Pot-Shot Series: Objection 3: I’m a REAL Jew!August 18th, 2010 If you have not done so, you might want to read the Introduction to this series. “I’m a real Jew!” I find this a fascinating response. For if I ask someone what it means to be a real Jew (assuming the person hung around long enough to answer,) he or she hasn’t a clue. Let’s face it, even the state of Israel struggles with what defines being Jewish. This would be a very long article, if I were to discuss all the various thoughts and arguments that exist on the subject. I would much rather try to understand what God thinks a Jew is and to offer some thoughts from the Scriptures. Abraham is considered the first Jew and not unreasonably so, since God’s covenant with him set him apart to become a special people (Genesis 12:1-3). Nevertheless it is very clear that the covenant passed down to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-16) to whom God gave the name Israel (Genesis 32:28). Neither Ishmael, nor Esau were recipients of this covenant. Thus the descendants of Jacob became the nation of Israel. But the covenant was not just for blood relations. It was for everyone,
So Israel became the descendants of Jacob and those who were in their midst. Then God made a covenant with this nation Israel when he brought them out of slavery in Egypt and led them to Mount Sinai in the wilderness. The commands and statutes of the covenant is what came to be known as the Mosaic Law, but it is first and foremost a covenant of service, allowing the Holy God to dwell in the midst of His Holy people and to be a light to the Nations around them. Here again we see that this covenant and its rules were not only for Israel, but also for the “stranger among you. (Exodus 12:49)” Thus even in the line of David we have Rahab the Canaanite, Ruth the Moabite and Uriah the Hittite as members of God’s covenant people. What made Ruth part of God’s people was not anything like a ritual conversion as many rabbis claim, but the simple declaration, “your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16)” Around the time of the Babylonian Exile, God promised a change. God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah said,
Note that the Lord is speaking of a New Covenant that will be unlike the covenant of Moses, one that will be written on our hearts and in which forgiveness of sins is part and parcel. This New Covenant came to be when the Glory of God walked on earth in the form of Messiah Yeshua who died as an asham – a guilt offering for our sins (Isaiah 53:10). Like Ruth there is only one way to enter this covenant and that is by a heartfelt wish to enter into that relationship with God and a heart-felt declaration of faith in Messiah’s sacrifice and Lordship. That is the most important thing anyone can do whether they are Jew or Gentile. I believe that God still has a plan for the Nation of Israel that is the Jewish people. I see it in verses like Isaiah 45:17; Zechariah 8:23; 12:10; Romans 11:26 and Revelation 7:2-8. Nevertheless, when it comes to spiritual matters and the important issue of a right relationship with God, we must remember the words of John the Baptist who said, “do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. (Luke 3:8)” As the great Rabbi Saul of Tarsus points out: “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. (Galatians 3:6-7, citing Genesis 15:6)” We believe that it is more important to be in right covenant relationship with God then it is to be Jewish. But, as a Jew, I must say that I can think of nothing more Jewish than being a believer in the Messiah promised by Moses and the Prophets – Yeshua! Don’t agree? Why not write a comment to tell us so. We publish dissenting views if they are written in a respectful manner. Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Blog, Evangelism, Jesus and Jews, Jewish Identity, Jewish Objections to Jesus, Jews and Jesus, Messiah in the Tanach, New Covenant, Pot-shot Objections | No Comments » Pot Shot Series: Objection 2: You should be ashamed of yourself!August 16th, 2010 If you have not done so, you might want to read the Introduction to this series. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from my Jewish people. My response is invariably, “why?” Should I be ashamed because I am saying what I believe to be true and of import to my Jewish people? Should I be ashamed because I care enough about my Jewish people to let them know that their Messiah has come? As one disciple has said before me,
This pot-shot statement is simply a defence mechanism, of course. When asked why I should be ashamed, the person has no answer. The truth is that they can’t answer. They don’t know why. Such individuals are ignorant of the Christian faith or the Gospel claims, and most don’t know what the Hebrew Scriptures say about Yeshua (Jesus), let alone the B’rit Hadashah (the New Testament). Now I have no problem with them believing I am wrong – it is God who opens our eyes to the knowledge of His truth. So they have a right to think I’m wrong, just as I have a right to think them wrong. (That’s true tolerance by the way: graciously allowing others to disagree with us and respecting others when we disagree with them.) As I say, I have no problem with them thinking I am wrong, nevertheless, I think if anyone should be ashamed of themselves it is the person who says, “You should be ashamed of yourself,” and then doesn’t give me an answer when I ask, “why?” If you are or ever have been a purveyor of such a pot-shot, let me point out why. I share the Gospel because I have an absolute belief that Messiah has come; that he is Yeshua (Jesus) who was God come in the form of man (c.f. Genesis 18:1-33); that he came to earth to die for our sins and then was raised again to sit at the Father’s right hand, so that those who believe in him and in the efficacy of his sacrifice will have sure hope of eternal life. This is what I believe, as certainly as I believe that there is air that I breathe. And I care about you enough to tell you all this so that you can have that joy and certainty as well. My question to you, oh purveyor of this pot-shot, is this: if you think I am wrong, why do you not stop and try to correct me when I ask you why? Where is your love and concern for me? If what I believe is foolishness, then why are you afraid to tell me why it is foolish? Where is your love for your fellow Jew? I think the truth lies in the fact that you are certain of what the rabbis teach, even though you don’t really know the teachings of the rabbis. (I generalize here, of course – but I believe it to be a fair generalization.) The rabbis have told you that what I proclaim is wrong, but you don’t know why they say it, or whether they can be refuted. If you are ignorant of the facts and the arguments of the case – if you have never honestly and fairly explored whether or not there is truth in the claims of Jesus – then on what basis do you tell me that I should be ashamed? You think I’m wrong? Then tell me why. But if you can’t tell me why, then at least be honest enough to listen and consider the facts as presented. In the end, I’m not asking you to believe me (or the rabbi), but to pray to God and ask him to reveal to you His truth. He promises to answer (Jeremiah 33:3; Matthew 7:7). If you want to know more, or if you have any questions please feel free to contact us. We also would love to hear what you have to say, so feel free to comment but please do so in a polite manner. We do publish dissenting comments. Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Evangelism, Jesus and Jews, Jewish Objections to Jesus, Jewish Tradition, Jews and Jesus, Messiah in the Tanach, Pot-shot Objections, Uncategorized | No Comments » Nothing but the truthMay 19th, 2010 I have a friend named Alan who is a Jewish believer in Yeshua (Jesus). After he became a believer some years ago, he went to Israel and lived for about a year with a Lebovich family. He told me he remembers one of the men in the family making this statement: “You don’t want to read the New Testament to much or you’ll start to believe it!” What an ironic statement. The gentlemen was warning Alan – warning him that the New Testament can lull him to a false truth just by reading it. What is more logical, however, than that reading the Gospel can lead to belief in Yeshua as Messiah because its claims are genuine and true? I would go one step further however. I suggest to you, dear reader, that the fact that the New Testament is true is what makes the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures or “Old Testament”) true. If Yeshua was not the Messiah as he and his disciples claimed; if he did not die on the cross for our sins and was not raised on the third day; if faith in him is not the way to eternal life, then the Tanakh is false and is not to be followed or believed in. The Tanakh promised a righteous servant who would be as one accursed, cut off from his people and killed – one who would be an asham (a guilt offering) for our sins though he was sinless, and through whom he would share his victory by giving eternal life (see Isaiah 53:1-12). Furthermore, the Tanakh promised a B’rit Hadashah – a New Covenant – that would not be like the covenant he made on Mount Sinai. This is a new covenant in which God’s laws would be written on our hearts and by which our sins would be remembered no more (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). Not only that, but this Messiah would come to his temple (Malachi 3:1). Yeshua fulfilled these promises and they could only be fulfilled by him. There are many other promises of Messiah that were fulfilled by him and him alone. And so God’s promises are fulfilled and we can see his faithfulness in keeping his word in Tanakh and the trustworthiness of the promises of Tanakh. Meanwhile the rabbis continue to deal with an Old Covenant that no longer is binding. How could it be? There is no temple in which to fulfill all the Levitical laws, a good third of the laws of Torah. There is no way given in Tanakh by which we might have atonement for our sins, since the temple has been destroyed. Instead, they have added and subtracted to the laws God gave Israel, something that they were warned not to do. Although there is much that is beautiful in rabbinic traditions, the truth of the matter is that they by and large make the truths of Scriptures into not-truths. They nullify God’s law and God’s promises in favour of their own traditions. This is why Yeshua said in the Gospel of John 5:45-47,
If the Tanakh is true, then the B’rit Hadashah is true. If the B’rit Hadashah is false, then so is the Tanakh. Read the whole of Scripture for yourself and you will see that it speaks the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And that is why if you read the B’rit Hadashah enough, you may very well come to believe it! Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Jesus and Jews, Jewish Tradition, Jews and Jesus, Messiah in the Tanach, Talmud vs. Tanakh, Uncategorized | No Comments » Rashi and a lying GodMay 11th, 2010 The title of this article might seem a bit incendiary. I certainly hope it grabbed your attention, but the purpose of this article is not to be incendiary, but to highlight a concern of mine. You see, I believe that God is a promise keeper, not a promise breaker. I also believe that if the highly acclaimed medieval scholar, Rabbi Sh’lomo ben Yitzhak (better known as Rashi) were alive today to be asked, he would say the same thing. Nevertheless, in the midst of his concerted efforts to shut down Christian attempts to make the Messiahship of Yeshua (Jesus) known in his day, Rashi creates an interpretation that would make God out to be a promise breaker to his covenant people Israel. The passage under consideration is Isaiah 53, a passage in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) that I think everyone should check out for themselves. Here it is:
If you look in the Talmud you will see that those ancient rabbis who wrote of these verses understood the passage to refer to the person of Messiah. They had no problem at the time with the picture of a suffering servant Messiah. In fact, there was an understanding in the 1st Century that there were two pictures of Messiah in the Tanakh: the victorious king Messiah (ben David), and the suffering servant Messiah (ben Yoseph). The similarity between this prophetic description and the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Yeshua are mind-boggling and hard to ignore without some wilfulness. It was enough of a problem in the mind of Rashi, that he came up with an interpretation that made hash of the passage’s grammar, and went against the traditions of the elders. Rashi interpreted the passage in such a way that the suffering servant became, not Messiah, but the nation of Israel. To this day, many rabbis and religious Jews will use this interpretation as a polemic against the claims that Messiah Yeshua fulfilled this prophecy. In Rashi’s day, this interpretation was by no means universal, however it became very popular. It appeared to be a very convenient response to the claims Christians made. There is one major flaw with this argument however. It makes God out to be a liar! God, speaking through his servant Moses to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 28, tells them that if they would be obedient he would bless the nation, but if they were disobedient he would curse them – bring calamity upon them and spit them out of the land he had given them: the Promised Land. Now God kept his promise and eventually exiled both the Northern and Southern kingdoms, in their turn, because of their disobedience. One might consider the fact that in rejecting the Messiah when he came, they were again punished – the temple destroyed in 70 AD and the people disbursed for 2,000 years. But in Isaiah 53:11 we see that the servant spoken of in the passage is a righteous one, yet “we esteemed him stricken by God and afflicted. (v. 4)” Here is a righteous servant being afflicted, wounded, crushed, killed. If this is the nation of Israel, as Rashi claimed, then God has broken his promise with it. He becomes a liar. God is not a liar however. God shows himself time and time again to be a promise keeper. Furthermore, when was Israel ever righteous as a nation? Throughout the Tanakh, we see the tendency of the people of Israel to turn away from the Lord, and they were punished accordingly. I’m not trying to knock Israel, but to point out that even Israel with the Law and the Prophets were not able to keep on the right track – to be righteous servants. How much less likely is it that the other nations of the world can do any better? The point of the Gospel – the reason the Messiah was afflicted and destroyed, and yet able to see the light of day (to be resurrected) – is that we are incapable of being righteous on our own, and more than Israel was. We need a saviour! And so God the promise keeper, in keeping with his promise through Isaiah, came in the form of man to be the suffering servant Messiah, Yeshua. Think about it, and tell us what you think! Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Jesus and Jews, Jewish Tradition, Jews and Jesus, Messiah in the Tanach | No Comments » Nothing but the blood of Yeshua!April 13th, 2010 There is a song of Christian praise that goes, The song’s message is very clear: if we want to make atonement for our transgressions against God – for our sins – then we must do it through the atoning blood of Jesus the Messiah. This is not a strange concept. It is a concept that comes right out of the pages of the Tanakh. In Vayeekra (Leviticus) we see God instructing Moses about the sacrificial system for the temple. The first 10 of the books 27 chapters is taken up with these instructions and their institution among the Israelites. Later, in Chapter 17, God talk about the importance of people bringing their sacrifice to the temple and insisting that they do not eat the blood of it. Then he explains why the eating of blood is prohibited: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. (Leviticus 17:11)” God is very explicit here – the means of atonement is through the covering of the blood. The Hebrew word for atonement comes from the Hebrew word for “cover”. It is from this same root that we have the term Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Kippah (the skullcap that is worn by Jewish men) and Koporeth (the ‘mercy seat’ which covered the Ark of the Covenant). God tells us in Leviticus that it is the blood of the sacrifice that makes atonement. The question is, how? We need to go back to earlier chapters (Leviticus 4:27-31) to see how the guilt offering was to be presented: Let us look at this sacrifice step by step: This was how atonement was to be made according to the Word of God given to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. Nowhere does he make atonement available in any other way but by the substitutionary sacrifice at the temple and the pouring our of blood as a covering for sin. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 we read these words: So God was to bring a covenant that was not going to be like the covenant at Mount Sinai. It will be a new covenant. Yeshua, on the night before he went to the cross, while celebrating the Passover Seder, took matzah after the dinner (the afikomen?) and proclaimed that it represented his body that was broken for his disciples (Luke 22:19). He also took the cup of redemption after dinner and referring to the Jeremiah passage above said of it, “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Yeshua pointed to himself as the fulfillment of the covenant promised by God through Jeremiah. And he was broken on the cross and his blood became the ‘kapor’ for our sins. It is now through Messiah Yeshua that we can have atonement. How? The same way the Israelite did in the covenant with Moses. 1. A person first has to recognize his guilt. God has given no other provision by which salvation can be had, but by the blood of Yeshua. No other way is biblically authorized. The reason the temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. is that the temple was no longer needed. The New Covenant brought the final and lasting sacrifice that brings atonement from sin and brings eternal life with God. As God is unchanging, so his principles are unchangeing, including the princple of substitutionary sacrifice and the covering of blood to make atonement. Only the vehicle is different. Instead of the yearly sacrifice of bulls and rams, we have the once and for all sacrifice of Messiah. Will you accept the Messiah today? It is a matter of life and death. If you do, please contact us and let us know about it. Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Atonement, Blog, Jews and Jesus, Messiah in the Tanach, Uncategorized | No Comments » How can God have a son?April 8th, 2010 How can God have a son? I mostly get this objection about Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) from Muslims, but not a few Jews have asked me the same thing. The idea of Jesus being the Son of God seems distasteful, and that is because the title is misunderstood. The first point to make is that the term Son of God is indeed a title. God himself has many names in the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures): El (אל), Elohim (אלהים), El-Shaddai (אל שדי), Adonai (אדני), and finally the Tetragrammaton – the four letters that represent the name by which God proclaimed himself to Moses (יהוה). Then there are the many titles of God: Adonai Tzva’ot (Lord of Hosts), Adonai Yireh (God who provides), Adonai Nissi (God my shield), along with many, many others that are used in the Tanakh. The Messiah too, has many titles in the Tanakh. Job calls him his Redeemer (Job 19:25). He is Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14, literally ‘God with us’). He is the Branch (Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12). His most famous title is found in Isaiah 9:6 in which he is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). A few hundred years before Jesus ministered on earth, the prophet Malachi called him the “messenger of the covenant (Malachi 3:1).” Even if you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the point is that these are recognized as messianic titles even in rabbinic literature. Now it is true that the title, Son of God is not mentioned in the Tanakh, though we see a hint of it in Psalm 2. Yet the fact that the phrase “Son of God” in reference to Messiah is not mentioned in Tanakh does not mean that the title isn’t correct, for it is clear that God reveals both his names and the names of Messiah over a period of time. God did not present himself as יהוה (YHWH) until he gave the Law on Mount Sinai. So we read these verses in Exodus 6:3, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, [el-shaddai] but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” Similarly, we are not told of the title of Prince of Peace until the time of Jeremiah the prophet in the 6th Century B.C.E. (Isaiah 9:6). Furthermore, the concept of Messiah as the Son of God was already found in the Jewish writings known as the Apocrypha and the Deuterocanonical books (e.g. (Enoch 55:2; 2 Esdras 7:28-29; 13:32). These were written in the centuries before and after Jesus, and indicate a Jewish understanding of Messiah’s ‘Sonship’. Finally, the title Son of God is fully revealed and confirmed to us at the time Messiah Yeshua came to minister on earth. Son of God reminds us both of Messiah’s (Christ’s) divinity and his humanity. He is not a son in the same sense that I have a son, as many Muslims would object. Nor, as many Jewish people would insist is he man claimed to be God. Yeshua is God come as Man, born of a virgin by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit (as one Yiddish writer puts in the mouth of his young protagonist, “If God can do anything, why can’t he make a virgin pregnant?”) to be the reconciler of sinful humans to a holy and righteous God. Yeshua, in his humanity, had to deal with the same temptations of life as we, but he would not give in to those temptations. That is why, in a letter to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, the author can write, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)” God come as man to be a sacrifice – a self-sacrifice – for our sins. As Isaiah 53:10 foretold, he became an asham (a guilt offering) and so made atonement for those who believe and accept the sacrifice God made on their behalf. Won’t you honestly consider the claims of this Jewish messiah for yourself? Won’t you consider the free gift of salvation that brings eternal life with God, by putting your faith in the Messiah promised and sent by God the Father: Yeshua, the Son of God? Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Atonement, Jesus and Jews, Jews and Jesus, Knowing God, Messiah in the Tanach | No Comments » Passover: remembering redemption and the alternativeApril 7th, 2010 Published in the Contact – Issue 2010-1 Passover is one of the most important holidays on the Jewish calendar. It is certainly one of the most celebrated. Even Jews who are not very religious in practice, will annually celebrate the Passover Seder, the special ceremonial meal that recounts God’s redemption of the Jewish people from servitude in Egypt. Throughout the Passover Seder, the miraculous deeds of God are recounted, praised and glorified. God sent Joseph into Egypt to prepare the way. Then, after the Israelites became enslaved, God protected Moses while other infants his age were killed. God later met Moses at the burning bush. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to proclaim freedom for his people. God brought down ten plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in Pharaoh’s release of the Israelites. God caused the Egyptians to be generous at Israel’s departure. God divided the sea so that Israel could pass beyond the reach of the Egyptian army who themselves were destroyed as God drowns them in the sea. All of these amazing things God did to redeem His people Israel from bondage and slavery to Pharaoh. All these things the Jewish people rejoice in, and rightly so. Beyond that there were the miracles in the wilderness, the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the sending of manna for eating, the defeat of the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16), the clothes and sandals that lasted 40 years (Deuteronomy 29:5), and, finally, the fall of Jericho and their entry into the Promised Land. For all these reasons, Passover is a time of great rejoicing. And yet there is a shadow on the proceedings. There are four cups that are drunk during the Passover Seder – a ceremony that might take four or five hours. In order these cups are: The Cup of Sanctification Of the four, the cup of redemption is the most important – reminding us of the blood of the Passover lamb that was sacrificed so that Israel could have redemption from Egyptian bondage as they put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. This is the same cup that Yeshua used when he said, “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:20)” Yeshua points to himself as the new Passover Lamb that brings redemption – not from bondage and slavery to Pharaoh, but bondage and slavery to sin and death, as promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34. All four cups are drunk after reciting the appropriate prayers, and all of them remind us of the unalloyed joy of God’s salvation – all, except the second cup, the Cup of Plagues. Something different is done with this cup. In Jewish tradition, a full cup represents complete joy; and so all the cups at the Passover table are to be filled to the brim. Before drinking the Cup of Plagues, however, we place our finger in our cup and let 10 drops fall onto our plates as everyone at the table recites the 10 plagues that were poured out on the Egyptians: one drop per plague. In this way we diminish our joy. We mourn the loss of the Egyptians, whose destruction came for our benefit. Does it seem right to express sorrow for the enemies of God? We must remember that God’s wrath on the Egyptians doesn’t mean he didn’t love the Egyptians. Many centuries later, through the prophet Isaiah, God talks about a time when Egypt will be blessed (Isaiah 19:25). We also know that though Egypt didn’t follow God, neither did the Israelites throughout most of their history and God eventually punished them for their disobedience. The Scriptures describe the grief with which God punished Israel, and yet God always holds out the promise of redemption to them when they turn back to Him (2 Chronicles 7:14). In all this there is an application for believers hinted at by the Apostle Paul when he writes: We who are believers in Messiah Jesus, came to be believers while we were yet enemies of God. The Gentiles among us are like the Egyptians, just as the Jews among us are like the prodigal nation Israel. Yet God loved us and brought us out of bondage and into eternal life. As children of God, should we not therefore sorrow over those who remain enemies of God? Should we not mourn for those who are destined to live eternally without God’s presence? Should we not strive to reach out to those who are enemies, so that they might know Him as father and friend? There are great lessons, I think, in this second cup of the Passover Seder – the Cup of Plagues. Through this cup, sorrow for the lost is expressed even in the midst of the joy of the redeemed. Certainly we have joy in the redemption that was obtained through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, however our joy cannot be complete while there are still those who are suffering. Furthermore we should cherish our salvation all the more as we remember the alternative – that from which we were delivered – the pain of death and separation from God for eternity – the sufferings of hell. Let us remember God’s admonition to Jonah, who wanted to see the Ninevites die instead of allowing God to redeem them: Let us cherish our salvation, and let us express God’s love for the lost by being the messenger of the Good News of Jesus Christ! Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Blog, Goyim for God, Jesus and Jews, Jewish festivals, Jewish holidays, Messiah in the Tanach, This, That, The Other Thing | No Comments » |
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