Short answer: A Messianic Jew is a Jewish person (with at least one Jewish parent) who has come to know and follow Yeshua / Jesus as the Messiah promised to Israel as found in the Hebrew Bible.
Longer Answer:
Messianic Jews are well sought after in dozens of Evangelical conferences around the globe.
Their opinions are highly respected in the evangelical community. In over 40 years, Rock of Israel staff have personally spoken in over three thousand evangelical services and pastors LOVE to listen to us teach.
A Messianic Jew named Jonathan Cahn (in 2012) even had a book on the NY Times best seller list that evangelicals loved called "The Harbinger".
We are one of the most well-respected groups out there for Evangelical Christians because we teach them the Jewish roots of their faith – plain and simple.
Messianic Jews (if their parents are Jewish) are ethnic Jews who believe that Jesus was/is the Messiah of Israel based upon the whole view of the Jewish scriptures (Bible). The name of Jesus in Hebrew is “Yeshua”. Jesus also taught from the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus kept the Feasts. Jesus kept the Sabbath. We know all that.
Jesus was a Jew. His Ancestry was Jewish. His family was Jewish. His upbringing was Jewish. His own life’s practices were thoroughly Jewish, in what He said, in the way He spoke, in what He did, even in the way He dressed.
He WAS/IS the Messiah of Israel and came to fulfill the Jewish Torah. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
About Messianic Jews…. we follow the teachings of Yeshua.
**We do not follow Rabbinic Judaism and do not claim to. We don’t think the rabbis are always right. Nor do we think they are always wrong. They make some good points about God at times. Other times, not so much.
**We seek to follow the Biblical faith. It is a faith that follows the Messiah, whom the God of Israel sent to us.
**We follow a faith based upon the Jewish Bible and not the Rabbis' teachings. There is a difference.
Messianic Jews are Jewish only because of their parent's bloodline (if their parents were Jewish ethnically). And we believe the Messiah is Jesus.
Of course, Messianic Jews are not looked at as Jewish by the rest of the Jewish community, but thankfully they do not determine truth – God does.
Messianic Jews seek to please God rather than Jewish people – most of whom do not know God, but rather know only about Jewish traditions. (There is a difference).
The Jewish men (and women) today who follow Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) are the Jewish people who intimately know God.
Sincerity does not mean truth.
Truth is truth.
“…But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me…” (Jeremiah 9:24)