On this page you will find ...

• Importance of Hebrew Studies in the last days
• God's grand strategy: Going back to our Hebraic Roots in three phases to eventually reach Messianic Renewed Judaism, the Third Reformation
• What is Messianic Judaism?

IMPORTANCE OF HEBRAIC STUDIES IN THE LAST DAYS

The time has arrived for the testing of the Believer to recognize and identify him/herself with him/her forsaken Biblical Hebraic Roots. The roots of the Church of Acts, the first church, were Messianic in each and every single way. Believe it or not, each and everything the Jews do and hold dear to, is Y’shua centered.

YHWH, through the Holy Spirit, is preparing to restore His Church to the biblical principles found in the Hebraic contours of its formative years. The way it will happen is not by an "outpouring" of the Holy Spirit alone, but through a Word of God revival. Here is the promise of God:

"My doctrine shall drop as the rain,

my speech shall distill as the dew,

as the small rain upon the tender herb,

and as the showers upon the grass:"

Deut 32:2

The latter rain will be a rain of truth, and what the Church needs today is the following:

"… the washing of water by the word”.

Eph 5:25-26

Let me give you an illustration of the significance to understand your "Hebraic Roots" by asking this question: What did Y’shua mean when He spoke of an "evil eye" (some translations say "bad eyes") in Mat 6:23?

Someone not knowing the Jewish background might suppose he was talking about casting spells. But in Hebrew, having an "evil eye”, means being stingy; while having a "good eye”, means being generous. Our Messiah is warning against the lack of generosity and nothing else. Moreover, this fits the context perfectly: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.... You cannot serve both God and money”.

Consider the following verses ...

“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22, NKJ).

"What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God" (Rom 3:1-2 NKJ).

God’s Grand Strategy: Going Back to our Hebraic Roots in three stages

What does God's Grand Strategy consist of? God wants the restoration of the Renewed Messianic Congregation's  position and culture of the Good News of the Jewish Messiah within a Messianic Renewed identity. His second purpose is the complete and full restoration of our worship and enjoyment of all three aspects of God's Inner Nature, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Church has lost that enjoyment in the wake of Satan's counterstrategy.

His third purpose is the restoration of our benefitting from the "Old" Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. His fourth purpose is the restoration of Y’shua, the true Messiah of Israel, in our understanding, replacing all non-Jewish misunderstandings of Him. God is carrying out these purposes of His through three reformation/restoration movements.

Protestantism: The First Reformation

Protestantism, the first Reformation begun in 1517 by Martin Luther, was the restoration of the position of Y’shua to His appropriate place. This Reformation was, in hindsight, not thorough enough, since it left enough theological, spiritual, and identity-related links behind for the counterfeit movement to stage a successful comeback. So Protestantism was not yet the full restoration of our understanding of the true identity, of Rabbi Y’shua, the Jewish Messiah. That is, Y’shua was back in His place, but as a Gentile God only, not as the real original Jewish Rabbi Y’shua of Nazareth as the Jews knew Him 2000 years ago.

Pentecostalism: The Second Reformation

Pentecostalism, the second Reformation, which began in 1740, 1790, 1831, and the one on Azusa Street in 1906 and still going on today, has brought about the restoration of the position and identity of another part of God's Inner Nature, the Holy Spirit, to His proper place in our lives and in Y’shua's Congregation, a.k.a., the Church.

Messianic Renewed Judaism: The Third Reformation

Messiannic Renewed Judaism, the third Reformation is the current movement, since 1970, which is beginning to restore us to seeing both the identity and the rightful position of bringing the Hebrew Scriptures back to their proper position in our hearts and lives; teaching us the identity and teachings of the real Y’shua, the Jewish God, the King of Israel; restoring the Jews to the original culture of the Renewed Covenant, the Jewish culture taking its proper position as their own; and restoring the body of Israel, ie., the Land and the National identity of Israel to the soul of Israel, the Jewish People worldwide.

The cultural restoration of the Renewed Covenant is being currently carried out by erasing the linguistic, theological, cultural and religious expressions of the old-time anti-Semitism, which displaced and disfigured the Church's identity, position and culture. Simultaneously, it is restoring the Jewishness and our Hebraic roots in each of these areas.

Picture, as an instance of this cultural anti-Semitism, the Hasidic Rabbi Sha'ul (Paul), a protegé of the famous Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), wearing a tallit (prayer shawl with tziziot, fringes), peyos (sidecurls) and tefilin (leather boxes placed on one´s arm and head) just like any other Orthodox Jew, since that was what he was. At the same time contrast that picture of him with the common one: "the apostle Paul" with a Mithraistic (sun-god worship) "Christian" halo around his head and being called "Saint" Paul by most Christian writers, and you will catch the inconsistence of the cultural anti-semitism all at once! There are many examples of linguistic, cultural, and theological anti-Semitism in the Church today, and quite frankly I do not believe that God is impressed with it.

Reviving the Roots today?

Before the light of truth has been entirely extinguished, however, the ever-searching God has always identified men and women whom He could call to renewal and restoration. Such is the case in the world today.

After centuries of Hellenisation and Latinisation that replaced the gold and jewels of divine truth, on which the church was founded, with the ornament and costume jewellery of human, even pagan tradition, Christians by the millions today are demanding the restoration of the Hebraic foundations of faith, practice, and discipline through which Y’shua and the apostles expressed their devotion to God.

A profound movement of renewal is restoring to God’s people a passion for His Spirit and His truth. An over-Hellenised, over-Latinised Christianity is experiencing a re-Judaising process that is reattaching Christian faith to its Jewish and Hebraic roots.

Why the need to go back to the basics?

Believers are no longer content to follow blindly in the traditions of blind leaders of the past, and are consequently finding themselves in ditches of despair and confusion. They are searching the Scriptures for themselves like the noble Berean Jews.

How can we possibly worship God Almighty in truth if we do not understand the Hebraic roots? Worship is commonly defined as "the act or feeling of adoration or homage; the paying of religious reverence as in prayer, praise, and so forth”. It is derived from the Old English worthship, the act of ascribing “worth” to someone or to some thing.

When we analyse the Hebrew and Greek words for worship, however, we gain a somewhat deeper meaning of the act of worship. The Hebrew word for worship, segad, means to bow oneself down, to fall down flat, to reverence, or to do obeisance, and it has the connotation of total submission to a superior (e.g., the king). The Greek translation of this word, proskunéo, means to prostrate oneself in homage or more graphically, to "kiss as a dog would lick its master’s hand”.

This is exactly what happened during worship ceremonies in the Temple area in biblical times. Men would lay flat on their faces before the Creator of the universe. Likewise today, God is revealing His Word in a clarity not witnessed since the first century as Christians are recovering the faith of Y’shua and learning to be true worshippers by worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth, or in spiritual truth.

The more we discover the true Hebraic nature of the Christian faith, the more we will be challenged to live according to the Scriptures.

In conclusion

It seems unbelievable that multitudes follow and serve "a God Whom they do not know" - not by Name, neither by His True Will or Purpose! Messianic Studies is a "must" for every professing believer on earth.

This emphasis on "Hebraic Roots" has, or should have one glorious goal. That goal is to seek to help the Body of Messiah for a fuller understanding and appreciation of the Scriptures in depth and to come to know our Lord and Saviour better and more intimately. What higher goal can any of us have? Make sure you are part of it!

WHAT IS MESSIANIC JUDAISM?

Messianic Judaism is a religious movement that differs from mainstream Christianity and from Judaism by combining elements of each into a single faith.

Like other Christians, Messianic Judaism adherents believe that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they call by His Hebrew name Y’shua, is the resurrected Messiah and the only Divine Saviour. They believe you can only go to YHWH through the atonement work of Y’shua. Messianic Judaism adds to this some observances of Torah (YHWH’s Old Covenant Laws), which is not generally not practiced (and often discouraged) in Christian churches. These observances include observing Jewish Shabbat, abstaining from pork, shellfish, and other foods banned by Jewish law, and observing Jewish holidays.

Messianic Judaism is Christianity but with the literal interpretation of the Older and Renewed Covenant Scriptures. Messianic Judaism does not adhere to the Sacrificial/Ritual Laws of the Torah as Y'shua has fulfilled it all already, but believe that the Moral (Ethical) and Civil Laws are still applicable. For detail on this subject (which will convince you) click on "JEWISH STUDIES" on this site and scroll down till you get to the GRACE AND TORAH section. 

As of 2003, there were at least over 400 Messianic groups worldwide. There are vastly more today!
 

Adherents to Messianic Judaism are described as Messianic Jews, Messianic Believers, or Messianics for short.