Return to Jerusalem
by Asher Intrater
Jerusalem
August 22, 2006

We believe in the strategic revelation for the end times, called by some "Road to Jerusalem" and others "Back to Jerusalem." This has particular significance for our brothers and sisters in the Far East and Asia, but is a matter of prayer for all of us.

God wants the gospel preached in all places at all times (Mark 16:15). However, there is also a certain directional plan that stretches over the centuries. That "wave" generally flows westward. When God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden, they went eastward. When Abraham responded to God's call, he returned westward to the land of Canaan. Judah was exiled to Babylon at the time of Jehoiachin, and then restored to Israel, starting with Zerubabbel.

[Note: The return to Jerusalem represents the biblical hope for mankind to return to the Garden of Eden.]

Yeshua (Jesus) told His disciples to be His witnesses from "Jerusalem, Judah and Samaria, and unto all the ends of the earth"- Acts 1:8. The gospel spread out in all directions. When Saul (Paul) traveled north into Syria and Turkey, he planned to turn eastward toward Asia. However the Holy Spirit forbid him from doing so (Acts 16:6-7). Instead the Holy Spirit instructed him to travel to Greece (Acts 16:9-10) and later to Rome (Acts 23:11).

Over the years the gospel moved across Europe westward and eventually to North and South America. Revival started on the US East coast in the 18th century and hit the West coast in the Pentecostal revivals at the turn of the 20th century. From there the gospel moved across the Pacific to Asia, particularly to South Korea in the late 1900's. Today the gospel is spreading miraculously in such places as India, Africa, and China.

Since the world is round, this continuing direction will bring the gospel eventually back to where it started, and that is to Israel. It is as if the gospel is being reversed through the book of Acts, from chapter 28 to chapter 1, from "the ends of the earth" back to "Samaria, Judea, and Jerusalem." At the end, instead of Yeshua going up to heaven from the Mount of Olives, He will come back down from heaven to the Mount of Olives "in the same manner"(Acts 1:11).

One of the exciting aspects of this world evangelism strategy is the current revivals across Asia and Africa. The next major paradigm shift will be for the gospel to go out of these "non-White" nations into the Muslim and Arab nations. After that, there is only one destination left, and that is to Israel.

The reason that the gospel has to return to Jerusalem is that Yeshua is going to return here. The 2,000 year period of evangelism has a goal, an end, a purpose. That goal is the Second Coming of Yeshua and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

When the gospel of the kingdom is preached over the whole world (Matthew 24:14) and when the Jews in Jerusalem receive Yeshua as King and Messiah (Matthew 23:37-39), that end will come. This strategic vision has the following five steps:

In order for us to agree on this "Gospel of the Kingdom" strategy, the Messianic Jewish community must receive a vision for revival in the "Third World" and for evangelism to the Muslim bloc; and the Christians in Asia and Africa must receive a vision for the restoration of Israel and the Second Coming of Yeshua to Jerusalem.