“Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
—Isaiah 53:1

Have you ever wondered why there are so few Jewish believers in Jesus in the world? Isaiah prophesied this would happen 2,700 years ago. In today’s verse, he prophesied that when the Messiah appeared in Israel, not many of God’s first covenant people, the Jews, would believe in Him.

We read how this prophecy was fulfilled in the Gospel of John, which states that Yeshua “came to His own [the Jewish people], and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). In other words, during Jesus’ first coming, most of the nation of Israel has been blind to who Yeshua is. Paul talks about this in Romans 11 when he writes that a temporary hardness or a blindness has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

But as we move closer to the end of the age, God is going to open the eyes of a critical mass of Jewish people to recognize who Jesus is. The good news for Gentile believers is that God is going to use many of you to do that. And when there is a mass of Jewish people who have come to faith in Jesus, crying out, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39), this will usher in Yeshua’s return.

Of course, it isn’t always easy to share your faith with Jewish people. Some may become angry or offended, but we must be more concerned about obeying Jesus than being liked. The Jewish people have suffered years of persecution, so you must come to them humbly; you may even be led to apologize for anti-Semitism they may have suffered. But as you share how Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies (in Isaiah 53, for example) and tell them what He has done in your life, you will be planting a seed God can use to draw them to Himself.

Romans 11:15 says that as Jewish people come to faith in Messiah Yeshua, the church will experience such revival, it will be like “life from the dead.”

Father God, I ask for courage to share Your love with the Jewish people I come in contact with and for wisdom to know what to say and when. Give me Your heart for Israel and for their salvation.

Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Divine Truth (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2021), Used by permission.