I normally write to Christians, trying to advance the understanding of the Hebraic roots of our faith, but I recently watched an anti-missionary video clip that listed six
reasons why Yeshua could not be the Messiah. It was very eye opening for
me and I wanted to address those six reasons today, specifically answering those objections that our Jewish family and friends have.
The six points are:
When Messiah comes there will be:
1. An ingathering of the Jewish people to their land.
2. The Temple will be rebuilt.
3. There will be worldwide peace.
4. All the Jews will embrace Torah observance.
5. There will be universal knowledge of God.
The sixth point reveals a characteristic of Messiah which is:
6. He will come from the tribe of Judah and will be a descendant of Kings David and Solomon.
First of all, Christianity and Judaism are in total agreement about the first five of these points. We all believe that these are requirements of the Messiah. The only difference is that in Christianity we understand that there are two appearances of Messiah. During His first coming he came as a suffering servant.
Isaiah 53:2-9 (KJV)
2
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
By Yeshua's death and resurrection God and man are reconciled. We now have the ability to accept His gift of grace by trusting in Him as our Messiah and we receive eternal life.
This is not the end of the story, though, because Messiah will come a second time, this time as a conquering King. It is at this time that the first five points will be completed.
1. There will be an ingathering of the Jewish people to their land. We began to see this happen when Israel became a state in 1948 (Isaiah 11:11-12).
2. The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40).
3. There will be worldwide peace (Isaiah 2:4)
4. All the Jews will embrace Torah observance (Isaiah 4:2-4)
5. There will be universal knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9).
The sixth point is addressed in the New Testament, in the genealogies of Yeshua in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3. These genealogies differ in that Matthew's account follows Solomon down to Yosef, Yeshua's legally recognized father, while Luke follows David's son Nathan down to Heli, also listed as Yosef's father. Many scholars believe that this is actually Miriam's ancestry.
These two genealogies give Yeshua a legal descent from David and Solomon, yet because Christians believe that Yeshua was the son of God and not Yosef, He is still a descendant by way of His mother. Plus, Miriam's line avoids the curse listed in Jeremiah 22:30 where the descendants of Jeconiah were not allowed to reign as kings any more. In any case Yeshua will restore the line when he returns again according to Amos 9:11.
Jeremiah 22:30 (KJV)
30
Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
Amos 9:11 (KJV)
11
In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
It is time that Christians and Jews recognize that we are related to each other and that we can learn from each other. The six reasons why Yeshua cannot be Messiah should serve as a start for discussion and a means by which we find agreement.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Precept Upon Precept, Line Upon Line
There seems to be a growing spirit of lawlessness in the church today. The commandments of God are rejected by Christians based on the idea that the law of Christ supersedes the law of the Old Testament. The following Bible verses are used as proof texts.
Galatians 6:2 (KJV)
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Mark 12:28-31 (KJV)
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Rather than understanding that the Mark passage is a summation of the law of God, it is said that the 613 laws contained in the Old Testament are REDUCED to two. Then, by a faulty understanding of the law of Christ and Christian liberty there are pastors that preach that the only law that anyone has to obey is the law of love! So, even an action that is against the law can now be the "loving" thing to do and is no longer prohibited (e.g. speeding to the hospital with a wounded person in the car or stealing to feed your family).
Galatians 5:1 (KJV)
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:13 (KJV)
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
But the problem with this line of thought is that each individual then becomes the arbiter of what is right and wrong. This sounds like the book of Judges and God was not pleased.
Judges 17:6 (KJV)
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
In this week's haftarat reading, Isaiah had something to say about God's law.
Isaiah 28:10-12 (KJV)
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isaiah was expressing disgust over the prophets and priests of his day that were drunken. They responded in verse 10 by mimicking what Isaiah had tried to teach, reducing his warnings of not returning to God to mere building blocks that only babies would listen to. In verse 11 Isaiah informed the prophets and priests that since they would not listen to the instruction of God they would learn from foreign invaders, the Assyrians. Then in verse 12 Isaiah stated that the instructions of God, the precept upon precept, line upon line, and here a little, and there a little were meant as a means of life that lead to rest for the weary, a refreshing, but they would not listen.
God wrote His Law so that by living precept upon precept we would find rest and refreshing. We learn what love looks like by reading the whole Bible and committing to the obedience of those precepts and lines. Without the Old Testament law the law of Christ makes no sense.
Galatians 6:2 (KJV)
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Mark 12:28-31 (KJV)
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Rather than understanding that the Mark passage is a summation of the law of God, it is said that the 613 laws contained in the Old Testament are REDUCED to two. Then, by a faulty understanding of the law of Christ and Christian liberty there are pastors that preach that the only law that anyone has to obey is the law of love! So, even an action that is against the law can now be the "loving" thing to do and is no longer prohibited (e.g. speeding to the hospital with a wounded person in the car or stealing to feed your family).
Galatians 5:1 (KJV)
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:13 (KJV)
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
But the problem with this line of thought is that each individual then becomes the arbiter of what is right and wrong. This sounds like the book of Judges and God was not pleased.
Judges 17:6 (KJV)
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
In this week's haftarat reading, Isaiah had something to say about God's law.
Isaiah 28:10-12 (KJV)
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isaiah was expressing disgust over the prophets and priests of his day that were drunken. They responded in verse 10 by mimicking what Isaiah had tried to teach, reducing his warnings of not returning to God to mere building blocks that only babies would listen to. In verse 11 Isaiah informed the prophets and priests that since they would not listen to the instruction of God they would learn from foreign invaders, the Assyrians. Then in verse 12 Isaiah stated that the instructions of God, the precept upon precept, line upon line, and here a little, and there a little were meant as a means of life that lead to rest for the weary, a refreshing, but they would not listen.
God wrote His Law so that by living precept upon precept we would find rest and refreshing. We learn what love looks like by reading the whole Bible and committing to the obedience of those precepts and lines. Without the Old Testament law the law of Christ makes no sense.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)