AS LONG AS THEY ALL POINT TO CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES

 

I have been asked a number of questions why I am promoting Messianic Congregations, celebration of Jewish new moons, Gematria, eating of kosher food and the blowing of the shofar. 

My reply to them is a simple, "No!" I do not condone anyone who wants to go back to the influence of the Judaisers. But, as long as they exalt Jesus as the Messiah, and believe in Him as their personal Saviour, they are still one of us.

There are also positive things that one can learn from even the Jewish rabbi themselves, which is their reverence for God and His Holy Scriptures. Although we know that the Jewish rabbis do not believe in Jesus as their Messiah, we connect with them to understand more of the Jewish cultures, in order for us to gain better insights into God's Word in the Old Testament.

The bottom line is: Do not believe anything and everything you hear. If anything, we have to take things with a pinch of salt and always check everything against the Scriptures to see if it is true (cf Acts 17:11). 

We are living in the era after Christ's death and resurrection. We are also living in a time when everyone becomes a prophet overnight. John exhorts us to always test the spirit of the prophet (1 John 4:1-6) and Jeremiah warns us against the false prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, promising Israel good things to come when doom was imminent (Jeremiah 5:31).

Again, my key message is: Always test everything against the teaching of Scriptures. By this, I mean you have to be diligent to read God's Word for yourself. 

Now, let me elaborate my views on a number of things: 

A) Messianic Congregations. They have a place in Israel where Jews have come to Christ and instead of becoming part of a Western church setting, they continue worshipping Yeshua in their traditional settings. There may be efforts to duplicate such a setting elsewhere outside of Israel, which I think is unnecessary.

B) Is it Yeshua, Yehoshua or Jesus? The commonly accepted Hebrew name for Jesus is:

This had its origin from the name,  יְהוֹשֻׁעַ or Joshua.

The Greek's equivalent, Ἰησοῦ was later translated into Latin as Iēsūs, from where we get the English equivalent, 'Jesus.' Over the centuries, people's lives have been transformed and miracles performed in the name of Jesus; therefore, how can we turn around and say that one should only pray in the name of  Yeshua? Or, that is the only correct name to be used?

I am happy when people try to stick to the actual name in Hebrew, but no one should even say that the name Jesus is wrong! This, to me, is bordering towards heresy!

C) Of Feasts and New Moons. During the Old Testament times, God instructed the Israelites to remember the feasts and the new moons. However, as Paul argues, these things were merely shadow of the Messiah who was to come.

When Christ, who is the real substance, finally arrived, all these feasts and celebrations of the new moon (Rosh Chodesh) are no longer necessary.

Paul warns that we should not allow anyone to even judge us regarding the food or drink in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. With one sentence, he puts the festivals and new moons in their rightful place, reminding the Gentile believers in Colossae that these "are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ". Refer to the Scriptures:

Colossians 2: 16-19
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

D) Gematria. Gamatria is "a Kabbalistic method of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on the values of their constituent letters." Also see Dictionary.com. Also read this post.

Remember this is the kabbalistic way that some Jews spend a lot of their time trying to understand the Scriptures. Jews, and even Muslims have problems with the practice of kabbala magic (hukum syirik). Some of them tried to invoke God's power by adulterating their Scriptures. Even the Muslims condemn such practices.

It is possible that, with our preoccupation of the gematria, that we miss the real essence of God's message which is written plainly for even the ordinary person to understand. During Jesus' time, the Jewish scholars spent too much time arguing over a simple word that they failed to grasp the whole gist of God's Law which can be summarised in just one verse:

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself." (Luke 10:27)

With any Hebrew word, you can calculate any number. And, with these numbers, you can always come out with all sorts of explanation that mesmerises people. Therefore, when you hear someone quoting from gematria, take it with a pinch of salt. As long as the thoughts shared by the person do not deviate from Christ and the teaching of Scriptures, it's fine. You can take it as a devotional thought, nothing more than that!

One can look at a letter from Hebrew and imagine what it is made of. You can do this with the letter 'a' as well and use it as an illustration.

Look carefully at the letter above. Isn't the letter 'a' made up of two components? The C which represents Christ and the 'I' which is now bent towards Christ? Therefore, when one is with Christ, he can no longer cling on to his own ego or the straightened up, 'I'.

It's fine to use this illustration when you want to teach a certain precept, but do not stretch it too far as saying that God has a hidden meaning in the letter 'a'. If you do, I would like to point out that the letter 'd' is even better! It is made up of two components, Christ and the upright 'I' meaning 'with Christ, I am to live an upright life!"

But, I wouldn't go as far as saying that God has a hidden meaning in the letter 'a' or 'd'. I would say, "Isn't it interesting, for illustration purposes, even the letter 'a' and 'd' can tell a story?"

E) Hebrew is a heavenly language.  I learn and promote Hebrew, but some people tell me that we will all speak with God in His mother tongue, Hebrew. My question to them is: "Well, didn't God use koine Greek to put together the New Testament?"

The reason we learn both Hebrew and Greek is to have a good working knowledge of the two languages that we can use to exegete the Bible better.

F) Eating of Kosher Food. God's word clearly says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial." While I do not adhere to a strict kosher diet, I avoid taking things that God tells the Israelites to eat out of a concern for their welbeing.

G) The Shofar. What about the blowing of the shofar? Well, I have written at a great length in an earlier post.

H) That the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew. What we really have is just a translation to Hebrew from the original Greek New Testament. We should not be gullible and believe such a lie. I am told that the person even claimed that the original manuscripts in the Hebrew New Testament were all destroyed. Let me ask, "If this is true, why would God not be able to preserve at least the original manuscript in Hebrew?" For your information, there are thousands of the New Testament in koine or common Greek because God chose a language that was the lingua franca of the day that He could use to communicate with the common people.

I have provided my views on a number of things. It is important that you search the Scriptures yourself to see if what I am teaching is true. Each one is accountable to God. In our enthusiasm, we cannot and should not contradict the Word of God.

Amen and Hallelujah!