Fifteen Reasons Why the Gospel is Jewish

Dear Beloveds in Messiah,

Fifteen Reasons Why the Gospel is Jewish

This is the title of a YouTube series seen on the Jewish Jewels YouTube channel. We produced the series over the past few months in hopes of presenting the Gospel, Yeshua, Jewish people, and Israel in a POSITIVE LIGHT, given the tremendous increase in antisemitism worldwide since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas.

I marvel that even some Christians, believers in Jesus—a Jew—have taken a NEGATIVE stand against Israel, when the Bible is so clear that Gentile believers owe the Jews a debt of gratitude for giving them their Savior and the Word of God. The enemy, HaSatan, has a long history of lying about the Jewish people. I want to stand up for the truth and trust that this is your desire as well.

Since many of you do not have access to YouTube, I have decided to summarize the “Fifteen Reasons” in this letter. Lord willing, it will be circulated among your friends and acquaintances and be used by the Lord to help combat the lying spirits which are becoming more and more bold with each passing day.

Reason #1: “The Gospel is Jewish in Its Very Essence. It is “of the Jews.”

Yes. The Gospel is Jewish from start to finish. What is the “gospel?” The word “gospel” means news. The first idea of “good news” is found in the Tanakh. To “bring good news,” in Isaiah 52:7, is basar in Hebrew (bah-SAHR). It includes the idea of “preach, publish, tell good tidings, or bring good news.” Years ago, on a plane to Israel, as I sat for almost eleven hours discussing the Bible with a traditional Talmud teacher from Jerusalem, I pointed out to him that “basar” which also means “flesh” is exactly what God did in sending Yeshua the Messiah into the world. “Good News” in Hebrew would be besorah (beh-so-RAH) from “basar.” The Word became flesh! (Jn.1:14)

Yeshua said in John 4:22, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” Paul (Rabbi Saul) said in Romans 3:1-2, “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.” In other words, God gave His Word to the Jewish people, and they gave the Word to the world—to all of us. Paul also said that our spiritual inheritance is from the Jews—from whom is “…the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises… and from whom, according to the flesh, Messiah came…” (Rom. 9:4-5).

Reason #2: “The Concept of a Messiah is a Jewish Concept.”

For thousands of years, God’s People Israel were expecting a Messiah to come. He would be a descendant of King David and would usher in the Kingdom of God. That is why John the Baptizer, Yohanan HaMatbil, while in prison, sent two of his disciples to ask Yeshua, “…are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matt. 11:3).

The Messiah was expected to do many things—be a skillful military and political leader, heal the sick, open deaf ears, raise the dead. But most of all, He would bring the Kingdom of God to earth, ushering in a reign of universal peace.

The Jewish Tanakh, Old Covenant Scriptures, have hundreds of prophecies concerning the “Coming One”—like Micah 5:2 which says that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Yeshua came fulfilling the ancient prophecies but ushered in a different kind of kingdom—a kingdom of the heart.

Reason #3: “Yeshua Was, and Is Jewish.”

Reason #4: “The New Testament was Written by Jews and is Built Upon the Hebrew Scriptures.”

First of all, the Jews were a people of COVENANT, and the New Testament is a New Covenant. The Tanakh or Hebrew Scriptures are known as the Old or First Covenant. One builds on the other. The Old is the ROOT; the New is the FRUIT.

The Bible is One book, largely written by Jewish people, as divinely inspired by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are used to hearing their names in English, but the writers of the New Testament had Hebrew names. Matthew was Matiyahu. John was Yohanan. James was Yaakov. Peter was Kefa, and the Apostle Paul was Shaul. All Jews, with a Jewish worldview, writing in a Hebraic, Jewish context.

Following His resurrection, Yeshua said the following to a group of His disciples: “…’These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me'” (Luke 24:44). There was no New Testament at the time, only the Hebrew Scriptures which had over 300 prophecies of the coming Messiah. Yeshua fulfilled most of them exactly, and there are some yet to be fulfilled. The truth is: The New Testament fulfills the Old Testament, just as Jesus fulfilled the Law.

Reason #5: “All the First Believers in Yeshua Were Jewish.”

Apostle Paul, (Rabbi Saul), was a highly educated Jewish scholar. Andrew was a Jewish fisherman, who said to his brother Kefa (Simon Peter), “…’We have found the Messiah’…” (Jn. 1:41). Then another Jew, Phillip, found Nathaniel and said to him, “…’We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph'” (Jn. 1:45).

When Yeshua called together all twelve disciples to send them forth, He commanded them saying, “…’Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'” (Matt. 10:5-6).

Reason #6: “The Jews brought the Gospel to the Gentiles; God Chose Them to Bring Salvation to the Entire World.”

We read in the New Testament book of Galatians that even Abraham was intricately involved in the gospel going forth to the Gentile nations: “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed'” (Gal. 3:8). How would all the nations of the world be blessed through Abraham? Because through Abraham the Messiah would come—the One who would be the ultimate blessing for the entire world.

The Jewish prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Jewish Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles in Isaiah chapters 49 and 60. “…I will also give You [the Messiah] as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the Earth” (Is. 49:6). And in Isaiah 60:3, “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

It was always in the heart of Yeshua that the message of salvation would also go to the Gentiles. He told His disciples in John 10:16, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” The “other sheep” were the Gentiles. Yeshua was speaking to Jews at the time.

Reason #7: “The Original Controversy Was Whether or Not Gentiles Would Receive a Jewish Messiah.”

The Messiah was never promised to the Gentiles, but to the Jewish people. On one occasion Yeshua Himself said, concerning a Canaanite woman, “…’I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'” (Matt. 15:24). Could Gentiles receive a Jewish Messiah? Yes—as part of God’s eternal covenant with Israel for the sake of all the nations.

But since all the original followers of Yeshua were Jewish, and the Messiah had been promised to the Jews, the early Jewish believers were conflicted about Gentiles, especially since they did not eat in Gentile homes. Consider Acts 10:34-35 where the Apostle Peter (Kefa) said, “…’In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.'”

The Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), as the sign of the New Covenant, had been given to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. This shocked the early Jewish believers. But God confirmed His merciful, inclusive choice in various ways, including giving Peter a vision of unclean animals which He Himself cleansed, referring to the Gentiles. The Jews responded to Peter’s explanation saying, “…’Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life'” (Acts 11:18).

What about today? History is often reversed. Gentiles are often shocked when they hear that a Jewish person believes in Jesus—as if Yeshua is only the God of the Gentiles. No. Yeshua came to His own people first and in these last days is calling them back to Himself.

Reason #8: “The Apostle Paul Was an Observant Jew His Entire Life.”

The Apostle Paul, whose given name was Shaul, was a Jew who had found his Messiah. There is a lot of misunderstanding about the Apostle. Some say he invented a new religion because he brought the Good News of the Messiah to the Gentiles. But Saul continued to be a Jew—a completed Jew— who continued to celebrate the feasts of the Lord of Leviticus 23. (See Act 20:16 and Saul’s rush to return to Jerusalem in time for Shavuot.)

Saul (Paul) saw Yeshua as the fulfillment of God’s promises to the House of Israel. The rabbis and their teachings were no longer his authority. The Holy Scriptures and the Messiah were. Saul understood that Yeshua had not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. He observed Jewish customs as long as they did not contradict the written Word (Bible) or the Living Word (Yeshua). Messianic Jews follow his example today.

Reason #9: “The Messiah’s Vicarious Atonement Was Rooted in the Sacrificial System of the Israelites.”

The goal of the sacrificial system, as created by God in the Torah, was to establish a right relationship with Him. God’s desire has always been to have intimate fellowship with His creation. But God is holy, and man is not. Man is a sinner by nature, and his sin separates him from his Creator. That sin must be atoned for by means of a blood sacrifice. The Lord makes it clear in Leviticus 17:11, “‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'” The seriousness of sin to God was what made blood atonement necessary.

That is why there is a Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, in Judaism. Once a year, the Jewish High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, entered into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the people of Israel. Today? There is a “Day” but no “Atonement” since there is neither temple nor blood sacrifice.

But God made a way more than 2,000 years ago. He provided a High Priest and an Eternal Blood Sacrifice—through Yeshua the Messiah. In the Book of Hebrews chapter nine, referring to the Messiah as our New Covenant High Priest, we read, “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). Yeshua, the Messiah, is God’s final sacrifice for the sin of all mankind.

Reason #10: “The New Covenant Was Promised to the House of Israel.”

The God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is a God of Covenant who is always Faithful to His Word. Concerning His relationship with Israel, we must consider God’s words in Deuteronomy 7:7-9, “‘The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers…Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.'”

Even though Israel has not always been faithful to keep God’s commands, He never stopped loving them (see Jer. 31:3). He found a better way—a “new” way—for His people to keep His covenant. Instead of the Law given to them on tablets of stone, God made a way for it to be engraved on their hearts. A “New” or “Renewed” Covenant. It was given to the House of Israel as prophesied in Jeremiah chapter 31 and would actually be called a “new marriage covenant,” since the first one at Mt. Sinai had been Israel’s “ketubah” or marriage covenant with God.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:31-34, emphasis mine).

So how did the Gentiles become involved with this Jewish New Covenant? It happened at a Passover Seder—Yeshua’s last one on earth. He showed His disciples how the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31 would be fulfilled—in Him—through His blood. All along, God had a plan to open up the Brit Hadasha, the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah, to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. But it all began with the Jews.

Reason #11: “Baptism or Immersion Was Originally a Jewish Practice.”

I had a dear friend Sylvia, now in heaven with her Messiah, who knew nothing about the Bible when she first received Yeshua as her Lord and Savior. She mentioned to me one day that she knew that John the Baptist was a “Baptist,” and was shocked when I told her that he was indeed a Jew, the son of a Jewish priest, or kohen, named Zacharias.

Baptism was, and still is, a Jewish practice. It is called tevilah (teh-vee-LAH), and the place where it often occurs (indoors) is called a mikveh (MICK-veh) or ritual bath.

Cleansing and purification are at the heart of immersion in Judaism. Tevilah involves immersing one’s entire body in “living waters” such as rainwater or spring water. Today, Jewish people experience tevilah as part of conversion to Judaism, family purity, making life transitions, such as weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs, spiritual preparation for Shabbat and holidays, and acknowledgement of a change of status.

Immersion is seen as a symbolic rebirth, like a return to the womb, becoming new, having a new beginning. Jewish understanding is also that the water is like a grave, and the one being immersed is dead to his or her old life. Jewish people have been experiencing tevilah for over 3,000 years.

When Yeshua came on the scene, John (Yohanan the Immerser) was calling people to a tevilah of repentance, of spiritual cleansing, of confession of sin. What about believers in Messiah today? Tevilah or immersion in water should be a part of every believer’s life, according to the New Covenant Scriptures. It signifies cleansing, purification, a new beginning, a change of status, and coming under a new authority—the Word of God. There is one important difference from the Jewish root: New Covenant tevilah is done PUBLICLY, as an outward testimony of an inward change.

Some important verses on baptism include: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved…” (Mark 16:16); “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Messiah Yeshua were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4).

Reason #12: “Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is Rooted in the Jewish Passover.”

As was His custom, Yeshua was celebrating the Passover with His disciples, partaking of four cups of wine and unleavened bread. The bread had to be without yeast (symbolic of sin in the Bible) since God had instructed His people to use only unleavened bread in the ceremony of remembering their deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Ex.12:8).

When the Messiah took the unleavened bread and blessed the Lord with the traditional blessing, He made an astounding proclamation, identifying Himself with the bread: “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me'” (Luke 22:19). It is possible that a special piece of unleavened bread (matzah today) called the “afikoman” was used to represent His body. Afikoman means “I came” or “that which comes after.”

Then came the third cup at the Passover seder, the cup after supper, which had a special name: the Cup of Redemption. Yeshua took this cup, which commemorated the deliverance of God’s people from slavery in Egypt, and gave it new meaning; He applied it to Himself and spoke of a new and greater redemption—not from Egyptian bondage—but from the bondage to sin. Yeshua said, “…This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). The Messiah was instituting a NEW Covenant—making it possible for the first or old covenant to go from the outside to the inside. Forgiveness of sin, through His blood, would be possible because of His coming sacrifice as the Eternal Lamb of God.

What the Church calls “Communion” or “The Lord’s Supper” began at a Passover seder. The root is decidedly Jewish. It would not be biblically accurate to use leavened bread for Communion, given the biblical symbolism and the origin of Passover. Yeshua, after all, is the “Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth” (I Cor. 5:8) as well as the Sinless Lamb of God.

Reason #13: “The Entire Context of the Gospel is Culturally Jewish.”

There are many accounts of Yeshua’s works or miracles in the New Covenant that are only fully understood when seen in a first century, Jewish or Hebraic context. Take, for example, the story of the woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years. No physicians could help her. But when Yeshua came along, she touched the “hem of His garment” and was instantly healed. (See Matt. 9:20-22.)

What garment? What border? Was there something special about the garment or simply about the One who wore the garment? Since Yeshua was an observant Jew, He wore a four cornered garment, arba kanfot (ar-BAH kan-FOHT), typical of the time that had fringes at its border. This garment later became the prayer shawl that Jewish men wear today. It is mentioned in the Torah in Numbers 15:37-40. The fringes of the garment (tassels) are called tzitzit (TSEE-tseet). They served as a reminder of God’s commandments, His Word. (The possible origin of tying a string around your finger to remember something!)

When the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touched Yeshua’s tzitzit, she was making contact with the Word or Commandments of God—but even more—with the Living Word of God. She touched the God who heals, and her faith made her whole.

But there’s more: The tzitzit were knotted in a certain sequence to spell out words, e.g. a person’s name, since the letters in Hebrew have numerical equivalents. The fringes were like a first century credit card, pressed in wax to sign a document. Imagine what Yeshua’s tzitzit spelled out—or (Yeshua – Salvation). The tzizit symbolized the wearer’s authority. Viewing New Covenant stories in a Jewish context certainly gives them a greater depth and a new level of understanding!

Reason #14: “Jews Have Always Needed a Mediator Between Them and God.”

I have Jewish friends who say to me: “We Jews don’t need a mediator. We go directly to God.” That’s not possible. Israel has always needed a mediator and still does. A mediator is necessary because of sin—which separates men from God. Consider Moses. He stood between God and the Children of Israel. While the Lord was giving Moses the two tablets of stone on Mt. Sinai, God’s people Israel were worshipping a golden calf. Moses said to God, “…’if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot ME out of Your book which You have written'” (Ex. 32:32, emphasis mine). Moses actually fell down before the Lord for forty days and forty nights, not eating nor drinking, pleading for the Israelites because of their sin. And God listened to him. He was an effective mediator.

Besides Moses, there was a class of Israelites known as Kohanim or priests, appointed by God to intercede for His people and be mediators between them and Himself. They made atonement for the sins of the people—especially the Kohen Gadol on the Day of Atonement. (See Lev. 4:31;16).

Yeshua the Messiah came to earth as the Eternal New Covenant High Priest and Mediator of the new and better covenant. (I Tim. 2:5, Heb. 8:6, Heb. 9:15, Heb. 12:24).

Reason #15: “Forgiveness of Sin Has Always Required a Blood Sacrifice.”

Limited space compels me to be succinct. As previously mentioned, the Torah makes it clear that without blood there is no remission of sin: “‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul'” (Lev. 17:11). Not fasting. Not prayer. Not repentance. Not good works (mitzvot). Only blood. The truth about atonement for sin TODAY is found in Hebrews 9:26, “…but now, once at the end of the ages, He [Yeshua the Messiah] has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

SO WHAT HAPPENED? By the fourth century, it became a standard practice to tell a Jewish person that he had to “convert to Christianity” once he received Yeshua as Messiah. This meant abandoning his culture and losing his Jewish identity. The following is a profession from the Church of Constantinople, which Jews had to affirm if they wanted to join the holy Community of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua:

“I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads and sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all the other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, sanctifications and propitiations, and fasts, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants and observances and synagogues, and the food and drink of the Hebrews; in one word, I renounce absolutely everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom… and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils.”

The original, authentic Jewishness of the Gospel became obscured by a Gentile contextualized form.

Thanking God for the Jewish root,