by Sid Roth
Recently I was asked about descendants of the twelve tribes and why we call them Jews. Then I was asked why Jews who become Christians are called Messianic Jews.
Historically the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were called Israelites and the Southern inhabitants were called Jews. However, today we call all physical descendants of Abraham
and converts Jews. In order to be a Jewish citizen of Israel, a Jew must
prove their mother is Jewish. Although there was much intermarriage over
the centuries, God has managed to maintain His Jewish people. Many have
Jewish ancestry but due to much intermarriage are not considered physical Jews.
Israel considers proof of a Jewish mother to establish Jewishness but the
Torah considers either father or mother. The rabbis were not positive of
who the father was because of infidelity but always could prove the mother.
Shortly the best proof will be DNA evidence. For instance my DNA goes
back to the tribe of Judah.
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A Brit Mila (circumcision) gathering, an important family event.
In order to understand your second question you
must understand the history of the Messianic Jewish movement. When I was
a brand new Jewish believer in the early 70’s, the movement was called Hebrew
Christian. Many of us wanted to disassociate with the word Christian.
We knew we were Christians based on the true meaning of the word.
However by usage the word meant back then and even today as defined by
the Christian as well as the Jewish community as no longer Jewish. We
refused to be called no longer Jewish. God went to a lot of trouble to
maintain us as a distinct people for a distinct end time purpose and we did not
want to water it down. God said in Jeremiah 31:35,36 that as long as the
world exists there will be physical Jews. To preserve us against
impossible odds, God put an instinct within every physical Jew that says, “I
was born a Jew and I will die a Jew.” When a Jew is presented the Gospel he must not have to go against his God given “instinct” to be saved! Why put unnecessary obstacles? From a spiritual view point there is no Jew and no Gentile, no male and no female. But from a
physical viewpoint we still have Jews, Gentiles, males and females. In
heaven there will be no need for physical distinctions but on earth we live in
two realms. This is why we call ourselves Messianic Jews.
But about fifteen years ago God started speaking to me about the One New Man from Ephesians 2: 14-22. God moves in stages with humans. Without Messianic Judaism we could not move to the One
New Man. Today we have a few One New Man Congregations. The true Church will eventually recognize that as we become closer to the first congregation of believers culturally and spiritually, and as more Jewish people are added to the Church it will release the full Glory of God. We will
all do the same works as Jesus and even greater.
Religious spirits are and will try to abort
this movement. Some will feel we must observe these biblical feasts for
salvation. Some believers will follow more rabbinical Judaism than New
Covenant. Some will even convert to Traditional Judaism. Some will
be more in love with Jewish roots than the Jewish Jesus! These are all
the works of demons! But some will see the Glory of God that will be
released when these Jesus shadow feasts are observed in freedom and truth!
They will “want to” celebrate them as opposed to “have
to” celebrate them!
If this is the case why are not all Messianic
Jewish Congregations filled with the Glory of God? Few Messianic Jewish
Congregations or Gentile Congregations have learned how to surrender to the
Holy Spirit. But God is about to do something new. He needs a
new vessel to contain the new Glory outpouring. I believe God will call
this next move the One New Man. These One New Man Congregations and house
churches will be so full of the Glory of God that Jews and Gentiles will be
provoked to jealousy and be saved.
Yom Kippur in the synagogue.
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