©November 5, 2011 Revive Israel Ministries

John 17 Unity and the Messianic Remnant of Israel

Asher Intrater

Recently in prayer, I sensed the following insight. I present it for your discernment:

The time has come for the Messianic remnant of Israel to take a place of leadership in the greater Body of Messiah worldwide. In previous "waves" of the Holy Spirit, different local bodies in various locations in the world have taken leadership. Each time there was a main theme of revelation, which led the Body of Messiah for a time.

What now will be the leading revelation from the remnant in Israel to bless the rest of the Body? The answer is: the John 17 call for unity. This may come as a surprise to many here in Israel. We were not expecting unity in the international Church to be such a central message for us.

The last part of the worldwide Body of Messiah chronologically to be restored is the Messianic remnant of Israel. Likewise the ultimate restoration of the Body in general is our unity according to the John 17 prayer. This unity includes divine union with God, glorification by the Holy Spirit, and the final evangelizing of the world.

The John 17 unity is connected to the parable of the Olive Tree in Romans 11. The various parts of the international Church are depicted as branches of different trees being grafted into one olive tree. The grafting causes unity because all the branches are grafted into the same tree. (I wrote of this John 17/Romans 11 connection in the book The Five Streams over 20 years ago.)

[Note: The Vine of John 15 speaks of a personal spiritual connection, while the Olive Tree of Romans 11 speaks of national historical connection. Together they speak of unity with Yeshua, Israel, and the Church.]

In order for this unity to take place, we as the Messianic remnant of Israel need to "adopt" the worldwide Body, the international Church. God told Abraham that he was to be a "father of many nations" (Genesis 17). What is it called when a family takes in a child who is not theirs biologically? Adoption.

God's covenant with Abraham was that he was to adopt the spiritual children of all nations who come to similar faith as his, and to be a blessing to them. We as the Messianic remnant are called to walk in Abraham's footsteps by "adopting" the international church and being a blessing to all our spiritual brothers and sisters who believe in our Messiah, Yeshua.

In order to "adopt" other nations, we need to enlarge our hearts (II Corinthians 6:12, 7:2), embrace the cross, die to racial pride, be healed of rejection, have faith to give to others, understand that our calling is to serve the nations, and support the international Ecclesia, the true Body of Messiah.

The international Ecclesia may be seen as a family of families. The remnant of Israel is supposed to be the elder brother of the family. The role of the elder brother or first born son is to unify the extended family. As we Messianic Jews embrace the call of John 17 for unity, we will also embrace our own calling as the Romans 11 remnant.   

Mosab on Israel

Here is a powerful 14 minute video of Mosab Hassan Yousef (son of one of the founders of Hamas) speaking about Israel, Islam, and the Middle East. - And how the love of Jesus changed his heart.  Amazing. Please pray for this dear young man, who has placed his life in danger for the sake of the gospel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN0Zb7ody_U

Asher's new, long-awaited book, "Who Ate Lunch with Abraham?" has just arrived (in the English original). It analyzes the appearances of Yeshua as the Angel of the Lord from the Law and the Prophets, through to the book of Revelation. This book is guaranteed to inspire and challenge your understanding of the eternal nature of Yeshua the Messiah and of the progressive revelation of the Bible as a whole.
The main idea for this book was developed not only in years of study in the Hebrew texts, but also in real life experiences of sharing the gospel with Orthodox Jews in Israel. (Not to mention a lot of prayer and intercession.)

Don't miss it. Order for yourself and send to friends. To order click here:(http://www.revive-israel.org/store)

Excerpt from introduction to the book Who Ate Lunch with Abraham

Since many Jewish people accept the authority of the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) but not the New Covenant, it is often necessary to explain God’s plan of salvation in Yeshua from the Tanakh alone. (The early apostles shared Yeshua from the Tanakh alone, since they were still in the process of writing the New Covenant.)

There are many wonderful prophecies about the Messiah in the Tanakh. The apostles often started with those prophecies—for example, in Acts 8 Philip shares with the Ethiopian eunuch from Isaiah 53. In sharing the good news of salvation in Hebrew here in Israel, often with Orthodox Jews, I found that the prophecies alone were not enough.  Even if the prophecies are crystal clear, one whose heart is not open can just say that he doesn’t agree with our interpretation.

Through much study and prayer (along with a lot of arguments, conflicts, and personal experience), I began to see another way: not just prophecies about the Messiah, but actual appearances of the Messiah in the form of the Angel of the Lord. The connection between the Angel of the Lord and Yeshua the Messiah is truly enlightening. It is that dynamic revelation that I hope to share in this book.