Heart & Soul - Part 1

April 17, 2022

Today's message was given by Pastor Patrick Tanton. A video of the message can be found here.

Patrick's message was darn near perfect for Easter. He took advantage of the huge attendance, many of whom are once-or-twice-a-year folks, to talk about getting over reasons to not accept Jesus. He talked about three such common reasons: diffculty with Christians, difficulties with churches, and difficulties with the Bible. I encourage you to watch the video to learn the details.

Obviously, the Torah does not deal with any Jesus issues. However, the rest of the Old Testament does talk about messianic times. At great risk by stepping out of Torah proper, I thought I'd share some thoughts about the Messiah from the Old Testament as Judaism holds. Great risk. Here goes...

What was the Old Testament (OT) looking for, and why was Jesus rejected as the Old Testament's Messiah, according to Judaism?

Many of the differences have to do with other expectations of what the coming of the Messiah, or messianic times, would look like:

• With the coming of the Messiah, there will be a war and great suffering (Ezekiel 38:16)
• After that war, the Messiah will bring about a political and spiritual redemption by bringing all Jews back to Israel and restoring Jerusalem (Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 23:8 and 30:3, and Hosea 3:4-5)
• The Messiah will set up a Torah government in Israel that will serve as the center of world government for all Jews and non-Jews (Isaiah 2:2-4, 11:10, and 42:1)
• The Holy Temple will be rebuilt and services there will begin again (Jeremiah 33:18)
• With the Messiah will come peaceful coexistence by all people devoid of hatred, intolerance, and war — Jewish or not (Isaiah 2:4)
• All people will recognize Jehovah as the one true God and the Torah as the one true way of life, and jealousy, murder, and robbery will disappear.
• The Messiah will be a descendent of King David (not progeny of God)
• The Messiah will be an observant Jew (Christians accept that Jesus was an observant Jew)

Of course, there are numerous OT references that more clearly look to a Messiah in which we as Christians would recognize Jesus Christ. But that's not what I'm getting at. I'm getting at what Judaism holds that says the Christian Jesus is not their Messiah. There are oodles of articles you can find on the web that argue for OT indications of the coming of Jesus Christ from a Christian perspective. Search away.

Another difference is that the OT word Messiah generally does not refer to a savior or a redeemer. Rather, it refers to a priest (Leviticus 4:3.5.16.17), kings often annointed by oil, and a prophet (Elisha, 1 Kings 19:16) annointed by God's spirit. Only in latter books, e.g. Daniel 9:25-26, does messiah refer to a savior.

Generally speaking, the OT thinks more of "messianic times" rather than of "a messiah." God, alone, remains at the helm both before and after this "messianic time."

If you want to go a little deeper, click here for a Vatican News article.

So, if Jesus is the Heart and Soul of Christianity, what's the Heart and Soul of Judaism. There are two "pillars" of Judaism, Creation and the Exodus. Clearly, the books of Genesis and Exodus are about these. You may or may not realize that the remainder of the Torah - Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy - continue the Exodus story. Leviticus is primarily the laws and details of the sacrificial system given by God to the early Israelites. Numbers continues the Exodus story all the way into the Promised Land with some laws thrown in, and Deuteronomy is Moses re-telling the story from the Exodus to his death including restating some of the laws previously given.

The purpose of Creation is obvious, create the universe and everything in it. But what was the purpose of the Exodus? The purpose was to gather up a group of rather insignificant people, the Israelites/Jews/Hebrews, teach them about an ethical monotheistic God, and have that group of people take the message of that God, the God of the Ten Commandments, to the world.

And it's the Sabbath, the most holy day in Judaism, that ties the two together, Creation and the Exodus. Every 7th day (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) you are to check out from the world and be grateful for both Creation and for being free (Exodus). Being free includes being able to NOT work seven days a week.

Bonus Fun Fact(s)

Even your animals are to rest on the Sabbath! Few people realize that the animals made it into the Ten Commandments.

"Lord your God" may sound redundant to modern English speakers, but it is not when you look at the original Hebrew words. "Lord" is the translation you get from God's proper, personal name in Hebrew (Adonai, Jehovah, etc.). "God" is the universal God, more like a title (from elohim). So, it's like saying, "Patrick your Teacher."

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5.