The Roots And The Rift

Our roots as Christians rest in a Jewish covenant, bought with blood of a Jewish Messiah, started by the Holy Ghost on a Jewish festival that birthed the early Jewish church. Up until 135 A.D. the Gentiles embraced their heritage and fellowshipped with the Jewish people, "having all things in common." While the requirements of the Law were never placed on Gentiles in the beginning, Gentiles were readily welcomed in to the Jewish faith with no requirements except to abstain from idols and fornication and to have faith in the Cross of Christ. As we near the end, the question is not over the Gentiles, but the Jews, who are coming back in record numbers both to their homeland and to their Messiah. A wall of partition has been built between the two by man's hands - a wall that was broken down by the sacrifice of Yeshua. The Gentile church has a call on it today - to once again embrace it's Jewish roots, to uplift and stand with Israel at all costs through its intercession and prayers, support the work of the gospel to the Jew first with finances and ministry and above all things - pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We are challenged to once again embrace our heritage so that a foundational rift can be healed. When Constantine took Christianity and made it the state religion, the sword of the Spirit was replaced by the sword of the government. Some 1,700 years later we have seen nothing but a divided church into so many segments because of a wound never healed by repentance and confession and intercession. Is it not time to look at what we, the Gentile church, has done with our "time" in the driver's seat? I'd say so friend because it's harvest time and it's getting late. Our call is to come back to our BIBLICAL roots which are Jewish. And on that merit, it's a message worth defending to the death.

By Chris McDonald

Ephes. 2:12-19 - That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: [13] But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [14] For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; [15] Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; [16] And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: [17] And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. [18] For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. [19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

The Gentile church has a call on it today - to once again embrace it's Jewish roots, to uplift and stand with Israel at all costs through its intercession and prayers, support the work of the gospel to the Jew first with finances and ministry and above all things - pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We are challenged to once again embrace our heritage so that a foundational rift can be healed. When Constantine took Christianity and made it the state religion, the sword of the Spirit was replaced by the sword of the government. Some 1,700 years later we have seen nothing but a divided church into so many segments because of a wound never healed by repentance and confession and intercession. Is it not time to look at what we, the Gentile church, has done with our "time" in the driver's seat? I'd say so friend because it's harvest time and it's getting late. Our call is to come back to our BIBLICAL roots which are Jewish. And on that merit, it's a message worth defending to the death.

When it comes to the relationship of Jew and Gentile, the major thrust of all traditional church theology is separation. (It is also the thrust of all traditional rabbinic theology). God's major thrust, on the other hand, is reconciliation - to take two and form there into one new creation. As in the marriage of a man and a woman, so in the biblical joining of Jew and Gentile, God's purpose is neither subjugation nor the annihilation of the individual, but rather mutual strengthening, service, and fruitfulness. Theology that sets "the Church in opposition to the "Jews" is "Anti-Judaic" theology. Anti-Judaic theology arose as a response to the "chosen ness" of the Jewish people

This tendency of the institutionalized church's hatred toward the Jewish people began really early. Paul addressed this in Romans. The Council of Nicea, in 32 A.D., was a distinct turning point in the history of the church. Since that time, all church theology has been built upon a Judaic foundation. The theological changes embraced a Nicea made it impossible for the church to be faithful to its God-given mission.

These institutionalized changes were foundational and monumental. They were seven-fold:

· The rejection of the literal meaning of Scripture in its content

· The subjugation of Scripture to the authority of a Church hierarchy

· The determination that Church doctrine and practice would be in opposition to the Jews

· The establishment of compulsory conformity in practice

· The acceptance of the State and the sword as the means of maintaining purity in the Church. (The cross was transformed from a means of victory over sin for the individual to a means of victory over sinners for society)

· The acceptance of the sword of the State - instead of the Sword of the Spirit, the blood of the Lamb and the blood of the believers - as the means of triumph in the world

· The acceptance of State support of the Church in exchange for the Church support of the State. (The church surrendered its own prophetic message toward the State)

These are not insignificant alterations. They are major adulterations. The Church became the Church of Constantine. The theological shift that took place was basically this: The Church became identified as the "new Israel," replacing the Jews. Today, we call it Replacement Theology. As the "new Israel," the Church itself was equated with the kingdom of God, since it was the kingdom of Israel that God promised to restore. Because God had entrusted the sword to the kingdom/nation of Israel, the "new Israel" also picked up the sword. Early church documents are rare to support all of this BUT there is ample evidence in the documents that are to give a basic understanding of the issues, which resulted in these changes.

The Question of Gentiles at the First; The Question of Jews at the Last

In the first century, the most heated, controversial, doctrinal issue of all that the Church faced was: "How do the Gentiles fit into all this?" It was a very important issue. Identity, purpose, and destiny depended upon it. It nearly split the early Church. (Read Acts 15) We are nearly 2,000 years removed from that time, that culture, and the life of the early Church. So it is very difficult for us to fully appreciate the reasons for the controversy and its intensity, but it is very important that we do so.

Today, the most heated controversial doctrinal issue that the Church faces is: "How do the Jews fit into all this?" The Biblical answer is crucial to a proper understanding of the entire Bible. Why? BECAUSE ALL THE REST OF OUR THEOLOGY AND MANNER OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION FLOWS FROM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE JEWS. I heard this several years ago: "a faulty view of God will always lead to a faulty view of your fellow man. And a faulty view of your fellow man will always lead you to persecute your fellow man." Our behavior shows our faith.

So our view of Israel's relationship to the Church determines our view of the past, present, future, our relationship with God, our prayers, our evangelism, our worship, our view of modern Israel, the nations, and the Church itself. We cannot fulfill our destiny as the Church without a proper understanding of this relationship.

The Bible does not condemn tradition, nor does it teach us to reject the wisdom of the past ages. It does, however, make it clear that God is not pleased with the teachings and traditions of men that place others in contrary to His Word. The natural condition of man, even religious man, has not changed since the days of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

I want to take a look at four things in this journal: the root, the rift, the reconciliation and the revival that is all hinged on the reconciliation of this rift from the root!

John 4:22

Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Matthew 1:1

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The promise of a Jewish Messiah who would be the world’s salvation was a promise given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, founders of the Jewish family, a promise later renewed to King David, that one of their descendants would reign over the nations forever.

Genesis 28:14

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

2 Samuel 7:16

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

Even though SOME of Israel’s national religious leaders rejected Him, significant others of priests and other leaders DID receive Him.

John 19:38-39 - And after this Joseph of Arimethea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.

Acts 6:7 - And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests was obedient to the faith.

Every aspect of our Savior’s life was JEWISH TO THE CORE:

· His circumcision

· His Torah studies – He baffled the Temple leaders with His knowledge of the Scriptures at age 12 (Luke 2:47)

· His annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feasts, His faithful observance of the Sabbath.

· He was always citing Moses and the prophets and even when dying on the cross for our freedom from sin He cried from David’s Psalms. (Psalms 22:1 cp. With Matthew 27:46)

· His whole life was spent among the Jews. One day when a non-Jewish woman approached Him He proclaimed, “ I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (MATTHEW 15:24)

· His Death to be sure was not without the involvement of Gentiles but most of those at the foot of the cross were Jewish. Resurrection morning at the tomb? JEWS, except for the Roman guards who “were so afraid,” of the angel they “shook and became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:4). Over the next 40 days Jesus appeared to JEWS. On the mountain of Ascension? JEWS. The 120 waiting in the upper room on Pentecost? Every one of them was a physical son of Abraham.

· Pentecost morning came and the recipients of the initial outpouring of the Holy Ghost were JEWISH people, including PETER, a JEWISH apostle, who quoted a JEWISH prophet, Joel in declaring that this was fulfillment of Joel’s insight many years before. Peter also called on the JEWISH KING DAVID as witnesses that Jesus was the manifestation of what these men had seen. (Acts 2:16,25). This Jesus is both LORD and MESSIAH.”

Acts 2:36- Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ (ANOINTED MESSIAH).

The 3,000 baptized believers who grew to 5,000 were not founding a NEW religion. They were simply living out the fulfillment of a centuries-old-faith in the one true God who made a promise in the garden, then to their ancestors that He would come deliver them and ultimately the whole world THROUGH them!

These new believers were Sabbath-keeping, son-circumcising, Torah-observant, feast-celebrating Jewish people who now celebrated JESUS as the one who brought meaning to it all. None of these practices ceased when they believed in Yeshua. They still came to Shabbat to the Temple:

Acts 2:46 - And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Acts 5:12 - And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

They were often present at the normal hours of prayer (Acts 3:1). Even after having been called before the Sanhedrin to defend their faith, they continued DAILY in the Temple (Acts 5:42). Ananias, the man who baptized Paul was “a devout observer of the Law.” (Acts 22:12)

Acts 3:1 - Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

Acts 5:42 - And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Acts 22:12 - And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

Salvation however, is not obtained by observing the law. It is a free gift of God through the vicarious death of the Messiah. Now the new church understood Isaiah’s prophecy of a “suffering servant.”

Isaiah 53:3- He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Even the feasts and festivities, sacrifices took on new meaning. Passover, Pentecost, Day of Atonement (YOM KIPPUR), and the Feast of Trumpets were no longer a deliverance of long ago and a holy law written on stone tablets on Mount Sinai. Rather they were now recognition of the Messiah who has come, our Passover Lamb, and a law written on our hearts. Just as Jeremiah predicted, a “new covenant.”

Jeremiah 31:31-33 - Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: [33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This was NOT a new religion, this was Judaism fulfilled – filled full! Nor would these believers have answer to the name Christian in those days - not till Antioch.

Acts 11:26 - And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

This was a “Hellenized” term which comes from christos a Greek word for MESSIAH. No, the early believers were called “NAZARENES.”

Acts 24:5 - For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:

They followed the man from NAZARETH and were said to belong to the “WAY.”

Acts 9:2 - And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Others saw them as only another sect in Jerusalem. Tertullus called Paul a ringleader of the Nazarene sect when he was making his accusation before Governor Felix. But the term “Christian” was used for a future day when the church would be split into – a split that has never been healed to this day.

Peter’s housetop vision at the tanner’s house in Joppa and Paul’s Damascus Road encounter brought major changes. GENTILES began to be welcomed into the family, and they did not have to become JEWS to be accepted! This was very confusing to many who had kept themselves strictly separate for all those years. Jerusalem Council had to be called. Some were very opposed to this revelation!

Acts 15:5 - But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

Heated meetings and sharp division like to have busted the church over this initial issue of the Gentiles. Circumcision and law keeping were not necessary for Gentiles. However, they were exhorted to be careful to give up pagan customs and unacceptable morals that opposed faith in the one true God.

Acts 15:19-21 - Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: [20] But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. [21] For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.

The Gentiles were in. The profile of the body of believers began a rapid transformation. Many Greek names were now added to the roster of believers: Gaius, Aristarchus, Trophimus, and Theophilos. Cities like Antioch, Ephesus and Rome soon became centers of influence over the ever-expanding family.

Some of Paul’s traveling companions were now Greeks, some were Jewish. Timothy, with a Jewish mother and Greek father was circumcised before joining Paul’s team. On the other hand, there was no such requirement made of Titus, who was fully Greek. The early Jewish church and the new Gentile believers were learning to live together. But the question then as it is now is this: were they freed from their identity as Abraham’s natural seed?

The Life Of Paul

Paul had a special assignment to the Gentiles, yet he never lost his passion for Jews and he remained an observant Jew for the rest of his life.

Romans 9:3 - For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Romans 10:1 - Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

He was careful to let Gentile churches know that the gospel was still “first for the Jew.” (Romans 1:16). When he entered a new city, his first stop was always at the local synagogue – in Salamis, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus:

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Acts 13:5 - And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.

Acts 13:14 - But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.

Acts 14:1 - And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.

Acts 17:2, 10, 17 - - And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 10 - And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

Acts 18:4 - And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

Acts 19:8 - And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Even while a prisoner in Rome, Paul called “together the leaders of the Jews” and “explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jessu from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.”

Acts 28:17 - And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Acts 28:23 - And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

Some were receptive; some were not. Paul then told those who did not believe that he was going to turn to the Gentiles to whom he had been sent and “they would listen.”

Acts 28:28 - Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

Jerusalem was always in his heart. Luke tells of a time when after a long journey, Paul was “in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of “SHAVUOT.”

Acts 20:16- For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

Although Paul meticulously defends and declares that salvation is through the finished work of Yeshua, he was a lifelong observer of the now-fulfilled Law and Prophets.

Romans 3:21 - But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 - Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Acts 21:39 - But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.

Acts 23:6 - But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

Acts 24:14 - But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:

Acts 21:21-24 - And they are informed of thee, that thou teaches all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. [22] What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. [23] Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; [24] Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walks orderly, and keeps the law.

Galatians 2:16 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The Jewish Messiah And The Judaizers

Romans 10:4 - For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Romans 7:7 - What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Romans 7:12 - Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Paul declares Christ is the end of the law for those who believe. Jesus had made it clear that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). But the law has never been able to make one righteous. It is only through the Holy Spirit that the “righteous requirements of the law” be fulfilled. Yeshua establishes the law of God in our hearts.

Romans 8:4 - That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Matthew 5:17 - Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Romans 3:31 - Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

David Stern, a Jewish scholar, makes it clear that “end” can be translated “completion, goal, outcome and consummation.” Stern writes, “for the goal at which the Torah aims is the MESSIAH.” Christ is the goal of the Law. Man is wicked, sinful, dying under the curse. Only one hope – JESUS.

Was this Judaizing? Was Paul’s observance of the Jewish law and traditions Judaizing? NO! Paul was not asking Gentiles to act like Jews. The Judaizers were those who insisted that circumcision and law observance were the means of righteousness or those who insisted that Gentiles observe Jewish law. The finished work of CHRIST is for BOTH JEW AND GENTILE! There are not two ways of salvation. There is only one! Salvation comes by faith in what Messiah has already done – His atoning death on the cross for our sins. Nothing more is needed and nothing more is required to add to it. Not our sacrifices, not our works. Paul was therefore constantly reminding BOTH Jew and GENTILE that God saved us,

Titus 3:5- Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

This Jew/Gentile experience was working in the Early Church. The Jews had known that the Gentiles would one day come to faith in the one true God. It was an essential ingredient in Messiah’s mission. Isaiah foretold it:

Isaiah 49:5-6 - And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. - And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

The Gentiles were not a surprise to the Jews, just the timing. After all, the Jewish Messiah was not reigning visibly in Jerusalem. Rome was still in control.

And that led to the RIFT that is now evident today in the Body of Christ. Tensions between Rome and Jerusalem escalated. Roman armies surrounded the city. The ensuing siege lasted two years, but ultimately the city was destroyed and the Temple lay in ruins. Jewish believers remembered the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21) and fled across the Jordan to Pella. Their flight accomplished two things: it further separated them from their Jewish brothers who now considered them traitors, perhaps even in the league with the Romans, and it further eroded leadership among Jewish believers. Gentiles began to take over leadership roles in the church. Some Gentiles began to interpret the destruction of Jerusalem as God’s final judgment on Israel. No doubt, they surmised, He was finished with His “chosen people and their promises now belonged to the “gentile” Church.

Some 60 years later another historic event sealed the doom of the Jerusalem Jewish Church. The Bar Kochba revolt of the A.D. 130s was defeated and Jews were forbidden to enter the city. As it that were not enough, Emperor Hadrian rebuilt the city, named it Aelia Capitolina and dedicated it to three pagan gods. Any believers left in the city were now Gentiles. They took control of the holy places and entrenched themselves as leaders of the Jerusalem Church.

There were still scattered Jewish believers in the Diaspora – those outside Jerusalem and the Land – until as late as the fourth century, even believers in Messiah in Jewish synagogues, but there was little of Jewish influence left. It is not surprising then that the Gentile Christians understood them less and less.

The church today has become so Gentile that in its practice and faith that those who will sound the trumpet to reclaim a biblical Jewish heritage and expression in our Body are often considered a little strange and labeled all sorts of things. But that my friend is a small price to pay for the rediscovery of our Jewish roots and to bring the church back to its Jewish Messiah – who sits at the right hand of God interceding for us – probably in a prayer shawl!

Romans 8:34

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

The Rift

Malachi 4:6

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

“The church is under a curse to some degree because it has denied its heritage.” Anti-Semitism did not happen by accident. It was part of a very deliberate plan to separate the church from anything Jewish.

The first church was Jewish. If a Gentile wanted to follow the Messiah, he had to convert to Judaism. Then Peter had a revelation that Gentiles did not have to become Jews to be saved (Acts 10). The Jerusalem Council meeting determined that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised. There were only four easily followed requirements. They were to: <Acts 15>

1. Abstain from things polluted by idols

2. Abstain from sexual immorality

3. Abstain from things strangled

4. Abstain from blood

This opened the door to widespread church growth among the Gentiles. So many Gentiles were saved that the Jewish believers then became a minority. The first Jewish followers of Jesus were called Nazarenes. They practiced traditional Judaism and were widely accepted by non-believing Jews. Early in the second century their numbers reached 400,000.[1]

In the book of Acts, the early church fathers said to Paul:

Acts 21:20 - And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many <tens of> thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

The Nazarenes acceptance by traditional Jews came to a halt in D 135 when Rabbi Akiba declared that Bar Kochba was the Jewish Messiah. His followers hoped he would lead them to victory over the Romans The Nazarenes refused to fight because they believed Jesus was the true Messiah rather than Bar Kochba. They were branded traitors, not because they believed in Jesus, but because they wouldn’t join Bar Kochba’s armed struggle. Bar Kochba and his followers were quickly slaughtered by the Romans. Afterward, the Jews were banned from Jerusalem.[2]

History shows that as the center of the Christian faith moved from Jerusalem to ROME, it became increasingly adoptive of pagan customs and philosophies rather than God-ordained practices and beliefs in the Bible. At the same time Christianity became increasingly Anti-Jewish. In A.D. 196, when no Jewish believers were present, a church council meeting in Caesarea changed the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the third day of Passover (First fruits, Lev. 23:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:4, 20-23) to Sunday, during the feast of the pagan fertility goddess, Ishtar. In the fourth century, the Council of Nicea made the change official. The decision was based on the premise that it was not proper for the church in her celebrations to be connected with the “cursed Jewish nation” that crucified Him. Today, the holiday is known as EASTER (from Ishtar). This is where we get our modern practice of Easter bunnies and eggs. These are the vestiges of Ishtar (the fertility goddess) worship

The Sabbath Issue

Another reform by the Council of Nicea (headed by the Roman Emperor Constantine) “institutionalized” the switch of the day of Christian worship from Saturday to Sunday. As with Easter, the change had actually started much earlier. In fact, by the middle of the second century, Sunday, the day devoted to the sun god, largely replaced Saturday, the day devoted to the One True God.

The Sabbath was the first element of creation that God had sanctified, or set apart, in remembrance of His creative power. That God had rested on the Sabbath day was a biblical fact. Nevertheless, the change was made and justified by the church leaders and not initially on the basis of the resurrection. The primary rationale for the observance of Sunday was the commemorate the first day of creation. [3] The resurrection of Jesus was only a secondary issue. Many of the church leaders who originally changed the Sabbath day were very Anti-Semitic. Tertullian thought that God had always hated the Sabbath. The Epistle of Barnabas (apocryphal literature from the first century AD) denies altogether that God had ever given the Sabbath as a commandment to be kept. Justin Martyr (d. AD167) considered the Sabbath to be a highly deserved curse on the Jewish people. Martyr lectured Trypho the Jew by saying: “It was the reason of your sins and the sins of your Fathers that, among other precepts, God imposed upon you the observance of the Sabbath as a mark.” This “mark” was to “single them out for punishment they so well deserved for their infidelities.”

Instead of recognizing the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was seen as part of a curse of the law, upon that hated and despised race – the Jews. The post-apostolic church instituted another day of worship to separate themselves from all things Jewish. This anti-Judaism was reflected in the Replacement Theology (belief that the church has replaced Israel) of the early writers of the Hellenized church.

Constantine, a Roman Emperor who came to power early in the fourth century (AD 306-337), was a master politician. He tried to satisfy heathens and Christians by modifying pagan customs and festivals and giving them Christian meanings. The group he didn’t like was the Jews since they had rebelled against Rome. And the church was more than willing to follow Constantine’s lead in order to avoid persecution. Christians were prohibited from worshiping on Saturday and observing Passover, upon the threat of excommunication or worse. Constantine expressed the anti-Judaic sentiments of the bishops of the Christian world when he wrote:

“Let us therefore have nothing in common with this odious people, the Jews, for we have received from our Saviour in a different way…Strive and pray continually that the purity of your souls may not be sullied by fellowship with the customs of these most wicked men…All should unite in desiring that which sound reason appears to demand in avoiding all participation in the perjured conduct of the Jews.”

Christmas

Another major change started in early church history was the celebration of Christmas. Today it is the most hallowed religious holiday next to Easter. But was Jesus born on December 25^th? We know He was not according to Luke 2:8. Shepherds would not have been out in the field watching their flocks at NIGHT in Bethlehem in December (winter season) because it would have been too cold.

It makes sense that Jesus was born about the time of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). This feast is referred to as “The Season Of Our Joy.” What greater joy than the fact Messiah has tabernacled or came to dwell IN MAN? Scripture tells us that the law, which includes biblical festivals, is a “shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1). Sukkot foreshadows the dwelling of God with man.

John 1:14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Hebrews 10:1 - For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

The Feast of Tabernacles provides a much better picture of Jesus than Christmas.

Where did Christmas come from? Babylonian pagans believed the sun was god. The winter solstice began on December 21^st and represented the death of the sun. December 25^th, the sun’s climb in the sky and a wild celebration of its “rebirth” took place. This rebirth celebration was in honor of the incarnation of the sun god and his mother, the “queen of heaven.” To draw pagans into Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church proclaimed December 25^th to be the birthday of the Messiah, although this is not mentioned in Scripture. The festival was called “Christ’s Masse” and was later shortened to “Christmas.” The early Puritans knew this history and did not celebrate Christmas.

It is no coincidence that when the Jewish biblical heritage of the church was replaced with paganism, intimacy with God was watered down. The church went from everyone doing the works of Jesus to professional clergy leading a congregation of spectators. The supernatural power of God was replaced with the politics and traditions of men. When the church walked away from its biblical Jewish roots, it abandoned God’s pattern. The original “church split” was the division of the Jew and Gentile. It was a literal divorce. And God hates divorce. When we remove the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, we will break the curse off the church and clear the way for the SECOND widespread revival. This revival will do more than usher in souls. It will signal and herald the return of Messiah Jesus to Planet Earth.

Malachi 2:16 - For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hates putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously.

Ephes. 2:12-17 - That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: [13] But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [14] For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; [15] Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; [16] And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: [17] And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

Origen And Others

By the time Origen, about the middle of the third century, it was an accepted belief among most Christians that the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people were both God’s method of showing the world that He was finished with them. They “will never be restored to their former condition. For they have committed a crime of the most unhallowed kind, in conspiring against the Saviour of the human race,” Origen wrote in Against Celsus.

What happened to Romans 11:1 and 11?

Romans 11:1

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Romans 11:11

I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

Did God reject His people? BY NO MEANS. What about Jeremiah’s prophecy about Israel being a nation as long as there was a sun and moon?

Jeremiah 31:35-37

Thus saith the Lord, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: [36] If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. [37] Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.

Did the Jewish people “alone” conspire against the Saviour? Was it not Pilate, a GENTILE, who had to give the last word? And what about the Roman soldiers? Following orders? YES! The Nicene Council in 325 A.D. was the line in the sand that forever changed the church.

Constantine declared, “We needed a resurrection celebration date other than Passover. Passover was too Jewish,” he said.

From the Council, “It appeared un unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast, we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with an enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul.” – Nicea, 325 A.D.

At the end of the Council meeting, Constantine had his way and celebrated with a huge church banquet. The Roman calendar had conquered. The annual celebration of the Lord’s resurrection would not have a new name – EASTER – stranger similar to Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of spring, dissimilar to Pesach or Passover, the festival of its origin. The Western Church from that point only subjugated God’s calendar for the Passover.

Daniel 7:25

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

The coming Antichrist will change “times and laws,” to remove God from the hearts of men. Constantine did just that in order to remove the Jewishness of our faith from the minds of hearts and men in 325 A.D. And the Church was further estranged from her roots and spiritual parents.

“It is into their place that ye have been set,” John Chrysostom assures his flock a few years later. Jewish people had come to faith were now expected to recant and renounce everything Jewish. If they refused, they were considered heretics and came under the ire of a confused and deluded Gentile church. Future generations of theologians accepted Chrysostom and Origen’s “replacement theology” as doctrine. Paul and Jeremiah were forgotten and the Gentile church got what it wanted – a Gentile body. But when the fathers hearts are turned from the children – the Lord said He would curse the earth and we are under that curse today.

Some 23,300 denominations are a sign we have reaped this rift in the Gentile church world. By the time of the Second Nicene Council in 787 believing Jews had to “prove” they were “Christians.” They were, for example, refused Communion by decree of the Church Council unless they forsook the observance of the Sabbath or any other Jewish custom. In some cases they had to prove their disdain for their roots by eating pork in front of witnesses.

The Lateran Councils of A.D. 1179 and A.D. 1215 ordered Jews to live in separate quarters and to wear distinctive dress. This paved the way for ghetto living and the yellow badge required prior to and during the time of Nazi Holocaust.

Martin Luther brought hope to millions through the Reformation. Paul’s letter brought him life. But Luther seemed to have gleaned nothing from Romans chapter 9 on. Luther took the word “enemies” in Romans 11:28,29 as meaning the Jews meant to be hated. Luther surmised that the Apostles hated them and God hated them. What kind of delusion is that? It’s called RELIGIOUS delusion! It’s called separation and not reconciliation. It’s called a curse!

Romans 11:28-29

As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Does God hate the Jews? GOD FORBID, He says, “they are loved.” They have not fallen beyond recovery. They will rise again. It will be a time of great riches.

As much as Luther did to bring about a Reformed Church, he helped advance further disdain for the chosen family of God. Years later, Hitler did not have to look far for justification for his hatred of Jews. LUTHER IS QUOTED IN HITLER’S MEIN KEMPF.

During those years there was no place of safety for a Jewish believer. Either he kept quiet about his faith and remained in his local synagogue – thus denying the lord – or he acknowledged his faith and was forced out of the Jewish fellowship into the strange world of the Gentiles, losing all identity as a Jew.

The Jewish race did not kill Messiah. The sins of the entire human race did. My sin, your sin, the sins of the whole world were placed on HIM, the Jewish King and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah.

The Rift In The 21rst Century

In our own century, the idea that the Church has replaced Israel has so permeated our thinking that even recently published Bibles often contain marginal notes and chapter headings that continue to support this ancient error that results in the hatred of Jews.

One well known Bible dictionary we all use comments on Paul’s relationship to the Jews and says this:

Paul argued that the Jews had forfeited these promises, which had come to Abraham through faith, not the law (Romans 4:13). Because “it is men of faith who are the ‘true’ sons of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:7). Christians, NOT JEWS, could now claim to be descended from the Israelite patriarchs. The Church was in fact, “the 12 tribes of the Dispersion.” (James 1:1)

This dictionary used by millions of Bible students in seminaries worldwide takes the words of Paul and used to declare something Paul denies – the Gentiles have replaced Israel. No, the law or keeping the feasts or worshipping on Shabbat don’t save – but the CHURCH is not just Gentile nor is it the 12 tribes of the dispersion.

One well known study Bible goes to great links to point out, “the widespread acceptance of the spiritual demise of Israel and the ascendancy of the Church.”

For instance the chapter headings for Isaiah read:

Isaiah 41 – God speaks of his merciful providence regarding his church
Isaiah 43 – The Lord comforts the church with his promises
Isaiah 52 – The church roused with God’s promise of free redemption
Isaiah 60 – The glory of the church in the abundant access of the Gentiles
Isaiah 65 – The Gentiles called, the Jews rejected. A remnant saved, blessed state of the NEW Jerusalem.

The headings at the top of the page bring this emphasis further home:

· God’s promises to the church

· God’s mercies to the church

· The restoration of the church

· The prophet’s zeal for the church

· Confession and complaint of the church

The word “church” cannot or never will be found in Isaiah. Israel is mentioned 2294 times in scripture, the term “CHURCH’ is mentioned 76. Israel is mentioned 87 times in Isaiah and all these scripture references had ISRAEL, not the church in mind. Another modern writer wrote of Psalms 47:1-3 that the promises made originally to Israel are now fulfilled in the NEW ISRAEL, the CHURCH.

The promises made to Israel are indeed available to Gentiles, but ONLY as we come into covenant with and partner with REDEEMED Israel. Paul makes it very plain that those who were Gentiles by birth and separated from Christ, “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise” had been INCLUDED through what? THE BLOOD OF THE JEWISH MESSIAH.

We Gentiles have become citizens of Israel. That is our only access to Israel’s promises. Once we were “foreigners to the covenants of the promise,” but that day is past. Israel’s Messiah is OUR Messiah. Messiah’s people are now OUR PEOPLE. Yet, we have made it very difficult for Jewish people to receive HIM. We make demands that hold them back. This history of confusion is very long, the wounds very deep, the rift WIDE.

Some deluded theologians have come up with something called a “dual covenant,” theory that says the Jews don’t need us to witness to them that they are saved through their covenant with Abraham and that only the Gentiles are saved through Jesus!

It is not enough we have turned our backs on those closest of kin to Jesus! Now we have decided in some circles they don’t need their own Messiah. What a travesty and delusion.

Yeshua is both Messiah over JEW and GENTILE or He is not Messiah at all.

How do we heal the rift? We love the Jewish people. We bless them. We protect them in times of persecution, especially the coming one soon. We make no demands of them. We do not forget the fact we are grafted into THEIR VINE, the Olive tree. We embrace our roots and honor the feasts of the Lord and in doing so embrace those things MESSIAH JESUS embraced. I don’t do these things such as wear a prayer shawl or honor Passover with my family because I have to – I do it because I GET TO!!

If the Apostles were here today they’d cry over how the Gentile church has taken the Law and the Prophets, God’s inspired WORD, and appropriate so much for ourselves to the extent we view the Bible as a Gentile book. That we as part of MESSIAH’S BODY, would take CHRIST and “GENTILZE” Him to the point where even His own people would fail to recognize Him as one of their own; that millions of Jews in the 20^th century would be killed at the hands of those who gave lip service to their Messiah and use His very name to justify their damnable acts – would make the early church fathers CRY. The hearts of the children need to be turned back to the hearts of the father.

Yeshua, Son of David, Son of God, had now become Jesus, Saviour of the Gentiles. In earlier times the Jews received US into their family, but we now reject THEM in the greatest time of human history when God is bringing Jewish people back home to their land and to their Messiah.

The Church has assumed and assumes today that all is well and the Lord is happy with the rejection. There was a price to be paid and that price is the fact that we as Gentiles have never found unity among ourselves either. Without the healing of this rift there will never be reconciliation. And that is where we will begin in part two of this journal.

As I close part one, let me ask a few heart-searching questions. What greater message could there be than the message of the One New Man for this hour we live in? What greater call could the church (the Gentile part mainly) have than to have the heartbeat of Jesus for the people the heart of Jesus beats for the most - His chosen race - the Jewish people? Why do Gentiles take so much offense when they're challenged to honor the feasts of the Lord yet honor pagan celebrations without giving any thought to what the do or raising one objection whatsoever? We cry for revival, but revival is not coming until the reconciling of the branches takes place. When that occurs - it will be life from the dead!

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