Yesterday, the Rosh Pina Project (RPP), whose work in challenging those who support Arab terrorism against Israel I greatly respect, published a blog post called Messianic Jewish “Rabbis”: The New Testament is part of the Torah.
The blog post itself is a very short commentary on the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council’s decisions and self-definition of what it is to be a Rabbi in Messianic Jewish community.
However, what really got my attention occurred in the comments section of that blog post.
I’ve always been a little baffled when Jewish people willingly convert to (Gentile) Christianity, disdain the Torah, the mitzvot, the Shabbat, and the Biblical moadim (festivals) in favor of Christmas, Easter, and the “freedom” to eat ham sandwiches.
OK, I’m being a little snarky here, but remember, I have been married to a Jewish wife for over 30 years (although she hasn’t been “religious” all that time, and even now, her observance isn’t as full as I wish it was), so I have a rather unique perspective on what being Jewish means to her, including her special and precious covenant relationship with Hashem (God).
I don’t know the history or background of most of the people commenting at RPP, but it seems that at least some of them are believing Jews in the vein of “Hebrew Christians,” Jews who attend church along with their Gentile Christian counterparts, adopting the lifestyle and beliefs of the believing “Goyim,” and being Jewish in name and DNA only.
To me (but who am I to talk?), a large part of being a Jew of faith is living a life of Jewish praxis, of lighting the Shabbos candles, davening with a minyan, attending the prayer and Torah services in synagogue on Shabbat, donning a tallit and laying tefillin to pray, and many other things that are inexorably intertwined with observing the Torah mitzvot and living life as a Jew.
Even as I’m writing this, one or more comments responding to the one I made at the aforementioned RPP blog post, are being published, so it’s going to be interesting writing this while commenting there.
I feel like I’m repeating myself in making my points, but to believe the traditional Christian view of Galatians 4 that the Torah is slavery or Hebrews 8:13 that the Torah is obsolete, and thus replaced rather than augmented by the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36) means that God lied to Israel when He gave them the Torah at Sinai and when He promised to redeem Israel as Israel in the New Covenant promises.
I’ve written so much about the New Covenant, why it adds to and augments the Sinai and other covenants God made with Israel, why Israel, that is, the Jewish people, have been and always will be special and unique to God, even among the ekklesia of Jews and Gentiles who worship the God of Israel and bring honor to Yeshua, our Rav and King. I don’t want to write it all down again in a single blog post. It wouldn’t be an essay, it would be a small book (and believe me, I’ve thought of collecting certain of my blog series into a book, but who’d publish it?).
To understand my perspective on the nature of the New Covenant as summarized in a single blog post, read The Jesus Covenant Part 11: Building My Model.
I went through something of a crisis of faith a few years back when I realized that there is nothing whatsoever in the New Covenant language that promises salvation or a place in the world to come to non-Jewish, non-Israel people who believe in Jesus. The fact that Yeshua mentions the New Covenant in his blood in Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, and Luke 22:20 has no apparent connection to Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 at all.
So I spent somewhere around nine months or so complaining in the blogosphere, asking for help from anyone I thought would/should know how to make that connection. Ultimately, I made it myself through a lot of study and investigation. No wonder most Christians just take the “this is the new covenant in my blood” statement and how to interpret it for granted. If you really look at it, the statement is like a castle built on air if you don’t understand how all of the covenants work together. The Church doesn’t teach that part. You have to dig it out for yourself.
Recently, I wrote a blog post that clarified how we non-Jewish disciples do not have a covenant relationship with God at all, but rather, we rely on faith and trust alone to assure us that God’s great mercy and grace allows us to participate in blessings of the New Covenant without being named parties.
But for the Jews, it’s a different matter. Acts 15 makes it clear that our participation in God’s blessings does not require the same rigorous involvement in covenant mitzvot as God requires of the Jewish people and nation. Nothing in the New Covenant language states that it replaces the old.
Paul’s Hagar and Sarah midrash in Galatians 4 challenges the traditional Christian interpretation of Torah as slavery, and my review of D. Thomas Lancaster’s sermon Glory to Glory clarifies the meaning of a previous covenant becoming old and growing ready to disappear. It’s not the conditions and requirements of the Sinai covenant (Torah) that are disappearing, it’s the difference between the Torah being external and internal. In the Messianic Age, Jews will have the Torah written on their hearts; wholly internalized so it’s natural for them to be obedient to God in performance of the mitzvot, thus it will be humanly possible to serve God without sin.
I think I know where the fine folks at RPP are coming from. A month or so ago, I wrote Exploring Reformed Theology: The Fallacy of Covenant Equality Between the Church and Israel. Doing this investigation actually helped me understand why Christians think it’s logical and Biblical to believe that Jesus observing the Torah mitzvot perfectly “fulfilled righteousness,” and thus rendered it unnecessary for Jews to continue to be Torah observant, and eliminates the requirement for the Sinai covenant.
I just happen to believe that interpretation is in error and was ultimately created as a consequence of the ugly divorce that happened between the Gentile novices and their Jewish teachers and mentors within the first century or less after Yeshua’s ascension, and ended up becoming the Christian Church’s two-thousand year old mistake.
I know from a traditional Christian point of view, the continued practice of Rabbinic Judaism for the past nearly twenty centuries, is considered to be the “mistake.” From that point of view, Jews should have abandoned Jewish praxis, if not Jewish identity, and converted to Christianity the way Paul did in Acts 9 (except he didn’t convert, he just changed Ravs and took on a more Judaically enlightened perspective and purpose based on his supernatural revelation).
To my way of reading the Apostolic scriptures, the Jewish disciples of Rav Yeshua did not cease Jewish practice, did not cease the traditional prayers, did not cease offering Korban at the Holy Temple, and did not renounce the Torah.
You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law…
–Acts 21:20 (NASB)
I don’t have the time to pull in all the necessary quotes from the Bible to illustrate my points, which is why I’m peppering this blog post with links to many other of my essays. However, when Paul was falsely accused of “teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs,” the thousands of Yeshua-believing Jews who were all “zealous for the Torah” doubted Paul because of these rumors. Paul had to do something to convince these Jews and their non-Yeshua-believing brothers, that he had never turned away from Torah or Temple and had never taught other Jews in the diaspora to do the same.
Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as planned, but if you follow the progression of trials Paul went through as depicted in Luke’s Book of Acts, you’ll see that Paul never agreed with the false accusations against him. He always maintained his innocence and repeatedly stated that he never committed a crime against Roman law or Torah.
An excellent book describing Paul’s trials is John W. Mauck’s Paul On Trial: The Book Of Acts As A Defense Of Christianity which I reviewed in part in this blog post. Even Christianity Today published an article some years back stating that Paul was not anti-Judaism, and I’ve written a commentary on their viewpoint as well.
Last year, I wrote a response to challenges against the viability of Messianic Judaism as a Judaism, and a couple of years back, I championed the necessity of Messianic Jewish community as a fully-realized Jewish community.
I agreed with Rabbi Stuart Dauermann that the “Jewish people are ‘us’ not ‘them,'” meaning that Messianic Jews are part of the larger community of Jewish people, not “Christians in kippot” who see non-Yeshua believing Jews as something alien and apart.
While I’m throwing in links, let me direct you to the excellent volume compiled by Mark Nanos and Magnus Zetterholm called Paul within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle. There is a growing movement of Jewish and Christian New Testament scholars (and that’s a pretty amazing statement in and of itself) who are re-examining the writings of Paul without peering through traditional interpretive lens of the Church, investigating Paul’s intent and meaning as a Pharisaic Jew rather than a Christian convert.
The results are quite enlightening and, since we depend on Paul for much of our understanding of early “Christian” theology and doctrine, if we reconstruct him back into his Jewish environment and then re-read his letters, we get a very different view of the Apostle to the Gentiles and what he was actually trying to communicate.
Christianity, as we understand it today, was invented by a Gentile majority population within the ancient and short-lived Jewish religious stream of Yeshua believers once called “the Way”. Christianity had to occur in order for these Gentiles to “divorce” themselves, not only from their Jewish teachers, but from the wholly Jewish and Israel oriented message of the Messiah, re-interpreting the ancient Jewish writings to say what they were never intended to say. Only two-thousand years of Christian dogma make it seem as if replacement or fulfillment theology is at all reasonable, let alone Biblical.
The “good news” of Yeshua has always been about the coming of the New Covenant, the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, to restore them, to restore the Temple, to restore the Levitical priesthood (start reading at Jeremiah 31 and go forward through the subsequent chapters…it’s all there). It’s always been about good news for Israel first, and then because of that, also good news for the people of the nations, that is, the rest of us.
But if Jewish people, Jewish praxis, Jewish covenant connection with God, and Judaism as a lifestyle and expression of the covenants goes away and is replaced by Gentile Christianity and a Gentile Jesus, not only does Israel’s “good news” go up in a puff of smoke, so does ours. Gentile salvation and reconciliation to God only happens because of Israel’s covenants with God. If you replace them, then you drive the Jews away from God for all time and you destroy any hope the rest of the world has, because we depend on Israel’s covenant linkage to God to metaphorically link us (graft us in), too.
I’m sorry. I know there are many good and faithful Hebrew Christians in the Church and they really do believe the Torah is not only obsolete, but actually an error. It’s incredibly sad, because a Jew is the only person who is born into a covenant relationship with God, whether he or she wants to be or not. For them to be erroneously taught that their unique identity and relationship with God through the Sinai and other covenants, including the New Covenant, has been done away with, is to cause them to stumble in that relationship with Hashem and with Messiah.
It was this sort of Christian eisegesis that finally resulted in me leaving the Church.
In John 4:22, Yeshua famously said that “salvation comes from the Jews” and he wasn’t kidding. If the Church got her wish and converted 100% of the worldwide Jewish population to Gentile Christianity causing them to abandon the mitzvot and the covenants, we would not only be risking Israel’s future but our own.
The Jewish people have been living out their covenantal lifestyle against the constant threat of genocide for thousands of years. Don’t let conversion and assimilation finish what Haman and Hitler started. There is another way, a better way for a Jew to accept the revelation of Yeshua as Rav and Messiah. That way is to accept Jewish devotion to Yeshua and worship of the God of Israel as a Judaism, not Christianity.
No, we non-Jews don’t exactly practice “Judaism,” even when we accept the Jewishness of Yeshua-faith, but we do recognize that Jewish people do have that obligation, even as we come alongside of them in the ekklesia. If you are a non-Jewish Christian, then it is your duty to support observance of the mitzvot among the Jewish disciples of Yeshua. If you are a Jewish disciple in the manner of the Hebrew Christians, at least consider idea that your connectedness to God is much more than what you’ve been taught, that you are more unique and precious to God as a Jew than the Church will ever be willing to admit.
If nothing else, right before the sun goes down this coming Friday evening, say the blessings and light the candles to welcome Shabbos into your home as a Jew. Judaism isn’t an all or nothing religion. It happens one mitzvah at a time. Turn your heart back to the Torah and thus back to God, and He will certainly turn His heart to you.
Morning Meditations 
Wow! Reading your posts is like meeting the long-lost friend I’ve been searching for over the last few years, I’ve come to almost the exact same positions as you, even though I don’t expect to leave my Reformed tradition church, I’m finding more and more points of friction between my beliefs and those in my church. In fact, as I’ve dug further into Reformed Theology, I’m convinced that Covenant Theology is actually Covenant Theft.
I wrote a paper to highlight why I believe there are scriptural problems with the Westminster Confession of Faith, specifically through the lens of the Temple. I’d love your thoughts on it, if you get a chance: http://covenanttheft.com/2016/01/23/temple-discontinuity-in-the-westminster-confession-of-faith/
Greetings pkananen (I assume that’s P. Kananen).
Thanks for your kind comments. I don’t normally allow links to be posted by first time commenters or people I don’t know a little bit better than you, but I’m willing to make an exception (Sorry…the Internet is like the Wild West and there’s no Marshall Dillon in sight). I visited your blog and it seems to be quite new to the blogosphere. Given what I understand of your perspective, I can only imagine there must be at least a little dissonance between your beliefs and your continued community within the Reformed church. On the other hand, you could be a witness to those who are interested, in a more Judaic perspective on the Apostolic scriptures and why the “good news” is especially good news to Israel and the Jewish people.
The primary difficulty for Christians and the Torah is the idea of Pharisaism…as if Yeshua was not a Pharisee of the Hillel School, as opposed to the legalistic, tradition focused and gentile-averse Pharisees of the School of Shammai. So much is said in the Gospels that put Pharisees into a bad light, that every Pharisee is assumed to be a legalistic Talmudist, walking after their own traditions, and not the Covenants between G-d and His people, the Israelites. They do not see that Yeshua kept some of the traditions of the Elders within Judaism, and objected primarily to the traditions having more value and credence to the Shammaite and even some Hillelite Pharisees than the commandments of YHVH.
Christians see themselves as non-Pharisees, and yet somehow also Israelites, which no goyim can be. He either converts and becomes a Jew/Israelite; clings to the Messianic Jews, and adopts their praxis bit by bit though they may never convert; or he remains of the nations, and steals the ideas and promises from the Israelites as a Christian with no remnant of Judaism within their thought or praxis. They take the New Covenant as a covenant made only for those who are adherents of the Western Ideas of Jesus Christ…who is not always the Yeshua haMashiach that he began and ended his life as.
I understand the heart-cry of the gentiles to be Israelites, because they want the promises so badly…they just think they need not even consider what G-d has truly asked of those who would be His children…to be obedient to what G-d has asked of the Israelites in the original gift of the Mosaic Covenant, and do not realize that what they are doing is throwing the commandments of G-d back into His face, and expecting to be praised for it because of their love for Christ Jesus as seen through the last 1900 years of Christian revisionism.
I do not yet keep all of the commandments within the covenants, old or newer, nor do I expect to…it is very difficult to add on mitzvot in total isolation amongst a sea of gentile Christians at the last quarter of one’s life, and yet, I do add them on a little better week by week, not because I ever wished to convert to Messianic Judaism, but because I believe I already have done so in my heart, without even realizing it. The Ruach haKodesh has made changes in me that I did not expect, and did not want when I began my journey towards G-d 53 years ago when I first learned of Yeshua.
I am an isolated Believer in Yeshua, with no Believing community to support me, and thus it is so for all of us that look deeper than the parroted beliefs of the various Christian communities that outnumber and overwhelm the few Messianic Jews that struggle to keep their inheritance in Israel, and at the same time accept the teachings of their Rav Yeshua. It appears that I will be a Ger Tsaddik in time, as I am Talmid Yeshua, and I am content with that, and so it seems is the Ruach haKodesh within me. However, my friends within Christendom are eyeing me warily, as if my following the promptings of the Ruach haKodesh is contagious, dangerous, and must be fought against by them.
I do not love them the less, for they are true Believers in Yeshua’s saving grace, if somewhat confused about their rights under a covenant that does not pertain to them. They do have the Ruach haKodesh working with them, however, I find it very difficult to have a decent conversation with these Christians without running up against a line that seems to have been drawn in the sand between us, where one side adheres to the validity of the Covenant of G-d, and the other side adheres to a false belief that that the Covenants between G-d and Israel have been subsumed in the ‘New’ covenant which is in the possession of the Christian Believers alone.
I think the Holy Spirit sustains a true believer who walks in humility and integrity with his or her G-d! Micah 6:8. As a young man I spent some years in Israel as a kibbutz mitnadev and I worked down in Eilat. Fellowship was scarce in those days, weird teachings and practices were plentiful; but the point is that the Ruakh haKodesh can protect us and can lead us to other believers..
Although I agree with some of your points- there are some misconceptions about Jewishness by Christians that I view on both sides to be in part truth and in part misconceptions.
One is never “grafted in” to Israel, although some were grafted in as sons of Abraham through the covenant of circumcision and faith in the God of Abraham- after all- not all Semetic peoples have entered into Abraham’s covenant (to be fair).
Israel explicitly means “wrestles with God” and Christians (albeit few and far between) should never “wrestle with God”.
The scriptures of the New Testament strictly call those in covenant with Christ as being sons of God or sons of Abraham, but never sons of Israel- or Jacob.
As far as the matter of Phariseeism- which attitude of legalism is often inferred- many Christians exhibit the very characteristics they oppose in them. Jesus, however- opposed those whose hearts were filled with their own sin, while pointing out others.
In the example of the woman caught in adultery- the male adulterer was never exposed at the stoning- at least as far as is written- which would make the stoning unlawful. Because the Pharisees knew how well Jesus seemed to know the law- they asked what was lawful. In writing on the ground- it is humorous to consider that He may have named precisely the accuser who picked up the first stone, as the woman may have threatened to speak to his wife. Now this has no merit in scripture, but would make an interesting ending.
Ultimately, Jesus was the only one capable of casting the first stone and didn’t. He set her free- unlike those who haven’t been merciful enough to grant freedom every six years as ordained by law. If one is incapable of keeping the law themselves- certainly they cannot hold anyone else to it.
On another note- if one doesn’t believe in the whole of the Torah and the prophets- he or she cannot certainly be a partaker of the covenant. If the covenant, the Torah and the prophets all point to the Messiah Christ Jesus- than certainly all who do not believe are not Jewish either.
The predominant issue that Jesus had with the Sanhedrin was that the kingdom of Israel was out of order in general- the Hasmonean Levites were unlawfully assuming the throne of Judah, the Herods of Zarah were unlawfully appointed the throne by the Romans/Benjamites under Zarahite rule and the Babylonian Zarahites and Egyptian Zarahites of Judah were appointed as the High Priests to prevent the Levitical High Priests against speaking out about the many sins of the Herodian Zarahites that would cause them to forfeit the throne of Judah back to the son of Pharez.
These unlawful power plays caused corruption throughout Israel and disdain for the officials refusing to disinherit what wasn’t theirs to begin with. Quite likely why Jesus said “I came not to bring peace, but a sword”- after all, it is written the sword shall never depart from the house of David. If so, then Christ couldn’t bring peace as an heir to David’s throne until the time of the Sabbath rest- the end of 6000 years since creation.
Although the order of priests pertaining to the duties of the temple remained, the hierarchy of the temple failed and could clearly be seen by the temple that was turned into what would be today a shopping mall.
To add some interesting perspective to the finality of the nonsensical theology of the sons of Zarah- I’ve compiled my morning notes for you to ponder.
Genesis 1:1 GOD (Father/Word) created “In the Beginning”
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word & the Word was with God & the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God
Genesis 1:2 Darkness (Satan) was over the face of the ABYSS, but the HOLY SPIRIT moved upon the face of the water
Genesis 1:3 GOD (Father) created LIGHT (Christ Jesus- the Messiah, the Son of the Living God)
Genesis 1:4 and the LIGHT (Christ Jesus- the Messiah, the Son of the Living God) was good (NOT the DARKNESS/SATAN) and so GOD (Father) separated them
Proverbs 17:17 “a brother is born for adversity” 1 Peter 5:8 your adversary the devil, AS a ROARING LION, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour*
Hosea 11:10 They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.**
**Revelation 10:3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voiceRevelation 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?*
The sons of Judah are the lions- the rebellious house of Zarah are the sons of the scarlet beast/scarlet thread kingdom who- like Cain and the other firstborns who lost their inheritance- let envy and wrath cause them to retain the blood red scarlet thread in their bloodlust and the righteous of Zarah have- like Rahab- let down the scarlet chord to spare the servants of Joshua/Yeshua Genesis 1:5 and GOD (Father) called the LIGHT (Christ Jesus- the Messiah, the Son of the Living God) DAY and the DARKNESS (SATAN) He called NIGHT Revelation 16:10 “the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness” 1 Thessalonians 5:5 we are children of the light and children of the day**
Genesis 1:16 the GREATER LIGHT (Sun) to rule the DAY and the LESSER LIGHT (Moon) to rule the NIGHT or “Angel of darkness” also “Masquerading as an angel of light”
for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of lightbecause the moon is said to only be showing light as a reflection of the sun and cannot produce it’s own light- this could be debated, however-
Revelation 12:1 “there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars”who is under “her feet”?
Revelation 12:4 “the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born”Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between thee (dragon/serpent) and the woman (Israel/Rachel/the adulterous woman), and between thy seed and her seed (mankind, Son of Man/Christ Jesus and His followers/children of God/children of the Light); it (Jesus Christ) shall bruise thy head, and thou (Satan) shalt bruise his heelRomans 16:30 “And the God of peace (Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace- Isaiah 9:6) shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”
Revelation 19:17 “angel standing IN the sun” or “Angel of the Light”*
Revelation 8:12 after Christ and the body of Christ is slain, resurrected and ascended a “third part” of the sun and the moon are taken
Genesis 3:21 Jesus Christ is the skinned Lamb that covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness (physical and spiritual) Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them and is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”
Revelation 13:18 “the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation (means “Beginning” and Genesis means “Beginning”) of the world.”Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain as the firstborn of the flock of Abel who- like Christ- was keeper of the sheep (his name means breath/vapor) which also represent the 144,000 firstfruits of Revelation 7-14
**Genesis 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
**James 4:14 (James is the symbol of Abel- the first martyr) Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away ———Important note: God never guarded the way of the Tree of Knowledge, but rather only guarded the way of the Tree of Life. He always gave people a choice to follow His voice or eat from the tree of knowledge. The rebellious house of Zarah has always eaten from the tree of knowledge and refuse to hearken to the voice of the Lord, while the noble ones have rejected the knowledge and “secret doctrines” (mystery) of Babylon “Avodah Zarah” and hearken only to the voice of the True and Living God through His Word (Torah), Prophets and Son Christ Jesus John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.**
Genesis 6:4 actually reads in the correct Hebrew “Nephalim (the fallen ones of Adam- not giants as Nephal means “to fall”) being on earth at that time the same also afterwards (after the flood) that come the sons of God (the firstborn that openeth the womb are the sons of God- Exodus 13:12) to the daughters of man borne unto them- the mighty men that evermore men name- This symbolizes the son of God coming through the daughter of mankind- the Mighty Man Who’s Name endures evermore and whom men will call upon always Psalm 86:12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermorePsalm 113:2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore
Christ Jesus was the High Priest Melchizadeck in Genesis 14:18 “Melchizedek king (city/Jeru in Hebrew) of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.” Jesus brought the bread and wine- the hidden Manna in the wilderness as the Good Shepherd who feeds the flock after the Exodus and the Passover Lamb sacrificed AT Exodus
Matthew 26:26-28 Jesus is the broken bread and wine in the cup
In Genesis 16, Hagar represents the Virgin Mary who obediently submits to an arranged birth- while Hagar also represents the Gentile church who is promised a heritage by the angel of the Lord who met her in the wilderness, but she must return and be obedient. Sarah represents those of Israel who did not wait patiently to produce fruit, but mocked God in secret while the husbandman obeyed. Sarah’s mistreatment of the Egyptian Hagar resulted in Israel’s enslavement in Egypt in the years to come. It was Sarah’s suggestion to Abraham to hearken to his mother’s Amorite side which depended upon concubinism to produce an heir- later enforced by King Hammurabi- and it was Sarah’s mother’s side that was Hittite that caused her idolatry of having a son to ignore hearkening to the voice of God and submitting to His will and the will of her husband. Like Adam- Abraham tasted the forbidden fruit. When Sarah demanded that Ishmael and Hagar be sent away- she hid the Word of God away from them and they returned to the gods of Egypt in the land of Hagar.
In Genesis 22- Isaac symbolized God’s ONLY SON- Christ Jesus- as God Himself declared in Genesis 22:2 “Take now thy son, thine ONLY son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”***We know that Isaac was SECOND BORN just the same as Abel, Jacob, Shem and many others throughout Biblical scripture who received the greater blessing.
In Genesis 22:13- Jesus Christ is the substitute ram caught in the thicket- just as Jesus was in the midst of the garden of Gethsamane “the winepress” sweating drops of blood- He was the Passover Lamb chosen by the illigetimate Zarahite High Priests (synagogue of Satan) of the Sanhedrin (of Freemasons). Christ Jesus is the same male Lamb without blemish or spot in Levitcus 5:15-18 and 6:6; Numbers 7:15-81, 28:7 and 29:2-36 and is the only substitute for the sins of all mankind.
**1 Peter 1:19-20 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, In Genesis 29, Laban is a symbol of God giving Jacob- who symbolizes Christ Jesus- an alternate bride (Leah the hated being the church) who gets a wedding week (Passover 2025-Passover 2032) while Rachel- who represents the unfaithful Israel who robbed her father and deceives her own husbandman by keeping idols hidden from him- gets no wedding week, but rather is given after the hated bride’s week. Rachel- or Israel in this case- gets a year of comfort and mirrors the Israelites victory in accepting and dying for Christ Jesus as martyrs after the release of the Mark of the Antichrist Beast Kingdom (Passover 2032- Passover 2033 on the sea of glass as written in Revelation 15:1-5) This is fulfilled in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.”
In Genesis 30, Joseph symbolizes the birth of Christ which comes after many generations to Rachel (who again represents Israel compared to fruitful Leah- who represents the Gentile church). Joseph “he who increases” was born before Ben-Oni “son of my pain” (symbolic of the Antichrist who slays Israel in the end by the hand of the rebellious house of Zarah, sons of Judah who would not let down the scarlet thread like Rahab) later called Ben-jamin “son of the right hand” (symbolic of Israel’s final acceptance of Christ the Messiah during their forty and two months in the wilderness- Feast of Tabernacles 2028- Passover 2032 where they testify to and are slaughtered by the Zarahite scarlet thread/beast Antichrist Kingdom)
Genesis 31:41- the 7 years extra working for Laban- symbolizes Christ Jesus working to redeem Israel with the addtional testimony of Moses and Elijah for 42 months and the 144,000 Israelite sons that were the first male virgin martyrs of Israel during the first generation of the church following Christ’s ministry (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, Revelation 7 and Revelation 14) for 42 months these 144,000 will be testifying and preparing Israel in the wilderness to testify and become martyrs for Christ Jesus by opposing the rising Antichrist Kingdom headed by the rebellious house of the sons of Zarah after the Mark of the Kingdom is enforced 26 Tevet (or January 1, 2030). They will be concealed in the wilderness until near Passover 2032.
In Genesis 32:24 Jacob wrestles a man which he believes could be an angel. This was Christ Jesus who later renames Jacob Yisrael “wrestles with God” (in the flesh) and later they are renamed after they overcome by their testimony. Israel is later symbollzed by the church of Pergamos “where Satan’s seat is” (Revelation 2:13 is about the Antichrist throne in Jerusalem)
Revelation 2:17 “I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone (as opposed to the stone of Destinoy which is dark), and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
In Genesis 33, Jacob represents Christ Jesus again who is angered by Simeon and Levi who entered into a covenant with worldly men and later slaughtered them- symbolizing Gentiles who stand with Israel, but are later betrayed by the secret assemblies of Simeon and Levi (the Illuminists groups and the Sanhedrin of Freemasons who ordained their groups in Lombardia, Italy). Simeon lost his asset inheritance to Manasseh, while Levi loses land ownership in the land of Israel. Levi becomes a tenancy of priests, while Simeon has land, but must earn his assets.
In Genesis 35 Jacob officially renamed Yisrael “wrestles with God” because Jacob struggles to do what is right in the eyes of God. He still often resorts to his own cunning ways to take what he believes is rightfully his.
In Genesis 37- Joseph is dreaming through the eyes of Christ Jesus the Messiah. He sees 12 sheaves- Himself and 11 sheaves bowing- this symbolizes Christ Jesus the Messiah and the 11 disciples who submitted to Him, but omitting Judah/Judas who betrayed Him. In the second dream- the sun, moon and 11 stars bow to Him- Jacob believes this symbolizes Rachel and Jacob worshipping Joseph also, but Rachel died before the sons of Jacob ever bowed before Joseph in Egypt. This- in fact- symbolizes Christ Jesus and His eleven disciples again:
Psalm 148:3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.Judah/Judas- who betrayed Christ Jesus for the price of a slave- was in the patrilineal line of Zarah along with Caiaphus the High Priest that ordered the slaughter of the Passover Lamb- Christ Jesus. Caiaphus set his heart to slaughter him 4 nights before Passover and had Christ Jesus taken in the night just as the Passover Lamb is selected. God put it in the hearts of man to fulfill His will just as Judah sells Joseph for the price of a slave!
In Genesis 38- Judah leaves Israel- Jacob and his brethren- after selling his own brother. He takes a foreign wife (not of the daughters of Shechem whom his brethren had kept) and bears two wicked sons who are slaughtered by God Himself!
Exodus 22:7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour (Ishmael/Midian/Egypt/Sanhedrin) money or stuff (Joseph/Jesus CHrist) to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s (Israel/Jacob’s/Yahweh’s) house; if the thief (Judah/Judas) be found, let him pay double (two sons- or in Judas’s case- he was hung and spilled out- physically and spiritually condemned)***
Also in Genesis 38- Pharez symbolizes Christ Jesus again- the first COMPLETELY born that doesn’t turn back from His destiny- unlike Zarah who forfeited his right by withdrawing his red hand like Esau forfeited his firstborn right. Pharez also symbolizes the second born which often wins the right of the firstborn- like Shem, Abel, Ephraim, Jacob, Isaac, etc.
In Genesis 39- Joseph symbolizes Christ Jesus who is falsely persecuted and charged by the unfaithful wife of Joseph’s master- just like Christ Jesus was betrayed by the unfaithful of Judah.
In Genesis 40- Joseph symbolizes Christ Jesus condemning the baker- the one with the leaven of the Pharisees- and the raising up of the one who pours the wine (symbolic of martyrs). Pharaoh symbolizes God- whom Joseph (symbolic of Christ Jesus) ends up being at the right hand of and given a Gentile bride. The “third day” which is Pharaoh’s birthday- symbolizes the feast on the third day (after 2000 years since the departure of Christ in 2033) in which he prepares a feast for all of his servants. This is when the bread maker- the Pharisees- are destroyed- between 1 Sivan and Pentecost 2033.
In Genesis 41- Joseph represents Christ Jesus who appoints seven years of plenty for the Gentile church, while Israel is the one who humbles themselves during seven years of (physical and spiritual) famine during the seven chapters of Revelation 8:1-15:1 or (initially Cheshvan 2024) Passover 2025- the arrival of Moses and Elijah- until Passover 2032- the resurrection of the repentant of Israel to the Sea of Glass and the inheritance of their new name and new stone.
Nehemiah 3:1- The Sheep’s Gate is a Gentile gate of the sheep that hear the Shepherd’s voice John 10:11-14 “I AM the Good Shepherd” it was “I AM” that lead the people out of Egypt Exodus 3:14 “I AM THAT I AM” & also Exodus 6:6-8
Nehemiah 3:3- The Fish Gate is also a Gentile gate of the many fish that the disciples caught
Matthew 4:19 “Follow me (Christ Jesus the Messiah), and I will make you fishers of men.”John 21:11 “Simon (means hearing) Peter (means stone) went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three”
(according to World Writing Systems, there are 293 known writing systems, but only 156 are living scripts- 3 are likely to be declared useless to God- those of the unrepentant of Shem, Ham & Japheth)
Nehemiah 8 Feast of Tabernacles is restored AFTER the temple (spiritual- not physical) is rebuilt Revelation 21:3 “the tabernacle of God is with men”Peter was showing Jesus Christ the buildings of the Temple in Matthew 24 when Jesus said Matthew 24:2 “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”He was talking about Peter and ALL disciples of Christ1 Peter 3:2 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Nehemiah 10- Levite Priests sign the covenant “sealed scroll” which is the same “seal/scroll/flying roll” eaten by Ezekiel and John on Patmos in Ezekiel 2:9-3:3 and Revelation 10:2-10 written “written within and without” just as the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of Noah and the Ark of Moses were “sealed with” gold, pitch and slime “within and without” (Exodus 25:11, Genesis 6:14 & Exodus 2:3)
The 24 Levite Priests ordained by David in 1 Chronicles 24 are the 24 Elders that went in when the door was opened in heaven March 23, 2023- 1 Nissan.
Revelation 4:1-4In Revelation 5:5-6 Christ Jesus is revealed as the Lion of Judah, the Lamb slain and the root of David confirmed also as the “offspring of David” in Revelation 22:16
With regards to Jewishness (Israeli heritage in general) – it is often said that if one doesn’t keep the law- that one is not Jewish- however, if one does not accept the Messiah spoken of from Genesis to Malachi- one certainly lives in denial of the Torah itself and most certainly isn’t of the heritage of Abraham- by blood or by covenant. For it is much easier for an Israelite to be cut off by denying the Torah than it is for a Gentile to be grafted into the covenant of Abraham through obedience and faith in the promise thereof.
“There is another way, a better way for a Jew to accept the revelation of Yeshua as Rav and Messiah. That way is to accept Jewish devotion to Yeshua and worship of the God of Israel as a Judaism, not Christianity.”
The bottom line (and I have numbers to back it up, not to mention personal experience and years of observation) is that Jewish-born individuals who become Jesus/Yeshua-worshipers (and especially their children) assimilate away from the Jewish community regardless of whether they practice the “Jewish devotion of Yeshua” (i.e. “Messianic Judaism”) or prefer (as most do) to attend mainstream Christian churches. To worship Jesus as god or to see him in any special way as he is viewed within Christianity, is what, it appears, sets them up for this eventuality, because it alienates them from the Jewish fold.
Participation in Messianic Judaism, however, at least for some in the first generation who keep up the questioning that led them out of mainstream Evangelicalism in the first place, does provide an opportunity to eventually exit Christianity for good. This is why I believe that “Messianic Judaism” does have some positive role to play, ironically. And if their children of former MJ’s are young enough, as I was fortunate to have, the children will smoothly transition into the mainstream Jewish community with little to no memory of their previous experience in Christianity. (Some if not most children may have to undergo conversion, since most wives of MJs – even among top leadership – are not Jewish, and will also have to convert if they wish to join the Jewish community alongside their husbands as full members).
James as I sit here on “Good Friday” reading this, I’ve been quite moved to tears. I’ve been attending a church, more out of support for my wife and kids then myself. For years, more then 20 or so, I’ve had total disconnect w/ traditional Christian theology. The dissonance is glaring. As a result of questioning things, including Gentiles NOT being included in the Jer.31 promise, I’ve been called an enemy of the Church on two occasions, and even had my faith called into question by my own wife. It is so hard for people to accept that Jewish people are born into a covenant w/ HaShem, and not Gentiles. Your writtings help me put what I believe into words, that enables me to explain it others, in a more respectful way. Thanks!
Wow, just want to repeat your saying: “In John 4:22, Yeshua famously said that “salvation comes from the Jews” and he wasn’t kidding. If the Church got her wish and converted 100% of the worldwide Jewish population to Gentile Christianity causing them to abandon the mitzvot and the covenants, we would not only be risking Israel’s future but our own.” So true, something very important.
@pkananen: “Covenant Theology is actually Covenant Theft.” It is because they don’t see the picture since Judaism was wiped out. And not only that, it seems that 2000 years of Christianity was completely separated from jewishkeit by purpose. God’s purpose. Judaism however is the father to whom the christian child can be fit back into. Not the other way around, christianity cannot adopt judaism, but judaism can adopt christianity and also their so called covenant (of grace). Then they did not steal it, but they borrow it.
@Gene: I spent the day with one of my sons helping him clean his house getting it ready for sale. He said he’s been thinking about attending congregation again. He’s going through a tough time and a woman he knows, a Mormon, has been a good listener for him. For a cold minute, I thought he might be considering the Mormon church, so I asked him. He said to my relief, that he’s been considering going back to synagogue. He also said he doesn’t believe in Christianity.
You might find this hard to believe, but I’d rather he go to synagogue than a church at this point. I told him I’d be delighted if at least one of my Jewish children became observant.
No, I haven’t lost my faith and it’s not like I don’t want him to come to a Jewish faith in Yeshua, but Gentile Christianity has been the chief architect historically in the attempt to destroy the Jewish people through conversion and assimilation (and often, by stronger means), and enough is enough. I know that there are only a tiny minority of halachically Jewish people who share their devotion to Yeshua in a truly lived Jewish community, but it’s that Jewish community that’s my vision of what the future will be like.
For now however, if my wife and any of my children choose normative Jewish observance, I am definitely in support of that.
@Tony: I know what it’s like to be at odds with one’s wife over religion and believe me, it’s not an easy road. It’s tough to stick to your convictions when it flies in the face of what your family believes. There are a lot of conversations I don’t have with my wife to keep peace in the family. I suppose it’s one of the reasons I have this blog. There are just too few people in my face-to-face life I can talk to about all this.
@Jos: Thanks.
What is the difference between a Messianic Jew and a Messianic Gentile?
A Messianic Jew is Jewish and has a very specifically Jewish understanding of Yeshua as Messiah, while a Messianic Gentile is not a Jew but shares that same perspective on Yeshua.
Do Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles worship Jesus like Christians?
I really appreciate you explaining the concepts. I struggled with the “Messianic Jew” title when the majority of Messianic Jews follow Trinitarian Christian homoousios principles. It’s really clear now. Messianic Judaismas is another Christian denomination.
Spotlight said:
If you mean, are Messianic Jewish religious services like Christian services, the answer is “no”. In a Messianic Jewish synagogue, as I ideally envision it, the worship service should be almost indistinguishable from a normative synagogue service with just some additional mention of Yeshua.
An understanding of Messianic Judaism is to grasp the concept within a fully Jewish context.
Indeed. And if one doubts that the scandal of asymmetry has been softened somewhat in the New Covenant he is a very poor reader of Paul. First of all salvation only becomes a possibility for the Gentile in the Messianic age. And even if a Gentile can enjoy some measure of reconcilation with God, he will remain anamolous by dint of being unnaturally grafted into a Jewish olive tree. He is something of a prodigy inasmuch as that tree is not and can never be his own. His natural provenance is of the wilderness; an uncultivated tree which is alien to the shekinah glory, the temple service, the promises and even Messiah himself. Furthermore, Paul maintains that in the New Covenant a rather lukewarm Jew still enjoys tremendous advantages over Gentile believers, even those who are a law unto themselves through their righteous deeds.
Does the scandal of particularity equate to an invincible otherness in Gentile Christians? Perhaps not. But I will say this: If we Gentiles have been brought near by the blood of Christ, the divine largesse does not equate to a parity of affection. Indeed, the salvation of the nations is merely instrumental to God’s loving purposes for those who, without any qualification, are his true people. “And in this way shall all Israel be saved.” Will God save all Gentiles? He might, although this is a matter of wish fulfillment fueled by a weak-kneed distaste for the terrifying reality of eternal punishment. But that’s irrelevant. This promise has not been given us. It is exclusive to the house of Israel.