So today when my friend asked if there was anyone celebrating Hanukkah in Finland and that maybe he could join, I said "Just come to the US and join me for Hanukkah and Christmas." Now before my Messianic friends cringe from my insensitive comment, my friend is a former Christian who converted to Messianic Judaism. This confuses me and causes a lot of strife for me, but I always meet it with grace and mercy. I don't know his reasons for converting; because 1) it's not necessary and 2) most of the people I know who "Convert" do so and become very close-minded towards their christian brethren.
I love John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." I also love John 5:46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." but before all of that, Jesus tells a group "you search the scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me." Now here the word scriptures is the Old Testament. We call it the Old Testament, or Old Covenant, because we believe that the Jewish Messiah has come—namely, Jesus—and by his death and resurrection has inaugurated a New Testament, that is, a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:13; 12:24; 13:20). So the writings that Jesus authorized through his apostles are included in our Bibles because they summarize the completion of what was promised in the Old Covenant, namely, the New Covenant. The most decisive thing about this New Covenant is that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, died for sinners so that both Jews and Gentiles who trust him would become the heirs of the Old Testament promises. Jesus taught this when he said, “I tell you, many will come from east and west [meaning Gentiles] and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11–12). In other words, Gentiles who believe in Jesus the Messiah are included in the blessing of Abraham. And Jews who don’t believe in Jesus are excluded from the blessings of Abraham.
Now maybe this sounds really close-minded; and if you know me, Rachel, this sounds a lot UNLIKE the person who loves the Jews; right? Wrong. You see I love the Jewish people which is why I want desperately for them to come to faith in Messiah.
In other words, any Jew or any Gentile will be an heir of Abraham’s blessing if he believes in Jesus, the Messiah. So Paul says, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. . . . If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:7, 29).
This means that the way the Old Testament gets people ready to know Jesus is not merely by specific prophecies that have specific fulfillments in Jesus (like being born in Bethlehem), but far more profoundly, the point is: If you meet God, and know God, and admire God, and trust God, and are shaped by God as he truly reveals himself and his ways in the whole of the Old Testament, then when Jesus comes, you will know him. You will have already known him. He will have so shaped your mind and heart that when he comes in the flesh, there will be no discord, no dissonance, no contradiction between the God you know from the Old Testament and the appearance of God in Jesus. John 12:37–41 is an amazing window onto how Jesus viewed the Jewish Scriptures.
Then from chapter 13 to the end of the book, John pours it on to show that almost every detail of Jesus’ redeeming work was planned by God and witnessed in Scripture.
- “He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me’” (John 13:18=Psalm 41:9).
- “They hated me without a cause” (John 15:25=Psalm 35:19).
- “Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12=Psalm 109:8).
- “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (John 19:24=Psalm 22:18).
- “Jesus said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst’” (John 19:28=Psalm 69:21).
- “Not one of his bones will be broken” (John 19:36=Psalm 34:20).
- “Another Scripture says, ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced’” (John 19:37=Zechariah 12:10).
- “As yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9=Psalm 16:10).
And besides all these explicit quotes from Scripture, John’s Gospel is strewn with indirect allusions to Scripture. So we have indirect allusions, direct quotes to show specific fulfillments, and we have statements, like in chapter 12, that show the whole Old Testament revelation of God is a revelation of Jesus. If we know God as he really is in the Old Testament, we know Jesus.
But honestly, knowing God isn't enough to be saved, merely knowing about Jesus doesn't save you. My friend's Jewish friend attacks me constantly when I mention being a Christian. My friend isn't bold in telling people he's a Believer in Messiah, he'd rather "gain trust" and possibly lose a friend, whereas I would rather just boldly proclaim Jesus; show the OT prophecies that point to Messiah and let that person know that I am praying for them.
It has become a hard road to become a minister, and no longer just saying "yeah, you can believe whatever you want and God will eventually find you. No friends the time is now. I can only encourage you to not delay in coming to Messiah.
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