To some, the concept of a Jew believing in Jesus (Yeshua) seems to be a contradiction. The reason is, many people have a dichotomy set up in their minds. On the one hand, you have Jews and Judaism and on the other hand, Christians and Christianity.
You are either one or the other...so the thinking goes.
This simple dichotomy is in reality not so simple. If we go back 2000 years we find that Yeshua was a Jew living in a Jewish land among Jewish people. All the Apostles were Jewish as well as the writers of the New Covenant and for many years this faith in Yeshua was strictly a Jewish one.
From the Book of Acts and other historical evidence, many believe that in the first century there were literally hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews. In addition, there were Messianic Synagogues scattered throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. These first-century Messianic Jews remained highly loyal to their land and their people.
Whether it was Jewish to believe in Yeshua was never an issue. Of course it was Jewish! What else could it be? The big question back then was whether Yeshua had been sent for the Gentiles also. When G-d miraculously showed the Messianic Jews that He was the Messiah for both Jew and Gentile alike, then Gentiles from every nation began to pour into this Jewish faith.
Through the years, as the numbers of Gentile believers increased, they began to predominate in this Messianic faith. With the passing of the Jewish apostles and the early Messianic Jews, the Jewish roots of the faith were eventually trampled on, and lost.
This "De-Judaizing" process continued until in one of the greatest paradoxes in history, it became alien for a Jewish person to believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as his or her Messiah!
The Real Issue
Today we are seeking to put the Messiah back within His Biblical Jewish context. Messianic Judaism is a spiritual renaissance, a revival and a return to the "Faith" of the Messianic Jews had in the first century. It is a real return to a pure and simple faith based upon having a living, vibrant and personal relationship with the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through the person of Messiah Yeshua.
The real issue we must recognize is not whether it is Jewish to believe in Yeshua (Jesus), because the Jewishness of Yeshua is unquestionable historically. The real issue at stake here is whether Yeshua is truly the Messiah or not! If he is, then it is the most Jewish thing in the world to believe in Him. If He is not the Messiah, then we should not follow Him.
There is only one way to find out and that is to go back into the Jewish Scriptures ourselves and study the Messianic prophecies. According to the Jewish Scriptures, the Messiah was to come twice: the first time to suffer and die for our sins. The second time to usher in the Messianic era of peace upon the earth.
Why did the Messiah have to die?
The Jewish prophet Isaiah answered this question when he said, "All we like Sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And the L-rd has laid upon Him the sin of us all." (Isaiah 53:5)
Without G-d there is no hope for mankind.
It is obvious that man is separated
from G-d when we view the ever-worsening situation in the world today. That is really why He sent Yeshua, the Messiah,
who came to deliver us from our sins and to bring us into a new life in Him.
For tens of thousands of us today, we know that we have found the Messiah who said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah (Law) and the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)
To "abolish" was a first century idiomatic term meaning, "to take away from." No, Yeshua came to "fulfill" the Torah (Law) meaning, "to give the right understanding, thereby establishing it."
We would really like to encourage you to read and study the Jewish Scriptures for yourself. Find out if Jesus (Yeshua) is truly the One of whom the Prophets spoke. Before you research the Scriptures, pray and ask the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to guide you and to show you His TRUTH, Shalom.
Father, I ask you to help all who
will turn (repent of there sins) to You, and ask You for Your truth about who Jesus is. May they have there eyes
and ears opened by You. May they come to know it really is Jewish to believe in Jesus (Yeshua), as the Messiah
of Israel, and that Elohim wants us to make peace (shalom) with Him. Amen.
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