A Layman Looks at the Word: "Salvation is of the Jews"

The statement “Salvation is of the Jews” was made by Jesus to the woman at the well in Samaria in Jn 4:22. The depths and the genius of our Lord’s comment needs to be explored in order to better understand our world, and God’s dealings with men.

First off, the Greek word here for “salvation” is soteria, which means: wholeness, saved, deliverance, protection, and safety according to Strong’s. In Hebrew salvation is Yeshua, ישועה. Interesting enough, transliterated to Greek and then Latin, we get Jesus, meaning Jehovah saves.

The oldest written record of the dealings of God with man is our Bible. This Holy Book is written by God through inspiration of the Holy Ghost to men to reveal God’s character and plan for man.Written in Hebrew and Aramaic for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament it is the history of our beginnings and the prophecy of our future.

In the Bible is the foundation of two of the great religions of the world; Judaism and Christianity. By the way, all of the writers of the Bible are Jewish, or converts.

Beginning History

In Genesis 1:1 we see that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, this is the Universe. This was not a chance happening, but by Divine Design.

Gn 1:26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

So God created the universe, the earth, and all of the living things on the earth, including the first man and woman in the first chapters of Genesis.

Adam and Eve were the first humans, and unlike all of us, they had no belly button, because they were created as grown. All of the people of the earth are descended from these two. They walked with God in the garden until Eve was deceived by the devil to disobey God and Adam decided to follow her in this first sin. God told them they could freely eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden, save one. God had pronounced death for the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but in His mercy killed innocent animals to cover the sin of Adam and Eve, Gn 3:21. This started the sacrifice from year to year to be forgiven of sin. Their spoken language was ancient Hebrew, which later was written. This was not made up, but given from God.

God promised to redeem man and bring the barrier down between God and man, sin. Gn 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. This was the promise of God coming as a man to the earth to set things right, the Messiah. God even showed Adam the Mazzaroth in which God wrote the Gospel in the Stars, (this is the Zodiac see my blog Gospel in the Stars).

In 10 generations from Adam, the people of the earth became so corrupt that God destroyed them as well as the land animals. This was the great world flood of Gn 6. God saved mankind with Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, Shem, Ham, Japeth, and their wives. All of our species of land/air animals were also saved on the great boat, the Ark that God told Noah how to build.

Brief Jewish History

In another 10 generations from Noah, Abram was born. Noah was still alive when Abram was born and Abram spent many years with Noah and his son, Shem learning about God and pre-flood, (described in the book of Jasher). When Abram was 75 years old, God called him to go to the land of Canaan and start a nation. God told Abram that He would bless those who blessed him and that He would curse those who cursed him, Gn 12:3. This nation came through a blood covenant that God made with Abram Gn 15. This was the circumcision for Abram’s part but for God it was the sacrifice of Jesus, His Son in the future.

God told Abram that he would give him the land from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River for his seed forever, Gn 15:18-.

Abram believed God, and God counted that to him as righteousness, Gn 15:6.

Abram stumbled and was convinced by his wife Sari that she was too old to have a baby and that he should take her Egyptian maid servant and have a son that Sari could claim as her own, Gn 16. This did not work out well, and the maid Hagar and her son, Ishmael, had to leave Abram’s clan at Sari’s demand.

When Abram was 99 years old, and Sari was 89 years old, God came again to Abram and swore by Himself the covenant. Anyone who broke a blood covenant, their life was considered worthless. God was saying that He would die if He broke the covenant and thus end all things.

So God put part of His name into the names of Sari and Abram. God’s name is the Hebrew letters 'הוה, which is yod hey vav hey (right to left in Hebrew). God took a hey from His Name, which is also number 5 and represents Grace, and added it to Abram’s name which became Abraham, which means father of many nations. God put the hey also in Sari’s name which became Sarah, which means princess, Gn 16.

One year later when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 she had a son, Isaac. This was a miracle baby. Both Abraham and Sarah had laughed when God told them about the baby, so they named the baby laughter, or Isaac.

Abraham is the only one in the Bible who is called the friend of God. When Isaac was about 17, God told Abraham to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Paul’s revelation of this affair in Heb 11, tells us that Abraham was strong in faith, and knew that the Messiah was coming from his bloodline, and he thought that God would raise Isaac from the ashes. An angel stopped Abraham from killing his only promised son. In the spirit realm, this gave God permission to offer His only Son as a sacrifice for all mankind because of the covenant between God and Abraham. This was Jesus who bears the scars of His passion for all time.

So, Isaac had Jacob and Esau, and Jacob had 12 sons from 2 wives and 2 concubines. These became the 12 tribes of Israel, the descendants of God’s friend, Abraham and God’s chosen people. Israel means the Prince that prevails with God and was the name given to Jacob after wrestling with God all night and having his hip dislocated, Gn 32:28.

Egypt and Slavery

Joseph was the 11^th son of Israel, and was highly favored and Israel gave him a multi-colored coat symbolizing that he would be the next leader of the clan. God revealed to Joseph by dreams the future where he would be a great leader. His jealous older brothers sold him to slave traders who took him to Egypt. The brothers told Jacob that probably a wild beast had killed Joseph and they presented to Jacob, Joseph’s coat that they had stained with the blood of a lamb. Jacob was heartbroken.

Under God’s hand and direction, Joseph became the right hand to the Pharaoh. Joseph had interpreted a troubling dream that the Pharaoh had for God showed him that a 7 year famine was coming that would follow a time of plenty of 7 years. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of grain storage to prepare for the famine. In the process of time as the severe famine came to the land, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain. He had heard they had grain for sale and that the whole world was going to Egypt to buy grain to survive.

Joseph was not recognized by his brothers, he was in Egyptian dress and makeup, but he knew them. He played games with them and with Joseph’s power he kept one of the brothers until his younger brother was brought before him. He finally revealed himself to his brothers and sent for the rest of Israel’s house to come and live in Egypt for the famine was still severe. 70 people came and lived in the land of Goshen on the Nile Delta for 430 years.

Pharaohs arose to power who did not remember Joseph and the Israelites were made slaves. The elders of the 12 tribes prayed to God for deliverance, Gn 38-50.

Exodus from Egypt

God heard the cries of Israel and sent them a deliver, Moses along with his brother Aaron, who went before the Pharaoh and told him to let the people go into the wilderness for 3 days and worship. Pharaoh’s heart was hard against God, and through Moses God sent 10 plagues upon Egypt, the last one being the death of the firstborn of every house and animal. Israel in Goshen were not included in the plagues and were protected. The night of the death of the firstborn, they were instructed to take a lamb and kill it, and place the blood on the doorposts and lintel of each of Israel’s dwellings. When the angel of death came and saw the blood, he passed over the house and all were safe. This is Passover and a perpetual Feast of the Lord which represented the future sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus.

The next day 2.5-3 million people left Egypt, (taken from Numbers and the count of the men of war and average family). They left wealthy by borrowing jewelry and goods from their Egyptian neighbors, They left healed and well for there was not one feeble one among them, Ps 105:37. They left to the East and camped at the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea.

Pharaoh had a change of heart and decided to follow and kill the Israelites. God delivered them by Moses stretching his staff over the waters and they divided. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land and the Egyptians attempting to follow them were all drowned when God let the waters come back and cover them. This was done at the modern city of Nuweiba where much evidence was found supporting this from Ron Wyatt, (chariot wheels, human and horse bones, and granite pillars from Solomon marking the spot).

God revealed Himself to them in a pillar of fire by night that warmed them and pillar of smoke by day to cool them from the desert extremes. God led them in this manner to Mt. Sinai which is in modern Saudi Arabia and called Jabel Al Lawz, (Ron Wyatt discovered this and much evidence in the 1970’s).

The Grace of God was upon His people here, even though they constantly complained. No one died during the Exodus to Mt. Sinai. God gave the people bread from heaven every day called manna. He gave them water from a rock in the desert, (these are symbols of Messiah, Jesus, the bread of life and water of life, and the rock of salvation).

Tabernacle

While camped in Sinai, God spoke to Moses and made Israel an offer:

Ex 19: 3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

This was an offer for the people to live in the perpetual Grace of God. Similar to Abraham who believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, the people had the opportunity to follow God and depend on His provision, protection, health, and care out of God’s goodness and love and not by their actions or trying to earn this Grace. The offer was made and people refused and said:

8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD

LORD here is the name of God, 'הוה , from which we get Jehovah or Yahweh which the Jews do not attempt to pronounce.

So God introduced the 613 commandments of the Law to Moses recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. We are all familiar with the first 10 called the Ten Commandments. The Law is perfect, but has no compassion, understanding, or mercy. The Grace of God is by far the better choice. No one has kept the whole of the Law, except our Lord Jesus. The breaking of the Law always had consequence, usually severe.

God had Moses up on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and there gave him instructions on building the Tabernacle and it’s furnishings. These all represented His Son, and each were made to demonstrate the Divinity of the promised Messiah to come. Moses and Aaron and their sister Miriam were all of the tribe of Levi. Moses was the Prophet for Israel, Aaron was the High Priest, and Miriam was a Prophetess. Here are some of the details of the Tabernacle:

· The gate- colored blue for Divinity, scarlet for the blood of sacrifice, and white for purity it was the only way into the courtyard. Jesus said, “I AM the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me”, Jn 14:6.

· The altar- a brass structure where a fire was maintained by the Priests and sacrifice for the sins of the people were made with bulls, goats, or doves, depending on the people’s ability to own. Jesus was the final and ultimate eternal sacrifice for our sins and redemption at the cross.

· The laver- where the Priests would wash before presenting themselves before God for the people. Jesus presented Himself and became our righteousness because we believe in Him, 2 Cor 5:21.

· The Holy Place- part of the inner Tabernacle covered with 4 coverings and surrounded with gold covered boards. From the inside you could only see the gold, representing Divinity, and the bottom covering which had the Cherubim of God embroidered with the colors of blue, scarlet, and white which represent the approaching of God’s throne (the colors meaning as the gate). The next cover was goat’s hair and not seen. Jesus was our scapegoat and bore our sins at the cross. The next cover was also not seen and was ram’s skins dyed red. This is the blood of Jesus, God’s sacrifice. The next cover was outside and seen was badger skins. Jesus did not have a special look, but was ordinary, but was marred more than any man in His passion. This Holy Place represents the “secret place of the Most High” as spoken of in Ps 91. In our Lord Jesus is this secret place. In the Holy Place were 3 furnishings:

· The Menorah- was the 7 branches that burned olive oil always. Jesus is the light of the world, Jn 8:12. This Menorah was the light for the Holy Place and was solid gold, representing Divinity.

· Table of Shewbread- a table with loaves of bread and pitchers of oil. This represents Jesus as the bread of life, Jn 6:35. The oil represents the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised us, Jn 14:26. The table was wood representing earthly our human, covered in gold, representing divinity, and with a crown of gold representing royalty.

· Altar of incense- placed in the Holy Place next to the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Incense was burned here that represents the prayers of the Saints before God. Jesus is our intercessor and prays for us constantly, Heb 7:25.

· Most Holy Place- behind the veil which had Cherubim embroidered on it in white, scarlet, and blue was the Ark of the Covenant, where the High Priest entered once a year to sprinkle blood before the Ark and on the Mercy Seat. Here is where Moses communed with the LORD. The Ark is wood, representing humanity, covered in gold representing Divinity, with a crown around the lid, representing royalty. The lid was called the Mercy Seat and had to Cherubim on each side with wings stretched toward one another and looking down to the Mercy Seat. Inside the Ark was a bowl of manna, the Ten Commandments, and Aaron’s rod that budded. Each of these represented man’s sin. The Cherubim represented the eyes of God which could not look past the blood on the Mercy Seat to see man’s sin. This is an awesome representation of Jesus, who by His Blood erased our sin and is seated at the right hand of God, Heb 9:12, Mk 16:19.

The veil of the Temple at the time of Jesus’ death on the cross was ripped in half from the top to the bottom representing the barrier between God and man was removed, Mk 15:37-38. This was in the Temple that Herod built in Jerusalem. The Veil was a few inches thick and 30’ high.

There are many more details about the Tabernacle that represented our Lord Jesus, but these mentioned give you the picture of what God painted for Israel concerning the Messiah, His Son, our Lord Jesus. Even the camps of the tribes around the Tabernacle took the form of a cross when seen from above. The numbers are the men of war, families not included.

While Moses was on Mt. Sinai, Israel became impatient and rebellious. They built an altar for a golden calf to worship and said, “This is the god that brought us out of Egypt”. This altar is still there at the foot of Mt. Sinai, (Jabel Al Lawz). There they broke several of the commands that God had given. Israel could not do whatever God said, and many died that day as consequence of the breaking of the Law. The rebellion caused their time in the wilderness to be extended 40 years until that generation perished. God still loved his friend’s descendants and fed them manna for all that time and their clothes and shoes did not wear out, Deu 8:4, 19:5.

Promised Land

Joshua and Caleb were the only survivors of that 40 year period. They were sent to spy out the land of Canaan along with 10 others 40 years earlier, but they were the only ones who believed God that they could take the land. It was a good fertile land, but there were walled cities and giants there the 8 other spies did not believe God and convinced the people.

Joshua was anointed by Moses and led the next generation into the Promised Land and conquered it. It was divided among the tribes of Israel. This is the approximately the area of modern Israel.

Judges

After Joshua’s death, Israel was ruled by Judges that God would appoint to help them defeat their enemies. These were mighty people like: Gideon, Debora, Shamgar, Ehud, and Samson. The last of the Judges and the first of the Prophets (after Moses) was Samuel.

Kings

Samuel was a great Judge and Prophet and God was his King. The people wanted a king though and at God’s permission, Samuel anointed Saul to be the first King of Israel. Saul did not do well before God and was replaced with David, a man after God’s own heart, 1 Sam 13:14. David was a great King and God promised that his seed would sit on the throne of Israel forever, 2 Sam 7:16. Next in line was Solomon, then his son, Rehoboam. During Rehoboams reign, Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam caused division in the land which was Israel to the North (10 tribes) and Judah to the South (2 tribes). The term “Jew” comes from Judah of the line of David. For the most part the good kings were from David’s line in Judah, and the kings that were evil were in Israel.

During all of this time, God sent Prophets to preach repentance to both Judah and Israel, but the people continued to worship other gods, and do evil in God’s sight. Finally Israel was taken by the Assyrians. Then Judah was taken captive by Babylon circa 587 BC and Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.

Jesus Comes

2000 years ago, Jesus the Messiah was born in Bethlehem according to the prophecies; born of a virgin, born of the house of David (from Mary through Nathan, and Joseph his earthly father from Solomon), the stars announced His birth, God as a man, bearing our sin, bearing our sickness, delivering the Holy Spirit, taking His seat at the right hand of the Father, defeating death, bringing Grace and Salvation to all who believe in Him, taking the OT Saints to heaven with Him by cleansing the Heavenly Temple with His own Blood, making the path for us all to go to Heaven, giving us His righteousness, giving us power over the devil and his demons, and setting up His Church in the earth.

No one person has ever had the impact that Jesus did. There are about 2.5 billion Christians that believe that Jesus was God in the flesh. He is the only religious leader that rose from the dead and lives eternally as King. He will return and set up His throne of David in the New Jerusalem.

He came first as the suffering servant, Isa 53, but His 2^nd coming will be triumphant and conquering of the earth from the power of Satan, Rev 19-20. The religious Jews did not recognize Him for they wanted the King, not the Servant.

The New Testament was added to the Bible, all written by Jews.

Israel Restored

Prophets had written that Israel would be restored. Jeremiah said that they would rebuild the Temple after 70 years which happened in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Many Prophets wrote about the restoration of Israel when they would be their own country.

This finally happened in 1948 when Israel became a nation again. They did not have it easy and went to war the next day.

Amos 9: 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

Isa 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.

In 1967 they had the 6 day war and ended up getting Jerusalem back, as well as the Sinai, West Bank, and Golan Heights even though attacked from all sides.

The USA has been Israel’s strongest ally in modern times.

There was a tragic mistake made by Israel in the 6 day war where they attacked one of our spy ships the USS Liberty. We did not retaliate as they apologized and said it was mistaken for an Egyptian ship. We are still allies.

Israel celebrated their first Jubilee in 2017. President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the eternal Capital of Israel also in 2017 and moved the US embassy there.

Every major world empire has come and gone, but the Jews have endured through it all.

Paul tells us that all Israel will be saved, Rm 11:26. This is a future event that will happen during the Tribulation. However, Messianic Jews are increasing daily.

Jews That Helped USA and Britton in Major Wars

Hayem Salomon a Jewish business man was the major financier of the American Revolution

Chaim Weizmann a Jewish chemist. Invented a way to use potatoes and grain to distill acetone and butyl alcohol during WW1. Britton had cut down most of their forests to make gunpowder (cordite) which needed acetone. With Weizmann’s patent, and under Lord Justice of Appeal John Fletcher Moulton who was in charge of explosives production they took over distilleries and made enough gunpowder to win the war.