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An Introduction Through the Olive Tree
Shalom to you. I believe with all of my heart that the message on this page is for everyone who receives it. But it is with the Jewish people in mind, and out of my sincere love for them, that I was inspired to write it.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has brought hope to us all through the promise of a coming Messiah. Because the God of Israel is not the God of the Jews only, but He is the God of the Gentiles too. For he alone is God and the Creator of all. And in his great love, God has promised to send the One who will redeem those who are waiting for him, from out of the darkness that has filled the Earth.
The people of Israel are His cultivated olive tree, uprooted from the Gentiles long ago when God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans. And I recognize the fact that I, though I am a wild olive shoot, I am now also grafted into the cultivated olive tree through my sincere hope in their promised Messiah. And at the root of that tree, it is God himself who nourishes and watches over the olive branches by his Spirit. And so it is not I who support the olive tree, but it is the olive tree that supports me. And I do indeed count it an honor, a privilege and the greatest of blessings, to have been grafted into that tree along with the Jewish people.
Who Is He?
A long time ago, a certain Teacher began traveling from place to place throughout the land of ancient Israel, teaching things about God that were causing quite an upheaval among the Rabbis, religious teachers and among all the followers of Judaism in that day. On one particular afternoon, not much different than any other, this Teacher began to question those who were following him as they entered a region of Israel called Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking, the Teacher asked them,"Who do the people say that I am?"
They continued walking and one among the group spoke up and said, "Some say that you are John the Immerser, come back from the dead." Then another spoke up and said, "But I have heard others say that you are Elijah, the prophet." And still another in the group answered, "Yes, and others have said that you are Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."
After they answered him, the Teacher paused to turn around, and he stood there looking at them all intently. "But what about you?" the Teacher asked them. "Who do you say I am?" And they all stood there in awkward silence for a moment, looking around at one another to see who among them would answer...
That Teacher is the man they called Yeshua, also known as, Jesus. And that question he asked of his followers that afternoon is a question that is still debated by people from all walks of life today, throughout the entire world. And each one of us answers that question for ourselves, while in this lifetime. Even if it is through one's indecision or apathy toward the matter, each one's individual answer to Yeshua's question is indeed recorded by God from the tablets of our hearts: "Who do you say I am?"
...It was Simon, one who was well known among the group who followed him, who stepped toward Yeshua that day and answered him, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." And not denying it, Yeshua then said to him, "Simon, son of Jonah, you are blessed! Because this was not revealed to you by any man. It was revealed to you by my Father in heaven."
Some still say that Yeshua was a great prophet and teacher, but they claim that this is all he was. Yet how can Yeshua be a great prophet or teacher, and make such claims about himself? Either he is who he said he was, or he was a madman. Yeshua himself took away any place for middle-ground debate as to who or what he is, when he claimed himself to be the Son of God. And if he didn't do it then, certainly he did it when he said to those at the Temple, "I tell you the truth: Before Abraham was, I Am!"
But how does one recognize the Messiah, God's Anointed One, or the Christ as he is also called? The only sure way is to make a comparison of the life of the person with the Scriptures written about the Messiah. So let's look closely at what the Law and the Prophets of Judaism foretold about the coming Messiah:
The Tenach, the Torah and the Old Testament
Messiah's Sacrifice and Resurrected Glory is Foretold by the Prophet Isaiah:
" See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness— so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
"Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
"Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
~ Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12
A Description of Messiah's Suffering Death is Foretold by King David:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
"Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
"But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 'He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.' Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
"Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
"But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
"The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it."
~ Psalm 22
The Prophet Jeremiah Spoke of the New Covenant that ha Mashiah Introduces:
“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
~ Jeremiah 31:31-34
This, my friend, is a picture of what Yeshua, ha Mashiah has begun to do, even now.
And All of These Messianic Prophecies were Fulfilled in Yeshua, ha Mashiah:
Genesis 3:15 (He is to be the offspring of a woman)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Galatians 4:4
Genesis 18:18 (He is to be the promised offspring of Abraham)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 1:2 & Luke 3:34
Genesis 17:19 (He is to be the promised offspring of Isaac)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 1:2 & Luke 3:34
Numbers 24:17 (He is the promised offspring of Jacob)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 1:2 & Luke 3:34
Genesis 49:10 (He will descend out of the Tribe of Judah)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 1:2 & Luke 3:33
Isaiah 9:7 (He will be Heir to the Throne of David)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 1:1 and 1:6 & Luke 3:31
Micah 5:2 (His place of birth will be Bethlehem)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 2:1 & Luke 2:4-7
Daniel 9:25 (The time of his birth was set)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Luke 2:1-7
and many other non-religious writings in history
which mention Yeshua by name
Isaiah 7:14 (He will be born of a virgin)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 1:18 & Luke 1:26-35
Jeremiah 31:15 (There will be a slaughter of infants)
Fulfilled at the time of Yeshua's infancy in Matthew 2:16-18
Hosea 11:1 (He would escape the slaughter by going into Egypt)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 2:14-21
Isaiah 7:14 & Zechariah 12:10 (He will be Immanuel, "God With Us")
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 1:1-18 and 14:8-11
Isaiah 9:1-2 (He will minister and teach in Galilee)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 4:12-16
Deuteronomy 18:15 (He will be a prophet like unto Moses)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 1:45 and 6:14 & Acts 3:19-26
Psalm 110:4 (He will be a priest like unto Melchizedek)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Hebrews 5:5-6, 6:20 and 7:15-17
Psalm 2:2 & Isaiah 53:3 (He will be rejected by the Jews)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 1:11 and 5:43 & Luke 4:29, 17:25 and 23:18
Psalm 45:7 & Isaiah 11:2-4 (He will be wise in Spirit and character)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Luke 2:52 and 4:18
Zechariah 9:9 & Isaiah 62:11 (He will make a triumphal entry on a donkey)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 12:12-14 & Matthew 21:1-11
Psalm 41:9 (He will be betrayed by a friend)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Mark 14:10 and 14:43-45 & Matthew 26:14-16
Zechariah 11:12 (He will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 26:15 and 27:3-10
Zechariah 11:13 (The money will be returned for a potter's field)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 27:3-10
Psalm 109:7-8 (His betrayer will be replaced)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Acts 1:16-20
Psalm 27:12 and 35:11 (False witnesses will accuse him)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 26:60-61
Isaiah 53:7 and Psalm 38:13-14 (He will remain silent when accused)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 26:62-63 and 27:12-14
Isaiah 50:6 (He will be struck and spit upon)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Mark 14:65 and 15:17 & John 18:22 and 19:1-3
Psalm 69:4 and 109:3-5 & Isaiah 42:1-9 (He will be hated without just cause)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 15:23-25
Isaiah 53:4-6, 12 & Psalm 22 (He will suffer vicariously in our place)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 8:16-17 and 27:45 & Romans 4:25 & 1st Corinthians 15:3
Isaiah 53:12 (He will be crucified with sinners)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 27:38 & Mark 15:27-28 & Luke 23:33
Psalm 22:16 & Zechariah 12:10 (His hands and feet will be pierced)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 19:37 and 20:25-27
Psalm 22:6-8 (He will be mocked and insulted)
Fulfilled by Yeahua in Matthew 27:39-44 & Mark 15:29-32
Psalm 69:21 (He will be given gall and vinegar)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 19:29 & Matthew 27:34, 48
Psalm 22:8 (He will hear prophetic words repeated in mockery)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 27:43
Psalm 109:4 & Isaiah 53:12 (He will pray for his enemies)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Luke 23:34
Isaiah 53:8 (He will die vicariously for our transgressions)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 11:49-53 and 19:30
Zechariah 12:10 & Isaiah 53:5 (His side will be pierced)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 19:34
Psalm 22:18 (Soldiers will cast lots for his clothing)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Mark 15:24 & John 19:24
Psalm 34:20 & Exodus 12:46 (None of his bones will be broken)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 19:33
Isaiah 53:9 (He will be buried with the rich)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 27:57-60
Psalm 16:10 & Isaiah 53:11 (His body will be resurrected to life and not see decay)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Matthew 28:9 & Luke 24:36-48 & John 20:29
Psalm 68:18 (He will ascend to heaven)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in Luke 24:50-51 & Acts 1:9
Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 22 and 65:1 (The Gentiles will believe in him)
Fulfilled by Yeshua in John 1:11 & Acts 9:15, 10:45 and 11:18
Isaiah 52:7-10 & Zechariah 12:10 (He will come again and all will see him)
Soon to be fulfilled by Yeshua according to his Word in John 13:28-31
"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn Son."
~ Zechariah 12:10
Paul ~ A Devout Jew who Followed Yeshua:
After the time of Yeshua's death, a Jew named Saul went around looking for those who believed Yeshua to be the resurrected and ascended Messiah, in order to have them arrested by the Romans and killed. But Saul was later himself to be arrested and beheaded as a follower of Yeshua, holding unto death to his testimony that Yeshua had appeared and spoken to him in a vision, as the promised Messiah. After becoming a follower of Yeshua, Paul, as he was thereafter known, dedicated the rest of his life to spreading the Good News that the Messiah had come. The report that circulated throughout Israel about Paul was this: "The one who was trying to kill us is now preaching the very faith he once tried to destroy." And the people praised God because of him.
When his fellow Jews would not receive the message he shared, Paul took that message to the rest of the Gentile world, while Simon Peter continued sharing the Good News of their Messiah with the Jews. And together, the Jews and Gentiles who came to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah (or Christ), became known as followers of "the Way." Today we are called Christians and Messianic Jews. You can read about Paul's conversion and ministry beginning in the New Testament Book of Acts, chapter 9.
Paul's great joy in spreading the news about Yeshua came in knowing that Yeshua had not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets of Judaism, but that he had come and fulfilled them in himself. And so Yeshua became for all of us a precious Passover Lamb of God, who's blood we apply to the doorposts of our very souls. And Yeshua himself replaces the curtain that once separated us from the holiness of God's presence, so that by coming to God through him, we may forevermore have forgiveness of our sins.
The principles taught by the Jews who followed Yeshua as the Messiah were simple, and they tell us how to approach him:
1. All of us have sinned and fall short of God's glory.
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20 & Romans 3:23
2. The wage of our sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Yeshua the Messiah.
~ Ezekiel 18:4 & Psalm 32:1-2 & Romans 6:23
3. God demonstrated his Love for us by sending Yeshua to exchange his own righteousness for our sins, and die in our place.
~ Isaiah 53:8 & Romans 5:8
4. Everyone who calls on the name, Yeshua (Jesus), will be saved.
~ Proverbs 8:17 & Romans 10:11-13
5. It is with our mouth that we must declare that Yeshua is the Messiah (that Jesus is the Christ), God's Anointed One; and it is with our heart that we must believe that God has raised him from the dead.
~ Deuteronomy 30:14 & Romans 10:9-10
6. God's gift is not by our works, but by his grace, through our faith in Yeshua.
~ Jeremiah 31:31-34 & Epesians 2:8-10
7. And Yeshua's command is that we love one another, for all of the Law and the Prophets are summed up in this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself.
~ Proverbs 10:12 & John 15:12-14 & Galatians 5:14 & 1st John (writer's theme throughout)
A Parable for Today:
Yeshua taught the people with parables. A Parable is a story that takes something out of our everyday life, and applies the principles of God's Word to it, to help us to understand them better. So here are Parables for Today:
God is like a river stream flowing from a 10,000 foot peak, some 50 miles off in the distance. When you drink from the river, the desire wells up inside of you to see the origin of such a stream as this. But once you've traveled the 50 miles toward it, you come to realize that the mountain now seems 20,000 feet tall, and that you were probably 100 miles away from it before; much farther away than you had thought yourself to be. Yet still, the river flowing from the mountain back toward you, full of God's grace, beckens you to continue the journey you began toward its origin.
The road to eternal Life is like two travelers who packed their automobiles with provisions for a long journey. Quite suddenly, at a particular point along their individual journeys, the engines in both cars begin running rough. And as the travelers steer their cars off of the roadway, their engines quit. Other travelers will stop at both places to try and get the cars started. But nothing they try will ever make those engines work again. And so both of the travelers suddenly find themselves at their final destination, with whatever provisions they had packed at the time. So each one exits his vehicle and leaves it behind.
Now the travelers are people just like you and me. And their vehicles represent the bodies each of us resides in while in this life. And so it is that when we depart this life, the body remains behind, and our spirit moves on without it. And the provisions they packed represent those things each of us is relying on to get us to our final, eternal destination.
The one traveler approached a tollbooth at the bridge which crosses over to paradise. Now this traveler had done many good things on his journey there, yet his clothing had still been stained by the sins he had also been guilty of along the way. But this wise traveler had brought with him the provision of grace that God had provided through Yeshua his Son. And so his clothing had been washed in the blood Yeshua shed for us all, and that traveler was washed whiter than snow. So the gate keeper opened the gate and the traveler went home to the place God had prepared for all of those who Loved his Son.
The other traveler also approached the tollbooth at the bridge crossing over to paradise. And with him he carried the provisions of his own many good works. But his clothing was still stained with the marks of the sins he had also been guilty of along the way. And he was still unclean from the many miles he had traveled. So the gate keeper could not open the gate for him. Nor could that unwise traveler return again to the place from where he had come, in order to find the same provision of grace the other traveler had received. So that traveler was banished and could not cross over to the place God had prepared for all of those who Loved his Son.
And so it is that we ourselves choose our eternal home when we choose to follow after Yeshua. And for each one who does not choose him, that one also forsakes God's free gift of grace that is found only through faith in his Son. So choose the road that leads you to Yeshua. And along your journey through life, Yeshua's promise is that you will find his peace to guide and comfort you all along the way. For he has promised to never leave you alone. In this world you will have trouble. But fear not! Yeshua has overcome the world.
I can hear Yeshua asking you now: "Who do you say I am?"
Here is a simple prayer that you can say, to invite Yeshua into your life: God, I know I am a sinner. But I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is your Son. I believe he is the Messiah, and that he lives today because You raised him to life after he died, just as your Word has said. Please wash me, Abba (Father), through Yeshua's blood that was shed for us all, and I will be clean. And help me to live a renewed life through your Spirit, that I may please you and be full of your love. Thank you, God, for saving me. In the name of Yeshua, ha Mashiah (Jesus) I pray. Amen.
