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,
“throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money. (Genesis 17:12-13)”
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,
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)”
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 »
August 18th, 2010
“Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks.”
Proverbs 1:20-21
When sharing Yeshua (Jesus) with the ultra-Orthodox, I am often stymied by the fact that they believe their rabbis are most endowed with truth. After all, they are the ones who take the time to steep themselves in Talmud in the Beth Midrash (literally, “house of learning”) to study the Word and to understand it. In Rabbinic writings we see various rabbis touted for the amount of time they closeted themselves in study. We are to understand that this is the way to true wisdom. This is what makes rabbinic Judaism somewhat of a mystery religion – only the elite can truly understand.
Ordinary people, therefore, who live their days working at a trade or running a business; women who are looking after families; students in secular studies; such people won’t have access to true wisdom. The only thing to do is to heed the words of the rabbis.
But the passage above from Proverbs 1:20-21 would suggest something different. In this passage we see wisdom crying out in the public places of life. She is telling the ordinary people in the midst of their hustle and bustle to heed her words:
“If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. (Proverbs 1:23)”
Wisdom’s admonition implies that knowledge of her can be obtained in the midst of daily living. This should not surprise us. God said,
“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)”
The Lord is not talking here about Talmud, or Midrash or the Shulhan Arukh or the writings of Rashi or Maimonides. He is talking about the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures). It is in the reading and understanding of God’s Word and Wisdom in the Tanakh, which are available to anyone, that wisdom can be obtained.
Heed Wisdom! Heed the Word of God! Take some time out to read the Scriptures. As nice as it might be for many of us, most of us don’t have many hours available to study, but you will be blessed if you would take even 20 minutes to read and understand them.
I believe that if most people would read the Word of God and to seek honestly to understand what He says in them, then they will be lead to the truth of Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus Christ) and the truths found in the B’rit Hadashah (The New Testament).
You don’t have to be a rabbi or a yeshiva bocher (a religious scholar) to understand the Word of God. You just have to read it!
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)”
“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Proverbs 30:5)”
Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.
Posted in Biblical Interpretation, Jesus and Jews, Jewish Objections to Jesus, Jewish Tradition, Jews and Jesus, Knowing God, Messiah in the Tanach, New Covenant, Talmud vs. Tanakh, Uncategorized | No Comments »
June 22nd, 2010
I recently had lunch with some friends outside the community centre in Earl Bales Park. At a table next to ours was a 92 year old holocaust survivor. (I know his age because he was advertising to all and sundry.)
He was talking to a couple of ladies, telling them that he did not believe in God and complaining that religion was mostly a way of getting money. At that point I asked if I could interject, and he beckoned me over to speak.
I began to share with him the story of a rabbi who was standing in the temple in the days before it was destroyed. He saw many people putting in money into the offering jars, but he was struck by an old woman who put only two very small coins in the jar. He exclaimed at her faith, for while others gave out of their excess, she gave out of her poverty.
I then explained to the old man that God was not interested in religion (or money) but that what was important was faith – a relationship with the living God. I then explained that the rabbi was Yeshua. You can read about this encounter of Yeshua’s in the Gospel of Mark 12:41-44.
The man reiterated that he didn’t believe in God, and then began to state that my books were not valid. I asked him on what basis he said this? Had he read them for himself? Had he studied them? Had he done research into the matter to back up his assertions? The answer to all of these questions was, “no.”
My challenge is this. How can you claim that you know the Gospel message – the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah – is untrue, or that the New Testament is untrue, without looking into the matter? How can you turn down the message, when you don’t give it a chance to be heard?
I’m not asking you to take my word for it. I am asking you to check it out and then ask God for His truth!
Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.
Posted in Blog, Evangelism, Jesus and Jews, Jews and Jesus, Knowing God, New Covenant, Personal Stories, Uncategorized | No Comments »
June 7th, 2010
Whether speaking at churches or sharing with a Jewish person on the street, I have said time and time again that faith in Yeshua (Jesus) is the biblical Jewish faith. Recently, I have come to realize that is not strictly true.
The Covenant with Moses was not just for Israel but also for the stranger among them. This is clear from the many verses where the alien to Israel is included:
Exodus 12:48-49
Leviticus 16:29; 17:12; 18:26; 19:34
Numbers 9:14; 15:14-16, 26, 29; 19:10; 35:15
There is also the Scriptural testimony of those aliens who entered that covenant, such as Rahab the Canaanite, Ruth the Moabite and Uriah the Hittite. In the same way, the whole of Scripture is not addressed to the Jewish people alone but to everyone who wants a covenant relationship with the Lord Almighty.
I have come to realize that the most important issue of identity, Scripturally, is not identity as Jew or Gentile, male or female, rich or poor or anything else – it is identity with Yeshua. With Yeshua’s death and resurrection came the end of the Covenant with Moses as promised by God through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
If we now want a true covenantal relationship with God we must identify with the mediator of that New Covenant – our Messiah Yeshua. That’s true regardless of what your background is.
It is clear to me that it cannot be said that faith in Yeshua is the ‘biblical Jewish faith’; rather it is the ‘biblical faith,’ pure and simple!
Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum.
Posted in Blog, Evangelism, Goyim for God, Jesus and Jews, Jews and Jesus, New Covenant, This, That, The Other Thing | No Comments »
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