There is an alarming trend happening in the Church today concerning Israel and the growing momentum of her restoration and people coming to the faith of Christ. Everywhere, Christians are hearing the call to return to the Hebrew Roots of their faith. Messianic congregations are popping up all over the place, predominantly attended by Roots Christians, and many of them more occupied with a form of Messianic Judaism and the keeping of the Law and Jewish tradition than they are with the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the issues of salvation. One gets the sense that there is more about joining the end times bandwagon than any leading of the Holy Spirit.
The Jew's expression of their faith in its many forms is a wonderful change from the often dried up and dusty liturgy and religious observances of Christian tradition or the alternative free-for-all of amped up worship, good vibes and emotional gut wrenching of devotional professions. Jewish worship is significantly more meaningful, lively, filled with joy and celebration, that invitates believers to dance, and rejoice and glorify God and His majesty. And there is something almost primal that stirs in you when you hear the blowing of the shofar. Its all a pretty heady mix.
Likewise, the Hebrew language itself is endlessly fascinating, and there is a great deal to be learned from digging into the Hebrew teachings, and seeing things from a Jewish perspective.It's an almost inexhaustable wealth of insights, reflections, understandings and applications, and much of it with an entirely different perspective than that of Gentiles.
However, all of this can be a terrible snare to the soul and take your eyes off of Jesus and our learning to grow in faith and trust in Him. It is the same snare that confronted Eve - obey in faith and trust in the Word of God, or pursue the knowledge of good and evil, as though the knowledge itself was what it was all about.
I have been ensnared in this trap several times, mainly because it seems that God has become inseparably entwined with Jewishness. I have an undying awe and respect for the Jewish people. An objective lookat their contributions to the general welfare of all the nations shows them to be statistically greater than that of any other nation. And this they do, in the face of being the most persecuted and hunted nation throughout history. If you read the book, "O, Jerusalem," that details on an almost daily basis what took place in the proclaiming and defending the birth of the nation of Israel, you cannot do anything but stand in awe of their innovation, their tenacity, their drive, nor can you deny the hand of God upon them. But Jewishness is national, not spiritual, and Jewishness is not godliness.
To make or clarify my point, I have chosen to keep a Saturday Sabbath observance, which accords with the Jewish Sabbath.. My reason for doing so is because the seventh day, commonly, world over considered to be Saturday, was appointed by God Himself as a day of rest and blessing in the second chapter of Genesis, long before there were any humans alive on this earth. He enshrined the keeping of the Sabbath in the Covenant of the Old Testament, which laws and commandments are now written in our hearts and in our minds. In the exposition of the law in Exodus 20, the reason for keeping the Sabbath was based on the days of creation. In the book of Deuteronomy, in the recounting of the law prior to Israel entering into the Promised Land, the reason given was their deliverance from Egypt. If that doesn't speak of Christ, I do not know what does. So if God did not change the day for keeping the Sabbath, only the reason, then I find no reason for me to change it either.
But this is what I want you to see in this. I do not keep a Saturday or Seventh Day Sabbath because it is Jewish, and part of Jewish tradition or even of the Law. I keep it on the seventh day because it was ordained and appointed of God. Times are in His hand not mine, and the Sabbath is part of His calendar and method of time keeping. I also acknowledge that Jesus Christ Himself is my Sabbath rest, and that the Sabbath points to His return and millennial reign, when we shall have rest from all our labours. And by experience, I have found there truly is a greater sense of blessing, rest, and awareness of God in keeping this Sabbath. But I want to stress before you, I do not keep it because it is Jewish or what they do in Israel. I keep it because it is God's Word.
You can say that all the commandments of the Old Testament are also His Word, and that is why we choose to keep them, not because it is Jewish. I would agree with you, insofar as it goes, but, and this is where the snare comes in, as it did with the Galatians. If keeping the law did not work for Paul, the penultimate Pharisee unto salvation, or sanctification, then why do we believe it will work for us now?
If the sign and seal of the covenant of God is no longer natural circumcision, but the circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit, who is the seal of our new covenant relationship in Christ, then why resort to circumcision to be part of God's covenant. You are going backwards, and rejecting the grace of God.
When Paul preached the Gospel in the synagogues, many Gentiles heard him and responded with great joy. Why was that? First off, I believe it was because the reason they were in the synagogue in the first place was because of their faith and belief in God and hope for a Saviour. When Paul preached Christ, they received Him as their Saviour. But I also believe they responded with great joy because of the simplicity of their salvation in Christ, versus the conversion rituals they would have to endure to become Jews.
Another insidious snare enveloping Christian believers is due to the rising focus and gathering momentum of the restoration of Israel and the closing days of fulfilled prophecy pending Christ's return. All eyes are on Israel, and rightly so. Their restoration heralds Christ's return and is our deliverance from death. But it also has worked a form of reverse anti-semetism, in that Christians are often considered as the second class citizens of the Kingdom and not full and equal citizens with them in Christ.
In my own dealings with this issue, I have found that there seems to be some sort of proprietary sense of ownership of God, the Messiah, and the Word of God that exalts Israel and the Jews and lends them the form of superior knowledge and understanding of God. I have heard say that the Bible is all about Israel. To which I must reply, that may be so, but Israel is all about God.
Israel is a chosen nation above all nations on this earth, chosen of God, and Israel will be where the seat of His throne will be, and His Temple when He returns to rule over Israel and the nations during His millennial reign. He has blessed the Jewish nation as His own peculiar people, and they have been an incredible blessing to the world. Their contributions have helped make advances in virtually every field of endeavour. There is no doubt whatsoever that Israel has a special place in God's plans and purposes.
That being said, every Jew that has ever entered into this creation will never be saved by their Jewishness or their Torah observance. Salvation, even for the Jew, is still according to the faith of Jesus Christ/Yeshua Ha'Maschiach, which levels the playing field and makes all mankind of one blood, one faith, one spirit, one baptism, under one God. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile or Christian in the sight of God, insofar as the issues of salvation go. Christians have equal standing in the sight of God, equal rights of inheritance in the kingdom of God as does any Jewish believer. There is no difference.
The difference takes place here on the earth. The Jews were specifically promised a homeland, and they will have one. God has purposed it. But as a believer, our eyes are to be on our heavenly home, not an earthbound one. Our eyes are to be upon His eternal riches, not the wealth of the nations. Our desires are to be unto God and His righteousness, not the things of this world.
Jews may have an edge, so to speak, when it comes to the things of this world. But as a Gentile believer, you are also made an heir of those same promises, and are also able to enjoy those very same blessings that the Jewish nation enjoys, if you believe God. But here again, we are warned repeatedly in both the Old and the New Testaments that this is not what we are called to pursue.
So I want to ask you, the Christian believer, what more do you expect to gain through adherence to a Jewish form of worship? Do you believe that keeping the law of wearing tzit-tzits, tallits, and kippah's improves your relationship and standing before God? Do you women believe that headscarves and keeping niddah makes you somehow holier and more obedient to God? Does keeping kosher under the Law somehow elevate you in the sight of God? What is it that you hope to gain by these observances? If Jews are not saved by their Jewishness or Torah obseervance, why are you trying to prove God wrong?
The same would also apply to any Jewish person coming to the faith of Yeshua. Having begun by faith, do you now think that you improve your standing before God by returning to the very things He decried when He was here? The Law will never make you holy, nor will observance of it then or now do so. The purpose of the Law was to show you what it was you were made of, and that it was your inner 'clock-spring' or wiring that was the problem. Without that law reminding us of our failures, there would have been no desire for the salvation Christ provides.
If you choose to keep a Messianic observance of your faith, take care and take heed to why you are doing so. If it takes your eyes off of Jesus Christ, the truth of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit as your sanctifier, then you are failing of the grace of God. If your eyes are on Israel and caught up in the great purpopses of God's restoration of Israel to the exclusion of the pursuit of holiness and completed sanctification then you have misaligned priorities and will likewise stand in peril of failing of the grace of God.
Just beware. Israel is endlessly fascinating, its treasuries of knowledge seductive and alluring, but if it takes your eyes off God, you are being deceived and led away and at risk of falling as did Adam and Eve, and quite possibly for the very same reasons.
As a closing word, keep this in mind. God is not Jewish, and the promise of a Redeemer was given to Adam, long before Israel ever existed. Likewise, the promise to Abraham was given before he was circumcised, and two generations before the nation of Israel came into existence. And Israel itself was established only after the conversion of Jacob, and the tribes of Israel, who were his sons, came into existence over 400 years before the Law was codified.
The entire history of God's dealings with a promised Redeemer, with salvation, and the establishment of a peculiar nation to teach others of it all began on the basis of faith and believing God, not a focus on Israel or the law.
So rejoice in the Jewish manner of worship with abandon, but make sure that abandon is to God and not out of some delusion that you become closer to God and a better person, more accepted by Israel and God by it, or because you are on some grand sight-seeing tour of Jewishness. God is not looking at your 'wrapper', your nationality, denomination or manner of worship. He is looking at the life of His Son in you, His maturity and growth in you, and the siincerity, purity and truth that is in your heart. If these things aren't there, all the Shema's and shofars in the world cannot save you.