Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Messianic movement , law and the Sabbath

Many People are getting interested in the above and there is much confusion out there. I want to give an answer to each from a Biblical perspective and do it in a way that is as brief as possible using a letter I received recently .

I want to begin by stating that we will use the Bible as our sole authority, and as the only rule of faith and practice.

This is a letter that I received as a response to my testimony on you tube.

“How are you? I hope you’re doing very well! I just saw your video ‘How I found the Jewish Messiah in Israel’... and I really liked it a lot and I’m also very happy that you found Yeshua to be the Messiah of Israel...

As a non-Jewish Christian I always had believed in the Jesus of Christianity but over recent years I started to more and more find out about Yeshua as a Jew who was loyal to the Torah and who is the Mashiach of Israel... since a couple of years now I changed my day of weekly rest from Sunday to Shabbat (Saturday) and I do not eat the meat of non-kosher animals any longer...

Actually the reason I’m writing this to you is because I wonder how you look at this thing... do you observe Torah? And also what do you think about non-Jewish believers in Yeshua as the Messiah observing Torah?

I hope you will reply to my questions...”

Yes ,my video is titled “ How I found the Jewish Messiah in Israel”

When I became a believer I printed my testimony and placed it in all the mailboxes where I lived in Manchester, it was originally called “How I found peace in Israel”. You should have seen the nonsense they printed about me in the local Jewish newspaper, and because it mentioned that I went to a village called Kefar Habad and that the rabbi I visited there convinced me more that Jesus was the Messiah, the Habad movement wanted to sue me. Back to the title -

I talk about Yeshua (Jesus ) being the Jewish Messiah because He is but I also believe he is the Messiah for all the world , for Jews and Gentiles.

When we talk about Messiah we could as easily say the Christ, both words come from the same root but different languages, Hebrew Mashiach means the “anointed one” and Greek Christos, also “the anointed one”. Different words but the same meaning. The anointed one is the one to be anointed, prophet, priest and king. In the Bible we find people that held two of these offices but never anyone who held three, until Yeshua came along.

We can call the anointed one, Yeshua, or we can call him Jesus, different names because of language but the same person, and whichever name we use when talking about the Messiah we are talking about the same person .

1.       “As a non-Jewish Christian”

Let me begin by saying that the most important thing is that you are a Christian, so am I. The word Christian is used three times in the Bible

Acts 11:26 26:28, 1 Peter 4:16 , so there is nothing wrong with using it, it just means a follower of Yeshua , a disciple of the Messiah , someone who believes in Yeshua as Lord and Saviour. The Good news is that the wall between Jews and Gentiles has been removed and now we are one in the Messiah. Eph 2

The Church(Ecclesia) is not Jewish and it is not Gentile , it is Messianic or Christian , the body of the Messiah , he has one body and not two. Some Jewish believers prefer to use the term “messianic” rather than “Christian” because of the connotations and misunderstandings the word “Christian” has for most Jews.

2.       “I always had believed in the Jesus of Christianity but over recent years I started to more and more find out about Yeshua as a Jew who was loyal to the Torah and who is the Mashiach of Israel...”

There is only one Jesus, the Jesus of History the Jesus of the Gospels. If you read the Gospels you will see that Jesus is Jewish .

I agree there is a lot of bad teaching out there and that many churches try to divorce Jesus from His Jewish origins.

So we need to get back to the Bible, yes, it is wonderful that Jesus kept the Torah and all the demands of the law, if he did not he could not be the Messiah , sinless , spotless lamb of God and His sacrifice would be worthless. He is the Messiah of Israel but also of the whole world, the Savior of the world .I say to people that you can’t be a follower of Jesus and hate Jews because if you hate all Jews you hate Jesus.

3.       “since a couple of years now I changed my day of weekly rest from Sunday to Shabbat (Saturday)”

I think that its good you believe the Bible and rest, we are not machines and we have a command from creation to rest one day a week.

The Sabbath is the Saturday, it comes from the Hebrew ,Shabbat, which means to rest but there always is a but in everything, let me ask a question ,which is the day that the early church met on?

It is said that the early church met on Saturday and later on Constantine instituted the Sunday as the day of worship, because, it is said, that he worshipped the sun God. You can say that if you worship on Sunday you also worship the Sun god.

That’s such a strong argument, but I think it is as strong as a piece of straw or even a straw man. Taken to the logical extreme you could say those who worship on Saturday worship Saturn, see the origins of the name.

It is clear that the reason why the early church met on Sunday is because that is the day that the Lord Jesus, (Yeshua Adonenu) rose from the dead. Look up the references in the New covenant and you will see. The Romans never worshipped on a Sunday, they did not even have a seven day week , do some research check these things out !

I hope to speak further in the future and explain the true meaning of the Shabbat (Sabbath) according to the scriptures

4.       “and I do not eat the meat of non-kosher animals any longer...”

I met an Adventist a few days ago and I asked him if it is a sin to eat pork and he said yes. I think we have to follow what the Bible says,

The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, it is not in the external. The Apostle Paul, a Jew, said in 1 tim 4 “3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. “

So it is not a sin to eat pork, the dietary laws where part of the former system, and they had there purpose, which was to keep a holy people separate from other nations. Now under the new covenant, we don’t follow the old dietary laws, we also do not follow the old priesthood , nor the sacrifices, but we do follow the moral law which never changes. The ceremonial law was just a shadow and the body is the Messiah. What do we prefer, a picture of a loved one or the person themselves? The Messiah has come and we don’t need the picture anymore as the Messiah said, “its not what goes into the mouth which defiles a man but which comes out of the mouth, this defiles the man” (Matt 15.11).

If anyone has any questions please comment on the blog and we will give an answer as soon as possible

3 comments:

Unknown said...

"...that we will use the Bible as our sole authority, and as the only rule of faith and practice" this is what I most strongly agree to. I believe this is the greatest in all importance what people leave out, some peope a little, some people a lot, through their life believing in the Messiah blessed be He what causes, even if by accident, misunderstandings of how to follow the Bible and be perfect in Christ and not be perfect in the Law of whether to eat or not to eat pork as the child-guider Law, which everyone except for Yeshua have broken while being in physical flesh, how to live in the life of the spirit and not in the letter of the law, "for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. But if the ministration of death (or: but if the ministration to the death-causing letters), written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" (2nd Corinthians 3:6-8) speaking of the letter as the law of Moses, and the spirit as the Gospel. Thus these people come into thinking that maybe there's something needed more than the Bible, than the teaching of Yeshua - the New Testament - "...repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15) and, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth (or means) any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." (Galatians 6:15) and, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2nd Corinthians 5:17) Also, if Jesus (or Yeshua in Hebrew, or Hristos in Russian, or Hrihstos in Ukrainian, or Christ in English depending on what language you speak for there's no difference to God, He understands all languages and all tongues) ate with publicans and sinners because He says: "They that are whole need not a physician; but hey that are sick" (Luke 5:31), surely Jesus wanted to save Gentiles, that was a NON-set-aside part of His mission, to bring the light unto the Gentiles (Isaiah 9:1-2). So, if Jesus had no difference between being next to gentiles or Jews preaching in the Synagogues (Luke 4:16) to teach them about His Kingdom, surely we too are not supposed to have difference between the Jew person by flesh or a gentile person by flesh because they are all by faith into Jesus Christ, the Messiah, are new creatures and all are sons and daughters of Abraham through faith ["And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness." - Genesis 15:6].

Scripture is plain and simple: it says that Christ Yeshua has come to deliver us to be free from the law and to live by faith unto Him, faith unto righteousness.

Mia said...

i would love to know more about a Shabbat. Do you worship on Sat or Sunday and does it really matters. As well what is "the rest"? what can we or can't do?

Anonymous said...

Hi Antony,

I came across your blog via one of your YouTube posts on Messianic Judaism.

I do hope you return to writing here, as the movement you have expressed concerns about has grown since you started this blog. I think you bring a valuable perspective to the issues of Law, New Covenant, One New man, etc.

I bacame aware of this Law "keeping" movement in the fall of '07, did lots of research in early '08, and ended up with a blog of my own, Joyfully Growing In Grace. I have been amazed and disheartened by how Law "keepers" elevate Torah above Christ, in essence diminishing the completed work of Christ at the Cross.

Blessings to you as you walk with our Saviour,

Wendy at JGIG
www.joyfullygrowingingrace.wordpress.com