>>24 "'I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. 25 I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations..."<<
Can a Jew be a Christian?
We read Acts 11:25-26
>>25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the congregation and taught a significant number of people. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.<<
- It is obvious that the majority of members in that congregation were of Jewish origin in addition to Gentile Christians! They were all called Christians.
- This is not a derogatory term, but a reference to the title of our Savior Yeshua HaMashiach, which is translated into Greek Χριστός (Khristós).
We also read 1 Pet. 4:14
>>If you are insulted for the name of Yeshua, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of Elohim, rests on you.<<
- Adonai Yeshua chose the Apostle Peter to be the Apostle to the Jews and the Gentiles, although Paul later became the most diligent Apostle to the Gentiles.
Many Jews prefer to consider themselves Messianic
They do not want to use the name Christian because it sounds pagan, even church-like to them. It reminds them of the very hostile attitude and persecution of the churches towards the Jews throughout almost the entire history of Christianity.
Many years ago I was reading the Bible alone at home. I read the verses Isaiah 43:21-28. Then suddenly a tremendous power of the Holy Spirit surrounded me and a strong love touched my innermost being. I started to cry, because the Holy Spirit revealed to me that those verses also apply to me and my father's ancestry! So I am of Jewish descent through my ancestors. My ancestors abandoned serving Yehowah Elohim and therefore they and their descendants were expelled as punishment among the pagan nations. I was given the grace to humble myself before Him as a child and receive salvation through faith in HaMashiach Yeshua. I am very grateful for the title of being a Christian and my identity is to be a Christian!
For Adonai Yeshua called me a Christian on the street, coming out of the Post Office in the 1980s while I was studying in Stockholm, when I complained that I could not withdraw money from my account. I heard with my ears when He said: "But Leif, you are a Christian! A Christian cannot give up so easily, but a Christian must fight! Go back to the Post Office right away and get that money!" I went there right away and sure enough, after two supernatural events, I got the money! HalleluYah!
The feeling of inferiority of pagan Christians
Many Christians of pagan background feel a deep sense of inferiority before the Jews and wish with all their heart that they had been born into that nation. A believing brother I know even went so far as to order a DNA sample from a 'scientific community' to study his haplogroup for a fee and was 'able to know' that it was obviously the Jewish haplogroup.
He was not entirely convinced, but he gave his genealogy to a 'research group' studying the genealogies of Judaism and was able to 'know' for money that he is a descendant of King David of Israel in exactly the 100th generation. He is not circumcised in the flesh, and he - like his immediate family - has not in any way observed the regulations of the Mosaic Law.
Judaism is not defined by haplogroups or questionable genealogies, but by whether a person is a Mosaic believer and committed to following the Jewish faith, customs, festivals, and teachings of the OT prophets, and whether their men are circumcised in the flesh. On the other hand, Adonai Yeshua questioned such a definition of Judaism, saying to the Jews of his time: John 5:45-47
>>45 "Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?"<<Pagan Christians have no reason to feel inferior!
Christians with pagan backgrounds have no reason to feel inferior to Jews! They have been redeemed at the same high price on the cross of Calvary and by the precious blood of Adonai Yeshua, by the innocent suffering, death and resurrection. Furthermore, both groups of people have become partakers of the same Spirit and have received the same Holy Spirit as their guide and have been created as new spiritual creatures. The old creation that was in us - whether it was Jewish or pagan flesh and blood - has disappeared and a new spiritual creation has come in its place! We believer are children of the same Father! He loves each of us with His infinite love!
The following verses testify to the high position to which the Gentiles chosen for salvation have been raised together with the Jews chosen for salvation: Eph. 2:14-22
>>13 But now in HaMashiach Yeshua you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of HaMashiach. 14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 15 when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees.
He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, 16 and to reconcile them both in one body to Elohim through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of Elohim's household, 20 because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with HaMashiach Yeshua himself as the cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Adonai, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of Elohim in the Spirit.<<
We Thank Thee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pXzge4uhVs
From the rising of the sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFBzOZATYTg
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