Page 76 - Signs of the End

40 THE SIGNS OF THE END

Land. There were very few indigenous Jewish people in the
Land who were believers in Jesus as the Messiah.

In the last few decades, though, there has come about the
calm resurgence of the indigenous Jewish Church in Israel.
These are Israelis who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
as their own Messiah and Redeemer. Some of this has come
about through missionary work done by church oiganizations in
Israel, and much has been done by the Jewish Christians who
have moved from America and Europe to make their aliyah, or
return, to the Land of Israel. Gradually, as time has progressed,
some Sabras, or native Israelis, have also come to the Lord.

They are creating their own kind of churches, which they call
Messianic congregations. They are a very unusual church, by
Western traditions. They might meet for worship on Saturday
morning or evening, or Sunday. They might be almost all Jewish
people, or a combination of Jewish, European and Arab believers.
They might speak entirely in Hebrew, or they may provide
several interpreters to translate the sermon to small groups in the
congregation in English, Russian, French, Arabic or some other
language. We have been informed that there are some 60 such
congregations in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tiberias and
throughout Israel!

Importance in New Testament

The Israeli Church was very important in the New Testa­
ment. It was really the Mother Church, and it was from
Jerusalem that the apostles and other believers went forth with
the Gospel to the known world. More than that, for the first
generation of the Church age, whenever the believers in Christ
had to settle a question of doctrine or practice, the apostles
would meet in Jerusalem to report on what the Lord w as doing,
and to debate important doctrinal matters. The apostles went
forth with authority after having settled questions with the
guidance of the Holy Spirit at the "summit" conferences in Israel.

The Apostle Paul had a very soft spot in his heart for the
Mother Church in Israel. For at least a couple of years, his
primary fund-raising project w as to collect an offering for "the
saints in Jerusalem" from the churches he had established among