If we closely examine our New Covenant Scriptures, we will find something that is
not represented in most congregations today – Jewish people, by the thousands,
coming to faith and trusting in Messiah Yeshua. This is plainly stated as
occurring in Acts
chapter 21 verse 20:
When they
heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how
many myriads of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.”
Acts 21:20
Yes, there are many factors at work today that make
witnessing to the Jewish people harder than it was in the first century, but
perhaps a closer look at how they were witnessing could make us better
witnesses to the Jewish people.
On average, believers witness to a Jewish person by quoting
Isaiah 53. What many
do not realize is that the average Jewish person has heard his or her Rabbi, on
more than one occasion, explain away Isaiah 53.
So, how can we effectively witness Yeshua to a Jewish person? How can we be as
effective as the first century congregations? Looking at what was required in
selecting an apostle (an emissary) to replace Judas may help us to understand
what was so effective about their witness:
“Therefore
it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time
the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s
baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must
become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
Acts 1:21-22
For one to be sent out as an effective witness, it was considered a necessity that
he be an eyewitness to the Resurrection of Yeshua. Just a quick look at
Scripture reveals that the Resurrection was, indeed, a major part of what the
emissaries preached when sent out.
Peter’s message in Acts chapter 2 does not include Isaiah 53, but it does emphasize the
Resurrection. First in verses 23 and 24:
“This man was handed over
to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked
men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised
him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was
impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
Acts 2:23-24
And, then again, in verses 31 through 33:
“Seeing
what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned
to the grave, nor did His body see decay. God has raised this
Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to
the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit
and has poured out what you now see and hear.”
Acts 2:31-33
Not only was the Resurrection the main part of Peter’s Pentecost sermon, in Acts
chapter 4:33 we also find that it was a major part of the apostles’ overall witness:
With great
power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and much grace was upon them all.
Acts 4:33
Notice, it says that they testified “with great power.” And, the words of Paul, in
Romans 1:1-6 again attests to the power of this message:
I Paul, a
servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel
of God—the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in
the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son, who as to His human nature
was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness
was declared with power to be the Son of God by His Resurrection from the
dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Him and for His name’s
sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the
Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are
among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Acts 1:1-6
So, what was it about the Resurrection that made it such a powerful witness? What
was it about the Resurrection that made the emissaries witness to the Jewish
people, and to the Non-Jewish people who came to the synagogues, so effective?
We find our answer in the words of the Pharisees as recorded John chapter 8:
The Pharisees challenged Him,
“Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
John 8:13
And, again, in the words of Yeshua, Himself, as recorded in Matthew chapter 18:
“But if he
will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be
established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’”
Matthew 18:16
The
Torah, God’s teaching, requires that all things be established in the mouths of
two or three witnesses. Yeshua sent
His disciples out in sets of two for this very reason. Everywhere they went
there were two witnesses declaring, with power, Yeshua to be the Son of God –
Yeshua to be the Messiah – based upon their eyewitness accounts of His
Resurrection. Everywhere they went, two witnesses declared that He had been
resurrected – and there were no witnesses to declare that He had not. The power of that message
silenced the mouths of the doubters and caused myriads of sinners, Jew and
Non-Jew, to turn to Yeshua.
The foundation of the apostles’ message was the foundation that God had already laid:
So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.”
Isaiah 28:16
That foundation was the Resurrected Messiah. And,
if we have any other foundation, it will not stand. Even Torah, while foundational, is not a
sufficient foundation. The following verses, from Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians, attest that a foundation other than Torah was necessary:
By the grace
God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is
building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For
no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus
Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11
And, in his (Paul's) letter to the Ephesians:
Consequently,
you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people
and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:19-20
Our congregations today are preaching and witnessing everything but the
Resurrection. We preach Hebrew Roots, we preach love your neighbor, and we
preach adherence to Torah but, when was the last time you heard a message on
the undeniable fact that Yeshua was raised to life? We have recorded in the New
Covenant Scriptures the valid testimony of unimpeachable witnesses to the
Resurrection of Messiah, yet we hand out tracts with Isaiah 53 on the cover –
something which can be easily explained away.
The one thing that cannot be explained away is the unimpeachable eyewitness accounts
of Yeshua’s Resurrection
from the dead. Proving, by Torah's own mandate of two witnesses, that Yeshua
is the Son of God. It was the Resurrection of Messiah that made the believers of the first century effective witnesses in
their day, and it is the Resurrection of Messiah that will make us effective
witnesses, to all who have ears to hear, in our day.
Kehilat Sar Shalom
