A Special ‘Best Of' Thoroughly JewishThursday Broadcast!

Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow. Rabbi Jesus? I mean, shouldn't we call him Reverend? Like, like Reverend Christ?

After all, he founded Christianity, right? It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us, friends, on the Line of Fire broadcast. Michael Brown, so glad to be with you on this Thursday, thoroughly Jewish Thursday, where we focus on things related to Israel, related to the Jewish people, related to reaching out to the Jewish people with the good news of Messiah.

I'm not going to be taking calls today. I want to get in a lot of content.

So, this is going to be a day where we go through the scriptures and give you some insights as to why in the New Testament Jesus is called rabbi. But please write this number down. You can call it throughout the broadcast. You can call it right after the show as well: 1-800-200-0. 278-9978.

Please write that down. 1-800-278-9978. Throughout the broadcast, I'm asking you to sew into our Jewish ministry outreach, to hold my hands up as we are on the front lines of reaching Jewish people with the gospel. I'm also asking you to please pray with me, especially these next 10 days, pray with me for grace and anointing as I have a major writing deadline to get out what I believe will be the best outreach tool we've ever produced. The number one chance of a Jewish person that wants to find out more about who this Jesus Yeshua really is.

And I'll tell you more about it very shortly. I'm eager to give out the details, but please pray. And if you believe in what we're doing, I want to remind you, especially if you haven't been listening in a while, that as we have major radio obligations to meet, and upon meeting those, the opportunity to continue to expand, the potential to expand into more and more cities all over America, we have a generous gift that will come our way from an anonymous donor, up to $40,000 that can be sewn into this work, whereby every dollar that comes in becomes $1.50, every $100 becomes $150.

So someone is going to supplement what you give and turn it into more money. And a major focus of what we do here on the line of fire is Jewish ministry, Jewish outreach. We equip people to reach other Jews with the gospel. We help Jewish believers be strong in the faith, and we reach Jewish people who've never heard, who don't know the Lord, with a major release of a lot of our material coming very soon in Hebrew, by God's grace, to circulate all over Israel.

So sow into what we're doing. And can I appeal to every pastor? Pastor listening, how much of your budget do you put into Jewish ministry, Jewish outreach? I mean, Paul did say that the gospel is God's power, power to salvation to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, also to the Gentile. I don't believe that he meant simply historically that that's how it happened, that first the gospel went to Jewish people, and after that, the Gentiles, because Paul continued that pattern, whatever city he went into, even if he got rejected in the last, he'd go into the next city, and he'd bring the message to Jewish people first, and then after that, he would, if there were Jewish people in the city, that's where he would start.

Even if you don't read the scripture that way, the fact is this is very, very important to God's heart, reaching Jewish people with the good news of their own Messiah. Would you not agree? And it's a certain spiritual debt that every believer has, because this is Israel's Messiah, Israel's God, is Israel's holy book, the Bible, Israel's apostles, Israel's prophets. Prophets that we're talking about, and yet the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, by and large, remain lost sheep and need to hear the good news.

So, so from your missions budget into our work, put us on your missions budget on a regular basis. You'll never make a better investment in terms of making a difference for the kingdom.

So, the number again: 1-800-278-9978. 1-800-278-9978. It is true from all the historical documents of which I am aware in early Jewish sources that the first one in recorded history who was ever called rabbi is Jesus Yeshua. And the other one was John the Baptist, Rabbi John the Baptist, or some like to call him John the Immerser, or some like to call him Yochanan Hamat Beal. Back in the world.

Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow. Inspire we want. For fire we please. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-342. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, we are talking today on the line of fire about Rabbi Jesus, Rabbi Yeshua.

Is it right to say that he was a rabbi? Is it wrong to say he founded Christianity? Do the two things go hand in hand or are they in contradiction? To what extent can he be placed historically as a first century rabbi? It's Thursday, thoroughly Jewish Thursday here on the line of fire.

Wednesday, we focus on the world. Tuesday, teaching. Monday, my musings. Friday, you've got questions. We've got answers.

Thursday, thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

So what I want to do, I'm not going to be taking calls today, but again, please write down this number. And throughout the broadcast, I encourage you, I urge you to call in, stand with us. Look at this as kind of a radio-thon instead of a telethon, as we're asking everyone that's blessed by this broadcast to sow in with a gift, large or small, that will then be multiplied through the gift of an anonymous donor, a friend of a friend. 1-800-278-9978. 1-800-278-9978.

Online, askdrbrown.org. You can stand with us right on the homepage, askdrbrown.org. Quite a number of times in the Gospels, Jesus is called rabbi. And John the immerser, his older cousin, was called rabbi.

So, chronologically, John the immerser, John the Baptist, would have been, I laugh because it sounds funny, Rabbi John the Baptist, right? It would be like saying Muhammad in Islam instead of Muhammad the prophet, Muhammad the Christian priest, or something like that. It sounds like we're mixing religions, but again, that reminds us of how far we have departed from the Jewish roots of the faith. But chronologically, John the immerser was called rabbi before Jesus was, but as recorded in Scripture, it is mentioned that Jesus is called rabbi. First, you have it in John 1.

Now, what did it mean? It was not a formal position. The formal position, or I should say the ordained recognized position of rabbis, someone who received what's called smicha, which is ordination, but which literally means the laying on of hands. That formal recognition did not happen until after the second temple was destroyed.

So after the year 70, and therefore. forty years minimal after the time of Jesus. Or I should say 40 after the time of Jesus. But rabbi was. Term of honor, a term of recognition, a term of esteem.

So someone would be called rabbi. Many times in the New Testament, we see Jesus called teacher. That would be an equivalent to rabbi is literally my master, my teacher. Not master in terms of slave, but master in terms of a gifted teacher that was looked to, that people would follow.

So without question, Jesus the Jew was a rabbi. Not a rabbi in terms of a contemporary congregational leader, but a rabbi in terms of in that generation, someone that would be looked at as a popular teacher that would gather disciples around him.

Now, There is a quote that it's actually Fairly well known in Jewish circles. Perhaps in older Jewish scholarship earlier this century, you'd see it more. But it comes from Julius Velhausen. He was a German Bible critic. He lived from 1844 to 1918.

And he's most famous in Old Testament circles for developing a particular theory of the authorship of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses that were really not from Moses, according to Velhausen. There were other German scholars who had some of these views before him, and then he fully. Developed it so it's a very famous critical Bible theory. And Velhausen was no friend of ancient Judaism. He was not one that was enthralled with ancient Judaism.

To him, the law, the Pentateuch, that represented a lower level of spirituality, all the laws and things like that.

So he did not have what you would say was a high view of ancient Judaism, or you could say Judaism in general. By the way, for those that aren't familiar with them, looking them up. It's spelled with a W, but of course German W, normally pronounced as a V. It's interesting then that he's often quoted by Jewish scholars, especially of the last generation and before. This is what he said.

Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Jew. He did not preach a new faith, but taught men to do the will of God and in his opinion, as also in that of the Jews, the will of God was to be found in the Law of Moses and in other books of Scripture. Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Jew.

Of course it's true. There was no such thing as Christian. At that time, Christian as a term is only used three times in the New Testament, and it comes some years after the Lord's resurrection, and it's first used in Antioch, where Gentiles and Jews are together believing in Jesus as Messiah. And it could have predominantly identified the Gentiles, but it seems it's the way that all those first followers, Jew and Gentile alike, were being identified. And they were being identified as such, probably in a derogatory way.

In fact, in the ancient Greek world, the word Christos, the equivalent of Messiah, in the ancient Greek world, unless you're a Jew, that word did not have a lot of meaning to you. It was taken as a title, as a name. Many thought it was Christos. They got the name wrong.

So these were the people identified with this Christos character.

So Christian was just a way of, it'd be like mocking someone who, quote, followed me and calling them a Brownite, or mocking someone. That supported Ron Paul and calling him a Paulite or something like that. That's what it was. The word Christianity doesn't even become developed until the second century. And even the term Christian, which occurs in Acts 11, Acts 26, and 1 Peter 4, was not widely used as a self-designation by the believers.

So to say Jesus was not a Christian, of course he was not. To say he founded Christianity true and false. True in terms of the faith in Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the Son of God, comes from him. He is the founder, the pioneer, the author, and the finisher of our faith. In terms of Christianity, as it developed through the centuries, no, no, no, you're not going to blame a lot of those developments on Jesus.

Shaya Kohn is a Jewish professor. He's taught at Jewish Theological Seminary, Harvard University, Brown University, as far as I know. And he reminds us of how Jewish Jesus was. Jesus was. Was Jesus a Jew?

Of course Jesus was a Jew, he says. He was born of a Jewish mother in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogue. He preached from Jewish texts, from the Bible.

He celebrated the Jewish festivals. He was born, lived, died, taught. As a Jew. And then Professor Joseph Klausner, who began teaching at Hebrew University about 90 years ago, one of the early professors at Hebrew University, he wrote a book, Jesus of Nazareth, wrote it in Hebrew. This is to be read by fellow Jews.

And the book was controversial from a Christian viewpoint. In fact, the Christian Pastor who the and scholar who translated it into English came under a lot of flack for doing so. It's obviously not a book that Christians would be at home with in many ways, but a book that was important for scholarship, was important because a Jew wrote it, and was important for many of the things it did say about Jesus. But This is what Joseph Klausner wrote in his book, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus keeps the ceremonial laws like an observing Jew.

He wears fringes. I'll come back to that in a little while. The rituals fringes, the tassels required in numbers in Deuteronomy. He goes up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread. He celebrates the Seder, which is the traditional Passover meal.

He blesses the bread and the unleavened cakes and breaks them and says the blessing over the wine. He dips the various herbs into the Haroset, which is a mixture of chopped nuts and apples, wine, spices that's eaten at the Passover Seder, traditionally regarded as symbolic of the mortar used by Israelite slaves in Egypt. He drinks the four cups of wine, referring again to the Passover meal, and he concludes with a hallel, a prayer based on the Psalms.

Now, were all of these things in detail, the Haroset, for example, that particular part of the meal, and placed there? Perhaps some debate that. But what Klaus was saying was Jesus was a Jew of his time. Time. There's no question about it.

His issues were with some of the Jewish traditions, not with the law itself, because that was from his father. Yes, he was a Jew, a Jew of his time. He was born king of the Jews, and he died king of the Jews. But There is more. There is more to the story.

He was also a rabbi. What does that mean? We're going to take that up in the next part of the broadcast. What would that mean in the first century of this era? And in what ways was he more than a rabbi?

I want to ask every one of you who believes in what we're doing, who believes in our outreach to the Jewish people, who believes in the importance of equipping the body in this way and dealing with false teaching about Israel as well and false views about the modern state of Israel. I'm appealing to every one of you to stand with us at this critical and wonderful time. Call us at 1-800-278-9978. Your financial gift is your way of saying we believe in what you're doing and we want to partner together to reach Jewish people with the gospel and to make a difference in our world. 1-800-278-9978 or online, askdrbrown.org.

Thanks for giving it today. Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow. Got it. I Hear our cry send the fire.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thank you so much for joining us today on this Thoroughly Jewish Thursday as we focus on Jesus Yeshua as a first century rabbi and more.

Won't be taking your calls, but I want to appeal to everyone listening who believes in this broadcast and in particular who believes in what we're doing in Jewish ministry, who recognizes the importance of it, wants to sow into it, wants to do exactly what Paul said in Romans 15 as he was ministering to Gentile believers and said, if you have been enriched spiritually by this Jewish heritage, in other words, the Jewish Messiah and these Jewish apostles and this Jewish work, if you have been enriched spiritually, then certainly you can help financially.

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So this is a wonderful way to multiply your funds for Jewish ministry. To quickly review, Jesus was not a rabbi in the sense of a contemporary congregational rabbi, number one. Number two, Jesus was not a rabbi in an officially ordained sense. That did not exist in his day. But Jesus Yeshua was called rabbi by his disciples, which meant my master, my teacher.

And it was a title for a popular leader, a popular teacher in that day who would have certain characteristics, would gather disciples around himself. In fact, I'll look at those characteristics in a moment.

Now, Yeshua was much more than just a rabbi. Otherwise, we wouldn't be talking about him today, and we wouldn't call him the Savior of the world. But there is absolutely something very important foundationally that we must realize when we look at him as a rabbi.

Now, It is true to say that he is the most famous rabbi that ever lived. Think of that. The most influential Jew and the most famous rabbi who ever lived. We must reclaim him and recognize him for who he is and who he was. When he returns, he's returning as the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Yes. He still, as a man, maintains a certain identity. Mm-hmm. True on that one, right?

Now. He often opposed traditions of his day. Many others he lived by, going to the synagogue. That was a Pharisaical innovation, having synagogues instead of just the temple worship. He participated in those things.

He did many things that other Jews would do, and as other Pharisees would do, from what we could see in Scripture. And yet he had issue with some of the traditions.

Some is reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls, some is reflected in the later rabbinic writings. And it was those traditions that he said made the word of God void. He talks about that, for example, in Mark the 7th chapter. But his issue was not with the law of God, with the Torah of Moses, given by his father to Israel, really through his mediation. The fact is, he said he came to fulfill what was written in the Torah and the law and the prophets, to bring to fulfillment that which God had spoken of, everything up to that point.

So he lived as a Torah-observant Jew. What he rejected was often traditional as. Application of it or wrong approaches to it or wrong ways of relating to it.

So he also would have looked the part. And we saw Joseph Klausner from Hebrew University almost 100 years ago talked about Jesus wearing ritual fringes. These were required by the law of Moses, the tassels, the fringes, this deep blue, purple, bluish color that would mark the people of Israel out. That was actually what royalty would wear then because it came from a particular snail called the Chilazon, and it was a very expensive dye. Ultimately, when the Jewish people weren't able to obtain the dye anymore, sometime in centuries after the time of Jesus, they decided that they would just have fringes that were white because in their view, in their tradition, it had to be this particular dye or they couldn't have the color at all.

That's why you'll see traditional Jews with these fringes. They have the undergarment, like an undershirt, that has this fringes. On them because they don't wear the old Middle Eastern clothing anymore.

So those hang out from the side of their pants, from their shirt, why it's to look at them and remember the commandments of God. That's why God gave it Numbers 15, Deuteronomy chapter 22. Jesus wore those. His clothes have us. How do we know?

Well, we know because the Greek word, when the Torah was being translated into Greek, what's called the Septuagint, a couple hundred years before the time of Jesus, the Greek word that was used for fringe, tassel, was the word crospedon in Greek. And that's the word that's used in the New Testament, where Jesus rebukes some of the hypocritical religious leaders for making the tassels really long. They wanted to put on an outward show and demonstrate how spiritual they were. That's the word that's used. It's also the word that's used when people touch, quote, the hem of his garment and were healed.

It better not to translate with hem, as many modern translations recognize, but with fringe. And you realize that's hanging out even a little further. Even though just touch that, I can be healed. That is how Jesus Yeshua looked. What about him being called rabbi?

Well, we'll look at some of the supernatural associations with him being called rabbi, but look at this. Nicodemus, Nachtaimon, in Hebrew, ruler of the Jews, John chapter 3.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nachtimon, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Hmm, no one can do the signs you do unless God is with him.

So he is different. He is a miracle worker of an unusual caliber. Therefore, God must be with him.

So, how does Nicodemus address him? How does Nakedmon address him? Rabbi, because that would be the term of respect for a Jewish teacher, Jewish leader that gathered disciples around himself.

So, what are some of the things a first-century Jewish rabbi would do?

Well, He gathered together a group of disciples, students, and Hebrews, Ptolemy Deem, these devoted learners that would follow him. A first-century rabbi would instruct his disciples in God's word, offer his interpretations. A first-century rabbi would encourage his disciples to acts of piety and devotion. A first-century rabbi would make legal pronouncements or settle legal disputes. These are some of the things that Jesus Yeshua did.

I want to open them up a little bit more in the next half hour, but for those that are going to be leaving me in a few minutes or getting out of your car, I wanted to at least go through this list. But in many, many, many different ways, Jesus was more than a rabbi, and I want to focus on that as well. Remember Paul wrote to the Romans that the gospel is the power of God to salvation. It's for everyone, yes, but it's first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. First and foremost, a message to the Jewish people about their Messiah, and because he's the Messiah of Israel, therefore the Savior of the world.

And Paul said he was a debtor to bring the gospel to all people. Yes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Can I ask every one of you who listens to this broadcast and has derived benefit from it to stand with us and help us go to the Jew first, 1-800-278-9978, or online, ask drbrown.org one more time. That's 1-8-7. 800-278-9978.

Call today. Stand with us. Help us do what God has called us to do. Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow.

It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thank you so much for joining us today on the line of fire. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you on this Thursday, Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Our focus is on Rabbi Jesus. Jesus Yeshua, the first person in recorded history to be called rabbi according to the historical documents of which I am aware.

The first one to be called rabbi chronologically, his older cousin John, John the Baptist, better known as John the Immerser.

Some call him Jochanan the immerser to underscore his Jewishness.

Some Jochanan Hamat Beal turned the whole thing into Hebrew, but he was called rabbi chronologically before Jesus. But in terms of the documents, Jesus called rabbi first. He's the one that's first mentioned as such. There was not formal ordination of rabbis at that time. That came a generation plus after that.

There was recognition of gifted teachers that would gather disciples around them. Jesus was called rabbi. I'm not taking your phone calls today, but write down this number, and I'm asking you to stand with us by calling this number through the broadcast and sewing into our ministry work, holding our hands up, each of you making a financial gift to help us meet our radio obligations and even give us potential to expand into more stations as we meet our obligations. And again, a generous donor, if you haven't heard this, is multiplying all the funds that come in. $100 becomes $150.

So it's a very unique season for us, the most critical in our radio history so far.

So thanks for joining us. 1-800-278-9978. 1-800-278-9978. If you're listening to the whole broadcast right through, I make the announcement several times just because most people don't have the luxury of listening to the whole hour. You're in the car for a few minutes, you get a chance to tune in.

So I want to make sure everyone can participate. Fine. To our homepage. And donate askdrbrown.org. Ask Dr.

Brown. Dr. Brown dot org. Jesus was not a rabbi like a modern congregational rabbi.

So what would a first century rabbi do? He'd gather Ptolemy Dim, disciples, devoted students. He'd gather them around himself. Remember, the great commission is for the disciples, the Ptolemy Dim, to go into all the world and make people into Ptolemy, make them into disciples that will follow Jesus, rabbi, teacher, Lord.

Now, of course, when Jesus died and rose from the dead, their recognition of who he was, the disciples' recognition of who he was, expanded massively, of course. But they followed him in a reverential way as teacher, as rabbi, and even recognized him as Son of God. Jesus taught, Matthew 10, 24, a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It's enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master.

So what would first century rabbi do?

Well, he'd instruct his disciples. In God's Word. First, he gathered disciples around himself. One of the most famous sayings in the Mishnah, early rabbinic tradition, put in writing about 200 years after the time of Jesus, is to make many disciples. And as Messianic Jewish scholar David Stern noted, teachers both itinerant like Yeshua and settled ones attracted followers who wholeheartedly gave themselves over to their teachers, though not in a mindless way, as happens today in some cults.

The essence of the relationship was one of trust in every area of living, and its goal was to make the Talmud like his rabbi in knowledge, wisdom, and ethical behavior.

So he gathered disciples around himself. And then what else would he do? A first-century rabbi would instruct his disciples in God's word and offer his interpretations. And we know, in fact, that Jesus was constantly teaching. That when Matthew records his activities, Matthew 4, Matthew 9, he sums it up as saying, teaching, and the Synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every sickness and disease.

And throughout the New Testament, well over 40 times, Jesus is quoting scripture, Jesus is interpreting scripture, Yeshua is telling us what the word really means and opening up, just like a first-century rabbi would do. All right, we're going to keep developing this and then show you the ways that he distinguished himself from any other rabbi who lived. Today's the day to sow into what we're doing. Help us in Jewish ministry. 1-800-278-9978.

Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow. Oh God of burning, cleansing. Flame send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us, friends, on the Line of Fire broadcast. Michael Brown, so glad to be with you on this Thursday.

Please write this number down. I'm not taking phone calls, but this is the number to call to stand with us at a critical time in our ministry at a real crossroads as we meet radio obligations and have the opportunity as we do to continue to expand into more cities across America. And we have a generous donor, an anonymous friend of a friend who wants to sow into what we're doing and will multiply every gift that comes in.

So please call 1-800-278-9978. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Exactly. Yes, if you believe in this broadcast, believe in what we're doing, know the importance of it. Get behind us.

Would you do that? And pastors, put us on your missions budget. How much are you sowing into Jewish ministry? How much are you sowing into Jewish outreach? How much are you sowing into the kind of things that we do?

Just in terms of Jewish ministry and outreach? Put us on your mission budget. Sure. 1-800-278-9978, one-time gift monthly torchbearers. Join us.

1-800-278-9978 or donate online, askdrbrown.org. Jesus Yeshua, the rabbi. He's often called rabbi in the New Testament, yet he was more than just a first century rabbi. Professor Gezer Vermesh, one of the world authorities on the Dead Sea Scrolls, professor for many years at Oxford University, and the author of, what, five books at least on Jesus. He pointed out that the Bible played a fundamental part in the religious and literary creativity of the Jews in the intertestamental era, by which he means the period from roughly 200 BC to 200 AD, with the career of Jesus falling almost exactly in the middle.

And Vermesh notes that in their teaching and interpretive activity, Jewish masters, Jewish teachers, made use of the Bible, their holy scripture, in simple and complex ways. And he lays out five main types of scripture interpretation that were found in the entire gamut of Jewish literature of that day.

So, the different Jewish literature, be it Dead Sea Scrolls, be it a book like what's called Jubilees, be it the earliest development of the rabbinic literature, they had numerous different ways of interpretation. He has five main categories and finds that four out of the five categories are found in the Synoptic Gospels. Four out of the five categories are found by Jesus or the authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke. Fascinating.

Well, that's what a rabbi teacher of the day would do. There's a Midrosh, a rabbinic saying, Our rabbis say, Let not the parable be lightly esteemed in your eyes, since by means of the parable a man can master the words of the Torah. Jesus taught in parables all the time, did he not? That was typical for rabbi teachers of the day. A first century rabbi would encourage his disciples to acts of piety and devotion.

And Jesus constantly did that, constantly urging them to minister to the poor, to the hurting, to the needy, as well as to live godly lives. And a first century rabbi would make legal pronouncements or settle legal disputes. As I've been asking you to be praying for me, covenanting together with me in prayer for this Jewish outreach project I'm working on, the most important Jewish outreach book that I have written and one that I believe is going to be wonderfully used by the Lord to get into the hands of many, many Jewish people. I'm going to be sharing more about that with you very, very soon. Trust me, as soon as I can share more, I will.

As I'm asking you to pray for me because I've just got, oh, less than 10 days to complete the manuscript so we can get it out in an extraordinarily timely way. The whole story is somewhat miraculous, which I'll share with you. But I've got one of the chapters in this book is going to talk about Rabbi Jesus. and yet how he was far more than a rabbi.

So everything I'm getting into here in far greater depth, in a very enjoyable way, you'll find in the book. First century rabbi would make legal pronouncements or settle legal disputes. That's why the different Jewish teachers of the day came to Jesus. Where do you stand on this? Where do you stand on divorce?

Some were trying to trap him. We understand that. And when some Pharisees came and asked him his views, some look at that as if he was on the outside and hostile to the Pharisees. Others look at it that he was a Pharisee and there were different Pharisee groups and where did he stand? But in either case, it was expected that he would say where he stood.

And in certain ways, he did go ahead and make legal pronouncements, say, okay, here's where I stand on divorce. Here's where I stand on this issue. This is now how you have to live. That being said, Jesus stands out from every rabbi who ever lived. It's a mistake to just multiply parallels and say, well, you see, Jesus is first century Jews believe this, Jesus taught this.

Rabbis did this, Jesus did this. Do it. I have massive commentaries in my library that deal with these issues and give the Jewish background to the New Testament. And it's important, it's essential, it's foundational, but that background just underscores how unique Jesus was, how he stood out. That's why we're talking about that rabbi and not another rabbi.

That's why most all the world, the vast, vast majority of human beings in the world know the name of this rabbi, Jesus, Rabbi Yeshua, but they don't know the name of Rabbi Akiva. They don't know the name of Hillel, who is an older contemporary of Jesus. What makes him so unique? How does he stand out from every rabbi who ever lived? Uh l let me let me Give you at least five different aspects, five different ways where Jesus Yeshua, Rabbi Jesus Yeshua, stood out from every rabbi who ever lived.

Again, the number to call, not to get on the air, you can call with your questions tomorrow if you want to follow up on today's broadcast by all means. The number to call to stand with us, to sow into this ministry. And look, we need to bring in many tens of thousands of dollars, but it's not a lot of money to the Lord. And it's not a lot of money if each one listening says, okay, I'll stand with you. If everyone does what they can, large or small, we'll meet our obligations and be able to move ahead into further expansion.

1-800-278-9978. 1-800-278-9978 online. AskDr. Brown.org. Come on, just think if I was not here speaking these things to you now.

Think of how empty your life would be. Think of the difference we're making. But in all seriousness, by God's grace, we are making a difference. And it thrills. My heart when we hear from Jewish people who have come to faith through our materials, through our website, and when I know that Jewish people who do not believe in Jesus listen to this broadcast.

Okay, one thing that was unique about Rabbi Jesus, Rabbi Yeshua, beyond what a normal rabbi would do, he really reached out to the marginalized and the disenfranchised. He was constantly criticized for hanging out with the sinners.

Well, not sinning with them, not partying with them, but hanging out with them, eating and drinking with them, having meals together. The notorious tax collectors who were really corrupt, the prostitutes. But what happened when he was with them? Many in the gay and lesbian community point to Jesus and say, he was inclusive, and you should be inclusive. Jesus hung out with these people.

Yes, but he did not practice what I call affirmational inclusion. He didn't affirm people where they were. He met them where they were and transformed them. I call it transformational inclusion. That's the kind of inclusion we need to practice.

So Zacchaeus, notorious corrupt tax collector, Jesus calls him by name, obviously revealed to him by the Lord, unless somehow he knew him, we assume, calls him by name by revelation. I'm going to eat at your house. I'm going to eat at his house. I think I'm a sinner. You're a holy man.

Oh, no, no. He's a different kind of holy man. He brought his holiness into that sinful environment, and Zacchaeus instantly repented and was a changed man. What a rabbi. Not your everyday first century rabbi.

In fact, he reached out so much to the marginalized, to the disinformed. Franchise that he depicted himself as the great shepherd of the sheep, the shepherd who would lay down his life for the sheep and then give them eternal life, and they'd never perish and no one could pluck them out of his hands. Not your average first-century Jewish rabbi. Number two, Rabbi Jesus was a miracle worker like no other rabbi. Rabbi Jesus was a miracle worker like no other rabbi.

Some of the miracles he worked were parallel to miracles that Old Testament prophets work, like Elisha feeding a crowd, but Jesus did it in ways that massively exceeded what went before. And then there were some rabbis in the following generations that were known as miracle workers in the Jewish community, but none could light a candle to Rabbi Jesus, the miracle worker.

Now, you say, why do you bring that up in terms of being a rabbi? Because he's often called rabbi in contexts where miracles are worked. For example, blind Bartimaeus, Jesus calls him out, what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man says, Rabbi, I want to see. Not Rabbi, I want to learn.

Of course, rabbis were teachers, but Rabbi, I want to see. Before he goes to raise Lazarus from the dead, one of his disciples addresses him as Rabbi. After he curses the fig tree, his disciples call him Rabbi. And after he walks on the water in John 6, meets his disciples in a boat in the midst of the storm. They're instantly on the other side.

When people meet up with him the next day, what do they say? Rabbi. How did you get her? Oh, a different rabbi. This is one that stands out from first century rabbis.

Friends. Just got a moment now and then we'll be back with more. Please call right now 1-800-278-9978. 1-800-278-9978. Your donation will immediately be multiplied by an anonymous donor.

So stand with us today or go online, askdrbrown.org. Uh It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. You know, this is very interesting. Normally, when I'm looking at the clock, I'm thinking, oh, man, we're almost out of time.

Well, I feel like that, but I feel like we've got a lot of good content in more than we can normally get in the course of an hour because we are not taking any calls. We haven't taken calls today. But anything I say today, friends, that prompts a question, you know, is write to us through the website, askdrbrown.org. You can get into a discussion on our radio blog, askdrbrown.org. Click on the line of fire.

Or you can call tomorrow, Friday. You've got questions, we've got answers. Why not make your question something that relates to today's broadcast? But here is the number to call. If you haven't called yet, please do.

It's your next opportunity.

Okay, you don't want to miss a word of what I'm saying. I'm honored by that.

So call the moment the broadcast is over: 1-800-278-9978. 1-800-278-9978. And stand with us, so into our ministry. Look at it like you went into a restaurant, enjoyed a meal, and now you paid for the meal.

Well, this is your way of saying, hey, I I want to stand with you. And if you think the amount of broadcasting we do, the amount that we sow into you, and the amount that the average listener will actually give, it's like kind of going to a restaurant for a year and paying one time for most.

So would you all stand with us 1-800-278-9978? I remind you one last time that every gift that comes in now is being multiplied by an anonymous donor.

So it is an awesome time to help us, especially if you believe in what we're doing in Jewish ministry.

So we've shown how Jesus was a first-century Jewish rabbi, but more. He He reached out to the marginalized and the disenfranchised. He was a miracle worker, like no other, and often called rabbi in the context of working his miracles. He pointed to a new and better approach to the Torah. On a number of occasions in the Gospels, Jesus healed a sick person on the Sabbath.

That caused a lot of controversy. Why couldn't he heal on another day? I mean, it's not a life-threatening situation. Isn't he doing work on the Sabbath? And he actually said that some of the Jewish teachers were making the Word of God void through their traditions.

And what we see is... Judaism takes the Sabbath so seriously. It's often been said that the Jewish people didn't keep the Sabbath as much as the Sabbath kept the Jewish people. That's how important it's been in Judaism.

So I respect the fact that the rabbis have recognized the importance of it, but with a typical rabbinic thought process, the simple commandment not to do any work had to be broken down into 39 subdivisions and then those into further categories. That ends up in an unbelievably complex series of laws and what is work and what isn't work. And a rabbinic Jew would tell you it's wonderful. The holiness is found in the details. Others would say it's binding, constricting, and it's certainly not what God intended when he gave the command to do no work on the Sabbath.

It's interesting that Jesus basically reduces it to a few simple principles. As my Messianic Jewish friend who wrote the book, Who Ate Lunch with Abraham, Asher Intrader, is on with us a few weeks ago. He said, Yeshua also spoke of the Sabbath. In Judaism, we've Developed mountains of halakhic rules. That's legal rulings about what to do and not do on the Sabbath.

Yeshua believed that such a compendium of added ritual laws diminished the ability to observe the Sabbath in the way it had originally been intended. He summarized his approach to dealing with Sabbath laws in three simple statements: The Sabbath was made for mankind, not mankind for the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

So, He was not suggesting law. He was setting law. And he then says, those are the words of Austrian Trader. And then Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, I'll give you rest. There's a Sabbath rest, a deeper rest that's found in him.

So Jesus went beyond. Jesus went beyond the first century rabbis and pointed to a new and better approach to Torah. And he also spoke with authority. He spoke with authority. And that caused him to stand out from everyone else.

It was unusual to hear a teacher teach the way he did. Where did he get this authority from? Another thing that sets Rabbi Jesus apart from other first-century rabbis is that he was a king. He was a king. He was born king of the Jews.

And he died king of the Jews. And there could have been anything written about him, any kind of malefactor inscription written about him when he hung on the cross. He was crucified as if he was in rebellion against Rome. Those were the accusations that came against him. He's king with a kingdom.

They could have just made him into some malefactor, but instead, in a way to mock, to show this is what happens to the king of the Jews, and to show, yeah, you're king. That was written over him and when he was crucified in three languages in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Jesus, the king of the Jews, he was not just a rabbi, he was also king of the Jews. And number five. And all this material in a really edifying, eye-opening, in-depth way is being completed now in this book that I'm asking you to pray for as I write.

Rabbi Jesus, Rabbi Yeshua, was also a prophet. A Jewish gospel scholar, Claude G. Montefiore, wrote this many years ago. He said, We do, I think, know enough about the great rabbis of the first century A.D. to say that however fine and noble their teaching may have been or was, it cannot properly be called prophetic.

They were not called prophets, and they could not properly have been called so.

So what exactly did he mean? Montefiore said, however much they recognized that at bottom the Pentateuchal laws of morality were greater than its laws about sacrifice or clean and unclean, they could not, they did not deal with the subject in the same way and spirit as Jesus, Hillel, an older Jewish contemporary of Jesus, a Pharisee. Hillel was ever the servant of the law, Montefiore says, and never its judge. In a sense, he was more consistent than Jesus, but for that very reason, he was less prophetic. Sabbath conflicts such as happened to Jesus could not have happened to him.

That is why, or that is one why, the production of parallels from the teaching of Hillel with the teaching of Jesus is mostly futile. The spirit is different. The prophetic touch is present in the one case and absent in the other, and it is the prophetic touch which makes the difference. And Rabbi Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbach recognized that it's the prophetic element in the life of Jesus that helps to explain the very real conflicts he did have with other religious leaders. Cohn-Sherbach writes, his attack on the scribes and Pharisees can be seen not as a rejection of the Torah, but as a prophetic renunciation of a corrupt religious establishment.

Yes, right. Rabbi Jesus, miracle worker, king of the Jews, reaching out to the marginalized, disenfranchised, speaking with authority, giving a new and better approach to the Torah. And the greatest prophet in Israel's history. Those are just some of the reasons why we still talk about this rabbi today. All right, I'm out of time.

I want to give you a heartfelt appeal from someone that many of you now consider a friend through this radio broadcast. Stand with me, hold my hands up, say we believe in what you're doing and we want to make a difference. Here's the number to call: 1-800-200-0. 278-9978. 1-800-278-9978 or go online, askdrbrown.org.

Click on support. One last time. 1-800-278-9978. All your gifts are multiplied as they come in through an anonymous donor. My bottom line, Jesus, yes, for sure, was a first century Jewish rabbi, but all the more, he was greater than a rabbi who ever lived, set apart forever.

Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow. David Brickner, president of Jews for Jesus and Pastor John Piper, have been having quite a conversation in Christianity today about Israel's right to the land. David's with me here today to continue that conversation. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Yes, I am fully aware of the Supreme Court's decision today. I am fully aware of Christian groups calling for prayer and fasting and repentance. Because of the Supreme Court decision, I am fully aware of all the political, well, many of the political things going on and the implications in terms of the presidential campaigns.

However, That is not what we will be talking about today for two reasons. Number one, it's Thursday. And it's the early Jewish Thursday here in the line of fire, and we have had scheduled for some days now with us David Brickner, president of Jews for Jesus. And secondly, Secondly, I am not an expert on the health care program of the President. I have grave concerns in terms of some of the implications of the health care program, but I am not an expert on that.

So I will have some folks on the air with me, God willing, next week to discuss these things. But our focus today. Is Israel, the Jewish people. My joy to have David Brickner with me.

Now, if you have a question for David and me, I'll probably take some calls and I may do a book giveaway or two over the course of the show, but here's the number to call. 866-34TRUTH-866. 348-7884. online Ask drbrown.org. Click on the line of fire.

There has been a marvelous discussion in Christianity today that has gotten a tremendous amount of attention. Many people emailing me, asking me for my thoughts on it, which means a lot of people are reading it. A wonderful dialogue between David Brickner, who leads Jews for Jesus, and John Piper, world-renowned pastor and author. And the tone between these two gentlemen alone is worth the price of the articles. In other words, just the way they dialogue about this, something that could be so contentious, they have approached it in such a God-honoring, Jesus-exalting.

Jewish people loving spirit that it is exemplary. And when I finished, I was more struck by their areas of commonality. And the importance of those areas of commonality, then I was struck by the differences.

Now, we invited Pastor Piper to join us, but we heard from his office that he doesn't do interviews. Perhaps in some exceptional cases, he does. But I understand that just as a policy because of his schedule not to do them. And it was not to be confrontational anyway. It would have been rather to flesh out the dialogue some more here.

But it is my joy to be joined by David Brickner. Hey, David, still out there in San Francisco? Hey, Michael. How are you? I'm doing great.

How about you? Great, thanks for having me on. Oh, it's always a joy. Hey, David, we've just got a minute before we take a quick break and then dive in in depth here. But how did this dialogue come about?

How did Christianity today come up with the idea, or did someone suggest it to them? Actually, I suggested it to them. I've been alarmed and dismayed by what you were talking about, the problem of the dialogue being so contentious on this issue and within the body, you know, the various poles of opinion just sniping at each other and shooting at each other. And I felt like there was a large area of middle ground that believers have that we should be you know demonstrating. And so I've known John Piper for many years.

We have been friends, and I know his views are different from mine, but I also know that he has a great capacity for ironic discussion with those he disagrees with. And so I invited him. I asked him if he would be willing to do this. He said he would. I contacted CT, Christianity Today, and they said, sounds like a great idea.

And it took a whole year, but we got it done. And so I'm really glad that you saw. that we accomplish what I had hoped to. Oh yeah, loud and clear. And in fact, I finally had a minute to read the last word that John Piper gets.

And I was thrilled to see his last word emphasizing the areas of commonality.

So we're going to take this dialogue further. Israel and the land today, God's purposes for the Jewish people. We'll be right back. Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow.

Oh God of burning, cleansing flames. Say And the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. My guest today on the line of fire, this entire first hour, David Brickner, President of Jews for Jesus, the number to call 866-34Truth. In a little while, I'll be giving away a copy of my newest book, The Real Kosher Jesus. And we've got a great resource offer with The Real Kosher Jesus for everyone. I'll share a bit more about that.

David, In your dialogue with John Piper, let's first talk about the areas of commonality and what you and I would say are the most important things, even more important than Israel being in the land by God's will today. What would you say were the key areas of commonality you had with John Piper, and why are these the most important of all?

Well, I think that first of all the commitment that when God chose Abraham and his descendants, that that that was not part of You know, his redefining of the Jewish people into the church. In other words, John rejects. Supersessionism, otherwise called replacement theology. He sees a continuing role for ethnic Israel. Uh both passed and future.

And Secondly, that the most important Uh issue of all. With respect to the Jewish people and all peoples in the Middle East, is their need for Yeshua, for Jesus, and for the gospel being the only hope. for peace in the Middle East, beginning in the hearts of the people who live there. And what about His view of Romans 11, 26, does he see that there is a future promise of salvation to ethnic Israel, not every Jew who's ever lived, but an end-time turning of the Jewish people? Does he affirm that as well?

He does. He absolutely does. And so I really appreciated that. You know, obviously, eschatology as to how that's going to actually happen, we have differences of opinion on. And uh, you know, I think that uh You know, he has some other ideas.

He he he is premillennial. Um So he believes in a future for the Jewish people on the earth. Um but uh and that the the salvation of Israel comes uh you know as uh the nation in a day You know, um as they say from uh Zechariah chapter 12. But you know uh tho th that future is not as as certain. Um And uh we have some differences in exactly how that will unfold.

All right, so the biggest, biggest things, though, that he believes that God has continuing purposes for the Jewish people, that he has made promises that remain. that ultimately there will be a turning of the Jewish people to Jesus as Messiah, and that the most important message is the message of salvation, the message for Jew and Gentile to come and know Jesus Yeshua. That's major. And he really wants to celebrate that in his last article.

Now we'll talk about some of the differences, but I think it's so important that we reaffirm these foundations. Because there is so much divisiveness over this issue. And David, how long have you been on the front lines of Jewish ministry now?

Well, I've been serving uh with Jews for Jesus since 1981. And before that I was a student at Moody Bible Institute and so I got involved as a student with Jews for Jesus. I've been the executive director of Jews for Dees since 1996. All right.

Now, there's a reason I asked that, and there's a larger question, but when we talked on the air last year sometime, you told me the fascinating story of how the Jews for Jesus name even came about, because we took that as part of the genius of Moish Rosen to get this phrase out. And for decades now, when I share the gospel with someone and tell them I'm a Jewish believer, they say, oh, you're Jews for Jesus.

So this concept, which was like, what, vegetarians for me? How could that be? Has really taken off. But how did it actually come about that it became the name of the organization? It was really just a slogan along with Jesus Made Me Kosher and a number of other phraseology that we kind of came up with at the very beginning.

We silkscreened a bunch of posters and put them up at the University of San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley. And the media was the one that really gravitated to that particular slogan, Jews for Jesus. And they started calling us Jews for Jesus. they were absolutely convinced because of all the posters that we were the newest and and largest underground religious movement at Cal Berkeley and San Francisco State. And of course, there weren't that many of us back then, but it became a phrase that really captured a movement of the Holy Spirit back in the late 60s and early 70s.

And so while it's been the name of our organization that was incorporated back then, it really has, as you say, become kind of like the brand name of all Jews who believe in Jesus. And what about even getting the name Yeshua out? That's been something that God's used Jews for Jesus to do as well, so that more and more people realize that he is Jewish, that he has a Jewish name, and just another bridge of connection. Was that an intentional strategy as well? No, that actually came as a result of opposition that we faced.

We came into work one day, this is back, I think, in 1981, and of course we had used Yeshua, but not as intentionally. And we found that someone had come and vandalized our headquarters here in San Francisco. And particularly it was vile to us because it was besmirching and degrading the name of Jesus. And that really upset us. And so we felt that the best way to respond to that kind of degrading of the name we love was to exalt his name.

And so we spent a whole day coming up with ideas for ways to glorify Jesus. And we focused on his Hebrew name because we wanted to identify, you know, who he really is and not just, you know, so often Jesus His name is misused just by overuse, you know. And so we used the Hebrew name and we wrote songs. We came up with a strategy to to take out full-page gospel ads in major newspapers saying the Messiah has come and his name is Yeshua. And Moish Rosen, the founder of Jews for Jesus, wrote a book on messianic prophecy called Yeshua, The Jewish Way to Save Jesus.

And uh that first media campaign in 1981 just got thousands and thousands of people responding, Jewish people, non-Jews, finding out about Yeshua. And uh of course we're still uh struggling to get people to understand, especially in Israel now, that his real name is Yeshua and not as they call him there so often, Yeshu. But uh that's a whole nother story. But yeah, it goes all the way back to our response. to a an attack, really, a a violation, a a degradation of the name of Jesus, that we responded by bringing glory to his name and we wanted Yeshua to be out there up front and central.

Wonderful. And that, of course, is the very thing that God smiles on and God blesses as the name of Jesus Yeshua is exalted without shame. And over the years, as I've worked with Jews for Jesus in different cities and then senior workers on the streets wearing their t-shirts, proclaiming Jesus Yeshua, handing out literature, I'm always thrilled to see people who are unashamed. And when people say, well, how effective is it? Just the fact it's being done and a proclamation is being made means to me it's effective right then and there.

All right, David, we've got a couple of minutes. Let's focus on the issue of Israel today, God's promises to Israel today. Not just the general promises to all who believe, but specific promises to Israel. The reason I asked how long you've been on the front lines here was to get a perspective because I have seen, I've been saved a little over 40 years now, but I've seen in the last 20 years and then increasing in the last 10 and even more so in the last five. A louder and louder voice from the evangelical left and from some other portions of the body, really critical of modern Israel to the point that they're questioning whether God has promises to ethnic Israel anymore.

Is that just my perception, or do you see the same thing in terms of a rising tide from the church, even voices within Christianity today, that are speaking out loudly against modern Israel?

Well, I think that what is happening is that there's a a resurgence of what's called a new reformed movement within evangelicalism here in the United States. If you go over to Europe, I mean replacement theology, supersessionism, a discounting of the modern state of Israel is very prevalent. It's prevalent in Europe, in England. And you know, that hasn't been so much so here in the United States, especially with dispensationalism, the influence of things like Left Behind and the late great planet Earth. You know, over the past number of years, there's been a real love for uh and uh a promotion of Uh you know, God's continuing purposes for the Jewish people and seeing the modern state of Israel as an example of God's sovereign work in our day.

But that has been eroding. I think you're absolutely right. It's been eroding because of the influence of this new reform movement, because of political correctness in our churches, because of the influence of the media. I think for any number of reasons, Christians have started to lose the promise of Genesis 12, 3. I'll bless them that bless thee.

And unfortunately, I think our whole country is going in a direction that's going to end up uh leading us adapt a bad road. All right, we'll come back and raise the question, does Genesis 12 still apply today? And we'll give a book away when we come back. Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

All right, we've got a wonderful resource offer with my newest book, The Real Kosher Jesus. I'll tell you about that in a little while with a hardcover version and a CD MP3 series with it. But right now, paperback copy of the real kosher Jesus, my latest book. Just reading a new review that just appeared, just a reader on Amazon. He said, I found that the dry tome I'd at first expected never appeared.

It's a good book. There are historical details. Even I had never really expected to find information about Jewish history and culture. I was excited to find when I handed over a portion to my seven-year-old son that he might take a look. He kept the book for far more than just the two paragraphs I had pointed out to him.

Anyway, the guy's pretty enthused. It was sweet to read that. And. Giving it away for free. Caller number seven: a free copy of the real kosher Jesus 866.

34 Truth, caller number 7, 866-348-7884. David, before the break, you made reference to Genesis 12, 3, where God says to Abram, I'll bless those who bless you, and those who curse you, I'll curse. How can you say that still applies to ethnic Israel today? Can I say something just before I answer that question, and that is I want to add my amen to the real kosher Jesus. I have my own signed copy, and we're promoting it through our Juice for Jesus website.

And, you know, Michael, you continue to amaze me at how prolific you are. And so, I mean, we've been friends for a long time, but it's not any skin off my nose to tell our listeners: you've got to get this book if you really want to stand up for Jesus and have the information at your fingertips. Convince others that you meet that he's the Messiah. This is the best book out there right now. It's come obviously in a context with the Smooli Botayach, but you know, I'm so grateful that you decided to write this book.

So, thanks a lot. Oh, hey, David, thanks for the good word. By the way, we had a winner quite some time ago.

So sorry about that, folks. All right, Anthony, congratulations. Thanks, sir. And, David, thank you for that good word. I do appreciate it.

Genesis 12, 3 then. How can we rightly apply that? I know you're involved with Jews for Jesus. You want to see Jewish people saved. Your heart's in it.

My heart's in it. We're both Jews. But come on. It's just one verse back in Genesis 12. I mean, how can you apply that to Israel today?

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

Well, you can go all the way from Genesis 12 to the book of Revelation, and you see this thread of God's promise to bless Israel. He never rescinded that promise. That's the one thing that we have to understand when we look at the whole history of God's dealings with the Jewish people, that he made precious promises beginning with Genesis 12, verse 3, and God's promises are yes and amen. And as we see how he keeps his promises to Israel, to ethnic Israel throughout history, we can have confidence that God keeps his promises to us as well. If God were to so easily reject and neglect his people whom he made promises two thousands of years ago, what's to make any Christian today think that he might keep all of his promises that he's made to them?

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Those kinds of things are repeated over and over and over again through the prophets, through the very lips of Jesus, who wept over Jerusalem and said, you know, even though you're experiencing the pain. Penalty of your own unbelief, your house is left to you desolate, you're going to see me again. When you say, blessed is he who comes, in the name of the Lord. That's the hope of the future of Israel, the turning to the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.

And the scriptures are consistent. Romans 11. I mean anybody who has sat down to read Romans 9, 10, and 11. cannot help but connect that all the way back to Genesis 12, 1 through 3. Mm.

Yeah, of course I agree with you. Step for step. John Piper made a fascinating statement about the importance of Israel in his Christianity Today responses to you. Really, an amazing statement. He made reference to a novelist who wrote vampire books, atheists, that came to faith.

She may be struggling with some of her particular Christian views now, but she came to faith. Do you remember what he said about that? What was it that opened her eyes? Yes, the fact that the Jewish people are in existence today, to him, was. was a fascinating, you know, was for her rather a fascinating kind of a reaffirmation that God is real.

and that he's been working in history and that he keeps His promises. And so for her, but not just for her, for countless others, this has been one of the main evidences of God's work in history: the existence of the Jews. Despite the Hamans and the Herods, the Hitlers, the Husseins, the Hamas, and Hezbollahs of history, Satan trying to wipe out the Jewish people so that he can prove that God won't or doesn't keep his promises. God has remained faithful to preserve his people. And she and so many others throughout history have said, wow.

God is faithful. God does keep his promises. Yeah, it's an amazing thing to see. Even the question of divine right to the land, and you point out, David, it's an issue of divine mercy that the Jewish people are back in the land. But there's a very simple principle to me.

It's so simple, I haven't gotten anyone to refute it yet, which is when God curses, you can't bless what he's cursed. When he closes a door, no one can open it. When he says, I'm going to scatter you, then you can't be regathered. If he says, I'm going to regather you, then no one can ultimately scatter you. And what we see is that he did scatter our people, and we're still in many parts of the world, scattered all around the world.

And he said, I will bring you back in mercy. If we are in fact still here, and we have in fact been brought back to the land by the millions. Then God had to have done it. Because we can't unscatter ourselves, uncurse ourselves, un-exile ourselves. It has to be God.

All right, David, we're going to take a quick break, and then I want to focus in on some of the specific issues that Pastor Piper raised and concerns about justice. What about the Palestinians? What about Israel's sin or apartheid? What's going on there? We'll tackle that on the other side of the break, all right?

Okay. All right, great, thank you.

Okay, friends, you heard the endorsement by none other than David Brickner, who is one of the key leaders in Jewish evangelism in the world today. And I'm so pleased that he, too, is thrilled with the real kosher Jesus. Our ministry alone has the hardcover version. You can't get it anywhere else except through us. We have a special resource offer.

The hardcover sells for $25 plus postage. Today, you get the book, we'll pay the postage, and we'll give you free a $20 teaching series of mine. It's on one CD to listen to on your computer or your MP3 player. But it's got my two-hour two-part debate with Rabbi Tovius Singer. It's got a lecture I did at Yale University about the rising tide of anti-Semitism, my most important message ever on intercession for Israel, and God's written promises that Israel shall be saved.

That comes free with the book, plus we're paying the postage.

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It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRU. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. My guest, David Breckner, president of Jews for Jesus. I'll be giving away another copy of the real Kosher Jesus a little bit later in this broadcast. 86634Truth, the number to call it. By the way, I've got an update on the Facebook saga, some things we've talked about on radio in the last couple of weeks.

So you can go to townhall.com and read Facebook. Are you telling me this is not offensive? And for those just tuning in, I know, I know the big talk today is about the Supreme Court's ruling on Obamacare, the president's health care policy. I'm not expert in that. Also, we have designated, as you know, Thursdays as thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

But we'll get some reflections on that, some Christian perspectives on that next week with some folks who do have expertise there. David, thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know you're always running hard for the gospel and for souls. Where would you say that your principal areas of disagreement with John Piper were when it comes to Israel today? today and what are the implications of these differences?

Well It may be first of all a matter of terminology as he began to Flesh out a little bit more about what he was saying, but he basically made a statement that the Jewish people. being back in the land now, yet in unbelief. are covenant breakers and therefore have no divine right to the land in which they're living. Therefore, there can be no claim with regard to God's favor on the Jewish people in the land of Israel, and that the only basis on which Christians should relate to what's going on in the Middle East are the principles of international law and justice. And you know, I took him to task on that because I believe that it was never a matter of divine right, but always of divine mercy, that Jewish people are in the land, and that we wouldn't be in the land today if it wasn't also for God's continuing favor and mercy.

And we cannot. throw out the Bible when it talks about Jewish people and only applies to the past and to the future and not look at the present. Look at how God brought Israel into existence out of the ashes of the Holocaust and not see the divine hand of God's sovereignty in what's happening today. And I have to say that when you get through to the end, it seems as though he comes around and basically says, yes, even Israel in unbelief is of divine mercy. And so, but he never quite goes and says, therefore they are in the land.

and God has had a hand in it.

So uh that's where the dis one area of disagreement lies. The other one has to do more with the future and how God fulfills his ultimate land promise to Abraham's descendants. All right, so The implications of that would be that someone might be swayed politically because they don't see God's hand and that perhaps they would be more inclined to listen to, quote, a Palestinian narrative that demonizes the Jews. Do you think that that's a fair statement? We're not accusing John Piper of that, but do you think that that's a fair assessment that if folks don't recognize God's promises at work in the land, that That they might be more inclined to go along with the centuries-old demonizing of the Jewish people.

Yes, or some modern political version of that same outcome. In other words, I've noticed, as you have, that there has been a slippery slope that many evangelical Christians have gotten onto of late. A slope that begins with well, we want to be for You know, the underdog for justice and for mercy for those who are suffering. And of course, the Palestinians are suffering. And yet there are those who are trying to create a whole narrative that basically discounts God's work in bringing Jewish people back into the land and sees Israel as an illegitimate and apartheid state.

And, you know, that, I believe, is ultimately leading to not just anti-Israelism. but anti-Semitism in the world today. Got it. Well said. All right, we'll flesh this out some more and I want to read a few specific comments from Pastor Piper.

Again, celebrating the nature of the dialogue and the common ground that we have with our brothers. Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow. Here. Strict to always do what's right.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks, friends, for joining us today on the line of fire.

Michael Brown, delighted to be with you, 866-34. Truth. We're going to give away another copy of my book, The Real Kosher Jesus.

So stand by. We'll announce it shortly. 866-34-TRUTH. David, for those just tuning in that are not aware of the dialogue you had with Pastor John Piper, I want to emphasize again that the best thing of the dialogue was the incredible grace you showed one towards another, the emphasis of your common ground, love for the Jewish people, belief in the importance of sharing the gospel with the Jewish people, believing that God has promises that remain to ethnic Israel, and believing that one day there will be a turning of the Jewish people to the Lord.

So we celebrate that with deep appreciation to Pastor Piper for what he modeled and what he shared. He says this in his last article as he got in the last word, which was great because he emphasized common ground. He said, I did say and I do believe that Israel as a people will finally have the land as a special dwelling place. By the word special, I mean to preserve Israel's particular role in God's plan. But when I say that Israel gets the world thrown in along with the promised land, I don't see why you say you are taking away with one hand what you give with the other.

How is adding the world in any serious way a subtracting?

So, how do you respond to that when he says, hey, as believers, we inherit the whole world? Israel gets that as well. Does does that Obfuscate, make unclear the issues of Israel being in the land today.

Well, I think it does in some respect because, first of all, the passages that he quotes from 1 Corinthians and from Romans you know, uses the word uh for world, uh, cosmos and uh parallel with Aeon that really have more to do with the universe. not specifically the land.

So he uses world as regarding land itself, like geography. And I think that ultimately it There are very specific promises with regard to land. And that is part of God's Covenant-keeping, promise-keeping nature that he makes that specific. And when you start to generalize, then you lose the value of God saying, here, I'm going to give you this land. Everywhere that the sole of your foot touches is yours, from the river Euphrates to the river Egypt, that's going to be yours.

I mean, it hasn't yet become all of Israel's. And then if you say, well, no, it's all part of the whole world, the cosmos, the aeon, I think that you're kind of overgeneralizing and losing, ultimately, that wonderful specificity with which God makes and keeps his promise. All right.

We see that God gave promises to Abraham.

Some would argue: well, in the book of Joshua and in 1 Kings, it says all the promises God gave were fulfilled. Yeah, that was the promise to get Israel in the land. He promised that Israel would be there for a thousand generations, Psalm 105. But then he also said that if you disobey, you'll be scattered. That happened.

He said, if you repent and turn back, Deuteronomy 30 and other passages, you'll be regathered.

Well, Israel has not repented and turned back, David. In point of fact, many leading rabbis around the world opposed the birthing of the modern state of Israel because they saw it was going to be birthed by secularists, atheists, communists, anything but Torah-observant Jews. They saw that the state would be a hotbed for non-observance and would send a bad example out.

So you certainly can't say that the Jewish people are back in the land by repentance since that's a condition that God gave. How then can the Jewish people say that God's put us in the land or that the land is ours? on what scriptural basis since we haven't repented on a national level.

Well, I think it's fairly evident in the scriptures that God would gather his people back even in unbelief. And I pointed out three passages of Scripture where that's The case, I can give you four: Ezekiel 37, Zechariah 12, Romans 11, Isaiah 59, all four of those. Kind of portray God's gathering of Israel. while they are in unbelief. And so I think that that conditionality goes to the issue of God Uh God being merciful.

You know, that he's still willing to you know We don't have a right in the sense of saying, hey, we deserve. To be in the land. But God has every right to show mercy. And He's done that so obviously by Israel being gathered into the land. And yes, we're in unbelief.

And so because of that, technically speaking, we could be uprooted again. I don't think that's going to happen, though. And one of the evidences that I give in my dialogue with Piper is that the growing remnant Of Israel, believers in Jesus, Israeli believers, is going to be another cause for God demonstrating His mercy and this term. Turning of Israel back to their Messiah. We're seeing perhaps the budding of that, the first fruits of what will be that final harvest that we read about in Scripture.

Now, John Piper quoted J.C. Ryle, famous reform leader, great insights into so much of the scripture. He apologized if it was Present it in any offensive way. Let me read the quote. J.C.

Ryle, about the Jewish people, they are kept separate that they may be finally saved, converted, restored to their own land. They are reserved and preserved in order that God may show in them as on a platform to angels and men how greatly he hates sin, and yet how greatly he can forgive and how greatly he can convert. Never will that be realized as it will be in the day when all Israel shall be saved.

So again, we applaud the fact that J.C. Ryle recognized the future promises to Israel and God's ongoing covenantal promises to Israel. In Genesis 15, when God made the land promised to Abram, only God passed between the covenantal pieces, making clear that this was a one-way promise that God was making. And Paul explains in Galatians 4 that the law which came after Romans 4 cannot annul what came earlier. But what was it about the statement of J.C.

Ryle that struck you as perhaps something that could be taken wrongly?

Well, that idea of we're reserved and preserved made it sound like we were a bunch of pickles in a pickle jar sitting up on the shelf somewhere. And the point I was trying to make, and obviously I don't want to discount Ryle's love for the Jewish people, but I'm sensing there is an absence of clear theological thinking with respect to Israel today. We have great scholars who've written about Israel in the past and the prophets and Genesis 12 and all of that, and about Israel in the future, the future fulfillment, which Piper believes in, as does Ryle, and so many others. But what about what God is doing today among the Jewish people? Does the Bible have anything to say about that?

Or are we to pretend that we're in some sort of a great parenthesis where the scriptures have no direct application. I think that that's a wrong-headed approach and that the church needs to think deeply and biblically about Israel today, and that's what my call was in this dialogue. All right, why should it matter to people? Eternity is the ultimate issue. Being in right relationship with God is the ultimate issue.

Jew, Gentile. Why don't we just leave this land thing alone? Let's not take any side. Let the nations work it out, the United Nations and however people work with the Palestinians and Israelis. Why get involved in such a divisive issue which potentially takes our eyes off the gospel?

Because this is exactly where the gospel needs to be applied in full. I believe that when Arabs and Jews can say to one another, I love you in Jesus' name, the world will see the reconciling power of the gospel. The church needs to develop a full-orbed faith. Theology of reconciliation and Israel-Palestine should be the laboratory. The church should not take its cues from the United Nations or from CNN.

We need to recognize that there is a wonderful opportunity for the love of Yeshua to be applied and demonstrated between Arab and Jew, Palestinian and Israeli. And if we get on one side or the other of this contentious debate without emphasizing the gospel and the love that Jesus commands us to show to our neighbor, even if we disagree, then we're going to miss so much.

so much of the power of the gospel in our world today. Yeah, and with that, and of course you hit on the number one point, with that as well is the fact that if... We Miss what God is doing and recognize that there is always a satanic desire to wipe out and destroy Israel. We won't understand the spiritual dimensions of what are happening in the land and therefore can even get on the wrong side of the justice issues. When we come back, I want to tie together a couple of loose ends and then just talk about what matters most to us.

That is bringing the gospel to Jewish people. And let's do this. We'll make this really quick. Caller number four, free copy of The Real Kosher Jesus, 866-34-TRUTH. Caller number four.

And we'll tell you about a special resource offer that we have. David, what's the website for Jews for Jesus? Jewsforjesus.org. All right, you got that. Jewsforjesus.org.

Great place to learn as a Christian. Great place to send your Jewish Friends.

Okay, we will be back with our last segment with David Brickner. Also, if you've got a call, Jewish-related call, if you can hang on into the next hour, I'm going to be taking Jewish-related questions of all kinds in the second hour of the broadcast. All right, we will be right back. Hey friends, I am getting ready to debate an Orthodox Jewish rabbi tonight about is Jesus the Jewish Messiah right now. Special pre-recorded broadcast updates tomorrow.

God of light, hear our cry, send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. I'm so sorry that I gave the offer for the free book right before the break. Of course, we had a winner instantly, but I'm so sorry, all you that have been calling in, lighting up the phones. We've had a winner.

So sorry.

So, Alex, when you get a second, still answering phones, let me know who the winner was so we can congratulate him. 866-34Truth, if you have a Jewish-related question and can hold for a little while, I'll be answering those in the next hour and talking about some other Jewish background to the New Testament. issues. My guest for this entire hour has been David Brickner, President of Jews for Jesus. And he and Pastor John Piper in Christianity Today have done a wonderful job of modeling Christian dialogue about Israel and the Palestinians and modeling a like heart for the Jewish people.

And he closes by saying, So, yes, David, yes, I'm with you. And quotes, you let us believe in the ongoing promises of God to the Jewish people and redouble our efforts to proclaim this good news to Israelis, Palestinians, and all humanity. Your brother indeed, John Piper.

Okay, David, aside from the fact that Jewish people are people and Jesus died for all people, and we should bring the gospel to all people, why should your average Joe Christian living in mid-America or something like that, why should he or she, Joe Christian, Sally Christian, really care about Jewish evangelism? And do you actually believe that all Christians Uh with In addition to whatever other ministries and burdens they have, that all Christians should be involved in Jewish outreach of some kind, some way. Absolutely. And I think first of all we should care because God cares. and the heartbeat of Jesus and the Apostle Paul so clearly evident in the New Testament.

is for the salvation of the Jewish people. Jesus said to His disciples, you are my witnesses, and beginning in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Paul took that. that missing strategy And articulated it in Romans 1.16 when he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And that word had not just to do with history, but with an ongoing priority.

And that priority was seen as Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, lived out his ministry. You know, there have been great Christian leaders throughout history who have recognized this ongoing priority. The churches seem to forget. forgotten about it, but I believe it's part of God's strategy to remember the people that he first called to himself to continue to proclaim the gospel. And in the midst of the controversy that often flows from that, the message of truth is amplified.

And not only do Jews come to Jesus, but usually five to ten times as many non-Jews. When you preach the gospel loud enough for Jews to hear, a whole lot of other folk listen in. Uh would you would you mind repeating that? When you preach the gospel loud enough for Jews to hear, a whole lot of other folk listen in. All right.

David Are things we're always encouraged because the Lord is good and being on the front lines of evangelistic work, you're encouraged by one good response and one person who wants literature and so on. But honestly, truthfully, are you seeing more Jewish people come to faith? Are you hearing from more religious Jews, more secular Israelis? I mean, be honest with us. Is something really happening or is that just the the positive state of mind that we live in?

Well, it's not like a Billy Graham crusade.

Nowhere in the world that Jews for Jesus is working are we seeing Jewish people coming en masse. It's all hand-picked fruit, one by one. But I think in one sense, that's a good thing. That's the way it should be. Ultimately, it's God in his sovereignty that works revival in people.

But what I can tell you is Jews for Jesus is currently working in 14 countries around the world. and the place that we're seeing the greatest openness to the gospel is in the land of Israel. We just had a Evangelistic campaign in Haifa, and over a four-week period of time. We had over 1,000 Israelis give us their names and addresses asking for Hebrew New Testaments, which are not very often seen in any kind of bookstore in Israel. Most Israelis have never cracked.

the New Testament. And they don't know very much about Jesus, but there's a great hunger, a growing hunger. And so for me, that interest and that hunger, even more than the numbers of people perhaps that might be getting saved in one week or one month or one year, there's a new hunger. There's an openness and there's a great opportunity. And Christians should be encouraged by that.

They should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem. The pro the promise that they shall prosper that love thee is a spiritual promise that is as much in evidence today. I see Jewish people coming to Jesus, yes. I see Christians who have a heart for the salvation of Israel, and that is blessed by God for sure. Wonderful.

And David, I know you guys are under spiritual attack, and your workers work hard to raise funds, and you always get criticized because you are so overt in the gospel message.

So I commend you for staying on the front lines, for never apologizing for the message you bring or the way you bring it. And we're all indebted to you.

So thank you, David, and thanks for your time joining us today. Thank you, brother. All right, God bless you. That was David Brickner, Jews for Jesus, the website. Jews for Jesus dot Yeah.

Just looking over on the Amazon.com website where a bunch of reviews appear for the real kosher Jesus. And one that so blessed me was by one reviewer, a very serious reviewer, reviews different books for his website. And he says that the book is a phenomenal revelation of the identity of Jesus. And he writes The Real Kosher Jesus stands out as an exceptionally relevant and readable work of apologetics and theology. It is a prophetic cry both to the Jewish people and the Christian church to discover the reality of Jesus as He is and as He revealed Himself to the world.

It is not only the finest book on the identity of Jesus I've ever read, it's one of the finest books on the gospel I've ever read. It has transformed my view of the revelation of God's love and redemption in Jesus Yeshua. That was from Jonathan Amon or Amon. I was so blessed to read that and to see how highly exalted Jesus Yeshua was in his eyes through the book. It is the number one best tool I've ever written.

We heard from David Brickner earlier. He wanted to volunteer that he felt it's the number one best tool to give to a Jewish person to point them to Jesus and to overcome objections. It's also the number one best tool I have to give to a Christian, someone who loves Jesus already, to open their eyes to who he really is and to discover the secrets of the Jewish background to the Messiah.

So we alone have the hardcover copy. You have to order it through us. And I know that many thousands of you listening still haven't ordered it because we'd have sent them all out to you already. And we've got a great resource package today, the book, which sells for $25. We send you that, plus, pay the postage, plus, give you free with it a $20 audio series called Stand With Israel: Messages I've Preached: Israel Shall Be Saved, A Baptism of Tears for Israel, Israel in the Last Days, a debate I had with a leading counter missionary who's refused to debate me over 20 years since that debate.

It's all there on one CD to listen to on your computer, MP3 player. It's worth $20 by itself. You get it free when you order the Real Kosher Jesus today and we'll pay the postage. But call right now, 1-800-2000. 278-9978.

That's one. 800-278-9978. One more time. One. 800-278-9978.

My bottom line today. Romans 1.16 remains true, not only that the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, but that it remains first for the Jew and also for the Gentile. That's a word for the whole church today. Yeah.