An urgent call to the Messianic Jews--pt. 2

The situation is worse than you might think, for what Messianic Jews fail to realize is that they are aligning themselves with, fawning over, and paying obeisance to those who are antichrist. John wrote in his first epistle, “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”[1]

Later, he wrote, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”[2] In his second epistle, he wrote, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”[3]

Why on God’s earth would those who have believed in the Messiah Yeshua and received salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit—the Ruach HaKodesh—through His sacrifice hand their sense of identity and validity over to those who are antichrist? Yet, Messianic Jews bicker and battle endlessly with their fellow believers but dread saying or doing anything that might upset the Jews. Even when they do criticize them, their criticism is softened and qualified with the utmost care and gentleness—so different from the harshness with which they treat the Gentile believers in the Messiah.

If you do not show such a level of reverence and care to the unbelieving Gentiles, why do you show it to the unbelieving Jews—and this when they largely despise the Lord? There is no cause for it, and if you continue to ally with the antichrist you may soon find yourselves worthy of God’s judgment.

Again, why should you feel subordinate to the unbelieving Jews? We read in Romans, “Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me’ And what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.”[4] The Messianic Jews are that remnant of grace. You are the ones written about in the prophets, where we read passages such as:

“A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return,”[5] And:

“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.”[6] As well:

“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.”[7]

It is the Messianic Jews who have accepted the Branch of Jesse; it is the Messianic Jews who have returned to the Mighty God by receiving His Messiah Yeshua; and it is the Messianic Jews who are to be reclaimed by God. It is you who are given the promise: “The Lord will make you the head, not the tail.”[8] But you are making yourselves the tail when it comes to the unbelieving Jews.

This is a travesty, for as Paul wrote: “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”[9]

The Messianic Jews are the children of the promise; it is they who are God’s people—together with all who belong to the Messiah. There is no sense in the Messianic Jews’ seeking to obtain acceptance, validation, or confirmation from or fellowship with the antichrist; instead, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”[10] You are allying yourselves with God’s enemies and treating them as your superiors—as though the Holy Spirit within you means nothing at all.

“Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?”[11] The time has come for the Messianic Jews to repent and realize who they are in the Lord. God is giving you this chance to save yourselves the risk of being caught by His judgment alongside those Jews who have rejected Him. “So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”[12] Therefore, be of God and know who you are in Him.

Go to Part One

[1] 1 John 2:21-23—NIV

[2] 1 John 4:2-3—NIV

[3] 2 John 1:7—NIV

[4] Romans 11:2b-5—NIV

[5] Isaiah 10:21-22—NIV

[6] Isaiah 11:10-11—NIV

[7] Micah 2:12-13—NIV

[8] Deuteronomy 28:13a—NIV

[9] Romans 9:6-8—NIV

[10] Isaiah 55:6—NIV

[11] 2 Corinthians 6:14-15—HCSB