What is Messianic Judaism?

Messianic Judaism is a biblically-based, prophetic end-time revival, congregational community movement of Jewish and non-Jewish people, who have come to believe Yeshua is the promised Messiah of Israel. "Yeshua" is the Hebrew name for Jesus and it actually means "the Lord saves".

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews and hundreds of Messianic Synagogues right here in the United States of America.

Nations such as Israel, Canada, Russia, England, France, Brazil, South Africa, and others are experiencing similar prophetic growth in the number of Messianic Jews and synagogues.

Is it Jewish to believe in Yeshua (Jesus)?

To some, the concept of a Jew believing in Yeshua seems to be a contradiction. The reason is many people have a dichotomy set up in their minds. On the one hand you have "Jews" and "Judaism", while on the other hand "Christians" and" Christianity".

You are either one or the other (so the thinking goes). But this simple dichotomy is in reality not so simple. If we go back 2000 years we find that Yeshua was a Jew living in a Jewish land among Jewish people. All the apostles were Jewish as well as the writers of the New Covenant (New Testament) and for many years this faith in Yeshua was strictly a Jewish one.

From the Book of Acts and other historical evidence, many believe that in the first century there were literally hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews.* In addition, there were Messianic Synagogues scattered throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.**

These first century Messianic Jews remained highly loyal to their land and their people.

Whether it was Jewish to believe in Yeshua was never an issue. Of course it was Jewish! What else could it be?

The big question back then was whether Yeshua had been sent for the Gentiles also. God miraculously showed the Messianic Jews that Yeshua was the Messiah for both Jew and Gentile alike. Then Gentiles from every nation began top our into this Jewish faith.

Through the years, as the number of Gentiles believers increased, they began to predominate in this Messianic faith. With the passing on of the Jewish apostles and the early Messianic Jews, the Jewish roots of the faith were eventually lost.

This "De-Judaizing" process continued until in one of the greatest paradoxes in history, it became alien for a Jewish person to believe in Yeshua as his Messiah!

* Acts 2:41, 2:47, 4:4, 6:7, 9:31, 21:20
**James 1:1, 2:2

The REAL Issue

Today we are seeking to put the Messiah back within His biblically-Jewish context.

Messianic Judaism is a spiritual renaissance, a revival, and a return to the same faith the Messianic Jews had in the 1st century unencumbered by the traditions of men. It is a return to the pure and simple faith based upon having a living, vibrant and personal relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the Messiah Yeshua.

The real issue we must recognize is not whether it is Jewish to believe in Yeshua, because the Jewishness of Yeshua is historically unquestionable. The real issue at stake here is whether Yeshua is truly the Messiah or not. If He is, then it is the most Jewish thing in the world to believe in Him. If He is not the Messiah, then we should not follow Him.

There is only one way to find out and that is to go back to the Jewish Scriptures ourselves and study the Messianic prophecies.

According to the Jewish Scriptures, the Messiah was to come twice: the first time to suffer and die and the second time to usher in the Messianic era of peace upon the earth.

Why did the Messiah have to die?

The Jewish prophet Isaiah answered this question when he said, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD

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