Posted on 11/17/2013 11:36:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The One true God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "I am the Lord, and there is no other, apart from me there is no God." (Isaiah 45:5) In other words, the "Jewish God" is the only God that exists. All the other "gods" among the various religions do not actually rule the universe. In fact, they exist only in the minds of those who seek to obey them and earn their favor.
Jewish people know all about seeking to obey God. Moses was given the Law so that God's people would know what God expected of them. But Jews have the same problem we all experience. As hard as we try to be obedient to all of the rules, we still find ourselves falling short of perfection. We miss the mark. Our behavior, and even our thoughts, are imperfect and out of alignment with the Law.
Under the Old Covenant, God's people could rely upon animal sacrifices to help ease their conscience in this regard. Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is still the holiest day of the year for Jewish people. Deep down, we all know that we need something to atone for our sins.
Believe it or not, the Law can actually help us discover the answer to our sin problem. The Law was put in charge to lead us to the Messiah. (see Galatians 3:24) It points us to the One who delivers us even though we have sinned against God. The Law reveals to us that we are lawbreakers. As hard as we try to obey the Law, we still do not keep it the way God requires. So we must have His Messiah if we are going to be delivered from our sin and our shame.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob placed prophecies in Scripture to tell us about the coming Deliverer. These messianic prophecies were actually fulfilled many years ago by a Jewish man named Yeshua. That is His Hebrew name. In English, His name is Jesus. The messianic details in Scripture are explained beautifully by Jews at "Chosen People Ministries."
The seven prophecies listed below come directly from their website. These fulfilled prophecies are a big reason many "Messianic Jews" refer to themselves as "completed Jews," since their faith in the God of Israel has been "completed," or fulfilled in Yeshua.
Each prophecy is about "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) Animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant were incredibly weak when compared to the sacrifice of this perfect Jewish Lamb. Yeshua ushered in the New Covenant for the Jews, and He even came for Gentiles too. You see, Good Friday was the ultimate "once for all" Day of Atonement. The benefits of that one-time sacrifice are received by Jews and Gentiles who accept Yeshua into their heart and life. (see Romans 6:10, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:26, Hebrews 10:1-10)
May the Lord bless you my friend as you consider these prophecies which Yeshua fulfilled.
Prophecy #1: The Origin & Birthplace of the Messiah
Micah 5:2 (5:1 in the Jewish Bible) - "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."
Fulfillment:
Matthew 2:1 - "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem..."
Prophecy #2: A Descendant of Abraham
Genesis 12:1-3 - "Now the LORD had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'"
Fulfillment:
Matthew 1:1 - "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham."
Prophecy #3: From the House of David
2 Samuel 7:12-13 - "When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."
Fulfillment:
Luke 3:31 - "...the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David."
Prophecy #4: Born of a Virgin
Isaiah 7:14 - "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."
Fulfillment:
Matthew 1:18, 22-23 - "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.'"
Prophecy #5: God in the Flesh
Isaiah 9:6-7 (9:5-6 in the Jewish Bible) - "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
Fulfillment:
Matthew 1:1 - "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham."
John 1:14 - "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
Prophecy #6: The Humility of Messiah
Zechariah 9:9 - "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."
Fulfillment:
John 12:12-14 - "...a great multitude...when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: 'Hosanna! "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" The King of Israel!' Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written."
Prophecy #7: The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53 - When he reads this passage, your Jewish friend might think that he is reading from the New Testament. He may be surprised to see this in his own Bible!
Fulfillment:
John 1:1; Matthew 8:16-17; 26:62-63; 27:12-14, 38, 57-60; Mark 15:27-28; Luke 23:33; Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:3
These fulfilled prophecies could only have come about by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God has always dearly loved the Jewish people. After all, they are His chosen ones. "Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the Law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen." (Romans 9:4,5)
The good news about Yeshua is "first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 1:16) If anyone can be said to have a "right" to the fulfilled prophecies, it is the Jews. It is their "birthright" so to speak. Those who come to the Father through Yeshua, the Son, are granted forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. The Law is good, but "if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21)
Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews in the United States alone. Estimates range from 200,000 all the way up to 1.2 million. These believers have discovered what Yeshua has done for them as prophesied in Isaiah 53. That amazing prophecy has been fulfilled "first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
Yeshua loves you with an everlasting love. He invites you to come to Him and believe. While many Jews and Gentiles are receiving the benefits of the Messiah from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what about you? Will you approach the Lord today and receive those benefits which come through faith in Yeshua?
The angels in heaven will rejoice if you take that step of faith. And more importantly, your Lord will be thrilled to welcome you home. You may find yourself today in a spiritual wilderness of sorts. God has prepared the way for you to be delivered. Will you complete the journey with the One who is a descendant of Abraham, and who came from the house of David?
And please remember. Jews who accept Yeshua are completely Jewish. That is the way the "Jewish God" designed it. He is the only God, and Yeshua is the only Messiah the Jews will ever be given.
-- Dan Delzell is the pastor of Wellspring Lutheran Church in Papillion, Neb.
Well and truly stated.
Absolutely.
I’m not debating those points.
I should have clarified that my comments about liberals and their “Christian Zionist” strawman are incidental to what the minister is saying. The Messianic Jews are part of that strawman.
Reality doesn’t work that way, the Jews in America have not always voted as they have as a single reaction to Christians in the republican party, for one thing, were the democrats actually known as anti-Christian in the 1800s?
Liberalism drives Jews to vote as they do and always have, not too much Christianity in the GOP.
RE: If a Jew accepts Jesus, and still remains a Jew, will consuming pork be a violation?
Short answer — NO. In Jesus Christ, there is dietary FREEDOM.
Today, modern methods of testing, harvesting, and storage help protect us what was at the time of Moses, unclean animals ( including shellfish).
Further, this dietary law applied only to the Jewish people UNDER the Mosaic law.
In Christ, dietary laws have been superceded. Only MORAL laws are to be obeyed.
Therefore, it is not an abomination for you (or your neighbor) to eat pork. Enjoy (that is, if you believe in Yeshua).
However, if a believer in Yeshua still refuses to eat pork, THAT’s OK too. There is FREEDOM when it comes to diet, the only restriction being one’s HEALTH.
Your objection to “open proselytizing” is inappropriate. It’s (mostly) still a free country, and the post doesn’t violate forum rules.
Yes, it’s commanded. And it’s still commanded no matter who you are. If you want to rationalize your way out of a commandment, you are blessed with the free will to do so, at your own risk, just as with all the other commandments.
I didn’t say it wasn’t liberalism. But the “Christian Zionist” bogeyman is openly spoken of among the liberal Jewish majority as a reason to eschew the GOP, never mind conservatives.
And the Democrats known as “anti-Christian”? They would never have survived the 1850s with an open stance like that; certainly the KKK couldn’t have been developed without a cloak of false Christianity. If the Dems had stuck with their anti-God platform in 2012, they would have met a sudden demise that year.
Give it up, the Jews have always voted the same in America, it has nothing to do with recent issues regarding Israel.
They vote for liberalism, they choose the politics and politicians that they favor, 80 and 90% of Jews have not voted democrat because of “Christian Zionism”.
They did not give Eugene Deb’s Socialist Party 38% of their vote because of anyone’s support or non-support of Zionism.
No sarcasm here. I am stating the bald truth, from an actual real live observant Jew, born of an unbroken line of actual Jews. Anyone who claims that you can observe Christian beliefs and still be a Jew is a proselytizer attempting to spread misinformation. I don’t care how many Messyonics here attack me, they cannot refute the truth of what I say. You can waste as much time and bandwidth as you feel you have to, but you are LYING. You will NEVER sway me in your attempts, so don’t even try. Don’t try character assassinations, because you don’t have a leg to stand on. I know whereof I speak, whereas you are making it up as you go along.
Who said “recent”? And where am I denying that the majority are liberal? You appear to be reading too much into what I’m saying.
So Jews are heavily liberal and leftists, and have always voted so, always.
That seems clear enough, it is about politics.
Not in this particular forum.
They still use “Christian Zionists” as a bogeyman though. Call it a “justification” if you will. But many of them will come out with this as an answer notwithstanding.
:)
I wish had your poignancy.
“This forum” isn’t even 20 years old yet, it has nothing to do with the perfect anti republican voting history of the Jewish vote in America, during our entire history.
Besides, it was you who has been pushing the Christian Zionist “boogeyman”, not “they”.
Eh? No, I’ve heard the stuff about “Christian Zionism” from many liberal Jews. And also from many liberals that claim to be Catholic. I have not heard this from too many of what those groups would term “ultra-Orthodox” though. The libs do “push” the “CZ” line quite a lot.
Once I came across someone who called herself a "fired up Catholic" (even though she was a Protestant) because she was born again and no longer believed most of things particular to the Catholic faith.
Words mean things. Twisting words to try and catch someone's ear or interest is dishonest.
I don't know if what is going on on this thread even deserves the label proselytizing as it is so adolescent it may only work on troubled youths.
“I knew you both would say it better than I ever could!
:) I wish had your poignancy.”
I’ve written thousands of psychological reports and I always had to find the common denominator - what was all the psychological testing telling me about what was the basic reason(s) for this person’s behavior? And, if that case went to court for some reason, I had to be able to support why I made that diagnosis. Because of that pressure, I never hurried making a diagnosis and I wrote clearly why the diagnosis was correct.
So, think about the question you are trying to answer and get it down to the basic common denominator. People will understand your answer very well if you get it down to the facts and skip extraneous material. Flowery answers are harder to understand.
That would be up to your own conscience. Jesus showed the Apostle Peter in a dream to eat the once-forbidden foods and he responded, No, Lord! But Jesus told him that whatever He had consecrated he should by no means any longer call a sin. It was the open door to take the gospel to the gentiles, but it was also showing that the perfect sacrifice of Christ had paid the penalty of sin once and for all, and there was no longer any need to distinguish between good and bad meats. All were from God, all were now acceptable. I sort of think (just my opinion, of course) that the limited meats eaten by the Jewish people were to prevent unauthorized sacrifices.
Well, deny, deny, deny, that Christ is the only Savior... Nothing new under the sun as Solomon penned. But when HE returns it is Written EVERY knee will bow, well at least for a short time.
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