Messianic Judaism is a biblically based movement of Jewish people who have come to believe in Yeshua as the promised Jewish Messiah of Israel. Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus which means "Salvation". Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews in the world. Messianic synagogues are springing up. Other nations such as USA, Canada, England, France, Israel, Australia, South Africa are experiencing a growing movement of Messianic Jews as well.

Is it Jewish to Believe in Jesus?

To some, the concept of a Jewish person believing in Yeshua seems to be a contradiction. On the one hand, you have Jews and Judaism and on the other hand, Christians and Christianity. You are either one or the other.

If we go back 2000 years, we find that Yeshua ws a Jew living in a Jewish land among Jewish people. All the apostles were Jewish as well as the writers of the New Covenant and for many years this faith in Yeshua was strictly a Jewish one.

From the Book of Acts and other historical evidence, many believe that in the first-century there were literally hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews. In addition, there were Messianic synagogues scattered throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. There first-century Messianic Jews remained highly loyal to their people.

Whether it was Jewish to believe in Yeshua was never an issue. The big question back then was whether Yeshua had been sent for the Gentiles also. When God miraculously showed the Messianic Jews that he was the Messiah for both Jew and Gentile alike, then Gentiles from every nation began to pour into this Jewish faith.

Through the years, as the numbers of Gentile believers increased, they began to predominate in this Messianic faith. With the passing on of the Jewish apostles and the early Messianic Jews, the Jewish roots of the faith were eventually lost.

This "de-Judaizing" process continued until in one of the greatest paradoxes in history, it became alien for a Jewish person to believe in Yeshua as his Messiah [Salvation]!

The Real Issue

Today we are seeking to put the Messiah back within His biblical and Jewish context.

Messianic Judaism is a spiritual revival, a return to the faith as the Messianic Jews had in the first century, unencumbered by the traditions of men. It is a return to a pure and simple faith based upon having a living, vibrant and personal relationship with the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through the Messiah Yeshua.

The real issue we must recognize is not whether is Jewish to believe in Yeshua, because the Jewishness of Yeshua is historically unquestionable. The real issue at stake here is whether Yeshua is truly the Messiah or not. If He is, then it is the most Jewish thing in the world to believe in Him. If He is not the Messiah, then we should not follow Him.

There is only one way to find out, and that is to go back into the Jewish scriptures ourselves and study the Messianic prophecies. According to the Jewish scriptures, the Messiah was to come twice; the first time to suffer and die, and the second time to usher in the Messianic era of peace upon the earth.

Why did the Messiah have to die?

The prophet Isaiah answered this question when he said, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid upon Him (the Messiah) the sin of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)

Without God there is no hope for mankind. It is obvious that man is separated from G-d when we view the ever-worsening situation in the world today. That is why He sent Yeshua, the Messiah, who came to deliver us from our sins and to bring us into a new life in Him.

For hundreds of thousands of us today, we know that we have found the Messiah who said, "do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)

We would like to encourage you to read and study the Jewish scriptures for yourself and find out if Yeshua is truly the One of whom the prophets spoke. Before you research the scriptures, pray and ask the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to guide you and show you His truth.

What do the Prophets Say About Messiah?

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:1-6)

Kineret

Other Messianic Prophecies from the Jewish Scriptures:

Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Moses proclaims that a prophet like him will arise whom the people must obey.

Micah 5:2
His place of birth, Bethlehem.

Isaiah 9:6-7
Messiah to be born and to reign on king David's throne.

Daniel 9:24-26
Messiah to come and be "cut off" before the destruction of the Temple.

Isaiah 49:6-7
Messiah to be a light to the nation of Israel and to the Gentiles as well.

Jeremiah 31:21-24
Jeremiah prophesies God's new covenant with Israel.

Zechariah 9:9
Israel's King endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey.

Daniel 7:13-14
Messiah to be given glory and everlasting dominion over all nations.