MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

Matthew 1:21, “She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name YESHUA, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Isaiah 12:2-4, “Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD, the LORD, is my strength and song; and he has become my YESHU’AH.  Therefore with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of YESHU’AH.  In that day you will say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD! Call on HIS NAME. Declare his doings among the peoples. Proclaim that HIS NAME is exalted!'”

Isaiah 62:11, “Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy YESHU’AH cometh; behold, HIS reward [is] with HIM, and his work before him.”

By Ava Thomas – “ISRAEL (BP)–White and blue flags rustled in the breeze, and kebabs sizzled on the grill. Ben Martin* gathered the group around and offered a prayer of thanks for the food.

‘Thank You for this food. Thank You for this nation. And thank You that after 2,000 years, You haven’t forsaken Israel.’

He hasn’t forsaken it — in fact, Jesus Christ is at work among the Jews more than ever, Martin said.

The crowd at this Israeli Independence Day party was more diverse than one might expect for a get-together celebrating the founding of the Jewish homeland in 1948.

There were Iranian Jews. Iraqi Jews. Russian Jews. American Jews.

‘The face of the Jews here isn’t what you’d expect,’ said Martin, a Christian worker among the Jews. ‘Because of ‘the return,’ it’s a very diverse group.’

The return of Jews after 1948 to what is Israel today brought the Diaspora — Jews scattered worldwide — back from different countries and cultures. But despite differences, the work among them is expanding all the time, Martin said. Baptist work in Israel started in the 1920s in an Arab town, and the Messianic work among the nation’s Jews is a growing phenomenon.

Now there are an estimated 150 Jewish congregations around Israel meeting in different languages. The number of believers is estimated to be around 20,000, growing exponentially from 1948 when 12 Jews who believed in Jesus could be counted, to 1987 when there were 3,000 and 1997 where there were 5,000.” Read more.