“Jesus” Is Not The Messiah
First, let me be 100% clear on the intention of this post. Though it may offend some, my hope is that it will honestly inspire you to look deeper into your beliefs. Please realize that it is my goal to walk in the Torah as we are instructed, “You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut. 6:7.
Over the last few years, my family and I have been on a journey to be Torah-observant. What does that mean, exactly? Walking in the footsteps of the Word made flesh, our Messiah. But, that’s “Jesus”, isn’t it? As I understood it to be growing up in a Christian home, yes. Jesus is the son of God. He is the foretold Messiah. In our journey, we began to turn back to the Hebrew mindset, versus the Greek mindset. After all, the Scriptures were written in Hebrew (even early manuscripts that are found to be translated to Greek) for the Hebrews.
This has been a topic weighing on my mind for some time. Who is “Jesus”? The modern Christian world embraces a man they call the “Anointed One”, the Christ or Messiah. But, is there any record in our Bibles of a man named “Jesus”? No! We would then argue that it is simply a translation of his Hebrew name. We would be wrong. It is a transliteration. And an anti-Semitic one at that. Jesus originates from the Latin form of the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), a rendition of the Hebrew Y’shua (ישוע). [Reference]. In fact, his name would be more closely translated to Joshua (like Y’hoshua – son of Nun).
So what’s the big deal? Thomas, Tom. William, Bill. At first, it rarely bothered my referring to Y’shua as “Jesus”. I wasn’t going to get picky about it. As our journey went along and we grew in the knowledge of Torah it began to dawn on me that Jesus & Y’shua were two very different people. How so?
Test Everything
In order to recognize the difference, we are told to do as the Bereans did; test everything. They put Sha’ul (Paul) to the test as noted in Acts 17:11.
Now the people here (Bereans) were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh (Old Testament) every day to see if the things Sha’ul (Paul) was saying were true.
The Deuteronomy 13 Test
2 If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, 3 and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ 4 you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For Adonai your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love Adonai your God with all your heart and being. 5 You are to follow Adonaiyour God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him; 6 and that prophet or dreamer is to be put to death; because he urged rebellion against Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from a life of slavery; in order to seduce you away from the path Adonai your God ordered you to follow. This is how you are to rid your community of this wickedness.
You see, following this line of testing, “Jesus” does not qualify as our Messiah. This man, who performers wonders & signs also, according to Christians, Jews & other mainstream religions, also teaches that the Law (Torah – or simply translated “instructions”) is done away with. This man cannot be the Messiah. This Jesus is a Greek god who is worshiped by many. Graven images are made in his likeness. An offense to the commandments. I might dare to say, he’s an anti-Messiah.
Yet in Matisyahu (Matthew) 5:17, Y’shua clearer states, “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete (or fulfill, depending on your version).” The word complete or fulfill in the Greek is “pleroo”. Taking the definitions found on pleroo; the only one that fits, in context, is “to fully preach”. He came to show The Way. Following Torah. The European/Greek/Hollywood version of Y’shua isn’t this humble Hebrew we read about in the B’rit Hadasha (the nothing-new Testament). See Yochanan (John) 2:15-17.
So, while it may be semantics for the many, it’s very important that if we are walking in Torah, we must acknowledge that there are false doctrines and traditions among us. We should recognized that the Messiah came for the lost sheep of Israel (Matisyahu/Matthew 15:24) and that when He returns, there’s little doubt in my mind He will not be answering to “Jesus”; a false messiah by the standards of Torah. He is the Torah. He cannot change or contradict His father’s word. Otherwise, we fall in the practice of believing the spoon-fed doctrines & traditions found at the front of the pulpit every pagan sabbath, Sunday.
Please review the videos submitted herein. They’re great teachings that have helped us in our journey and I hope it will do the same for you.
I write this humbly in honor of our Messiah – Y’shua.
Shalom,
Sal
