Israel’s Legacy of Hope with Avi Mizrachi

Part 2: Avi Mizrachi

Avi Mizrachi: Can we go on a time machine? Let’s go back 2,000 years and let’s say we all live in Israel and we’re all Jews, and the Romans are the enemy, okay? They’re the bad guys. The last thing you want is a Roman soldier knocking on your door at night, knocking and looking for you. And this is what’s happening in Acts 10, because there is a Roman soldier knocking on the door, and Simon the Tanner, the owner, opens and sees a Roman soldier, he doesn’t even really open the door, he said, “What do you want?” “I’m looking for Peter.”

So he closed the door and he tells Peter, “Peter, come down from the rooftop. There is a Roman soldier at the door. Brother, I don’t know what you did, but we don’t… we have nothing to do with that. You go and talk to him.” But Peter, because God spoke to him, he opens the door. He said, “Yes, I’m Peter. What do you want?” He tells him, “Well my general, my boss, Cornelius from Caesarea, sent me for you.” He goes, “Oh.” So he lets him in — totally unorthodox. He lets him in and even let him stay in their home. And the next day, they walk from Jaffa all the way to Caesarea.

Now, let me explain. Caesarea is not a Jewish city. Caesarea is after the name of Caesar. In Caesarea, they had, you know, the Roman Navy headquarters, like the Pentagon of the Italians, of the Romans, and they had a big jail. So this is definitely not a place Jews want to go, in chains to jail. And also they had a temple for Zeus. So, definitely, it’s not a clean city.

But God told Peter to go. And he meets Cornelius. And Cornelius tells him, “Listen, I worship the God of Israel. And I was praying and the angel appeared to me and told me to send for you.” And Peter goes, “An angel appear to you? Are you serious? Nah. Oy vavoy, oy vavoy.” Then, yes, and we’re all here, and he takes him to his home. Look, this is all my friends, my family. We’re all here to hear. And Peter realizes, “Oh, those Romans don’t have the Scriptures like we do, the Tanakh.” Okay, let me explain to you.

So Peter is giving a great sermon. He’s having a great time explaining to those Romans, to those Italians about the Scriptures and about God and how God promised the Messiah, and he’s having a great time. And guess what? The Holy Spirit comes and interrupts. Holy Spirit, you’re welcome to come interrupt anytime, any day. We give you all the glory. We thank you Lord for your presence. Be glorified, Lord. Amen.

So after those Romans get the Holy Spirit, what happens? Peter goes, “Oy vey, how could this happen? Wait a minute, this is against my protocol. That cannot be. Because if you want to really receive this gift, this is what you have to do.

Like me, we followed the Master for three years. We had to follow the Master sleep wherever He slept for three years. And then we saw Him taken by the Romans and crucified and dead, and then we were praying and waiting for Him for the Resurrection. And He rose from the dead on the third day, hallelujah, He met with us. But then He told us to wait till Shavuot. We had to count 49 days. And only then you get the Holy Spirit. But look at these Romans, they just got it, just like that. That’s not fair.”

Then he goes, “Oy vey, we need to baptize them. Okay, okay, everybody, come on, come on, come on.” The first non-Jews who were baptized were Romans, Italians in Caesarea. Hallelujah. And the Gospel went out from Judea, Samaria, to the port of Jaffa. But he had to go to the port of Caesarea so it can go to the whole Roman Empire. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God is good. Amen.

So what has happened in 2,000 years? I tell you what, let’s see if we can take 2,000 years and summarize it in 10 minutes. Mission impossible. But let’s try. I like challenges. Will you travel with me? Are you ready for a journey? Yes. Okay, buckle up. We’re going fast now. 70 AD, what happened in 70 AD? The Romans came, destroyed the city and the Temple. So here we have a picture when the Romans came and destroyed the city, burned the city and burned the Temple.

And then they’ve taken also the menorah and all the utensils from the Temple, from Jerusalem to Rome, okay? And they left the land desolate. And you can go to Rome and they have this Titus Arch, and it has that picture of the Romans carrying the menorah. So now since we are back home in Israel now, we need to ask the Romans, the Italians, to bring us back the menorah. Yeah, sounds good to me.

Anyhow, they destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, and they took all the leaders of Judea as slaves to Rome. And then they decided, since the land is left totally desolate, they decided to change, because as far as they’re concerned, there’s no more Israel, they changed the name from Israel to Palestina. It was the Romans, because they decided there is no more Israel. So they named it Palestine, Palestina. So what happened after this?

Well, then the Church in Antioch grew. And we know, for example, in 100 AD, 30 years after the destruction of the Temple, that the Church spokesman of Antioch, his name was, Justin Martyr, he started teaching that Christians now, the Church now has replaced Israel and he opened the door for replacement theology. So the Christian fathers at that time and the leaders called the Jews or that the Christ killers, therefore, they’re punished, therefore, there’s no more Israel with the Church. Now we are Israel, we have replaced Israel. Very sad.

Then later on, in the next one, the 325…, we have 325 AD, we have the Council of Nicaea, led by the Emperor Constantine. And Constantine, what he did, he began to close the Church from its Jewish roots and he decided to have a new Christian Calendar, and then we established Christianity as a religion. And he disconnected, for example, the Resurrection of Jesus with Passover. Because he said, “No, it has nothing to do with Passover. We have a new date for the Resurrection day, okay?”

And basically, Constantine called for the separation from this testable company of Jews. So what happened is Jews were not welcome to the Church. And it caused a division in the Church already then, which later on led the Church to divide more and more with the Eastern church and the Western church. And it got worse and worse and worse into the Dark Ages. But thank God, God is not done with us. Amen.

So what about Israel? Well, has God forgotten Israel? No. Ezekiel 36:19. The Lord said, “I scatter them among the nations. They were dispersed to other countries. I judge them upon it to the ways and deeds.” And in verse, and I encourage you to read Ezekiel 36, the whole chapter. In verse 24, He says, “I will take you among nations, get rid of all countries, and bring you into your own land.”

So God promised to the prophet Ezekiel that because of our sin, that God is going to take us from our land and disperse us to the nations. And He’s going to do this for His holy name sake. He said this, “No, I’m not doing it for your sake, for my holy name sake. Because one day I’m going to bring you back to the land, and the whole world will know that what God promises, He fulfills.” God is a faithful God. Amen. What He promises He fulfills. And who gets the glory? God.

God. You see, it has nothing to do with politics. It has to do… Which book do you read? Do you read the Bible or do you read the Quran? Somebody needs to tell our neighbors they read the wrong book. God is a faithful God. He said He will do this, and He did it. Can a nation be born in one day? With man, it’s impossible. With God, nothing is impossible. May 14th, 1948, the Nation of Israel was born.

And here’s David Ben-Gurion in the middle, our first prime minister declaring independence. And he did it in Tel Aviv. Why did he do it in Tel Aviv, not in our capital, Jerusalem? I tell you why. Because as soon as he declared independence, it was on Friday afternoon, May 14th, 1948. As soon as declared independence, the Jordanians already recaptured Jerusalem. They all said, “We could not get to Jerusalem.” And all our five neighbors, Arab, Muslim, and the neighbors declared war. You see, Israel is a beautiful country. We just live in a bad neighborhood. Can we exchange neighborhoods? I’ll take Texas any day. And in return, I’ll give you Gaza. No deal? Ah, I thought we can have a good deal.

Anyhow, I just want to say something important. When Israel declared independence, there was about 600,000, 700,000 Jews in the Land of Israel. And we declared independence and we declared peace with our neighbors. And all our neighbors, five countries, Lebanon, in the north, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan in the east, Egypt in the south, they all declared war. And they said within a couple hours, they had millions of soldiers, guns, tanks, cannons, navy, air force, everything. We had nothing.

They said within a couple hours, they’re going to kill all the Jews, slaughter them, and throw them to the sea. They will never be . It’ll not last for two hours. In the natural, it shouldn’t have happened. But, they forgot somebody important. God. My Bible says, “He that keepeth Israel shall not slumber nor sleep.” (Follows with Hebrew translation). God did miracles upon miracles and upon miracles. You know, after the war… Oh, let me, I went too fast.

After the war, David Ben-Gurion, our first prime minister, I mean, he is not a believer. He was a second Jew. He was a Zionist, but he was a brilliant man. And after the war, he came with a statement, which is interesting. He said, “To be a realistic person in Israel, you have to believe in miracles.” Why? So many miracles happened that the general said, “We did this and this happened. We did this, we did this, and we didn’t have bullets, we didn’t have guns, and this happened. We don’t understand.” I do.

As believers, we know we serve God of miracles. He did miracles upon miracles upon miracles. Who knew who gets the glory? God. Amen. Amen. Now, after this Independence War, 1948, then there was tremendous Jews. You have to understand, after the Holocaust, there were thousands and thousands and thousands of Jews who were refugees in Europe who want to go home. So they took the ship to Israel. And also, thousands and thousands of Jews from the Arab world, you know, they had to flee to Israel.

Suddenly, within a year or two, the population doubled. I mean, can you imagine how it was in the early 1950s? It was bad because there was no food. Thousands and thousands Jews, the population doubled. They didn’t have homes. So they put the new immigrants in tents. We call them ma’abarot. And that’s how, like my parents, let me tell you about my parents. My parents, they were born in Bulgaria. They survived the Holocaust. My father, in 1947, as a young man, took a ship from Europe to Israel.

But at that time, in 1947, the British mandate was still there. They didn’t not allow Jews to integrate into the country. So they caught him by the seashores of Tel Aviv and took him to Cyprus and put him in Cyprus for a year. And all he could do there, with thousands of Jews, refugee Jews in Cyprus, in a camp, all they could do is pray and sing “L’shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim,” “Next Year in Jerusalem.” And then that day came, May 14, 1948. And then he was able to come to Israel. And when he came to Israel, he kissed the land, and he said, “Well, I’ve been waiting”, as if he was waiting for 2,000 years to come back home.

And the Jewish agency said, “Baruch Haba, welcome home. Here’s a gun, go and fight.” The same day he landed in Tel Aviv, the same day he joined the army and fought the Independence War. Yeah. Let’s see if… I believe I have a picture of my parents. Let’s see. Yes, you can see, this is my parents in the middle. On the left, on the, my right side is my father, where he was serving in the army, fighting the Independence War. And the other side is my mother. You see with the gun there. Yes, the women fought, too. They’re good fighters, trust me. Okay, women. Yeah. Okay.

Then after the war, my parents met, fell in love, got married, and they lived in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. And that’s where I was born; my sister, me, and my brother. So this is a beautiful story, but you can come to a wrong conclusion that God has a moving company. He moved Jews from here to there, from there to here. Wrong conclusion. Let me explain to you, God does not have a moving company. He doesn’t need a moving company. God has a plan, a plan of salvation. Amen.

Now let me stop you for a second. Let’s say, let’s leave Israel aside. Let me ask you a question. Does God have a plan for America? Oh, yes, I know. To make America great again. Yeah, sounds good. But let me tell you, God has a bigger plan. You know, what is the big plan He has for America? That all American’s come to salvation. That no one shall perish but have everlasting life. How do I know this? Because I was lost. I was a nice Jewish boy from Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Conservative, finished my high school, went to the Army, was four years in Israeli Air Force. And when I came 40 years ago to America, I was lost.

And I wanted, I had plans to go to every disco tech in town and go to Las Vegas gamble and become rich. Las Vegas, you lose money. But this shows you how we are brainwashed by the media, you know, by movies. To make a long story short, I went to visit my sister in Florida. She’s a believer. She’s a born again believer. She took me to a Baptist church, and the Baptist got me. And I got saved 40 years ago. If you want to hear my testimony, you will have to come another day. God has a plan of salvation, Amen, for the Jewish people and for every nation. Until He comes back, we have a job to do. So let’s go to the next Scripture.

Has God forgotten His people? No. Then He said in verse 25-26, this is His plan. “I will sprinkle clean water on you, you shall be clean, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness from all your idols, I will give you a new heart, put a new spirit within you, I’ll take the heart of the stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and give you heart of flesh.” Well, brothers and sisters, I’m standing before you as a living testimony. The Scripture I’ve just read is fulfilled in front of your eyes.

Now, let me clarify this. I’m not standing here before you because, hey, I was four years in Israeli Air Force, look at me, Mr. Schwarzenegger. I am here all because, oh, listen, I have a beautiful Middle East beard, you know? Like Father Abraham. Oh, I know because I have the most beautiful Jewish nose. You know, all those things, they are filthy rags before God. I was lost. I knew about God, but I didn’t know God. Then somebody told me that God sent a Messiah, His Son, Yeshua. He paid the price for my sins.

And He’s the Lamb of God to take the sin of the world. He died on the cross, was buried, on the third day He rose from the dead and He’s alive. And I can have atonement and I can be, have peace with God through Yeshua, Jesus, our Messiah. And I’m standing here before you because of the blood of Jesus. Because of the grace of God. And I give Him all the glory.

Part 3: Tim Moore

Avi was born in Jaffa, but his family immigrated from Bulgaria. He shared a powerful testimony of God’s benevolence toward the Jews of that war-torn nation that ended up saving his own parents from the horrors of the Holocaust. His amazing story makes it clear that God’s unfolding plan for His chosen people is indeed marvelous in our eyes.

Part 4: Avi Mizrachi Continued

Avi Mizrachi: So what can we do? What can we learn from history? During the Second World War, there was 50,000 Jews in Bulgaria, and at that time, King Boris, the king of Bulgaria, assigned us 50,000 Jews to Hitler, like every other European country. And that’s how 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust in Europe by the Nazis.

While in Bulgaria, there was a rabbi, Rabbi Daniel Zion. He was the Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria. And my father used to go to the synagogue there for the Shabbat services and for the feasts. He used to go there and knew him very well. Well, just before the Second World War started in 1939, like a year or two before that, he became good friend of the Christian leader, Metropolitan Stefan. He was the bishop of the Orthodox Church. He was a strong believer, loved Jesus, and loved Israel. And they became friends.

And one day, this Metropolitan Stefan gave the rabbi a Bible. So the Rabbi, Daniel Zion, opened the Bible. He saw the Old Testament. He said, “Oh, that’s good.” Then he saw the New Testament. He tore the New Testament and threw it on the floor. Why? Because for Jewish people, the New Testament is a forbidden book. So Stefan looked at him and said, “Rabbi Daniel Zion, please don’t do that. That’s my Bible.” Out of respect, because they were friends. Out of respect, he took it up and said, “Okay, I’ll put it in a bookshelf.” Okay.

Well, a few days later, Rabbi Daniel Zion gets up in the morning, for morning prayer in the synagogue early in the morning. And as he prays, he sees a person, a white person glowing with light. And he was shocked. So he went and he went to his friend and asked him, “What do you think this is?” And they all say, “We don’t know.” So he goes to Stefan. He said, “I saw this. What do you think?” So this Stefan was very wise. He said, “You know what? Instead of me telling you who it is, why don’t you say, ‘Hineni, who are you?'”

Now hineni in Hebrew means, here I am, like, you know, Samuel, you know. Here I am, hineni, who are you? So he said, “Oh, that’s a good idea.” The next morning, he goes early in the morning to pray. And again, this white person, this person in white and glowing light, and he goes, “Hineni, who are you?” And this person says to him, “Ani Yeshua Hamashiach.” “I am Jesus, your Messiah.” And Rabbi Daniel Zion is shaking. The fear of God fell upon him.

And he said, “How could this be? Okay, where’s the New Testament?” He opens to the book of Matthew, and he reads the genealogies of… He said, “This is Jewish. How come I didn’t know this?” And he continued reading. To make a long story short, he gave his life to Yeshua.

Closing

Nathan Jones: In contrast to The Legacy of Hope, Avi’s book title speaks of, pointing to the salvation offered in Jesus Christ, Iran and its terror proxies have represented a multi-generational legacy of hate. That was fully evident on October 7th, 2023. Israel’s recent Operation Rising Lion that resulted in the 12-day war in mid-June will hopefully open a window of peace, or at least the calm of a lasting ceasefire to the entire region. We pray that that is the case.

Tim Moore: You know, Nathan, reflecting on the story about Rabbi Daniel Zion and his seeing of a glowing figure who was, obviously, Jesus Christ, we know that Jews today are coming to faith in Christ, even in the midst of this tragedy. So while we mourn the loss of life really on both sides, we know that God can turn everything to His greater glory and good. And we pray that there will be salvation for Arabs, for Persians, and indeed for Jews.

Nathan Jones: That’s what I love about Dugit Ministries because it’s in the heart of Tel Aviv, bringing the Gospel to both Jews and Arabs alike.

Tim Moore: Amen. Amen. Well, although we did not include all the details from Avi’s family experience in Bulgaria, the title of his presentation, “Legacy of Hope,” was borrowed from his book of the same title. Lamb & Lion Ministries was honored to be able to help with the production and publication of Avi’s book that describes how God intervened on behalf of His people before they were regathered to Israel and before they even came to know His only begotten Son, Yeshua.

Nathan Jones: Avi has been a regular guest on Christ in Prophecy, but you can also meet him in person by joining Tim on a Lamb & Lion pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Now that the war is subsided and a season of calm seems to be at hand, he plans to lead a group of pilgrims to Israel this October.

Tim Moore: That’s exactly right. Folks, you can get detailed information on that trip at our website or by calling the number on the screen. You can follow those same links to order a copy of the flash drive or DVD that contains all the Conference presentations, along with bonus material and two question and answer sessions. For only $25, we’ll be glad to ship you a copy to view over and over again or to share with your family and friends.

Nathan Jones: For 45 years, Lamb & Lion Ministries has been proclaiming the soon return of Jesus Christ and offering consistent teachings from God’s prophetic Word and supporting evangelistic ministries in Israel. None of our outreaches would be possible without the faithful support of our Prophecy Partners. During our Conference, 58 folks determined to join with us in our mission. We’d like to invite you to do the same. For only $25 a month, you’ll receive our Lamplighter Magazine, along with regular updates and special gifts, and you’ll be part of a Christ-honoring ministry that shares a Gospel-centered message that Jesus is coming soon.

Tim Moore: We’ll hope to see you next week when we share a message from another Messianic Jewish teacher who serves the Lord in Israel. Until then, join us in crying, Blessed is He who came — and is coming again — in the Name of the Lord! Godspeed!

End of Program