Christians who have not realized and valued the Jewish roots of the Church can have wrong assumptions about Jesus. For instance, a famous work of art, “The Last Supper” by Leonardo daVinci, is in error in almost every historical detail, but the Church has never questioned this depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples. Dwight Pryor of The Center for Judaic Christian Studies points out that The Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder, and the correct setting is in the evening, commemorating the night the death angel “passed over” the homes of the Israelites as they were preparing to flee Egypt. In the painting fish and bread are served, but the food Jesus and His disciples had was matza (unleavened bread) and a lamb from the Temple sacrifices. In the painting Jesus is seated upright at the center of a long table. However, Jesus and his disciples would have been reclining on the floor on cushions, leaning around a u-shaped table called a triclinium. Jesus, the guest of honor, would have been placed in the second position from the right end. Instead, daVinci painted “thirteen Europeans in Renaissance clothing having a midday meal in an Italian palace!” says Pryor. Jesus was robbed of His Jewish identity!
We lost the awareness of the Jewishness of Jesus and of Christianity when the Church began changing from a fully Jewish membership (about ten years after Pentecost) to a Gentile religion, especially after the dispersion of the Jews following the Second Jewish Revolt of A.D. 135. A famous Jewish evangelist, Jonathan Bernis of Jewish Voice Ministries, said that before his eyes were opened to see the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth, he thought Jesus was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ! His false assumption was similar to that of the brothers of Joseph when they were sent from Canaan by their father Jacob to Egypt to buy grain during the famine. Joseph, the Prime Minister of Egypt, appeared to them to be a Gentile. How shocked they were later when he revealed himself as their own brother! (Gen. 42-45) Just as Joseph was “received” as “Savior” from the famine by the Gentile Egyptians, in the same way Jesus was received as Savior from sin by the Gentiles. But the time is coming and is already here when the Jewish people will recognize their Jewish Messiah, just as Joseph’s brothers finally recognized him, “and all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:25-26).
Christians can have wrong assumptions about Israel also. Many wrongly assume that the Arabs and Jews should share the land equally, but they don’t take into account that the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (name changed to Israel) regarding the land are everlasting covenants. Those who don’t respect the authority of the Bible but lean on their human understanding have made wrong assumptions. God made generous provisions of land for the Arabs, descendants of Ishmael and Esau, but His covenant was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel (Gen. 17: 18-21). Moreover, He identified Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying “This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations” (Ex. 3:15). Their descendants, the Jews, were promised the Holy Land, which was first defined to Abraham as the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates River (Gen. 15:18). That includes the so-called “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) where many Jews have bravely settled and claimed their biblical inheritance in the midst of hostile Muslims.
Even though the Palestinians continue to threaten that they will push Israel into the Sea, God has guaranteed that Israel will exist as long as the sun, moon and stars exist! (Jer. 31:35-36) The Muslims do not want a state alongside the state of Israel; they want a land devoid of Jews. It is not a territorial dispute, because the 22 Arab nations have over eight million square miles of land (rich with oil), and Israel has only eight thousand, six hundred thirty square miles. God has deeded the land to Israel, a fact which the world rejects, because they reject the authority of God’s Word.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is actually a religious, and indeed, a spiritual conflict. All peace plans have and will fail because of misunderstanding this. When Israel was recreated in the center of the Islamic heartland in 1948, demonstrating that the Bible, and not the Qur’an, was God’s true Word, this was a direct challenge to Islam. The Qur’an demands that jihad be waged until Israel is wiped out. Today the Covenant of the Hamas states, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory). The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.” This Covenant is based on Mohammed’s “hadith” (sayings and laws transmitted orally) in which He claimed the Final Hour will not come until Muslims slaughter Jews, and even the rocks and trees will betray the Jews hiding behind them. This portrayal of the Final Hour means a Muslim, who by faith has to believe in the Hour, has to also believe in this mass slaughter of Jews” (http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm).
Again, this is a spiritual conflict.
The world falsely assumes that the conflict has a human solution, but the Bible says otherwise. The flash point for the conflict centers on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Satan has been planning to set up his throne ever since he was kicked out of heaven (Rev. 12: 7-9; Isa. 14:12-14; Matt. 24:15-16; II Thess. 2: 3-4). The Lord Jesus will return to that holy place, vanquish Satan and all His enemies, and begin His reign over all the earth in New Jerusalem (Zech. 14; Rev. 19-22).
New Jerusalem will be a Jewish place with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on the twelve gates of the city! The wall of the city will have twelve foundations with the names of the twelve Jewish apostles of the Lamb on them. It would be wise for Christians to get rid of their false assumptions about Jesus and Israel, God’s Holy Land, and begin rehearsing for our heavenly destiny by caring about our Jewish roots!
What are some ways you can begin to show that you care about the Jewish roots of the Church?
Category: Judaism
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WRONG ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT JESUS AND ISRAEL
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MY CONTINUING JOURNEY AS A MIZPAH
by Nancy Petrey
It was on August 18, 1995, that God called me to a specific work in His kingdom, that of a “Mizpah” for Israel. It came in the form of a personal prophecy from my husband, who said, “The Lord has told me you are a Mizpah for Israel.” A friend pointed me to the story of the covenant made between Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban. “And Laban said, ‘This heap [of stones] is a witness between you and me this day.’ Therefore its name was called Galeed, also Mizpah, because he said, ‘May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.” Later I found out that Israel and the Church were indeed “absent one from another,” because the Church had cut off her Jewish roots!
A personal prophecy is not meant to direct your life but to confirm a direction that God is already leading you in. I had already been acting as a witness and a watchman for Israel after being inspired by my first tour there in 1994. Being in Israel gave me the feeling I had gone home, and upon my return I wrote a report entitled, “Back to My Roots.” This was before I even knew there was a Jewish roots movement. Now God was calling me to help the Church to be reconnected to her Jewish roots.
The real beginning point of my Jewish roots journey began back in 1975, when I read Corrie Ten Boom’s book, The Hiding Place. The courage she and her family had in hiding Jews from the Nazis in Holland really impacted my life. On a trip to Israel in 1998, with a seven-and-a-half-hour layover in Amsterdam, I was able to visit the Ten Boom watchmaker’s shop where the famous hiding place was located. How dramatic that I could step into the cut-out wall to stand in that hiding place! While in the house I also had the blessing of playing the piano and having others gather around and sing “You are My Hiding Place.”
On my most recent trip to Israel in September-October, 2012, I had another priceless musical experience. My friend and I visited the Jerusalem Prayer Center, which is the former home of Horatio Spafford’s daughter, Bertha Vester. Her piano was in the chapel, and my host in Jerusalem, Roy Kendall, played Spafford’s beautiful hymn, “It is Well with My Soul,” on that piano, as our group sang along. My spirit soared.
Other exciting things have happened to me on my seven trips to Israel, but nothing is more satisfying than seeing my Jewish Messiah in Scripture, as I continue my journey as a Mizpah! I see Yeshua the Messiah closely identified with Israel in the servant passages in Isaiah – “Israel, My Servant” (Isa. 41:8-9; 43:10; 44:1, 21; 45:4; 48:20; and 49:3) and “Yeshua My Servant” (Isa. 42:1; 49:5-6; 50:4-10; 52:13; and 53:11.) The servant roles of both Yeshua and Israel are juxtaposed, however, within these three verses: “… You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified … And now the Lord says, Who formed Me [Yeshua] from the womb to be His Servant [Yeshua], to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him … It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles …” (Isa. 49:3, 5-6).
Never forget that Jesus was born King of the Jews, died King of the Jews, and is coming back to Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, as not only King of the Jews, but King of the whole world!
Although national Israel today does not recognize Yeshua of Nazareth as their long-awaited Messiah, they will soon. Zechariah prophesies, “… they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10), indicating repentance and recognition! It is interesting that the word “whom” in this verse was inserted by the translators, because the Hebrew word, “et,” is not translatable. This little word, “et” looks like this in Hebrew – את, and it is always used between a verb and its object. The two Hebrew letters making up “et” are Aleph (א) and Tav (ת), which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In Greek they would be Alpha and Omega! Who does that remind you of? The little word “et” gives the identity of the “WHOM,” connecting “Me” (Jesus) and “they” (Israel) in this verse! He is the Aleph and the Tav, the First and the Last! The Hebrew letters form a picture of His sacrifice – Aleph (א), the ox, a sacrificial animal, and Tav (ת), a CROSS in its earliest form! Chew on that a while!
It is satisfying to see a portrait of the Jewish Messiah hidden in the Hebrew alphabet. And knowing that we are grafted in to the Jewish olive tree (Rom. 11:16-24) causes Scripture to really open up to us. Current events in Israel become more personally relevant also. We will not only see Bible prophecy being fulfilled, but we can choose to be involved in it!
Maybe I have whetted your appetite to take a Jewish roots journey. I pray so. What kind of journey are you on now in your walk with the Lord?
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The Jews Killed Jesus, Didn't They?
by Nancy Petrey
The fact that the Church has Jewish roots escaped my notice as a Christian until twenty years ago. I had a rude awakening when I attended an “Israel in Prophecy” Conference. I was shaken to learn that the “Father of the Protestant Reformation,” Martin Luther, the one who wrote the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” had also written a booklet, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies.” This booklet was published by Goebbels in 1936 and became official Nazi propaganda![1] I learned that Luther was influenced by replacement theology, the belief that the Jews had killed Jesus, so God had rejected them as His chosen people and replaced them with the mostly Gentile Church. Replacement theology, a deadly virus, would give God’s covenants, promises, and blessings to the Church and leave the curses to the Jews. The process that cut off the Jewish roots of the Church began around A.D. 135 and was made official by Constantine at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. At that time pagan practices took root instead! Anti-Semitism flourished in the Church and found expression in the Crusades, the Inquisition and, finally, the Holocaust.
Whole denominations of the Church have been taught that God rejected the Jews, because they were responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. They ignore the fact that Jesus willingly laid down His life, and that the Jewish religious leaders (not the multitudes of Jews who followed Jesus), in complicity with the Gentile Romans, put Him to death. However, a distinct Hebrew Roots movement began emerging in the mid-1990s.[2] Today many Christians are getting reconnected to their Jewish roots, as God has revealed to them the tremendous debt the Church owes to the Jewish people through whom we received our Messiah and the Scriptures. Attention has now been given to Paul’s admonition that we “wild branches,” Gentile believers, have been grafted into the Jewish olive tree, and that we should not boast against the natural branches, the Jews. It is the root which supports us. We have received our nourishment from their cultivated tree.[3]
Since my attendance at that conference in 1995, I have become aware that the Church was born on a Jewish feast day (Shavuot/Pentecost), and Jewish apostles, including Paul, spread the gospel. The first fifteen bishops of the Church were not only Jewish but relatives of Jesus Christ![4] There were possibly no Gentile members until ten years later.
My little book of forty pages, Why Christians Should Care About Their Jewish Roots, is a great resource for Christians to help them align with God’s purposes in the end times, thereby preparing the way of the Lord as He returns to Jerusalem. Don’t forget that Jesus was born King of the Jews and died as King of the Jews. Our Messiah is Jewish! How fitting that the King of kings and Lord of lords will reign over the world from Jewish Jerusalem, another proof of the Jewishness of Christianity.
Every pastor should have a copy of this book, not only for the reasons already stated but to help his people become aware of and guard against a new form of anti-Semitism, which is anti-Zionism. Replacement theology and Palestinian liberation theology[5] have combined to give birth to the BDS movement (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) against Israel, the Zionist nation. Some churches and Christian leaders have bought into the Palestinian narrative – “everything’s Israel’s fault.” Exposing the error of this disguised anti-Semitism was one of my objectives in writing the book. Be aware that those who bless Israel are blessed, and those who curse Israel are cursed (Gen. 12:3).
Did the Jews Kill Jesus? What is your answer to that question? My answer is that all of us who claim Jesus as Savior and Lord, both Jews and Gentiles, are the ones who killed Jesus, because He died for our sins. He willingly gave His life, so we could be forgiven and have eternal life.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jews_and_Their_Lies
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Roots
[3] Romans 11:11-32
[4] Dr. Ron Moseley, Yeshua, A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Early Church (Baltimore: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 1996, p. xviii), p. 11 citing Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History.
[5] Based on social justice as seen through the eyes of the poor. Detractors call it “Christianized Marxism.”If you’d like to purchase this book go to: https://energiondirect.info/authors/authors-n-s/nancy-petrey/why-christians-should-care-about-their-jewish-roots -
Have You Thought About Your Legacy?
by Nancy Petrey
This idea of a legacy kept popping up over a period of time, until I decided to get some things down on paper that my family would never know about me unless I told them. I wanted them to understand the special call God had given me, so they could embrace it themselves and pass it on to succeeding generations. I reasoned that unless I gave an account of where God had led me and what He had taught me, they may have just passed off my travels and activities as eccentric behavior or merely a phase I was going through.
God called me to be a Mizpah for Israel twenty years ago, and it hasn’t been a passing phase. I have been a watchman and a witness. I wrote it all down just like God told Habakkuk to do: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it” (Hab. 2:2). My “vision” was published as Jewish Roots Journey, Memoirs of a Mizpah, and you can even read it on your tablet! It is in paperback form also.
God revealed so many things to me and woke me up to see that Christianity is Jewish, Jesus is Jewish, the first church was Jewish, the Bible has Jewish authors, and Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, and will rule the whole world from there.
As a result of my call, I have made seven trips to Israel, have studied Hebrew, have led Israel prayer groups and Passover Seders, supported Jewish ministries, hosted speakers from Israel, obtained a master’s degree in Religious Education in Middle East History, and have taught community Bible studies.
As I tell of my experiences both in and out of Israel, I include scriptural nuggets of truth. I point to fulfillment of prophecy in the increase of Jews making aliyah (immigration to Israel) and show how the Hebrew alphabet is a picture language, portraying the Messiah, plus more.
Some of the things that have happened to me in my journey make for interesting reading. The reader can find out what happened when —- They laughed at me as I received my Master’s Degree diploma.
- I was invited to go onstage and dance at a folk music program in Jerusalem.
- Janice and I were searched, interrogated, searched, and interrogated again at the JFK airport waiting to board the plane to Israel.
- I confronted the thief who picked my pocket in the Old City!
- Janice and I each received a check for $3,333.33 to pay for our trip to Israel.
- I actually visited ancient Mizpah on my second trip to Israel.
- Jennifer Griffin of Fox News called me from Jerusalem and said it was too dangerous to come to Israel because of an increase in suicide bombings!
- Janice tells about the time she had a vision of Jesus in the synagogue!
My book is part of the legacy I am leaving to my children and grandchildren of how I have put my faith into action and have passed on to others what I learned about the Jewish roots of the Church – past, present and future. And the future part is really getting exciting in these days!
I pray that my family and other people will be inspired by my Jewish roots journey and will catch the vision and “run with it!”Every person is leaving a legacy. It can be positive or negative. What is your legacy?
If you’d like to purchase this book go to: http://direct.energion.co/authors/authors-n-s/nancy-petrey/jewish-roots-journey
