I have been blessed over the years with a number of Jewish friends. On many occasions I have tried to help them understand why conservative christians are so pro Israel. I point out that Baptists and other similar protestant denominations have taught the Bible for decades in what they call "Sunday School." It is an educational system that extends to all ages and is life-long. The Old Testament especially lends itself to good story telling and is taught to the youngest children. So we grow up in Sunday School studying a Jewish textbook full of Jewish heros. That probably explains why so many Americans have Bible names. Our love for Jewish people and the State of Israel is heart felt and deeply rooted. Progressive Revelation vs Culturally Locked Books We also have Jews to thank for the Bible - a God breathed manual for life and the afterlife. No other book compares. First of all, the message of the Bible is unique because it is progressive. It reveals a systematic plan that is being implemented over time in a preordained way. Isaiah 46:10,11 says that God makes known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is to come. The next verse tells us that "what God says, He will do. What He has planned, He will cause to happen." It all starts in the first chapter of Genesis. Then it continues to unfold as if on some pre-ordained time line. This allows a person living at any given point in history to find their bearings and adjust accordingly. Not only is there a grand plan for the ages, the Bible also offers guidelines, principles and direction on an individual level. By comparison, the Koran is fixed in concrete. Thats why Islamic countries are backwards, isolated and even barbaric. They are frozen in time - "bound" to the days when it was written and to the prevailing culture at the time. That's why Muslim women are treated as if they were living thousands of years ago. It explains why there are still stonings, hands and feet lopped off, and "infidels" (Jews and Christians) still under a death sentence across the World. But even adherents to the Bible can get locked in a time warp if they fail to see or adjust to its progressive revelation. For example, if righteous Jews today strictly adhere to all of the Laws of Moses, wouldn't their society look much like it did in ancient Israel? Christian groups also tend to pick and choose things they see in the Bible and make a "religion" out ot it. That's why the Amish, for example, are locked into the 1800s and the Catholic church looks prehistoric. They see a bunch of rules instead of the unveiling and progression of a plan authored by God before the World was formed. The Apostle Paul admonishes us to "rightly divide the Word of God." This means to look for the divisions, the lines and markers that meter the progress of His plan to prepare a people for his coming Kingdom. God's Plan For The Ages Unfolds Christians believe Messiah came, in the fullness of time (or according to plan) to deal first with the sin issue. Then He will return in the future as King. It's clear that the problem of universal sin had to be addressed first. Just look at Adam and Eve for proof that a citizen of God's Kingdom must be righteous. The solution to man's sin problem was "pictured" by the duties of the priests and prefigured by the continual offerings of animals. All of this was done to point us toward the permanent Lamb, without spot of blemish - God's gift of love to the whole world. On the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished!" The alienation of Adam's sin was reversed. Our sins can be forever washed away. We can stand righteous in Messiah's coming kingdom. Several thousand years have passed since that day. God's plan of redemption and reconciliation has been extended world wide. Any individual can appropriate his Sacrifice and gain a righteous standing before God, securing their place in the coming Kingdom and eternal life in Heaven. "Today is the day of salvation...now is the accepted time," the Bible declares. This is a revelant point on God's "time line." Right now, even as you read this, God is inviting "whosoever will" (you and me) to come. What's next? By the time we get to Relevation, the last book of the Bible, we are into the near future. God in Christ is ending his offer of reconciliation. No longer a Sacrafical Lamb, it's a new day. He begins to take back what's his by force. He comes to rule and reign in Jerusalem. To a World on the brink of total destruction, the long awaited Messiah arrives. And yes, those rejecting God's current offer of salvation will be unprepared. Like Adam and Eve, they will be driven from his presence, separated from their Creator in a place designed for Satan and his rebellious Angels. Having rejected the love of God and trampled under foot the precious blood of the Lamb He provided, it's their choice. Two Ways To Heaven My Jewish friends wonder how a loving God could throw people, especially those who do good deeds, into hell. They talk to me about preachers who say that unless one accepts Jesus as Savior they will go to hell. Jews and many other people consider such speech evidence of intolerance and perhaps even anti-semitism. But allow me to address this point in a way that may surprise you. First of all, the Bible talks about two.....that's right....two ways to gain a right standing before God. The Old Testament system of laws and sacrifices is an option if a single condition can be met. And on the other hand, the seemingly intolerant message mentioned above has a Scriptural foundation. It should be mentioned that no group is singled out to be told they are "going to hell," - certainly not Jews. Rather it is applied universally to all humankind.. The Bible simply states that without exception, we're all sinners. It tells us how we got that way. It points out that to see God and populate his kindgom that status must change. To the Jew, the keeping of the Law and the sacrifices speak to this. To the Christian, Jesus is the one and only way. Who is right? Let's examine first, the keeping of the Old Testament Law, as a way to salvation and Heaven. The laws and commandments given by God are in the books of Numbers, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Just how many laws and commandments must a Jew keep to "fulfill the Law" and expect to go to Heaven when he or she dies? The answer, according to the late Finis Dake in his Bible Commentary is around 2,300! Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70AD, most of these laws and commandments cannot be kept by any righteous Jew, anywhere in the world today, since they pertain to animal sacrifices. They cover the cutting of the animal, making blood covenants, atonement for sin, the duties of the Levites, killing lambs for atonement and applying blood to places like the mercy seat in the Temple. These laws comprise about 80% of the Law of Moses. The remaining 20% relate to keeping the Sabbath, dietary laws, family laws, crime, restitution, raising children, etc. A righteous Jew today can only keep about 450 of these laws and commandments at best. They need a temple, a high priest, a blood covenant and Jerusalem to keep the rest. Getting To Heaven By Way Of The Law For the keeping of the Law to be a valid ticket to Heaven, it must be perfectly kept. Offend in one point and be guilty of all. To keep even 100 laws would not approach what's required. No Jew could go to Heaven with such a score. With no animal sacrifices, no blood covenant and no high priest offering sacrifices for sin 24 hours a day, there seems to be no salvation plan for Jews anymore. At the start of the 21st century, Jews need a sacrifice ...a way to deal with sin to be ready for Messiah. Jehovah God, who authored the Law of Moses, is not at all surprised by this state of affairs. He once provided a lamb when Isaac needed a sacrifice. Today He has made even better provisions for his chosen people - a Sacrifice that never needs repeating. Simply put, the answer is Jesus. He replaced the animals. He is the blood covenant. He is our High Priest. The Law of Moses is not in effect for Jews, or for anyone else, for that matter, since Jesus died for our sins. God's unfolding plan has simply progressed past that point to the intended, permanent and foretold Sacrifice. The Other Way Christians on the other hand believe that all an indidvidual has to do to stand righteous before God is to appropriate the finished work of Jesus on the cross for themselves. Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by faith, not by works, lest any man should boast - and that salvation is a gift of God. Again we are examining two ways to heaven. One, a gift offered freely to whosoever will come, or hundreds of laws and comandments impossible for mortal man to keep. So if the keeping of the Law is only a theoretical way to heaven because it simply can't be kept, then why did God give them in the first place? One of the greatest Jews of all, Paul, said that the Law was indespensible in God's plan because it taught the two lessons everyone must learn to have a shot at eternal life. The first great truth is in the very fact that the Law can't be kept. It's proof positive that all men, without exception, are sinners. The second great lesson makes it clear that working to keep the law can't make us righteous. In fact, no amount of good deeds can counterbalance the sin that separates us from God. They have to be removed - washed away! Who Is A Good Jew? Most Jews consider themselves, good Jews. They give to charity. They support their local synagogue. They give financial help to the State of Israel and many charitable causes. These are wonderful and worthwhile endeavors that come from a generous and loving people. But what about the question, "Do you keep the Jewish Feasts?" And the one your life depends on, "Are you keeping the Laws of Moses perfectly - never having been guilty of a single one?" These are rhetorical questions with obvious answers. Only one person has ever kept the whole of the Law of Moses. Jesus, the Savior - the Messiah of Israel, the perfect, sinless, unblemished Son of God, the only Son, the only sacrifice, the final offering for sin. All alone He suffered, bled and died bearing the penalty of our sin. God's offer then, is that He will forgive, reconcile and declare righteous any individual who will, repent of their sins and personally appropriate the finished work of Jesus Christ by faith. John 3:16 explains this offer. Read it for yourself. Repent of you own sins and have them washed away forever. Be ready for what's next. God's great plan for the ages is on schedule. Messiah is coming? The Kindgom of Heaven is at hand, where only the righteous will dwell. For only on the basis of the Sacrifice not good deeds, can any person stand righteous before God. For an in depth discussion on the subject of salvation, click on "The Meaning of Life." Thanks for visiting. Duron Davis |
How Modern Jews GoTo Heaven |
I have been blessed over the years with a number of Jewish friends. On many occasions I have tried to help them understand why conservative christians are so pro Israel. I point out that Baptists and other similar protestant denominations have taught the Bible for decades in what they call "Sunday School." It is an educational system that extends to all ages and is life-long. The Old Testament especially lends itself to good story telling and is taught to the youngest children. So we grow up in Sunday School studying a Jewish textbook full of Jewish heros. That probably explains why so many Americans have Bible names. Our love for Jewish people and the State of Israel is heart felt and deeply rooted. Progressive Revelation vs Culturally Locked Books We also have Jews to thank for the Bible - a God breathed manual for life and the afterlife. No other book compares. First of all, the message of the Bible is unique because it is progressive. It reveals a systematic plan that is being implemented over time in a preordained way. Isaiah 46:10,11 says that God makes known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is to come. The next verse tells us that "what God says, He will do. What He has planned, He will cause to happen." It all starts in the first chapter of Genesis. Then it continues to unfold as if on some pre-ordained time line. This allows a person living at any given point in history to find their bearings and adjust accordingly. Not only is there a grand plan for the ages, the Bible also offers guidelines, principles and direction on an individual level. By comparison, the Koran is fixed in concrete. Thats why Islamic countries are backwards, isolated and even barbaric. They are frozen in time - "bound" to the days when it was written and to the prevailing culture at the time. That's why Muslim women are treated as if they were living thousands of years ago. It explains why there are still stonings, hands and feet lopped off, and "infidels" (Jews and Christians) still under a death sentence across the World. But even adherents to the Bible can get locked in a time warp if they fail to see or adjust to its progressive revelation. For example, if righteous Jews today strictly adhere to all of the Laws of Moses, wouldn't their society look much like it did in ancient Israel? Christian groups also tend to pick and choose things they see in the Bible and make a "religion" out ot it. That's why the Amish, for example, are locked into the 1800s and the Catholic church looks prehistoric. They see a bunch of rules instead of the unveiling and progression of a plan authored by God before the World was formed. The Apostle Paul admonishes us to "rightly divide the Word of God." This means to look for the divisions, the lines and markers that meter the progress of His plan to prepare a people for his coming Kingdom. God's Plan For The Ages Unfolds Christians believe Messiah came, in the fullness of time (or according to plan) to deal first with the sin issue. Then He will return in the future as King. It's clear that the problem of universal sin had to be addressed first. Just look at Adam and Eve for proof that a citizen of God's Kingdom must be righteous. The solution to man's sin problem was "pictured" by the duties of the priests and prefigured by the continual offerings of animals. All of this was done to point us toward the permanent Lamb, without spot of blemish - God's gift of love to the whole world. On the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished!" The alienation of Adam's sin was reversed. Our sins can be forever washed away. We can stand righteous in Messiah's coming kingdom. Several thousand years have passed since that day. God's plan of redemption and reconciliation has been extended world wide. Any individual can appropriate his Sacrifice and gain a righteous standing before God, securing their place in the coming Kingdom and eternal life in Heaven. "Today is the day of salvation...now is the accepted time," the Bible declares. This is a revelant point on God's "time line." Right now, even as you read this, God is inviting "whosoever will" (you and me) to come. What's next? By the time we get to Relevation, the last book of the Bible, we are into the near future. God in Christ is ending his offer of reconciliation. No longer a Sacrafical Lamb, it's a new day. He begins to take back what's his by force. He comes to rule and reign in Jerusalem. To a World on the brink of total destruction, the long awaited Messiah arrives. And yes, those rejecting God's current offer of salvation will be unprepared. Like Adam and Eve, they will be driven from his presence, separated from their Creator in a place designed for Satan and his rebellious Angels. Having rejected the love of God and trampled under foot the precious blood of the Lamb He provided, it's their choice. Two Ways To Heaven My Jewish friends wonder how a loving God could throw people, especially those who do good deeds, into hell. They talk to me about preachers who say that unless one accepts Jesus as Savior they will go to hell. Jews and many other people consider such speech evidence of intolerance and perhaps even anti-semitism. But allow me to address this point in a way that may surprise you. First of all, the Bible talks about two.....that's right....two ways to gain a right standing before God. The Old Testament system of laws and sacrifices is an option if a single condition can be met. And on the other hand, the seemingly intolerant message mentioned above has a Scriptural foundation. It should be mentioned that no group is singled out to be told they are "going to hell," - certainly not Jews. Rather it is applied universally to all humankind.. The Bible simply states that without exception, we're all sinners. It tells us how we got that way. It points out that to see God and populate his kindgom that status must change. To the Jew, the keeping of the Law and the sacrifices speak to this. To the Christian, Jesus is the one and only way. Who is right? Let's examine first, the keeping of the Old Testament Law, as a way to salvation and Heaven. The laws and commandments given by God are in the books of Numbers, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Just how many laws and commandments must a Jew keep to "fulfill the Law" and expect to go to Heaven when he or she dies? The answer, according to the late Finis Dake in his Bible Commentary is around 2,300! Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70AD, most of these laws and commandments cannot be kept by any righteous Jew, anywhere in the world today, since they pertain to animal sacrifices. They cover the cutting of the animal, making blood covenants, atonement for sin, the duties of the Levites, killing lambs for atonement and applying blood to places like the mercy seat in the Temple. These laws comprise about 80% of the Law of Moses. The remaining 20% relate to keeping the Sabbath, dietary laws, family laws, crime, restitution, raising children, etc. A righteous Jew today can only keep about 450 of these laws and commandments at best. They need a temple, a high priest, a blood covenant and Jerusalem to keep the rest. Getting To Heaven By Way Of The Law For the keeping of the Law to be a valid ticket to Heaven, it must be perfectly kept. Offend in one point and be guilty of all. To keep even 100 laws would not approach what's required. No Jew could go to Heaven with such a score. With no animal sacrifices, no blood covenant and no high priest offering sacrifices for sin 24 hours a day, there seems to be no salvation plan for Jews anymore. At the start of the 21st century, Jews need a sacrifice ...a way to deal with sin to be ready for Messiah. Jehovah God, who authored the Law of Moses, is not at all surprised by this state of affairs. He once provided a lamb when Isaac needed a sacrifice. Today He has made even better provisions for his chosen people - a Sacrifice that never needs repeating. Simply put, the answer is Jesus. He replaced the animals. He is the blood covenant. He is our High Priest. The Law of Moses is not in effect for Jews, or for anyone else, for that matter, since Jesus died for our sins. God's unfolding plan has simply progressed past that point to the intended, permanent and foretold Sacrifice. The Other Way Christians on the other hand believe that all an indidvidual has to do to stand righteous before God is to appropriate the finished work of Jesus on the cross for themselves. Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by faith, not by works, lest any man should boast - and that salvation is a gift of God. Again we are examining two ways to heaven. One, a gift offered freely to whosoever will come, or hundreds of laws and comandments impossible for mortal man to keep. So if the keeping of the Law is only a theoretical way to heaven because it simply can't be kept, then why did God give them in the first place? One of the greatest Jews of all, Paul, said that the Law was indespensible in God's plan because it taught the two lessons everyone must learn to have a shot at eternal life. The first great truth is in the very fact that the Law can't be kept. It's proof positive that all men, without exception, are sinners. The second great lesson makes it clear that working to keep the law can't make us righteous. In fact, no amount of good deeds can counterbalance the sin that separates us from God. They have to be removed - washed away! Who Is A Good Jew? Most Jews consider themselves, good Jews. They give to charity. They support their local synagogue. They give financial help to the State of Israel and many charitable causes. These are wonderful and worthwhile endeavors that come from a generous and loving people. But what about the question, "Do you keep the Jewish Feasts?" And the one your life depends on, "Are you keeping the Laws of Moses perfectly - never having been guilty of a single one?" These are rhetorical questions with obvious answers. Only one person has ever kept the whole of the Law of Moses. Jesus, the Savior - the Messiah of Israel, the perfect, sinless, unblemished Son of God, the only Son, the only sacrifice, the final offering for sin. All alone He suffered, bled and died bearing the penalty of our sin. God's offer then, is that He will forgive, reconcile and declare righteous any individual who will, repent of their sins and personally appropriate the finished work of Jesus Christ by faith. John 3:16 explains this offer. Read it for yourself. Repent of you own sins and have them washed away forever. Be ready for what's next. God's great plan for the ages is on schedule. Messiah is coming? The Kindgom of Heaven is at hand, where only the righteous will dwell. For only on the basis of the Sacrifice not good deeds, can any person stand righteous before God. For an in depth discussion on the subject of salvation, click on "The Meaning of Life." Thanks for visiting. Duron Davis |
