Passover celebrates the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt by the mighty hand of God. However, Passover can only really be understood and celebrated in the light of the Messiah because the exodus from Egypt and the entry into the Promised Land were merely shadows and illustrations of the ultimate deliverance from the devil’s control over mankind through sin and […]
Purim – a parody in misplaced confidence
October 5, 2012 by
“And the king said to him, ‘What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honour?’ And Haman thought in his heart, ‘To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?’ And Haman answered the king, ‘For the man whom the king delights to honour, let the royal […]
Messiah Son of David
October 5, 2012 by
“Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dried: My eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that […]
Faith over Works
October 5, 2012 by
The identity of the Messiah is usually considered to be the pivotal issue that divides Judaism and Christianity. However, authors Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin suggest that whether or not Jesus was the Messiah is not the most important question: “The major difference between Judaism and Christianity lies in the importance each religion attaches to […]
Rabbinic Authority and the Oral Law
October 5, 2012 by
“… although the law revealed at Sinai always reigned supreme, the Sages made a massive contribution to its development.” (H. Chaim Schimmel) [1] In an earlier article we considered whether the Hebrew scriptures support the idea of an oral law originating at Mount Sinai. We now consider whether the rabbis legitimately hold the powers to interpret […]
The Temple of Messiah
October 5, 2012 by
The Centrality of the Temple under the Old Covenant The importance of the temple to the religion of the Old Covenant cannot be overstated. As ancient maps reveal, Jerusalem was regarded as the navel of the world, the temple its focal point. This was the connecting point between heaven and earth, the unique place that […]
All Israel will be saved – Understanding Romans 9-11
October 5, 2012 by
Introduction In chapters nine to eleven of his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul deals with the questions: “Did God reject His people? Had God’s promises to Israel failed?” “Yes,” might be a natural, but unenlightened conclusion in view of Paul’s teaching of the first eight chapters – namely that the Gospel is the […]
The Temple that cannot be defiled
October 5, 2012 by
God is Spirit and is invisible in the material world, apart from His moving in and through tangible things. Similarly He abides with us by ‘indwelling’ part of His creation. God allows Satan to exercise power as ‘prince of the world’ and to resist the Divine presence in his earthly domain. Satan directs his efforts […]
Did Jesus bring knowledge of God to the world?
October 5, 2012 by
In his book, ‘Twenty-six reasons why Jews don’t believe in Jesus’, Asher Norman suggests that Jesus did not meet any of six authentic Jewish messianic criteria. This is the last of a series of responses to Norman’s objections, dealing with the last of his six criteria. “THE SIXTH MESSIANIC CRITERIA IS THAT HE WILL BRING KNOWLEDGE […]
Did Jesus gather in the scattered of Judah and Israel?
October 5, 2012 by
This is the third of a series of responses to the claim that Jesus did not meet any of six authentic Jewish messianic criteria. In his book, ‘Twenty-six reasons why Jews don’t believe in Jesus,’ Asher Norman writes: “THE THIRD MESSIANIC CRITERIA IS THAT [MESSIAH] WILL BRING THE JEWISH PEOPLE BACK TO ISRAELNot only did Jesus fail […]
