There are approximately 15 million Jewish people in the world; nearly 6 million live in the US, and well over 5 million live in Israel. They are found in every kind of occupation, and they serve in those occupations with distinction. Among their institutions there are synagogues, schools, community centers. You may meet them in every place of public concourse.
The Jewish Calendar: Each new moon is a new month in the Jewish calendar; that means the year is only 355 days long, with twelve months. In order to catch up with the solar year, there are seven leap years every 19 years; the twelfth month is doubled (repeated) each leap year. The main festivals are found in the five Books of Moses, as are the dietary laws; the new moon or the full moon signal the time to celebrate the festivals: Passover, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. The Sabbath is a weekly festival.
Categories and beliefs: There are three main denominations in modern Judaism: the Orthodox, or modern Pharisees; the Reform, or modern Sadducees; and the Conservative, which steer a middle road between the other two.
Judaism does not teach the Tri-Unity of God, the Incarnation of the Son of God, or Original Sin. Instead, it teaches that man can save himself through a combination of Works and Grace, which makes it unnecessary (in their view) for Messiah to give his life for sinners. The most famous and best known prayer is a recital of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” The nearest approach to a creed is The Thirteen Principles of Faith, a series of thirteen assertions regarding God, the Law, Messiah and Resurrection. It goes without saying that Jewish people disregard the New Testament’s claim to be Scripture. What is less known is that they do not study the Old Testament either.
Jewish Difficulties: These include terms that are offensive to them, because of their historical connotations. The words “cross,” “convert,” and “missionary,” for example, remind them of forced conversions by wolves in sheep’s clothing, who compelled them to submit to a false religion. Such examples as the Crusaders, the Inquisition, and the Pogroms come to their minds. It is wise to use equivalent terms, such as “tree‚” “believer‚” and “evangelist.”
There are also some objections that are more frequent than others. A sample of these is as follows:
Question: “If Jesus is our Messiah, why didn’t our leaders believe in him?”
Answer: Some of our leaders did believe in Him, though not many. But what is more to the point, the less they believed in Him, the more authentic His claims are! It was the false prophets who were favored by their leaders; over and again in Israel’s history this was so. For example, Ahab had 400 false prophets but only one true (1 Ki. 22:6-8). Similar examples abound in Scripture. Far from being a count against Jesus, it ranks Him with all true prophets.
Question: “If Jesus is the Prince of Peace, why is there no peace in this world?”
Answer: Because men rejected His offers of peace. Even God complains of this, in Isaiah 48:18, “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Peace is a two-way response.
Question: “How can God be our Messiah?” or “How can Messiah be God?”
Answer: Because God declared it. In Jeremiah 23:5-6, Isaiah 9:6, and other places, Messiah is called “the Lord our Righteousness‚” “Mighty God‚” “Everlasting Father,” etc.
Question: “How dare you say I am hell-bound if I don’t believe in Jesus!”
Answer: The truth is, we are all—Jews and Gentiles—sinners and therefore hell-deserving. Psalm14:2-3 states: “The Lord looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. They have all gone aside, they are together become corrupt; there is none that doeth good, not even one.” Messiah came to save us from the just consequences of our own sins. See Isaiah 9:2, 6; John 3:18; 12:46-47.
Other difficulties include the fear of assimilation, the fear of losing one’s Jewishness, the priority of Tradition over Scripture; anti-Semitism by so-called “Christians;” and the stigma of association with Christians, or heeding the gospel.
Approaching Jewish People: Follow the principles of friendship evangelism in general. More specifically:
• Pray much before initiating contact (Gen. 24:27).
• Demonstrate true love, patience, compassion (Prov. 19:22). Take a genuine interest in your friend, even though the response is disappointing (Ps. 109:4).
• Be a good listener! (Prov. 18:13; Jas. 1:19).
• Give tracts one at a time, and only those you appreciate yourself (Isa. 28:10).
• Familiarize yourself with their sayings, songs, synagogues, etc. This will enable you to approach them on their own wavelength (Ezek. 3:15).
• Know your Bible! (Mt. 13:52).
For your encouragement, most saved Jews are won through prayer and Christian love. Arguments have limited value, however skilful, when your hearer is not disposed to listen.
Biblical Examples: God’s servants used various methods to reach His people. These included testimony (Ps. 66:16), stories (1 Sam. 12:1-4), parables (Ezek. 17), riddles (Mt. 22:41-45), songs (Isa. 5:1-5), even drama (Ezek. 4:1-3).
It is also important to study the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews to learn how to apply the Old Testament teachings to the Messiah. Matthew says repeatedly, “that it might be fulfilled.” Hebrews draws from prophecy, history and Scripture in affirming Messiah’s identity and ministry as High Priest over mankind. In addition, the Book of Acts records the way the apostles spoke to their people—not a facile and fallacious system of four or five easy propositions, but an appeal to sacred history, prophecy, promise and fulfillment. For example in Acts 17:1-3, Paul, “as his manner was,” used Scripture to define the Messiah, what He would do, etc. And having established the Person and Work of Messiah, he then proceeded to identify Him: “this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”
This was much the same method as our Lord used, when He opened up the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (see Lk. 24:25-32).
Some Key Prophecies:
• Genesis 3:15, The Seed of the woman, who would defeat Satan (Gal. 4:4)
• Genesis 22:18, The Seed of Abraham, who would bless all nations (Gal. 3:16)
• Deuteronomy 18:15-18, A Prophet like Moses (Heb. 3:1-6)
• Psalm 22, The Righteous Sufferer (Lk. 23:39-47)
• Psalm 89:29, The Seed of David (Acts 13:23)
• Isaiah 7:14, Messiah: human and divine, virgin-born (Mt. 1:22-23)
• Isaiah 52:13–53:12), Messiah our Substitute (Rom. 5:6-11)
• Daniel 9:24, Date of Messiah’s atoning death (Lk. 18:31-34)
• Zechariah 12:10, The pierced divine Messiah (Jn. 19:34)
• Malachi 3:1-3, The Divine Angel of the Covenant (Mt. 3:11-12)
RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
Moishe & Ceil Rosen, Share the New Life with a Jew‚ (Moody)
Louis Goldberg, Our Jewish Friends (Loizeaux)
Barry Rubin, You Bring the Bagels, I’ll Bring the Gospel (Chosen Books)
RECOMMENDED TRACT SUPPLIERS:
Messianic Literature Outreach, #205 6161 Busch Blvd., Columbus, OH 43229
Chosen People Ministries (Canada) B0X 897, Station B, North York ON, M2K 2R1
Chosen People Ministries (USA), 241 East 51st Street, New York, NY 10022
Jews for Jesus, 527A Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto ON M4S 2M4
OUR OWN OUTREACH:
Radio KARI, AM 550, Sundays at 4 pm (Western BC)
Web Page: www.zionmessianic.org
http://www.zionmessianic.org
Publications: Miscellaneous pamphlets
Written by Eli Nessim