The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah
Entire Study Recently Updated January 2006
|
The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah Entire Study Recently Updated January 2006
|
|
Lesson Ten: The Rabbinic Conspiracy AND THE MESSIAH
TEXT: "If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." (Matthew 15:14b)
There is another side to Satan's attack to keep revival from breaking out on Planet Earth before Christ comes. It's what some in the Jewish world call the "rabbinic conspiracy." While the devil was making the church fathers anti-Semitic, he was corrupting the authority of the Scriptures in Judaism. Both the church leaders and the Jewish rabbis were buying into the same deception - you can't be Jewish and believe in Christ. The formula was and is simple. Give the rabbis authority above the Scriptures, remove Yeshuah from Judaism and separate the Christian from the Jew. This will stop the unlimited outpouring of God's glory. And the full revival will be aborted.
Rabbinic Judaism's efforts to exclude Yeshuah began around AD 66-70. In the Great Revolt by Jewish Zealots against Roman rule, a million Jews were killed and the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Afterward, Yohanan ben Zakkai set about to reconstruct Judaism in Yavne on the coast of Israel. Why was this necessary? Because there was no temple and they had rejected God's Messiah - the sacrifice that was made once for all. The Torah (first five books of the Old Covenant) clearly says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Lev. 17:11). Rather than accept the truth that animal sacrifices were a shadow of the ultimate Passover Lamb-the Messiah-who would take away all the sin, ben Zakkai and his followers invented a new bloodless religion - rabbinic Judaism. The following quote illustrates the dramatic shift that took place within Judaism:
As Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed after him and beheld the Temple in ruins. "Woe unto us!" Rabbi Joshua cried, "that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for is laid waste!>" "My son," Yohana said to him, "be not grieved; we have another atonement as effective as this. And what is it? It is acts of loving-kindness, as it is said, 'For I desire mercy and not sacrifice' (Hos. 6:6) <Avot de Rabbi Nathan 4:18>
At the end of his life, Ben Zakkai finally realized his creation gave him no assurance of life in the age to come. On his death bead, he said "I have before me two roads, one to Paradise and one to Gehenna (hell), and I know not whether (GOD) will sentence me to Gehenna or admit me to Paradise." (Tractate Berachot 28b). A famous rabbi said, "If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." (Matthew 15:14b)
Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph studied the teachings of Yohanan ben Zakkai in Yavne and continued to build on his foundation. He created the structure of the Talmud, which is a declaration of rabbinic authority. Although the Talmud contains a good deal of wisdom and godly teaching, one of the major goals of its authors was to keep the Jew from believing in Messiah Yeshuah. It distorts many of the Messianic interpretations of the Jewish Scriptures. There is clear evidence that BEFORE Yeshuah came to earth the Jewish people were expecting a Messiah and interpreted the Messianic prophesies without bias.
Today, the rabbis claim the Talmud, or Oral Law, came from God at the same time the Written Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is not true. Even in the first century, Jewish leaders did not claim rabbinic law came from Sinai. Instead they spoke of "oral traditions." The Jewish Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Jewish historian Josephus (AD 93) do not even mention an oral law. The method of interpreting Scripture employed by Akiba and his followers rejected the rules of grammar and plain logic. Author Dan Gruber writes, "Sometimes the Rabbis were unable to read their teachings into the Scriptures by any means. So they simply annulled the decrees of Torah."
They proclaimed rabbinic authority took precedence over the Scriptures. The Talmud states, "My son, take heed of the words of the Scribes more than the words of the Torah." Akiba's objective was to bring the Jewish people under the rule of the rabbis. The Talmud says that if a voice from heaven contradicts the majority of the rabbis, the rabbis are correct. No one is allowed to contradict the authority of the rabbis, not even God! Is it any wonder that, between persecution from the church and rabbinic conspiracy, Jewish people know nothing about Yeshuah!
In modern times the rabbis have missed two of the most significant events to happen to the Jewish people in the last 2,000 years. Messianic Jewish author Ron Cantor notes that many rabbis initially opposed the creation of Israel as a modern Jewish nation. "Many of the rabbis of Jerusalem were actually siding with the Arabs to keep this from happening. They believed only the Messiah could set up a Jewish state." They also vehemently opposed Eliezer Ben Yehuda's plans to restore Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people in the late 1800s.
Cantor notes, "If it was so clear to the rabbis that both the Jewish state and the Hebrew language were the dreams of false prophets and yet they were wrong, it is possible that they also missed it on the single most important issue in Judaism - The MESSIAH!"
The rabbis have tried their best to keep and prevent the Jewish people from believing in Yeshuah by removing Isaiah 53 from the regular synagogue readings. It is in the accepted Jewish Scriptures (Tenach). Isaiah recorded this prophecy seven centuries before Yeshuah was born. Why is it not read in the synagogues/ Because any Jew who thinks for himself would recognize it speaks of Yeshuah.
Many consult only with rabbis who have spent years distorting Scripture. The rabbis before Yeshuah were not prejudiced and saw the Messianic significance of this passage. Isaiah 53:8-9 says the One who would die for the sins of the world would have NO SIN of His own. This could not be Israel as some teach. There are numerous places in Scripture where the prophets point out Israel's sins. No nation is sinless before God. Jeremiah predicted a new covenant that would wipe away sins and allow us to know (have intimacy with) God (31:31-34). The Jewish Scriptures tell us that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). He would be raised from the dead (Psalms 16:10). Daniel 9:26 makes it clear that He would die before the second temple was destroyed. Since it was destroyed in AD 70, He had to come, die and be resurrected before that time. And Isaiah 11:10 tells us the Gentiles will follow the Jewish Messiah.
There is no other person who was born in Bethlehem, who was followed by the Gentiles, who was sacrificed for our sins before the destruction of the second temple, and who was raised from the dead - YESHUAH! The movement of God's Spirit within the Body of Christ and towards the Jewish people will break this conspiracy by the rabbis. TRUTH will set men free! Religious works will keep men in bondage and send them to hell without God. We must pray the light of the gospel shine forth in the darkness.
|
|
The Priceless Page -Because It's Getting Late Neighbor
|
