Messianism... is it Jewish or Gentile? Being Messianic means we engage the Scriptures with a “hands on” mentality. As such, it also means we respect the Torah as the voice of God, and we attempt to do what it says ... Torah being the first five books of the Bible, with Leviticus at their heart. And in our “doing” of even the most curious things commanded by Torah, such as wearing Tallith (shawls) and Tzitzi (fringes), we hear the voice of God louder and clearer.

        Yisrael said it this way to Moshe (Exo 24:7)
"All that Adonoi has spoken we will do,
and we will be obedient!"

    The last word, “obedient,” is Sh’ma ... meaning, “we will listen and hear it -- giving it authority.” But Yisrael was also saying that they would do “everything,” and by doing “everything” they would hear. There is a voice hidden within the actions of a person that is doing Torah. That voice is heard by both the doer and observer, but the voice within the “doer” is stronger and louder than what the “observer” hears -- it is “hands on.” And a “hands on” experience is the Hebrew definition of knowledge and truth.

    This knowledge saturated the Jews at Mount Sinai, and this knowledge poured out again upon the Gentiles living in Antioch after certain Jews had explained that Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah had been raised from the dead and ascended to Heaven.

    Today, the Church fails to recognize the Jewish emphasis of what happened in Antioch. But what happened was an extension of what had occurred at Mount Sinai. Moreover, what is happening to many today, who are identifying themselves as Messianic, is also a projection from those same experiences -- and it is a Torah experience.

    Acts 11:26(b) states, “...for an entire year they met with the assemblies and taught the Torah to many; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

    They were taught by Barnabas and Shaul (Paul), and their students were called Christians. The word “christian” or “chris-tios” in Greek, is Mi-shi-chi-yim in Hebrew, which is derived from the word Mo-shi-ach meaning Messiah or Anointed. So they were called Messiah People, or Messianics, in the regions of Antioch.

    Antioch was a place where persecuted Jewish believers in Yeshua had sought refuge. At first it was Jews speaking only to Jews about the Messiah, but eventually the Gentiles overheard and were becoming interested. Then there were more Gentiles believing in Yeshua than there were Jews.

    These are the Messianics, and these are who we are. We are mostly Gentiles. But in that day, there had not been a Catholic Church, no Baptists, and no Methodists. There were only Synagogues, and the only model for worship was Judaism. What’s more, this was a Jewish event being instigated by Jews. So the early Messianics did what the Jews did, and they honored the Jewish Messiah who was sent by the Jewish God, and became a part of the labors of God.

    Christianity had begun as Messianism -- an extension of Torah through Yeshua. And the revived forms of Messianism have survived today because of Christianity, even though Christianity itself has evolved into its own forms being isolated from Judaism. Nevertheless, today’s Messianism would not exist without Church-men like Alfred Edershiem, an Elder in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, and a Jewish believer in Yeshua, and the author of "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." Messianism would not be surviving without men like Salkinson and Ginsberg, who translated the Greek into Hebrew and compiled a Lexicon and Grammer. We exist today because of their efforts, and they existed because the Church of their day had generously supported them.

    And when Salkinson-Ginsberg translated the words in Acts 11:26, they interjected their opinion. They wrote, “and they taught Torah to many.” Their opinion is reflected by their inserting the word "Torah." They did that because they are Messianic, and it was inconceivable for them to think that Shaul and Barnabus would have taught anything else than Yeshua as the Torah presents him ... therefore, “and they taught Torah to many.”

    These are Church people -- Jewish Church people -- and they are our support and resource for Messianism today.

    Therefore, we should not have an attitude of being anti-Church, we are pro-Church. We are pro-Church, pro-Jewish, and pro-Torah observance -- we are Messianic. We are defined by positive attitudes and not by negative ones. We are defined by what we are for -- and we are for Yeshua the Messiah. And the Torah is for Yeshua, and the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) is for Yeshua. This is our focus, and with it we are joining a positive action -- and that action is ancient.

    This action was presented to the Jews in this fashion (Lev 26:3) “... walk in my statutes, and guard my mitzoth (commandments), and perform them.” And this was the Antioch experience as well, and the birth of Messianism.

    If your life is identified by my ordinances.
    If you observe the things that I instruct you.
    If you perform my commandments as your freedom.

    Lev26:4, “I will provide rain in its season. The land will produce for you, and the trees will present their fruits for you. Your threshings shall last to harvest, and your harvest shall last to planting. You will eat bread with satisfaction, and you will have security within your lands.”

    At first glance, this sounds like a “you do this and I do that” formula. But the Rabbis say that it cannot mean that -- it must mean something else. Because you do not do mitzoth for earthly rewards -- but for the world to come. Then why should Adonoi say we will have rewards now? It is because they are not rewards -- they are helps.

    If an employer is approached by a man that wants to work for him, the man demonstrates that he is capable and willing to do his labors. Then the employer supplies the man with tools, time and projects.

    That is what is happening here. You study Torah, you value Torah, and you perform Torah ... Then Adonoi equips you for Torah, gives you time for Torah, and appoints you responsibilities with the Torah -- and you are building the Kingdom of Adonoi. This is what happened with Yisrael at Sinai, and the Mishichiyim at Antioch.

    And because it happened at Sinai, it also happened at Antioch.
    And because it happened at Antioch, it happened with Edershiem.
    And because it happend with them all -- it has begun to happen with us.

    And this is why Rav Shaul spoke this way to the Ephesians ... (EPH 4:1-8) I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love; being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of shalom. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one immersion, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Messiah. Therefore he says, "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men."

    Walk worthy -- Lev 26:3 said, “If you walk in my statutes.”
    Where with you have been called -- Lev 26:3, “and keep my commandments.”
    With all humility, bearing one another in love -- Lev 26:3, “and perform them.”

    Then to each is given grace, apportioned from resources of the Messiah -- you are equipped. When Yeshua ascended on high, he released gifts for this equipping of saints. And his equipping is that he "supplies the body of believers with authorities -- emissaries, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers -- for the perfecting of the holy ones, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Messiah." Therefore we have order and structure, and its framework must be Torah.

    Lev 26:9, “And I will have respect for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.”

    This respect and support is emphasized again in Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now may the God of shalom ... enable you for every good work to perform his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Yeshua the Messiah, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amein.”

    By these passages it should be apparent that Rav Shaul is teaching from the Torah. He is using its precepts as a model for his Congregations. And by this, it should be equally apparent that there is not an Old Testament and a New Testament -- only the Testament. And the testimony is that we are the product and beauty of Adonoi alone. We are, as it says in Psalms, the “sheep of his hand, and the people of his pasture.”

    Therefore, as sheep, we do not “do this” and God “does that.”
    What happens is that God “does that” -- and then we “do that.”
    We walk after his ways -- the way of the Testament.

    He, as it says in Hebrews, “works within us what is pleasing in his sight.” And he accomplishes that in us "through Yeshua the Messiah.” And that is why we are called Mishichiyim, and being Mishichiyim is linked to the doing and performance of Torah.

That is also the emphasis found in Psalm 22:28,
“All the ends of the earth shall remember and return to Adonoi.
And all the Gentile families shall worship before you.”

    They, the Gentiles, shall remember something. And their memory will cause them to “return” to Adonoi. When we accept Yeshua as the Messiah of Adonoi, we instigate a “return.” The gateway of that return was opened at Antioch. What happened at Antioch happened because what had occurred at Mount Sinai with Moshe -- Torah. And Yeshua stands among these events, upholding the Torah and the love of Adonoi in the Heavens.

    But how can Gentiles “return” to a place they have never been? And how can Gentiles remember something they have never experienced? We remember that God has revealed himself to us through the Jews and the Torah. We return because all of us are sons of Noach (Noah) and Adom -- even the Jews, whom God chose to be messengers to all the Gentiles. And a son born of Torah, Yeshua the Messiah, has secured that return for us all. And we should not ignore such a great salvation.

    This salvation is alluded to with these words, Lev26:4, “I will provide rain in its season. The land will produce for you, and the trees will present their fruits for you. Your threshings shall last to harvest, and your harvest shall last to planting. You will eat bread with satisfaction, and you will have security within your lands.”

    These words are about practical resources being released from the earth by God's will, and about Yisrael laboring for their collections, and both being keyed to their Torah observance. But I can visualize His will being projected to an even larger scale. I can see the land as the generations of Yisrael, with the rain as God's support. The produce and fruits as the industries of Torah. The threshings as the Jews who are faithful to Torah. The harvest as the Gentiles -- who will remember. The bread, satisfaction and security is our lives in Yeshua (Jesus), the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) and the authority of our Father in Heaven (Adonoi).

    Threshings have lasted unto the harvest. The harvest has lasted unto the plantings. This is the story of the prevailing Messianic Kingdom. But is this Messianism Jewish or Gentile? I think the answer might be revealed with what happened when Joshua and Yisrael entered the land for the first time. An Angel appeared to them, and Joshua asked him, (Joshua 5:14-15) "Are you for us or our adversaries?" The Angel answered, "Neither, I am here as a Prince to the Lord of Hosts."

    The Angel is for Adonoi, and we must all be for Adonoi. So Joshua was not discouraged by these words. And when they built their settlements after the wars, they threshed their fields, harvested their produce, and restored their plantings year by year -- and the Torah was active and still cherished when Yeshua was born -- and a Kingdom has arisen from their labors, and it is the Kingdom of the Messiah and the pleasure of Adonoi.

    Baruch Hashem.