Witnessing to Jewish People

[JohnD]

Generally speaking, Jewish people perceive of even the most caring witness of an evangelical Christian as an affront to their very being / way of life.

In their minds (they've been taught) that Jesus was a heretic and Christianity is a cult.

It is all the more pernicious to them when a Christian comes from the POV that your Jews got it all wrong... and proceed to chide them with a very paganized

version of what the LORD originally intended.

Many believers are shocked to hear that paganism of any sort has entered the Christian Industrial Complex (which masquerades as the Body of Christ).

Not to get bogged down to the point of derailing this thread, I'll only point out that by the Jewish abdication from New Testament Judaism (Jeremiah 31:31-37)

the Gentile interpretation of the New Covenant has met with a lack of Old Covenant background, and then the Roman hijacking of the faith under Constantine

(resulting in Roman Catholicism).

All these things make what most present to a Jewish person as a witness appear to be utterly pagan / against everything they were taught under the Old Covenant / Tanakh.

Ironically, the Old Testament / Tanakh is that from which Christianity comes.

The New Testament had not been written yet.

And the New Testament is filled with references to the scriptures (meaning the Old Testament / Tanakh).

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 (AV)
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

What we are also up against witnessing to Jewish people is the teaching that we misinterpret the Old Testament / Tanakh to try to make it say what we want it to.

The New Testament to them is a non-biblical book. It may as well be the Book of Mormon to them. So we must be equipped to show the Jewish people that their own scriptures

really do teach about the Jewish Messiah and that only Jesus (Yeshua HaNotzri) fills the bill of predictive prophecy... from their own scriptures (the Old Testament / Tanakh).

[JohnD]

This is not to say the Holy Spirit (Ruach Hakodesh) cannot convince individuals of Jewish descent that Jesus is the Messiah.

He can and does.

There are many Messianic Jews who were never adequately witnessed to by Christians.

They found their Savior despite the typical beliefs and practices of most Christians (including arrogance).

And in the end, even if you do witness adequately to a Jewish person, it is up to them to decide for themselves to believe

in Jesus or not. And it is the work of the Holy Spirit if they do (not you).

[JohnD]

I will come back to this, Lord willing.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (AV)
31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

• The New Covenant is in contrast with the Old Covenant
• The LORD's law (Torah) as opposed to the law (Torah) of Moses given when God took them by the hand out of Egypt / Mizraim
• That Law (Torah Moshiakh versus Torah Moshe) would be placed in every covenant member by the indwelling of the Ruah Hakodesh / Holy Spirit
• Then they will know YHVH / the LORD is Yeshua / Jesus
• And he will have vanquished sin from his people forever

Daniel 9:24–27 (AV)
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The suffering servant Israel = Yish Sarar Elohiym / the Prince of God:

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 (AV)
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

• Israel / Jacob
• Israel the Northern Kingdom
• Israel the modern State
• Israel the heirs of Abraham Isaac and Jacob
• Israel the Messiah / Ultimate Prince of God

Isaiah 9:6 (AV)
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Moshiakh Nagiyd.

[JohnD]

Unless there is a distinction between "the Law" and "my Law" we must presume

the Law and my Law are one and the same.

But clearly in Jeremiah 31:32-33 we have a contrast between the two. 

God gave both. But there was a distinction between the two.

An example is learning the way to write using block print and then learning cursive.

As I understand it, they don't even teach cursive in school anymore. A shame. A beautiful

and expedient way to write...

But the point is clear, the Law of Moses was ground breaking for something even more significant:

Deuteronomy 18:15 (AV)
15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Like unto Moses: a law giver.

Yeshua (YHVH) gave HIS LAW which is the New Covenant to pay the price for sin (Daniel 9:24-26 / Isaiah 52:13-53:12) and remember that 

sin no more:

Isaiah 54:9–10 (AV)
9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

 

 

[JohnD]

For those who hold to a "plain text" that Christians "misinterpret," please explain:

Proverbs 25:2 (AV)
2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

And:

Deuteronomy 29:29 (AV)
29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

And:

Isaiah 28:9–13 (AV)
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Now it is clear with Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) one can go overboard with allegorizing and spiritualizing. Even the three major groups in the ancient Sanhedrin (Pharisee, Sadducee, Essene) there were sometimes bitter divisions.

But the text of Isaiah 28:9-13 clearly shows that "he" HaShem shall do the teaching / interpreting. More fully:

2 Peter 1:20–21 (AV)
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Ruach Hakodesh wrote the scriptures (also 2 Timothy 3:16) through the writing prophets, He alone interprets the scriptures. 

We test to be certain it is Him (1 John 4:1 / 1 Thessalonians 5:21) with the scriptures (Acts 17:11) and we have the truth:

John 16:13 (AV)
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Now I realize I did go into the New Testament to expand upon the Old Testament but it is to demonstrate what was stated in the Old is in agreement with the New.

So any harem scare 'em interpretation of the Bible / Tanakh will not do. It must be under the tutelage of the Author of it.

Edited July 3, 2022 by JohnD

[Selah7]

"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

- Jeremiah 31:31-34

Greetings, John.  Thanks for the informative information …

Jeremiah's verses 33 and 34, in my opinion, take place in the future (in the Millennium) on the day of atonement when Christ returns to bring about all these things.  The earth is cleansed of all evil on that day when all souls have undergone a change (in the twinkling of an eye).  Then God will place in the minds of all souls the mind of Christ. Everyone will know the will of God so no one will need to question their neighbor as to what is right or wrong. 

Any thoughts or ideas, John?  Thanks.       …selah 

[JohnD]

3 minutes ago, Selah7 said:

"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

- Jeremiah 31:31-34

Greetings, John.  Thanks for the informative information …

Jeremiah's verses 33 and 34, in my opinion, take place in the future (in the Millennium) on the day of atonement when Christ returns to bring about all these things.  The earth is cleansed of all evil on that day when all souls have undergone a change (in the twinkling of an eye).  Then God will place in the minds of all souls the mind of Christ. Everyone will know the will of God so no one will need to question their neighbor as to what is right or wrong. 

Any thoughts or ideas, John?  Thanks.       …selah 

Or... the New Covenant includes all who believe as part of the [SPIRIT] House of Israel. ← of which I am a firm believer (note my icon location)

The Church does not replace Israel. It is [SPIRIT] Israel / All (klal) Israel... we Gentiles are included in the nurturing vine of Israel (Romans 11 / Ephesians 2).

This is also why I am so adamant about witnessing to Jewish people. This is THEIR New Covenant, THEIR Messiah, God's plan for THEM first and then for the Greeks / Gentiles.

Romans 1:16 (AV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 2:9–10 (AV)
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

 

[JohnD]

41 minutes ago, JohnD said:

Unless there is a distinction between "the Law" and "my Law" we must presume

the Law and my Law are one and the same.

But clearly in Jeremiah 31:32-33 we have a contrast between the two. 

God gave both. But there was a distinction between the two.

An example is learning the way to write using block print and then learning cursive.

As I understand it, they don't even teach cursive in school anymore. A shame. A beautiful

and expedient way to write...

But the point is clear, the Law of Moses was ground breaking for something even more significant:

Deuteronomy 18:15 (AV)
15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Like unto Moses: a law giver.

Yeshua (YHVH) gave HIS LAW which is the New Covenant to pay the price for sin (Daniel 9:24-26 / Isaiah 52:13-53:12) and remember that 

sin no more:

Isaiah 54:9–10 (AV)
9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

 

 

1 John 3:23 (AV)
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Matthew 22:36–40 (AV)
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Old Testament prophecy:

Exodus 17 (AV)
1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

 

[JohnD]

The thing to remember is not to pummel the individual you are witnessing to. Let 'em breathe. Give them space.

Let them ask questions.

Give them answers or research the answers you may not know.

Then get back with them.

Remember also the Jewish people have had almost 2000 years of denial to come up with either convincing arguments

or out and out peer pressure to prevent turning from the deception Jesus referred to as the leaven of the Pharisees.

And again:

It is the Holy Spirit who does the convincing. Not us.

And it is the individual choice of all. 

I witnessed to an atheist coworker for several years who was astonished by my response to his ultimate choice.

"I just will not believe."

I told him I respected his choice because God does.

This really surprised him, but I never bothered him again.

BTW this fellow had enough compassion to donate one of his kidneys to another coworker who was on dialysis. 

His first response to me years ago was "I was raised a Catholic." ← too often an atheist's past...

Edited July 3, 2022 by JohnD

[Starise]

I believe there are several facts which can't really be overlooked. Not that there aren't many more than several facts, but two very apparent ones. Like the elephant in the room kinds of things.

I have discovered I might be at least partially Jewish, but for all intents and purposes I was about as "unjew" as any man that ever lived.

I never had a pull of any kind towards anything Jewish. In fact, quite the opposite. I never had any interest period. I don't dislike Jewish people, it's just an alien world to me. Not one I had any interest in. I would have been voted least likely to grok anything Jewish ...ever. I wasn't raised around Jews and really had no idea about anything they did. Clueless would have been a good description of me.

Even when my mother took me to church as a child, nothing taught in church ever overtly expressed God as anything but everyone's God. He wasn't a Jewish God to me. He was God. I mean we were middle class white people and He was my mother's God at the time.

I must have sat under 1000 sermons and really never heard one of them. I was in church because my mother wanted me in church.Otherwise I would have been somewhere else without a thought of God or church on my mind. In fact, church was the last place I wanted to be.

I remember at some point in my early childhood at a church service feeling something different happening to me. Someone was calling me. It was God and He was giving me the message of Jesus and for once I even felt conviction for my sins. I felt the need to go to God through Jesus for forgiveness. I went to him and haven't been the same since. 

Think about the impossible bridge that had to be built in order for a random person such as myself to accept this God. Middle class white people had to adopt a Jewish messiah as their God. Not just a few of them MILLIONS of them. Not just my group, poor white people, rich white people, Asians, Indians...you name it. People from all over just ended up adopting this God not from their own culture. This HAS to be a miracle, because otherwise there was a one in 10 million chance I was NEVER going to even know about Jesus. This was a supernatural work. An impossibility under any other name. None of this was the least likely to happen for ANY non Jew unless something much more was involved.

I'll mention one more fact which boggles the mind. Look at Paul. A Jew educated in the law. If there ever was a Jew's Jew Paul would have been that man. Paul enjoyed torturing and killing anyone who believed in Jesus as the Jewish messiah. He followed the law, he felt everything he was doing at the time was the right thing to do. He was well respected in the Jewish community. He was a person other Jews probably looked up to. NEVER would he change his mind right?

Not so. God arranged an 'event' for Paul. It was stressful for Paul. There could be no doubt it was God or maybe as a Jew would say it G-d talking to him. What did God tell him to do? He told him to go win the Gentiles into the new covenant. God wanted Paul to minister to the Gentile dogs. This was basically a 180 for Paul. He would be shunned by most of the Jewish elites. He has surely lost his mind according to them most likely, but had he? 

Think about the things Paul did to follow the will of the Father. 

He preached Jesus, the Jewish rejected messiah.

He charged headlong with this message into the communities of surrounding Gentiles.

He charged his Jewish brothers to recognize the Gentiles were now a grafted branch into the tree of God.

He went through numerous hardship to do what he was called to do. He was whipped, jailed, shipwrecked among other things.In the end he gave his life doing the very thing he had been totally against.

NO MAN would go to these measures, especially to a people he wasn't fond of and into a culture he abhorred unless God was in it. 

An insane person would not have had the gusto he had. Paul never lost his wit and intelligence, he just used it all for the Lord and for his calling to the gentiles. Paul himself was a walking miracle.