itself good news. But to one who is a sinner, the only answer is
a savior and there is but one Savior and He is Jesus the Christ.
The checkered history of the Christian Church in proclaiming the
gospel to the Jews is to be admitted, but it is also to be instructive.
The Church has failed the gospel when it has failed to witness
to the Jews. True antisemitism is revealed when the Jewish
people are considered outside the saving work of Christ, when it
is insinuated that the Jewish people are partakers of a different
covenant, that they are outside the covenant of grace. The Church
has failed the gospel in the past when it has substituted coercion
for authentic gospel witness, but more often when it has simply
surrendered and failed to give gospel witness.
In our generation, the Church has failed the Jews by the great sin
of omission, the omission of Jewish evangelism.
Brothers and sisters, the stakes are high. There is Jewish opposition
now, and there was Jewish opposition then—the claim of
imperialism, intolerance, and aggression—but evangelistic witness
is the most consummate act of love we can practice, demonstrate,
and share. The requirement of love is also the evidence of love. We
love the Jews enough to tell them about Jesus the Christ, about
Jesus the Savior, and to declare that salvation has come to the
house of David, the sons and daughters of Abraham, the House of
Israel. The claim is made that Jews who accept Jesus the Messiah
are no longer Jews. The claim that Jesus is the Messiah is a stone
of stumbling. The cross is itself an offense. Jesus is rejected as the
Consolation of Israel and Christians are said to be imperialists who
will not leave Israel alone—but we cannot remain Christians and
allow Israel to be without a witness.
Twice now, I have come up against a rabbi, of some sort or
another such as Shmuley Boteach on the Larry King Show. His
logic simply baffles me. It is not necessary for a Jew to be a good
22 | To the Jew First