Greetings, the question popped in my head at work today. I’m not Jewish
although I listen to a show on Sundays called the Sunday Simcha. I have
been to Israel, my mom’s husband is what you’d call a converted Jew.
Although my belief system is somewhat Christian based, I’ve always
studied up on other Religions and Philosophies and thought etc. I’ve
never thought about this thing in this particular way. I was just
interested in genuinly finding out the reasons why the Hebrews didn’t
see Jesus as the Messiah and what types of things he may not have
represented through scriptures etc. that would lead someone to look for
another. Please don’t take this question the wrong way. I am asking with
“all respect” because it dawned on me today that there has to be a
reason that I know nothing about. I absolutely love Jewish culture and
history and so many other cultures music traditions etc. Any info. would
be great.
Dear BM,
Initially the Jews did receive Yahshua as the Messiah. The early “church” was considered just another sect of Judaism. The first believers were Jewish as were the Apostles, Disciples, etc. The common folk supported Yahshua and His message. They were the ones who called out Hosanna to Him as He entered Jerusalem and threw palm branches before Him. Unfortunately, the Jewish leadership who were appointed by Rome and owed their jobs and livelihood to Rome were afraid Yahshua would cause a revolt and entered into a conspiracy to get Him out of the way. Even so, the majority of the Jews and a number of the Pharisees supported Yahshua. Read Acts. The priesthood at that time were an illegal priesthood (Sadducees) who were more Roman than Jewish and who had purchased their positions from the Romans. Yahshua posed a threat to them, their office and to Rome. After Yahshua’s death, they were less ready to come into open conflict with the early believers although they tried to stamp out the movement. However, the actual schism was just before 70 AD when the early believers deserted Jerusalem before Titus destroyed the Temple in 70AD. Traditional Jews felt they were traitors. The early believers were expecting Yahshua to return shortly and were aware of the Tribulation to come centering in Jerusalem and this informed their decision to leave before it began. Of course, the Tribulation is still in the future. There was persecution on both sides after that and the schism divided further. Between 200 and 325 AD the Gentile faction of the Church began to dejudaize the church and change the G-d’s day of worship th4e Sabbath honored by the Jews, festivals, dietary laws, etc.. Constantine in 325 AD issued an edit that essentially disenfranchised the Jews who were still a part of the church. He outlawed anything Jewish such as Sabbath worship. At that time there were 20 Jewish bishops that were not informed of the meeting called by Constantine when the Gentile faction of the Church kicked out all Jews unless they refused Shabbat worship changing it to Sunday worship, the dietary laws, circumcision, etc.I will be publishing a paper on the “Separation of Christianity from Judaism” with facts and extra biblical sources in the near future. It will give you a comprehensive understanding with sources you may check if you are interested. Christians seem to forget that the early “church” was Jewish and Acts reports they were zealous for the Torah. Scripture compacts time into what appears like weeks when it in fact was about 200 years before the early “church” became a Gentile majority and exclusively Gentile later on. The breakdown and general persecutions of Jews came later and Judaism denounced Jewish believers because persecutions were carried out in the name of Christianity. Persecution has escalated since with pogroms, the Crusaders, the Holocaust, all done in the name of Yahshua and Christianity. The bottom line is that it was G-d’s way of bringing in the Gentiles to Israel’s covenants and the process is still going on when Christianity will again accept YHVH’s Torah as opposed to man’s laws.
I hope this helps to answer you question somewhat.