Steve Conover: This is Steve Conover. Today, you'll hear an episode from our archives, a popular series we're sure you'll enjoy. In it, Chris explores the Gospels and why there are four different accounts of Christ's life in your Bible. I'm Steve Conover.
Chris Katulka: And I'm Chris Katulka.
Steve Conover: And this is The Friends of Israel Today. As we begin, I'll remind you to visit FOIradio.org to get your free one year subscription to our beautiful magazine, Israel My Glory. If you love Israel and the Jewish people and you love great biblical teaching, call our listener line at (888) 343-6940 to order your copy. Quickly again, that's (888) 343-6940. Chris, tell us what's on the program today.
Chris Katulka: Yeah, we got a great lineup. So first, we're going to be finishing our series on the Gospels Speak to Everyone. We're going to be looking at the last Gospel, the Gospel of John. We're going to be looking at his audience, the people he was writing to, and the message that he was giving to them. And then, you'll never believe it, the United Nations is at it again with another antisemitic rant against Israel. So, you want to be sure to stick around and listen to this recent UNESCO resolution and a little bit of commentary I give to you there. And then finally, Apples of Gold.
Steve Conover: I can't wait. Lots to get to before we move on. So Chris, tell us what's happening in Israel today.
Chris Katulka: Yeah, two major studies were recently conducted on education in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The study found that Israeli schools educate their youth to embrace peace and to see war as a negative event that's necessary at times. Palestinian schools were also evaluated and it was determined that the word peace appears nowhere in the textbooks and that the school books used to educate young Palestinians have statements, poems, and instructions that glorify and encourage Jihad. While many Israelis are ready for peace with the Palestinians because they've been taught from a young age to hope for peace, Palestinian youth are actually filled with rage and anger against Israel because of their education system. So, I think it's our job as Christians today to be praying to God to change the hearts of the Palestinian leaders to educate their youth to embrace peace over hate.
Steve Conover: It's so sad. I find it's easier for me to lump people into defined groups of thought instead of remembering, as much as we should, that there are innocent lives that get caught in the wake of hateful indoctrination. Thanks so much, Chris. We're just about to hear the final message in this wonderful series we've had on the four Gospels. Today, we're in the Gospel of John, and later we'll be telling you about a commentary on the Book of John by our longtime radio host and former executive director, Elwood McQuaid. It's called The Outpouring. This is my favorite commentary on John, because it gave me insights into the Jewishness of John's Gospel and it really opened up the meaning of the text. We'll tell you more about that book later.
Chris Katulka: Today we're going to finish our series on the Gospels. Our series has been called The Gospels Speak to Everyone, and I'm sure if you're driving and listening or you're listening on podcasts, you're thinking to yourself, of course, the Gospels speaks to everybody. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it transcends time and culture and race and nationality, and it even transcends the socioeconomic divide. The message of the Gospel is for everyone, but I believe God ordered the four Gospels themselves in such a way that they do speak to everyone, that the Gospels are letters that were written to specific people for a specific purpose. See, the Gospels give us a multidimensional look into the life of Jesus Christ. Look at your own life. You're more than a one dimensional person. In fact, the scriptures say that we're comprised of a physical body, a soul, and a spirit, and these three elements make up who you are.
And it would be wrong to define a person only by one of these elements. And also think about this, I'm more than just a Bible teacher on the radio. I'm a husband, I'm a son, I'm a father, I'm a friend. There are many levels to who I am. Many dimensions to who I am. The Gospels work in the same way. To fully describe the nature of Jesus Christ and only one Gospel doesn't do justice to the majesty of who Jesus is, and yet God gave us the four Gospels to help us see the different perspectives of who Christ is. And maybe it's different because of who the Gospel was written for, or maybe it's different because of the message that the Gospel writer is trying to convey about Jesus or his followers. Now, over the past three weeks, we've looked at the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
We talked about how Matthew was written for Jewish believers in Jesus to first communicate the story of the Jewish Messiah, so that Jewish believers could be confident to share the Gospel with their Jewish friends. And second, it was also designed to encourage them in the face of persecution as those legalists of Jesus's day, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, were also persecuting the early church. And then we saw how the Gospel of Mark was written for a Roman audience. It was written in a way to convince the Romans that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of the world, and that being a disciple of Jesus could really come at a cost. And much of the Gospel of Mark is focused on the concept, the message, of discipleship, and how true disciples of Jesus should live as he lived, a sacrificial life. And then last week we talked about Luke.
Luke was a God-fearing Gentile who trusted in Jesus as his Savior. This means that Luke stands in an interesting place. He understood the Gentile world, and yet at the same time he understood the Jewish culture and customs of his day, and he wrote his letter to speak to the non-Jewish world, the Gentile world at that time, to communicate that Gentiles have now been welcomed to the table of fellowship, that Jew and Gentile are now one in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Now, this week we're going to focus on the fourth Gospel, a unique Gospel among the four Gospels. The Gospel of John. John kind of stands off on his own a bit. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are ... They're called the synoptic Gospels. They share some similar features, but John is written differently. It has a different tone to it. John's Gospel was written with the entire world in mind.
John is thought to probably have written his gospel sometime between 85 and 95 A.D. So, his is actually the last gospel that was written and think about that. He's writing around 85 to 95 A.D., and he has seen the growth of the church as it moves out of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the world. He's seeing this happen, just as Jesus said it would in Acts chapter one. John's Gospel was written for everyone in a very evangelistic tone. That means when John was writing his gospel, he penned it in a way so that the reader, no matter who it is or where they come from or what their background is, would not just hear what Jesus did, but would actually take hold of the message and then believe in Jesus. Think about the most famous verse from John, a verse that sums up God's plan of redemption in just a few words, and I'm sure you know it very well, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world ..." Everybody, did you hear that? The world. John has the world in mind. "That he gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
And here's another part of John's Gospel. John tells us the reason why he wrote his gospel. He really puts it right in there for us to see the purpose for it. And that comes in John chapter 20 verses 30 and 31, he wrote this, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book." And man, I wish we had those signs that were not written down, but listen to how he continues in verse 31, "But these," talking about the signs of Jesus, "These signs are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John actually arranged his gospel so that it communicates the signs and wonders of Jesus with a call to believe in him. In fact, there are seven signs in the Gospel of John, signs like turning water into wine, the feeding of the 5,000, walking on water, and even raising Lazarus from the dead.
These signs were designed to point to who Jesus was and all that he did, and then at the same time, these stories were written down with the emphasis that someone would read them and then believe. And that term believe, which is actually used twice in verse 31 there, is found 98 times throughout the gospel. And think about this, that Greek verb to believe, was written by John in such a way to communicate with the reader that believing in Jesus is not just a one-time event, but an active, continuous, and ongoing trust in Jesus. It's really important to see John's message. He is communicating what Jesus did and then demanding that the reader believe, to take that step of faith. John wants the world to know who Jesus is and how believing in him can radically change one's life today and give them the hope of eternal life with Christ in the future.
And remember what Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and may have it abundantly." That not only is there abundant life coming, an eternal life with Christ by believing in him, but that even believing in Jesus right now, we can have a life full of joy, peace, and love by knowing and trusting in Him today. Evangelism was really at the heart of John's message and making sure readers heard what Jesus did and then act on what they heard was core to what John was trying to communicate. And this is often the reason whenever someone who is searching to know more about Jesus today is often directed to read the Gospel of John. John does one more thing that I think we should focus on. John wants to share about the divinity of Jesus Christ.
It's the reason why John doesn't have a story of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem like Matthew and Luke, but instead explains that Jesus was and is and will be. That Jesus is the very word of God that became flesh. John 1 verse 14, that if we see and hear Jesus as we hear and see him in the Gospels, then we actually hear and see the Father himself. In John's Gospel, we see clearly that God himself fixed the issues of sin and separation by sending his own son to be our sacrifice and our Savior. Folks, that's how much God loves you and me. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
For the past few weeks, we've been looking at the audience and message of each of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All four accounts of the Gospel show a different aspect to the life of Christ, and each one was written for a different reason, but at the heart of each account, the message of the Gospel comes shining through, the story of Jesus's life, death and resurrection become the message intended for everyone. It's the reason they're called the Gospels. They're the good news of what Jesus Christ accomplished for the whole world. Bringing reconciliation between God and His creation, and that within each telling of God's good news, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is how we find encouragement in the face of persecution, or how we model discipleship after the life of Christ, or how we welcome everyone to the table of fellowship in the name of Jesus, or how we communicate and share the message of the Gospel to a lost and broken world. My friends, the Gospels speak to everyone.
Chris Katulka: John's Gospel connects the Feasts of Israel from the Old Testament to Jesus's life and ministry in the New Testament by bringing to life the deeper meaning behind the words of our Savior. In his book, The Outpouring: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel, Dr. Elwood McQuaid focuses on Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, at the annual feasts on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This book will open your eyes to the Jewishness of the Gospel of John and give you greater insights into God's Word. To order your copy, visit FOIradio.org or call (888) 343-6940. That's (888) 343-6940.
Chris Katulka: Welcome back everybody. UNESCO, which is the education, scientific, and cultural branch of the UN recently voted in favor of a resolution called Occupied Palestine. And let me tell you, this is nothing more than a diatribe against the state of Israel, and to add insult to injury, ignores the Jewish and Christian significance of the holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. Biblical sites like the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives that are found all throughout the Bible are ignored and actually called in the resolution by their Islamic name, ultimately robbing Israel and the Jewish people of its historic ties to the old city of Jerusalem. This resolution was adopted by an overwhelming 24 votes in favor of the resolution, six against and 26 in absentia. And I want you to hear some of the countries that voted in favor of the resolution. You ready? Qatar, Sudan, Pakistan, Oman, Lebanon, Egypt, Malaysia, and Iran.
Are you seeing a theme here? There were other countries as well, like Russia and South Africa. The six, only six, who voted against this antisemitic resolution where these Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States. The adoption of this resolution just goes to show how antisemitic UNESCO is, that it would in full conscience adopt a resolution that flies in the face of its very own mission statement to build peace in the minds of men and women. And really UNESCO was designed to preserve the history of these historic sites. In fact, the occupied Palestine resolution does the opposite of building peace and providing preservation of these historical sites. It actually segregates two out of the three major religions of the world by ignoring their cultural ties to the holy city of Jerusalem. When UNESCO chief, Irina Bokova criticized the Arab-backed resolution, that means that the director of UNESCO, everybody, understood how bad this decision was.
She started to receive death threats and needed to increase her security because of her criticism. My friends, we live in a backwards world. Could you imagine a UNESCO resolution that Christians never had any historical connection to the Vatican or that Muslims never had any connection to Mecca? It would be laughed at. It would be shut down in a heartbeat. But if you say that the Jewish people have no historical connection to Jerusalem or the Temple Mount, that resolution could get passed by the very organization that was designed to protect it. The content of this UNESCO resolution is more than simply removing the Jewish names to their holy sites. It's actually going much deeper than that. The majority of Arab countries that voted in favor of the resolution are actually seeking to delegitimize the state of Israel from having a presence in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, remember, is the unified eternal capital of the Jewish people. You can't disprove that. It's not only written in the Bible, which predates Islam by more than a thousand years, it's been proven archeologically. We have physical proof that Jewish people have had a long enduring presence in the city of Jerusalem. I think it's time UNESCO and the UN get serious about giving themselves a set of checks and balances that protect itself from politicizing proven history.
It's time for the UN and all of its different branches to root out this blatant antisemitism that seeks to slowly rewrite history in hopes that maybe one day Israel will just disappear.
Steve Conover: Israel, on the verge of becoming a state, a teenage Holocaust survivor arrives on her shores alone. His name is Zvi Kalisher. Little did he know his search for a new life in the holy land would lead him to the Messiah. Zvi, enthusiastic to share his faith, engaged others in spiritual conversations, many of which can be found in our magazine, Israel My Glory. While Zvi is now in the presence of his Savior, his collected writings from well over 50 years of ministry continue to encourage believers worldwide. Now, Apples of Gold, a dramatic reading from the life of Zvi.
Mike Kellogg: Since suffering a heart attack several years ago, I must go to the doctor every four months for a checkup. On my last visit, an ultra-Orthodox man sat next to me shouting the Psalms, and after awhile I said to him, "I do not mind you reading the Psalms, but would you please lower your voice? If this is from your heart God will hear even if you read silently." He asked, "How are you so sure He will hear me?" Then he began to stare at me intently and said, "I know you. Your name is Zvi. Were you in Cyprus in 1947?" "Yes," I replied. "We were in the same camp, in the same shack for eight months." "Now that I see you closely, I remember you," I said. He asked why I was in the doctor's office and I told him about my heart attack. He asked many questions, as anyone would upon meeting an old friend after 44 years.
I then asked him what he had been doing since arriving in Israel in 1948 and he replied, "I have become a real Jew. I studied the Talmud in a yeshiva all the time. Do you go to the synagogue even once a week?" I replied, "I do not pray so others will hear and see me. I pray to the living God and I know He answers my prayers." He then said, "You were not so serious at Cypress. What changed?" I replied, "I have learned to whom I belong." Many others were listening to our conversation. One man asked, "What are you trying to say?" I could not quickly say I believe in Jesus. In Israel, you must go slowly. I told him, "I have never studied in a yeshiva. I came to know the Lord through reading the Bible and praying. I found what most of you will never find even after spending a lifetime studying rabbinic writings. Also, I've never boycotted the word of God as you are doing."
One yelled, "We have never boycotted the Bible!" Then I read to them Isaiah 53, I asked, "Why is this chapter never read in the synagogue? It is part of the Bible and was written by the Holy Spirit of God." As soon as I said that, another man said, "Now I know who you are. I would tell them, but I do not want to cause you trouble." I responded, "I will be happy if you tell them. I'm not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." I then said in a strong voice, "I believe in Yeshua, Jesus Christ." No one made any derogatory remarks and just then I was called into the doctor's office. I was grateful to the Lord for the opportunities I had that day. All of those who were in the waiting room have problems with their physical health as I do, but they have a more serious problem than mine. They are spiritually dead. Please pray that what they heard in the doctor's office will drive them to their knees before the great physician and that they will recognize and accept him as the Messiah and Savior.
Steve Conover: It was great having you with us today. Remember, The Outpouring by Elwood McQuaid is the commentary on the book of John we are featuring this week. To order your copy, call our listener line at (888) 343-6940. That's (888) 343-6940. You can write to us at FOI Radio PO Box 914 Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio PO Box 914 Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. Or simply visit us on the web at FOIradio.O-R-G. Again, that's FOIradio.org. Our host and teacher is Chris Katulka. Our associate producer and engineer is Tom Gallione. Mike Kellogg read Apples of Gold and our theme music was composed and performed by Jeremy Strong. I'm Steve Conover, executive producer. The many areas of ministries the friends of Israel is involved in around the world would not be possible without the prayers and financial support of partners like you. If you would, prayerfully consider supporting the ministries of The Friends of Israel, you'll find a donate link on our website to learn more about the ways you can support us. Again, FOIradio.org. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. We are a worldwide Christian ministry communicating Biblical truth about Israel and the Messiah while fostering solidarity with the Jewish people.
