The “Yehudi” Family
Matthew 24:34 “Amen, I s=
ay to
you that this ‘genea’ will certainly not pass away until all th=
ings
come to pass.”
Mark 13:30 “Amen, I say to you that thi=
s ‘genea’
will certainly not pass away until all these things come to pass.”
Luke 21:32 Amen, I say to you tha=
t this
‘genea’ of peoples will certainly not pass away until all things
come to pass.
These vers=
es
in the three synoptic gospels, which are Matthew, Mark and Luke are almost
identical. However I believe =
there
is a problem in the translation of the Greek word, “genea’ in m=
ost
of our English translations of the Bible.&=
nbsp;
The KJV if 1611 A.D. used the word “generation” to trans=
late
“genea” and most of the modern translations have apparently
followed suit. But all the th=
ings
that Jesus prophesied about did not come to pass in the generation then liv=
ing,
except the part prophesying the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. That did come to pass in 70 A.D., =
during
the earthly life of the generation Jesus then spoke to. The other events He prophesi=
ed are
not yet fulfilled.
Jesus was
speaking to the twelve disciples when he foretold the events of Matthew 24,
Mark 13, and Luke 21. The word
Jesus uses in the verses quoted above means anything that is “of the
family”; that is of any family the speaker is talking about. Even today we speak of a certain person being of a family=
that
we identify by name. By biolo=
gical
descent my wife is of Scottish and French descent. Before we married, she was a Giffe=
n, a
Scottish name. Now she is a S=
mith
by marriage, but biologically she remains a Giffen. If you could attend a meeting of c=
hurch
officers that are trying to update their church rolls, you would hear quest=
ions
like, Whatever became of such and such a person, the daughter of so and
so? We identify people in lar=
ge
part by the family they came from.
Since the messages of what are principally end time events was given=
to
Jewish disciples, they were spoken to and are about the “Yehudi”
family. This word in Hebrew m=
eans
Jews or Jewish. The Greek wor=
d, “genea”
can also be used to identify a person by the nation he is a part of or if a
time frame is needed, the generation in which he or she lived. But here I believe Jesus is =
simply
saying in the verses quoted above that the Yehudi peoples of the earth will=
not
cease to exist until all the prophesied events take place. Except for the destruction of the
Jerusalem temple none of the prophesied events took place during the lifeti=
me
of the Jewish people then living.
It is the
ultimate goal of our Lord to create “one new man.” (Ephesians
2:15) “For He Himself i=
s our
peace, who made both (Jew and Gentile) one and broke down the barrier of the
dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility: the law of
commandments in ordinances, so that in Himself, He might reconcile them bot=
h in
one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility.=
”
(Ephesians 2:14-16) Ultimately
there will no longer be Jew and Gentile, but before the Kingdom Age this wi=
ll
not be fully accomplished.
God knows
there have been many attempts to destroy the Yehudi family of peoples, as w=
ell
as the Christian family of peoples.
The full reconciliation of Jewish and Christian families will be acc=
omplished
when Jesus returns to this earth.
But Jesus has promised that the Jewish peoples or the Yehudi family =
will
not pass away before the kingdom age arrives.
In truth, =
who
are Jews? Many have tried to =
answer
that question. The apostle Pa=
ul
tells Gentile believers in the Roman province of Galatia, “For you are
all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized i=
nto
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, th=
ere is
neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are a=
ll
one in Christ Jesus. And if y=
ou
belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the
promise.” (Galatians 3: 26-29)
What is th=
is
apostle saying? In effect he =
is
saying that salvation depends on being “Abraham’s seed.”<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Biologically you and I may not be
descended from Abraham, but believing God for the, humanly speaking,
impossible, just like Abraham did, this must be our faith. If it is our faith, that God can s=
ave a “a
wretch like me”, then in God’s book we are the seed of Abraham,=
and
if such we are, we are then by faith a Yehudi. It can also be put this way: God h=
as not
willed for the Yehudi peoples to become Gentiles, but He has willed for the
Gentiles to become in the age we now live in to become Yehudi in order to be
saved. Unless we become Abrah=
am’s
seed, we cannot be saved because salvation is of the Jews, the Yehudi. (John
4:22) These are Jesus’ =
words
to a Samaritan woman and to us.
Bluntly, without becoming a Yehudi, with all the stigma attached to =
that
name, no one can be saved.
When Noah,=
his
family and all the designated animals and birds had entered the ark that No=
ah
and his sons had built, the LORD Himself shut the door of the ark. (Genesis
7:16) He is the one who has t=
he key
of David and “when He opens, no one will shut; when He shuts, no one =
will
open.” (Isaiah 22:22 and Revelation 3:7,8) When the LORD shut the door to the=
ark,
it could not be opened until after the flood, when the waters had subsided =
from
off the earth. The five virgi=
ns who
were ready when the bridegroom came entered the banquet hall with him to the
wedding feast and “the door was shut.” Those who needed more time to get =
ready,
for them it was too late. (Matthew 25:11,12) Jesus tells us very plainly, ̶=
0;For
this reason, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour
when you do not think (He will).” (Matthew 24:44) The apostle Paul says, “When they are saying, ̵=
6;Peace
and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor
pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.” (I
Thessalonians 5:3)
As I
understand what the Scriptures are telling us, if this old world ever arriv=
es
at a place in which the Yehudi and other Middle Eastern peoples arrive at a=
n accord
that both groups are content with, if this world ever gets to the place of
renouncing the use of nuclear weapons and permits international inspection =
of
all its nuclear facilities, and chemical factories, if all other threats to
world peace are renounced by all the world’s nations, then the world =
may
breathe a sigh of relief and think “Peace at last!” If and when such a time does arriv=
e,
impossible though it may seem to be, according to the witness of the
Scriptures, it will be at such a moment that sudden destruction will overta=
ke
the peoples of the world and they will not escape. Actually such a time is, I think, =
on
Satan’s agenda for I believe he has or will have someone that he prep=
ares
to bring an accord between Arab and Jew, and from there an accord with the =
rest
of the world. Tue mark of the=
beast
may be some device implanted in each person’s forehead or hand for the
purpose of instant identification, for credit balance, etc. making thereby
printed or coined money unnecessary.
When the L=
amb
breaks the fifth seal on the scroll, John saw underneath the altar in heaven
the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and becaus=
e of
their witness on earth. What =
do
these martyrs want to know? T=
hey
want to know when God is going to avenge their blood, wrongly shed on the
earth. (Revelation 6:9-11) He=
is a
just God and He is only waiting for their number to be completed before He =
does
so. Again the world may think=
, we
have finally gotten it all together.
“Peace and safety!”&nbs=
p;
This is when sudden destruction overtakes the world’s inhabita=
nts.
The church=
age
we now live in will end and then kings and rulers of this world as well as =
all
others will want to hide from the wrath of the Lamb. (Revelation 6:12-17)