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Guest Article: Beginning With Mosesby Rabbi Steve Costello
On the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13ff),"Beginning with Moses…" Yahshua showed that the "New Testament," the "New Covenant" was a continuous line from the "Old Testament," the "Old Covenant." He was showing them that everything that had happened had already been told by the prophets, and was a fulfillment. Yahshua was explaining that "Christianity" is Jewish. He was showing them how all the details fit together perfectly. He was discussing history and prophecy as truth about Himself, as well as underlining the fact that the Old Testament is all important as the Word of [Yahweh] from which to find out facts and obtain understanding. Some people think that they see a sharp distinction between Christianity and Judaism. However, that distinction is not really so very sharp. In fact, if by "Judaism" one means the messianic, biblical faith of Israel, then the faith we today call "Christianity", could be labeled Judaism -- Judaism…crowned with the Messiah Yahshua, the "Chief Cornerstone." Consider this: For years, all Yahshua’s followers were Jewish. The New Testament was entirely written by Jews (Luke was likely a proselyte to Judaism). The very concept of a Messiah is nothing but Jewish. Yahshua was-is still- A JEW. Revelation 5:5 still refers to Him as the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah." The Jews were the ones that first brought the Gospel to the non-Jews. [Shaul] was a life-long, observant Jew. In Acts chapter 15, ironically, a main concern in the early Messianic community ("the church") was whether or not a Gentile -- without undergoing ritual conversion to Judaism -- could become a Christian at all! Yahshua’s vicarious atonement is rooted in the Israelite sacrificial system. The Last Supper rested in Passover traditions. Baptism is Jewish, and predates the New Testament as the standard means of making converts to Judaism; and the entire New Testament is built on the Hebrew Bible (the "Old Testament") -- with its prophecies and the promise of the New Covenant. In fact, trying to make sense of the New Testament, while all but ignoring the Old Testament, is like trying to build the second floor of a building without the first! Truly the roots of Christianity run very deep into the Hebrew soil; and lie in the oath-bound covenants of [Yahweh] with Abraham and David! In Romans chapter 11 (verses 25-27), the Apostle Paul tells us that when the Messiah Yahshua returns "ALL ISRAEL will be saved". In its context, "ALL ISRAEL" is made up of believing Jews, PLUS "the full number of the [believing] Gentiles". The "Olive Tree" (that Paul mentioned earlier in the same chapter) illustrates the same. Elsewhere he defines it as "the ISRAEL of [Elohim]" (Galatians 6:16). "ALL ISRAEL" is the whole "Olive Tree". This tree consists of the "holy roots"-- representing the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-the faithful forefathers and the stalwart founders of the original people of [Yahweh], through whom [Yahweh] promised would one day come salvation and the Messiah Himself... without Whom the tree would die. The "natural and wild olive branches" that are mentioned in Romans chapter 11 (comp.Jer.11: 1-6) represent "the House of Judah" and "the House of Ephraim/Israel" being restored in Yahshua even as the Prophets foretold in the Old Covenant. But all, without exception, are part-and-parcel -- and full partners -- in Paul’s Olive Tree/Israel (Romans11). The same is "the Israel of [Elohim]" -- or the Israel of [Elohim’s] calling in Messiah Yahshua. For the last, nearly, 2000 years, only Believers in Messiah Yahshua (Jew or non-Jew) make up the Olive Tree/Israel of [Elohim]! All are part of the same Olive tree. All Believers compose "ALL ISRAEL" -- or the "Israel of [Elohim] in Messiah Yahshua, the history and the destinies of the Jewish and the non-Jewish believers become inextricably bound together. And, once grafted in, there is no distinction between the "natural" and "wild" Olive branches. There is but ONE Olive Tree. It represents ONE people of [Elohim] --Jews and non-Jews fed by the same life-giving sap. Therefore, whether natural or wild, all Believers have the full and equal citizenship in the Olive Tree/Israel. ALL are "grafted in." ALL are part of the same tree; and that tree is the Biblical Israel -- Abraham’s extended family of faith… the Israel of [Elohim]. In a small nutshell, this is the premise behind the Messianic Israel Movement. Shalom u’berachot, b’shem Yahshua Rav Sivan |
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