Him. He says in John 17.24, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world". The Lord Jesus desires His followers to be with Him and to see His glory. And so we will be, all those of us who have believed on His Name. In John 14.2-6, Jesus said to His disciples, " 'In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know the way.' Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; how know we the way?' Jesus saith unto him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me' ".

In John 10.11, Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." He said in verses 17 and 18, "Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father." In John 10.25 following, Jesus answered the question, "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly": "I told you and ye believe not: the works that I do in My Father's name, these bear witness of Me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who hath given them unto Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." In John 8.58, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was born, I AM".

In John 11.25, Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live".

Isaiah 53 teaches us that the death of the Messiah is an atoning death - a death not for sins that He had committed, but to pay for the sins of others: "Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all". The letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 9 verses 26 and 28 says, "Now once at the end of the ages hath He been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgement; so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation." Isaiah 53 also tells us that this one that dies will live again. Verse 8 says He is "cut off from the land of the living". In verse 9, He is buried in a grave. Yet verse 10 says, "He shall see His seed". Verse 12 says, "I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Psalm 16.10 and 11 says that God will not "leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life." This is not true of David, who died and whose body decayed, but it is prophetically speaking of the Messiah, Who would die and be raised from the dead. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, the New Testament says, "He is also able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."

You can be saved, dear one! You can be one of the remnant of Israel, God's special treasure. You can face death with peace and be filled with joy knowing that your sins are forgiven because Jesus bore them all for you - and God raised Him from the dead to show that the sacrifice was accepted. Precious soul, you can be saved eternally if you only believe in the Son of God.

One day an entire generation of Jews will believe in Jesus - it's foretold in the Old Testament as I wrote to you above. God will then restore Israel in the Land that He promised them from of old. Beloved, don't die rejecting Jesus, whom your nation will one day soon accept and mourn over, grieving for the way He has been despised and rejected by the nation of Israel. Don't die rejecting Jesus because apart from Him there is no salvation for Jew or Gentile, only fearful expectation of judgement, in the lake of fire that is never quenched, where the worm does not die (Mark 9.48). God the Father has given all judgement into the hand of Jesus: "He hath given all judgement unto the Son; that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (John 5.22,23). If you believe, you will have eternal life, all of your sins will be forgiven, you will have no fear of being judged because all the judgement was suffered by Jesus on the cross. The angels will carry your soul into the presence of God, where you will have everlasting joy. Throughout eternity you will never once regret believing in Israel's Messiah; be obedient to God by believing on His Son and you will have unsurpassed joy. You will have the peace of God in your heart in this life, and eternal life and joy in the next.

May God be pleased to open your eyes by His Holy Spirit. Cry out, dear one, to the name of Yeshua, and you will find rest to your soul. Obey God: believe in His Son! Obey Him: repent and be baptised in the Name of Jesus the Messiah unto the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2.38). May God help you through everything.

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