by David Hocking
www.davidhocking.org

1. ‚   ‚   ‚   ‚   Some, of course, do believe! ‚   But, the majority of Jews are taught from an early age to deny that Yeshua (who lived in Israel in the first century AD) is the promised Messiah of Israel. ‚   Here are a couple of the reasons (not all) that are given on various Jewish web sites: ‚  

Jews don't believe Yeshua is the Messiah because he did not fulfill the messianic proppecies! This is their strong view! ‚   In explaining their resistance to any consideration of Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel, they offer the following.

• He did NOT build the Third Temple which the Messiah is to do.
• He did NOT gather all the Jews back to the Land of Israel.
• He did NOT usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering, and disease.
• He did NOT bring the universal knowledge of the God of Israel and unite all humanity as one.

The simple answer to all of these objections is the Second Coming of Yeshua these prophecies refer to the future. ‚   Jewish teaching counters that they believe the coming of Messiah will fulfill all the prophecies outright, and that no concept of a Second Coming exists in the Bible.

The Jewish view, however, ignores the differences between His coming on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9) in humility, and His coming as a conquering King! ‚   They also try to relate passages dealing with the suffering and death of the Messiah to other people and circumstances.

The Apostle Paul was right when he wrote in Romans 11:25-27 that blindness in part has happened to the Jewish people. ‚   Thank the LORD that it is partial and not complete! ‚  2.Jews don't believe that Yeshua is the messiah of Israel because the Christian views of passages referring to the Messiah are mistranslated.

2. ‚   ‚   ‚   ‚   The classic example which is given in all Jewish apologetics deals with the virgin birth prophesied in Isaiah 7:14. ‚   Here is a direct quote from a Jewish website: The Christian idea of a virgin birth is derived from the verse ‚   in Isaiah 7:14 describing an 'almah' (Hebrew word) as giving birth. ‚   The word 'almah' has always meant a young woman, but Christian theologians came centuries later and translated it as virgin. ‚   This accords Jesus birth with the first century pagan idea of mortals being impregnated by gods.

This continues to be a thorn in the side of Jewish apologists. ‚   The problem is that if one desired to refer to a virgin the Hebrew word almah is the only one that can be used. ‚   There is no distinctive Hebrew word for virgin. ‚   ‚   BUT, there is in Greek. ‚   The word parthenos can only mean a virgin. ‚   In all the Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures BEFORE the time of Yeshua, the word used for almah is parthenos. ‚   This means that rabbinical scholars before the time of Yeshua clearly understood the passage to mean a virgin.

Of course, there are many other objections which Jewish scholars and apologists use to deny that Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel. ‚   John 20:30-31, however, clearly states that the signs which Yeshua performed were done so that we might believe that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. ‚   May God open our eyes!