Jesus was a Jew. That is that He was of the Hebrew People. He was a Son of Adam (Luke 3:38). He was a Son of David (Matthew 1:1). He was a Son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1). Jesus celebrated the Jewish Feasts like Passover and was Circumcised (see Luke 2:21). Jesus read the Torah and taught the Jewish students at the Temple (see Luke 2:41-52). Jesus' earthly guardians and parents were both Jewish and from the Line of David (Luke). Jesus grew up in a Jewish culture, except for the ten to twelve years he spent in Egypt. Jesus fulfilled three hundred prophecies by Hebrew prophets and Psalms.
The Disciples and Followers of Jesus were predominately Jews at first. St. Peter, St. John, St. Paul, St. James, St. Stephen, St. Thomas, St. Bartholomew, and many others were Hebrew and Jewish people. I raise these points not to make anyone become Messianic, but it is important to remember that Christianity is not some Roman religion or that it was born out of some Pagan realm. Christianity, the Church comes from the old vine and tree of Judaism as it was known in 30 A.D. Judaism and Jew today have many meanings: sometimes it can mean the religion, other times the people, sometimes both. People make distinctions between Jew and Hebrew, saying Abraham was a Hebrew, but Jacob was the first Jew and so on. I know that some Christians fear Jewish heritage and history because they fear that return to the roots will lead people back to the Mosaic Law and away from Jesus the Messiah. This concern is valid, for there are many strains of the Messianic Movement that have made being a Jewish Christian some honor and that Jews who are not followers of Jesus Christ will be saved, which is a heresy.
I turn to the words of St. Paul, who in his own words said, "I am a Jew! I was Pharisee of Pharisees. I persecuted the Christians with zeal. I can trance my line back to the Tribe of Benjamin. But I count it all as lost but knowing Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:5, Acts 22:3, Acts 23:6,). The perspective we need to keep as followers of Jesus Christ is that the Jewish Roots are not a threat and they are not True Salvation. It is beneficial to learn the Old Testament and studies on the Bible from Messianic Rabbis. We must understand that like what Paul said, "The Law as once a tutor and teacher for a time." (Galatians 3:24). There are gems still to be gleamed in the golden histories of the Jews. These people and their ways were the beginning of The Way. The Plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha'Mashiach) began in Genesis and the Jews and their beliefs were the first piece of the puzzle; the first act of God's Two Act Play on this Earth if you will or if that doesn't do it for you, they are the forerunners who kept the Prophecies like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zachariah, and all the others that speak of Jesus Christ's coming.
The Old Testament and Jews are our history. Our culture comes from them, for we all as Christians know David and Solomon, we love Abraham and teach of Moses. These men of God are counted as righteous workers for the Almighty in the Church. The Jewish People are preserving the heritage, history, and first fruits of our faith. They are missing the important tree of Life, the Messiah, the Savior, the Cornerstone that will save them. It is actually our duty to reach them for St. Paul said, "We have been grafted in. But do not be proud, for God cut off branches to graft you in and can quickly remove you. One day the Lord will graft the Jew back into the Tree." (see Romans 11 whole chapter, verses 11-24 are about the Jew being grafted back in). The Hebrews are going to bow before Jesus Christ and recognize Him as Savior, Lord, Messiah, Bridegroom, and God! We should be praying for this, but instead there seems to be taboo still causing division between the Jew and the Christian Gentile.
Today marks the end of the Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Holocaust as I have written was bridge moment between Jew and Christian. 7 Million Jews were slaughter and 12 Million Christians were slaughter as well (Rosemary Schindler). Christians gave their lives to save the Jews out of an act of mercy, love, and thought probably not the main motive, to give them one more chance to consider and contemplate and hopefully come to the realization that Jesus Christ is Messiah and Lord.
Ultimately you do not need to be Jew, have Jewish blood, celebrate Jewish feasts, or know any of the Jewish Heritage, History, and Customs to be saved. You only need Jesus Christ. Jesus' saving power is for Jew and Gentile, Greek and Scythian, free and slave, male, female and all other people groups, races, nations, ethnic groups, and persons. In fact Paul said Jesus no longer sees any difference between these, all are "One." Jesus Christ was Hebrew and Jewish, but His Salvation is for all People and you need only believe Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Messiah: "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. " (Romans 10:9-10). The following is the verses on how to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ: John 3:16, Acts 16:31, 1 John 5:13, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Ephesians 2:8-10. But knowing that there is a plan for the Jews to be grafted back in through belief in Jesus Christ and that the history of the Church is steeped in the Hebrew Roots is important. In fact, the early Christians weren't called Christians. They were described as, "Followers of the Way, Jewish Sect." That's right in the beginning they were mostly Jewish men and women who believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah, and of course it spread to the Gentiles and eventually overthrew the Romans and reached the whole world.
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| Early Christian Symbol with the Cross and Menorah, Laodicea, Greece |
What I want anyone reading this post to take away is a love for Jews and a desire to pray they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, and Messiah. They are connected to us through the Old Testament and even though they were deceived, they did help put Jesus on the cross, which oddly Crusaders and Medieval Christians held against them, but Jesus' death on the cross ensured all people could be saved! The Prophet Jeremiah spoke of the New Covenant, "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name." (Jeremiah 31:33-35). Jew and Gentile, Jew and Everyone Else can freely access God through believing in Jesus Christ. Being Jewish doesn't make you more special, in fact, Jesus said, "Do you think because you are son of Abraham it makes you anything? Being a Son of Abraham will not save you. Abraham was considered righteous because of his faith." (John 8:38-41).
Ultimately as Christians this should be are reason to be like Jew at times for the following reason:
"When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law." (1 Corinthians 9:20).
Now not everyone may feel called to the Jew, but we must remember to pray for them to be saved. Son to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day which ended yesterday, I say pray for the Jew to be grafted in through Jesus Christ.
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