June 26th, 2018

Who is Jesus Christ for the Jews?

Probably every Jew has faced this question at least once in his life, because Jesus Christ is the most famous Jew around the world. He is more famous than Abraham or Moses. But many Jews do not perceive Him as their Teacher. But besides the Jews, all over the world millions and billions of people read His sermons and believe His words.

Didn't Jesus preach to the Jews? Did he want to found a new religion? After all, he was born in Israel and grew up according to Jewish traditions.
Jesus said about himself, “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” When he preached, he preached to the Jews and he had many followers. He called the main Commandment “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself.”

One day he asked his disciples: Who do people say I am? They said: Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them: Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Then Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Jesus said that he is the Anointed One and the Son of God. The savior that God promised the Jews. Why did not all the Jews of that time accept Him as their Messiah?

Christians consider Jesus to be the very Messiah spoken of in Old Testament prophecies.

The messiah that the Jews are waiting for will do many wonderful things: he will return divine harmony to the world, resurrect the dead, stop all wars, and even make it so that predators will not kill and eat their victims. With the coming of the Messiah, Jews associate the complete deliverance of their people, as well as all nations. In ancient biblical prophecies, the Messiah is the king and spiritual leader of the Jewish people. During the life and reign of the King-Messiah, the process of “Geula”, “Deliverance”, liberation and revival of the whole world will be completed. Isaiah (2:4) emphasizes that the days of the coming of the Messiah will be an era of international and social change: “And all the nations will beat their swords into plowed [i.e. plows] and their spears on sickles; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to fight.” Peace, universal brotherhood of man and the cessation of violence are the most important signs of the advent of messianic times.

The most famous modern false messiah in Jewish history is considered to be the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who died in 1994 in New York without having saved humanity from its troubles. In 2006, while lying on his deathbed, the famous Israeli rabbi and kabbalist Yitzchak Kaduri wrote a note , which, according to him, contains the name of the future Messiah. It contained a sentence in Hebrew, from the first letters of which the name Yeshua is formed, which is a variant of the name Jesus (Yeshua).

The main prophecies about the Messiah, confirmed in the life of Jesus Christ:

1. Place of birth Bethlehem (Mic.5.2).

“And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? from you will come to me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and whose origin is from the beginning from the days of eternity.”

Matthew 2.1: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.”

2. Time of birth. The Messiah must come:

a) before Judea loses its political independence:

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until the Reconciler comes, and to Him is the submission of the nations,” Gen. 49.11.

The ancient Targum (ie, the Aramaic translation of the Bible) of Onkelos refers this passage to the Messiah. Jesus came during the reign of the Judean king Herod, shortly before the final fall of the political independence of Judea, before the taking away of the “scepter from Judah”, before the destruction of Jerusalem (70) and the scattering of the Jews among all nations (see Matt. 2.1),

b) in the days of the second temple.

Encouraging Zerubbabel to build a second temple, God says through the prophet Haggai:

“And I will shake all nations, and the One desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this last temple will be greater than the first, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I will give peace” (Hag. 2.7-9).

“The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the Angel of the Covenant, whom you desire, behold He comes,” says the Lord of hosts.” This is what the prophet Malachi said about the same second temple (3.1).

The second temple has already been destroyed.

Let us also remember the famous prophecy of Daniel (chap. 9.21-27)

The same heavenly messenger Gabriel, who announces to the Virgin Mary the birth of the Savior from her (Luke 21.26), says to the prophet Daniel (lived from 618 to 530 BC):

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and your holy city, so that the transgression may be covered, the sins may be sealed, the iniquities may be blotted out, and everlasting righteousness may be brought in, and the vision and the prophet may be sealed, and the Holy of Holies may be anointed. Therefore, know and understand: from the time the commandment goes out to restore Jerusalem, until Christ the Master, there are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; and the people will return and the streets and walls will be built, but in difficult times. And at the end of sixty-two weeks Christ will be put to death and will not be; And the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed by the people of the leader who will come, and he will establish the covenant for many for one week, and in the half of the week the sacrifice and the offering will cease, and the abomination that makes desolate will be on the wing of the sanctuary.”

That a week is seven years. this is also evident from the Talmud, which speaks about the time of the coming of the Messiah and those places in the Bible where the seventh year, when the earth should rest, corresponds to the seventh day of the week and is called the Sabbath year or simply Saturday (Ex.23.10-12, Lev.25.4-9) .

And so it happened. At this very time He came, was put to death on Calvary, and with this atoning sacrifice “the crime was covered, the sins were sealed and the iniquities were atoned for.” Following this, “the city and the sanctuary were destroyed by the people of the leader who came” (i.e., by the armies of the Roman general Titus in 70 A.D.), many accepted Christ in a short time (“one week confirmed the covenant for many” ), sacrifice and offering ceased, and “the abomination that makes desolate was set up on the wing of the sanctuary.”

Thus, history confirms Daniel's prophecy about the time of the coming of the Messiah and other corresponding predictions of the Bible mentioned by us in the book of Genesis and the prophets Haggai and Malachi.

3. The Messiah will be born of a virgin. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Emmanuel” (Is. 7.14).

a) The word “Virgin” appears both in the Syriac translation (Peshito of the 2nd century AD) and in Jerome (Vulgata in the 4th century AD). It is characteristic that the Jews who translated the Bible from Hebrew. into Greek in Alexandria, the so-called 70 interpreters (authors of the LXX-Septuaginta in the second century BC) rendered the Hebrew word "alma") by means of the Greek word "parthenos" - which means "virgin". This translation is accepted by Delitzsch and other semitologists of modern times. Interestingly, in the recent edition of the New English Bible, this verse from Isaiah is translated differently in different places: in the translation of the book of Isaiah itself, the word ‘alma’ is translated as ‘young woman’.

b) Apart from philological considerations, the prophecy about the birth of a Virgin is understandable and logical: for what “sign” could there be in the ordinary birth of a Child?

c) Some find it difficult in the course of the content of this chapter (due to the context) to recognize the messianic character behind this prophecy, assimilating to it only a historical meaning in connection with a well-known event during the reign of King Ahaz. But verses 11-13 clearly show that the “sign” is given not to King Ahaz, but to the house of David, transferring the meaning of this prophecy from the realm of the personal and temporal to the realm of the messianic and eternal (grammatically, the singular of the previous verses in these verses becomes plural).

d) The sinless Messiah is a supernatural being (“wonderful,” as He is called in the 6th article of the 9th chapter of Isaiah, in the original Hebrew “miracle”). And it is much more understandable, in view of the law of heredity, the birth of a sinless, supernatural being in a supernatural way (from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin) than in an ordinary way.

e) The facts of “virgin birth” in nature are known to natural science (parthenogenesis). And is there anything impossible for Almighty God, who created the first man from dust, without any mediation of giving birth (that is, without the participation of not only the father, but also the mother)?

“Is there anything difficult for the Lord?” (Gen.18.14).

4. Various details in the fate of the Messiah, even the fact that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, were predicted by the prophets.

“And they will weigh out thirty pieces of silver as payment to Me. And the Lord said to me: throw them into the church storehouse, the high price at which they valued Me. And I took thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter” (Zechariah II.12-13); cf. Matthew 27.3-8:

“Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, seeing that He was condemned and repenting, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the high priests and elders, saying: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”

And throwing away the pieces of silver in the temple, he went out, went and hanged himself. The high priests, taking the pieces of silver, said: it is not permissible to put them in the church treasury, because this is the price of blood. Having held a meeting, they bought a potter’s land with them for the burial of strangers, which is why that land is called the “land of blood” to this day.”

5. Prophet Isaiah in chapter 53. describes in such detail the picture of the sufferings of Christ 700 years before they occurred, as if he himself was then standing at the cross on Calvary. And on this basis, we Christians call Isaiah the evangelist of the Old Testament.
The prophet himself is aware of the amazing, supernatural nature of his words when he exclaims: “Lord, who believed what was heard from us, and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?” In vain did later Jewish interpreters, already in the Christian era, strive to attribute this chapter to the entire people of Israel. This is contradicted at least by verse 8: “But who can explain His generation? For He is cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people I suffered execution.” Further, the words: “He committed no sin, and no lie was in His mouth” (v. 9) cannot be said about any people at all. Therefore, they do not apply to Israel, which annually repents of its sins on the Day of Judgment. It was for these sins that the Messiah died: “for the crimes of My people He suffered execution.”

It is also impossible to say these words about Israel: “like a lamb before its shearers is silent,” for Israel, like any other oppressed people, did not suffer resignedly. Let us at least remember the bloody uprisings of Bar Kochba. So the later (i.e., those that arose after R.C.) Jewish explanations are untenable.

As for the ancient Jewish interpretations, they attribute this prophecy (Isa. ch. 52, vv. 13-15 and ch. 53) to the Messiah:

1. Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel (in the Rabbinical Bible Warsaw 1883).
2. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 986.
3. “Zohar” (Kabbalah), vol. 1, p. 181a, b: vol. 111, p. 280a.
4. Yalkut Shimoni, vol. 11, p. 53.

If we carefully read the Gospel, we will easily recognize in Jesus Christ the suffering image of the “man of sorrows” about whom the prophet Isaiah speaks; we will find the same details, purpose, character and fruits of His messianic sufferings. The purpose of His suffering in Isaiah is the same as in the Gospel: “He took upon Himself our illnesses... He was wounded for our sins, the punishment of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed... The Lord laid on Him the sins of us all” ( Isa.53.4-6).

Jesus Christ says about Himself: “The Son of Man came... to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14,15).

Isaiah says: “He was tortured, but He suffered voluntarily, and did not open His mouth, just as a lamb is silent before its shearers.”

The Gospel tells us that false witnesses slandered Jesus before the Sanhedrin. “And the high priest stood up and said to Him: Why don’t You answer anything, that they testify against You? Jesus was silent” (Matt. 26.60-62).

Later, at Pilate’s trial, “when the chief priests and elders accused Him, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him: Do you not hear how many testify against You? And he did not answer a single word, so that the ruler was greatly amazed” (Matt. 27.12-14). “And he was numbered with the evildoers,” says Isaiah. And indeed, Jesus was crucified between two thieves.
Even such a detail as the burial of Jesus in the tomb of a rich member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27.57-60), confirmed the prophecy of Isaiah: “He was assigned a tomb with evildoers, but He was buried with the rich man, because He committed no sin, and there was no lie in His mouth." And then He rose from the dead and “saw a long-lasting descendant,” an influx of new followers that did not stop for thousands of years. This chapter, unfortunately, is not read in the synagogue. Is it because she speaks so amazingly clearly about Jesus Christ? I remember how a young Jew I knew, one Saturday, while in the synagogue, loudly asked those present: “Who is the 53rd chapter of Isaiah talking about, if not about Jesus Christ?” This question, naturally, caused a heated debate among those who heard it.

Trace His words and deeds in the Gospels. Begin with how He proclaimed the purpose of His coming one Sabbath in the synagogue of Nazareth. “They gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and He opened the book and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; For He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are afflicted, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And having closed the book and given it to the minister, he sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And they all witnessed this to Him, and marveled at the words of grace that proceeded from His mouth.”

Let us remember His deeds, how He saved the lost, healed, and resurrected both physically and spiritually.

How, under the influence of His inspired Divine speech, publicans and harlots were reborn, acquiring through Him a new life, full of purity, holiness and love!

Streams of grace streamed from His eyes, and “those who touched Him were healed.”

And at the same time, His special love for Israel was so clearly expressed: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” He says to the pagan Syrophoenician woman (Matt. 15.24).

Sending His disciples to preach, He tells them: “Go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The tears of Christ are mentioned only twice in the Gospel. He cried once when he heard about the death of Lazarus. Another time, “when he approached the city (Jerusalem), then, looking at it, he cried for it and said: “Oh, if only on this day you knew what serves for your peace!” but now these things are hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:41-44).

Or let us remember His mournful exclamation with which He ended His denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to!” (Matt. 23.37-38).

And how Christ died! Even then, in His grave hour of death, He grieved for those who nailed Him to the cross, and prayed for His enemies:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

After resurrecting from the dead, He gives a covenant to the apostles to “preach in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24.47).

This whole tragedy of the rejection of Christ by His own people, whom He loved even to death on the cross, is expressed in the brief words of the Apostle John: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him.”

We read in the Gospel that the simple and simple people “marveled at the words of grace that proceeded from His mouth,” and the ambitious Pharisees “betrayed Him out of envy.”

Jews today justify their rejection of Christ with the following reasons:

1. Christ broke the law, such as the Sabbath regulations.

Meanwhile, He Himself said: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law until it is all fulfilled. So, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so, he will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; and whoever does and teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

For, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:17-20)

Observance of the letter, ritual righteousness, expressed in the formal, external execution of the law, does not save a person; It was she who prevented the Jews from seeing the true righteousness of Christ.

They grumbled at Christ's disciples because they did not fast. They were angry that He healed on the Sabbath. He answered them: “Should I do good on the Sabbath or do evil, save my soul or destroy it? But they were silent” (Mark 3.4).

That’s why they were silent because their conscience recognized the righteousness of Christ. After all, they also knew the 58th chapter of Isaiah, which speaks so sublimely, truly in a New Testament way, about fasting and the Sabbath, as manifestations of the same one, main commandment about love:

“This is the fast that I have chosen: loose the chains of unrighteousness, untie the bands of the yoke, and set the oppressed free and break every yoke; share your bread with the hungry and bring the wandering poor into your home... Then your light will open like the dawn... and the glory of the Lord will accompany you. When you remove the yoke from your midst, stop raising your finger and speaking offensively, and give your soul to the hungry, and feed the soul of the sufferer: then your light will rise in the darkness...”

The healing on Saturday of a sick woman, crippled by severe illness for eighteen years, aroused the indignation of the leader of the synagogue. But the Lord said to him: “You hypocrite! Doesn't each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the manger and lead it to water? Should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, have been freed from these bonds on the Sabbath day? And when He said this, all those who opposed Him were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced over all His glorious deeds” (Luke 13:11).

One Sabbath, Jesus walked through the sown fields, and His disciples began to pluck ears of corn along the way. This again caused protest and reproaches from the Pharisees. He reminded them of what David did when he had need and was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God with Abiathar the high priest and ate the showbread, which no one should eat except the priests, and he gave to those who were with him. And he said to them: “The Sabbath is for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2.23-28).

And it is the Son of Man, as the Perfect Man, who can dominate the rules, for He does everything not for the sake of His whims, but for the sake of real need or the highest truth.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ did not cancel the signs of Moses; Thus, He did not eliminate the commandment: “Thou shalt not kill,” but deepened its understanding by forbidding him to be angry with his brother.

Christ himself and the apostles recognized the inspiration of the Old Testament.

One thing is clear: Christ taught about the same One God in whom Moses and the prophets believed. To the lawyer’s question about the greatest
commandments, He repeated the famous “Shema Yisrael”:

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is the One Lord,” and this confirmed the teaching of Moses about monotheism.
And these three main essences of the Divine Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned in the books of the Old Testament under various names God-Elohim, the Spirit of God, and the Son, as the incarnation of God, the visible Manifestation of God, the glory of God (Shekinah), is sometimes called the same name, for example, in Psalm 2 (v. 7): “The Lord said to Me: You are My Son; Today I have given birth to You."

“Honor the Son, lest He be angry.” In chapter 63 of Isaiah (vv. 9 and 10) there is also a mention of all three entities: God, the Angel of His Person and His Holy Spirit. This same Angel of His Face is spoken of in Exodus 23.20-21: “Behold, I am sending an Angel (of Mine) before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared (for you). Keep yourself before His Face, and listen to His voice; do not persist against Him, for He will not forgive your sin.”

3. “But how can God become incarnate in man? How can the infinite fit into the finite? Jews further object, referring to the doctrine of the God-manhood of Christ. “Can the Invisible God have a visible image? And how can God have a Son? However, it is precisely this revelation that is expressed in the aforementioned Psalm 2, where God speaks of the Messiah: “You are My Son.”

And precisely because God is invisible, He had to become incarnate in order to become visible and accessible. This is what is said about Christ in the Gospel: “The Word (God) became flesh... and we saw His glory...”. “No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed” (John 1:14,18).

And the prophet Isaiah speaks about this same Incarnation in chapter 9: “A child was born to us; A son is given to us; the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

This place is also messianic according to the ancient Targum of Jonathan.

Here the Word of God is confirmed, spoken through Isaiah 55, also prophesying about the Messiah:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. But as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” God, in order to be accessible to us, became a man; Christ is God translated, so to speak, into human language. And as always, a miracle happens here “not besides, not against, but above nature” (non contra, non praeter, sed supra naturam). In short, in the entire teaching of Christ you will not find any contradictions either with the mind of man in general, or with the ideas and laws of the Old Testament in particular: the New Testament is not against, but is superior to both.

"Why don't you believe in Jesus Christ?" Marcinkovsky asked one Jewish girl in Lutsk (Poland), “tell me, you can’t believe or don’t want to believe?” “Well, of course, I can’t believe,” she answered, “since childhood we were told the biography of Jesus “Toldot Yeshu,” which says that Jesus is a deceiver and a seducer from the path of truth.” “In such a Messiah, of course, we could not believe,” said Martsinkovsky (preacher, publicist, theologian, evangelical scientist), “but the Gospel gives historical evidence written by His disciples, and it gives us the image of the great teacher truth and the perfect Righteous One,” “Yes, I could believe in such a Messiah,” the girl answered, and she expressed her readiness to get acquainted with the Gospel.

So, the common Jewish people do not believe, because they do not know. He reads the Bible, but does not read it. On the contrary, the Jewish intellectual knows, but does not believe. He reads the Holy Scriptures, including the Gospel, but does not honor or recognize the omnipotent power of God. “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God,” Christ said to the Sadducees (Matt. 22.29).

“The mountains will move, and the hills will be shaken, but My lovingkindness will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you” (Is. 54:10).

And the greatest thing in the life of the Jews will come true: Israel as a people will believe in Jesus Christ.

This conversion of Israel was also predicted by Christ in the words: “Behold, your house is left to you empty. For I say to you, you will not see Me from now on until you shout, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” This time of spiritual awakening will come: the rejection of Christ will be replaced by the “hosanna” that the Jewish people already greeted Him on the streets of Jerusalem two thousand years ago, and the centuries-old captivity of Israel will end. Already the Old Testament prophet Zechariah clearly speaks of this future insight of the Jewish people:

“And on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem I will pour out the spirit of grace and compunction, and they will look at Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only begotten son, and mourn as one mourns for the firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).

Over the course of 19 centuries, the Jews, having rejected Jesus Christ, had already been deceived many times in their messianic hope, turning it to self-proclaimed and false messiahs (according to Bengel there were already 64 of them); Thus, they became disillusioned already in the second century A.D. in Bar Kochba (132-135) (Son of the Stars), and this mistake cost the lives of 500,000 Jews, killed by the Romans during the uprising.
On the path of these disappointments, one more cruel thing awaits: they will believe in the perfect incarnation of the False Messiah, i.e. in Antichrist.

Christ spoke about this. “I have come in the Name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; But if another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5.43).

And therefore, someone who will have his ears tickled with his preaching of self-assertion and pride will have success among all those who have rejected Jesus Christ. “And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, who was slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13.8).

How the people, the Jews, will convert precisely in the days of the Antichrist, so this can be judged by the 30th chapter of Jeremiah. That's what it says there.

Jews will come to Palestine. “And I will bring them again to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.” But there, without Christ, they will ultimately find suffering instead of the expected joy.

This conversion of Jews to Christ is also predicted by the Apostle Paul (especially in chapters 9, 10 and II of the Epistle to the Romans).

“I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit, that there is great sorrow for me and constant torment in my heart: I myself would like to be excommunicated from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, that is, the Israelites; ...theirs are the fathers, and from them is Christ according to the flesh...”

"Brethren! my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel’s salvation” (Rom. 9.1-5.10.1).

He considers the Jews' disbelief in Christ to be temporary.

“God has given them a spirit of slumber, eyes with which they cannot see, and ears with which they cannot hear, even to this day” (Rom. 11:8).

“I do not want you, brethren, to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should imagine that a hardening has taken place in Israel in part, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25).
And therefore, in these same chapters dedicated to the Jews, the Apostle Paul recalls the words of the prophet Isaiah: “even though the children of Israel were as in number as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved” (Is. 10.22, Rom. 9.27).

This means that in order to be saved, you must be among those who remain faithful to God.

Zion is the place of the combination of heaven and earth, God and man; there the Messiah the God-man will appear.

And one of the Zionists (Dr. Zangwill) speaks definitely about Jesus Christ when he declares:

“The Jews were punished not without guilt. They denied the greatest of their sons. Jesus must take His place again in the glorious chain of the Hebrew prophets."

An Orthodox Jew is already close to Christ because every morning, pronouncing the above-mentioned words of Maimonides’ prayer, he says: “I believe with full faith in the coming of the Messiah.” And this happens day after day, from century to century, for thousands of years.

Almost 2000 years ago, the Jewish high priest himself posed this question when he asked Jesus: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

“Jesus said: I am” (Mark 14.61).

Truly, “He committed no sin, and no lie was found in His mouth.”

Yes, it is He who is the true Messiah, who came from Zion to give salvation to Israel.
Christ is the only one who can spiritually unite the sons of Israel, and not only them, but all nations, for He is “Desired by all nations,” as the prophet Haggai said about the coming Messiah. He alone can turn enemies into brothers, children of one Father, for He opened the way for everyone to the Father: “I am the way... No one comes to the Father except through Me,” He said (John 14.6). He is truly the source of peace, the “prince of peace,” reconciling man with God, man with man, and all warring creatures with each other.

They object to us: “Where is this peace on earth, soaked in the blood of wars and revolutions? Where is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 11, which predicts that in the time of the Messiah “the wolf will live with the lamb”?

Those who object thus forget that Christ does not gather people by force, for He is perfect Love, sacrificing Himself, calling everyone. And those who accept His call are truly gathered into one great fraternal family, crossing all religious and national boundaries. “And to those who received Him, to those who believed on His Name, He gave power to become children of God” (John 1.12).

According to the 11th chapter of the prophet Isaiah, after the coming of the Messiah, two conditions must precede the full revelation of the Kingdom of God on earth: evil, which has reached its highest development (in the person of the Antichrist) will be completely eradicated (Christ will come and “with the spirit of his mouth he will kill the wicked”); “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

Only then “there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which truth dwells,” will there be a cosmic transformation of all creation; “Then the wolf will live together with the lamb, ... the young lion and the ox will be together, and a little child will lead them.”

WHY DO NOT THE JEWS RECOGNIZE JESUS ​​AS THE MESSIAH?
25 RABBINS AND THEOLOGISTS RESPOND (in chronological order).

(Knowledge against the slander of anti-Semites. All cited books are available on the Internet)

OPINION AND ARGUMENTATION OF THE JEWS (in chronological order):
(The views and arguments of Christians are presented at the end.)
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5th century AD e.
“The Messiah we are waiting for can be recognized by well-known signs: “The Messiah will beat the country with the scourge of his words, and with the spirit of his mouth he will kill the evildoer. They will not do evil, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God, as the sea is full of waters” Isaiah 11.4. Nothing like this can be said about Jesus.”

1. Toledot Yeshu (Life of Jesus). 5th century Per. from Hebrew into Russian. Jerusalem. 1985 (The story of the hanged man or the story of Yeshu from Nazareth, chapter 5.)

1172 g
“Another new sect (Christianity) has arisen, which with particular zeal is poisoning our lives in both ways at once: with violence, and with the sword, and with slander, false arguments and interpretations, statements about the presence of (non-existent) contradictions in our Torah. A man, one of the wicked of our people and apostates (Jesus), tried to humiliate and refute the Torah, proclaimed himself Moshiach.
With the true Moshiach, “the sword will disappear and wars will cease from the rising of the sun to the setting” Isaiah 2:4.
Mashiach will remove darkness from our eyes and darkness from our hearts - as it is written: “This people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Isaiah 9:2"
Maimonides (Wikipedia)
2. Maimonides. Message to Yemen, or the Gate of Hope. Part 2 (1172)


1263
“I believe and know that the Messiah has not yet come. The Prophet says about the Messiah: “The Savior will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.” In the days of the Messiah, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea” Isaiah 11.9 “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore” Isaiah 2.4. But from the days of Jesus to this day there are so many wars, and the whole world is full of violence and robbery, and Christians shed blood more than other nations!
The Messiah must gather the exiles of Israel and the scattered Jews. The Messiah will rule over all nations."

3. Dispute of Nachmanides (1263) Trans. from Hebrew. Jerusalem, 1982 §47-49.

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1413
“Jesus is not the Messiah because... the Jewish Diaspora still exists, nations are at war with each other, there is no peace in the world, and people continue to sin.”

4. Dispute in Toros (Spain) May 1413 Lasker, Daniel J., Jewish philosophical polemics against Christianity in the Middle Ages, New York 1977

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1740
“One of the descendants of King David, who will be chosen by the Almighty, is King Mashiach (Messiah). With its help... good will increase and evil will completely disappear, both related to the soul and to the body... Peace will increase, there will be no harm or damage, as the prophets said: “They will not do evil” Isaiah 11.9.
And there will be no more foolishness in the world, but the whole heart will be filled with wisdom, and the spirit of holiness will be poured out on all flesh, as it is said: “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh” Joel 2.28.”

5. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lutzato. (1707-1747) Foundations (of Judaism). Chapter On Deliverance. Jerusalem. 1995

1880
"Salvation is only imaginary, since in reality people after redemption remain exactly the same as Adam was, what they were after Adam, what they were under Christ, during Christ and after Christ, what people have always been and are, since in reality everything is the same sin, the same inclination towards evil, the same pangs of birth, the same need for labor to feed oneself, the same death, characteristic of people, and all this the doctrine of Salvation is pure fabulousness"

6. Leo Tolstoy. A Study of Dogmatic Theology. 1880

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1908
“The Messiah will not wage wars to conquer nations, and all weapons of war will be destroyed (Isaiah 2:4). The fruits of his just rule will be peace and order. Tyranny and violence will not flourish on the holy mountain, for the whole country will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, like the waters that cover the sea (Isaiah 11.9)

7. Brockhaus-Efron Jewish Encyclopedia, Article Messiah, St. Petersburg 1908

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1943
“The Jewish Messiah is a Savior, strong in spirit, who at the end of times will bring about the complete political, economic and spiritual redemption of the people of Israel and at the same time establish world peace, earthly well-being and moral improvement of the entire human race. The Messiah will be filled with the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, understanding the power of God, knowledge and fear of God. He will save Israel from exile and slavery, and will redeem the world from poverty, suffering, wars, and most importantly, from idolatry and will atone for the sins of people against God and against their neighbor. There will be great material wealth in the world: the earth will produce an abundance of grains and fruits, and man will enjoy it without any effort. Salvation will come from God and from the hand of God. The Messiah is only an instrument in the hands of God: he is a man of flesh and blood, like all of us mortals. He is the Chosen One from the human race who will possess all the best qualities available to the Son of Man. The Messiah will combine physical and spiritual perfection. The Messiah is the highest man, the Superman of Judaism.
The Christian Messiah looks completely different. He was beaten like an ordinary rebel, he was mocked and crucified.
Politically he was not successful and did not redeem his people Israel."

8. Klausner Joseph, Der juedische Messias und der christliche Messias. Zuerich. 1943. S 7-15.

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1976
“Jesus could not be the Messiah. The prophets predicted that with the coming of the Messiah there would come an Era of universal peace and love, to which we cannot equate our modern times. The Christian response to these objections is to assert that everything actually changed with the coming of Jesus. If the changes are invisible, then it is only because the person is angry and has not risen to the true acceptance of Jesus and his preaching. Therefore, the Messiah, that is, Jesus, has yet to return to confirm his victory. Jews refuse to accept as justification for the Christian point of view the claim that the main prophecies about the coming of the Messiah will be fulfilled only at the “second coming.” They know that the Messiah will complete his mission “on the first try.” That is why Jews believe that the coming of the Messiah is yet to come in the future.”

9. Arie Kaplan. Why aren't we Christians? Jerusalem. 1976 pp. 9-12


1983
“Mashiach will correct the world so that everyone will serve the Lord, for it is said: “For then I will make the language of the nations pure, so that everyone will call on the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord” Zephaniah 3.9
Everyone will return to the true religion, they will not rob and do evil.”

10. Shlomo-Zalman Ariel Encyclopedia of Judaism. article Messiah, Jerusalem. 1983

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1992
“For Judaism, Jesus is not the Messiah, because after the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary the world has not fundamentally changed. There were wars before and after Jesus, class and racial hatred were not eliminated by him, so our world still awaits redemption and salvation. The Messiah is expected to establish world peace, return the Israelites to the Promised Land, restore the Kingdom of David and build the Third Temple. All this was not realized with the coming of Jesus."

11. Schalom Ben Chorin. Theologia Judaica. Band II, Tuebingen 1992 S. 260

1992
“Judaism does not consider Jesus the Messiah because he did not fulfill the biblical prophecies expected from the coming of the Messiah: “He will judge the nations and rebuke many nations; and they will beat their swords into plows, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation.” and they will learn war no more" Isaiah 2:4.
With the coming of the Messiah, peace must reign in the world. If this has not happened, it means that the Messiah has not yet come.”

12. Praeger Denis. Eight questions about Judaism. Per. from English St. Petersburg, 1992. p. 85.

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1995
“According to the Jews, the Messianic time has not yet come; it will be a time of absolute peace. The Messiah will come as the prince of peace to a renewed Jerusalem. It will be a time as Isaiah described: There will be no evil or corruption in My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11.9."
13. Paffenholz Alfred. Was macht der Rabbi den ganzen Tag? Das Judentum. Duesseldorf. 1995. S. 162

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1995
“By rejecting Christianity, Jews first of all reject the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah.
In the time of the Messiah, wars will cease, universal peace and prosperity will come, and all people, enjoying peace and harmony, will be able to devote themselves to the knowledge of God and spiritual improvement.”

14. Polonsky Pinchas. Jews and Christianity. Jerusalem-Moscow, 1995 p. 12

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1997
"There is no single teaching about the Atonement (Salvation) in Orthodox theology, at least in Russian... There is no agreement regarding the teaching about the Redemption. Different authors understand and teach about the Redemption in very different ways, there are several different “theories”, not one of which is not “official”.

15. Priest Oleg Davydenkov. Dogmatic theology. Lecture course. Part III. Moscow. St. Tikhon's Theological Institute. 1997

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1998
“The Jews did not recognize Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah because he did not bring peace to the world as Isaiah promised: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they know war any more” Isaiah 2.4.”

16. Telushkin Yosef. Jewish world. Per. from English Moscow - Jerusalem. 1998 p. 463

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2000
“Isaiah (2:4) emphasizes that the days of the coming of the Messiah will be an era of international and social change: “And all the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to fight.” . Peace, universal brotherhood of man and the cessation of violence are the most important signs of the advent of messianic times. Jesus, although he was a Jew, does not fit all the above criteria.”

17. Benzion Kravitz. Jewish response to missionaries. Toronto. 2000 g

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2000
“Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies. The Bible says that he will: build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28), gather all the Jews into the land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6), bring about an Era of universal peace, destroy hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. It is said: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4).”

18. Alex Dyhes. Why don't Jews believe in Christ? Michigan, 2000

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2003
“Belief in Moshiach, who died in the middle of his actions, and will someday return and complete them, is a faith devoid of any foundation. Therefore, the faith of Christians is faith in the false Moshiach. That man (“Yoshka”) was a false Moshiach not only because he died, as opposed to the real Moshiach, to whom the concept of death does not apply, but also because he was not the Moshiach whom the Almighty would choose. The real Moshiach must liberate and illuminate the whole world with Divine truth. And therefore, “that man (Jesus),” may his name be erased, acted directly opposite to all of the above, and what the Rambam wrote about him - that he wanted to destroy the Jewish people with the sword, scatter their remnants throughout the world, exchange the Torah for a new covenant, and cause most of the world to make the mistake of believing not in the Almighty, but in the Trinity. The real Moshiach will live forever and will not die at all.”

19. Rabbi Yeshovam Segal 2003

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2005
“From the Jewish point of view, the most famous false Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth. The activity of Jesus of Nazareth is perceived as a declaration of rebellion (this is how the words of Pontius Pilate are understood: “Behold the king of the Jews” - that is, Jesus declared himself the anointed king who was going to restore the independence of Judea. See the works of Eliyahu Macobi and Flosser and other historians of the Israeli school ). Since the whole affair ended in failure and Jesus was executed, it was considered in the Jewish world that Jesus was not the true Messiah. The exception was a small group of his ardent followers who did not believe in his death or believed that Jesus would rise again in order to win. From this small group, as is commonly believed, Christianity was formed."

20. Meir Levinov. (b. 1959) Messiah. 2005

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2006
“Messiah, Christ, Savior, Savior, Mashiach, Mahdi (Islam), Maitreya (Buddhism), Kalki Avatara (Hinduism) - the one who will eliminate all Evil on the entire Earth. Psalm 37.9 Jesus did not do this, therefore he is the False Messiah, the False Christ."

21. Piotrovsky Yuri (my book). Is Jesus the Messiah? Problems of Judeo-Christian dialogue. St. Petersburg, 2006

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2008
“The Messiah will destroy all war and injustice. He will bring peace to enemies and love to those who hate. Weapons with him will forever lose their value and will be destroyed forever. This will happen immediately at the first coming of the Chosen One, and not at the second or third, as Christians say, in order to justify themselves. Jesus did not bring peace and justice to this world, and his disciples, Christians, who have been trying to do this for two millennia, have suffered defeats, and even worsened the peaceful situation in the world. The Jews and all Israel will be safe with the coming of the true Messiah. This cannot be said today, looking at the wars and terrorist attacks on Israeli territory. The era of the Messiah is very close. King Moshiach is on the threshold. Great shame will cover Christianity and all cultures connected in one way or another with the man from Nazareth.”

22. Galitsky Israel. Yoshka. On the origin of the Minaean heresy. Jerusalem. 2008 pp. 82-87

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2011
“It is written in the Torah what will happen when the Messiah comes. There will be Peace in the World! There will be no wars! Everyone will have everything they need. There will be no more envy, no more hatred. All bad qualities will disappear. Until this happened, the Messiah did not come. The Messiah must improve the world, bring Good and, with God’s help, leave it forever.”

23. Berl Lazar. Chief Rabbi of Russia: - 06/06/2011 NTV “School of Slander” Video=1 min.

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2012
“The Messiah must be a Man through whom God will bring a New Era of Peace and Prosperity for Nations. The Messiah will defeat the enemies of Israel. The Messiah will cleanse Jerusalem "of the Gentiles, and the whole earth of sinners." A Messiah should have been successful. A Messiah who was not successful is nonsense. A Messiah who was defeated and crucified is not the Messiah, but an impostor. Jesus fits in with neither of these categories. He died as a failed revolutionary leader. He did not defeat Israel's enemies. He did not establish a New Era of Peace and Prosperity."

24 . Nick Page. Der falsche Messias. Die wahre Geschichte des Jesus von Nazareth. M ue nchen 2012 S.18

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2013
"The (true) Messiah must build peace in the whole world. There is no peace, so we know that the Messiah has not come yet."

25 . Rabbi Gutman Locks. Criticism of Christianity. video=8 min. Jerusalem. 2013

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2014
2015

26. Pinchas Polonsky. Jewish view of Christianity. 2014 Jerusalem. 2015 Moscow.

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27. “Mohammed considered Jesus a prophet of God, but not the Messiah” Douglas Reed “The Dispute about Zion” p. 29. Kuban Publishing House 1991

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“The official organization of the State of Israel, Sokhnut, which deals with issues of repatriation to Israel (Aliyah), demands an answer to the question, was Jesus the Messiah or not? A positive answer deprives the applicant of the right to repatriation, even if he is a Jew according to halakhah and has not officially converted to Christianity” 11/19/2010.

THE OPINION OF JESUS ​​AND THE CHRISTIANS (Why is Jesus the Messiah, the Savior?) is stated here:

Jesus' Opinion on Why He is the Messiah:

“When John heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples
say to Him: Are You the One (Messiah) Who is to come, or should we expect something else?
And Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the good news preached to them."
Matthew 11:2-5

“There is no single teaching about Atonement (Salvation) in Orthodox theology, at least in Russian... There is no agreement regarding the doctrine of the Atonement. Different authors understand and teach the Atonement in very different ways, and there are several different “theories,” none of which are “official.”

Priest Oleg Davydenkov. Dogmatic theology. Lecture course. Part III. Moscow. St. Tikhon's Theological Institute. 1997

Metropolitan Macarius: ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE OF OUR SALVATION BY THE LORD JESUS ​​CHRIST. 1883 St. Petersburg.

Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov (Moscow):
05/23/2009. How do Orthodox and Jews understand the word Messiah? (video = 3.19 min.)

(Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, like all Christians, could not give a correct, complete and qualified answer - see the answer of the Jews above)

One of the most popular questions addressed to the editors of Aish.com is the following: "Why don't Jews believe in Jesus?" Let's look at the answer to this question one by one, without in any way belittling other beliefs or neglecting other religions, but, most importantly, let's clarify this question from a Jewish point of view, that is, in the light of the Torah.

Jews do not accept Jesus as Moshiach for the following reasons:

1. Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.
2. Jesus did not possess the personal qualities inherent in the Moshiach.
3. The biblical reference to Jesus as Moshiach is due to an inaccuracy of translation.
4. Jewish faith is based on “national revelation.”

But first, a little preface:

The word מָשִׁיחַ (Mashiach) in Hebrew means “God’s Anointed One,” that is, a person appointed by G-d to a special service, and as a sign of his chosenness, previously anointed with oil (oil) ( Shmot 29:7; 1 Melachim 1:39; 2 Melachim 9:3).

Jesus did not fulfill messianic prophecies

What is the essence of the fulfillment of the prophecies of Moshiach? One of the central themes of the prophecies is the promise of a future perfect world where all people will live in harmony with each other and recognize the One G-d ( Yeshayahu 2:1-4, 32:15-18, 60:15-18; Tsfanya 3:9; Oshea 2:20-22; Amos 9:3-15; Mikha 4:1-4; Zharya 8:23b 14:9; Irmeyahu 31:33-34).

Tanakh tells us what Moshiach must do:

• Build the Third Temple ( Yehezkel 37:26-28).
• Gather all the Jews who are scattered to the Land of Israel ( Yeshayahu 43:5,6).
• To usher in an era of peace throughout the world, to put an end to hatred, oppression, suffering and disease, as it is written by the prophet: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” ( Yeshayahu 2:4).
• To spread the teaching about the G-d of Israel that will unite humanity into one union. Thus declares the prophet: “And the Lord will be king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one (for all), and His name is one” ( Zharya 14:9).

If a person claiming the title of Moshiach fails to fulfill at least one of the specified conditions, it can't be true Mashiach.

But over the past years, no one has yet played the role of Moshiach described in Tanakh, that is why the Jews are still waiting for him. All those who had already claimed the role of Moshiach, including Jesus of Nazareth, Bar Kochba and Shabtai Zvi, failed and were rejected by the Jews.

Christians claim that Jesus will fulfill all the prophetic signs at the time of his Second Coming. Jewish sources reveal the Moshiach, who will carry out the Divine mission the first time, for in Tanakhthere is no concept of the Second Coming.

Jesus did not have the personal qualities of Moshiach

A. Mashiach as a prophet

Moshiach will be the greatest prophet in human history after Moshe ( Targum - Yeshayahu 11:2; Maimonides - Teshuvah 9:2).

The prophecy can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel, when many Jews gather together in one place; such an event has not occurred since 300 BC. During the time of Ezra, when most of the Jews were in Babylon, the prophecy ended with the death of the last prophets - Hagai, Zechariah and Malachi.

Jesus appears on the historical scene about 350 years after the end of the prophecy, so he could not have been a prophet.

B. Descendant of David

Many texts Tanakh mention a descendant of King David who will reign in the age of perfection ( Yeshayahu 11:1-9; Irmeyahu 23:5-6, 30:7-10, 33:14-16; Yehezkel 34:11-31, 37:21-28; Oshea 3:4-5).

Mashiach must be a descendant of King David on his father's side (see. Bereshit 49:10; Yeshayahu 11:1; Irmeyahu 23:5, 33:17; Yehezkel 34:23-24). According to the Christian claim, Jesus was virginally conceived, which means he has no father - so he cannot claim absolute fulfillment of prophecy without being a paternal offspring of King David 1 .

According to Jewish sources, Mashiach will be born from human parents and will have qualities inherent in ordinary people. He will not be a demigod 2 or a person with supernatural powers.

B. Observance of the Torah

Mashiach will lead the people to serve the Creator, according to the instructions Torah. Torah claims that everything mitzvot sealed forever, and no one can change them. Anyone who tries to do this should be declared a false prophet ( Dvarim 13:1-4).

Taking into account what is written in the Christian "New Testament", Jesus revises the institutions of the Torah and argues that its commandments are outdated and no longer applicable. For example, in John 9:14 it is written that Jesus mixed dirt with saliva, thereby violating Shabbat, which caused the indignation of the Pharisees (verse 16): “He does not keep Shabbat!».

Mistranslated texts that “hint” at Jesus

Tanakh is understood correctly only when studied original Hebrew text. In the case of a Christian translation Tanakh, you can find a number of inconsistencies with the original source.

A. Immaculate Conception

The Christian concept of the virgin birth originates from the text of the book of the prophet Yeshayahu(7:14), who calls a woman the word "alma", indeed, the word " alma” always meant “young woman,” but Christian theologians, several centuries later, translated it differently as the word “virgin.” This approach to the birth of Jesus dates back to first-century paganism, where mortal beings were impregnated by the gods.

B. The Suffering Servant

Christianity is convinced that prophecy from Yeshayahu 53 necessarily belongs to the “suffering servant” - Jesus.

Actually chapter 53 ( Yeshayahu 53) follows directly from the central theme of chapter 52, which describes the exile and redemption of the Jewish people. The prophecy uses the singular form because that the Jews (“Israel”) are viewed as a single entity - the people of Israel. In all Jewish sources, Israel is seen as G-d's only "servant" (cf. Yeshayahu 43:8). Truly, in the book of the prophet Yeshayahu, up to chapter 53, Israel is mentioned as God’s servant no less than 11 times.

If you read this chapter correctly ( Yeshayahu 53), then its content will fully express the idea that the Jewish people were “oppressed and tormented, and did not open their mouth, like a sheep led to the slaughter” in the hands of the peoples of the world. These images are repeated repeatedly throughout the Jewish scriptures to describe with particular force the suffering of the Jewish people. (cm. Tehilim 44).

Finally , Yeshayahu 53 concludes that when the Jewish people are redeemed, the rest of the nations will realize what has happened and accept their responsibility for the unnecessary suffering and death of every Jew.

Jewish faith is based on "national revelation"

Throughout history, the thousands of religions created by man have always been distinguished by the conviction of the immutability of their statements and the confidence in the truth of the revelation from God himself. But personal revelation is a very weak basis for faith, because there is always a basis for doubt: did the revelation really happen? For no one heard how G-d spoke to this or that person, and all his statements are based only on his words. And in the case when a person claiming personal revelation can perform miracles, this cannot be evidence that he is a prophet. All miracles - even if they are genuine - are considered through the prism of certain human capabilities, but not for the purpose of proclaiming and giving him the status of a prophet.

Judaism, alone of all the world's major religions, does not rely on miracles as the foundation of its teachings. In fact, Torah says that sometimes G-d gives charlatans the power to “perform miracles” in order to test the loyalty of the Jewish people to their Tore (Dvarim 13:4).

Of the many thousands of religions throughout the history of mankind, only Judaism builds the basis of its doctrine on the “national revelation”, that is, on the fact that G-d speaks to his people. If G-d lays the foundation of His religion, then this has a special meaning, and He will reveal the Tablets of His teaching to the whole people, and not to one person in a personal conversation.

Maimonides states (Foundations Torah, chapter 8): “The Jews did not believe in Moshe, our teacher, because of the miracles that he performed. Whenever someone's faith is based on the miracles they have seen, doubts increase among the Jewish people, because, most likely, the miracles could have been performed using magic or witchcraft. But all the miracles that Moses performed in the desert were used for their intended purpose, and not as proof of his prophetic gift.”

What served solid foundation of the [Jewish] faith? A solid foundation of the [Jewish] faith became the Revelation on Mount Sinai, which we saw with our own eyes and heard with our own ears, and this Revelation did not depend on the testimony of other people, for it is written: “Face to face G-d spoke to you...”. The Torah states: “The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us; we are the ones who are all alive here today» ( Dvarim 5:4,3).

Judaism is not about the greatness of miracles. This is the personal testimony of every man, woman and child who stood on Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago.

Waiting for Moshiach

The world is in dire need of redemption. We are well aware of the problems of society, and for this reason we will strive for redemption. According to the Talmud, one of the first questions asked of a Jew on the Day of Judgment will be: “Have you longed for the coming of Moshiach?”

How can we hasten the coming of Moshiach? The best way to show love for humanity is to observe mitzvot of the Torah(in the best way possible) and encourage others to do the same.

Despite the gloom of events taking place on earth today, the world appears to be moving steadily towards the threshold of redemption. One of the obvious signs of the approaching Era of Moshiach is that the Jewish people are returning to the land of Israel and flourishing again. In addition, we are seeing a mass movement of young Jews returning to the roots of their tradition - Tore.

Mashiach can come any day: everything depends on our actions. God is ready to act, but He is waiting for us, for as King David said, “Redemption will come today if you will heed His voice.”

Notes

1. Yosef ultimately accepts Jesus and pursues his genealogy through adoption. But there are two problems around this:

a) There is not even a hint in the Tanakh that a father can pass on his tribe through adoption. A priest who has adopted a son from another tribe through adoption cannot ordain him as a priest.

b) Yosef cannot convey what he does not have by acceptance. Since Yosef ascends from Yehoyachin (Gospel of Matthew 1:11), he is under the curse of this king so that none of his descendants can reign on the throne of David. (Irmeyahu 22:30, 36:30). Although Yehoyachin repented, as discussed in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 37a) and elsewhere, it is not entirely clear whether the continuation of the royal line through his repentance was possible. (See, for example, Bereshit Rabbah 98:7 for the example of King Tzidkiyah.)

To resolve this difficult dilemma, defenders of Christianity argue that Jesus accepts the genealogy of a descendant of King David through his mother Mary, who is supposedly his direct descendant, as written in chapter 3 of the Gospel of Luke. There are 4 more main contradictions in this statement:

a) There is no evidence that Mary is a descendant of King David. Luke chapter 3 reveals the genealogy of Joseph, not Mary.

b) Even if Mary comes from the line of King David, Jesus will not be the royal successor, since the anointing for the kingdom comes through the father, and not through the mother (cf. Bemidbar 1:18; Ezra 2:59).

c) If the family lineage had been through the mother's side, Mary would not have been from the legitimate family of Moshiach. According to the Tanach, Mashiach must be a descendant of David through his son Shlomo (2 Shmuel 7:14, 1 Divrei HaYamim 17:11-14, 22:9-10, 28:4-6). The third chapter of Luke is not relevant to this discussion because it describes the genealogy of David's son Nathan, not Solomo (Luke 3:31).

d) In the Gospel of Luke, Shealtiel and Zerubbabel are mentioned in the genealogy. These names are also found in the Gospel of Matthew as the descendants of the cursed Yehoyachin. If Mary descends from them, then this deprives her of the right to be the ancestor of Moshiach.

1. Maimonides devotes much of his Guide to the Perplexed to the fundamental idea that G‑d has no physical form. G-d is eternal, outside of time and above it. It is infinite, outside of space. He cannot be born and he cannot die. To claim that G‑d takes human form is to belittle G‑d, to force Him into impossible limits, to narrow His unity and to devalue His Divinity. The Torah sums it up: “God is not mortal” (Bemidbar 23:19).

1. WHY DO THE JEWS NOT RECOGNIZE JESUS ​​AS THE MESSIAH

1.1. The problem of realizing messianic prophecies. One of the fundamental tenets of Christianity is the idea that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah who has already come. Since the word "Christ" itself is the Greek translation of the word "Messiah" ("anointed one"), this idea lies at the very basis of the Christian faith. By rejecting Christianity, Jews first of all reject the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. Why do Jews hold this view?

In order to be able to decide whether Jesus is the Messiah, we must first understand the term “Messiah” itself and understand what it includes. First of all, we must keep in mind that the very concept of the “coming of the Messiah” was introduced by the prophets of ancient Israel; It was the presence of their prophecies that made people expect the coming of the Messiah. Thus, if a person declares himself (or someone declares him) to be the Messiah, then one should check whether this person corresponds to the prophecies about the Messiah, whether he has done what the Hebrew prophets expect from the Messiah.

In ancient biblical prophecies, the Messiah is the king [ 1 ] and spiritual leader of the Jewish people. During the life and reign of the King-Messiah, the process of " Geula", "Deliverance" - in other words, the liberation and revival of the whole world. This revival seemed to the prophets to occur in objective reality, obvious and undoubted for all people. First of all, in the time of the Messiah, wars will stop, universal peace and prosperity will come, and all people , enjoying peace and harmony, will be able to devote themselves to the knowledge of God and spiritual improvement.

Describing the messianic times, the prophet Isaiah (60:16-22) says:

And then you will know that I am the Lord who saves you and delivers you, the Mighty One of Jacob... And I will put peace in place of your taskmasters and justice in place of your oppressors. There will be no more violence in your land, no more robbery and destruction within your borders, and you will call your walls salvation and your gates glory. The sun will not shine as the light of day for you, and the moon will not shine for you, but the Lord will be your eternal light, and your God your splendor. Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not be hidden, for the Lord will be an everlasting light to you, and the days of your sorrow will end. And your people - all the righteous, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands will inherit this country forever to glory... I, the Lord, will hasten it at the appointed time.

And the prophet Jeremiah (23:5) speaks of the Messiah, a descendant of David, as follows:

“Behold, the days will come,” said the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant for David, and he will reign, and will be wise and prosperous, and will administer justice and righteousness on earth.” In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety; and this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our justice” [ 2 ].

Isaiah (2:4) emphasizes that the days of the coming of the Messiah will be an era of international and social change: “And all the nations will beat their swords into plowshares [i.e., plows] and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to fight." Peace, universal brotherhood of man and the cessation of violence are the most important signs of the advent of messianic times.

There is one very significant feature in these prophecies that should be noted: for the Jewish prophets, the spiritual revival of the world is inseparable from objective social changes in reality. Firstly, the Messiah of the prophets is not a deity, but a real person of flesh and blood, a descendant of King David. Secondly, the focus of the prophets is, in essence, not on the personality of the Messiah itself, but on the tasks that the Messiah faces, the changes that he makes to the world. This is a general and characteristic feature of the worldview of Judaism, for which true spirituality always realizes itself in the material: this is why man was created, to spiritualize and sanctify, to “cultivate” the world around him - and himself along with it.

Only by realizing the nature of the messianic predictions of the Hebrew prophets can we imagine what a terrible blow for the first Christians the death of the man whom they considered the Messiah was. After all, as is known from the gospels, both Jesus himself and his companions, like all other Jews in his time, unconditionally recognized the authority of the prophets [ 3 ]. Jesus died without accomplishing anything that was intended and expected from messianic times - how could one now continue to believe in his messiahship [ 4 ]? We can imagine that many Jews, passionately awaiting Deliverance and attracted by the vibrant personality of Jesus, considered him a possible Messiah. His death presented them with a difficult dilemma: on the one hand, prophecies clearly delineating the deeds that the Messiah must perform; on the other hand, their messianic hopes for Jesus. Most of the Jews of Jesus' contemporaries bitterly admitted to themselves that they had been mistaken and that God had not yet sent Deliverance to His people: the Messiah had not yet come. Once again it was necessary to wait for true Salvation - to wait as long as necessary, no matter how strong the longing for Deliverance was.

But among Jesus’ contemporaries there were also people who were no longer able to give up what they so passionately believed in. The flash of hope was too bright, the pain of loss was too strong to face the bitter truth. They could no longer retreat. It turned out that for this small group it was easier to “tailor” the prophecies to the specific facts of the life of Jesus than to apply to his activities the definitions and criteria handed down to us by the prophets.

1.2. Christian reinterpretation of the concept of "Messiah" ". A group of Jewish supporters of Jesus refused to believe in his death in the first place. Secondly, they began to try to reinterpret biblical prophecies, to look for other, previously unknown meanings in them - ones that would allow the idea that the Messiah could die without bringing the expected Deliverance. In other words, they were looking to the prophets not for the truth, but for confirmation of their ideas that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. (See below for more on Christian interpretations of the prophetic books.) They replaced the concept of the Messiah handed down to us by the prophets with a completely new one. They began to argue that the Messiah must come twice. The death of Jesus, which his contemporaries witnessed, should be attributed to the “first coming”, during which the Messiah, it turns out, was not supposed to change the objective world and bring real liberation to Israel. The scope of his activity at the “first arrival” was transferred to mystical areas inaccessible to the perception of an ordinary person; its goal was the mystical “redemption of original sin” [ 5 ], which from now on was considered as Salvation - internal salvation, not manifested in objective phenomena of the external world. This fundamental shift in the concept of the Messiah gave Christians the opportunity to explain the death of Jesus and, while maintaining faith in the “Messiah already come,” to push into the future the messianic tasks spoken of by the ancient prophets. These tasks, accordingly, were transferred to the “second coming,” when the risen Jesus will again appear to people and finally accomplish everything that the Messiah is destined to accomplish.

Naturally, this reinterpretation of the messianic task was not accepted by the Jewish people, and from that moment on, the paths of Jewry and Christianity diverged.

We would like to emphasize that we are not suggesting that Jesus' disciples were people who cynically manipulated the religious beliefs of a group of their followers. Their views, formed in an era full of tragedies and cataclysms, under the powerful pressure of historical catastrophes, may have been quite sincere. But studying the process that led to the formation of their views (and other similar processes in history) gives rise to a certain skepticism, not so much about their sincerity, but about their ability to objectively assess the real situation.

1.3. Historical parallels: Christianity and Sabbatianism. In Jewish history, charismatic national leaders have appeared more than once, in connection with whom the question of the true and false Messiah and the signs by which one can recognize him arose again and again. The psychological processes that took place in the popular consciousness during these eras were often very similar to the formation of the Christian messianic model. In particular, an extremely clear parallel with the emergence of the Christian concept is Sabbateanism - the movement of Shabtai (Sabbatai) Zvi, who declared himself the Messiah. Since the movement of Shabtai Zevi took place historically relatively recently and is well documented, we have the opportunity to trace in detail the process of transformation of the views of a group of followers of the failed Messiah.

Shabtai Zvi, a Jew from Smyrna (Izmir, western Turkey), who founded a broad messianic movement among the Jews of Europe and the Middle East in the second half of the 17th century, was one of the most prominent and successful candidates for the role of the Messiah in all of Jewish history. Possessing great powers of persuasion and the traits of a charismatic leader, he attracted a huge number of supporters. Messengers with the “good news of Deliverance” traveled all over the world, and many Jewish communities went almost entirely to his side. Shabtai Zevi's success reached its climax in the summer of 1666, when apparently most of the world's Jews began to seriously believe that he was the Messiah. However, in September of the same year, the Turkish Sultan arrested Shabtai Zvi and gave him a choice: conversion to Islam or death. Shabtai Tzvi chose to convert to Islam. He died ten years later, being a Muslim.

The renegade of the “Messiah”, his failure to fulfill messianic prophecies, was the same blow for the followers of Shabtai Zevi as the death of Jesus was for the early Christians. Once again, the majority of Jews admitted their mistake and painfully accepted new disappointment. But there were also those who were so carried away that they could not give up their faith in the supposedly arrived Messiah Shabtai Zvi. They had to find an explanation for what happened - and the coincidences of the justifications that the followers of Shabtai Zvi found for their teacher with the statements of the early Christians are striking.

Certain phrases of Shabtai Tzvi were interpreted as if he had predicted in advance his conversion to Islam. His “return” was also expected - first his return to Judaism from Islam, and then his return from the grave. The fact of his death was also denied, and in this case we find the story of the “empty grave.” They re-read the Bible again to find something that no one had found there before - this time indications that the Messiah will convert to another faith without bringing peace to the Earth and liberation to Israel. Once again, the search was “successful.” In chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah, read with passion by both Christians and Sabbateans, there are these words: “He endured our illnesses, and he endured our pains, but we considered that he was smitten, beaten by God and tortured. He was wounded by our crimes, crushed by our sins" (verses 4-5). According to traditional Jewish commentary, these words are uttered by the nations of the world, amazed at Israel's resilience. Christians attribute the word “wounded” (Hebrew “mecholal”) to Jesus and understand it as “pierced,” thus finding in the prophet a “prediction of the torment of Jesus”; the Sabbateans interpret the same word "mecholal" as "defiled" and perceive the same verse as a "prophecy" that the Messiah will convert to another faith.

And finally, it was necessary to explain Shabtai Zvi's betrayal and his catastrophic end. The solution to this problem, as in the case of the genesis of Christianity, was found in transferring the tasks of the Messiah “at his first coming” from the objective and visible level to the mystical and invisible level. In order to find justification for the inglorious end of Shabtai Zvi’s life, his followers had to resort to mystical arguments: in their opinion, Messiah Shabtai had to penetrate the depths of world evil in order to come into contact with the sparks of holiness contained in him, to unite with them, and then, “opening the gates of evil from within,” bring them out and bring liberation to themselves and the whole world. (Unfortunately, we cannot go into detail here into the analysis of the explanation created by the followers of Shabtai Zvi, which is, in fact, based on a distorted interpretation of some ideas of Kabbalah - an explanation that is perhaps even more brilliant than the Christian solution to a similar problem.)

Eventually, a small group of Shabtai Zvi's followers also took the final step and declared him "God." The rest of the Jews after this finally turned away from this group as idolaters. After existing for about 100 years, the Sabbatean movement finally collapsed.

The genesis of two false messianic concepts - Christianity and Sabbatianism - followed the same pattern. In both cases, the activity of the “Messiah Candidate” was completed in such a way that it would seem that the possibility of belief in his Messiahship was excluded - and in both cases, the impossible became possible thanks to the REDEFINATION OF THE ROLE OF THE MESSIAH SO THAT IT CORRESPONDED WITH THE DESTINY OF A GIVEN PERSON. In fact, the messianic concept was adjusted to this specific person.

In both cases, the Jewish people found the strength to survive the bitterness of disappointment and remain faithful to their religion and Torah. Since the biblical prophecy about the Messiah remained unfulfilled, only one conclusion could be drawn: salvation had not yet come. For the Jews, who in their expectation were constantly exposed to the ridicule and contempt of other nations (“Where is your Messiah?”), this conclusion was more than painful. But it is inevitable - if only we want to be honest with ourselves, with history, with our Holy Scripture and with God. In misfortune and in joy, in times of the Holocaust and in the era of the revival of the Jewish state, Jews faithful to the Torah and their heritage can only repeat the words of their ancestors: “I believe with full faith in the coming of the Messiah, and although he hesitates, I will wait for his coming every day .

2. IS THE “EVIDENCE” CORRECT?
Was the "coming of Jesus" predicted in the Hebrew Bible?

2.1. Continuity or rupture. For more than three thousand years, the Hebrew Bible has witnessed many great historical eras, again and again being the center of attention of the peoples of the world. It is impossible to overestimate the enormous contribution that she made to world history and culture, to the development of ethical, political and social teachings. The book, which described the events of the ancient history of the Jews, played a huge role in the history of the peoples of the West and East. But at the same time, it always remained the same as it was from the very beginning - the Law and history of a small ancient Middle Eastern people, the Jews, written in their language - Hebrew, or Hebrew.

The unique role of this Text in world culture determined the interest of non-Jewish peoples in Judaism. Long before the advent of Christianity, Judaism enjoyed great popularity among non-Jews, especially intellectuals of the Hellenistic era. Many famous teachers and sages mentioned in the Talmud were proselytes (that is, former non-Jews who converted to Judaism and thus became Jews) or came from families of proselytes - Greeks, Romans, Persians. The deep interest in the Teachings of Judaism explains the implementation of the Greek translation of the Torah, carried out in the 3rd century BC. seventy Jewish scientists by special order of the Alexandrian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus [ 6 ].

The popularity of Judaism largely served as the basis for the spread of the teachings of Christianity. Since Jews did not engage in missionary activities, Judaism was not a competitor to this new teaching. Christians appeared to pagan peoples under the guise of legal representatives and successors of Judaism; They could especially actively and freely play the role of “representatives” and “heirs” after the destruction of the Temple, when the political power of the Jews was already broken and Judaism was deprived of centralized leadership, and therefore Christian missionaries could not fear refutation from official representatives of the Jewish religion.

The preachers of Christianity pretended to be followers of the famous Mosaic Teaching, claiming that their faith stems from the Scriptures, and the founder of Christianity is a new prophet who “completed” and “developed” Judaism. However, since ancient times, Christians have been bothered by one unpleasant fact. While the spread of Christianity among pagans encountered almost no ideological resistance, the Jews, on whose behalf the Christians spoke, did not want to recognize the Christian interpretation, considering it a profanation of the Holy Teaching, which they knew well. The Jews were the “living denunciation” of Christianity, and therefore, throughout almost its entire history, Christianity did not stop trying to convert Jews to the “faith of Christ” in any way and did not disdain any means to achieve this goal.

One way for Christians to confirm their claims to Jewish heritage was to falsify the Hebrew text of the Bible with the help of tendentious translations. These translations were made in such a way as to “tailor” the biblical text to Christian dogma, link Christianity with the Old Testament, and present it as the legitimate heir of the “religion of the prophets.” Otherwise, Christianity would be deprived of its connection with the Sinai Revelation, known to the entire ancient world, and would lose one of the main pillars of its “divine inspiration.”

In order to prove the continuity between the Old Testament (that is, the Jewish Bible - TaNakh) and the New Testament - the book of the new religion, already in the early era of Christianity, a whole list of verses taken from the Jewish Holy Scripture was compiled, allegedly indicating that the events that took place with the founder of Christianity - Jesus, were predicted by biblical prophets. Jews who continued to read the TaNakh in the original and, of course, did not find any evidence of Christianity in it, were accused of “cruelty,” of “stubborn denial of obvious facts testifying to Christ.” For many centuries, Judaism was held accountable to the mainstream Christian Church. In endless disputes with the Jews [ 7 ] preachers of Christianity from generation to generation repeated the same arguments of the “list of evidence”, completely ignoring the explanations and answers of their opponents [ 8 ].

For a person who believes that the Hebrew Holy Scripture is God's greatest revelation to the world, containing prophecies for all times, it is vitally important to find confirmation of his religious views in it. That is why Christians, and especially Judeo-Christians, always cite these prophecies as one of the justifications for their faith; They are also the basis for the proclaimed right of Christians to consider themselves the “New Israel.”

A detailed critique of the Christian "evidence list" requires a detailed analysis of the Hebrew text of the Bible. Therefore, we will examine here only one of them - the most famous and most widely cited. For an analysis of some of the other “evidence” most often put forward by Christian missionaries, see the end of the chapter in the “Addendum.”

2.2. Prediction of the "immaculate conception". One of the main tenets of Christianity is the miraculous birth of Jesus. According to Christian belief, Jesus was born from a virgin who miraculously conceived him without a man. This dogma is based on the famous text of the Gospel of Matthew:

May what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet (Isaiah 7:14) be fulfilled: “So the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call his name Immanuel.” 9 ].

Thus, Christians justify the dogma of the “immaculate conception” by reference to the book of Isaiah. The claim that Isaiah "predicted" the virgin birth of Jesus plays an important role in Christian theology. The problem, however, is that the Hebrew word "alma" that Isaiah uses is cognate with the Hebrew words "elem" - "young man", "youth" (see Samuel I 17:56) and "alumim" - "youth" (see Isaiah 54:4; Psalms 89:46) and does not specifically mean “virgin,” but in general “young, young woman.” This is especially clear, for example, from the context in which this word is used in the Proverbs of Solomon (30:19):

Three things are hidden from me, and four I do not know: the way of the eagle in the sky, the way of the serpent on the rock, the way of the ship in the middle of the sea, the way of the man in the young woman (alma). This is the way of the harlot: she eats, wipes her mouth and says: “I have done nothing wrong.”

The four “paths” mentioned at the beginning of the verse are similar to the “way of the harlot” because they leave no visible traces. But “the path of a man in a woman” leaves no traces precisely if she has already lost her virginity. That is why it is impossible to translate the word “alma” in Isaiah as “Virgin” [ 10 ]: this is an obvious error in understanding the Hebrew text - or it is a fraud [ 11 ].

Thus, the text of Isaiah has nothing to do with the dogma of the virgin birth. This becomes even more obvious when considering the context from which the verse about the birth of a child named "Immanuel" is taken. The Prophet Isaiah comes out to meet the Jewish king Ahaz and tells him that he should not be afraid of the united armies of the northern kingdom of Israel (“Ephraim”) and Rezin, the king of Aram, who came against him, and in no case should he turn to Assyria for help. He will soon be able to defeat them with his own strength, and here is the SIGN that the Most High will give to King Ahaz: this young woman - "alma" - will become pregnant and give birth to a son, who will be named Immanuel (literal translation: "God is with us"), and before this son will grow up, there will be no trace left of the armies of Fraim and Aram. Generally speaking, the Divine sign (Hebrew “from”), which the prophets point to in confirmation of their words, is by no means always a miracle that violates the laws of nature (as, for example, in the book of Exodus 3:12); often an ordinary event, object or person can become symbols that remind people of Divine Providence, of prophecy and its fulfillment. In this case, the birth of a boy (near future) should become a sign of the future fall of Fraim and Aram (distant future). Next (verse 8:18) Isaiah says to the apostates: “Keep counsel, but it will be upset; pronounce a decision, but it will not come to pass, for God is with us (Hebrew “imanu el”). Here I am and the children whom the Lord has given me, as a sign ("from") and a sign in Israel from the Lord, the God of Hosts, who dwells in Zion" (8:18) [ 12 ].

So, the Gospel of Matthew gives an erroneous version of the verse from Isaiah, based on a distorted understanding of biblical Hebrew. Interestingly, in the recent edition of the New English Bible, this verse from Isaiah is translated differently in different places: in the translation of the book of Isaiah itself, the word “alma” is translated as “young woman” (“young woman”), and in the translation of the Gospel of Matthew - as "Virgin" ("Virgin"). This is an instructive example of the contradictory attitude of translators: on the one hand, demands for linguistic accuracy and scientific integrity, on the other hand, fidelity to Christian dogma. The translators of the Gospel of Matthew could not translate this word otherwise than “Virgin” - otherwise they would destroy the entire rationale for the Christian dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Jews familiar with the Hebrew text of Isaiah saw fraud in the Christian reference to the "Old Testament" and could not accept that the "miraculous birth of Jesus" was supposedly predicted by the ancient Hebrew prophets, while other peoples who wanted to join monotheism, accepted these arguments on faith.

One can only be amazed at the fact that for almost two thousand years, elementary substitutions in translation were used as “justifications” for Christianity. This is precisely what most Christian references to the Old Testament are designed to do: they are based on inaccuracies in translation and on arbitrary interpretations of individual verses taken out of context.

2.3. Addition:
CANONIZATION OF DISTORTIONS IN CHRISTIAN TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE

Doubts about the veracity of the “list of evidence,” supposed to testify to the continuity of the connection between Judaism and Christianity, also arose among the most educated people in the circles of Christian theologians themselves. In this regard, the book by professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy I.A. Chistovich “The History of Translating the Bible into Russian” is of considerable interest [ 13 ], which, in particular, talks about the Doctor of Theology, Archpriest G.P. Pavsky. Archpriest G.P. Pavsky was a professor of Hebrew at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy from 1818 to 1827. He was one of those rare Christian theologians who knew the language of Scripture well. Working with students, he - mainly for educational purposes - began to translate the Bible from Hebrew into Russian and gradually brought his translation to the end of the prophetic books. Let us recall that any attempt to translate the Bible into Russian in Russia at that time was strictly prohibited: the Church Slavonic Bible was canonized by the Orthodox Church, and any deviation from its text was already considered a schism. Students of G.P. Pavsky managed, despite the administration’s ban, to print several hundred copies of some of his translations of the Bible under the guise of student lectures. At the same time, it was strictly warned that not a single copy should fall into the hands of “secular persons.” Students kept copies of the translations and used them in class during lectures on the Holy Scriptures and the Hebrew language.

However, all this did not remain a secret for long. Kiev Metropolitan Philaret receives from Vladimir a long anonymous letter, written, as it later turned out, by the monk Agafangel, the future archbishop of Volyn. The letter said: “Your Eminence Vladyka! The serpent has already begun to tempt the simplicity of the children of the Holy Orthodox Church and, of course, will continue his work if he is not destroyed by the guardians of Orthodoxy... Is it possible to allow the enemy to sow more and more of his tares among the wheat so that poison it spread unhindered among believers!”

What did Archpriest G.P. Pavsky do wrong that he aroused such zealous anger towards himself? During the proceedings at the Synod, G.P. Pavsky was asked five questions, the content of which was as follows. Does he admit that the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14) “Behold a virgin will receive with child...” speaks of “the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary,” and if he does, then why did he write in the title to his translation of this chapter that Isaiah is talking about events related to the times of the ancient Jewish king Ahaz? Does he admit that Daniel's prophecy of the "seventy weeks" (Daniel 9:24) refers to the time of the "coming of Christ", and if he does, then why did he write something completely different in the notes? In the same spirit, the remaining questions followed regarding those passages of Scripture that the church refers to the “list of testimonies about Jesus in the Old Testament” and which, in the translation of Archpriest Pavsky, lost any hint of the “appearance of Christ.” It is significant that the commission members did not accuse Pavsky of ignorance of the biblical language (their own knowledge would not have been enough for such an accusation) or of deliberate distortion of the translation. Pavsky's crime was teaching and disseminating a translation that contradicted the dogmas of the church. After all, his translations unequivocally testified that “the list of testimonies of the Old Testament about the coming of Christ” is devoid of any meaning.

Pavsky answered the Synod that he unconditionally believed in all the dogmas of the church. As for his lectures and translations, as a professor of Hebrew he could not contribute anything to them dogmatic. Dogmatics classes are taught by another professor; His, Pavsky’s, task is to reproduce only “the course of speech and content of the Prophets.” But as for the course of speech and the content of the text of Holy Scripture, the prophetic books speak, of course, about another era, and not about the coming of Christ!

In Daniel’s prophecy about the “seventy weeks,” Archpriest Pavsky makes another discovery, sensational for Christians. In the Church Slavonic translation, the term “Christ the Master” is used here. “The ancient interpreters,” writes Pavsky, “built their interpretation on the basis of an incorrect Greek translation and especially on the name “Christ” - “anointed one,” applying it to the Redeemer of the human race. But who today does not know that this name also applies to kings in general ? And it was in the prophet Isaiah that Cyrus, the king of Persia, was named by this name - 45:1."

In the same vein - that is, taking as a basis not the Christian interpretation of the text, but an unbiased reading of the Jewish original - other controversial verses from the "Old Testament" were translated and interpreted: chapters 10-12 and 40-46 from Isaiah, in which, according to Pavsky’s interpretation speaks of the deliverance of the Jewish people, and not at all of the “coming of Christ,” and the prophecy from Yoel, in which “the prophet in delight predicts God’s blessing for the Jews, and the destruction of all their enemies” - contrary to the New Testament interpretation of the “outpouring of the holy spirit on apostles."

For such views, Pavsky was convicted by a church court. After lengthy interrogations, he repented, “admitting” his mistakes, and copies of his translation were ordered to be “searched for and confiscated” in all dioceses, and also “to take appropriate measures so that the said translation does not have a detrimental effect on the concepts of students of religious educational institutions.” All this had to be done in the strictest confidence, without publicity. The Synod of the Orthodox Church was well aware of the explosive material it was dealing with.

3. CHRISTIANITY AND THE PROBLEM OF IDOLATRY

3.1. Psychological aspects of the Jews' rejection of the concept of the "god-man". Above we talked about why Jews cannot agree with the Christian concept of Jesus as the Messiah. However, it is not the question of the Messiah, but the question of the “God-man” that is the problem that most radically divides Judaism and Christianity and makes Christianity completely unacceptable to the Jews. The worship of Jesus Christ as “God in the form of a man”, the very declaration of Jesus as identical with God causes categorical rejection among Jews. Here we would like to consider first the psychological and then the theological aspects of this problem.

Judaism is characterized by the idea of ​​the greatness of man - the most perfect of the creations of the Almighty, who created man in His image and likeness. Man is immeasurably higher than all other creations, for only he is endowed with a Divine soul, within which shines the “Divine spark”, directly connected with the Creator. The Torah calls man (every person!) “the son of God,” emphasizing his special closeness to the Creator. Man should try to increase this closeness by imitating the Almighty in his deeds (“Be merciful, for He is merciful; be holy, for He is holy”). Moreover, man is entrusted with the responsibility to be, as it were, a co-Creator of the universe. According to the teachings of Judaism, the Almighty created the world “incomplete” - so that man could, fulfilling his Divine destiny, correct this world and complete Creation, earning Salvation as a reward for this work.

And with all this, an immeasurable gulf lies between the Creator and His creation, between God and man. The connection of the Almighty with the world, the Divine influence and guidance of the universe is carried out both transcendentally (“from outside the world”) and immanently (“from within the world”); but all these manifestations of God in the world (i.e., manifestations of His “Will”, which we could try to describe) are only manifestations and signs, but not of Himself. We are not given the opportunity to “describe” God Himself in words - because any language is adapted to the phenomena and categories of this world and cannot “grasp” His absoluteness and transcendence. Any attempt to “represent” God in any image, to “embody” Him in any creature is, from the point of view of Judaism, a primitivization of Divinity and borders on idolatry.

The feeling of an insurmountable distance between God and man should not lead us to despair - on the contrary, it is positive and constructive. The consciousness that He is immeasurably higher than man is a source of sublime awe before God; at the same time, the consciousness that a person can - and even must - establish an immediate and direct connection with his Creator across this abyss elevates a person and is a manifestation of His love for His creation. If God wants me to stand before Him without any intermediaries, then this testifies to my capabilities, to my own greatness. And whoever is great will be asked a lot; and therefore, in this direct presence before God is the source of my responsibility before Him and the world He created.

In order for us to understand the extent of this responsibility, the Torah commands us to turn directly to the Creator of the universe - and only to Him - in our prayers and requests. God is good - but not all-forgiving. He has endowed a person with enormous capabilities and therefore requires a person to realize this potential, and punishes a person for neglecting his capabilities. A person standing before the Creator and Master of the universe must know that it is impossible to appease Him or bribe Him - therefore, turning to Him with prayer and request, you must first answer the question of whether you yourself are acting responsibly enough with that potential. which He has provided for you; Are you realizing your responsibility towards God and the world He created? This is the psychological basis of strict Jewish monotheism, which does not tolerate “intermediaries” and “images accompanying God.”

Worship of the “god-man” has a completely different psychological nature. For someone who turns in prayer to “God in human form,” God appears more “human,” more accessible and more forgiving of human weakness and limitations. In the minds of a Christian, Jesus is the “intercessor” for man before God the Creator, the patron of “our imperfect world.” In this way, the existential tension of contact between the Creator and creation is softened, and the consciousness of immeasurable personal responsibility is reduced.

The psychological basis of the concept of the “god-man” is a decrease in the level of responsibility. The figure of the “god-man” is necessary for a Christian precisely because God the Creator seems to him to be too strict, too demanding of the moral and spiritual level of the person praying.

A similar psychological atmosphere is created by idolatry, which is an appeal to intermediaries between man and the Creator instead of a direct appeal to Him. An idol-mediator is more “lenient” towards a person, it is easier to “appease” him, so that he – and not I myself – turns to the Almighty with requests for me.

Judaism is an approach to the world based on man's responsibility for Creation. Therefore, the concept of the “god-man,” which goes as far as the idea of ​​Jesus’ “mediation” between the world and God, is psychologically unacceptable for a Jew who addresses God directly and conducts a direct dialogue with Him.

3.2. Level of monotheism – for Jews and for non-Jews. The Torah - Divine Revelation - is addressed not only to Jews, but to all humanity. The Torah does not call on non-Jews to convert to the Jewish religion, but it imposes on them a number of obligations on which universal human ethics is built. Laws are binding on all people, including requirements for a fair judicial system and prohibiting murder, theft, adultery, and blasphemy and idolatry. Any non-Jew who observes these laws can, according to the ideas of Judaism, be awarded “a portion in the World to Come.”

The Torah strictly prohibits idolatry, considering it one of the most serious sins for both Jews and non-Jews. However, the level of Torah requirements for both in this matter is not the same. From the Jews - the people to whom God Himself revealed Himself, from those to whom He conveyed the Torah, His message to the world - absolute monotheism is required. A Jew, in his relationship with the Almighty, must seek a direct, personal connection with the Creator, without any intermediaries obscuring or replacing Him. The Torah's requirements for non-Jews are much more lenient in this matter. In principle, every person, being created in the image and likeness of the Creator, is able to establish a direct and immediate connection with Him; but, nevertheless, the Torah forbids non-Jews only obvious forms of idolatry. It is known that in many religions people worship images that “embody the Almighty”; in Judaism, this type of religion is called “shituf” (literally “companionship”, “accompanying”) and is considered as a type of monotheism acceptable for non-Jews [ 14 ].

Christianity, with its dogma of the Trinity, in which God the Creator is “inextricably and indivisibly” united with His “human incarnation - Jesus,” belongs precisely to this type of religion [ 15 ]. Most Jewish religious authorities recognize the status of non-Jewish Christians as monotheists. But the Jews, the people of the Revelation, are subject to stricter requirements. For them, not only obvious forms of idolatry are prohibited, but also a “borderline case” - that is, “shituf”, which for them is already considered a violation of monotheism. Therefore, Jewish Christians, from our point of view, are idolaters.

If a Jew converts to Christianity, is he still considered a Jew under Jewish law? The Talmud answers unequivocally: “yes”: “A Jewish sinner remains a Jew.” A converted Jew is, of course, considered a criminal (there is a custom according to which, in the event of baptism, close relatives of a converted person perform some mourning rites, as if this person had died), but he still continues to remain a Jew - and that is why he is responsible for violating his obligations to God , assumed by the Jewish people at the time of the Sinai Revelation.

Notes

[1 ] Anointing with a special oil (“oil”) was part of the ceremony performed in ancient times when kings were enthroned. Therefore, the word “Messiah” (in Hebrew pronunciation “Mashiach”, literally: “anointed one”) in Hebrew allegorically means “king”.

[2 ] By the way, it is interesting to note that an incorrect understanding of biblical Hebrew was the reason that many Christian theologians interpreted the name of the Messiah, found in Jeremiah, “The Lord is our justice” (and similar names in other prophets, such as Isaiah 9:6 “... and they will call his name: Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Ruler of the world - He who advises wonderful things") as “proof” that among the prophets the Messiah is supposedly identified with God, i.e. as a hint of incarnation. These are actually names that are specific statements about God, and they are quite common in the Bible. In fact, the names Isaiah and Daniel themselves are statements about God (“Isaiah”: lit. “The Lord is my salvation”; “Daniel”: “God is my Judge”). Longer similar names, consisting of several words, are also quite common. For example, Moses (Exodus 17:15) calls the altar he built “The Lord is my wonderful banner,” but no one has yet thought to assert on this basis that Moses identified the altar with God.

[3 ] See, for example, the Gospel of Matthew (5:17), where Jesus says: “I did not come to abolish the Law [Torah] or the Prophets... Truly I say to you, while heaven and earth exist, not a single letter will not disappear from the Law..."

[4 ] Let us cite one interesting episode that may explain this problem. One of the outstanding rabbis of the beginning of our century traveled through Russia and on a train witnessed a conversation between a Christian missionary and several deeply religious, but not very educated Jews. The Jews just expressed their conviction in the correctness of the approach of the Jewish sages to the question of the Messiah. “If so,” asked the Christian, “then how can you explain that Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest sages of the Talmud, initially mistook Bar Kochba (the leader of the Jewish revolt against the Romans, 133 AD) for the Messiah?” The Jews were confused and did not know what to answer. The rabbi, who until then had not intervened in the conversation, turned to the Christian and asked: “How do you know that Bar Kokhba was not the Messiah?” “It’s obvious,” he replied, “Bar Kokhba died without bringing liberation.” “Then apply this answer to your own arguments about Jesus,” the rabbi suggested to the missionary.

[5 ] Below (in chapter 8) we will look at the differences between the Jewish and Christian approaches to the problem of “original sin”.

[6 ] This translation is known as the Septuagint, or “translation of the seventy interpreters.” Messages about the translation are contained in some historical monuments of antiquity, in particular in the Talmud (Megillah 9a, etc.). According to the Talmud, only the Torah (the Pentateuch of Moses) was translated, but not the books of the Prophets and Scriptures. The text of the Septuagint, now accepted in the Greek Orthodox Church, containing a translation of the entire Holy Scripture, was made at a later time and is not the ancient Septuagint.

[7 ] It should be noted that disputes with Jews even in modern times were considered by Christians as missionary activity with the goal of converting Jews to Christianity, and not at all as a joint search for truth. The liberal Protestant theologian (who was friendly to Jews, by the way), Carl Ludwig Schmidt, put it bluntly to Jews during a debate with the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber in 1933: “An evangelical theologian who has to speak to you must speak to you as a member of the church of Jesus.” Christ, should strive to speak in such a way as to convey to the Jewry the message of the Church. He should do this even when you would not invite him to do so. Statement of the Christian mission in conversation with you may taste a little bitter and be considered an attack. However, such an attack precisely entails concern for you Jews - so that you can live with us as brothers in our German homeland and throughout the world..."

[8 ] A typical example is the Disputation of Nachmanides, one of the most famous and well-documented disputes that took place in 13th century Spain. For excerpts from the book of Nachmanides, in which he recounts the course of the dispute, see the Appendix at the end of our book.

[9 ] It should be recalled that the capitalization of the words "Virgin" and "Son" exists only in Christian translations of the book of Isaiah into Greek and other European languages. The original Hebrew text of the Bible does not have these capital letters because Hebrew has no capital letters at all. The capitalization of the words "Virgin" and "Son" in the gospels is itself a Christological interpretation of the biblical text.

[10 ] “Virgin” in Hebrew is “betula” (see: Leviticus 21:3; Deuteronomy 22:19; Ezekiel 44:22; Yoel 1:5). If Isaiah had been referring specifically to the extraordinary fact of a virgin giving birth to a child, he would undoubtedly have used this very word.

[11 ] We find the same error in the Greek translation of Isaiah, in which the word "alma" is translated as "parthenos", that is, "virgin". As mentioned above, the Book of Isaiah was not included in the Septuagint (the oldest and most authoritative translation of the Holy Scriptures into Greek), and its translation into Greek was made later and by no one knows. This translation was preserved only in the Christian tradition - and, apparently, was edited in the direction desired by Christians.

[12 ] From this, most commentators conclude that the boy named Immanuel, who should be a sign of the Divine will, is none other than the son of Isaiah himself, and his mother, the wife of the prophet Isaiah, is the very “alma” spoken of in the prophecy.

[13 ] I.A. Chistovich. History of Bible translation into Russian. St. Petersburg, 1873. History with the translation of the Bible by G.P. We quote Pavsky from B. Khaskelevich’s article “Translations of the Bible.”

[14 ] Of course, this does not mean that in this sense non-Jews are “inferior” or “worse” than Jews. This means that, as we have already said, more stringent requirements are imposed on the Jews, which stem from the fact that there are differences in the level of God's Revelation to the Jews and other peoples of the world. Neither Christians nor Muslims deny that the Jews were the first to adopt the religion of monotheism, to which other peoples came only thousands of years later. They all agree that the Jews are the only people who received direct Divine Revelation. This should make us think about the special Jewish responsibility, for since more is given to the Jews, more is asked of them.

[15 ] Let us note that in specific historically established forms of Christian cult, elements of idolatry are present in a much more obvious form than in “pure” Christian theology and philosophy. From the point of view of a Jew, obvious idolatry is, for example, the worship of the “Virgin Mary” (“Mother Intercessor”), angels (cf. the special holiday existing in the Orthodox church calendar of “worship of the Archangel Michael and the entire army of angelic forces”), worship and prayers saints (“candle to Nicholas the Wonderworker”), etc.

Anatoly Ermokhin
Director of the Even-Ezer Foundation in the Ural region, Master of Theology.

Frankly about the desired, but unrealistic...

...or why Jews never believe in Jesus

Perhaps this will be my most frank conversation on the pages of our portal. I hope to compensate for excessive frankness with utmost sincerity.

All Christians before the Second Vatican Council and almost all in recent history have one thing in common. Moreover, this thing is inherent in both radical and more liberal Christians, both anti-Jewish and pro-Zionist. You can read about this in Aurelius Augustine, and modern masters of Christian-Jewish dialogue also write about this. We all believe that sooner or later all Jews will believe in Christ and join the Church. But I doubt it! More precisely, I think differently: I think that all of Israel will never become the Church. For this I see a whole series of arguments, the red thread of which is five humanly insurmountable barriers between the Jewish people and Jesus Christ.

First of all, I want to say a few words about the New Testament (I would even say Christian) term “believe” used. This term itself is key for us, because... is present in the soteriological (saving) formula - “believe with the heart and confess with the mouth” (Rom. 10: 9-10). On the other hand, faith is “...the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Those. in the Christian understanding, the conditions of salvation are faith in the invisible Jesus as a personal Lord!

The second starting point is understanding who, according to the Torah, should be considered a Jew. This also needs to be taken into account. The answer to this question is closely intertwined with the interpretation of the term "remnant of Israel"; This is a big and interesting question, but we’ll leave it until next time. Returning to the text of the Torah, we should understand Israel to a greater extent as the Jews, i.e. assimilated Jews are difficult to consider as part of the Jewish people; dozens of times in the Torah we read the terrifying formulation: “[may] that soul be cut off from among his people.” For this reason, many modern Jews of the Diaspora, by decision of the rabbinical court, are forced to undergo the rite of conversion; for similar reasons, the Jews did not communicate with the Samaritans. In other words, by Jews in our conversation we will understand unassimilated Jews, Jews, which more accurately corresponds to biblical instructions.

1. So, the first obstacle is cultural. It is necessary to understand that the main reason why the Jews survived in dispersion as a nation and did not lose their faith over many centuries was their firm adherence to religious culture and religious traditions. To better understand, remember the reaction of a Russian person who, in the wake of the awakening of the 90s, found himself at an evangelical meeting. The first thing such a person felt was culture shock: “You can’t sing to God with a guitar!” This is not according to us, not according to the Orthodox! This is not in Russian! Where are the icons, where are the priests? What, they sold themselves to the American faith for chewing gum!” Moreover, this Russian-Soviet citizen did not necessarily have to be a church-going Orthodox believer. And not everyone managed to overcome this cultural barrier. For Jews, the commitment to their culture and traditions is much deeper, which means the cultural barrier is incomparably higher, and therefore much more difficult to overcome.

2. The second barrier between the Jews and Christ is historical. About 80-90% of the history of the relationship between Israel and the Church, between Jews and Christians is anti-Jewish, and sometimes openly anti-Semitic. For the reasons stated in the first paragraph, Jews remember well the history of their predecessors, and, unlike us, are well aware of the history of persecution and persecution by the Christian world. Until recently, Christians were perceived by Jews as enemy number one. And there is nothing surprising about this. If we, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers had been oppressed, crushed and killed by anyone for many, many generations, then these someone would have been perceived by us as enemies. And if these someone acted with the Name of Christ, then I don’t think that we would be sitting and reading these lines now because of our alienation from the Christian society that we hate. Such relationships are absorbed and nurtured with mother’s milk, and to eradicate them, to replace them is the duty of more than one generation of Christians. I wrote about this in more detail in a previous post.

3. The third, even more difficult to overcome obstacle is religious. In Ephesians 2:12, the Apostle Paul notes about us that we were pagans, alienated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel... and most importantly, we were ungodly in the world. What does this mean, godless people? This means that there was no God in us! In other words, we had nothing worthy within us that could “compete” with the Good News (forgive my loose terminology). Let me ask a question: to whom is it easier for us to evangelize: a convinced Muslim or an atheist, a Buddhist monk or an alcoholic neighbor? The Jews are not empty in their souls, they have a firm and true faith in the living God, which God Himself gave them, through His Holy Word, and which they preserved at the cost of enormous blood through centuries and millennia.

4. The fourth reason is Christological. Ah, if only the question was to recognize in Jesus the Messiah they expect, whom they find in the texts of the Old Testament. Everything is made several times more complicated by questions related to Christology in church theology. Now I am not saying that the Christological views of Christianity are not correct. No. I say that the understanding of the trinity of God and the consubstantiality of the Messiah (God the Son) with the Father, even to us Christians, who yesterday were like a blank slate, is not simply given; often we act in accordance with the classic saying - Credo quia absurdum! I believe it because it’s absurd! What can we say about the Jews who daily declare the unity of God in their greatest prayer, “Shema Yisrael”! For them, these questions are simply humanly incomprehensible, and even unacceptable!

5. And the last question, also difficult for Jews to understand, is the messianic barrier. For the Jews, who are basically the heirs of Rabbinic-Talmudic Judaism (and who in turn are the heirs of the Pharisaic teachings), it is clear that Jesus did not fulfill a significant part of the important prophecies of the Old Testament. Namely, He did not establish the foretold kingdom of Israel. It is difficult for them to see and recognize the Messiah in Jesus, because He did not bring the promised liberation to the Jewish people and did not establish prosperity throughout the entire Earth. We Christians have a clause that allows and harmonizes everything - “for now.” As I already pointed out in my articles on the Qumran heritage, members of the Dead Sea community also guessed about this “for now”. However, for the ideas of modern Jews, this “yet” does not work, because The Messiah, in their understanding, must sit on the throne of David and His kingdom must be eternal.

Based mainly on these reasons I have outlined, I assume that the mass conversion of the Jews (Jews), which we have all so desired since Augustine's times, will not happen. And no matter how much we would like to, statistics only confirm these conclusions: there are almost no Jews of the Haridim (Orthodox) world who voluntarily believed in Christ as Lord. If it is possible for them to believe in Christ in the period before His second coming, then only in a miraculous way, and no less supernatural than the faith of the apostle himself. Paul through the personal appearance of Christ to him and direct prophecy associated with his blindness. Although ap. Paul knew the teachings of the first Jewish Christians very well, and was personally present at Stephen’s dying sermon, but this did not convince him of the fidelity of the teachings of the first followers of Jesus.

But how should we relate to the words of the Apostle Paul, in which he quotes the prophet Isaiah: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come from Zion, and will turn away wickedness from Jacob.” (Rom. 11:26). (Let us note here an even more accurate translation of the prophecy of Isaiah: “And a deliverer will come for Zion and for those who turn away from wickedness in Jacob - the word of the Lord!” (Is. 59:20). I think I have already pointed out quite a few times that the Messiah will come to Earth for Zion and for Jacob when the Church has already been taken from the Earth (see 1 Thess. 4:16-17).According to the prophecy of Zechariah, only at this moment will their eyes be opened and they will look at the pierced and will mourn (see Zech. 10). This will be their acceptance of the Messiah and their acceptance by the Messiah; as the Apostle Paul points out to us, God will take away their sins from them (see Rom. 11). Such acceptance in its kind is nothing other than salvation , and salvation by the Messiah Jesus.However, this is not quite what we expect, and this is not quite the “classical salvation” that we pagans who believed in the invisible Lord are accustomed to profess.

With this understanding of part of the eschatological events, many things become more consistent: the Jewish people meet the Messiah on Earth and remain Israel for the entire Messianic period (1000 years); at this time the Church remains the Church of the Hellenes and part of the Jews to “reign with Christ.” At the same time, the names of the great apostles of the Church and the names of the 12 tribes of Israel will remain separate on the New Jerusalem for centuries and centuries. The inhabitants of the New Jerusalem will be called simply “slaves of God” (Rev. 22:3). As we see, absorption, and certainly not displacement of one another, does not occur.

All this once again convinces me that we do not have sufficient grounds to expect mass faith among Jewish Jews in Christ until His second coming. It cannot be any other way, otherwise many of the words and promises of Scripture simply will not be fulfilled!