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So did Yeshua claim to be the Messiah? Yes, and more! He claimed to be the Messiah, the Lord, the Anointed One, and the unique Divine Son of the Living God, pre-existent, and one with the Father!


Jesus Taught Against the Law of Moses Nearly two thousand years aſter He came, we have a Jesus who is nearly devoid of any Jewish identity, and a Church almost completely severed from its Jewish roots. Although it was never God’s intention, this started very early in Church history with a movement away from celebrating Shabbat, the Sabbath, and the other biblical Feasts, and calling these observances heretical. And so today we have a Jesus who is not recognizable to His own Jewish People as the Messiah of Israel.


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Tis comes from the fallacy that Jesus taught against the Law of Moses, largely as a result of an overemphasis of being under the Age of Grace, the Church Age. However, Jesus never taught against the Law, the Torah. He followed the Law and He taught the Law—He redefined it or He taught how to rightly interpret it. He lived and died as an observant Jew in Israel.


Yet Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Mathew 5:17). Some believe that fulfill means


“to bring to conclusion” or “complete,” but this is incorrect. In this context, it’s best understood by reversing the syllables: “fill full” or “bring fullness to.” If that isn’t clear enough, He goes on to declare: “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest leter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Mathew 5:18).


Tis is crystal clear—Yeshua is not advocating the abrogation of even the minutest detail of the Law. If you read further in Mathew 5, verses 27 through the end, you will see that He even takes the Torah commandments further. He is fulfilling exactly what was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah when He promised the new covenant: “Tis is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel aſter that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33).


Yeshua is saying that we are not under an external law, because we now have the law within—writen on our minds and hearts by the Holy Spirit. Terefore, He calls us to even go beyond the writen Law—do not even commit adultery or murder in your heart. Does this sound like Someone teaching against the Mosaic Law and the prophets? Absolutely not!


of the Messiah, but not all has been fulfilled. We don’t see wolves lying down with lambs, nursing children playing at the cobra’s hole, or the earth full of the knowledge of the LORD. Te verses in Micah, also clearly Messianic, tell of a universal peace that has not yet manifested. So the argument follows, if Jesus was the Messiah, why isn’t there world peace? Many Jewish People who are waiting expectantly for the Messiah are expecting a Messiah who will bring world peace.


Yet there are many Messianic prophecies that paint a different picture of the Messiah, such as Isaiah 53, which speaks of the Messiah coming as a suffering servant, who is led as lamb to the slaughter, taking our sorrows, infirmities, and punishment on Himself—in fact, pierced for our transgression—a clear depiction of the crucifixion! And then there is Daniel 9:24-27, which says that Messiah, the Anointed One, will be “cut off” or killed before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which happened in 70 A.D.


Jesus Did Not Fulfill the Messianic Prophecies Found in the Old Testament Te misconception that Jesus did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament is predominately held by Jewish People. Te argument stems from several key Scriptures: Isaiah 11:1-9, Isaiah 2:3-4, and Micah 4:2-3.


In Isaiah 11:1-9, we see a beautiful picture


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So how do we reconcile these contrasting pictures of a victorious Messiah, who would come to establish His rule of peace and righteousness over the earth, with this other picture of a suffering servant, a lamb, who is cut off but not for Himself? Tere was a belief among the rabbis that there were two Messiahs: Mashiach ben David, the Son of King David, who would rule and reign; and Mashiach ben Joseph, Son of Joseph, who would suffer and was rejected by his own, like Joseph was rejected by his brothers. Israel needed the conquering Messiah when Yeshua came because of Rome’s oppression and their expectation that God would send the Deliverer. Te truth is, it is not two Messiahs, it is one Messiah coming twice—first as the Lamb of God, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, and then as the reigning King Messiah when Yeshua returns, when we will see the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:1-9!


(Continued on next page) Jewish Voice Today 27


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