According to the Genesis (Bereshit) in the Old Testament, God choose descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to represent the plans of God, the standard of the heavenly principle, love, and the plan of salvation. At the beginning, God gave Adam and Eva the law along with plan of salvation. When Jews were chosen later, they received 613 pieces of descriptive law which have to be kept in peoples mind so that they could present the plan of God to the contemporary world. When Jews were enslaved in Egypt, they were emancipated miraculously and were lead out of the oppressing country for the promised land by Moses. According to the one of the laws given, the Jewish people have celebrated "Pass-over" ever since then to remember the experience, which taught to wait for the real liberator, "Messiah."
Jacob had 12 sons who were the basis of people of "Israel". In Torah, the word "Israel" is always used in singular form to represent the entire descendants of Jacob. The ten tribes later back from Egypt and established the Kingdom of Israel at the time of David. Soon after the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided into two: the northern kingdom by 10 tribes and the southern kingdom by 2 tribes. The northern kingdom was called "Israel" and the south was called "Juda". The "Israel" (or Ephrim) was lost due to terrible apostacy. However, the prophet of Hashem clearly stated that the Israel will be restored and return when the Messiah comes. At this point, no one has clearest idea where these ten tribes were gone. According to the Book of Ezekiel, the best way to differentiate the people of Hashem from the other is see if they observe the Shabat (Ezekiel 20:12). So you may ask who is a Jew and who is an Israel. A Jew could be one of the descendent of Judah and Benjamin (it does not matter if he is Ashkenazi or Sepharadi!) while you cannot say for sure who an Israel is. Israel was dispersed into gentile country beyond the great river. Some of them could be in Japan, China, India, Africa, Europe or even in the United States. But only way you could tell which one could be is the fact if he observe the Sabbath and other commandments.
Is observation of all Jewish ceremonies prerequisite for Messianic Israel? The answer is not really. It is great to observe these festival with Jewish friends. However, when the northern kingdom was taken away, even the southern kingdom of Juda did not even establish reading Shema Israel, and the first month of the year was Nisan instead of Tishri (which was changed under the influence of Babilonian culture). Therefore, even Rosh Hashana was not celebrated by the either of these kingdom when both existed. Therefore, Messianic Israel may not be necessarily forced to follow the complete set of festival paradigm which were made up by Judah after they came back from Babylon (So Messianic Israel does not have to worry about Talmud). For this reason, common religous basis should be seeked even prior to the division of the two kingdoms. Having the definition of "Messianic Israel" along with "Messianic Jew," you have to reconsider the definition of Jew (Israel) once again.
In order to be a Messianic Jew (Messianic Israel), you do not necessarily have to be a biologically proven Jew. I do not intend to offend some of the proud Jewish people by saying this, but rather I would like humbly to explain what the Torah explains regarding the Jewishness. There is no question that a man who was born from Jewish parents is a Jew. However, that's not all. Rahab, for example, who helped two espionage to conquer the City of Jericho, was accepted as a member of "Israel" because she respected the God of Israel and accepted to follow the Law. Remember Ruth; she was a Moabite but was accepted as an "Israel" because she accepted the God of Israel and the Law not only she worshipped. Therefore, anyone who decided to worship the God of Israel, to follow his commandments, and to commit to the Jewish people according with the covenant to share the responsibility, the privilege, their mission and even hardship can be a "Israel." No question about it.
You may ask then what is the benefit to follow the commandments of Creator God in this world. Then you have to realize that the main theme of the Bible is for salvaging us from the wreck as consequence of sin. So, salvation means the restoration of human being back to the sinless matured state out of the wreck. Jews have chosen to claim the plan of salvation and to message that the restorator were coming. The "restorator" is the Messiah. It should be remembered that waiting for the coming of the savior Messiah is the ultimate theme of Judaism although quite a number of Jewish people did not recognize Him yet. Those people, who believe that Yeshua (Jesus) was the Messiah who was promised to come in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 53, are called Messianic believer.
Therefore, people who worship and follow the commandments of God were accepted as "Jews" those who believe that Messiah is coming were called "Messianic", why not those people who accepted Jesus as Messiah and pay respects to Torah by following the commandments would be called as "Messianic Jews?" Nothing is contradicting from the Bible.
Paul, who was the one of the first Messianic Jews in the New Testament
clearly stated that there is no difference between "Jews " and "gentiles"
from the eyes of the Lord. Yeshua believers can be called as Jews as long
as they believe Him and follow the Law! Moreover, this is important, no
one has a right to insist that such "Jews" have absolutely no biological
connection in the past (You never know). And it should be fair to add that
the mere "Jewishness" is not the guarantee of your salvation.
MJ (and MI) worship G-d on the Seventh day of week as Shabbat
The Bible, including the New Testament, indicates that the seventh day
of the week is the Shabbat (Sabbath) that is the special and sanctified
day assigned by G-d. There is no convincing evidence in the Bible that
the Holy day was switched over from Saturday to Sunday. The Shabbat is
the day of remembrance of the divine creation and the liberation of people
from the oppression of sin. The Messianic observe the Shabbat with rejoice
and from the sunset of Friday to the sunset of Saturday.
MJ (and MI) appreciate and follow the principle of the Torah
The first five books in the Old Testaments, the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Number and Deuteronomy, are called Torah. It is our common belief that
Torah was given not only for Jews but also for all the people in the world.
Yeshua came to the world as the Messiah and brought Messianic messages
(we call them Gospel), which are believed as realization of the principle
of the Law. Yeshua came to complete and fulfill the Torah, not to abolish
or discard it. There should be no misunderstanding about this point by
reading Matthew 5:17-19. Messianic Jews identify Yeshua in the Torah as
well. For these reason, there is no such thing like conflicts between Laws
and Gospel in Messianic Judaism. Messianic Judaism is the Judaism that
accepts Yeshua's deity.
Does MJ (or MI) believe in Trinity?
The answer is yes or no. Remember, there is no such thing the word "Trinity" until one of the early church Christian theologist produce the concept. The idea of Trinity is one of the ways to explain the enigmatic relationship of Hashem, Spirit and Messiah. These three exixtence is one instead of three different entities. There is no doubt that Hashem is only one. Yeshua is one. Our existences are not able to comprehend. Our inability to comprehend the existence of Hashem does not exclude Yeshua as G-d.
MJ (and MI) are but neither Protestant nor Catholic, but representing the Early Church.
The word "Christian" was made up by people who persecuted Jewish Yeshua believers in the first century. Therefore, the word was originally directly applied to the Messianic Jews. This has to be remembered and emphasized. As the congregation of the messianic believers grew, the body of Messianic believers started diluting the Jewishness of the church and the compliance to the commandments has been dwindled. Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestants were born much later while they forgot the Jewishness of their churches. It is not appropriate to categorize the Messianic Jew Congregation into any one of them. In broader sense, the Messianic Judaism is in most part equivalent to Christianity because they accept Yeshua as Messiah, God, but on the other hand they should be distinguished from the major part of Christians by its special position. Messianic is nothing but the Early Church, so I am not surprised if somebody starts saying that "Christianity could be derived from Messianic Jewishness!". Humbly speaking, I believe that a Christian can be a Messianic if he/she could appreciate the Jewishness of Christianity and find happiness in following his commandments.
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