Peter was a Jew. He came to know God through Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel. Peter served Yeshua; he followed Him; he watched Him die; he saw Him go to heaven. Afterward, Peter went with the other disciples to an upper room, and he received the Holy Spirit. Soon he was preaching to thousands of Jews. He became a pillar in the congregation of believers at Jerusalem. Ten years came and went, yet one important truth had escaped him. Peter did not know that Gentiles could also find redemption in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This does not mean Peter thought all Gentiles were doomed to be eternally lost. He merely thought that for a Gentile to become entitled to God's promises, he must first become a Jew.

Why did Peter think that? Not because he was unintelligent or spiritually obtuse. Virtually every other Jewish believer believed the same thing. God had dealt with the Gentiles thus for several thousand years. How did Rahab, a citizen of Jericho, find her salvation? She proved her belief in the God of Israel by physically joining that nation. Likewise, Ruth, the Moabitess, became an Israelite and even an ancestor of King David.

It took a shocking vision from heaven to persuade Peter to preach to a Gentile family (Cornelius'). He was again surprised when he saw them respond. Peter was finally convinced when he actually saw these non-Jews receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 10).

Until this time Peter's message was, "Would you like to become a born-again Jew?"

On the other hand, Paul--a Jew--was called by God specifically to the Gentiles. All his life he fought the tendency of the Jewish believers to think of themselves as the only group of people to whom salvation was given. It was understood by all, of course, that Jews still received salvation as Jews (See Acts 21:24). But Paul maintained that to receive salvation Gentiles should become simply believing Gentiles. A gentilized term--Christian--was even coined from the Hebrew concept of followers of Messiah or Messianics.

The death of Yeshua around A.D. 30 had marked the end of the times of the Jews, or the time when one had to become a Jew to find God. For 40 years, Jewish believers--who were mostly in and around Jerusalem--continued in their Messianic faith. Gentiles, on the other hand, without taking on Jewish tradition, accepted Iesous (the Greek spelling of Jesus) as Lord and Savior, and continued to follow their Greek culture.

Then came the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. And the times of the Gentiles, which actually began with the death of Yeshua, emerged in its fullness after 40 years. The times of the Jews, which actually began to ebb with the captivities, heard its death knell with the crucifixion of Yeshua. It finally came to a total halt with the destruction of Jerusalem.

Thereafter, Jews were scattered throughout the world. Any Jew who accepted Yeshua almost invariably became a Gentile; that is, his children were raised as Gentiles, and his grandchildren no longer thought of themselves as Jews. It was an exact reverse of the times of the Jews when Ruth, Rahab and many others joined themselves to the Jews in order to serve God. Speaking as God's mouthpiece, Moses hinted at the phenomenon of the Gentiles:

They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation (Deut. 32:21).

If God's Word is to be taken literally, the times of the Gentiles can be said to have ended in 1967 with the Jewish recapture of the Old City of Jerusalem. However, since God's times always gradually fade (instead of cutting off at a second's notice), we may be assured that God will continue to deal with the Gentiles a short time longer--just as He did with the Jews for forty years after the death of the Messiah. The move of God's grace began to deal in ever more powerful waves with the Gentiles as Gentiles after A.D. 30. Likewise, God has begun to bring Jews into repentance and faith as Jews. Why? Because the times of the Jews are once more upon us, and will continue to expand until His coming. And just as God has faithfully fulfilled His revealed will until now, so will He continue to fulfill it.

As far as I know, almost every Jew who accepted Yeshua into his life before the recapture of Jerusalem also claimed allegiance to the Gentile peoples. After June, 1967, a constantly increasing number of Jews have been redeemed by the blood of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, as members of the Jewish faith.

For further information or to receive I Became as a Jew, you may call 1.800.856.7060. Or, email your request to maoz@onramp.net.

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