How Will American Jews Vote?

So, how are Jews going to vote in November elections? Welcome, welcome to the Thoroughly Jewish Thursday broadcast. This is Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Welcome to the Thoroughly Jewish Thursday broadcast.

This is Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Last night, before I get into some Jewish-related news and talk about how the Jewish population of America might vote in the November elections, I just want to share from my heart for a moment. I was praying late last night.

Many of you know I'm a late-night person. And I was just so burdened for the state of America, and I was feeling tremendous conflict in my heart, as I often do. But it was very deep last night. And it was for quite a number of reasons at the same time. I ended up writing an article that will go live later today on the stream, on stream.org, heartsick for the nation, and just crying out to God to have mercy.

What happened was this. I was looking at the city burning, Kenosha businesses burning, and then people being shot and killed, and then a 17-year-old kid in the midst of the whole thing. And then I was looking at new reports coming in, more information about the shooting of Jacob Blake. And as I was looking at all of this, my heart was overwhelmed. On the one hand, I know so many of my black brothers and sisters are grieving and hurting right now, and saying, yet again, yet again, another black man, unarmed, shot without cause by the police, yet again.

And I so much want to show solidarity and empathy and compassion. Then on the flip side there, the facts emerging from the narrative, that it was the man's girlfriend who called saying he shouldn't be here, and there's a warrant out for his arrest. And the police were showing up specifically because of Jacob Blake, and that he resisted arrest, obviously refused to listen to the police, and then admitted to having a knife, and they found it on the floorboard of his car. So you hear all that, and then you look at the arrest record and so on, and you think, okay, is that, if we had all the facts and all the information out, would there have been as much outrage?

Would professional leagues like the NBA talk about potentially canceling the rest of the season over this, if all the facts emerged? So there is this conflict, this conflict of absolutely wanting to show empathy and solidarity with my black brothers and sisters in America, while at the same time saying, but this may be the wrong cause, this particular situation, and certainly the rioting and the burning of buildings. I mean, the irony of it, there's a Unitarian Universalist church there, which obviously doesn't preach the gospel at all, and it has a sign, Black Lives Matter, and that building was set on fire.

Figure that out. And then many black Americans will feel a tremendous sense of solidarity with someone that is the victim of police brutality, and of course it does happen, undeniably. And they'll say, that could have been my son, that could have been my daughter, or that could have been my husband, or that could have been my father. Do you remember when Trayvon Martin was killed that President Obama said, if I had a boy that could have been my son, right?

So as a white American, how do you relate to that? Well, here, last night, I see the footage, this 17-year-old boy, a white young man, and he's there with his rifle, traveled about 20 miles from Antioch, Illinois, over to Kenosha, Wisconsin. He's there with his rifle, with an emergency medical kit, and he said, our job here is to protect these businesses, protect the people, and I may have to run into harm's way.

That's why I've got my medical kit here, and so on. He ends up shooting and killing two people last night. Was any of it justifiable self-defense? And I said, what's a 17-year-old kid doing there with a rifle to protect the businesses? I mean, what kind of chaos is this? And I'm looking at that, and I'm thinking, our two grandsons are almost his age, and one of our grandsons is a fireman, a radio volunteer fireman.

His dad's been and grew up with that, has been in the firehouse for years now, fully functioning, old enough to do that, and does EMT-related stuff and all that. So suddenly, I'm looking at it in a way of more identification. That could have been my grandson, just like some black Americans who are looking at the latest victim of police brutality and saying, that could have been my son. I'm feeling this deeper sense of empathy and understanding, and yet thinking, the madness of this, what's happening in our society where a 17-year-old kid is there with a rifle thinking he's going to protect businesses?

And it was just pain. Please hear me. You could point fingers in a thousand different directions here, and we have to wait for all the facts to come in and understand what happened with the police, what happened with Jacob Blake.

We have to wait for that. That's the only righteous thing to do. And God bless Jacob Blake's mother, who with grace and patience is speaking against the violence and speaking graciously even to the president in the midst of this. What a model talk she gave in terms of attitude and demeanor in the midst of, it's got to be a lot of pain and crisis. So just looking at all this and all the situation with the 17-year-old child, put all that aside, it's a painful, difficult time. Regardless of who's right, who's wrong, it's a painful time. If you're an American, it's got to be a grieving time. So it gets us on our knees.

It gets us on our face. And God have mercy. God have mercy. God intervene. God poured your spirit on our nation. We need divine intervention more than any time in my lifetime. We must have divine intervention.

We're going to tear ourselves apart. And again, whatever your view is on any of the specific incidents I just mentioned, please hear my larger heart in everything that I'm sharing. Again, I know 30 Jewish Thursday we have a certain focus, but obviously these are super critical issues that are time sensitive. I was looking at an article that came out, oh, don't have the exact date on it, but it was Farley Weiss on Jewish news syndicate. And he asked the question, are most U.S. Jewish votes going to shift from Democrats to Republicans in 2020? He said the American Jewish vote that has been traditionally overwhelmingly Democrat may change dramatically in the next presidential election. Now, what would make him feel that way? As far as I can tell right now, polling would not indicate a shift of that radicality, maybe small shift, but not a shift of that radicality.

What makes him think this way? Let's look at some of the larger demographics. So I went to the Jewish Electorate Institute and looked for the national survey of likely Jewish voters in 2020.

All right. So February 28th, 2020. So it's earlier this year. Certain things have changed. Certain things remain the same. And here's the analysis of the data regarding the Jewish electorate.

So just go through this bullet point list. A majority of Jewish voters identify as Democrat and an overwhelming majority of Jewish voters disapprove President Trump. Jewish voters support each of the leading Democrat candidates at essentially the same level in head-to-head matchups against Donald Trump. A majority of Jewish voters view all of the leading Democratic candidates favorably. While Jewish voters remain strongly pro-Israel, Jewish voters prioritize domestic policy issues over Israel when asked which issues are most important to them in selecting a candidate. While nearly all respondents identify as pro-Israel, a majority also identify as critical of at least some of the current Israeli government's policies. Jewish voters feel less secure than they did two years ago when they hold President Trump responsible for their insecurity.

A plurality of Jewish voters believe that the best way to improve the security of Jews in the United States is helping people with the right values get elected. When you scroll down into the article and look at some of the graphics, first point, a majority, consistent majority of the Jewish electorate identify as Democrats. So 25% of Jewish voters identify as Republicans and a consistent 65 plus identify as Democrats. These numbers have not changed outside the margin of error since 2018.

So again, just looking at the charts, that's exactly what they're saying. Those who identify as strong Democrat, 44% in 2018, 40% in 2020, those who identify as soft Democrat, 24% in 2018, and 26% in 2020, so down slightly, and those who identify as Republicans up from 25% to 26%. You say, well, why is it that Jews identify like this? Why is it that Jews are so strongly Democratic? The simple answer is that the great majority of American Jews are not religious. The great majority of American Jews are not Orthodox.

The great majority of American Jews do not see the Bible as the literal word of God, say the way an evangelical Christian would. So because of that, their values are going to be more humanistically shaped. Their values are going to be more worked out on a horizontal level, feeling that this is God's right way that when you're standing for righteousness, you stand for a woman's right to have an abortion. You stand for a gay couple's right to get married.

You stand for a transgender's right to have sex change surgery and be identified as such. You stand for the oppressed minority and you just go down the list. And because there's not the right vertical orientation that then helps us sort out our horizontal orientation, Jewish voters will go decidedly to the left. Also, the fear of a Christian government that will impose its will is kind of this lingering fear because of bad history in the past. And because of these various factors, Jews for years now have overwhelmingly voted Democrat. But as the Orthodox population has been growing and as the Democrats have gone even further left, and with that further lurched left, there is the rise of anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party.

You may see a shift more to conservative values or to Republican voting. We shall see. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. 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. Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. I've had this card that was sitting in my radio studio for some months and just never brought it home and filed it with other cards and letters that we've kept. But it's about our Israel trip. I read it on the air some months back when I got it, but since our trip has been rescheduled to March, there are seats available. You can get in on the trip.

Just think of having that to look forward to. Get out of the chaos and craziness of 2020 and be in Israel with us for the tour of a lifetime in 2021. But I just want to read what this precious couple said, the wife writing, It has been eight months since Bill and I and my return from Israel. We are still experiencing an overabundance of Christ's love, grace, forgiveness, and peace. We really do not have the words to express the incredible life-changing experience the trip has made.

We are undone and will be until our last breath. He is home in our hearts and to be able to walk about at his home has been deeply impactful and transformational, a true awakening that has changed our lives forever. Bill and I are so grateful to you, Dr. Brown, T-Shirt Tour God, TFI Tours, all the people who worked hard to make this trip possible. Jesus has placed a burning desire for his country and his people of Israel. We join you and many other saints in praying for God's holy land and all of the precious people. This is a beautiful card and it's what happens to people on these trips.

It's just remarkable. So if you can join us, it's worth it. It's a great deal overall.

In other words, it's high quality. You'll be staying at good hotels. You'll be having good meals, great meals, great hotels to stay at. The tour itself, awesome. And then every night we do something together that's optional if you want to with me in a more personal, close-up, hanging out setting. It's an amazing time. It's an amazing time. So go to our website, askdrbrown.org.

You'll see it right on the homepage. But if you plan on going, now's a great time to get registered. All right, we'll come back to Jewish demographics, Jewish votes in a little while. My own guess, and all this is a guess, is that we'll see again a little bit of a gain in Jewish voters by Trump. One reason being his consistent friendship with Israel. Another reason being the growing anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party, which is certainly of concern to Jews. And the continued growth of Orthodox Jews in America. But I'm not expecting a dramatic shift.

We shall see. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Kerry, North Carolina. Greg, you're first up today. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Thank you very much. How are you doing, Dr. Brown? I have a question about Zacchaeus. In line with the thoroughly Jewish Thursday, I was talking to a brother at work, and we discussed about Zacchaeus. And he brought it to the point where he asked me whether I thought Zacchaeus was Jewish. I said, I believe he is, because Jesus said, truly, the salvation has come to the son of Abraham. And he brought up the point that Abraham had Ishmael. And I said, well, God didn't recognize Ishmael as a son. I mean, he recognized, he obviously knew he was a son of Abraham's, but he did not officially recognize him as a son. Am I correct in saying that? You're 100% correct. There's not the slightest possibility in a trillion years that when he said a son of Abraham, he was talking about an Ishmaelite or an Arab or anything like that.

No, the whole context. He's in a Jewish community. The man has a good Jewish name.

He's repenting because of unrighteous acts. And Jesus is rejoicing because salvation came to a son of Abraham. That's Luke 19. In Luke 13, the woman who had been crippled by a demonic spirit for 18 years, when Jesus sets her free, he speaks of her as a daughter of Abraham. And in John 8, the Jewish people there speak to themselves as children of Abraham.

So the idea of Arabs or others, Ishmaelites, identifying as children of Abraham, that doesn't come until the time of Islam, basically. There would have been no consciousness of that. And in that context there, it would have been a thousand percent for him. It would have been just as foreign as if Jesus was saying the person was Catholic because Catholics identify as children of Abraham through faith in Jesus. You know what I'm saying? It's completely out of context, so you're absolutely 100% right. Nobody ever questions his Jewishness for a split second. So I appreciate what your friend was thinking, but it's completely out of chronological sequence.

Can I ask a follow-up question? Do you believe that... I've always kind of wondered this.

I kind of thought of this a little while ago. Do you think that Matthew and Zacchaeus had known each other because Zacchaeus was also a tax collector? Your guess is as good as mine. We have no doubt.

And then one other real quick question. You were talking about your trip to Israel. I wonder if you guys are going to Jericho and if that tree that Zacchaeus was up in was still maybe there in Jericho. I don't set the itinerary, but to my knowledge, I don't know of a tradition that identifies a particular tree as that tree. Even if tradition identified it, it would be highly unlikely that you have a 2,000-year-old tree that survived that long. Appreciate the questions, Greg. By the way, just to say this, you have all kinds of traditions. This is the place.

This happened. Some things can be verified archaeologically. Other things are just speculation and others are obviously local myth. It's like the coin that the archaeologists discovered. It was amazing and it was dated for BC. You get the problem with that, right?

There was no such thing as BC during BC times. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go over to Bastrop, Texas. Sid, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, are you getting impacted by Hurricane Laura where you are?

We had a downpour of rain this week, but otherwise it's kind of dry right now, but we're seeing the news and we're praying for the people in that area. Yeah, what's your question, sir? So, my question is this. Sometimes I read from the Seder Jewish prayer book for devotions for the Shacharit morning service, and I come across this prayer I've read, and I don't know if it's theologically correct, so I'm asking you about it. It's right after, it's in the morning service, it's right after the blessing of the Torah, and I'll just read you the prayer.

This is the art scroll, Seder. God, the soul you place within me is pure. You created it, you fashioned it, you breathed it into me, you safeguarded within me, and eventually you would take it from me and restore it to me in time to come. As long as the soul is within me, I gratefully thank you, Hashem, my God and the God of my forefathers, Master of all works, Lord of all souls.

Blessed are you, Hashem, who restores souls to dead bodies. So my question is, you placed within me is pure. Is that theologically correct? The soul is pure? Right, so it's a massive, debatable question in that you have to understand what does Judaism mean by the soul? What does the Old Testament mean by the soul? What does the New Testament mean by the soul? Judaism does not see human beings fallen the same way that the New Testament does, or I would argue the Old Testament does. It sees us as having a battle between two natures, right? As you're aware, two inclinations, the Yetzer Haran, the Yetzer Hatov, the evil inclination and the good inclination, and the goal is for the good inclination to triumph over the evil inclination, whereas our understanding would be we are creating God's image and yet fallen and enslaved to sin and need to be liberated by the gospel, and then there's a new nature put within us.

So if theoretically you're saying that the spirit that God put within a human being is pure, we would say yes, but that spirit has been separated from God, and that spirit as part of the human being needs to be born again. So again, something different may be meant by it, but it's not something that I would pray or say, and when you're using the traditional Jewish prayer book, there's some prayers, the origins of which go back to the time of Jesus and before. Even the Lord's Prayer has elements of traditional Jewish prayer. On the other hand, there are many things that are being prayed for as if Messiah had never come. Things being prayed for in terms of redemption, forgiveness, mercy, as if he had never come, whereas in the New and Better Covenant, we've already seen those things realized. Individually, we've already experienced forgiveness of sins. We've already experienced a relationship with God beyond what the Israelites could have had at Mount Sinai. So there can be beauty in the siddur. Sometimes when I've gone through the prayers, my heart breaks as I think about my people and religious Jews that pray those words every day, all their lives, feeling no people is so near and yet so far. And yet on the other hand, as I said, there are things being prayed for, longed for that we have already experienced the first fruits of in Messiah and more of a realistic nature, a realistic assessment of our sinful nature because of which we recognize our need for the Redeemer. So with everything that's not scripture in this part of Jewish tradition, you may find some good, some beauty, but it has to be sifted because there's going to be a human mixture and there's going to be some error in it as well. Thank you for the question.

866-348-7884. We will go back to your calls on the other side of the break and we'll take a look more at Jewish demographics, where the Jewish vote could be heading. And what's my prayer for the elections? God, your will be done. You know what's best for our nation. Your will be done. I know how I plan to vote, but my prayer is that God will act and God will bring about his will. I never pray for one individual or another to be elected. I pray for God's will, what is best for America and his best interest for the kingdom of God, which is the ultimate your will be done.

All right, we'll be right back. 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We have some interesting news about demographics, Jewish demographics in the United States, especially as we get closer to the November elections. So, Jewish Electorate Institute National Profile of the Jewish Electorate in 2020 lists key findings. Number one, the majority of the Jewish electorate is in four states, New York, California, Florida, and New Jersey.

Isn't that interesting? Jewish population really in a few major places, so there are over 1.2 million Jewish adults in New York State, nearly 900,000 in California, 722,000 in Florida, just over 400,000 in New Jersey. That means New York, New Jersey has the great, great, great concentration. Secondly, Jewish adults identify predominantly as liberal and with the Democratic Party, but according to this poll, as many as 29% now identify as Republican. Okay, so that would point to an increase. And number three, Jewish adults are also more likely to identify as Democrats and liberal when compared to the national average. Some of this we looked at a little earlier. And if we scroll down some more, we find that Jewish voters are older, the Jewish population on average is older.

Okay, now hold that thought. I want to go over to another article. This is from Arutz Sheva, so Israeli News, Israel National News. And when is it dated?

It is from, let's see, December 16th of 2016, so it's gone back a few years. But it's such a striking story that I want to bring it to your attention because it continues to increase. American Jewish population rapidly becoming more Orthodox. Pew Center survey shows rapid climbing the percentage of U.S. Orthodox Jews and their influence goes beyond their numbers. Okay, so when you get into the meat of the story, it says this, although the overall percentage of Jews in the U.S. is held steady for the last two decades at about 2.2%, the percentage who consider themselves Orthodox is skyrocketing. A couple paragraphs down, according to the Pew Research Center study, approximately 10% of the 5.5 million American Jews consider themselves Orthodox in comparison to the 18% who consider themselves conservative.

Conservative doesn't mean conservative politically, it's still kind of liberal in overall outlook. And then 35% reform, which is the most liberal, and 30% no denomination. But look at this, however, the Orthodox population is much younger. In the grandparent generation, those aged 56 to 73, only 5% are Orthodox.

This reflects many losing their faith after the Holocaust and the tragedies of that time. In the parent generation, aged 28 to 45, 15% are Orthodox. In the child generation, aged 0 to 17, 27% are being raised in Orthodox homes. In other words, over the course of three generations, the percentage of Orthodox among Jews in America has more than quintupled, from 5% to 27%.

So let's step away from that and analyze what that means. On the one hand, birth rate. That's one reason Islam is growing around the world. High birth rates. So your average non-religious Jew does not have that many children, maybe not even averaging two children per couple. But religious Jews have lots of kids. One of my friends, we are theological opponents, but he's a friend, he has 14 kids.

I think he's done at 14. My friend Rabbi Shmueli, do they have 9 kids or 10 kids? So when you have Orthodox having 6, 8, 10, 12 children regularly and more, what's that going to do with demographics? And the dropout rate among very religious Jews is very low, whereas Jews seeking, looking for meaning in life, put off just by the secularism and materialism, many of them turn to Orthodoxy. Now some turn for a season and then leave. But because of these things, Orthodoxy is rising, which means as this next generation grows up, if the statistics hold, then there will be a wholesale shift in America. A similar thing is happening in Israel, again because of high birth rates in particular. So this is going to be fascinating to watch. And on the one hand, Orthodox Jews would have a lot more in common with conservative Christians in terms of conservative moral values and in terms of religious devotion and in terms of seeking to adhere to the Scriptures.

On the other hand, the difference between Jews who believe in Jesus and Orthodox Jews is greater than the difference between Jews who believe in Jesus and secular Jews who do not take their Judaism as seriously. So very, very interesting things to watch as they unfold in the days ahead. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go over to San Diego, California. Sadiq, what a great name. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thanks, this is the first time I've called. I have a question based on an objection to Christianity that I often hear, that people that are rejecting say that there is no indication in the Old Testament that there will be a second coming, so all the prophecies of the Messiah must be fulfilled in one coming. And since Jesus did not fulfill all of those prophecies, so that proves that he's not the Messiah. That's a fair question.

We can answer it on several different levels. The first level would be that we have very, very different pictures of the Messiah. According to Daniel the seventh chapter, he comes in the clouds of heaven. According to Zechariah the ninth chapter, he comes meek and lowly riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. The Talmud actually raises those two pictures and asks which it will be in Sanhedrin beginning in 96 B.

The discussion follows after that. And the answer is that if we're worthy, he'll come in the clouds of heaven. If we're not worthy, he'll come meek and lowly riding on a donkey, whereas the Bible presents both as true. Then another point would be if we go to the end of Isaiah 52, so Isaiah 52, 13 down to 53, 12, we see that this servant of the Lord will be highly exalted, and there is Jewish tradition that recognizes Isaiah 52, 13 to 15 as speaking about the Messiah, that he will be highly exalted in a God-like way. I mean, the language is very, very high to the point that medrashic interpretation says he'll be exalted more highly than Abraham, Moses, or the ministering angels. And yet, first he will suffer terrible degradation to the point you don't even recognize that he's a human being, and yet he will bring the message of salvation to many nations. So we say that there will be great exaltation, but for suffering.

Then the third line of argument would be that we have biblical texts. If you combine the testimony of Daniel 9, Haggai 2, and Malachi 3, if you combine those, they indicate that the Messiah had to come before the second temple was destroyed. And yet we know we are still praying for his return and for the fullness of his kingdom. So since they're not two separate Messiahs, later Jewish tradition develops that idea that there's the Messiah son of Joseph along with the Messiah son of David, Jewish tradition that was current in Jesus' day so that there would be a priestly Messiah from the tribe of Levi and a royal Messiah from the line of Judah. The Bible doesn't talk about two different Messiahs, but one. So the logical answer is that Messiah first had to come and do his priestly work, dying for our sins, rising from the dead, preparing the world for the knowledge of God.

Now we work with him to spread that message throughout the world. Then he returns at the end of the age. The last point I would make is that there are many things sandwiched together in biblical prophecy. For example, when you look at a passage like Ezekiel 36, the return of our Jewish people from Babylonian exile in the sixth century B.C., only part of that has been fulfilled. Where does it say that it's going to happen part then and the rest 2,500 years later? It's all sandwiched together as one, but history interprets it for us, telling us part of it happened then, but most of it didn't.

The rest is still future, and we're watching even some of the ongoing fulfillment in our day. That's how I would answer it just using the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, not even using the New Testament at all. Would you agree that people, especially before Jesus, never understood it that way? Because you have to keep in mind that the Old Testament has been around for so much longer, like it was around so many hundreds and thousands of years before the New Testament. So during all that time they were looking at all the prophecies. I don't think you can say that they read them and understood them at some coming. Well, the first thing is we got things wrong constantly. Constantly through the Hebrew Bible we got things wrong.

That was our general pattern. To get them right would be the exception to the rule. Not only so, it's prophesied in the Hebrew Bible that we would not recognize the Messiah when he was suffering and dying for us, that we wouldn't recognize it. So it's already written there. And then at the time of Jesus there were many different views about Messiah. All kinds of views. And Jews had come up with ideas of two different Messiahs. And there were some looking for a royal Messiah, a priestly Messiah, a prophet, Elijah. So there was a lot of speculation. In other words, it's not like the Orthodox myth that there's been one view about Messiah only in Jewish history for 3,500 years, and Jews have always known what that was.

That's a complete myth. We know from the ancient literature and the books of Enoch and other things that were highly esteemed in Jewish thought that there were many, many different views. That's why Jacob Neusner co-authored a book, the most prolific Jewish scholar of the last generation, of this generation, called Judaism and their Messiahs. That there were different Jewish beliefs and Jewish sects at that time all competing to say we're the true Jews and the true Israel. And there were different views about the Messiah.

Why? Because God did not lay it out in advance with mathematical precision just like most prophecies. He lays it out clearly enough to prepare your heart, and when the things actually happen, then you can look at Scripture and say, whoa, this is amazing. It's been laid out. There it is. God said it in advance, and now we can point back to it and say, look at that. There it is.

It's crystal clear. That being said, if you had a follow-up question, stay right there, and we will talk on the other side of the break. Hey, friends, I'm just going to take calls the rest of the broadcast, so if you're online patiently waiting, we'll do our best to get to your call. 866-348-7884. 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 866-342. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on The Line of Fire. Michael Brown on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

Let's go back to Tzadik in San Diego. Tzadik, are you Jewish yourself? Yes, I'm Jewish.

Okay, just wanted to be sure. Sometimes Christians pick up these Hebrew names, so just wanted to be sure. And are you a practicing Jew, Orthodox Jew?

How would you describe yourself? Yes, I go to Chabad. Ah, okay, awesome, wonderful. Yeah, so you had a follow-up question for me.

Please go ahead. Yes, I wanted to move into the New Testament. It seems like when you read the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, it seems very clear that the people in the Gospels that were following Jesus were subscribing to the kind of Messiah that only comes once, and they were expecting Jesus to be breathing from Romans, and just being the latter. And they weren't expecting that there's going to be a two-part mission for the Messiah, and it seems like they probably wouldn't have followed him if they knew that he wasn't going to do all the prophecies of the Messiah.

Yeah, with all respect, it's kind of the opposite. In other words, they followed him because of who he was. They followed him because God was backing him, just like God backed Moses with signs, wonders, and miracles, and God backed Elijah with signs, wonders, and miracles. That is, Yeshua appointed everyone to the God of Israel, and healed, and worked miracles, and taught as no one taught, and deepened the meaning of Torah.

They really hoped that he would now be the one that would be the political leader. So they had part of it wrong, but they followed him because of who he was. So now, when he dies, because he kept telling him, I'm going to die, and they don't get it. Again, just like in Isaiah's ministry, Isaiah 6, God said, harden the hearts of the people and cover their eyes so they don't see. Or God telling Ezekiel, if I sent you to the goyim, to the Gentiles, they would listen, but I'm sending you to my own people, they won't listen. So Yeshua is experiencing the same thing as a prophet with his own disciples. But then, when they're discouraged, when they're heartbroken, when they think it's all over, he rises from the dead. And it's to the complete shock that it happens.

It's a complete contrary situation to the Lubavitcher Rebbe who died, as you know, in 1994 at the age of 92. That he had followers waiting at his grave site, waiting for him to rise, but he never rose physically, so the movement has had different views about all this over the decades now. But they were completely shocked by his resurrection, so God vindicates him by raising him from the dead, and then he opens the scriptures.

This is how long it's going to take you to get it. It's like, there it is, there it is. That's why they were all willing to die for their faith. Most of those that were initial followers were all killed for their faith. That's how certain and clear and definite it was. And when they went back and opened the scriptures, like, there it is, it's all written in advance. So that's the wisdom of God, that's the truth of God, that's how he operates in this world, and it's very consistent scripturally, historically, logically, even psychologically, as we look at what happened. But they still had the Romans, and they didn't have Jesus becoming the king of Israel like it would normally be, accepted by the king that leads, and fights wars, and makes Israel be on top. Yeah, but it's interesting. Well, some were, some were.

Again, there were different expectations. There was no one view about messianic beliefs in the first century. And, you know, the Talmud in Sukkah mentions Mashiach ben Yosef. It doesn't mention it before then. Where does that come from? Where does that belief come from? And then you go through Jewish history, and Saul says, well, if we're worthy, then we won't have Mashiach ben Yosef.

If we're not worthy, we will. And all the different speculations. And then the later Jewish traditions, that there's a potential Messiah in each generation, and so on and so forth. This is all just Jewish tradition, having no reference to scripture whatsoever. But the bottom line is, Yeshua fulfilled what was written.

The fact that people may have misunderstood or had wrong expectations, what Israel needed then was not a military ruler. And again, you have, what you have to deal with, Sadik, as a traditional Jew who references God and the Tanakh, is you have to deal with the fact that Tanakh puts forward two different scenarios, coming in the clouds of heaven or riding on a donkey, whereas both are going to happen. The Tanakh speaks of his exaltation, but only after suffering. The Tanakh speaks of him being rejected by his own people, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, and yet becoming a light to the nations. Isaiah 53 is the confession that we thought he was dying for his sins.

He was actually dying for our sins. This is all written in our scripture. And then a time frame that indicates that Mashiach had to come before the Second Temple is destroyed. When you have a chance, look at Rashi's commentary to Daniel 9, 24 to 27, and see how he points to the time of Harak, which is the time of the Second Temple and the days of Yeshua, and yet this is when this plan of redemption is supposed to unfold. Look at the end of Daniel, the second chapter, where it speaks of the little stone that smashes all the other stones, all the other kingdoms, and Rashi explains that the messianic era has to begin during the days of the Roman Empire. So it's there, it's waiting for us to embrace, and when we do, it helps us prepare the way for his return. So last point to make, since you're Chabad, since you believe in Hasidic Judaism, you understand the concept of tikkun ha'alam, you understand the concept of every day that a Jew performs a mitzvah, and just from a larger audience performs one of the commandments, he's sanctifying things when he puts on tefillah in the phylacteries, he's sanctifying what would just be something secular, making it holy, and that the views of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, that within every Jew is a spark, so if a man will dove in and put on tefillin, so he'll pray and put on the phylacteries, if a woman will light the Sabbath candles, it'll rekindle that spark, and then if enough happens, like in the Talmud, if all of Israel would obey two consecutive Sabbaths, the Messiah would be revealed. Just turn that around now to a different concept that God cares about the whole world, and as we continue to spread the message of Mashiach throughout the world, that will hasten his return, and ultimately as the Jewish people recognize who he is and embrace him, then as we welcome him, he will come and establish his kingdom on the earth. So he started the work, he continues to now, and it will be completed at that time.

See if any of these concepts make sense to you as you give them further thought. Okay, thanks a lot. Alright, thank you very much for the call.

866-34-TRUTH. Appreciate the dialogue thoroughly. And let's grab another call.

Michael in Payson, Arizona. Thanks for holding. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Michael Brown. How are you doing today? Doing very well, thank you. Awesome, yeah, I just read your book, Not Afraid of the Antichrist. It's very helpful, very well written, so thank you for that. Well thank you, and thanks to Craig Keener, my fellow author there.

Yes? Alright, well I had a question about Jerusalem, actually, the new heavens and the new earth and the new Jerusalem, and this might be somewhat of a remedial question, and I'm a little embarrassed asking it, but I can't really find an answer that satisfies me. I probably won't have an answer for you, it'll probably be too difficult of a question, but go ahead. Well, so in Genesis 12, God promises Abraham that the land of Israel will be an everlasting possession for him. But then we read in Revelation 20, and by the way, I believe in an actual millennium where Christ will rule the world for a thousand years in Jerusalem. But Christ returns, and he sets up his millennial kingdom, and in Revelation 20, it also says at the end of the thousand years that the heavens and the earth will be done away with, and that there will be the new heavens, new earth, and new Jerusalem. And I'm having trouble reconciling how the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 makes it an everlasting possession when the heavens and the earth pass away and it's replaced by a new Jerusalem. Yes, so the simple answer for you, and I appreciate the question, is that the word everlasting in English has a certain meaning which is always eternal in our thinking, but the Hebrew equivalents can speak of long periods of time, or, you know, if I say, hey, this car is yours always, it is always yours, right?

Well, at a certain point, you know, a thousand years from now, that car is not going to be here, you know, a hundred years from now, that car won't exist anymore, it will have deteriorated and be, you know, junked somewhere. So what God is saying, it's always, as long as the earth is here, that's your dwelling place. When there's a new heaven and a new earth, then it's a whole new situation, and we're not dealing with the same realities. You know, just like the slave that says, I love my master and I want to serve here, in Hebrew it's forever, right? That means the rest of his life, or until the Jubilee year. So forever sometimes just means a really long period of time, in Hebrew, you know, Olam is the primary word used.

So when it's speaking about God's nature, you are from everlasting to everlasting, like Psalm 90, that's talking about his eternal nature. When it's talking about just promises made in this world, it's for good. You know, it's kind of like a marriage vow, if you said, honey, I'm yours forever. Well, you're making a vow in this world, as long as we both shall live, is what you're saying.

So you're putting too much meaning into the word everlasting as if it meant eternal for all ages. What it's saying is, as long as the earth is here, I'm promising you this land, it's always yours, it's yours for good. And then when there's a new heaven, there's a new earth, it's a whole wonderful new scene.

We don't need the borders and the wars and the military or any of that. So just don't over-interpret the word everlasting, that's all. It just means, as long as the earth is here, that's yours. And then the new heaven, the new earth, there'll be some amazing new situations. But that's consistent with the use of Olam in the Bible, which again, sometimes just means the distant future, or as far as the eye can see, or a good long while.

It doesn't always have to mean eternal in that sense. But thanks for asking, nothing remedial about it. Hey, everyone on the line right now that I cannot get to, if you call in tomorrow, Rachel is taking careful note of your names. If you call in tomorrow, we will get you up first. We'll bump you ahead because we didn't get to you today. We always try to do that on Thursday. All right, be blessed. Remember to go to my website, AskDrBrown.org, check out the resources there.