And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant…—for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:5-6, esv)

The State of Israel, while perhaps unique among the countries in the Middle East, is hardly remarkable on the world stage. If not for her placement among so many Islamic neighbors, she might barely be a footnote. Seven million Jews live in a liberal, secular paradise in the middle of the desert, showing little distinction from the rest of Westernized society. Dispersed across the world, eight million more Jews lead quiet lives—some maintaining a private religious practice, some abandoning their Jewish heritage altogether, but both largely indiscernible from the people that live around them. Like their ancestors before them, who begged for a king so “that we also may be like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:20), today’s fifteen million Jews—God’s chosen people—choose day after day to continue looking as much like the world around them as they can, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves.

But the people of Israel are unique, and they still have an important role to play. The God of their fathers has not preserved His people just to prove that He can, or simply to show His power. Certainly, He has given witness of Himself to the world by doing so, but He Himself says that preservation only for preservation’s sake “is too light a thing.” No, God’s servant Israel (Isaiah 49:3) has been chosen for an even greater purpose: “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Far from blending in or hiding away, the Jewish people have always been intended as the tool with which Adonai would broadcast His greatness to every people of the world—carrying not only the proof of His character, but the message of His salvation to every eye and ear.

This forgotten purpose of the nation of Israel—this critical role in God’s salvation plan—is the reason why it is crucial for the Body of Messiah to begin prioritizing Jewish salvations and bolstering Jewish identities. As Paul explains to us in Romans 11,

I say this, then: “Did [Israel] stumble so that they might fall?” Let it not be! But by their misstep, the salvation is come to the Goyim [Gentiles] to arouse Yis’rael to jealousy. And if their misstep is the riches of the world, and their diminishing is the riches of the Goyim, how much more will their fullness be? … For if their rejection is a reconciliation of the world, what will their reception be if not life out of the dead? (Romans 11:11-12, 15, mjlt)

Israel was not just a stepping stone on the path to the salvation of the world; she is also to be the Master’s penultimate triumph. But in order for her to fulfill that awesome goal for which she was selected, one more hurdle blocks the way: national acceptance of the Messiah Yeshua’s salvation. He is the salvation that Israel is meant to carry to the end of the earth. However, before she can proclaim Him from the rooftops, she must first receive Him herself.

Yet stumbling Israel has rejected her Savior. “He came to His own things, but His own people did not receive Him” (John 1:11). And so, salvation came to the Gentiles. Why? So that Christianity could take up Israel’s role? On the contrary! “[T]he salvation is come to the Goyim [Gentiles] to arouse Yis’rael to jealousy.” The collective calling of Gentile believers has always been to awaken sleeping Israel, bringing her back to her Messiah so that she can finally fulfill her distinctive, God-ordained role.

Only Israel can ultimately bring the light of salvation to the world, and only as a unified people can she accomplish this. One Jewish voice in a sea of Christian voices cannot be a shining light for the nations. It would make no sense to light a candle and set it in the midst of a campfire. In the same way, individual Jews who are saved—even if they maintain their Jewishness—cannot bring this prophecy to fulfillment. It is only when the Jewish people come together, and with one voice shout out, “Barukh haba b’shem Adonai—blessed is He who is coming in the name of Adonai!” (Psa. 118:26, Mat. 23:39) that their light will shine bright like the sun, and Yeshua’s salvation will be seen and known to the ends of the earth.

And that will truly—finally—be “life out of the dead.”

The Jewish people and the Body of Messiah alike have forgotten the divine, prophetic calling of the nation of Israel—the very thing for which she was chosen. In these troubled times, it is more important than ever for us to remember it, and to arouse the Jews to jealousy. Boldly share Yeshua with the Jewish individuals in your life, and pray continually for the salvation of all Israel. Now is the time for Israel to embrace her Jewish Messiah, to be restored to her God-anointed purpose, and to hasten the coming return of the Master.

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