It is my prayer for Jewish people to not "convert" to Christianity, but to embrace the True Messiah for the remission of sin. Yeshua did not set out to start a new religion, He came to reveal God's redemption for His people. Many of the first believers retained their Jewish identity, only recognizing the sacrifices offered at the Temple were a foreshadow of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God and no longer necessary. In fact, God took the Temple away for this reason.
The Jewish scriptures, the Tanakh, clearly speak about a future golden age in which God will restore the fortunes of Israel and the earth will revert to a Garden of Eden like state. Isaiah 65:17-25 speaks of a time when Israel shall experience peace and prosperity where even the most ferocious animals will be tame herbivores, just as they were before the fall of man. This golden age is referred to as the Messianic age. Ezekiel 37 speaks of a time when Israel will be reborn, the 12 tribes regathered into the land and united as one nation, and God will dwell among them. Ezekiel 37:26-28 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” Two very important key statements appear in this passage: "I will make a covenant of peace with them" and "My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God"
Jesus, obviously, did not usher in this golden Messianic Age. Clearly His followers expected Him to and were quite perplexed when Jesus began to talk about going away. In fact, Jesus' followers cowered in fear after the crucifixion. Judas, so disheartened by the realization he had bet on the wrong horse, first betrayed his master, and then regretting his decision, took his own life. Following this, something changed, causing the remaining 11 to not only proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, but emboldened them to stand by this belief through torture and death. What changed?
Throughout every Biblical age, from the Garden of Eden to the destruction of the Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar, God gave clear instruction as to His expectations, warned of the consequences for failure and made restoration once repentance was established. God never left His people without a witness or a method of reconciliation. Every covenant was contingent on man's ability to obey God's commands. Every covenant, until the one introduced in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, a future covenant, of which God says, Jeremiah 31:31-33 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. God tells His people there will be a New Covenant and it will be unlike the Old Covenant.
In the Garden of Eden, the covenant God made with Adam required Adam's obedience. When Adam failed, sacrifice was made to cover Adam. God warned Adam failure would result in death. The institution of substitutionary sacrifice was established to restore mankind to fellowship with God.
At the time of the flood, God warned mankind through Enoch, who prophesied judgement, and through Noah, the preacher of righteousness. Mankind failed to heed the warning and destruction came. God restored mankind on the earth through Noah. When Noah exited the ark, sacrifice was made and restoration took place.
Following the Great Flood, God told man to spread out upon the earth. Man ignored God's command by establishing a city and building a tower of defiance. God confused the languages and drove man apart. God then brought restoration through the bloodline of Abraham, establishing a people through whom He could reveal Himself to mankind.
Out of the bloodline of Abraham, God brought forth the nation of Israel and Moses the Lawgiver. Through Moses, God established a covenant with Israel. Israel violated these instructions. Tabernacle worship and sacrifice was established. God sent Judges to lead Israel to repentance and freedom from the consequences of rebellion. Then came the time of the kings.
During the time of kings, God sent prophet after prophet to warn the people to repent. God warned of dire consequences for rebellious behavior. The people refused to heed God's warning and disaster struck the nation. Even after the Temple was destroyed and the city conquered, God brought restoration.
In all these scenarios, God gave warning, followed through on his threats and provided a means of restoration.
In 70 AD, Rome sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple. Where was the prophetic warning? What did God prescribe to avoid this tragedy? Now, almost 2000 years later, what form of restoration has God offered?
If God is true to Himself and truly loves the Jewish people as He claims, the destruction of Jerusalem could not have simply happened inadvertently, without warning or means to avert. What prophet did God send? Was there a message?
If God provided no specific warning to Israel prior to 70 AD, then He lied to the nation when He spoke through the prophet Amos.
Amos 3:6-7 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
God did, indeed send a prophet. John the Baptist came preaching, "repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." John warned the religious leaders who represented the people to prepare for the coming Messiah.
Messiah did, indeed, come and He offered the Kingdom. The first chapters of Matthew's Gospel reveal Jesus offering the kingdom to Israel. It is only after Jesus is rejected, via representation, we see Jesus change the message and begin to expand His ministry beyond Israel. At first, Jesus taught what we call the beatitudes, the rules for living in the Kingdom. The religious leaders (priests) were established, by God, to represent the people before God. The High Priest, specifically chosen by God to represent the people, rejected Jesus' message, in effect, leading to a national rejection.
God gives another warning through the prophet Amos, indicating the Messianic Age coming only after great tribulation: Amos 5:18-20 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?
Every Israelite knew the Day of YHWH was the beginning of the Messianic Age. Through Amos, God revealed the Day of YHWH would not be a pleasant time for Israel.
Many today reject Jesus as Messiah because He did not usher in the Messianic Age. Rabbinic Judaism continues to look for Messiah and modern day Jewish leaders state it will be easy to know when Messiah is here because He will fulfill the prophecies calling for the restoration of Israel and the destruction and/or subjugation of her enemies.
What many in the Jewish community fail to realize is Bible prophecy reveals a two fold ministry for Messiah. Isaiah 53 refers to Messiah as a suffering servant who suffers death for the sins of the people. The Talmud, the Septuagint version and the Aramaic translation found among the Dead Sea Scrolls all attest to Isaiah 53 referring to a specific man, not the nation of Israel, as purported by modern Rabbinic thought.
Many ancient Rabbis and Jewish scholars could not reconcile passages of scripture attributed to Messiah portraying Him as suffering and dying and conquering and reigning. Because of this supposed conflict, the two Messiahs theory was born. On Messiah would suffer for the sins of the people, as described in Isaiah 53. This Messiah, it was believed, would be descended from the Patriarch Joseph through Ephraim, thus the title Messiah Ben Joseph. The second Messiah, believed to be descended from Judah through David was referred to as Messiah Ben David.
God did a neat little trick, assigning Jesus' adopted father duties to a man named Joseph. Jesus, in his true lineage, descended from Judah through David, on His mother Miriam's side and humanly speaking Jesus was, through adoption, the son of Joseph. Jesus fulfills both roles of suffering servant and reigning king and can rightfully be called both Ben Joseph and Ben David. Ben Joseph through adoption and Ben David through lineage.
The most important question you will ever have to answer is, "Who is Jesus?" How you answer this one simple question will govern your whole life and beyond. The matter of whether or not He lived is not worth debating as only the most intellectually dishonest among us will attempt this argument. The question of His identity, however, has been debated and redefined for 2000 years, yet His followers continue to change the world.
Sadly, many evil men have done monstrously evil things in the name of Jesus. Today, evil men continue to do Satan's work disguised as Christianity. Satan has been misrepresenting the truth of God since the Garden of Eden.
The Torah and he Tanakh all point to the coming Age of Messiah. I have written previously, how God has revealed in Psalm 60 how Israel will call out to Jesus in the Great Tribulation ushering in the Messianic Age
My prayer for you today is, if you are Jewish, you will consider these things and understand, Jesus never set out to establish a new religion. Jesus' mission was and is to set His people free from sin.
My prayer for you today is, if you are a follower of Jesus, you would represent the Messiah well and be burdened for the nation of Israel as the Apostle Paul who wrote: Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Now, go live as Christ... and give the devil hell!!
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