Return to 7 Feasts IndexTo: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com> Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 02:14:36 Subject: Yom Kippur, the Jews and the Church
To: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com From: "Dana Wilson" Subject: Re: Yom Kippur
On Friday night and all day Saturday, I observed Yom Kippur with the Jewish synagogue on base. You know, it's so touching because when they recite the prayers for forgiveness, they are mostly from the Bible, but they don't yet realize the source of the Bible's promised forgiveness. However, they do chant and sing many scriptures in Hebrew, which, interestingly enough, contain the word "yeshua", which is Jesus' Hebrew name. But it is as if blinders have been put on their eyes so that they cannot see the truth, even though it is staring them in the face, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3. I am more than ever convinced that this is a matter for serious spiritual warfare, and that true believers in Messiah, whether Jew or Gentile, must enter in.
Also, Christians in particular, must seriously examine all the beliefs that they have been holding about the Jewish people and repent of the wickedness that is "Christian antisemitism." Until God started opening my eyes to this, I never even myself knew how ingrained antisemitism is in the Christian church, particularly in Christian doctrine. Anti-Jewish bias permeates almost all of Christian doctrine so that Christians keep their anti-Jewish beliefs in direct opposition to God's decree. But we must always be aware that God said to Abraham, "I will bless those that bless thee, and I will curse those that curse thee." I am more than ever convinced that one of the main reasons that the church is so powerless today is that antisemitism is still a stronghold, and until it is broken, the church keeps fighting God.
To discover the truth in this matter, you needn't go any farther than a serious re-examination of the four Gospel accounts and the book of Acts. It helps if you have a copy of the Jewish New Testament (translated by David Stern, a Messianic Jew), because that translation has taken out all the anti-Jewish bias that the other translations of the New Testament have put in as a result of centuries of anti-Jewish sentiment. However, it is not absolutely necessary to have the Jewish NT, because you can always pray that God will reveal the truth about the Jewish people to you.
I am going to give a message (or maybe a series of messages) about this topic at my church when I'm ready. So when I do, I'll forward my notes to you so you can look at them. I don't have them ready yet, but if you are interested in studying this topic, I can suggest a re-examination of some of the most popular myths about the Jewish people:
1. The Jews rejected Jesus.
The truth is that many accepted him (see the book of Acts), although probably many more rejected him. This is no different for Jews than for Gentiles, since unregenerate man ALWAYS rejects the Lord, Jew or Gentile.
2. The Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus.
Truly, He died for your sins and mine, therefore I must consider myself to be responsible for His death, and all true believers must consider the same.
3. The Old Testament age was the "Age of the Law" whereas the New Testament age is the "Age of Grace", so that means that the Old Testament is now invalid and we are not bound by it.
A careful study of the books of Romans and Hebrews will indicate that there NEVER was anything properly called an "Age of Law", when man could atone for his sins through works of the Law. Salvation has ALWAYS been by faith in God's promised redeemer, and there has never been any other way. The Law is intended for two reasons:
(1) as a tutor, to lead you to the Messiah; (2) as a guide for orderly living.
4. Jesus and the apostles did away with the Biblical festivals (from Lev
23), so therefore the church should have nothing to do with them.
The true reason that the church does not celebrate the Biblical festivals is that in the fourth century, when the church became institutionalized under Roman control, the leaders of the church at that time decided to break away from the Biblical roots of Christianity and adopt pagan practices instead. The two most widely celebrated "Christian" holidays, Christmas and Easter, actually are pagan in both origin and practice. Most Christians today who celebrate them have really no idea what they are doing, and are simply clinging to the traditions of man rather than seeking out the truth of God.
5. The Jews are a people that are naturally hard-hearted and dishonest, and have been rejected by God, so no wonder they don't receive the Gospel.
First of all, unregenerate man, both Jew and Gentile, is naturally hard-hearted, but do not despise the Jews for being human like everybody else. In the case of the Jews, however, there is an added dimension in that they have for centuries been persecuted in the name of "Christ," so naturally they are suspicious of anyone who comes to them in the name of Christ. In addition, as far as I know, most attempts at evangelism to the Jews have been focused on trying to assimilate them into the Gentile Christian church and get them to adopt Gentile cultural practices. This should not be done. The truth is that many (I'm not saying all) of the Jewish practices come straight from the Bible, so there's no reason to say that they should give up their cultural and religious heritage. As the apostle Paul said in Romans 11 "if you, coming from a wild olive tree, were grafted in, how much easier will it be to graft them (Israel) into their own, cultivated, olive tree." They may need to change some of their beliefs, particularly with respect to salvation (Yeshua!), but this should only make them feel MORE Jewish, not less.
6. The apostle Paul said to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13) "Since you reject the word of God, we will now go to the Gentiles . . ."
This supposedly represents the definitive moment in time when God rejected the Jews and replaced Israel with the Gentile church. However, a close examination of the rest of the book of Acts will reveal that Paul said this at least two or three times to unbelieving Jews. In each case, the next town he entered, he went to the synagogue and spoke again, and in each case there were both believing Jews and non-believing Jews; as well as believing Gentiles and non-believing Gentiles.
But, here's an encouraging word: I spoke with the cantor that came for the high holy day services. His name is Moshe Ben David. He's an Israeli Jew who lives right now in Kentucky. He asked me why I would attend Yom Kippur, even though I'm not Jewish, and I told him some of the things outlined above. He then told me that he has some very dear Christian friends that feel the same as I do, and that before he left for Korea, he had had a cold, and was a little worried about getting an ear infection while at high altitudes in the plane. He said that his Christian friends had laid hands on him and prayed for him, and he had no problems on the way. Later on, when we had a break for about an hour, he asked me to go for a walk with him, and I got to share some things with him about Yeshua and why I believe He is the Messiah. I also pointed out that the Jews sing songs to Him, even though they don't realize it because His name (Yeshua in Hebrew) means salvation. After we went back to the chapel, there was a particular prayer that he chanted that must have contained Yeshua's name at least 10 times, although I didn't count! I prayed that the Holy Spirit would make the connection in his heart.
Dana Shalom, everyone. The Lord is coming soon!
Dana Wilson Seoul Foreign School 55 Yonhi Dong Seoul, Korea 120-113
*********************************************************************
Return to 7 Feasts Index