Messianic Judaism - Restoring The Foundation

What is Messianic Judaism? Where did it come from and why has it come on the scene now? Why do we use the name Yeshua haMashiach  ישוע הא משיח instead of Jesus the Messiah, or Jesus Christ, in our conversations and worship?  Why do we use Hebrew in our liturgy?  I will try to answer these questions by the leading of Ruach haKodesh  רוח הא קודש (The Holy Spirit). It is my objective to make this easy to read for the sake of brevity. It is, by no means, meant to be an in depth expository of the subject, but rather a brief explanation of what many of us, in the Messianic community believe Elohim אלוהים (G-d) is doing in these  Last days. All that being said, some will still think it is too long.

Note: Many Christians may find it strange that the letter "o" is not used by many Jewish people in their writings, when referring to our G-d, or L-rd. It is out of respect for the name, and is in no way meant to be interpreted  as an insult. Quite the contrary, it is based primarily on the Jewish idea (tradition) that if written, it could be erased, defaced, or destroyed and out of respect, you do not erase, deface, or destroy the name of G-d. This is a very simplistic explanation and there is much more to it, but, as I mentioned above, this is not an in depth expository of the subject. I will continue with this tradition out of respect for my Jewish friends. I personally try to avoid using the titles G-d and L-rd, but that is a subject for another time. I usually use in a sense that portrays what other's would say from their perspective. Sometimes it is just unavoidable when trying to make an idea clear ie.- The Kingdom of G-d etc..  Also, I will be using language recognized in Jewish understanding, and used by most in the Messianic community. For example;  Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit mentioned in the first paragraph. I will put the English understanding in parenthesis.  I pray you will understand.

What is Messianic Judaism? 

Many in the Messianic community believe the restoration of  Messianic Judaism is the  work of  Ruach haKodesh in the last days before the end of the Gentile age. The Ruach (Spirit) is moving upon the Jewish people, as well as many Gentile people, seeking the truth of the Jewish roots to their faith. Our heavenly Father is taking away the temporary blindness, and opening the eyes of the Jewish people, that they might recognize and believe in Yeshua  ישוע, as their promised Messiah. Messianic Judaism is not a new religion, as some may attempt to classify it, but is rather a restoration of the belief system that was in place during the lives of the Apostles in the first century.

 This writing attempts to bring many to understand that there is one Israel and not two. We, as believers are of the Commonwealth of Israel. We are Abraham's seed by faith in Yeshua. The wild olive branches, or the so called Church is grafted into the natural olive tree (Israel), by faith and not the other way around. It is clear from Scripture, that the original, natural olive branches (The Hebrew people),  were broken off, because of their rebellion,  to make salvation available to the wild olive branches, or the Goyim  הגויים (Gentiles). The Scriptures are clear that in the end time the Hebrew people, or natural branches, will be grafted back into the olive tree. See Romans Chapter eleven.

 Messianic Judaism is rooted in  the same form of worship that existed during the days of the Apostles, when they were commissioned by Yeshua haMashiach, to take the Good News חדשות טובות, into all the world. It is the form of worship the original Apostles would recognize, and is after the style of worship that was familiar to Yeshua. In fact, Yeshua revealed himself to be Messiah during the synagogue (public) reading of the weekly Shabbat Parashah  שבת פרשת (Sabbath portion). Yeshua read from Yesha'Yahu   ישעיהו  (Isaiah) 61: 1 & 2 in  the Tanakh תנך (Hebrew Scriptures). This is recorded in the Book of  Luke  לוק 4: 16-20;

"He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' "  (NIV)

 Those who follow the teachings of Messianic Judaism believe that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, Savior of the World and the Word made human flesh who tabernacled among us, as mentioned in the Book of Yochanan  יוחנן (John) 1: 1-14. The Tanakh, or (Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures), form the foundation for our faith with the B'rit Chadashah  (Refreshed [New] Covenant Scriptures), providing the completion of our faith. The shedding of Yeshua's blood put an end to the old sacrificial system of killing lambs and bulls for the sin atonement. You cannot be made righteous before our heavenly Father by the keeping of the Torah  תורה (Instruction). However, those who truly love our heavenly Father will strive to live their lives according to those commandments, regulations and statutes, which are pleasing in His sight. Yeshua told us in Mattityahu מתיו (Matthew) 5: 17 & 18;

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you,  until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass."    
(Tree of Life NT)  

I am forced to ask this question, referring to the above passage of Scripture. Have heaven and earth passed away? When I look outside my windows, I still see trees, birds, clouds and blue sky during the day and a dark sky with stars at night. I don't believe heaven and earth have passed away yet. They are still here. So, I am forced to believe that everything Yeshua was speaking, has yet to be accomplished. Context is very important in understanding Scripture. The great apologist for the faith, Dr. Walter Martin had a saying that goes like this;

"When you remove a text from its context, it becomes a pretext for error."

Many would like to remove the above passage from their Bibles, because it does not agree with their concept of grace. The fact of the matter remains. It is there. They are the words of Yeshua. It is up to us, to seek Ruach haKodesh, to give us their meaning and not trust the teachings and doctrines of men. The keeping of Torah, to the best of our ability, is what is pleasing to our Father in heaven. If the keeping of Torah was no longer important, why would our heavenly Father promise to write His Torah upon our hearts? Read Yirmeyahu  ירמיהו (Jeremiah) 31:33. Often, people wonder, what is the purpose for their life? Our Father  makes it clear what the purpose is for our lives in D'varim דברים (Deuteronomy) 30:19 & 20a, where it says;

"I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants, loving ADONAI your God, paying attention to what he says and clinging to him - for that is the purpose of your life!" (CJB)

Where did Messianic Judaism come from?

Messianic Judaism, as stated above was the original practice of the early believers in Yeshua during the first century. In some instances, Messianic Judaism was able to survive into the sixth century. Heavy antisemitism was beginning to occur, even during the days of the original Apostles, as the Good News started to spread among the Gentile nations. These peoples did not know much, if anything, of Torah, or Jewish tradition and were well rooted in their pagan beliefs. Heavy persecution came upon the early Jewish believers from both the Jews, who rejected Yeshua as their Messiah, and the new Gentile believers, who were mixing their pagan practices with their new found Christianity. By the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E., their antisemitism had reared its ugly head and under the authority Constantine, they abolished almost everything Jewish in the establishing of the Roman church. Many Jewish believers in Yeshua and Rabbinical Jews were persecuted and forced to convert, or die. Because of this persecution, many Jews were assimilated into the church. During the heavy persecution of Jews during the eighth century, many more changed their names to more localized sounding names and were also assimilated into local so called Christian churches in order to avoid torture, loss of property, or death.

Why is Messianic Judaism returning to the scene now? 

 Although the Messianic movement started to be restored in the late 19th century, it is no accident that this movement started to take root soon after Israel became an independent nation on May 14th, 1948. This occurance was prophesied in Yechezk'el יחזקאל (Ezekiel) 34: 11-16. The movement really started gaining momentum, after Jerusalem fell back into Israeli hands in 1967, during Milhemet Sheshet haYamim מלחמת ששת הימים (The Six Day War). In that year, there were zero Messianic congregations in the United States and today there are over 400 (not counting local house, Hebrew Roots and independent congregations) and over 800 congregations worldwide. In the United States there are two organizations most synagogues associate themselves with. They are M.J.A.A. (Messianic Jewish Alliance of America) and U.M.J.C. (Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations). Although Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, Messianic Judaism is among the fastest growing Christian belief systems (along with the Hebrew Roots Movement), and is the fastest growing form of Judaism. Messianic Judaism is on the rise in the eastern European nations, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Part of this is due to the fact that more and more Bible believing Jews and Gentiles are seeing the close of the Gentile age coming to pass, as spoken of in Luke 21:24. To the frustration of the Orthodox Jews in Israel, Messianic Judaism is rapidly on the rise there also. When the Almighty opens a door, no man can shut it.

Why not use the name Jesus?

The Hebrew name for Jesus is  ישוע  Yeshua. Some use the variations Yahshua, Yahoshua and Yehoshua, but the common pronunciation used in most Messianic congregations and writings is Yeshua. The name in Hebrew means "Yahweh saved," or "Salvation of Yah." The name Jesus was never heard in the ears of our Lord. How can I be certain about that? Well, first of all, the letter "J" did not come into existence until about 400 years ago, making the name "Jesus" an impossibility. Incidentally, the same can be said for the name Jehovah, and the name James. The English name James in Hebrew is יעקב Ya'akov. The Greek name for Yeshua is Ιησους or Iesous (pronounced: Yay soos). The Latin name for Jesus is also Iesous with a different accent (pronounced EE soos). The 1611 version of the King James Bible did not use the name Jesus because the name did not yet appear in the English language until about thirty years after its authorization when the letter "J" came into English usage. The spelling of the name in the 1611 original King James version was  Iesvs. See photo below. Yeshua was Hebrew. He was given a Hebrew name. It is only proper that he be called by his given name. Acts 4: 11 & 12 says this;

"This Yeshua is the stone rejected by you builders which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!"  (CJB)

Why use Hebrew in our liturgy?

Hebrew is our heavenly Father's language. It is the language He used to speak to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron and all of the prophets of old. It is also the language that some claim Yeshua spoke during creation. It is the pure language He swore He would restore to His people in the end times in Tz'fanyah  צפניה (Zephaniah) 3:9. Not all Messianic congregations use the Hebrew liturgy, but many do. Many use the Hebrew and English together. If one wants to worship in the rich Jewish tradition, Hebrew brings out the meaning of worship, like no other language can. Some of the prayers in the Hebrew have been around for 3,500 years and were familiar to Yeshua and the Apostles. 

Until the last fifty years, or so, it was believed that the whole New Testament was written in Greek. The evidence has only recently been coming forward that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew, or Aramaic and translated into Greek. There is evidence of this, from within the text themselves and from archaeological  discoveries in the last hundred years. The Aramaic Eastern Peshitta Text translated by Andrew Gabriel Roth is strong evidence of this idea.

 There is also the fact that our present New Testaments were written with an antisemitic, Christian bias. By the time the Protestant Reformation was happening, and their doctrines were being formulated, this antisemitic bias was already deeply rooted in their beliefs which were carried over from Rome. Unfortunately, the apple did not fall far from the tree.  The following is a quote from Jeff A. Benner, whom I believe to be one of the foremost experts of our day in the ancient Hebrew.

"Aside from the issue of what language the New Testament was originally written, the primary question should be, 'What language did Yeshua and his Talmidiym (Apostles) speak when teaching?' If they taught in Hebrew then......we must understand his teachings from a Hebraic perspective, not through Greek."  

It was once thought that the Hebrew language was a dead language by the time Messiah walked the earth. We now know this is false, as there is too much evidence to the contrary. Yeshua and his Talmidiym (Disciples) were Hebrews. They grew up in a Hebrew land. They spoke and read the Hebrew Scriptures and they wrote in Hebrew. Their understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures was from an Ancient, Eastern, Hebrew perspective. Our Bibles today are translated from a Modern, Western, Hellenistic culture. They are like oil and water. They do not mix. Unfortunately, our Old Testament has been translated from the Masoretic text with all of their Rabbinical biases. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we have Hebrew texts closer to the original writings. I look forward to better translations about to come on the scene.  

                                                                       

Shalom Ahlaychem,

 Barry W. Gaugler

Click on picture to enlarge.