MESSAGE IN A JEWISH SYNAGOGUE

Pretend that you are part of a Jewish Congregation in a Synagogue and the time for this service is seven-thirty in the evening. Let us imagine that you are members of this Jewish Synagogue and are not believers in Yeshua, but you are hungry to know the truth. This hunger is very true in these last days when many Jewish people are asking about the claims of Messiah as never before.

Some have even invited Christian ministers to speak about Messiah in their Synagogues. Let's pretend that you have invited me, as a Jewish believer in Yeshua the Messiah, to teach you about this Promised One of God. This is not an impossibility since I have been invited before to speak to gatherings of Jewish unbelievers to tell them about Jesus!

We know that there are more than ten adult men in this Jewish Congregation to which I am speaking, so we can continue. The Talmud tells us that even if there were ten thousand women gathered together, but there were not ten adult men present we wouldn't be able to have a service. That is how important you MEN are!

Jewish men, who are very devout, have already thanked God in their prayers at nine a.m., three p.m., and six p.m. today, that He did not create them a Gentile, a slave or a woman! That is how important you men are! But we have gathered today in the sight of God who has designed both men and women who are equally important to Him.

Dear Jewish people, perhaps you have felt that this Christian Gospel was only for the Gentiles. You have felt that we, as Jews, were unwanted by them. You have also felt that in the name of Christianity our people have been hated, persecuted and slaughtered. But my Jewish brothers, it is not so.

A true follower of the Messiah Jesus loves all peoples for whom He died. This includes you. Our God intended that this Gospel of Messiah, which was preached by our Jewish prophets of long ago, be preached to both Jew and non-Jew alike. There is no difference between us, and I can say with my Jewish brother, Paul: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Messiah for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile."

Now, my Jewish brothers, you know that the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, made a promise that our Messiah would come to redeem us from our sins. We have waited and longed for His coming down through the years. We have opened the door of our homes at Pesach (Passover) to invite Elijah to come in and prepare the way before Him!

Remember when we recited the thirteen Credos of Judaism which were given to us by Moses Maimonides. We repeated the words: "I believe with a perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true." Yes, the prophets of God have given many prophecies of The Messiah as God inspired them to do.

God is true and therefore His promises through the prophets ARE TRUE! It was foretold by our prophets long ago that our Messiah would come. We believe all the words spoken by our Jewish prophets, and so WE BELIEVE THIS.

We have also recited from the twelfth Credo: "I believe with a perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah and though He tarry, yet will I wait for Him to come." No doubt many of you have taken a trip to Israel and there at the Western Wall you kissed the stones and wet them with your tears as you recited this same prayer.

My Jewish brothers, I would like to ask you, how are you going to recognize Messiah when He comes? How will you know that He is genuine and not an imposter? The God of our fathers has described Him in our Tenach, the Torah, and throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. These Scriptures are written on a Scroll and placed on a platform behind closed curtains representing the Veil in the Tabernacle of Moses.

Yes, this Scroll, (and the enclosure which we call "Aron Ha Kodesh," "The Holy Ark") contains three hundred thirty-three prophecies about our Redeemer, our Messiah. All these promises must be fulfilled according to God's qualifications. If a man should come to us today and claim to be that One, we would have a perfect right to inquire of him as to these qualifications which God has set forth in the Holy Scriptures!

Let us suppose that we would approach this man and ask him where he was born. If he answered by saying he was born in the largest city in the world, we could immediately reject him as the Messiah. Our highly honored Jewish prophet, Micah, pinpointed the smallest city for the birth of the Redeemer. Micah told us, in God's own words, that the Ruler or King of the Jews would come from the smallest, not the largest city of all the cities of Judah!

We then ask this one who claims to be the Messiah, if he ever rode into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey? He might be offended and say: "Nowadays people ride in automobiles, especially a King. He might even ride in a Cadillac - not on a lowly animal such as a donkey!" But we can remind him that, at the time of the prophecy, it was the custom for the Kings of Israel to ride into the City of Jerusalem on such a lowly animal, and that if he was truly the King of the Jews as he claims, he would observe this custom.

This is what God Himself declared through the Jewish prophet Zechariah about the true King of the Jews. You, my Jewish brothers, who believe that all the words of the prophets are true. Listen to your prophet Zechariah.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold thy King cometh to thee, He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (Zechariah 9:9)

Zechariah was speaking to the Jewish people whom he named "Daughter of Zion" or "Daughter of Jerusalem." These were Jews who were living in that city at the time when their King was to come to them having Salvation.

Yes, our King-Messiah was to bring His Jewish people salvation and deliverance. He would actually be named "Salvation" which we know in the Hebrew is "Yeshua" and is translated from the Greek as "Jesus." Notice Zechariah foretold that Yeshua would be the King of the Jews, and He would ride into the City of Jerusalem upon a donkey, which He did two thousand years ago!

Then my Jewish kinsmen, you might ask this person (who is posing as your Messiah) if many people have accepted him and his claims. If his answer is "yes, I have a great following, many believe in me." Then you could immediately reject him, for it was prophesied by our Jewish prophet, Isaiah, that when our Messiah would come He would be rejected and the Jewish people as a nation would not believe the report.

They would turn their faces from Him, and they would see no beauty in Him to desire Him as their King. I know you say that the words of Isaiah 53 relate to the Jewish people, to suffering Israel. You say that it is Israel that is rejected of men, a people of sorrows, and that all people shun and reject Israel. But my brothers, this chapter also tells of the death of Messiah as a Substitute for mankind's sins. Surely Israel did not die for the sins of the world!

I know it is your custom to face the Aron ha Kodesh and the city of Jerusalem when you pray, but let us now turn our faces heavenward and to our Lord God and pray that He will open our eyes to the truth in His Word. Let us repent of our sins as God has commanded us to do and accept the One whom He has sent - Yeshua ha Meshiach - Jesus, the Christ, our Redeemer and soon-coming King!