Immanuel.at Forum for Discussion Discourse 111: The pseudo-Christian betrayal of the Israelites.

Almost two thousand years ago a Jewish rabbi with an excellent knowledge of the Torah wrote a letter to his brothers, the Hebrews. A few centuries later, in the year 367 (Easter Letter of Athanasius), this was then incorporated in the New Testament canon of the Bible. Right up to the present, this New Testament letter has been unjustifiably neglected, being referred to only rather sporadically in Christian literature. This is very likely because the author of the Letter to the Hebrews views his Christian subject matter from the specific angle of the Old Testament – an approach that is apparently of less interest to some Christian authors who are not Hebrews.

In the documentation presented here in relation to the betrayal of the Israelites of our day, we do not intend – as the use of the term "Israelites" in the title already indicates – to speak to the Israelis, the citizens of Israel in other words. Besides the native population these also include immigrants from Russia, Poland, Romania, Canada, South America and Iraq, and are for the most part atheists.

No, these lines are addressed to that Israelite minority who still acknowledge their God – to those Israelites, both in Israel and in the worldwide Diaspora, who are faithful to their religion, observing the Mosaic laws and those religious prescriptions and obligations which it is still in any way possible for them to observe since the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and so of the altar of the temple, indispensable as it was for the Mosaic liturgy (Ex 29:38-42; Lev 9:17-20).

The sacrificial ceremonies in the Mosaic faith

This applies in particular to the sacrificial activities which believing Israelites were commanded by God to carry out in accordance with the Mosaic law. These involve four main offerings: the burnt offering (Lev 1,1-17), the grain offering (Lev 2,1-16), the peace offering or peace offering for thanksgiving (Lev 3,1-17) and the sin offering (Lev 4,1-35, 5,1-13), which may be combined with the guilt offering (Lev 5,14-26).

In order to give readers who are unfamiliar with these matters a manageable overview, in the first section below we will quote the starting verses relating to each of these commandments, together with a short explanation.

The burnt offering

He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.

Lev 1,1 Then the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 1,2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. 1,3 ‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. 1,4 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.
1,5 ‘He shall slay the young bull before the LORD; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer up the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 1,6 ‘He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. 1,7 ‘The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 1,8 ‘Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head and the suet over the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar. Lev 1,1-8;

When it is a matter of a burnt offering without any specific occasion, an offering "that he may be accepted before the Lord", either a bull, a sheep or a goat may be offered, depending on the worshipper’s financial status. It must be a male animal without defect. Only if the worshipper’s financial means are insufficient may a turtledove be offered as a burnt offering. In any case the blood must be sprinkled on the altar, and the sacrificial animal completely consumed in a fire of wood on the altar.

The grain offering

Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour

Lev 2,1 ‘Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. 2,2 ‘He shall then bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and shall take from it his handful of its fine flour and of its oil with all of its frankincense. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. 2,3 ‘The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons: a thing most holy, of the offerings to the LORD by fire. Lev 2,1-3;

The grain offering – whether it involves already prepared foods (unleavened cakes made in the pan, or wafers) or foodstuffs that have not been cooked – must consist of fine flour mingled with oil, and it must be salted. The priest removes the upper part of this grain offering (the askara, or memorial portion) and allows it to be consumed in the fire of the altar. The rest of the offering belongs to the priest and his family.

The peace offering for thanksgiving,

He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slay it at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

Lev 3,1 ‘Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to offer out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the LORD. 3,2 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slay it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 3,3 ‘From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall present an offering by fire to the LORD, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 3,4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys. 3,5 ‘Then Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. Lev 3,1-5;

The peace offering for thanksgiving can likewise be a bull, a sheep or a goat without defect, though in this case female animals can be sacrificed as well. As with the burnt offering, here again the blood must be sprinkled all around the altar, and all the fat of the entire sacrificial animal must be consumed in the fire of the altar. The Israelites are not allowed to eat any kind of fat or blood.

The sin offering

So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.

Lev 5,1 ‘Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt. 5,2 ‘Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty. 5,3 ‘Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty.

5,4 ‘Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these. 5,5 ‘So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned. 5,6 ‘He shall also bring his guilt offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.

5,7 ‘But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 5,8 ‘He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first that which is for the sin offering and shall nip its head at the front of its neck, but he shall not sever it. 5,9 ‘He shall also sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar: it is a sin offering. Lev 5,1-9;

With the sin offering a distinction is made as to whether the sin has been knowingly or unknowingly committed. If a person becomes aware that he has committed a sin unknowingly, and it is a priest who has sinned, he must offer a young bull without defect. All the blood of the bull must be poured out at the base of the altar of the burnt offering. All the fat of the animal is removed and burnt on the altar. The entire bull is then burnt outside the temple.

The same proceeding is followed if the entire congregation has sinned in ignorance, and becomes aware of it subsequently. In the case of a leader, this ritual calls for the offering of a male goat as the sacrificial animal; in the case of an individual member of the congregation, a female goat – without defect in both cases.

If someone has sinned knowingly, he must confess it and sacrifice a female sheep or a female goat. If he cannot afford this, he may offer two turtledoves, one as a sin offering and one as a burnt offering. If his means do not reach even to this, he may bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour (without oil) as a sin offering to the priest, and the priest will make atonement for him.

The guilt offering

Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.

Lev 5,14 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
5,15 "If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’S holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. 5,16 "He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.
5,17 "Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. 5,18 "He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. 5,19 "It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD." Lev 5,14-19;

A guilt offering must be made, for example, if someone consciously or unconsciously swears falsely, refuses to return goods that have been entrusted to him, steals something, blackmails somebody or finds lost property and refuses to give it back. He must restore the goods in question in their entirety, and add a fifth part over and above that. As a guilt offering, he must bring a ram or a billy goat without defect to the priest, who will make atonement for him with the male animal constituting the guilt offering so that his sins are forgiven.

The unforgivable sins.

The above commandments of the Torah relating to sacrifice essentially add up to the atonement for those sins which can be forgiven through a sacrificial offering. But then the Mosaic law also includes sins for which no expiation is acceptable, where forgiveness can be achieved only through the death of the sinner himself. One of these unforgivable sins is the murder of a human being – whether an Israelite or an alien – in the land of Israel.

No expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

Num 35,32 ‘You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. 35,33 ‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 35,34 ‘You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’" Num 35,32-34;

And here, based on the Mosaic law, the Israel of today has taken on itself a heavy burden of sin. They have murdered thousands of Palestinians with tanks, aircraft and other weaponry – not just in the wars of conquest in Israel (Palestine) itself, but also in the West Jordan territories ("Judea and Samaria") which Israel claims as its own and in the Gaza strip (the "cradle of Jewish civilization"). According to the Mosaic law, no expiation for these deaths can be effective except through the death of the murderer responsible in the Israeli military.

The altar of burnt offerings in the Temple.

So much, then, by way of a short overview of the most important Mosaic sacrificial activities and the background to these. As we can easily see from the above listing, all these sacrificial ceremonies are dependent on an altar. Specifically, the altar of burnt offerings in the Temple in Jerusalem (formerly the tent of meeting in the desert). Offerings are not to be made in any other place.

Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see.

Deut 12,13 "Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, 12,14 but in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. Deut 12,13-14;

In the sacrificial ceremonies at the Temple in Jerusalem the fat of the sacrificial animals had to be burnt up on this altar of burnt offerings, and the blood poured on it, because the Israelites were forbidden to eat the fat or to drink the blood along with the meat.

Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

Deu 12,23 "Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 12,24 "You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. 212,5 "You shall not eat it, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD. 12,26 "Only your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 12,27 "And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the flesh. Deut 12,23-27;

But quite apart from all these sacrificial ceremonies relating to a specific occasion, there are also the "daily" or "abiding" offerings (tamid). This comprises the morning and evening offering in the Temple. For this sacrifice, two one year old lambs must be offered every day on the altar of the Temple, as a sign that God dwells in the Temple and is present among the sons of Israel.

Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously.

Num 29,36 "Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. 29,37 "For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy. 29,38 "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 29,39 "The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 29,40 and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb.

29,41 "The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD. 29,42 "It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 29,43 "I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. 29,44 "I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. 29,45 "I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 29,46 "They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God. Num 29,36-46;

Having confidence in this offering, every Israelite could ask for his guilt to be forgiven without being obliged to take part in the sacrificial ceremony in person. The word tamid literally means "the abiding", and signifies the "constant forgiveness of the (forgivable) sins which God allows to humanity based on this daily sacrifice".

This house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sigt and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

2Chr 7,19 "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 7,20 then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 7,21 "As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, "Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?" 2Chr 7,19-23;

The answer to the last question above should be quite clear: Because they insulted the Son of God as a blasphemer and an impostor, condemned Him to death on the cross, and after beating and scourging Him, they left Him to die miserably on the cross.

The destruction of the Temple.

On 1 July in the year 69 AD, Titus, the son of the reigning Roman emperor Vespasian, was sent to Jerusalem to end the Jewish War as supreme commander of the army delegated to this task. In April of the year 70 he marched on the city with a host of four legions and numerous auxiliary troops from tributary kings (Josephus, Bell, 5,40-6,120). Titus besieged the city, surrounding it with a high siege wall (Josephus, Bell, 5,130-135.491-511; Tacitus, Hist. 5,1.10-14).

In early September, AD 70, Jerusalem then fell to famine. There was also a bloodbath, which Titus, it is claimed, tried in vain to prevent(!). The Temple, where 6000 Jews had taken refuge – placing their trust in an oracular prophecy that the sanctuary would be saved in the Last Days (Josephus, Bell, 6,285f) – was destroyed by fire. According to Josephus, Titus tried up to the last, in vain, to prevent the destruction of the Temple (Bell, 6,241.266).

This was the way in which Titus wanted to be exonerated from personal responsibility for the disaster visired on the Jews. But the soldiers, in their blind fury, ignored his orders (Bell, 6,254-259). The city was razed to the ground. Only the towers of the citadels were left intact, and strengthened for future use by a military garrison.

If we look at the above accounts of the historians, we can see that it was not worldly power – in the form of the Roman general Titus – that aimed to destroy the Temple. On the contrary, Josephus tells us that Titus gave explicit orders to his troops to save the Temple above all. But this entire war was not being decided on an earthly level.

It was God the Almighty who had determined that both the city and the Temple were to be destroyed. And so Titus had the experience – probably for the first time in his life – of seeing Roman legionaries refusing to carry out an order from their commander. Instead, they stormed the Temple and burnt it to the ground.

Now from an objective point of view we should of course inquire whether this assertion – that the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple happened by the will of God – actually finds confirmation in the Bible. And here we have, first of all, the lament of the Lord over Jerusalem in Lk 19,41-44:

They will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.

Lk 19,41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 19,42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 19,43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 19,44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." Lk 19,41-44;

Here in Lk 19,43 the Lord not only foretells the "barricade", the high wall which Titus built in order to besiege the city, he also alludes to the fact that the besiegers would not leave one stone upon another in the city – as the historian Josephus was later to confirm in the words "The city was razed to the ground" (see above).

With reference to the Temple, we then find the prophecy of its destruction in the Lord’s response to the admiring words of the disciples about the Temple’s glories in Mt 24,1-2:

Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.

Mt 24,1 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 24,2 And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." Mt 24, 1- 2;

These, however, are just prophecies of events which were actually going to take place some 40 years later. We still do not know why God had resolved on the destruction of this city and the Temple. But another statement of the Lord’s, at first sight quite unobtrusive, tells us more. When we look at it closely, we find it contains quite unexpected implications.

The Pharisees had found fault with the Lord for his assertion that he was the Son of God, on the grounds that he had only himself as witness, whereas in Jewish law at least two witnesses were necessary, so his testimony, they claimed, was untrue. In Jn 8,24 he therefore tells them,

Jn 8,21 Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come." 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins." Jn 8,21-24;

In the above scriptural passage the Lord reiterates the prophecy "You will die in your sins", both in Jn 8,21 and in Jn 8,24. For the Pharisees to whom he was speaking, this was just further proof that this Jesus of Nazareth could only propagate lies and had no idea of the Mosaic commandments.

After all, the Law (the Torah) gave them the sacrificial ceremonies of the sin offering and guilt offering as described above, through which they were able to obtain forgiveness of their sins. And what is more, they had the tamid, the daily repeated offering in the Temple by which God granted them constant forgiveness of those sins which can be forgiven.

Neither the Pharisees at the time, nor the majority of biblical commentators today realized the dreadful seriousness that lies at the back of these few words. And it is right here that we find the key to understanding the actions of God in relation to his people Israel. Just by regarding the surface of this pronouncement, we can see first of all that the Lord of course was not speaking out of ignorance – in fact, it was the Pharisees who had no notion that 40 years later neither the Temple nor the altar would exist, so that it would no longer be possible for the priests to carry out the prescribed offerings in the Temple at the sacrificial altar.

The consequence of this was that all Israelites – from the destruction of the Temple and sacrificial altar right through to the present day (!) – have been without any possibility of having their sins forgiven, and so, just as the Lord prophesied, have died in their sins. And both in accordance with Mosaic and with Christian teaching, all these many people have thus been lost and will spend eternity in damnation.

But when we proceed to consider this passage in greater depth, we can recognize an even more serious implication in the background. Whereas many Israelites in the time of Jesus supposed that in rejecting the Nazarene they were entirely in line with Mosaic law and with the commandments of their God, in fact this was just the path that they had abandoned. The Jewish Sanhedrin, under its high priest Caiaphas, condemned Jesus because he confirmed to them that he was the Son of God:

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! He deserves death!

Mt 26,63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of God." 26,64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." 26,65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 26,66 what do you think?" They answered, "He deserves death!" Mt 26,63-66;

They found him guilty and deserving of death because he said that he was the Son of God. The Sanhedrin, however – Israel’s religious leaders – had no authority to carry out sentence of execution under the laws of the Roman occupying power. Such cases had to be handed over to Roman jurisdiction. But as far as the Romans were concerned, the internal disagreements of the Jews over their religion were no grounds for imposing a punishment, let alone a death sentence.

This was why the Jewish Sanhedrin put about the accusation that Jesus had said he was the king of the Jews (Jn 18:33-35). Under Roman jurisdiction this would amount to the criminal offence of rebellion and insurrection against the authority of the emperor in Rome, for which according to Roman law death on the cross was the penalty (Jn 19:12).

But by denying Jesus as their Messiah, condemning him to death and handing him over to the Romans to be crucified, the Jews had also denied – and lost – their God.

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

1Jn 2,22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 2,23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 2,24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.1Jn 2,22-24;

Jn 14,6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Jn 14, 6;

Jn 5,22 "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 5,23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Jn 5,22-23;

He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

1Jn 5,10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 5,11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 5,12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 1Jn 5,10-12;

Along with other scriptural indications, the above prophecies constitute a further proof that since that point in time Israel has no longer had any connection with its God, and so is – in a double sense of the word – a God-less nation.

Isa 1,2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. 1,3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand. 1,4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 1,5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. Isa 1,2-5;

For two thousand years Israel has been God-less – and still is.

And here we can now see the reason why God had the city of Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed by the Romans. After the killing of his Son on the cross, God abandoned the Temple, the city and the people of Israel. In the following report of the death of Jesus on the cross from Mt 27,45-51 we find two concrete indications of this.

My GOD, My GOD, why have You forsaken Me?" And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two.

Mt 27,45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 27,46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "My GOD, My GOD, why have You forsaken Me?" 27,47 And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah." 27,48 Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. 27,49 But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him." 27,50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 27,51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Mt 27,45-51;

The last words of the Lord on the cross were "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?". It was the moment at which the sin of the whole world was laid on the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit of the Father was compelled to leave the Son, because he cannot coexist in a body with unforgiven sin.

On the one hand this was the event to accomplish which the Son of God had come into the world – so as to make the vicarious sacrifice acceptable to God for the sins of all humanity.

On the other hand, however, this dying cry was a prophecy for the Jews, who from now on were precisely in this situation. As their Messiah had prophesied to them "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (Jn 8,24), they no longer had any possibility of their sins being forgiven, because God had forsaken them.

So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.

Isa 1,14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 1,15 So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 1,16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Isa 1,14-16;

And then there is the circumstance that the veil of the Temple, which served to separate the holy place from the holy of holies in which God dwelt (Ex 26:33), was torn in two pieces from top to bottom – a further confirmation of the fact that God had abandoned the Temple and that the people of Israel, who had become the murderers of his Son, were from now on God-less.

And this too had been prophesied to them by the Lord while he was still alive:

Your house is being left to you desolate!, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!’

Mt 23,32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 23,33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? 23,34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 23,35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

23,36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 23,37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 23,38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 23,39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!’ Mt 23,32-39;

Here above, in Mt 23,38, the Lord says to the Israelites: "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate". This is originally a saying of David (Psalm 69,25: «May their camp be desolate; May none dwell in their tents.»), which Peter also quotes in Acts 1,20, in his address on the election of a new twelfth apostle instead of the traitor Judas Iscariot, together with another saying of David, from Ps 109,8: «… Let another take his office.»

It is significant that these two sayings of Daniel apply not only to the traitor Judas Iscariot, but also to the betrayal of the people of Israel against their Messiah. Their house will be left desolate – God has dissolved the covenant with Israel – and their office – the government in the Kingdom of God on earth, the Millennium – will be given to to a people, producing the fruit of it (Mt 21,43).

From the biblical point of view, then, ever since its rejection of the Messiah and the subsequent destruction of the Temple, and so of the sacrificial altar in Jerusalem, the people of Israel have had no possibility – for all the time between the Lord’s death and resurrection, and his Second Coming to enter on his rule in the Millennial Kingdom – of entering into any kind of interaction with its God, either through prayer or through sacrificial offerings. So they have not had any forgiveness of their sins either, unless they convert to Jesus Christ – as a result of which, though, they would then be Christians.

Paul saw this very clearly in the Holy Spirit when he wrote to the Galatians, "But you, brethren, like Isaac, are the children of promise." So the believers in Christ are the children of the free and of the promise, and Israel, they are the children of the bondwoman, the ones bound to the law, they shall not inherit with the children of the free woman.

Gal 4,26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 4,27 For it is written, "rejoice, barren woman who does not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband." 4,28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 4,29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 4,30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman." 4,31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. Gal 4,26-31;

The New Covenant

Now there are many Christian commentators – especially in the USA – who have a particular interest in the interpretation of the Bible as it relates to Israel. While they do admittedly acknowledge the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of all human beings, when it comes to the Israelites it seems that they make an exception. Drawing their conclusions for the most part from the Old Testament, from the prophets and the Book of Daniel, they postulate that Israel will only be able to return to faith in its God in the future, on the basis of a "new covenant".

That Israel will return to the faith on the arrival of its Messiah – the Second Coming, that is, of our Lord Jesus Christ – may well be perfectly accurate in so far as it refers to the Israelites who will be remaining in the Millennium. Only the assertion that God will then make a new covenant with Israel, which will hold good for eternity, is quite simply a mistaken conclusion.

All the more so when the basis for this "new" covenant is then also taken to be the legality and righteousness of human beings, and not the grace of God through the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God. To better understand the implications of this, we must here define what righteousness is, and more importantly, what a righteous person is.

Salvation through righteousness.

A righteous person is one who observes all the commandments of God. And thus Christ, who fulfilled all the commandments of God – even up to and including death on the cross – was the absolutely righteous person, and his righteousness was perfect. The absolutely righteous God demands this kind of complete righteousness from all his servants and believers. Anyone who does not observe God’s commandments is condemned by God to death. But the righteousness of human beings can never be perfect, and so all human beings deserve death.

Rom 6,23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6,23;

Salvation through grace.

But God loves humanity, and so gave the Israelites the Old Covenant so that – as documented above – they would not have to give their own lives for their sins, but could sacrifice the life of an animal instead. In this way the forgivable sins of the Israelites were expiated, and they recovered the possibility, as righteous persons, of access to God in prayer and in their lives.

But then God sent his Son as a human being to earth. Because God had enough of the endless animal sacrifices, and in order to satisfy God’s absolute righteousness once and for all, Jesus Christ gave up his life on the cross as a sin offering for all the sins of all human beings.

From this point in time there has no longer been any righteousness under the Law, there has only been righteousness by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ and his vicarious sacrifice for the sins of all human beings. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the sin offering, the "Lamb of God" who gave up his life for the sins of the world and so once and for all replaced the daily repeated offering – the tamid – in the Temple. The "Law", the Old Covenant, has been abolished. No one can be justified any longer based on this Law. Only the grace of God in his Son Jesus Christ can now justify and save human beings and make them righteous in the sight of God through grace.

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Gal 5,3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 5,4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. Gal 5, 3- 4;

As we can see from this, there are no exceptions. The conditions that apply to all human beings are one and the same. And there aren’t any "special agreements" either. Whether people are Jews or Greeks, or whatever their nationality, only those who come to believe in Jesus Christ, and avail themselves of the redeeming sacrifice of the Son of God for their own sins, will be saved.

1Tim 2,3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 2,4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2,5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 2,6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1Tim 2, 3- 6;

Even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

Rom 5,18 So then as through one transgression (fall of man) there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. Rom 5,18;

But this means, then, that there cannot be any exception made for the Jews either – whether the Jews of the present day, or those of the future. They can only be saved – on the same terms as those which apply to all other human beings – if they come to believe in the Son of God as their Savior and Messiah. Regrettably, though, they continue right up to the present day to regard him as an impostor and blasphemer. And so it is also completely irresponsible to hold out any kind of hope to the Israelites of any kind of new "special covenant".

The New Covenant which the Israelites hope for, and for which they are waiting, has already been concluded two thousand years ago. It is the New Covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus, which was shed as the vicarious sacrifice – the new tamid – for all humanity, including in particular the Jews.

Lk 22,19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
22,20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Lk 22,19-20;

For this reason Jesus Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Hebr 9,11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;

9,12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

9,13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 9,14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 9,15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Hebr 9,11-15;

Jn 8,21 Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come." 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins." Jn 8,21-24;

We can recognize from this that while God punished the Jews for the death of his Son, he has still left one possibility open to them. The Lord Jesus says, "Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah, that is) – and this, of course, was actually addressed to the Jews. And here it becomes clear that even if God dissolved the covenant with the Jewish people at that time because of their unforgivable act of blood, his grace still offers them a way out: if the Jews believe that this Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah and the Son of God, then they will be redeemed and saved from their sins.

This is because they would then no longer need any Temple, any altar or any animal sacrifice – instead they can offer to God this vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God for their sins, and so have their sins forgiven. They are justified through grace, and can stand as righteous persons before their God and pray to him.

The Law and the prophets.

We find the argument in some Jewish circles that all these statements come from the New Testament and in no way agree with the Jewish Tanach (sacred scriptures) – the Law (Torah) and the prophets (Neviim). This argument was countered by our Lord Jesus Christ while he was still alive, and refuted on the basis of the Torah.

In Numbers we have the report of an insurrection by the people of Israel when they were on Mount Hor and had run out of bread and water. And they complained again to Moses and Aaron, saying "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many of the people of Israel died.

When the people acknowledged their sin, Moses prayed to the Lord. And God told him to make a bronze serpent and nail it on a pole, and set it up in the midst of the camp. And it shall come about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

And it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Num 21,4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. 21,5 The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." 21,6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 21,7 So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. 21,8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." 21,9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Num 21,4-9;

This was the very first prophecy of the expiatory death on the cross of the Son of God – and it is to be found in the Jewish Torah!! Just as at that time the bronze serpent was lifted up, and those Israelites who looked upon it had their sin forgiven and were saved from certain death, so too was the Son of Man lifted up on the cross. And anyone who believes in this vicarious sacrifice will have their sins forgiven, will be saved and will have eternal life. And this was actually confirmed for them by the Lord:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

Jn 3,14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 3,15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 3,16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 3,17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 3,18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jn 3,14-18;

Although admittedly the above reference to the crucifixion in Num 21,4-9 is much easier to interpret retrospectively – after the actual crucifixion of Jesus, that is – the scribes of the Sanhedrin at the time of the Lord, and still more the later generations of Israel right up to the present day, must undoubtedly have been aware of the prophecy that follows below, that passage in Isaiah 53,1-12 relating to the "Suffering Servant" in view of the fact that this text (especially the introduction in Isa 52:13-15) was always taken in Israel to be referring to the Messiah.

By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.

Isa 53,1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 53,2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 53,3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

53,4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 53,5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 53,6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

53,7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 53,8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 53,9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

53,10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 53,11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 53,12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. Ids 53,1-12;

These two scriptural passages from the Jewish Tanach, Num 21,4-9 and Isa 53,1-12, contain the entire truth about the life, ministry and death of the Son of God in this world. And even if the scribes of the Sanhedrin at the time should be supposed to have been ignorant of these texts – which is rather improbable – how is it that the rabbis of the last two thousand years, who know, or should know, the Jewish scriptures better than anybody, have never read this prophecy of the "Servant of God" in the prophet Isaiah?

Here we find the entire life of Jesus of Nazareth described. So we are inevitably led to suspect that people were actually very familiar with these statements and had assigned the right interpretation to them, but their obstinacy and reluctance to convert were more powerful than their conscience.

Isa 1,2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. 1,3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand." 1,4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 1,5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. Isa 1, 2- 5;

Jer 5,3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent. 5,4 Then I said, "They are only the poor, They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD Or the ordinance of their God. 5,5 "I will go to the great And will speak to them, For they know the way of the LORD And the ordinance of their God." But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke And burst the bonds. Jer 5, 3- 5;

You might well think that the destruction of the Temple and of the city of Jerusalem by the Roman troops under Titus in the year 70, followed by the dispersal of the people of Israel from their country, would have given the Israelites something to think about. Unfortunately we also find a few commentators in the Christian camp interpreting the many painful pogroms in various European countries, culminating in the millionfold sufferings of the Shoah, or Holocaust, as being God’s "punishment" of Israel. But these people overlook the fact that Israel has been God-less for two thousand years (and still is). And the simple truth is that God is not going to be bothered with godless people any longer. He won’t be giving them his blessing, but he won’t be punishing them either.

What the Jews were obliged to undergo in the last thousand years in the way of affliction and humiliation was not the punishment of God, but just the perfectly normal brutality, perversion and violence of the other godless people living in this world. But as the facts show, not even this was sufficient reason for the people of Israel to convert to its God by believing in his Son. Here again, sad to say, the stiff-necked attitude of Israel prevailed, and up to the present day they have refused to convert and to tread the path leading to the good. As God once said to Moses:

"The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people" (Ex 32,9)

Those Christian interpreters, on the other hand, who go to all lengths in their efforts to find a basis in scripture for attributing to Israel a new covenant at some future time, only reinforce this stiff-necked attitude of the Israelites and lead them astray. They rummage around in the Old Testament, and clearly have not read the New Testament or such scriptural passages as Lk 22,20, where the Lord says to the Jews (his disciples):

And here again, so as to rule out a discriminating "special case" treatment of Israel – of the kind so often pressed into service as a basis for the view that the conversion of Israel is only to take place in the distant future – Paul tells us in his letter to Timothy:

1Tim 2,3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 2,4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2,5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 2,6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1Tim 2, 3- 6;

So when Paul tells us that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, how can certain Christian preachers assert that this does not apply to the Jews?? Are Jews then not human beings? (I think we have come across this attitude somewhere before!) - Or did Christ only die for the goyim (the non-Jews)?

In view of their past and their native obstinacy, the Jews already find it difficult enough to admit that their fathers handed over the Son of God to death on the cross. The realization that precisely this can bring them salvation, with their sins being forgiven at a stroke, is now something they are being talked out of by dishonest pseudo-Christian preachers. These people are happy to avail themselves of the redeeming sacrifice of the Son of God for their own sins, but try to deny it to the Jews.

Is it not already enough that the Jewish Agency, the immigration authority of the Israeli government, insists on all immigrants laying themselves under a contractual obligation (!) that they will not preach the Christian message in Israel, or speak of Jesus Christ at all? Is it not enough that evangelical Christians in Israel should be persecuted and thwarted not only by Orthodox Jews but also by atheist Russian immigrants and the godless mass of the Israeli people, as Sister Hannelore Weitzel, currently living in Israel, writes:

"Now here I would like to go into their congregation with Sister Shoshanna and make contact here, with more believers (who are suffering quite massive persecution here from the Orthodox Jews). They do come together as a congregation, but for a certainty they still need the support of our prayers. Here in Arad there are also unbelievable numbers of immigrants from Russia! (A matter of deep concern to me, as many are aware). (…) Here at this place the faithful who believe in the LORD JESUS CHRIST are suffering the most violent persecution! They are persecuted by the Harridim (ultra-orthodox Jews, FH), their houses are set on fire, they get no support whatever from the police when under attack, they have no support at all from the mayoress, they must constantly change the location in order to continue holding their meetings / assemblies, evangelical Russian immigrants were close to beeing burnt out a few years ago, if the fire started by the Harridim, had not gone out. And when we now also read that the BODY OF CHRIST is not welcome, either here or at conferences in Germany, then it is really time to wake up!"

If God has offered the Jews as well as Gentiles this salvation through grace, how can some biblical commentators and preachers assert that this does not apply to the Jews, because they must wait for a "new covenant" at some future time? It is correct of course to say that not all Israelites will convert to Jesus Christ. And it is also correct that the people of Israel as a whole will only open their eyes in the Millennium, when they will receive the Son of God with the following words:

From now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!’

Mt 23,36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 23,37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 23,38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 23,39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!’" Mt 23,36-39;

But until that time it is perfectly possible for individual Jews here and there to realize the truth, come to have faith in the Son of God and be saved. For this "New Covenant" of the future, which the people of Israel as a whole will join in the Millennium, is no other covenant than that new covenant which our Lord Jesus Christ brought about with God the Father two thousand years ago, by shedding his blood for the sins of all human beings.

Lk 22,19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 22,20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Lk 22,19-20;

For this reason Jesus Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Every Israelite who adheres to this covenant, and comes to faith in Jesus Christ and his vicarious sacrifice, has all his sins forgiven by grace, and so will be saved from certain death (the second death). Thus he can stand day by day in the presence of his God, just as if the daily repeated sacrifice (the tamid) were still being carried on in the Temple of Jerusalem, and can pray to his God as a righteous person justified through grace. And this is likewise confirmed by those Old Testament passages referred to above (Num 21, 4- 9; Isa 52,13-15; Isa 53, 1-12).

God is ONE?!

Finally, the argument repeatedly advanced by the Jews that in their confession of faith, the "Schma Yisrael" in Deut 6,4 – "Hear, O Israel! The LORD (YHWH) is our God (Elohim), the LORD is one!" – only one God is spoken of, is quite simply wrong.

In this text the Hebrew word for God, "Elohim", is actually a plural form, similar to formulations like seraf/serafim, cherub/cherubim, tefil/tefilim, pur/purim, ulpan/ulpanim, sofer/sofrim, oleh/olim etc. etc. So the correct literal translation here would be "YHWH, our gods".

God is Spirit.

If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.

Jh 14,15 "If you love me, keep my commands. 14,16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – 14,17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 14,18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

14,19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 14,20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 14,21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."

14,22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" 14,23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 14,24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 14,25 All this I have spoken while still with you." Jn 14,15-25;

That God and his Son come to us and take up residence with us is at first glance astonishing and somewhat incomprehensible. But if one knows the biblical background, one can recognize the full reality of this statement.

Jn 4,23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 4,24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Jn 4,23-24;

As the Son of God tells us here, God, the Father, is spirit. And this now is not to be understood "symbolically", but literally! Not only is it true that God is spirit, but the mode of existence of all creatures in the heavenly dimension of God – including that of already resurrected human beings (1Cor 15:44) – is of a genderless spiritual nature. However, according to Scripture, they also possess the ability to appear in physical, human form (Lk 24:36-39; Rev 20:6) and to disappear (Lk 24:31; Jn 3:8).

As we can see from many biblical statements, communication between God and His Son always took place on a spiritual level. God is in the spirit of the Son, and what the Son speaks is God’s word.

Jn 14,10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 14,11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Jn 14,10-11;

It is therefore obvious that it is in the nature of spiritual beings to incorporate themselves both in the spirit of a human being and in other spiritual beings. They are non-material in their spiritual form and can merge into each other, as when, on the material plane, one empties a glass of water into another glass of water, and both waters become one (the Trinity and Rev 3:21, all (billions!!) sit with the Lord on his – ONE – throne!).

The Christian churches.

Alongside the betrayal of the Israelites by pseudo-Christian preachers and commentators who deny Jews the possibility of conversion in the present, encouraging their false hopes of a new covenant at a future time, all those Israelites who have recognized the truth and wish to come to faith in Jesus Christ are being led astray – as we will demonstrate below – by the main Christian churches. So these churches can nowadays no longer be described as "Christian", seeing that they have abandoned the Bible as a basis for the Christian faith in so many respects.

The Catholic churches.

This includes the Catholic church (Roman or Orthodox) which worships a demon in its unbiblical idol known as "Mary" – a demon appearing in Lourdes and Fatima and in Medjugorje from 1981 into the nineties, where it promulgated the well-known message:

But the Marian apparitions of the Catholic church (e.g. in Rome, 1977), present Catholics with the following invitation:

"You must use me as the holy and unique means of coming to God and bringing souls to me." [2]

Where these souls will finally end up is altogether evident. So these apparitions of Mary in the Catholic church are patently manifestations of the demonic world. And since the Catholic church has incorporated this demon increasingly in its teaching, with doctrines like the "immaculate conception of Mary" (by her mother Anna!!, 1854), the "mother of God" (1931), the "assumption" (1950) – so pretending to put her on an "equal footing" with our Lord Jesus Christ and encourage the people of the church to abandon worship of the Son of God for the worship of this demon – everyone who follows this doctrine will end up in damnation.

The reformed churches.

And here it is interesting to find that the Protestant churches reformed in earlier times are today no longer loyal to the achievement of their fathers in the faith, the separation from the Catholic church. Under the auspices of the ecumenical movement they are hungry to join up with the Catholic church, in order to participate in the fullness of power offered by this temple of idols.

They are annoyed because participation in the Catholic "Eucharist" – the unbiblical "Transubstatiation" of a wafer into the body of Christ – is still denied them by the Catholic church, instead of proudly remaining true to the genuinely biblical commemoration of the Last Supper, as the Lord commanded them in Lk 22:19-20.

also, in the evangelical churches, homosexuals are allowed to marry and even appointed as superintendents (bishops), in spite of Paul’s warning:

They burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts.

Rom 1,24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 1,25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 1,26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 1,27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. Rom 1,24-27;

The evangelical congregations.

In the evangelical congregations, finally, we also find those commentators who preach that the Israelites will be given a new covenant in the future and have no possibility of being converted before this time. These are often Jewish preachers, and one of the false doctrines they propagate is the view that the Zionist foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 was the "gathering by God" prophesied in the Old Testament. These same Jewish preachers are the ones who, under the auspices of the aliyah, urge the evangelical congregations to bring Jews from all over the world – especially from atheist Russia – to Israel, where Christian missionary activities are absolutely forbidden.

In these evangelical congregations many preachers are also to be found who offer Christian faith as a great opportunity, promising salvation in a package completely free of charge and without any effort. It is the "gospel of affluence", as it has been called, that is being propagated here – it is no longer a matter of conversion and repentance, but of "making up the numbers". Not just on television either, where these preachers peddle the Christian faith like any street hawker, but also in evangelization missions in the evangelical congregations, where not the quality but the quantity of adherents is the important thing, generally being exploited as a basis for publicity.

The Messianic Jews.

This leaves us, then, with the so-called "Messianic Jews". This is the term applied to Israelites who see themselves as being Jews (of an orthodox persuasion, as they observe the Torah) [3] but at the same time believe in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer. They not only believe him to be the Redeemer in the traditional Christian sense, they also interpret him – quite correctly, with the help of New Testament theology and the writings of the Christian Bible – as the "Savior of Israel".

The Bible – which for them comprises both the Hebrew Tanach (the Old Testament) and the books of the New Testament – forms the foundation for their Christian, Trinitarian faith, their doctrine and their manner of living. They hold the conviction that the Christian Bible in its entirety is inspired by God [4].

In this form of the Christian faith we actually find just those features which were typical of the original Christian communities. The original Christians were likewise Jews of the Mosaic faith who had come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Redeemer. In spite of this – or for this very reason – the Messianic Jews are subject to exceptionally violent attacks both within Israel and outside it, as we can see from the following remarks by a Berlin rabbi.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(Is "Messianic Judaism" a malicious movement? Rabbi Rozwasky, Berlin 2011-12-06)

(…) Believing in Jesus meant in the past, and still means today, refusing to believe in Judaism. But being a Jew also meant in the past, and still means today, rejecting Jesus and Christianity. There is no middle road between the two – this is and always has been a historic fact. Anyone who denies this only betrays his own ignorance of history.

"Messianic Judaism" is a malicious movement, because it distorts both Judaism and Christianity alike and reverses the truth about both religions. Christianity is at its core the denial of Judaism, just as Judaism in its essence is the denial of Christianity.

To assert that it is possible to be "a Jew for Jesus" does harm to the conscience and the religious thinking of both persuasions, and in that sense the movement is malicious. Another reason why it is malicious is because it leads to the destruction of the Jewish religion and the Jewish people. This movement has the declared intention of converting Jews to Christianity and thereby destroying the Jewish people root and branch. The true nature of the slogan "Jews for Jesus" is the intention to annihilate Judaism, by endeavoring to get Jews away from Judaism and bring them to Jesus, the focal point of Christianity.

Greater malice than this deliberate deception cannot possibly exist. It offers itself like a poisoned sweet in a chocolate wrapping. Anyone who swallows this pill believes he is eating a chocolate, but in the end he is most undoubtedly going to be killed by the poison. The same will happen to all those who swallow the pill of "Jews for Jesus". They may think it tastes nice to begin with, but in the end the Jewishness within them will certainly die, and they will be for ever lost to the Jewish people.

The intention of these people is to destroy the Jewish people. This is another form of the Christian missionary endeavor to convert the Jews, and so make them disappear from the face of the earth. (…)

Rabbi Dr. Chaim Z. Rozwaski, Rabbi of the Jewish Liberal Community in Berlin

https://juden.judentum.org/judenmission/messianische-juden.html

We know, from the mouth of their and our God (Ex 32:9), that Israel is a stubborn people. But the malice imputed by Rabbi Dr. Chaim Z. Rozwaski to the Messianic Jews is plainly revealed to be a quality he himself possesses in abundance, when he asserts that Jesus and Christianity want to annihilate "Judaism". This is an infamous allusion to the persecution of the Jews under the dominion of the Nazis, and anyone who tries to associate "Jesus and Christianity" with that can only be described as malicious.

Quite apart from that, "Judaism" is first and foremost not a religious category but rather describes a Jew’s ethnicity. Any Jew, even if he is a non-believer, would object if he were no longer allowed to call himself a "Jew". And finally, based on what the Bible says this people cannot be "annihilated". In the Old Testament (Jer 31:7) we find unambiguous prophecies which foretell that Israel will be "the chief of the nations", in other words a world power; and there are also indications in the New Testament (Mt 24:34) showing that the Jewish race will still be around in the Last Days.

It is just the old problem that Jews of this kind always look to find fault in the other party, and have learned nothing from history, or from the Bible either. Neither the destruction of Jerusalem, of the Temple and the altar, nor the expulsion of the Jewish nation from their country has brought these people to the realization that for the last two thousand years – since they delivered his Son to death on the cross – they have been abandoned by God. And that is why there is nothing left here to be "annihilated". They themselves at that time annihilated every connection with their God.

In truth then they are themselves this "poisoned sweet" – those who perpetuate the pseudo-Christian betrayal of the believing Israelites on the Jewish side, and try to persuade the Jews that Israel still has a God to pray to. The tactic on both sides is one and the same – people take prophecies from the Old Testament which refer to the Millennial Kingdom of Peace of the Son of God in the Last days, and assert that they "are being fulfilled in our own day".

Although – or even because – the Messianic Jews represent the "original Christians" of our days, they do not have the correct biblical Christian faith either. The point at issue is far from being their observing the Sabbath instead of Sunday. Without wanting here to defend the false doctrines of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Sabbath, as the "Day of the Lord", actually has a biblical origin. The Sunday holiday is a Catholic invention, similar to the church’s withholding the wine from the faithful at the Lord’s Supper. Likewise the ban on meat eating on Fridays served the Vatican as a means of boosting the turnover of its Italian fish farms.

No, the problem of the Messianic Jews is the very problem which Paul explains in great detail in his letter to the original Christian congregation of Rome, especially in Rom 4:1-25. It is a question of circumcision. To cut a long story short, Paul’s argument starts with a statement by David in the Psalms:

Ps 32,1 <<A Psalm of David. A Maskil.>> How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 23,2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! Ps 32, 1- 2;

This attribution of beatitude is now associated by Paul with Abraham, seeing that Abraham was the first to be given the commandment of circumcision. And Paul demonstrates that Abraham first of all – while he was still uncircumcised – had faith in God, and only then received the injunction to circumcise himself from God as a seal of the righteousness of his faith. So faith was imputed to him as righteousness. Not just to him, however, but on our account as well, to whom it will be credited as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead:

Jesus who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

Rom 4,23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 4,24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 4,25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Rom 4,23-25;

So if the Messianic Jews continue to practice circumcision, Paul tells them in his letter to the Galatians

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Gal 5,2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 5,3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 5,4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. Gal 5, 2- 4;

Complete fulfillment of the law – observance, that is to say, of all God’s commandments – is not possible for any human being, otherwise the Son of God would not have had to die on the cross. So although the Messianic Jews say that they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, those of them who practice circumcision have in reality forfeited this salvation through grace. And difficult as it may be for us as Christians to do so, we still have to tell them that as they cannot be saved by the righteousness of the law either, they are condemned to damnation just as much as any unbeliever. May the Lord grant them this knowledge.

Because by the works of the Law (e.g. circumcision) no flesh will be justified in His sight.

Rom 3,9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 3,10 as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; 3,11 There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; 3,12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one." (Psalm 14,1-3) 3,13 "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving," (Psalm 5,10) "The poison of asps is under their lips"; (Psalm 140,4) 3,14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness"; (Psalm 10,7) 3,15 "Their feed are swift to shed blood, 3,16 destruction and misery are in their paths, 3,17 and the path of peace they have not known." (Isaiah 59,7.8) 3,18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Psalm 36,2) 3,19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 3,20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Rom 3, 9-20;

The search for correct understanding.

For the original Christians in the time of Paul, it was the goal of the preachers to spread the gospel and pass on the doctrine of Christ. For this purpose people assembled (the Greek ekklesia means assembly or congregation) at the house of one of the brethren. In normal circumstances an audience of perhaps 20 to 30 people would come. In the narrow space of the room they would be gathered together around the preacher. If any questions came up, they could be asked on the spot and would be promptly answered.

In the course of the last two thousand years, however, priorities have changed. It is no longer the principal goal to pass on the doctrine of Christ, but to lure as many listeners as possible into the churches. This started with the Catholic church, which built bigger and bigger houses of God all over the world.

On the other hand, though, the invention of idols (Mary) and false doctrines ("dogmas"), as well as the incorporation of the world of spirits and demons of other religions, which were promoted to become "saints" of the Catholic church, meant that the barriers to church membership were lowered, so that the maximum number of adherents could be acquired in the shortest possible time. So at the present time the Catholic church totals more than a billion members worldwide (not Christians!).

Although the growth in membership of the Catholic church has recently suffered checks as a result of the many scandals involving the church all over the world, evangelical churches in the USA like Willow Creek and Saddleback enjoy ever greater popularity. Willow Creek is already the fourth biggest church in the USA, and has 23,000 people attending its weekend services. But the Saddleback congregation of Pastor Rick Warren in Lake Forest, California, also has around 22,000 members and goes on growing all the time.

This kind of mass divine service is something we are familiar with from another American preacher. Billy Graham frequently appeared at football stadiums, and his sermons were as well attended as those of the world famous American preacher Joyce Meyer in our own day.

Audiences several thousands strong listen to her words with captivated attention. She herself runs back and forth on the stage like a watchdog, "barking" at her listeners. And if she fails to earn applause for her utterances, she shocks her lambs by sarcastically inquiring "What’s up? Have you all dozed off?"

Along with the advantage of this kind of major event – that a great many people can be addressed at one time – we can also recognize that it involves a serious disadvantage: the audience is often inattentive, fails to follow the sermon and in the course of time is likely to lose the thread.

This is naturally going to lead to misunderstandings and open questions, which however, in view of the massive crowd attending, cannot be either asked or answered. And in the end people may perhaps retain one or two succinct remarks in their memory banks, while the rest is simply forgotten.

Now whereas the Catholic church altogether rejects the Bible as the sole basis of its teaching, preferring to rely principally on the "traditions of the church fathers", the other preachers referred to above do indeed base their message on the Bible. If, however, we take Joyce Meyer as an example, what she preaches is not actually wrong, but it just is not the gospel.

What she teaches are communal and social rules of behavior, e.g. how people should behave towards their fellow human beings and how they can exercise self-discipline. But she doesn’t have a single word to say about why Christ died or how these people can come to the real, the true Christian faith.

But even in many small evangelical congregations – at least in German-speaking countries – the situation is hardly any better. Here too the main focus is on membership numbers, and the program is designed in such a way as to attract as many spectators as possible. So services are offered with dance events and small pop concerts, and of course the doctrine of Christ is not easily going to find a place in this context.

And the congregation leaders are more concerned with taking out loans so that they can extend the congregation’s premises and accommodate even more members, rather than looking for suitable preachers who would strengthen and expand the faith and understanding of their members.

As we can see, in this area the cart has rather bogged down; and in view of the "mushroom management" practiced in most congregations – a strategy of keeping the brethren in the dark, and just watering them occasionally – things are unfortunately not going to change in a hurry. – So what, in our day, can we recommend to a person with an honest and searching heart who is endeavoring to find the right understanding of the Christian faith and the right path?

It may be a lengthy and laborious search, but it is still possible to find them here and there – those congregations, that is, in which the doctrine of Christ, as it has been handed down to us in the Bible, is preached and propagated. You have to look for them, and hope that they won’t be too far away from the place where you live. The internet can undoubtedly be a useful resource here, as many congregations advertise their profile and their sermons on a website.

If we do not find any suitable congregation close by, the internet still suggests itself – with a view to tracking down a home Bible group or the like. This may well function better than a bad congregation. But here again the very first thing that must be done is to check the basis of these people’s faith, otherwise dissension at a later date can be guaranteed.

If you cannot find either a congregation loyal to the Bible or a home Bible group in your neighborhood, there is still the possibility of studying the sermons on a serious website. Based on 2Cor 2,17, however, this should at all events be one you can access free of charge. The big disadvantage when studying a website – that you can’t see the preacher face to face – does have an unexpected flip side, if you just think of the criteria for selecting representatives for home visits.

People are always chosen for this purpose who have an attractive appearance and the rhetorical force of conviction. And of course people with characteristics like these are going to make more of an impact in congregations and home Bible study groups as well. When such characters serve as preachers, however, there is unfortunately a very high risk that they will be less concerned with the spiritual development of their hearers than with their own financial emoluments and career progress.

The big advantage of online study, which is not at all obvious at first glance, is the immediate availability of all the sermons. By contrast with a congregation, where you can only learn and evaluate the doctrinal slant step by step and as a result of a long process of searching and questioning, the relevant sermons on a website can be quickly perused, so that you will generally know at once which way the cat is going to jump. This is another reason for avoiding, as far as possible, websites where only some of the sermons are offered free of charge while the rest are only accessible to paid up members.

When it comes to authors, too, who sell their sermons or their insights in book form for profit, we need to ask whether they have the correct spiritual background. For on the one hand they are going against Paul’s injunction in 2Cor 2:17, by commercially trafficking in the word of God; and on the other, true preachers of the gospel are not going to be dependent on donations or on people paying them for their activities. They are servants of God, not servants of man, and so God will do what is necessary to ensure that they have the necessary means of living.

So Paul too earned his living as a tent maker (Acts 18:3), and although he could have had some claim to it in view of his preaching activities, refrained from asking for the support of the brethren, so as to cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ (1Cor 9:12). And so as to cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ, those who are genuinely working for God do not earn their living by their service as preachers either, but by the exercise of their profession (preaching is not a profession but a vocation!).

They do not draw their maintenance from fees, donations or royalties on sold products, giving people the impression that it is the gospel that is up for sale, when it is really the author. But as the Awakening preacher Gottfried Daniel Pomacher from Wuppertal has said:

"Today there are no longer any eagles flying in the church skies, and so lesser feathered creatures lack any scale for judging their greatness."

From the same author, incidentally, comes the following statement, one of increasing significance in our own time above all, when so many "lesser feathered creatures" are to be found in the congregations:

"Christianity does not consist in words but rather in the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer. The pillars of the temple are not those who attract the admiration of their hearers with their public utterances of ‘Lord, Lord’, but rather those who – at home, in the stillness of their own room, and without any audience – address their prayers to the Lord: these are the ones who really support the congregation."

Never mind which of the options referred to above one chooses, there still remains – at least for beginners in the Christian faith – a problem in need of resolution: how do you recognize which expositions are right and which are wrong? Seeing that the basis of true Christian faith is the Bible, every interpretation must be examined in the light of the Bible. Serious commentators will provide the relevant biblical passages along with their commentary without any need of prompting, and will also point to parallel passages. If this is lacking from their exposition, it puts the interpreter in a doubtful light.

You should then check these biblical passages and the parallel passages, if there are any such, meticulously in your own Bible (online if possible), and compare them with the statements made by the commentator. In this connection it is always important to consider the context of the biblical quotations, because often just a certain verse will be quoted, while the context immediately before or immediately following may suggest a quite different interpretation.

Here it is also very helpful if you yourself have a translation of the Bible which offers references to parallel passages. These can then be drawn into one’s own reflections. And in principle this should also be done (if at all possible) with spoken addresses, but of course it is not always the case that the audience are given a printed copy of the sermon.

Whichever path is chosen, if you want to be sure of actually getting the right interpretation there is going to be a whole lot of work involved. But when it is a matter of faith, the crucial question is whether you get taken in by a sect (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons or whatever) or a sectarian group (Antitrinitarians, Charismatics etc.) or whether you can count on getting interpretations that are properly based on the Bible. If you make it easy for yourself and try to save time, you are sure to be practicing a false economy.

As a proof, that even in the USA there are correctly believing preachers capable of highlighting this very issue of false doctrine in the congregations in exemplary fashion and explaining it in an approachable way, we would like to draw attention here to a link provided by a visitor to this site, leading to a video on Godtube:

Hell’s Best Kept Secret, why modern evangelism often fails.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(Should Jews stick with the Old Covenant? / Commentary, Ingmar Bauer 00, 2012-02-11)

Dear Mr. Horak, many thanks for your many excellent texts leading to a better and deeper understanding of the gospel.

In relation to your two most recent discourses (Discourse 110: "The latent hatred of Christians in the USA.")

In connection with Discourse 111, I would very much like to know how you can reconcile your observations with Acts 21,18-26:

Acts 21,18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 21,19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 21,20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21,21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 21,22 "What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 21,23 "Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 21,24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law. 21,25 "But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication." 21,26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Acts 21,18-26

Isn’t Paul confirming here that Jews should stick with the Old Covenant? And Paul also writes to the Corinthians in 1Cor 7,17-20:

1Cor 7,17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. 7,18 Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. 7,19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. 7,20 Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called. 1Cor 7,17-20

Of course the Jews too should conclude the new covenant with God – seeing that Jesus Christ, after all, is also the foundation and the goal of the old covenant, which points to the new covenant. So if a Jew rejects the new covenant because he rejects Jesus Christ, the old covenant is no good to him any more either.

For a Gentile Christian, it is of course wrong to have oneself circumcised. For the way of salvation goes from the old covenant with the Israelites to the new covenant with all those who believe in Jesus Christ. Vice versa, it would be a return to the servitude of the law, which would be tantamount to refusing to accept Jesus Christ. Isn’t this what Paul is referring to in Gal 5,1-4?

Gal 5,1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 5,2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 5,3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 5,4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. Gal 5,1-4

Here, after all, Paul is not talking to Jews. If he were, he couldn’t say to them "If you receive circumcision …", in view of the fact that they are circumcised already. What is your view of all this?

Ingmar Bauer Ingmarbauer@yahoo.de

Thank you for your visit to Immanuel.at and for your comments!

I would like to take the last sentence of the biblical text from Gal 5,1-4 which you quote above, in order to make my point of view clearer. Here Paul says: "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."

And in his letter to the Romans Paul gives the following explanation of the "works of the Law":

All the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight

Rom 3,19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 3,20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Rom 3,19-20;

We can recognize from this that no one can be justified in the sight of God by the works of the Law, and so it follows that no one can be saved by the Law either. All those who want to be justified by the Law are lost. They themselves cannot observe the whole Law, and the daily sacrifice (the tamid), which was offered for the sins of the Jews at the Temple in Jerusalem, can no longer be offered either, because there is no longer any Temple or any sacrificial altar. So one can only advise the Jews to convert to Jesus Christ and to accept righteousness through grace.

Circumcision is only relevant when it is seen as the fulfillment of the Law. Then a person is subject to the Law in its entirety, and cannot avail himself of salvation through grace and so is eternally lost. If circumcision has taken place – with Jews or non-Jews – , not for religious but for medicinal or hygienic reasons or for whatever reason and the person has accepted the redeeming sacrifice of the Son of God and has come to believe in Jesus Christ, then circumcision presents no obstacle to his being saved through grace.

Now in your comments above you refer to 1Cor 7:17-20, and ask: "Isn’t Paul confirming here that Jews should stick with the Old Covenant?"

And here of course you are perfectly right. Paul says here that those who are in the Old Covenant should remain in the Old Covenant, and those who are in the New Covenant in the New. "Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called."

The foundation of the Old Covenant was righteousness in accordance with the Law. Anyone who observed all the commandments of the Torah was righteous in the eyes of God, and so was saved. But now Paul also tells us in the above passage (Rom 3,29) that no human being is capable of keeping the entire Law.

And that is why God allowed the Israelites the tamid (see explanation earlier in this Discourse). This was the daily ongoing sacrifice, morning and evening at the sacrificial altar in the Temple (and not anywhere else!!), which gave all Jews forgiveness for those infringements of the Law (sins) which they had committed in the course of the day.

Now Paul wrote this statement, "Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called", in his first Letter to the Corinthians. He was writing in Ephesus in the year 55. At this point the Old Covenant, righteousness in accordance with the Law with the addition of the daily sacrifice, was still completely valid.

So these statements of Paul’s here are perfectly correct. What Paul however could not have known at this time was the fact that 15 years later Jerusalem would be razed to the ground, and the Temple and the sacrificial altar would be completely destroyed by the Roman legionaries under Titus.

Your house is being left to you desolate!, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!’

I have already shown in detail, earlier in this Discourse, that all these developments were directed by God. The consequence, though, was that at this point the Old Covenant was brought to an end. With his own sacrificial death, Jesus Christ had fulfilled this covenant, and God had dissolved it (Mt 5:17; Num 21:8-9; Jn 3:14-15; Mt 21:43). And as a result the Israelites no longer had any possibility – and have not had up to the present day – of performing the daily repeated sacrifice. Since they are unable to fulfill the Law in its entirety either, they necessarily die in their sins and are eternally lost.

That is also why our Lord says to them, "If you do not believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins", and "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!". – God has abandoned them. So the Jews since then have only had one possible option which the Almighty in his grace has left open to them – to accept faith in his Son.

Jn 8,21 Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come." 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins." Jn 8,21-24;

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(What would had happened if the Jews had believed in Jesus? / Commentary, Ingmar Bauer 01, 2012-03-12)

In your answer to the question whether the Jews should stick to the old covenant, I think there is a possibility that you could be misunderstood. You see, it sounds a little bit as if you were saying that as long as the Jews have their Temple – and if they had it to the present day – they don’t need to believe in Jesus Christ, because then they would have the tamid after all, the daily sacrifice.

Of course you don’t mean this. Without the actual sacrifice of atonement, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, all these offerings are useless, as we are told in Hebrews 10,3-4 with reference to the sacrifices at Yom Kippur:

Hebr 10,3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.10,4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebr 10,3-4

Jesus therefore calls on the Jews – at the time when he was living on earth, while the Temple was still in existence – to believe in him.

Of course the question suggests itself here, If the Jews had believed in Jesus, how would he have been able to offer his sacrifice on the cross? Would he perhaps have let himself be sacrificed by the priests? I don’t know. But God knew in advance that this would remain a theoretical question.

Ingmar Bauer Ingmarbauer@yahoo.de

Here again, of course, I am completely in agreement with you. My argument with reference to the tamid results from the Jews’ absolute rejection of Jesus Christ, repeatedly evidenced in the course of discussion, and from their conviction that they can be saved by the faith of Moses alone. And the proof that this conviction is wrong can only be supplied on the basis of the laws of the Mosaic faith itself.

Anyone adhering to the Mosaic faith who is really acquainted with the laws of the Mosaic faith (the sacrifice at the altar of the Temple) will be compelled here to acknowledge, if he is honest, that he no longer has any possibility of obtaining forgiveness of his sins and so is eternally lost. And only then, once this realization has been accepted, can one enter into a discussion with the Jews about Jesus, their Messiah.

Your quotation from Hebrews 10,3-4 – in fact the whole of chapter 10 (as well as chapter 7) of the Letter to the Hebrews – constitutes the foundation for the correct understanding of the Jews in relation to Jesus Christ and the gospel. We find the same idea in Hebr 7,25-27:

Therefore He (Jesus Christ) is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.

Hebr 7,25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 7,26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 7,27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Hebr 7,25-27;

Your final question – If the Jews had believed in Jesus, how would he have been able to offer his sacrifice on the cross? – is of course very difficult to answer. But based on everything that we can learn from scripture, it is just conceivable that if the Jews at that time had really converted and had accepted our Lord as their Messiah, the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross might not have been necessary at all.

In that case "Plan A" could perhaps have been realized, which as we know envisaged Jesus’ coming in the first instance only to the Jews (Mt 15:21-24, 21:43, 23:37-39). The consequence of this would have been that Israel would have remained the one and only people of God, and we Gentile races would not have obtained any direct access to God. The Old Covenant perhaps would then not have been dissolved by God, and the Millennium would have had to begin at that point in time.

But as you rightly say, God knew in his omniscience how things were going to develop. It was a similar situation with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and indeed with the temptation of people on earth by Satan over the last two thousand years or so – all these things happen in order to test humanity, to see who trusts and believes in God and who does not. And so that when it comes to the Last Judgment no one will be able to say that God didn’t give him any chance.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(As a Jew I turned my life over to Jesus Christ / Commentary David Libbre USA, 00, 2012-08-13)

Dear Goyz in the Hood, Your story about how you, a White Christian, has been tormented and persecuted by the evil Jews, brought tears to my eyes. I am almost speechless with outrage about the hold that the Jews have on America, and how far along they have gotten in their satanic plot of world domination.

Let’s face it, if you’re not a "Member of the Tribe," you don’t have a chance in Jewmerica. Your cardinal sin was that you tried to break into the "chosen people’s" territory when you became a lawyer, and the kikes saw you as a threat to their polluted law practices.

I was born to full-Jewish parents (both sides) and brought up Jewish. Therefore I was subjected to the full blast of Jew-propaganda and lies about Judaism, about how God chose the Jews to rule the world and make the Gentiles their slaves, about how Jesus was a Jew who turned against his own people, and that he was punished for practicing sorcery.

All of the kids that I went to sabbath school with were obnoxious Jewish brats, real richy-rich and making fun of me because I wasn’t rich like them. When they got out of school their parents – who were undoubtedly lawyers and bankers – picked them up in their big limousines, while I had to take the bus home. It always griped me, how the Jews make such a big thing about money, and look down at anybody who isn’t as greedy and money-hungry as they are.

We were taught by the rabbis that the Jews were innocent people who graced the world with their presence, and that we Jews were persecuted because we refused to worship idols like the Christians, who had statues of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Apostles in their churches, and they bowed down and prayed to the idols.

We were taught that Gentiles, and specifically Christians, were no better than animals, and that they were fit only to serve Jews, because no Jew should have to serve another Jew. We were taught that Mary was a whore who gave birth to Jesus after she was raped by a Roman soldier, and that Jesus was not divine, but was only a Jewish carpenter who went "off the rails" and deserved to be killed for his "blasphemy."

Throughout my childhood, I had doubts about these teachings, because all of the Christians that I knew were nice people who cared about other people and tried to help others less fortunate than them, not like the Jews I knew who were stuck-up and selfish, and cared only for their own kind.

It wasn’t until I went away to college – against the wishes of my Jewish parents, who didn’t like the idea that I was leaving home and going to a non-Jewish college – that I found out that EVERYTHING that I had been taught about Jews, Jesus Christ and His religion – Christianity – was a LIE.

My professors were Christians who taught me about the New Testament, and that when Christ came to Earth, Judaism died as a religion. That’s when the Jews accepted Satan as their god, because he offered them the world if they would bow down and worship him.

That’s what Satan offered to our Lord when he took Him up on a high mountain and offered to make him King of the World, but our Lord rejected the wiles and tricks of Satan.

Mt 4,8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 4,9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 4,10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’" 4,11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Chapter 4 of The Gospel of Matthew).

After I was taught the TRUTH about Jesus Christ, not what the Jews teach but what the BIBLE says about the Son of God, I realized that I could not be a Jew in spirit even if I had Jewish blood running through my veins. I went to one of my professors who was a minister and told him I wanted to turn my life over to Jesus Christ and live as He commanded me.

He did not encourage me at first, but told me the way of the Christian was a hard one and did I really want to follow that road. He told me I would be disowned by my Jewish family and probably persecuted by the Jews who would regard me as a traitor to their Tribe.

I said I would go through Hell to follow Jesus and that I was sincere in my desire to turn my life over to Him and become a Christian, and that nothing would turn me away from Him.

So I was baptized and my past sins were forgiven. I became a new person in Christ Jesus.

Well, any Jew that wants to repent of his past sins and turn his life over to Jesus Christ and become a new person can do as I did.

But they won’t do it, for the most part, because they are too much in love with wealth and power, and for the riches of this world.

To become Christians the Jews would have to humble themselves, and for the Jews this is impossible because they consider themselves such superior people.

Well, they have a surprise coming when they die and are rejected at the Gates of Heaven. They will get a very "warm" reception with their father the devil in Hell. (Jn 8:21-24)

What Goyz in the Hood has gone through at the hands of the satanic Jews is right out of the pages of the Talmud. I’ll save that for another posting, but just want to quote one passage from the Talmud which is very relevant to Goyz in the Hood’s situation.

"A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them." ( Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17)

"To communicate anything to a Goy about our religious relations would be equal to the killing of all Jews, for if the Goyim knew what we teach about them, they would kill us openly." (Libbre David 37)

Commentary at Real Jew News, USA – Brother Nathanael

[1] "Erscheinungen und Botschaften der Gottesmutter Maria – Vollständige Dokumentation durch zwei Jahrtausende" ["Apparitions and Messages of Mary the Mother of God – Complete Documentation over Two Millennia"], by G. Hierzenberger and O. Nedomansky. Aschaffenburg: Pattloch/1993 – page 469.

[2] Iibid page 484

[3] THE MESSIANIC JEWS.

Messianic Jews who observe the Torah

The Torah and its commandments are observed in practice, as are the regular Jewish holy days. The Torah is not considered to have been "replaced". They distinguish themselves sharply from the "non-observant" Messianic Jews. Messianic Jews who observe the Torah and are faithful to the Law often describe other Messianic Jews as "Christians of Jewish origin", and only refer to themselves as "Messianic Jews".

"Non-observant" Messianic Jews

In most cases they reject a number of Christian dogmas (e.g. the Trinity). Consequently they are not only not accepted by believing Jews (this applies to all persuasions), at the same time they are rejected by most Christians, seeing that belief in the Trinity is a very important factor for the acceptance of religious groups as being essentially Christian.

[4] Some groups among the Messianic Jews are now hoping to bring about a "Second Council of Jerusalem", where – in much the same way as at the Apostolic Conference non-Jews were dispensed from practicing circumcision – the major Christian churches are to be induced to acknowledge these Messianic Jews as fellow Christians, in spite of their Mosaic background.

(https://www.tjcii.orgtoward-jerusalem-council-ii-vision-statement)

If, however, we look at the current state of these major Christian churches as described above, it is rather they who would be in need of acknowledgement by the Messianic Jews.

Discourse 111 – The pseudo-Christian betrayal of the Israelites.

The Letter to the Hebrews.

The sacrificial ceremonies in the Mosaic faith

The burnt offering

The grain offering

The peace offering for thanksgiving,

The sin offering

The guilt offering

The unforgivable sins.

The altar of burnt offerings in the Temple.

The destruction of the Temple.

For two thousand years Israel has been God-less – and still is.

The New Covenant

Salvation through righteousness.

Salvation through grace.

The Law and the prophets.

Israel in the light of the Bible.

Based on the Old Testament

Based on the New Testament

God is ONE?!

God is Spirit.

The Christian churches.

The Catholic churches.

The reformed churches.

The evangelical congregations.

The Messianic Jews.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(Is "Messianic Judaism" a malicious movement? Rabbi Rozwasky, Berlin 2011-12-06)

The search for correct understanding.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(Should Jews stick with the Old Covenant? / Commentary, Ingmar Bauer 00, 2012-02-11)

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(What would had happened if the Jews had believed in Jesus? / Commentary, Ingmar Bauer 01, 2012-03-12)

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(As a Jew I turned my life over to Jesus Christ / Commentary David Libbre USA, 00, 2012-08-13)