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There is some shifting going on in today’s Messianic world as it concerns the unity that Jewish and non-Jewish Believers are to experience in Messiah Yeshua, and whether or not non-Jewish Believers are really called to obey God’s Torah. Much of this controversy is not based in an objective, historically conscious reading of the Scriptures—but instead in shifting ministerial alliances and religious politicking. The answer is not going to be found in evaluating who-said-what, but will be found in going to the Biblical text and in accurately evaluating what the trajectory of God’s Word is. Around two decades after the ascension of Yeshua into Heaven, the message of salvation began being spread to the Mediterranean world outside the Land of Israel, and many from the nations eagerly embraced it. Was this just a bi-product of the message going to the Jewish people in the Diaspora, or was it the Father’s Divine plan? What was to take place with the new, non-Jewish Believers? Did they have to be circumcised and become Jewish proselytes? Or were all of the Believers, regardless of their ethnicity, to come together in a new environment rooted in the completed work of God’s Son? The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 assembled to consider these issues, and fairly ruled on what was to be done.
Too many of today’s Messianic’ s refer to Acts 15 without a great deal of consideration for the context of the events as they took place in the First Century C.E. We often assume things that we should not assume, and we overlook things that we should not be overlooking. This study will critically examine Acts 15 in detail, be engaged with current Acts scholarship, and will also try to properly compare and contrast the ancient setting of the Jerusalem Council with some of what we see going on in the emerging Messianic movement today and how we can learn from these things.
Tnn Online
Many embracing their Hebraic Roots feel a very strong urge to study and follow the Torah or Law of Moses. Indeed, Yeshua the Messiah tells us, "Truly I say to you, until Heaven and Earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18), and certainly not all has been accomplished.
Christianity has generally taught that the Law has been done away with, which is clearly not how the Apostolic Scriptures or New Testament read in full Biblical context. However, it is very important to note that throughout the centuries there have been many Believers who have tried to live a separated life unto God, keeping His commandments as best as they could understand them. Certainly, every born again Believer should want to obey our Heavenly Father, and want His blessings in their life.
The purpose of the Torah is to point us to the Messiah and reveal how sinful we are in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. It shows us the need for a Redeemer, and how we are to properly live our lives within the bounds of what He considers acceptable and unacceptable. God's Instruction is to be written onto the hearts of His people via the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8-12), as they love and obey Him via the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Messianic community today has to contend with many Torah-related issues. We encounter both legalism and lawlessness. The Two-House sub-movement, even though believing that Israel is in the process being restored, often frowns upon traditional forms of Torah observance from Judaism. How do we obey the Lord, yet remain fair and balanced in our observances? How do we honor our Jewish spiritual and theological heritage, and also recognize varied Christian traditions that have held to a high view of God's moral law?
Much of today's evangelical Christianity teaches that Israel exclusively consists of the Jews. It is for this reason why many are expecting a pre-tribulation rapture escape to Heaven, while the Jews are left to "experience another holocaust." Others have claimed that the Jewish people are no longer important and have allowed the Church to usurp the blessings of "Israel."
The Scriptures more than adequately tell us that Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth was a Jew. The Messiah Himself said that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). Therefore, anti-Semitism in the "name of Christ" and any demeaning of the Jewish people are entirely unwarranted. Did not Yeshua tell us He would tell the one who treated His brethren, the Jews, with malice: "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41)?
The House of Judah or today's Jewish people remain a very critical component in the prophesied restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. The Apostle Paul writes that the majority of the Jewish people have been blinded to salvation in Messiah Yeshua, so that "by their fall the salvation is to the nations, to arouse them [the Jews] to jealousy" (Romans 11:11, YLT). This means that a Jewish person must see the evidence of the Jewish Messiah so evident in the non-Jewish Believer, that he or she too will want to have faith in Him. Unfortunately, this may not occur fully until non-Jewish Believers fully discard concepts such as dispensationalism and the premise that "the Tribulation is for the Jews," or replacement theology where the Church replaces the position of Israel in God's economy.
Because of these, and other factors, many Jewish Believers today have problems with the restoration message of all Israel. This section addresses how non-Jewish Believers can treat the Jewish people with proper respect and honor in this time of restoration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sacred name
http://www.tnnonline.net/theonews/natureofgod/snconcerns/index.html
Our Need to Have a More Conservative-Critical View of the Bible
Many of today’s Messianic Believers are rightly convicted that the entire Bible is for their instruction. We witness this when people from Jewish backgrounds come to faith in Yeshua, and see the richness of the Hebrew Scriptures lived out in His life and the life of His early followers. We also witness this when we see non-Jewish Believers from Christian backgrounds see that there is no major difference between the Old and New Testaments. The Tanach forms the foundation that the Apostolic Scriptures build themselves upon. Even if a new Messianic has difficulty finding a congregation or fellowship in his or her local area, he or she often will find a small group of people to associate with and study Scripture.
I firmly believe that a regimented, disciplined study of the Bible is required for our spiritual growth. The easiest way that I believe you can do this is to study the weekly Torah portions, be engaged in mid-week study of another text from the Prophets, Writings, or Apostolic Scriptures, and then be engaged in examining a text yourself. You may think this sounds hard, but no one ever said our faith was easy! Having a balanced diet of Biblical instruction is required so we can face the challenges of our world. Every single one of us, at least once in our lives, should read through the entire Bible, surveying the text and making observations about what we are reading.[2]
The immediate challenge that we often have to overcome today is that the vast majority of Messianic Bible studies are only focused on the weekly Torah portions. Now while I fully believe this is something important—and should by no means be discouraged—many coming out of Church settings the past few years have simply exchanged only reading the New Testament to only reading the Torah. This needs to be remedied. We cannot forget the centrality of Yeshua to our faith and His love. He is the model that we are to emulate.
Problems have erupted in the past several years in sectors of the Messianic community as some have challenged the canonicity and inspiration of various books of the Apostolic Writings. They believe certain teachings made by the Disciples of Yeshua and their immediate successors contradict God’s revelation in the Torah. Rather than reason with the Scriptures, many are content to simply throw texts away without examining them with a critical eye. Many perceived contradictions can be easily solved by an examination of the history and/or circumstances surrounding the original writing of a Biblical book, or by looking into the original language source text behind it. How many have failed to do some basic research into the Bible before casting things aside? Certainly, if it leads people into doubting who Yeshua is in their lives—we should be greatly concerned.
How much of this failure to consider the history of the Bible is a result of the fact that today’s Messianic movement is largely disengaged from the reality that the Scriptures as a whole have always been under attack? While it rightfully appalls many Messianic Believers that some would cast aside Yeshua because of a supposed contradiction here or there (that can often be easily solved), very few of us are aware of the same kinds of criticisms against the Tanach, and in particular, the Torah. As the Messianic movement grows and matures—particularly in a movement that places a great deal of emphasis on the Torah—these are the kinds of things that we must increasingly become aware of so we can combat them.
Did you know that there are many Christian and Jewish theologians who believe that Moses had nothing to do with the composition of the Torah? Many believe that Moses, at best, was a herdsman who led a group of disenfranchised slaves out of Egypt, and that they ultimately made it into Canaan. These people would later become a tribal power known as Israel. They would be subject to invasion and exile. When some of them returned from Babylon, they would then compile the varied traditions of their tribal myths and call it the Torah of Moses. They contend that Moses did not have anything to do with the Torah; it is said that it should all be attributed to the Yahwist (J), Elohist (E), Priestly (P), and Deuteronomic (D) writers.
For many of you reading, this is the first time you have ever heard about the JEDP documentary hypothesis. This liberal viewpoint is not something new, as it has actually been around since the mid-1800s with the rise of German higher criticism. You do not have to go that far to read about it, as many Bible dictionaries and Bible commentaries are written from the perspective that Moses did not write or compile any of the Torah (that is, if he existed). This is not only true of liberal Christian works, but also many liberal Jewish works as well. If you have a copy of the Jewish Study Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), you will get a strong exposure to these kinds of beliefs.
Most of today’s Messianic community—even among some teachers—is not even aware that these beliefs exist. It is surprising to me, in a movement that studies the Torah on a weekly basis, that few questions (at least that I am aware of) have ever arisen from a person reading through a study Bible or consulting a commentary that mentions something called JEDP. Certainly, there are solid Biblical and historical answers to these criticisms. But how many of us remain ignorant of them? When we see something on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel that criticizes the Bible—what do we do? Our answer cannot be to throw away our television set. We need to engage with the criticism and respond to it so that our own faith can be strengthened in the process. If we truly give the Tanach a high place in our understanding of God, then we need to be willing to know that there is criticism out there against what it says. We need to know how to respond to this criticism so that our own faith can be reinforced.
The ultimate answer to our dilemma in Messianic Biblical Studies is that we need to have a conservatively conscious, critical view of the Scriptures. (This is not going to come if the only sources we consult are Orthodox Jewish commentaries that are often totally disengaged from the discussions going on.) We need to find the safe middle ground between the Bible and history. We need not make the errant conclusion that the Exodus did not take place because there is no Egyptian record for it as liberal theologians often do. We should, rather, engage with the history and consider why the Egyptians would not write about it. We need to understand that we cannot read our modern-day expectations of preciseness and exactness on a text that was compiled millennia ago. We need to affirm the truth of what the Bible communicates, and understand it in the context of real history.
When we can learn as a Messianic movement to appreciate the historicity of things such as the Exodus, Israel’s monarchy, the Babylonian exile, and certainly the life of Yeshua and the Apostles—we will also learn to appreciate the call that God has upon us. We will learn from the testimony of Scripture, the complex circumstances that ancient generations faced, and thus be empowered to adequately face our own complex circumstances in our life and society.
If the Lord has yet to return by the year 2107, the Messianic movement should have adopted a more conservative-critical view of the Scriptures. This will affirm that what the text is saying is true, but does not shy away from any of the controversies it presents.
2. Our Need to be Able to be a Socially Relevant Movement
Every week when we study the Torah we are surely presented with an issue or two that relates to something we are facing today. In the first few Torah portions in Genesis, we see comments made about the Fall of humanity, the first fratricide, God judging the Earth via the Flood, and the judgment upon a city engaged in gross homosexuality. We face all of these things today, and nothing has changed that much. We should learn from the lessons that God teaches us in His Word, so we can then be able to deal with these same sins present among us.
But is our study of the Torah ever really focused on the mission of God in the world? What about Scriptures like the Prophets, which we seldom ever examine other than to just read about the coming of the Messiah or the end of the world? The Prophets have a great deal to say about social justice and how we need to be involved in our communities. How many Messianic congregations and fellowships are closed off from others around them? Does your congregational leader or rabbi have friends who are pastors of local churches? Does he have any friends in the local Jewish community? Do they ever focus on humanitarian and social issues that are relevant to the local community? These questions are some that we as Messianics need to answer today.
Surely, if the Lord is restoring the Hebraic Roots of the faith, He will—via time—transform us into a movement that can more readily respond to the social challenges of the day. A consistent study of Scripture and an appreciation for the circumstances that previous generations have faced should empower us to be about God’s work today. When we study the Torah, if all we are focusing on are “curiosities” in the text, and we are not able to apply those curiosities in our own relationship to God today—what have we accomplished? If all we do is sit around discussing how many Hebrew letters are in Genesis 1:1 versus Deuteronomy 34:12, we have accomplished nothing in terms of the mission of God in today’s world.
The message of Scripture has so much to tell us about the human condition and how our Heavenly Father is intimately concerned about the salvation of the lost. The Lord wants us to be a people who are transformed by His Holy Spirit and are able to testify of Him via our good works. The Lord wants us to have hearts that love others, and minds that can deal with the complexities of human living. But how many of us are so closed off to modern-day issues that we cannot properly respond to the questions of pre-marital sex, homosexuality, abortion, murder, terrorism, cloning, stem cell research, embezzlement, fraud, extortion, discrimination, and a host of other things too long to list? These are the things that the world is asking about—and we need to have Biblically-based answers!
In your experience as a Messianic Believer, have you considered your own personal ministry to the lost in today’s world? Are you connected to what they are experiencing? Or, do you simply remain cloistered to yourself and others like you—oblivious to what is going on? Certainly, each one of us has our individual callings and roles to perform based on our unique spheres of influence. However, if the Messianic movement is truly something of God, then given time we should not remain a community that is largely devoid of making any sizeable impact on others. Given time, we will have the answers that the lost are desperately seeking, as they know they need salvation and to live a holy life according to God’s commandments.
If the Lord has yet to return by the year 2107, the Messianic movement will need to engage itself more with society at large. We need to be able to make a significant impact on our local communities, sharing the good news of Yeshua and discipling people in how to properly follow God.
3. Our Need to Have a Global Vision
Beyond impacting our local communities and those we interact with every day, the current Messianic movement of 2007 needs more of a global vision. We have to consider that the early Messianic Jewish movement of the late Twentieth Century was limited in the goals that it set. It was largely concerned about restoring the Jewishness of Jesus, and establishing the fact that Jewish Believers did not have to give up their own Jewishness or cultural traditions. These were very important for the early days of the movement. But in the past decade, a large number of non-Jews have entered in, and the kinds of questions being asked are becoming more complex. While many non-Jewish Messianics rightly acknowledge that they have missed out on the Jewishness of Yeshua, they see the present vision of today’s Messianic movement being limited. Frequently, there is too much of an emphasis on Israel at the expense of the world. The dilemma that we face may be summarized in the following remarks:
“Just as Joseph was disguised, so too the Messiah remains disguised to His brethren, the Jewish people. In some ways, Gentile Christianity is responsible for the disguise. Christian artwork represents Jesus with Gentile hair, makeup and clothes. In Christian literature Jesus speaks in Greek and in the language of every nation; His Hebrew mother tongue is all but forgotten. Christianity has removed Him from His Hebraic and Torah context and made Him unrecognizable to His own brothers.”
It is absolutely true that much of the Christian Church is responsible for forgetting about the Jewishness of Yeshua, and the fact that He was a Torah observant rabbi. Yeshua taught according to the norms of His day, and observed the standard customs of the Judaism of His period. These are things that the Messianic movement has rightly been restoring to the faith. But Yeshua did not only speak Hebrew; He also spoke in Greek to the Greeks and Romans He encountered. He commissioned the Disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and proclaim the gospel. The Christian Church today largely speaks of having a global vision, but then can forget about “tiny little Israel.” Has today’s Messianic movement made the reverse mistake? How do we maintain the integrity of having a high regard for Israel, while recognizing that Israel is to serve the masses of humanity? This, perhaps more than anything else, is something that many Messianics today need to discuss.
Certainly, our world today is becoming more global. All you have to do is go to your local grocery store and see a wide array of food products from Europe, Africa, and the Far East that thirty years ago you would probably not have found. The global economy has changed the way we do business. Whereas the Disciples would have had to walk days to get where they wanted to go, we can now drive a car. When Paul was in Asia Minor, it may have taken him five to six weeks to get to Jerusalem. Now, all we have to do is call a travel agent or book our tickets online. If you live on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, you can be there within fourteen hours.
If you have not been to modern Israel, you may not realize that within this small country is a very ethnically and culturally diverse group of people. Many expect to go to Israel and see Orthodox Jews everywhere. While they are certainly there, you will also encounter Jews from seventy or eighty different countries, Jewish people visiting from diverse parts of the world, and hear at least a dozen languages spoken. It is not as easy as learning modern Hebrew to communicate with everyone. On top of this, many different ethnic churches have representation in Israel. Do not be fooled: Israel itself is not an homogenous place.
When today’s Messianic movement can learn to appreciate the fact that our faith is not just about Israel, nor is it just about the world, then we can begin to have a more global impact. The Spirit of God moves at many Sunday services in our own country, just as in Shabbat-keeping Messianic services. But even more so, the Spirit moves in places like Africa, India, or China. How do we expect to relate the Messianic things God has revealed to us to those Believers? Have we even considered this? Do we even recognize that when Believers in the third world are persecuted or killed for their faith that we as a whole are being persecuted and killed? Do we ever attempt as Messianic’s to see the “big picture” of the world and God’s people?
The phenomenon known as globalization is changing the world we live in and how we do business. The Messianic movement should embrace it because if it gives the enemy the ability to spread lies and sinful behavior, then it surely also gives us the ability to spread the good news of Yeshua across the world as well. Embracing a global perspective—perhaps more than anything else—will indeed require time. Perhaps we are not ready to send Messianic missionaries into the Congo—but are we even recognizing that it will come? What are we to do in the meantime? We need to be trained to understand that it is not about Israel or the world—it is about Israel serving the world. The Prophet Isaiah tells us,
“Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it, ‘I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison’” (Isaiah 42:5-7; cf. Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22).
These are the exact same things that Yeshua came to do.
If the Lord has yet to return by the year 2107, the Messianic movement needs to continue its strong support of the State of Israel, while at the same time making a strong impact on others all across the world who need salvation. The Messianic community will hopefully have a global influence that it presently does not have.
What can we do right now?
Realistically, we actually have a long way to go before we can see some of the goals I have written about being achieved. Many of us could easily adopt them in our own personal approach to Messianic faith and the Scriptures, but it will take some time—and probably even some more “ups and downs”—in the development of the Messianic movement as a whole for them to be more fully integrated. We have to know what the criticisms against our faith are, especially if they have been around for several centuries. We have to make an impact on the world immediately around us. And, we have to recognize that Israel is called to serve the world. If the Lord does not return as soon as we may think, then we need to take advantage of the time He has given us to make progress in these areas.
The most pragmatic way to see some of these things integrated into our current Messianic experience is being able to readily submit ourselves to the teachings of the Bible. But these need to be well-balanced teachings from all across Scripture. We need to see the mission of God and His salvation history present in what we read. We have to recognize the cultural diversity of the text and how Israel is called to interact with its neighbors and positively impact them. We need to become self-critical individuals who can wake up each morning and pray, “Heavenly Father, show me where I need to improve.” Truly, if we can be self-critical individuals and learn to improve ourselves, than we can become a self-critical movement. Those who recognize their faults and their need to rely upon God, are those who can be used by Him to do great things. It was the Apostle Paul himself who said, “I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the [assembly] of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9), and yet he was empowered to perform some great tasks for the Lord—leaving a legacy that we now benefit from.
What will we be able to do in the coming years that will transform the emerging Messianic movement into one that can be used to bring about the final restoration before Yeshua returns? Where do we need to improve? Will Yeshua have returned by 2107? How much of answering that question is contingent on whether or not we are performing the work that He has us to do right now? If we do not do that work, will we be delaying His return? Remember that God does not see time the way we do as limited humans. He will only accomplish His tasks through a people that are maturing, that can love others, and that can handle the complexities of the fallen world that He is trying so desperately to redeem. Let us be about the tasks before us! Let us make significant progress so that should we arrive at 2107, we have left a positive legacy of Messianic faith that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can benefit from and appreciate, as they await Yeshua’s return.
J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books, including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1] Cf. K.A. Kitchen, The Bible in its World (Exeter: Paternoster, 1977), pp 52-53.
[2] Consult the editor’s workbook A Survey of the Apostolic Scriptures for the Practical Messianic for a guide on how to do this with the New Testament. The companion workbook A Survey of the Tanach for the Practical Messianic is due for publication sometime in early 2008.
http://www.tnnonline.net/theonews/messianic-issues/messianic2107/index.html
Too many of today’s Messianic’ s refer to Acts 15 without a great deal of consideration for the context of the events as they took place in the First Century C.E. We often assume things that we should not assume, and we overlook things that we should not be overlooking. This study will critically examine Acts 15 in detail, be engaged with current Acts scholarship, and will also try to properly compare and contrast the ancient setting of the Jerusalem Council with some of what we see going on in the emerging Messianic movement today and how we can learn from these things.
Tnn Online
Many embracing their Hebraic Roots feel a very strong urge to study and follow the Torah or Law of Moses. Indeed, Yeshua the Messiah tells us, "Truly I say to you, until Heaven and Earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18), and certainly not all has been accomplished.
Christianity has generally taught that the Law has been done away with, which is clearly not how the Apostolic Scriptures or New Testament read in full Biblical context. However, it is very important to note that throughout the centuries there have been many Believers who have tried to live a separated life unto God, keeping His commandments as best as they could understand them. Certainly, every born again Believer should want to obey our Heavenly Father, and want His blessings in their life.
The purpose of the Torah is to point us to the Messiah and reveal how sinful we are in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. It shows us the need for a Redeemer, and how we are to properly live our lives within the bounds of what He considers acceptable and unacceptable. God's Instruction is to be written onto the hearts of His people via the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8-12), as they love and obey Him via the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Messianic community today has to contend with many Torah-related issues. We encounter both legalism and lawlessness. The Two-House sub-movement, even though believing that Israel is in the process being restored, often frowns upon traditional forms of Torah observance from Judaism. How do we obey the Lord, yet remain fair and balanced in our observances? How do we honor our Jewish spiritual and theological heritage, and also recognize varied Christian traditions that have held to a high view of God's moral law?
Much of today's evangelical Christianity teaches that Israel exclusively consists of the Jews. It is for this reason why many are expecting a pre-tribulation rapture escape to Heaven, while the Jews are left to "experience another holocaust." Others have claimed that the Jewish people are no longer important and have allowed the Church to usurp the blessings of "Israel."
The Scriptures more than adequately tell us that Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth was a Jew. The Messiah Himself said that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). Therefore, anti-Semitism in the "name of Christ" and any demeaning of the Jewish people are entirely unwarranted. Did not Yeshua tell us He would tell the one who treated His brethren, the Jews, with malice: "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41)?
The House of Judah or today's Jewish people remain a very critical component in the prophesied restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. The Apostle Paul writes that the majority of the Jewish people have been blinded to salvation in Messiah Yeshua, so that "by their fall the salvation is to the nations, to arouse them [the Jews] to jealousy" (Romans 11:11, YLT). This means that a Jewish person must see the evidence of the Jewish Messiah so evident in the non-Jewish Believer, that he or she too will want to have faith in Him. Unfortunately, this may not occur fully until non-Jewish Believers fully discard concepts such as dispensationalism and the premise that "the Tribulation is for the Jews," or replacement theology where the Church replaces the position of Israel in God's economy.
Because of these, and other factors, many Jewish Believers today have problems with the restoration message of all Israel. This section addresses how non-Jewish Believers can treat the Jewish people with proper respect and honor in this time of restoration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sacred name
http://www.tnnonline.net/theonews/natureofgod/snconcerns/index.html
Our Need to Have a More Conservative-Critical View of the Bible
Many of today’s Messianic Believers are rightly convicted that the entire Bible is for their instruction. We witness this when people from Jewish backgrounds come to faith in Yeshua, and see the richness of the Hebrew Scriptures lived out in His life and the life of His early followers. We also witness this when we see non-Jewish Believers from Christian backgrounds see that there is no major difference between the Old and New Testaments. The Tanach forms the foundation that the Apostolic Scriptures build themselves upon. Even if a new Messianic has difficulty finding a congregation or fellowship in his or her local area, he or she often will find a small group of people to associate with and study Scripture.
I firmly believe that a regimented, disciplined study of the Bible is required for our spiritual growth. The easiest way that I believe you can do this is to study the weekly Torah portions, be engaged in mid-week study of another text from the Prophets, Writings, or Apostolic Scriptures, and then be engaged in examining a text yourself. You may think this sounds hard, but no one ever said our faith was easy! Having a balanced diet of Biblical instruction is required so we can face the challenges of our world. Every single one of us, at least once in our lives, should read through the entire Bible, surveying the text and making observations about what we are reading.[2]
The immediate challenge that we often have to overcome today is that the vast majority of Messianic Bible studies are only focused on the weekly Torah portions. Now while I fully believe this is something important—and should by no means be discouraged—many coming out of Church settings the past few years have simply exchanged only reading the New Testament to only reading the Torah. This needs to be remedied. We cannot forget the centrality of Yeshua to our faith and His love. He is the model that we are to emulate.
Problems have erupted in the past several years in sectors of the Messianic community as some have challenged the canonicity and inspiration of various books of the Apostolic Writings. They believe certain teachings made by the Disciples of Yeshua and their immediate successors contradict God’s revelation in the Torah. Rather than reason with the Scriptures, many are content to simply throw texts away without examining them with a critical eye. Many perceived contradictions can be easily solved by an examination of the history and/or circumstances surrounding the original writing of a Biblical book, or by looking into the original language source text behind it. How many have failed to do some basic research into the Bible before casting things aside? Certainly, if it leads people into doubting who Yeshua is in their lives—we should be greatly concerned.
How much of this failure to consider the history of the Bible is a result of the fact that today’s Messianic movement is largely disengaged from the reality that the Scriptures as a whole have always been under attack? While it rightfully appalls many Messianic Believers that some would cast aside Yeshua because of a supposed contradiction here or there (that can often be easily solved), very few of us are aware of the same kinds of criticisms against the Tanach, and in particular, the Torah. As the Messianic movement grows and matures—particularly in a movement that places a great deal of emphasis on the Torah—these are the kinds of things that we must increasingly become aware of so we can combat them.
Did you know that there are many Christian and Jewish theologians who believe that Moses had nothing to do with the composition of the Torah? Many believe that Moses, at best, was a herdsman who led a group of disenfranchised slaves out of Egypt, and that they ultimately made it into Canaan. These people would later become a tribal power known as Israel. They would be subject to invasion and exile. When some of them returned from Babylon, they would then compile the varied traditions of their tribal myths and call it the Torah of Moses. They contend that Moses did not have anything to do with the Torah; it is said that it should all be attributed to the Yahwist (J), Elohist (E), Priestly (P), and Deuteronomic (D) writers.
For many of you reading, this is the first time you have ever heard about the JEDP documentary hypothesis. This liberal viewpoint is not something new, as it has actually been around since the mid-1800s with the rise of German higher criticism. You do not have to go that far to read about it, as many Bible dictionaries and Bible commentaries are written from the perspective that Moses did not write or compile any of the Torah (that is, if he existed). This is not only true of liberal Christian works, but also many liberal Jewish works as well. If you have a copy of the Jewish Study Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), you will get a strong exposure to these kinds of beliefs.
Most of today’s Messianic community—even among some teachers—is not even aware that these beliefs exist. It is surprising to me, in a movement that studies the Torah on a weekly basis, that few questions (at least that I am aware of) have ever arisen from a person reading through a study Bible or consulting a commentary that mentions something called JEDP. Certainly, there are solid Biblical and historical answers to these criticisms. But how many of us remain ignorant of them? When we see something on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel that criticizes the Bible—what do we do? Our answer cannot be to throw away our television set. We need to engage with the criticism and respond to it so that our own faith can be strengthened in the process. If we truly give the Tanach a high place in our understanding of God, then we need to be willing to know that there is criticism out there against what it says. We need to know how to respond to this criticism so that our own faith can be reinforced.
The ultimate answer to our dilemma in Messianic Biblical Studies is that we need to have a conservatively conscious, critical view of the Scriptures. (This is not going to come if the only sources we consult are Orthodox Jewish commentaries that are often totally disengaged from the discussions going on.) We need to find the safe middle ground between the Bible and history. We need not make the errant conclusion that the Exodus did not take place because there is no Egyptian record for it as liberal theologians often do. We should, rather, engage with the history and consider why the Egyptians would not write about it. We need to understand that we cannot read our modern-day expectations of preciseness and exactness on a text that was compiled millennia ago. We need to affirm the truth of what the Bible communicates, and understand it in the context of real history.
When we can learn as a Messianic movement to appreciate the historicity of things such as the Exodus, Israel’s monarchy, the Babylonian exile, and certainly the life of Yeshua and the Apostles—we will also learn to appreciate the call that God has upon us. We will learn from the testimony of Scripture, the complex circumstances that ancient generations faced, and thus be empowered to adequately face our own complex circumstances in our life and society.
If the Lord has yet to return by the year 2107, the Messianic movement should have adopted a more conservative-critical view of the Scriptures. This will affirm that what the text is saying is true, but does not shy away from any of the controversies it presents.
2. Our Need to be Able to be a Socially Relevant Movement
Every week when we study the Torah we are surely presented with an issue or two that relates to something we are facing today. In the first few Torah portions in Genesis, we see comments made about the Fall of humanity, the first fratricide, God judging the Earth via the Flood, and the judgment upon a city engaged in gross homosexuality. We face all of these things today, and nothing has changed that much. We should learn from the lessons that God teaches us in His Word, so we can then be able to deal with these same sins present among us.
But is our study of the Torah ever really focused on the mission of God in the world? What about Scriptures like the Prophets, which we seldom ever examine other than to just read about the coming of the Messiah or the end of the world? The Prophets have a great deal to say about social justice and how we need to be involved in our communities. How many Messianic congregations and fellowships are closed off from others around them? Does your congregational leader or rabbi have friends who are pastors of local churches? Does he have any friends in the local Jewish community? Do they ever focus on humanitarian and social issues that are relevant to the local community? These questions are some that we as Messianics need to answer today.
Surely, if the Lord is restoring the Hebraic Roots of the faith, He will—via time—transform us into a movement that can more readily respond to the social challenges of the day. A consistent study of Scripture and an appreciation for the circumstances that previous generations have faced should empower us to be about God’s work today. When we study the Torah, if all we are focusing on are “curiosities” in the text, and we are not able to apply those curiosities in our own relationship to God today—what have we accomplished? If all we do is sit around discussing how many Hebrew letters are in Genesis 1:1 versus Deuteronomy 34:12, we have accomplished nothing in terms of the mission of God in today’s world.
The message of Scripture has so much to tell us about the human condition and how our Heavenly Father is intimately concerned about the salvation of the lost. The Lord wants us to be a people who are transformed by His Holy Spirit and are able to testify of Him via our good works. The Lord wants us to have hearts that love others, and minds that can deal with the complexities of human living. But how many of us are so closed off to modern-day issues that we cannot properly respond to the questions of pre-marital sex, homosexuality, abortion, murder, terrorism, cloning, stem cell research, embezzlement, fraud, extortion, discrimination, and a host of other things too long to list? These are the things that the world is asking about—and we need to have Biblically-based answers!
In your experience as a Messianic Believer, have you considered your own personal ministry to the lost in today’s world? Are you connected to what they are experiencing? Or, do you simply remain cloistered to yourself and others like you—oblivious to what is going on? Certainly, each one of us has our individual callings and roles to perform based on our unique spheres of influence. However, if the Messianic movement is truly something of God, then given time we should not remain a community that is largely devoid of making any sizeable impact on others. Given time, we will have the answers that the lost are desperately seeking, as they know they need salvation and to live a holy life according to God’s commandments.
If the Lord has yet to return by the year 2107, the Messianic movement will need to engage itself more with society at large. We need to be able to make a significant impact on our local communities, sharing the good news of Yeshua and discipling people in how to properly follow God.
3. Our Need to Have a Global Vision
Beyond impacting our local communities and those we interact with every day, the current Messianic movement of 2007 needs more of a global vision. We have to consider that the early Messianic Jewish movement of the late Twentieth Century was limited in the goals that it set. It was largely concerned about restoring the Jewishness of Jesus, and establishing the fact that Jewish Believers did not have to give up their own Jewishness or cultural traditions. These were very important for the early days of the movement. But in the past decade, a large number of non-Jews have entered in, and the kinds of questions being asked are becoming more complex. While many non-Jewish Messianics rightly acknowledge that they have missed out on the Jewishness of Yeshua, they see the present vision of today’s Messianic movement being limited. Frequently, there is too much of an emphasis on Israel at the expense of the world. The dilemma that we face may be summarized in the following remarks:
“Just as Joseph was disguised, so too the Messiah remains disguised to His brethren, the Jewish people. In some ways, Gentile Christianity is responsible for the disguise. Christian artwork represents Jesus with Gentile hair, makeup and clothes. In Christian literature Jesus speaks in Greek and in the language of every nation; His Hebrew mother tongue is all but forgotten. Christianity has removed Him from His Hebraic and Torah context and made Him unrecognizable to His own brothers.”
It is absolutely true that much of the Christian Church is responsible for forgetting about the Jewishness of Yeshua, and the fact that He was a Torah observant rabbi. Yeshua taught according to the norms of His day, and observed the standard customs of the Judaism of His period. These are things that the Messianic movement has rightly been restoring to the faith. But Yeshua did not only speak Hebrew; He also spoke in Greek to the Greeks and Romans He encountered. He commissioned the Disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and proclaim the gospel. The Christian Church today largely speaks of having a global vision, but then can forget about “tiny little Israel.” Has today’s Messianic movement made the reverse mistake? How do we maintain the integrity of having a high regard for Israel, while recognizing that Israel is to serve the masses of humanity? This, perhaps more than anything else, is something that many Messianics today need to discuss.
Certainly, our world today is becoming more global. All you have to do is go to your local grocery store and see a wide array of food products from Europe, Africa, and the Far East that thirty years ago you would probably not have found. The global economy has changed the way we do business. Whereas the Disciples would have had to walk days to get where they wanted to go, we can now drive a car. When Paul was in Asia Minor, it may have taken him five to six weeks to get to Jerusalem. Now, all we have to do is call a travel agent or book our tickets online. If you live on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, you can be there within fourteen hours.
If you have not been to modern Israel, you may not realize that within this small country is a very ethnically and culturally diverse group of people. Many expect to go to Israel and see Orthodox Jews everywhere. While they are certainly there, you will also encounter Jews from seventy or eighty different countries, Jewish people visiting from diverse parts of the world, and hear at least a dozen languages spoken. It is not as easy as learning modern Hebrew to communicate with everyone. On top of this, many different ethnic churches have representation in Israel. Do not be fooled: Israel itself is not an homogenous place.
When today’s Messianic movement can learn to appreciate the fact that our faith is not just about Israel, nor is it just about the world, then we can begin to have a more global impact. The Spirit of God moves at many Sunday services in our own country, just as in Shabbat-keeping Messianic services. But even more so, the Spirit moves in places like Africa, India, or China. How do we expect to relate the Messianic things God has revealed to us to those Believers? Have we even considered this? Do we even recognize that when Believers in the third world are persecuted or killed for their faith that we as a whole are being persecuted and killed? Do we ever attempt as Messianic’s to see the “big picture” of the world and God’s people?
The phenomenon known as globalization is changing the world we live in and how we do business. The Messianic movement should embrace it because if it gives the enemy the ability to spread lies and sinful behavior, then it surely also gives us the ability to spread the good news of Yeshua across the world as well. Embracing a global perspective—perhaps more than anything else—will indeed require time. Perhaps we are not ready to send Messianic missionaries into the Congo—but are we even recognizing that it will come? What are we to do in the meantime? We need to be trained to understand that it is not about Israel or the world—it is about Israel serving the world. The Prophet Isaiah tells us,
“Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it, ‘I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison’” (Isaiah 42:5-7; cf. Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22).
These are the exact same things that Yeshua came to do.
If the Lord has yet to return by the year 2107, the Messianic movement needs to continue its strong support of the State of Israel, while at the same time making a strong impact on others all across the world who need salvation. The Messianic community will hopefully have a global influence that it presently does not have.
What can we do right now?
Realistically, we actually have a long way to go before we can see some of the goals I have written about being achieved. Many of us could easily adopt them in our own personal approach to Messianic faith and the Scriptures, but it will take some time—and probably even some more “ups and downs”—in the development of the Messianic movement as a whole for them to be more fully integrated. We have to know what the criticisms against our faith are, especially if they have been around for several centuries. We have to make an impact on the world immediately around us. And, we have to recognize that Israel is called to serve the world. If the Lord does not return as soon as we may think, then we need to take advantage of the time He has given us to make progress in these areas.
The most pragmatic way to see some of these things integrated into our current Messianic experience is being able to readily submit ourselves to the teachings of the Bible. But these need to be well-balanced teachings from all across Scripture. We need to see the mission of God and His salvation history present in what we read. We have to recognize the cultural diversity of the text and how Israel is called to interact with its neighbors and positively impact them. We need to become self-critical individuals who can wake up each morning and pray, “Heavenly Father, show me where I need to improve.” Truly, if we can be self-critical individuals and learn to improve ourselves, than we can become a self-critical movement. Those who recognize their faults and their need to rely upon God, are those who can be used by Him to do great things. It was the Apostle Paul himself who said, “I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the [assembly] of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9), and yet he was empowered to perform some great tasks for the Lord—leaving a legacy that we now benefit from.
What will we be able to do in the coming years that will transform the emerging Messianic movement into one that can be used to bring about the final restoration before Yeshua returns? Where do we need to improve? Will Yeshua have returned by 2107? How much of answering that question is contingent on whether or not we are performing the work that He has us to do right now? If we do not do that work, will we be delaying His return? Remember that God does not see time the way we do as limited humans. He will only accomplish His tasks through a people that are maturing, that can love others, and that can handle the complexities of the fallen world that He is trying so desperately to redeem. Let us be about the tasks before us! Let us make significant progress so that should we arrive at 2107, we have left a positive legacy of Messianic faith that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren can benefit from and appreciate, as they await Yeshua’s return.
J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books, including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1] Cf. K.A. Kitchen, The Bible in its World (Exeter: Paternoster, 1977), pp 52-53.
[2] Consult the editor’s workbook A Survey of the Apostolic Scriptures for the Practical Messianic for a guide on how to do this with the New Testament. The companion workbook A Survey of the Tanach for the Practical Messianic is due for publication sometime in early 2008.
http://www.tnnonline.net/theonews/messianic-issues/messianic2107/index.html
God keeps His promises!
The Scriptures are prophetically correct.
Did you know that God told Abraham ahead of time that the Jews would be enslaved in Egypt for 400 years and they were. (Genesis 15:16) “Then the Lord sad to him ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.’”
Did you know that about 100 years before the Babylonian captivity, before the Jews were even taken captive the first time, God told the Jewish prophet Isaiah about the second time He would sovereignly bring His people back into their own land. In Isaiah 11:11, it says, “In that day the Lord will bring back a remnant of His people for the second time, returning them to the land of Israel…”
Israel’s rebirth in the year 1948 and Jerusalem being captured in the year 1967 predicted in the Scriptures!
Did you know that in Ezekiel 4, God told the Jewish prophet Ezekiel to tell Israel that they would suffer 430 years of judgment when the people were taken captive in Babylon. So what does all of this have to do with anything? Well, lets first understand that in Scripture a year represents 360 days because it is based on the Hebrew calendar. From the time of the captivity in Babylon which began in in 606 B.C., add 70 X 360 days for each year, then take into account the calendar corrections that they made in those years that were similar to our leaps; and they were in captivity for the equivalent of 69 years (as we count years) and then add 69 years to 606 B.C. and the Babylonian captivity ended in 537 B.C.
But God did not just forget about the other 360 years. God keeps His word. In Leviticus 26, God tells us four times that He will multiply His punishments on them seven times if the do not obey the first time. So now they were under judgment for 360 years X seven, or 2520 years. If you take the 2250 years and make the same adjustments for leap years and changes in calendar over the years and multiply the 360 days X 2250 years, you will have 907,200 days.
Now add 907,200 days to 537 B.C. (remember that there is no year 0) and you have come to the year 1948.
We also know that in 587 B.C. Jerusalem fell. If you add the same 69 Biblical years of captivity to 587 B.C., you will come to 518 B.C. Then when you add the 907,200 days to 518 B.C. you have come to the year 1967! This was a stunning day of victory Israel had over her enemies. The result of the “Six Day War”, Israel regained control of Jerusalem in the very year her punishment for disobedience ended.
Excerpted from “I Have a Friend Who’s Jewish, Do You?”
Author Don Goldstein
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
God told us exactly when MESSIAH would come.
Dan 9:25-26
25 Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed Dan 9:25-26 (NRSV)
If you add seven ‘sevens’ (7X7) = 49 years + sixty two ‘sevens’ (62X7) = 434 years, you get 483 years.
In Neh. 2:1
1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.
Neh 2:1 (NRSV)
In Hebrew tradition, when the day of the month is not mentioned, then it is given to be the first of that month. In 445 B.C., (20 years after the beginning of the King’s rule) the first day of the month of Nissan corresponds to the 14th day of March. This date is confirmed by the British Royal Observatory and reported by Sir Robert Anderson. On March 14th (First of Nisan) of the year 445 B.C., King Artaxerxes gave the Jews permission to leave Babylon and rebuild Jerusalem. Do you know that exactly 483 years later, (173,880 days) to the very day, a man claiming to be the Son of God rode into Jerusalem and for the first time, allowed himself to be proclaimed to be the Messiah?
Excerpted from “I Have a Friend Who’s Jewish, Do You?”
Author Don Goldstein
``````````````````````````````````
God’s plan for redemption is found in the genealogy of the very first man, Adam. If you list the descendants of Adam in order from Adam to Noah, they are: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. Now names always have a meaning. So if you translate the Hebrew names from the original root meaning in Hebrew you have a significant sentence.
Adam =Man
Seth =Appointed
Enosh =Mortal
Kenan = Sorrow
Mahalalel = The blessed God
Jared = Shall come down
Enoch = Teaching
Methuselah = His death shall bring
Lamech = The despairing
Noah = Rest, comfort
Is there any question that God is making sure that if we are willing, we will surely find him?
Excerpted from “I Have a Friend Who’s Jewish, Do You?”
Author Don Goldstein
````````````````````````````
“Yeshua” means ‘salvation’ or ‘savior’. The Hebrew name “Yeshua” was translated into the Greek as “Iosous.” Later “Iosous” was translated into English as “Jesus.” But we cannot stop with the name Yeshua. He is also called “Christ”. This is not a second name but rather a title, like president, king or prime minister. This extraordinary title originated in Scriptures as “Mashiach,” which in Hebrew means “Anointed One”.. it also followed translation into Greek as “Christos,” and later into English as “Christ.” Therefore, “Jesus Christ” literally in Hebrew is “Yeshua haMeshiach” (Yeshua the Messiah)
Oh, and by the way, God knows English.
The Scriptures are prophetically correct.
Did you know that God told Abraham ahead of time that the Jews would be enslaved in Egypt for 400 years and they were. (Genesis 15:16) “Then the Lord sad to him ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.’”
Did you know that about 100 years before the Babylonian captivity, before the Jews were even taken captive the first time, God told the Jewish prophet Isaiah about the second time He would sovereignly bring His people back into their own land. In Isaiah 11:11, it says, “In that day the Lord will bring back a remnant of His people for the second time, returning them to the land of Israel…”
Israel’s rebirth in the year 1948 and Jerusalem being captured in the year 1967 predicted in the Scriptures!
Did you know that in Ezekiel 4, God told the Jewish prophet Ezekiel to tell Israel that they would suffer 430 years of judgment when the people were taken captive in Babylon. So what does all of this have to do with anything? Well, lets first understand that in Scripture a year represents 360 days because it is based on the Hebrew calendar. From the time of the captivity in Babylon which began in in 606 B.C., add 70 X 360 days for each year, then take into account the calendar corrections that they made in those years that were similar to our leaps; and they were in captivity for the equivalent of 69 years (as we count years) and then add 69 years to 606 B.C. and the Babylonian captivity ended in 537 B.C.
But God did not just forget about the other 360 years. God keeps His word. In Leviticus 26, God tells us four times that He will multiply His punishments on them seven times if the do not obey the first time. So now they were under judgment for 360 years X seven, or 2520 years. If you take the 2250 years and make the same adjustments for leap years and changes in calendar over the years and multiply the 360 days X 2250 years, you will have 907,200 days.
Now add 907,200 days to 537 B.C. (remember that there is no year 0) and you have come to the year 1948.
We also know that in 587 B.C. Jerusalem fell. If you add the same 69 Biblical years of captivity to 587 B.C., you will come to 518 B.C. Then when you add the 907,200 days to 518 B.C. you have come to the year 1967! This was a stunning day of victory Israel had over her enemies. The result of the “Six Day War”, Israel regained control of Jerusalem in the very year her punishment for disobedience ended.
Excerpted from “I Have a Friend Who’s Jewish, Do You?”
Author Don Goldstein
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
God told us exactly when MESSIAH would come.
Dan 9:25-26
25 Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed Dan 9:25-26 (NRSV)
If you add seven ‘sevens’ (7X7) = 49 years + sixty two ‘sevens’ (62X7) = 434 years, you get 483 years.
In Neh. 2:1
1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.
Neh 2:1 (NRSV)
In Hebrew tradition, when the day of the month is not mentioned, then it is given to be the first of that month. In 445 B.C., (20 years after the beginning of the King’s rule) the first day of the month of Nissan corresponds to the 14th day of March. This date is confirmed by the British Royal Observatory and reported by Sir Robert Anderson. On March 14th (First of Nisan) of the year 445 B.C., King Artaxerxes gave the Jews permission to leave Babylon and rebuild Jerusalem. Do you know that exactly 483 years later, (173,880 days) to the very day, a man claiming to be the Son of God rode into Jerusalem and for the first time, allowed himself to be proclaimed to be the Messiah?
Excerpted from “I Have a Friend Who’s Jewish, Do You?”
Author Don Goldstein
``````````````````````````````````
God’s plan for redemption is found in the genealogy of the very first man, Adam. If you list the descendants of Adam in order from Adam to Noah, they are: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. Now names always have a meaning. So if you translate the Hebrew names from the original root meaning in Hebrew you have a significant sentence.
Adam =Man
Seth =Appointed
Enosh =Mortal
Kenan = Sorrow
Mahalalel = The blessed God
Jared = Shall come down
Enoch = Teaching
Methuselah = His death shall bring
Lamech = The despairing
Noah = Rest, comfort
Is there any question that God is making sure that if we are willing, we will surely find him?
Excerpted from “I Have a Friend Who’s Jewish, Do You?”
Author Don Goldstein
````````````````````````````
“Yeshua” means ‘salvation’ or ‘savior’. The Hebrew name “Yeshua” was translated into the Greek as “Iosous.” Later “Iosous” was translated into English as “Jesus.” But we cannot stop with the name Yeshua. He is also called “Christ”. This is not a second name but rather a title, like president, king or prime minister. This extraordinary title originated in Scriptures as “Mashiach,” which in Hebrew means “Anointed One”.. it also followed translation into Greek as “Christos,” and later into English as “Christ.” Therefore, “Jesus Christ” literally in Hebrew is “Yeshua haMeshiach” (Yeshua the Messiah)
Oh, and by the way, God knows English.