Why do some Jews reject the idea of Jesus being the Messiah? 00:00:01.90\00:00:06.14 Is salvation through the Messiah a Christian concept? 00:00:06.54\00:00:11.33 Well stay tuned with us on Back To Our Roots 00:00:11.53\00:00:13.69 and we'll find out. 00:00:13.89\00:00:15.26 Well welcome once again to Back To Our Roots. 00:00:35.59\00:00:38.90 I'm Pastor Alex Schlussler and I'm Rachel Hyman, 00:00:39.10\00:00:41.80 minister of music, and we're so happy that you've joined us 00:00:41.83\00:00:45.09 once again. Today we are going to be discussing 00:00:45.19\00:00:48.45 Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah? Um-hmm. 00:00:48.66\00:00:53.81 Boy I can tell you, Rachel, this is something that 00:00:54.14\00:00:56.86 going back - knowing what I do now - 00:00:57.06\00:01:00.85 um-hmm - I would have never thought it when I was younger. 00:01:01.05\00:01:03.65 If anything, it was exactly the opposite. 00:01:03.95\00:01:06.51 You know, I grew up in a situation growing up 00:01:06.61\00:01:09.34 in a Jewish home in south Florida where the last thing 00:01:09.44\00:01:13.97 I would have thought was Jesus had anything to do with the 00:01:14.07\00:01:17.19 Jewish people. Exactly. You know, in fact, as crazy as it is 00:01:17.29\00:01:21.41 I remember all the negative things that were said - 00:01:21.61\00:01:25.21 family members and so on - when they talked about Jesus. 00:01:25.41\00:01:28.70 And I had this picture in my mind of who Jesus was. 00:01:28.80\00:01:33.55 And of course the last thing would have been that He was 00:01:33.69\00:01:35.58 Jewish. Yeah. You know, this picture that you see 00:01:35.68\00:01:38.54 all the time of Jesus with blue eyes and blonde hair... 00:01:38.64\00:01:42.23 And I have to tell you it was quite a shock to me 00:01:42.43\00:01:46.66 the first time that God led me to the New Testament 00:01:46.86\00:01:49.64 and I opened it up. And I began to read 00:01:49.74\00:01:51.67 and heard Jesus weeping over His people, over Jerusalem 00:01:51.77\00:01:55.27 in Matthew. Like "Hey, that's me! " 00:01:55.47\00:01:57.92 Yeah, and then flipping back the pages and reading in the 00:01:58.12\00:02:01.58 beginning of Matthew the lineage of Jesus 00:02:01.69\00:02:03.56 that clearly shows that He is of David and He is Jewish! 00:02:03.66\00:02:08.48 What a surprise that was to me. Hmmm. For most Jewish people - 00:02:08.68\00:02:13.41 yes - the way Christendom portrays Him. Absolutely. 00:02:13.61\00:02:17.38 And you know, that's really a sad thing because 00:02:17.58\00:02:19.63 I think that, you know, as a Jew 00:02:19.73\00:02:22.13 when God started opening my eyes spiritually 00:02:22.34\00:02:25.40 the first place I should have gone was to the Jewish Messiah. 00:02:26.95\00:02:30.72 And truthfully after many years of seeking and searching 00:02:30.93\00:02:35.16 that was the last place I went. Um-hmm. 00:02:35.37\00:02:37.96 You know the interesting thing about that is as I looked at 00:02:38.16\00:02:43.20 all these different religions as I was awakening, 00:02:43.30\00:02:46.56 as God was calling to me I realize now, 00:02:46.67\00:02:48.81 all the truths, all the things within these different religions 00:02:49.12\00:02:52.56 that grabbed me as I began to read the gospels 00:02:52.66\00:02:56.02 and read Jesus' words I began to see that all of those truths 00:02:56.12\00:03:00.11 were contained in Him. 00:03:00.21\00:03:01.58 Where all of these other religions had little pieces 00:03:01.61\00:03:03.48 He was the fullness of it all. Yes. 00:03:03.68\00:03:06.94 So as I said, today we're going to be talking about 00:03:07.07\00:03:10.38 Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. 00:03:10.58\00:03:12.97 And specifically we're going to be looking at... 00:03:13.17\00:03:16.14 at scriptures - at the Old Testament today. 00:03:16.24\00:03:18.54 What does the Old Testament say about the Messiah? 00:03:18.84\00:03:22.83 We're also going to be talking about from a Jewish perspective 00:03:23.03\00:03:26.59 and from the ancient rabbinic writings, how did they speak 00:03:26.79\00:03:32.54 about Messiah? So before we get much deeper into this 00:03:32.74\00:03:36.90 we want to welcome - as we do every time - 00:03:37.10\00:03:40.18 our Ukrainian friend, our resident theologian: 00:03:40.28\00:03:43.72 our brother Alexander Bolotnikov. 00:03:43.92\00:03:46.14 We call him Sasha. Brother, please come join us. 00:03:46.24\00:03:48.53 And once again we welcome you. 00:03:48.73\00:03:51.13 Good to be with you again. Yes. Rachel. 00:03:51.33\00:03:54.45 How have you been, Sasha? Have you been well? 00:03:54.55\00:03:55.93 Well... doing fairly well. You know we haven't mentioned 00:03:55.97\00:03:58.62 so far in any of the programs but Sasha is a proud new papa. 00:03:58.82\00:04:02.47 Yeah, yeah. My son is almost four months old. 00:04:02.67\00:04:06.71 Yes, yes. Proud new papa. 00:04:06.91\00:04:09.31 So if he looks a little tired sometimes that's the reason why. 00:04:09.51\00:04:13.57 So Sasha, today we're talking about 00:04:14.93\00:04:18.13 Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. 00:04:18.33\00:04:21.53 And we want to start exploring actually what 00:04:21.73\00:04:25.95 does the Torah speak in terms of Messiah. 00:04:26.15\00:04:30.95 And I know that we can go all the way to barashi, 00:04:31.15\00:04:34.29 to Genesis. And really that's the first indication 00:04:34.39\00:04:38.05 that God has a plan that is going to redeem His people. 00:04:38.25\00:04:43.23 Yeah. We can start with the famous statement 00:04:43.43\00:04:48.32 in Genesis 3:16 about the 00:04:48.52\00:04:52.09 Seed of the woman. And it is interesting how 00:04:53.25\00:04:56.72 some scholars noticed this expression 00:04:56.92\00:05:01.70 which occurs only once in the entire Old Testament 00:05:01.90\00:05:05.85 because the woman doesn't have "seed. " 00:05:06.05\00:05:08.16 So... And this Seed 00:05:08.46\00:05:12.12 is referred in Hebrew as He. 00:05:12.32\00:05:15.47 So there is some hints already there 00:05:15.67\00:05:19.59 about an interesting way 00:05:19.80\00:05:22.65 of dealing with the serpent, Satan. 00:05:22.85\00:05:26.56 But the main definition of the Messiah 00:05:27.59\00:05:31.44 comes from the book of Isaiah. 00:05:31.65\00:05:34.23 Actually everything about the Messiah - exactly - is... 00:05:34.43\00:05:37.83 we can find in the book of Isaiah. 00:05:38.03\00:05:40.07 And Isaiah 61. Right. That's the key 00:05:40.38\00:05:45.45 to understand what this word Messiah... 00:05:45.65\00:05:48.81 how we say it in English - Mashiach 00:05:49.01\00:05:51.60 how it is in Hebrew itself. 00:05:51.80\00:05:56.14 But the English equivalent of it is "the Anointed One. " 00:05:56.34\00:06:01.19 And what the Anointed One actually indicates 00:06:01.39\00:06:05.98 Isaiah 61 says... and it's not Isaiah definitely 00:06:06.18\00:06:11.67 speaking because Isaiah wasn't the "Anointed One, " 00:06:11.87\00:06:14.57 but he speaks in the first person saying this: 00:06:14.77\00:06:20.63 "The spirit of the Lord God is upon Me 00:06:20.83\00:06:25.08 and with Him... " with the spirit means... 00:06:25.28\00:06:30.17 "He anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted 00:06:30.37\00:06:35.44 and to declare the Jubilee year. " 00:06:35.64\00:06:41.06 The acceptable year. The acceptable year, that's 00:06:41.26\00:06:44.21 where everything is forgiven: all debts, 00:06:44.41\00:06:47.29 all claims are let go. 00:06:47.49\00:06:48.94 So this is actually the definition of the Messiah. 00:06:49.08\00:06:53.40 Someone has to come who is anointed by the divine spirit. 00:06:53.60\00:06:59.51 And this is important 00:06:59.71\00:07:01.09 because often the rabbis would say: 00:07:01.30\00:07:04.48 "Oh there are many anointed ones. " 00:07:04.68\00:07:06.80 Uh-huh. The kings, the priests were anointed. 00:07:07.10\00:07:09.72 But they were anointed with oil. 00:07:09.92\00:07:12.43 This one is anointed with God's spirit 00:07:12.63\00:07:16.16 and that's what's making Him the REAL Messiah. 00:07:16.36\00:07:20.56 Unlike king is a Messiah... one of many kings, 00:07:20.76\00:07:24.37 one of many. This one is unique. Right. 00:07:24.57\00:07:26.77 So, not to get way ahead of ourselves 00:07:26.97\00:07:29.25 but you know as soon as you start speaking of Isaiah 61 00:07:29.45\00:07:32.13 right away my mind goes to Jesus being called 00:07:32.33\00:07:36.59 to read from the Torah. 00:07:36.79\00:07:38.25 And He actually takes the prophets - the reading from 00:07:38.45\00:07:41.00 the prophets for that day. 00:07:41.20\00:07:42.57 And He quotes Isaiah 61. He reads it 00:07:42.60\00:07:45.64 but then He says: "In your hear- ing this has been fulfilled. " 00:07:45.85\00:07:49.19 Yeah, that was a divine providence because 00:07:49.39\00:07:52.26 on that particular Sabbath - we can look up the calendar, 00:07:52.46\00:07:56.25 the schedule of prophetic readings which existed then - 00:07:56.45\00:08:00.07 it was somewhere around June... May, June 00:08:00.27\00:08:03.16 in the Hebrew month of Sivan... 00:08:03.36\00:08:06.25 where Isaiah 61- that passage - was actually read. 00:08:06.45\00:08:10.89 And Jesus was... right at this when He was called to read 00:08:11.09\00:08:15.43 these words. Right. You know, that's something really 00:08:15.73\00:08:19.22 interesting that we want you to get ahold of is that 00:08:19.32\00:08:22.04 even today within Judaism there is a cycle 00:08:22.24\00:08:26.43 of reading the sections - the Torah portions. 00:08:26.63\00:08:30.24 The five books of Moses are broken up into individual 00:08:30.44\00:08:33.99 sections and every week in synagogues all around the 00:08:34.09\00:08:37.81 world that same schedule is followed. 00:08:37.91\00:08:40.85 And there is a reading from the Torah 00:08:41.05\00:08:43.26 which is the first five books of Moses 00:08:43.36\00:08:44.82 and then there is also a reading which is called the haftorah 00:08:45.02\00:08:48.07 which is from the prophets... a coinciding reading. 00:08:48.27\00:08:51.21 So again, that's on a schedule. 00:08:51.41\00:08:54.93 Now the schedule that existed in the first century 00:08:55.13\00:08:57.55 is different than the one that exists today. 00:08:57.75\00:08:59.89 But the point of this is is that Jesus didn't just 00:09:00.09\00:09:03.53 walk up and just haphazardly grab the Isaiah... 00:09:03.73\00:09:07.36 grab the scroll of Isaiah and just roll it until He found 00:09:07.56\00:09:10.56 the right thing. "That's the thing I want to read to you. " 00:09:10.66\00:09:13.28 No. This day that He walked in was that day of reading. 00:09:13.48\00:09:17.94 And like you said, it was absolutely God's providence. 00:09:18.14\00:09:21.05 It was His Father that directed all of this. 00:09:21.15\00:09:23.35 And that corresponds to the idea which we discussed 00:09:23.55\00:09:26.87 about the Jewishness of Jesus. 00:09:27.07\00:09:29.46 That He was a member of that community of Nazareth 00:09:29.66\00:09:33.14 that the community knew. He knew how to read - 00:09:33.34\00:09:36.34 that He would read well - and they selected Him 00:09:36.54\00:09:39.81 to be the reader. Right. Which again, by the way, 00:09:40.01\00:09:43.59 not anyone could just walk up and grab a scroll and read. 00:09:43.79\00:09:46.86 Like Sasha's saying, they would have to have known Him 00:09:47.06\00:09:50.53 and known that He could read, He could interpret 00:09:50.73\00:09:53.46 the scripture in the right way. 00:09:53.66\00:09:55.03 And they would have invited Him to come up and read. 00:09:55.15\00:09:58.50 He didn't just walk in and "Excuse me; excuse me. " 00:09:58.70\00:10:00.88 Push His way up and grab the scroll and read. 00:10:01.08\00:10:03.41 Which again even solidifies this idea of how Jewish He was 00:10:03.61\00:10:09.09 and how He was accepted amongst His people at that time. 00:10:09.29\00:10:13.80 So let's go back and continue a little bit. 00:10:14.00\00:10:16.38 How does the Torah now... You know, we go... 00:10:16.48\00:10:19.78 Of course, Isaiah 61... 00:10:19.88\00:10:21.68 but there is another really important passage 00:10:21.88\00:10:25.23 in the book of Isaiah that speaks about Messiah 00:10:25.33\00:10:28.00 in a completely different way. 00:10:28.10\00:10:29.47 Right? And that's Isaiah 53. Yeah. 00:10:29.54\00:10:32.13 This passage is talking about 00:10:32.33\00:10:34.45 so called the poem of suffering servant. Exactly. 00:10:34.65\00:10:38.55 And this is... this was a difficult passage 00:10:38.75\00:10:42.82 for Jewish people to understand. 00:10:43.02\00:10:45.36 Because when you look at the pattern of how 00:10:45.56\00:10:51.07 the teaching about the Messiah is developed 00:10:51.27\00:10:55.30 throughout the scripture it's always glorious Messiah. 00:10:55.50\00:10:59.10 Glorious Messiah. And then suddenly 00:10:59.30\00:11:01.99 this chapter 53 where there is not a single word 00:11:02.19\00:11:07.35 talking about the Messiah but just "my servant" 00:11:07.55\00:11:11.50 and it's just suffering, you know, death. 00:11:11.70\00:11:14.63 He is presented as being a sacrifice - um-hmm - 00:11:14.83\00:11:19.26 for the people, and this is a tough chapter to grasp. 00:11:19.66\00:11:25.56 But if we look at the way how 00:11:25.76\00:11:29.30 this servant is presented as a willing sufferer - exactly - 00:11:29.51\00:11:34.88 then He is presented as the One who makes atonement 00:11:35.08\00:11:40.33 for the sins of people. 00:11:40.53\00:11:43.27 We definitely see that it goes beyond just a human 00:11:43.47\00:11:47.62 personality. It's definitely talking about the Messiah. 00:11:47.82\00:11:52.06 Right. Let me ask you this, Sasha: I've heard in the past 00:11:52.26\00:11:55.63 that there is within Judaism... within rabbinic teachings... 00:11:55.83\00:11:59.51 there is a concept that's not talked about very much. 00:11:59.71\00:12:02.93 But this concept of how the Jews saw that Messiah would 00:12:03.13\00:12:06.52 come in two ways and would fill two different roles. 00:12:06.62\00:12:09.31 And I've heard it stated as Messiah Ben Joseph... 00:12:09.61\00:12:14.20 which is Messiah, the son of Joseph... 00:12:14.30\00:12:16.20 and then Messiah Ben David... Messiah, the son of David. 00:12:16.40\00:12:20.75 And I've understood that that there is this concept 00:12:20.96\00:12:24.02 of Messiah suffering as well as the conquering king. 00:12:24.22\00:12:28.42 Now before you jump in and answer I just want to share 00:12:28.62\00:12:31.44 that I have a Passover order of service 00:12:31.54\00:12:36.60 that dates prior to World War II. 00:12:36.80\00:12:39.33 And within that order of service there is a little passage 00:12:39.53\00:12:43.10 that asks the question: Where will you find Messiah? 00:12:43.30\00:12:46.49 And the answer says You will find Messiah 00:12:46.70\00:12:49.26 outside the gates of Imperial Rome among the lame, 00:12:49.46\00:12:53.28 the suffering and the beggars. 00:12:53.48\00:12:55.29 And I always found that... Wow, is this alluding 00:12:55.49\00:12:57.89 to this concept of Messiah Ben Joseph... 00:12:58.09\00:13:00.78 the suffering Messiah. 00:13:00.88\00:13:02.44 Exactly. It is interesting that rabbis - even though 00:13:02.54\00:13:06.93 they did not accept Jesus as being the Messiah - 00:13:07.04\00:13:10.45 they acknowledged the existence of suffering Messiah... 00:13:10.66\00:13:14.93 afflicted Messiah... as well as they acknowledge 00:13:15.23\00:13:21.19 the existence of the glorious Messiah. 00:13:21.43\00:13:25.20 So unlike the Christians who believe in first and second 00:13:25.40\00:13:29.90 coming, Jews - the rabbis - believe in two Messiahs. 00:13:30.00\00:13:35.83 The afflicted one comes before the glorious one. 00:13:36.43\00:13:42.35 Right. So other than how we're interpreting 00:13:42.56\00:13:46.92 I mean really we're talking about the same thing. 00:13:47.12\00:13:49.34 And if you go to the first century then 00:13:49.55\00:13:52.30 if we understand this idea that there was this expectation 00:13:52.50\00:13:57.37 that yes, there's a suffering but also a conquering Messiah 00:13:57.57\00:14:01.58 and we put it in the context of the first century 00:14:01.78\00:14:04.83 and the oppression that the Jewish people were feeling 00:14:05.03\00:14:07.61 under Rome, it really makes a lot more sense why 00:14:07.71\00:14:12.46 so many of the Jews... Of course not all, because 00:14:12.66\00:14:15.02 many accepted Him. We know that. 00:14:15.12\00:14:16.90 But there were also many that at first 00:14:17.10\00:14:20.45 we see when He makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem 00:14:20.65\00:14:24.16 and they're waving the palm branches and crying "Hosannah 00:14:24.29\00:14:28.48 save us, " You know, I think - correct me if I'm wrong - 00:14:28.68\00:14:32.14 "Save us the son of David. " Right. 00:14:32.27\00:14:35.29 So they're expecting Messiah the son of David. Yeah. 00:14:35.49\00:14:39.97 Conquering Messiah. They're expecting that He's going to 00:14:40.07\00:14:42.55 come in and wipe out the Romans. 00:14:42.65\00:14:45.14 But what they get instead is Messiah Ben Joseph. 00:14:45.34\00:14:49.06 Exactly. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53. 00:14:49.26\00:14:53.26 Well, not only Isaiah 53 but also a very important prophecy 00:14:53.46\00:14:57.75 which is Daniel 9. OK. 00:14:57.86\00:15:00.02 That prophecy specifically says 00:15:00.16\00:15:03.15 that Messiah shall be cut off. 00:15:03.35\00:15:07.02 And this word "cut off" there is basically the same word 00:15:07.52\00:15:13.45 which was used in Genesis 15 when Abraham 00:15:13.65\00:15:19.01 and God made the covenant. 00:15:19.21\00:15:20.93 God cut off the covenant with Abraham. 00:15:21.13\00:15:24.29 Remember how Abraham prepared the sacrifice 00:15:24.49\00:15:27.48 and how he cut... cut it in half and then God goes through 00:15:27.58\00:15:31.21 with a smoking fire pot. Yeah. And that's a beautiful 00:15:31.31\00:15:35.14 picture of how God... You know, it was taken 00:15:35.34\00:15:39.21 from an ancient ritual - ancient covenant treaty - 00:15:39.41\00:15:43.41 when the defeated party, 00:15:43.61\00:15:49.35 the defeated king, would walk in between the 00:15:49.55\00:15:53.22 corpses of donkeys that were cut in half 00:15:53.42\00:15:56.95 and said: "This is what you shall do to me and your God 00:15:57.05\00:16:00.38 shall do to me if I break my covenant, if I break 00:16:00.48\00:16:04.65 this treaty. " So Abraham here expects 00:16:04.75\00:16:08.53 to see God at the end of this row of animals 00:16:08.73\00:16:14.34 waiting for him to pass through with some kind of promises. 00:16:14.54\00:16:19.44 But instead, God and the fire walks between 00:16:19.64\00:16:23.77 saying: "I'm going to take... " But by Himself. 00:16:23.87\00:16:26.11 By Himself... which is important. By Himself. 00:16:26.31\00:16:29.16 "If you break the covenant, I will suffer like this animal. " 00:16:29.26\00:16:33.86 Well and really, isn't it the fact that God 00:16:33.96\00:16:36.26 is in that circumstance He is making a covenant 00:16:36.36\00:16:39.53 that depends on nobody else. 00:16:39.73\00:16:42.22 Exactly. Nobody can break the covenant. 00:16:42.42\00:16:44.74 It's all dependent on God, 00:16:44.94\00:16:47.01 which when we move that forward and we talk about this 00:16:47.04\00:16:49.55 concept, this idea of suffering Messiah 00:16:49.65\00:16:51.99 and what Jesus does in programs to come we're going 00:16:52.19\00:16:57.44 to talk in much greater detail about this idea of atonement. 00:16:57.54\00:17:00.81 But how Jesus as the suffering Messiah 00:17:01.02\00:17:05.38 dying for us and making atonement for us 00:17:05.58\00:17:09.23 is really in effect somewhat of a parallel to what 00:17:09.44\00:17:12.61 God did in the covenant that He made with Abraham. 00:17:12.71\00:17:15.22 Because this is a promise that at that point He makes it 00:17:15.32\00:17:18.93 really this is dependent on us. 00:17:19.04\00:17:21.04 That's exactly right. That's exactly what Daniel is driving 00:17:21.24\00:17:24.55 at actually saying that the Messiah will be cut off 00:17:24.65\00:17:28.58 the same way as these animals were cut off 00:17:28.68\00:17:32.05 by Abraham. And after that 00:17:32.15\00:17:36.14 what's interesting: it gives exact timing. 00:17:36.34\00:17:39.44 Exact timing that concurs with the date of crucifixion 00:17:39.64\00:17:43.92 of Jesus. Through prophecy we can calcuate that. 00:17:44.02\00:17:47.50 And after that it says the temple will be destroyed. 00:17:47.71\00:17:51.04 And truly that's what happened. 00:17:51.24\00:17:53.60 The temple was destroyed after that. Amazing. 00:17:53.80\00:17:56.30 So we do have a very clear prophecy - at least for 00:17:56.44\00:18:00.33 me as I was going to the synagogue 00:18:00.43\00:18:04.55 and debated Christians on the topic of Jesus 00:18:05.05\00:18:10.34 they couldn't convince me of any prophecy. 00:18:10.54\00:18:13.39 Isaiah 53... nothing was convincing. 00:18:13.59\00:18:15.84 I could find refutation. 00:18:16.04\00:18:18.29 But to Daniel 9 I could not find refutation. Wow. 00:18:18.50\00:18:23.38 I know I've heard talked about 00:18:23.58\00:18:26.07 if you bring up this idea of Isaiah 53 00:18:26.28\00:18:29.23 in rabbinic context, most of the time don't they 00:18:29.43\00:18:32.39 turn that around and say "But this is talking about 00:18:32.59\00:18:34.49 the Jewish people or Israel. " Yeah, that's how you can 00:18:34.59\00:18:37.89 refute it, although in the context it's as you thought. 00:18:37.99\00:18:40.99 It's incorrect. Yeah, 'cause Israel cannot 00:18:41.09\00:18:43.79 sacrifice for itself. Right; exactly. That's not... 00:18:43.89\00:18:48.78 So Sasha, if we can can we talk just a little bit 00:18:48.88\00:18:51.20 about... We jump forward to today. 00:18:51.30\00:18:53.58 I know that there is this Messiah... this Messianic 00:18:53.78\00:18:58.13 idea that exists within Judaism. 00:18:58.23\00:19:01.12 Can you talk just a little bit about that? 00:19:01.42\00:19:03.35 Um, what do they see? What do they? Today I'm talking about 00:19:03.65\00:19:07.52 from a Jewish perspective. Well we have to understand 00:19:07.72\00:19:10.60 that especially after the Holocaust 00:19:10.71\00:19:14.18 and especially after the age of Jewish enlightenment 00:19:14.38\00:19:19.78 which happened in the 19th century 00:19:19.98\00:19:22.32 with the creation of the progressive Jewish movement 00:19:22.52\00:19:26.24 a majority of the Jews don't expect any Messiah... 00:19:26.44\00:19:31.59 any specific Messiah. You talk to reformed rabbis 00:19:31.69\00:19:35.16 they'll say: "Oh, we're in some kind of Messianic age. " 00:19:35.36\00:19:38.80 Only ultra orthodox or orthodox rabbis 00:19:39.01\00:19:43.10 they still expect Messiah 00:19:43.30\00:19:45.78 who will come and rebuild the temple. Right. 00:19:45.98\00:19:49.64 So that's the Messianic idea in Judaism today. 00:19:49.84\00:19:55.03 Well, and this idea of this Messianic age. 00:19:55.17\00:19:58.30 It's not so much as we understand that OK, 00:19:58.50\00:20:03.25 as when Messiah comes and we're talking about 00:20:03.28\00:20:05.69 establishing a whole new earth. 00:20:05.79\00:20:07.93 You know... stepping into eternity as we would 00:20:08.13\00:20:11.67 understand it. Yeah. That sin is gone and... 00:20:11.81\00:20:14.47 And that's what we're going to be talking when we touch 00:20:14.57\00:20:18.33 about the rebuilding of the temple. 00:20:18.43\00:20:20.27 That in the prophecy actually that appears to talk 00:20:20.30\00:20:24.46 about the rebuilding of the temple actually opens up 00:20:24.56\00:20:27.25 this new perspective how God will rebuild not only 00:20:27.46\00:20:31.36 the land of Israel but the entire earth 00:20:31.56\00:20:33.91 making a new earth, a new heaven. Right. 00:20:34.11\00:20:37.00 So why is it then we can look back at the first century 00:20:37.20\00:20:41.68 and we can see some obvious things? 00:20:41.88\00:20:44.03 But many, many Christians will ask: "OK, it seems so obvious. " 00:20:44.23\00:20:50.18 You look at the Bible; we look at the prophecies; 00:20:50.38\00:20:53.67 we look at the New Testament and we go "how can this be 00:20:53.87\00:20:57.61 anyone but Jesus? " 00:20:57.81\00:20:59.24 And the question is: why is it that some Jews 00:20:59.27\00:21:02.71 even though it seems so obvious 00:21:02.92\00:21:05.07 why is it that they would reject that Jesus is the Messiah? 00:21:05.27\00:21:08.54 Well from the Christian perspective 00:21:08.74\00:21:11.11 people take it for granted. Yeah. 00:21:11.31\00:21:13.95 You're raised Christian. You've been taught from a child. 00:21:14.15\00:21:17.85 How else can it be? From a Jewish perspective 00:21:17.95\00:21:20.99 it is not obvious. What does it look like to a typical Jew? 00:21:21.09\00:21:23.47 To a typical Jew the major sticking point of Jesus being 00:21:23.67\00:21:27.38 the Messiah is His claim of divinity. Exactly. 00:21:27.58\00:21:31.17 Because it is very difficult for a Jew to accept that Messiah 00:21:31.37\00:21:36.68 is God. But this is exactly... You mean like a man is God or? 00:21:36.78\00:21:41.29 Well, that's what they have a problem! Messiah? 00:21:41.43\00:21:44.17 Oh, it's a human... it's not divine. 00:21:44.37\00:21:46.84 And Jesus was adamant about calling Himself 00:21:47.04\00:21:50.55 a divine Messiah. 00:21:50.75\00:21:52.27 So what we have and this is interesting 00:21:52.47\00:21:55.97 is that there is a very famous prophecy 00:21:56.17\00:22:00.31 recorded in the book of Micah chapter 5 00:22:00.51\00:22:03.42 where it talks about "You Bethlehem Ephrathah... 00:22:03.62\00:22:07.64 aren't you least among the thousands of Judah? 00:22:07.75\00:22:11.88 But from you will come the One who becomes the ruler 00:22:12.08\00:22:16.73 of Israel. " And then there is a little statement: 00:22:16.83\00:22:19.69 "Whose going forth is from everlasting. " 00:22:19.89\00:22:25.17 From the days of old. 00:22:25.37\00:22:27.39 This word the yemim haolam. Right. From eternity. 00:22:27.59\00:22:32.83 And that's really divine title. 00:22:33.03\00:22:35.80 So if the Jews are not expecting a Messiah 00:22:36.00\00:22:38.61 in a man/divine form or divine/man form 00:22:38.81\00:22:41.43 how are they expecting Him? 00:22:41.63\00:22:43.00 The orthodox Jews don't have much of a specific 00:22:44.84\00:22:48.84 idea. They say: "Oh, when He comes we will see. " 00:22:48.94\00:22:51.94 Yeah well. I mean we could really jump off and 00:22:52.14\00:22:54.81 you know there is a sect within orthodox Judaism - 00:22:55.02\00:22:57.47 the Lubavitch - that they believe Messiah has come. 00:22:57.67\00:23:01.37 Oh yeah! You know, and the problem with that was 00:23:01.57\00:23:04.81 that the Messiah came and then He died. 00:23:05.02\00:23:07.43 But... So do they believe He's going to come back? 00:23:07.74\00:23:11.21 How do they answer that? It is interesting. When you go 00:23:11.41\00:23:13.68 to the main yeshiva of this group 00:23:13.88\00:23:16.71 you will see a huge poster. It said: "Long live 00:23:16.91\00:23:22.26 our rabbi, our Messiah, our king, our God. " 00:23:22.46\00:23:27.65 So... And so how can they from the other side 00:23:27.96\00:23:32.16 when we say this salvation through the Messiah 00:23:32.19\00:23:35.78 a Christian concept? The answer is "No. " 00:23:35.99\00:23:39.34 No! This is SO Jewish in its essence all the way back. 00:23:39.44\00:23:43.45 Exactly. It is just to understand who that divine 00:23:43.65\00:23:46.60 Messiah is. That's the issue. Right. 00:23:46.70\00:23:49.40 Jesus or Schneersohn? 00:23:49.60\00:23:51.52 Alex, have you got a song for us? 00:23:51.72\00:23:53.80 Sasha, why don't you tell us about it. 00:23:53.91\00:23:55.34 The song is from the words of the prophet Jeremiah. 00:23:55.54\00:23:59.77 Ode Shimah. Again in the streets of Jerusalem 00:23:59.97\00:24:05.00 will be heard the voice of bride and groom. 00:24:05.20\00:24:08.75 A song shall be heard in the cities of Judah 00:25:20.31\00:25:24.50 and in the streets of Jerusalem. 00:25:24.60\00:25:28.63 A song shall be heard in the cities of Judah 00:25:28.83\00:25:32.72 and in the streets of Jerusalem. 00:25:33.02\00:25:37.13 A voice of joy and a voice of gladness... 00:25:37.23\00:25:40.95 voice of the groom, voice of the bride. 00:25:41.25\00:25:45.25 A voice of joy and a voice of gladness... 00:25:45.55\00:25:49.54 voice of the groom, voice of the bride. 00:25:49.74\00:25:53.88 Amen! That was beautiful! 00:27:01.84\00:27:04.87 What a fun song, huh? Great song! You know, some day... 00:27:04.97\00:27:07.19 Someday soon I pray Jesus will return 00:27:07.49\00:27:11.73 and maybe we'll dance to this - that'd be nice - 00:27:11.93\00:27:14.89 with the wedding feast of the Lamb. 00:27:15.03\00:27:16.40 What a great time that will be. It will be. 00:27:16.43\00:27:18.31 You know, today we spoke about Jesus. We spoke how He 00:27:18.51\00:27:23.37 is truly not just the Messiah of the Christian faith 00:27:23.47\00:27:28.95 but He is truly the Messiah of all. That's right. 00:27:29.15\00:27:32.33 The Messiah of the Jewish people. And we want to 00:27:32.43\00:27:34.84 encourage you that open up your heart and allow God 00:27:34.94\00:27:39.58 to speak to you. And it's just been wonderful 00:27:39.78\00:27:42.93 that you've been with us today. 00:27:43.13\00:27:44.63 May the Lord bless you and may He keep you. 00:27:44.83\00:27:46.93 May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious 00:27:47.13\00:27:49.97 to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you 00:27:50.07\00:27:52.41 and bring you His peace. On behalf of Rachel 00:27:52.51\00:27:55.01 and Sasha we want to say God bless you 00:27:55.21\00:27:58.20 and shalom shalom. Join us again. Yes. 00:27:58.41\00:28:01.13