Getting To Know Yeshua
September 2012
Jesus has captivated my heart since the day that I got reborn. He drew me close to Him, made me so hungry for Him, made me so curious about Him, and made me want more of Him. It was this desire to know Him more intimately that opened my path towards discovering Jesus’ Jewish roots. I mean, how much more can you love someone than to try to understand where he comes from … his culture, how he was raised, his beliefs, his traditions. This is the best way you can know and really get close to someone.
It is amazing to know that Jesus’ birth was not only prophesied since Genesis but was also in the making from then. God wiping out the earth during the time of Noah was a cleansing process that was necessary to ensure that Jesus’ birth was not contaminated with any angelic being’s characteristics.
When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose (Genesis 6:1-2).
Had this happened, had the contamination happened, then it would have violated God’s command that man (and not half man half angel) shall take dominion over the earth. Remember, Jesus was the 2nd Adam. He had to undo what Adam did and do what he did not do. He had to come to earth as man.
From the time God prophesied about Jesus to the time of Mary’s immaculate conception, God ensured that Jesus’ lineage was preserved. Every law and command, every tradition, every way of life, the language, and the Jewish culture played a major part in Jesus’ preparation, upbringing, and teachings.
With this, it is pretty obvious that we can’t separate Jesus’ Jewish roots from who He is and from His teachings. Everything He taught about has a reference point in the Old Testament. He was brought up as a Jew which means that He probably started learning the Torah at the age of five or six, and after age ten begun to learn the Oral Torah, the rabbinic traditions handed down for interpreting the Written Torah. He must have continued studying throughout his teenage years at the synagogue.
We also can’t separate the feasts of the Lord from Jesus’ life. He celebrated all of God’s festivals just as all the Jews did. In fact, all the significant events in Jesus’ life here on earth and His second coming have its parallel in the Jewish festival.
Jesus’ last meal with His disciples was a Passover celebration. The body and blood that Jesus shed on the cross represent the lamb slain and the blood used during Passover. His body was buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Firstfruits is His resurrection. In fact, He is the First Fruit. The disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit during the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost. The Feast of Trumpets will be the announcement of Jesus’ second coming. The Feast of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement is Jesus’ second coming to earth. The Feast of Succoth or Tabernacles is the great celebration of Jesus and His bride, the church.
Honestly, how can we not see the connection here if we truly say that we love Jesus? How can we not want to go deeper into understanding His Jewish roots if we say that we want to know Him more?
And what about Scriptures that Jesus quoted in Matthew 5:17? 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”.
What law and prophets was Jesus talking about? The law is the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and the prophets are the teachings of the prophets. The book of prophets is subdivided into the Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; the Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and the Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephanaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. This shows that Jesus came to fulfill what was written in the Old Testament.
The New Testament was written in reference to the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament is the foundation of the New Testament. We can’t separate the two from each other. This is why the Old Testament is as important, if not more important than the New Testament. Sad to say, most churches focus their teachings on the N.T. more than the O.T. Again, sad to say, there are Christians who don’t even know their Torah, more so the Ten Commandments. No wonder a lot of Christians do not even “know” Jesus.
To know Jesus is to understand His Hebraic roots, which was laid down in the Old Testament. To know Jesus is to understand the history of God’s people. To know Jesus is to understand the history of Christianity and how paganism got into the mix. To know Jesus is to understand that His real name is Yeshua Hamashiach.
I am just in the early phase of discovering the Hebraic roots of Yeshua. You too can start, in case you have not. You don’t have to make it complicated. You can start by reading the Torah and by researching and studying the Feasts of the Lord or Biblical Feasts. You can listen to preachings on Hebrew roots teachings such as those of Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries. (http://elshaddaiministries.us/)
The resources are endless. All it takes is a greater love for Yeshua and a deeper desire to know Him more.
~Lisa Maki~
It is amazing to know that Jesus’ birth was not only prophesied since Genesis but was also in the making from then. God wiping out the earth during the time of Noah was a cleansing process that was necessary to ensure that Jesus’ birth was not contaminated with any angelic being’s characteristics.
When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose (Genesis 6:1-2).
Had this happened, had the contamination happened, then it would have violated God’s command that man (and not half man half angel) shall take dominion over the earth. Remember, Jesus was the 2nd Adam. He had to undo what Adam did and do what he did not do. He had to come to earth as man.
From the time God prophesied about Jesus to the time of Mary’s immaculate conception, God ensured that Jesus’ lineage was preserved. Every law and command, every tradition, every way of life, the language, and the Jewish culture played a major part in Jesus’ preparation, upbringing, and teachings.
With this, it is pretty obvious that we can’t separate Jesus’ Jewish roots from who He is and from His teachings. Everything He taught about has a reference point in the Old Testament. He was brought up as a Jew which means that He probably started learning the Torah at the age of five or six, and after age ten begun to learn the Oral Torah, the rabbinic traditions handed down for interpreting the Written Torah. He must have continued studying throughout his teenage years at the synagogue.
We also can’t separate the feasts of the Lord from Jesus’ life. He celebrated all of God’s festivals just as all the Jews did. In fact, all the significant events in Jesus’ life here on earth and His second coming have its parallel in the Jewish festival.
Jesus’ last meal with His disciples was a Passover celebration. The body and blood that Jesus shed on the cross represent the lamb slain and the blood used during Passover. His body was buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Firstfruits is His resurrection. In fact, He is the First Fruit. The disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit during the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost. The Feast of Trumpets will be the announcement of Jesus’ second coming. The Feast of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement is Jesus’ second coming to earth. The Feast of Succoth or Tabernacles is the great celebration of Jesus and His bride, the church.
Honestly, how can we not see the connection here if we truly say that we love Jesus? How can we not want to go deeper into understanding His Jewish roots if we say that we want to know Him more?
And what about Scriptures that Jesus quoted in Matthew 5:17? 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”.
What law and prophets was Jesus talking about? The law is the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and the prophets are the teachings of the prophets. The book of prophets is subdivided into the Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; the Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and the Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephanaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. This shows that Jesus came to fulfill what was written in the Old Testament.
The New Testament was written in reference to the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament is the foundation of the New Testament. We can’t separate the two from each other. This is why the Old Testament is as important, if not more important than the New Testament. Sad to say, most churches focus their teachings on the N.T. more than the O.T. Again, sad to say, there are Christians who don’t even know their Torah, more so the Ten Commandments. No wonder a lot of Christians do not even “know” Jesus.
To know Jesus is to understand His Hebraic roots, which was laid down in the Old Testament. To know Jesus is to understand the history of God’s people. To know Jesus is to understand the history of Christianity and how paganism got into the mix. To know Jesus is to understand that His real name is Yeshua Hamashiach.
I am just in the early phase of discovering the Hebraic roots of Yeshua. You too can start, in case you have not. You don’t have to make it complicated. You can start by reading the Torah and by researching and studying the Feasts of the Lord or Biblical Feasts. You can listen to preachings on Hebrew roots teachings such as those of Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries. (http://elshaddaiministries.us/)
The resources are endless. All it takes is a greater love for Yeshua and a deeper desire to know Him more.
~Lisa Maki~
