Volume 21, Number 1
Winter/Spring 2022
Remembering Robin Aviel Hopper, February 14, 1946 - January 17, 2022 It is with profound sorrow and regret that I must announce the passing of my close friend, dear brother, and humble co-laborer in this ministry Robin Aviel Hopper. I first met Robin over a decade ago when he married Sue Legrand, both of whom went with me on seven Gospel outreaches to Israel. I can tell you from first hand experience Robin was an effective soldier, evangelist, and faithful servant and brother in the Lord. Robin was a Jewish believer who came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah for salvation at the age of 57. Robin was committed to the advancement of the Gospel to his people in Israel. Never did I have to worry about his effectiveness and commitment to this ministry—it was unquestioned! Robin and Sue attended Shalom, Shalom Congregation every Friday evening—the congregation Zola Levitt and I founded in September of 1999. Our readers will also recall that over the years Robin was a recurring guest columnist for this ministry newsletter, and also filled in from time to time teaching for me at the congregation. Avi was the epitome of a true friend and loving brother in the Lord. I could count on him to be there and to support me in my roughest times in life. Knowing and proclaiming the truth of God’s Word and reaching the lost sheep of the House of Israel with the Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah was paramount in the life of Robin Aviel Hopper. Robin was a veritable man of God, and a faithful friend born for adversity you would want with you in the foxhole (Proverbs 17:17)! The departure of this dear brother is a tremendous loss for me and this ministry. But what is a great loss for the Church here on earth is a great gain for heaven above with the passing of this irreplaceable brother! Robin loved people. He was gregarious and was sought by many in the Church for his wisdom and practical counseling. Brother Robin, like Paul in Romans 9:1-2, had a continual sorrow in his heart for unbelieving Israel. He did something about it. He followed Romans 1:16 to the letter and faithfully brought Yeshua to the Jewish people in Israel and here in Dallas, Texas. Robin boldly looked death in the face during the last week of his life and did not wince or shrink back in fear—for he knew that for the true, born again believer death grants immediate access to heaven and a triumphant entrance into the presence of the Lord (2Corinthians 5:8) and that his immovable trust in the Risen Savior, Who has conquered death for all time, was the only true, effective spiritual weapon against death. Knowing this by faith and fact, Robin passed peacefully from this world of woe to be with His Lord and Messiah Jesus he so passionately loved and served. Avi is now at rest and bliss in the heavenly Father’s house (John
Robin Hopper next to a young Israeli lady he shared the Gospel with in Israel on the 2015 Gospel outreach of this ministry.
14:1-4). Robin was also a deep, American patriot who served his country in the navy during the Vietnam era of the 1960’s. He served most of his tour of duty in the Mediterranean, Spain, and Italy areas. He worked mostly on the ship around aircraft. Although trained as a Navy Seal, Robin was not deployed as such. He spent 6 to 7 months or so in Vietnam—and also trained with the IDF in Israel. Our brother was rightfully very grieved at what he was seeing concerning the moral collapse of this country in our day. It really hurt him. Robin would be on the phone with me and he would weep as he recounted the terrible, ungodly direction this country was going in. Ah, but Robin was a biblically trained disciple who also knew from the rebirth of Israel in 1948 and the decline of America and the West that Messiah Jesus’ coming is nearer than we think and the Rapture of the Church could occur at any moment. Robin leaves a powerful, successful, and godly legacy behind for the Church and his beloved Israel for all to see. Robin believed in leaving a godly legacy for family, church, and humanity. In fact he wrote about the importance of leaving a godly legacy on October 18, 2003.
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About the Author Dr.Todd Baker is president of B’rit Hadashah Ministries and Pastor of Shalom, Shalom Messianic Congregation in Dallas,Texas. He was a chaplain at Medical City Hospital for 16 years.Todd holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biblical studies, a Master of Theology Degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Apologetics from Trinity Seminary under the auspices of Liverpool University at Liverpool, England, is a Fellow of the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism & Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. He is a theological consultant and writer for Zola Levitt Ministries and has appeared on Zola Levitt Presents. With his extensive experience in Jewish evangelism, he has led many Gospel outreaches to Israel. >
Special thanks go out to Zola Levitt Ministries / To The Jew First Ministry for their ongoing funding contributions, helping to make these mission trips to Israel possible. Also special thanks to Rabbi Samuel of Sar El Tours for supplying us with Hebrew Bibles.
The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Matthew 21:33-34) Part 4
“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to husbandmen and went into a far country. Now when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did to them likewise. But last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘they will reverence my son.’ But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘this is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.’ And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those husbandmen? They said to Him, “He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and lease his vineyard to other husbandmen who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone shall be broken. But on whomever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder”
The tower usually occupied a conspicuous and prominent place in the vineyard and was the highest of structures therein. The tenants mainly used the tower for a lookout to survey the entire expanse of the vineyard. The tower obviously speaks of God’s exalted position and protection in and over Israel. The ever-present yet transcendent and exalted Lord was to be supremely acknowledged in all matters of Israel’s national existence. Though God is higher than the highest of the heavens, He condescendingly remained near at hand for the ongoing protection and benefit of His Chosen People. Psalm 138:6 captures well this evident reality. “Though the Lord is high, yet He has respect to the lowly” And again in Isaiah 49:16, God eloquently speaks of His supernal watch and care over all of Israel. “Your walls are continually before Me. Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made waste shall go forth from you.” The facilities that were installed in the vineyard by the owner qualified its useful productivity. The landowner spared no expense in thoroughly outfitting his vineyard so that it might fulfill its fruitful purpose. The hedge, the winepress, and the tower all contributed to the ongoing production of the vineyard. These faint and shadowy figures, of course, point to the heavenly cordials of provision supplied by God for the national prosperity and perpetuity of Israel, the chosen vineyard of the Lord. The Lord promised to water, nurture, and care for Israel His vineyard—to the extent that he would flourish under His abundant care. “I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall grow as the lily, and shoot forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his fragrance as Lebanon” (Hosea 14:5-6). Winter/Spring 2022
After every care of the vineyard had been adequately provided for, the husbandman “leased” his vineyard out to the tenants to cultivate it during his prolonged absence. Instead of annually paying the householder with a proper sum of money, the tenants were required to pay with a certain amount of yielded grapes from the vintage per season. The tenants were given the solemn responsibility of properly caring for the householder’s vineyard. In return for their hard work, they were allowed to live off some of the vintage produced from the vineyard. This important action of transference speaks accurately of God’s sovereign conferral of Israel into the custodial hands of her national leaders, which consisted of two ranks. In the secular rank, the nation was to be governed by the legislative judges, and later the kings of Israel. Prior to entrance into the Holy Land, these judges were taken from the twelve tribes to administer justice throughout Israel. “Judges and officers shall you make in all the gates, which the Lord your God gives you, throughout the tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. If there be a controversy between men and they come to judgment, that the judge may judge, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked” (Deuteronomy 16:18; 25:1). In the religious and spiritual rank, Israel was to be instructed and governed by the divine Law through the leadership and tutelage of the Priests, Scribes and Pharisees (Deuteronomy 10:8; 31:9-13; Matthew 23:2-3). The original Greek for “lease out” connotes an interesting meaning that gives additional flavor to the historical context of the parable as it relates to Israel’s privileges under God. The Greek “lease” is εξεδοτο; it means to let or lease out for one’s advantage. The vineyard
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and its fruits were leased out to the tenants for the express benefit of their agricultural labors. The husbandman would reward them for their completed work. Thus in this transaction, God bestowed His divine kingdom to Israel through her leaders with its blessed entitlements “to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises” (Romans 9:4). The vineyard is temporarily given out on a rental basis. The householder still of course retained full ownership of it. Though God allowed the Jews full access and residential rights to live in the Holy Land, He still claimed the ownership of it as their sovereign King (Leviticus 25:23). Once the act of leasing the vineyard to the hired tenants was completed, the householder is said to have “went into a far country.” He left, no doubt, with the assured confidence that the tenants were quite capable and competent to care and watch over the chosen vineyard. Without his continuous physical presence, we find divine withdrawal accurately confirmed by the Holy Spirit in the biblical narrative of Israel’s early history. “Truly You are a God that hides Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isaiah 45:15). “We” (Israel speaking), “see not our signs. There is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knows how long, O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them” (Psalm 74:9-11). These verses from Holy Writ point out after Israel’s supernatural placement in the land of Canaan by the powerful hand of God, they were strictly required to walk by faith and obedience to the
Law under divinely appointed leaders without the constant, visible supernatural presence of God in His resplendent glory among them. They were required to walk by faith with God, and no longer by sight as had their forefathers did in the wilderness that visibly saw God’s presence every day. Now when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it (verse 34). The time between the householder’s departure from the vineyard and the nearness of the vintage can be considered a period of scheduled waiting to see how the husbandmen would fare in tilling the fruits of the vineyard. Often, when God sheds the abundance of His blessings on the sons of men, there comes a time of evaluative testing to see whether or not the recipient of divine blessing continues to follow and obey the instructions of God and put Him first, instead of the fruitful gain of material increase. Knowing the time of harvest was close at hand, the householder deploys his servants to collect the fruits of the vineyard from the tenants. The servants play a crucial part in revealing the true motive of the tenants as the parable unfolds to us later. They were sent from the householder and therefore the tenants were expected to openly respect and receive them as direct representatives of the householder himself. The meaning of the servants, in this indicting depiction of Israel’s continual apostasy from God clothed in symbolic language, is generally agreed by most Bible commentators to be the noble retinue of the Old Testament prophets. We are in strong agreement with this sound interpretation, but
not because Bible expositors are in general agreement as to the deduced meaning of the “servants” sent by the householder, but primarily because Scripture clearly reveals this to be the only true meaning of the particular identity ascribed to the servants. The two key words in verse 34 “sent” and “servants” disclose why this is so. Our Lord stated that the servants were “sent” by the householder. The prophets were official envoys sent from God to exhort and help prepare Israel to return, obey and faithfully serve God in humble subordination. In fact, from the days of Israel’s exodus down to the time prior to the Messiah’s first advent, the Lord had continually “sent” His “servants” the prophets to the chosen nation. “Since the day that your fathers came out of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them” (Jeremiah 7:25). The above quotation from the Scripture makes it quite obvious that the prophets were both “servants” and “sent” by God to Israel—the vineyard of the Lord (Isaiah 5:7). The Lord Jesus Christ testified of His sending the prophets to Israel when saying, “Behold, I send to you the prophets” (Matthew 23:34). God did not only send the prophets, but they were His faithful servants as well. God spoke to Israel through His faithful servants the prophets. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7; Revelation 10:7; 11:18). The servants of the householder, as with the holy prophets under the authority of God, occupied a higher standing and a more honored position than the husbandmen, or the kings and religious
rulers of Israel. This was simply true because the servants were given authority by the householder to demand fruit from the tenants of the vineyard. The God of Israel sent prophets like Samuel, Nathan, Amos, and Haggai, and many other prophetic servants recorded in Holy Writ to boldly declare to the kings and religious rulers of Israel what God demanded and rightly expected from them as His Chosen People. In Israel’s case, it was the repeated maltreatment and hatred they murderously exhibited toward God’s servants, the holy prophets, which eventually led the leaders of Israel to commit the most terrible crime of all history—the murder of the Son of God! And this is precisely what is meant in the latter part of verse 34. The prophets passionately exhorted the nation of Israel to bring forth to God fruits of a spiritual nature—the fruits of repentance, righteousness, justice, obedience, mercy and humbleness. Indeed the requirements God voiced through the prophets are well summed up in the words of Micah the prophet, saying to Israel: “And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with the Lord” (Micah 6:8). These were the holy fruits God desired from His vineyard Israel. So He sent His servants, the prophets, to demand and receive them. It is only natural to assume that the tenants of the vineyard would respectfully comply and warmly receive the princely emissaries of the absent householder. Ah, but the exact opposite occurs! The following verses of this parable well prove the awful truth of man’s innate depravity and violent opposition toward Almighty God.
Why Did Matthew Write his Gospel Matthew was one of the twelve Jewish apostles of Jesus and was thus a personal eyewitness following the Savior during His three year ministry in Israel. The Jewish texture and tone of Matthew’s Gospel makes it obvious to readers that Matthew wrote his Gospel to a Jewish audience providing apologetic proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. To bolster and reinforce this fact Matthew quotes First Coming Messianic prophecies from the OT that Jesus exclusively fulfilled in His life as the Messiah of Israel. Over 60 times Matthew quotes Old Testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled as the Messiah of the Jewish Bible. This is irrefutable proof Jesus alone fulfilled these prophecies and no other. Out of deep love and a heavy burden for “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” Matthew goes to great length and detail to prove that
by fulfillment of Messianic prophecy Jesus of Nazareth is the One and only promised Messiah prophesied by God to come to the Jewish people in the land of Israel from the region of Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2 with Matthew 4:13-19). As a tax collector for Rome in the land of Judea, Matthew was already expected to write short hand for
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Here is the full quote from Robin on this important matter: “ A good man…leaves an inheritance…(Proverbs 13:22). Each life touches other lives in seen and unseen ways. You don’t necessarily have to know somebody in order to experience the blessings of their legacy. Like walking into an empty room and catching a whiff of somebody’s perfume, your influence can continue long after you are gone. Usually, we don’t like to think about this, because: (1) We associate legacies with dying, and we don’t particularly enjoy thinking about this topic. (2) We assume that since our legacy won’t be revealed for years, we don’t need to start investing now. (3) We feel as if we’ve little or no control over what
we leave behind anyhow. The Bible says “A good man…leaves an inheritance…” So, what will be yours be? More important—what is it going to cost? If you just want to leave material things, that’s easy. Work hard, invest wisely and build your net worth. But since the best gifts are not always handed down in your will, why not leave something more meaningful—something that points to who you were? It is one thing to measure your success by money in your bank account, the size of your estate holdings, or the value of your stock portfolio. It is entirely different to measure it by intangibles like being faithful, a loving spouse, raising godly children, being a spiritual mentor and leaving the lights on when you go! All great legacies come with a price tag. To move beyond mediocrity, you must invest every day in the invisible accounts of those who follow you!” Robin left a spectacular legacy as father, spouse, and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He and his wife Sue would also add that one way to leave a legacy for the kingdom of God is to support ministries like this one—a ministry both Robin and Sue supported with their labor and money. If you would like to emulate and honor God’s departed servant, Robin Hopper, please consider supporting our upcoming 50th Gospel outreach to Israel from March 13 to 25, 2022. I am dedicating this monumental outreach to the godly legacy of Robin Aviel Hopper. Please join with us and support this end-time cause Robin and Sue were so crucially involved in with me. To that
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the Roman authorities; so he could have written what Jesus taught and did as they occurred and later collected them together to make up his Gospel. Matthew’s Gospel is a clear and concise historical record documenting the life and times of Jesus the Messiah from His virgin birth to His Ascension into heaven. Since Jesus is the King Messiah, Matthew naturally wrote with the purpose in mind about matters pertaining to the Messianic kingdom. This is why Matthew’s repeated phrase “the kingdom of heaven” is found 32 times in this book. The Gospel of Matthew is an excellent example how the Christian faith is solidly grounded in biblical Judaism. The roots of Christianity are Jewish through and through, squarely based on the Jewish Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi when Mathew wrote his Gospel. The genealogy of Jesus is given by Matthew to provide the proof Jesus is Jewish and has the required ancestry as the descendant of Abraham and King David Messianic prophecy mandates for being the Messiah (Matthew 1:1-17). It is noteworthy that Mathew is the first Gospel placed in the New Testament Canon. This is no surprise since the Gospel is to go the Jew first (Romans 1:16) and this was the divine order of evangelism Jesus followed and His disciples later followed in the Book of Acts (Matthew 10:5-6; 15:24; Acts 2; Romans 1:16).
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The Gospel of Matthew was probably written before the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. since the prophecies of Jesus about the destruction of the Temple was still spoken in the future tense (Matthew 23:38-39; 24:1-2). Pastor and Bible commentator John MacArthur summarizes the overall purpose for why Matthew wrote his inspired Gospel. MacArthur writes of Matthew: “His purpose is clear: to demonstrate that Jesus is the Jewish nation’s longawaited Messiah. His voluminous quoting of the OT is specifically designed to show the tie between the Messiah of promise and the Christ of history.” If you don’t personally know this marvelous Messiah of Matthew’s Gospel for yourself then take up the offer of Jesus given in Matthew 11:28-30 to all weary and overburdened sinners. In this Messiah Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel you will surely find spiritual satisfaction and permanent rest for your unsatisfied, restless souls.
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end, we need your financial help in bringing the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah back to the place and people from whence it came in these last days. To donate online, you can go to the following secure link on our ministry web site: https://www.brit-hadashah.org/wp/donate/ You can also donate by mail to: Brit Hadashah Ministries
Brit Hadashah Ministries is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit ministry, so your donation is tax deductible in the United States. Now is the accepted time, today is the day and year for the Gospel of salvation to be preached in Israel (2 Corinthians 6:2) Partner with us in this exciting End-Time effort. Your servant in Messiah Jesus,
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Dr. Todd Baker. Page 5
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e-mail: toddbus@yahoo.com In This Issue Remembering Robin Aviel Hopper ...................... 1 The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen Part 4... 2 Why Did Matthew Write his Gospel........................ 3
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