In our congregation, Tiferet Yeshua, we encourage members to be active in bringing the gospel to the Jewish nation. On a regular basis, folks go out on the streets to meet people and talk to them about Yeshua. Usually, the secular Jews are the most open to the gospel, while the more religious a person is, here in Israel, the more turned off he becomes. In most places, the ultra-Orthodox live in closed neighborhoods.
Breakthrough
A few days ago, a friend of mine from the congregation called me up and said that he had spoken to an ultra-Orthodox Jew named Moses about Yeshua, and that he agreed to read from the New Testament. It sounded weird to me. Out of the hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews I’ve spoken to about Yeshua, only a very small percentage agreed to read from the New Testament. And, if they are willing to hear about Yeshua, they still are not willing to read about Him.
My friend who shared with Moses is a new immigrant and his Hebrew is not so good. He asked me if I could meet Moses. Of course! We met with him for two hours and I want to tell you about it.
Moses was dressed just as I’d expect from an ultra-Orthodox Jew. His pants and jacket were black, with a tzitzit that came out right under his shirt. He had a black beard and the iconic brimmed hat. We immediately started talking about the Gospel. He seemed truly opened to hear why I, a Jewish person, a native-born Israel, with a very Jewish last name – Cohen, believe in Yeshua?
What Do the Hebrew Scripture say about Messiah
I shared my testimony with him and then we opened the Bible (which contained both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament) and we started discussing all the prophecies about the Messiah.
We agreed the Messiah must be Jewish. We also agreed He must come from the tribe of Judah, specifically, the line of David. I told Moses, Yeshua is both from the tribe of Judah and the line of David. I explained all the tribes became mixed up after the 70 AD destruction of the Temple, making it impossible to trace the lineage of a Jew today to his or her tribe. That’s why the genealogy of Yeshua, as it’s written in the New Testament, also serves as the only historical document we have today about someone who claims to be the Messiah, while being both from the tribe of Judah and the line of David.
We agreed the Messiah must be born in Bethlehem, which, today is a completely Arab city—Israelis, by law, can’t even visit—so we know that no Jewish babies can be born there. In the end, we looked at the prophecy from Daniel 9, which tells us that the Messiah must come before the destruction of the second temple (before 70 AD), and that the He “shall be cut off” (Daniel 9: 26).
Messiah had to be Cut Off—Killed
“What does it mean: ‘… an anointed one shall be cut off’?”, asked Moses. Well, being “cut off”, according to the Torah, is a death penalty which forever separates one from God.
That’s exactly the idea that I tried to explain to Moses. According to the Torah, we all deserve to be “cut off” because we have all sinned against God. The Torah says that only a blood sacrifice can grant us forgiveness of sins in front of God (Lev. 17:11), and that’s exactly what Yeshua did for the nation of Israel and the world. All the animal sacrifices that we see in the Torah are a shadow and an example of the real thing.
The ‘real thing’ is Yeshua; He is the perfect sacrifice. He’s the only person in history who lived in this world without sinning, even once. He is the only one who was able to fulfill the law completely in all the years of His life, making Him the flawless sacrifice for our sins, without blemish or defect, just as the law demands. And that’s not all, the strongest power of sin is death and being “cut off” from God. Yeshua rose from the dead, beating death. Only a Messiah who has beaten death can give us, His followers, eternal life and victory over death.
During the conversation, Moses told me that he’d already been to Uman, Ukraine, a few times to visit the grave of his favorite Rabbi—Nachman of Breslov, and that he believes that going there gives power and happiness to those who believe in the Rabbi.
The Big Difference
At the end of our talk I told Moses that I also want to go the grave of my Rabbi in Jerusalem, but there’s only one problem. Moses asked me: “What’s the problem?”, I told him that Yeshua’s grave in Jerusalem in empty. There’s not even a real grave there, only an empty space, because Yeshua rose from the dead! His body isn’t there! Moses looked at me, astonished, saying: “You’re telling me that there’s an empty grave in Jerusalem which Yeshua rose from?” I said to him: “I don’t know if that’s His real grave. Archeologically speaking, it’s a grave from Yeshua’s time, but what’s important is that the grave is empty because Yeshua came back to life.”
We looked at verses in the New Testament regarding Yeshua’s resurrection.
Moses thought about it for a few seconds and said: “If what you’re telling me is the truth, then no further evidence is needed. If Yeshua’s grave is empty and he really rose from the dead, that’s proof enough that He is the Messiah.”
To our dear friends and partners, let’s pray for Moses that the Lord will give him a powerful revelation of Yeshua’s death for our sins, His resurrection and His conquering over death. And that Yeshua did all that out of great love for Moses, for Israel and for the entire world.
This article originally appeared on Tiferet Yeshua, February 20, 2017, and reposted with permission.