sickness

How do Jews factor into Christianity? During my 28-year journey so far, I had to take a fork in the road. Things didn’t make sense to me. Jews are going to hell, Jews are no longer God’s people, Christians are, Jews thought and still do think, salvation comes from works. I was confused as to way all of this was. I mean, if they were God’s chosen people, you’d think they’d know better, right? Maybe we are the ones mixed up! Let’s go to the beginning of time. God created Adam and Eve. They were not Jews, not Israelites, not even Hebrews. They just were people. They had kids and on and on until Abraham. Not even he was a Jew, but in Genesis 14:13, Abram is called a Hebrew. We don’t get Israel until Jacob, when his name was changed to Israel do you end up with the children of Israel, the 12 tribes. Genesis 32:24-28. Some scholars do say the Hebrews came from Shem, Noah’s son. In fact, biblically, all people stem from the sons of Noah, Shem Hem and Japheth. It is fair to say the culture of the Hebrews/Israelites/Jew began with Abraham and developed into a communal society. We must understand this communal society to understand Jesus. The Torah is Hebrew for instructions or the way. It is not seen nor used as a path of salvation nor atonement. The Torah is a set of instructions by which a Hebrew/Israelite/Jew is to live their lives. Deuteronomy 29 and 30 Chapter 29 verse 9 tells the Hebrews to carefully follow the terms of the covenant so that they may prosper. God tells the Hebrews to obey the Torah, and if they do, they will be blessed, and that it is not so difficult. Verse 16 states that being obedient leads to prosperity and a good life. However, if they did not and bowed to other gods, they would be cursed. Accordingly, this was 4,500 years ago when Moses handed down what Christians Call the law. The rules, regulations and feasts are not just words on a piece of paper to the Jew, oh no, not at all. Even nonreligious Jews love some of the cultural practices. It is ingrained in the Hebrew, the Jew. It is deep-seated and meaningful to them. Jesus Jesus is Latin for Iesous, which is Greek for the Hebrew name Yeshua. Rightfully translated into English, Yeshua is Joshua. Which means, God saves. Like it or not, Jesus was thoroughly a practicing Jew. He did everything a Jewish man is supposed to do. He practiced every bit of the Torah and the Culture. You cannot find it anywhere in the bible where it states otherwise. Therefore, to understand this through and through Jewish man, we must understand his culture and the religion he practiced. Salvation Salvation is used only 40 times in the New Testament, and only 7 times in the gospels, but 33 times in all the other letters in the NT. In fact, Luke, who was not an apostle, not even a disciple when Jesus was alive, uses the word six of the seven times. John uses it once. Redemption is used only two times in the Gospels and both instances are in Luke. I find it odd that Jesus did not fight the idea that salvation comes from works, that is, if the Jewish people truly believed that it did. One would think that is primarily what he would doing, spending his time fighting the idea that salvation comes from works. In fact, do a word search for salvation and you will find no one seems to argue that salvation comes from works. Strange, isn’t it? Could there be a misconception about what Judaism really states, the belief of the Jews? Salvation comes from the Jews, so says the bible. The Jews are our foundation, they are the rock upon which the church should have been built. To that end, we should have a complete and thorough understanding of their culture and doctrine. For us to abandon our adopted family is insane. How can we fully appreciate and understand what the father of the house desires of us and for us if we refuse to understand the family we are invited into? The Hebrew/Jew was, is and will remain God’s chosen people. We are the ones adopted in.