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Standing as Your Christian Sibling
at the Door of the Synagogue
from the book YHWH Is Calling
Dear Jewish sisters and brothers, I begin writing to you as a descendant of the ancient exiled tribes of Ephraim.
I feel as though I am standing outside your synagogue, lost for a long time as your sister, unable to muster the courage to knock on the door. Through the door, I hear the joyful Sabbath songs coming to an end and the study of the books of Moses beginning from the portion appointed for the week. As I raise my hand to knock, I pause for a moment to reflect on the teachings I received about the Scriptures during my own childhood. How lost I was, as a Christian, in knowing the character and will of our God until around the age of 40. In my childhood, Christian teaching in my congregation focused mainly on the life and works of the Son of God who had come among us (Immanuel). I learned much about the life of the Son of God and His role as our Savior (Hamashiach), but I did not learn the original instructions set by His Father for His chosen ones. Yet, our Savior, Yeshua, faithfully carried out the will of the Father and urged us to follow His example. Yeshua fulfilled the law, even though He also introduced some changes through the New Covenant and the new era of grace it inaugurated. After all, our Savior is Himself Jewish, as is evident from His abundant teaching in the Gospels, where He frequently quotes and explains the Scriptures.
My hand, almost raised to knock on the door of the synagogue, falls back down. Through the Jewish lineage of our Savior, descended from the line of David, I find myself reflecting on the anti-Semitism that has spread throughout the world, even among Christians. How contradictory! YHWH declared in the Scriptures that He would allow the descendants of ancient Ephraim to be led astray, but how great has been the cost of the veil placed over the eyes of Christians. Dear Jewish brothers and sisters, I am truly sorry for what you, as a nation scattered across the world, have had to endure among the nations. Forgive us on behalf of our forefathers. Forgive those who do not understand what they have done or what they still do, whether they are Christians or not.
Our Almighty Father YHWH never intended for His chosen people to be divided into two nations in the first place. Like a punishment from an angry Father for His children who were quarreling and rebelling against His instructions, He allowed anti-Semitism to remain as a shameful burden to be carried for a set time, even up until these days, between the descendants of that same ancient kingdom.
Ephraim, who was driven into exile before Judah and from whom Christianity emerged, was granted the privilege of being the first to receive Yeshua into their lives. In His great global plan of salvation, YHWH allowed the eyes of those first exiled, along with those of the Gentile nations, to be opened first to the understanding of Yeshua as the promised Messiah of the Scriptures. Yet, as a veil over our eyes and a stumbling block for us Christians, we inherited that grave false doctrine, which sows anti-Semitism and breaks the love between brothers and sisters, through the rule of an ancient emperor in the 4th century (I have addressed this topic in previous chapters as part of the Lord’s call for Christian congregations to return to the original roots of the faith and repent of the false teachings that have influenced us for centuries).
Once again, in my mind's eye, I see myself gathering the courage and hopefully raising my hand at the door of the synagogue. I would want to knock, and as the door opens, I would joyfully begin to explain, my hands gesturing wildly, the good news declared by the Lord. As serious and terrible as all that has happened may have been, I would almost want to shout that YHWH has now promised to remove those veils from the eyes of both siblings. We can once again be that one, united group of the original chosen people, rejoicing together as we praise our Almighty God, the Lord of Hosts, and eagerly await the return of His Son to establish the Kingdom!
Dear Jewish sisters and brothers, if only everything were as simple as a single Christian coming to the door of the synagogue in sisterly love, seeking reconciliation and joining together for a shared meal and celebration. Through the powerfully confirmed word of our Almighty, I know that this reconciliation and the restored unity between the sisters is what our Heavenly Father desires to give to His children in this new era. But who is willing and able to receive this good news?
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Scriptures taken from the New King James Version:
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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“ Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments”
(NKJV PS78:1-7)
Picture: The Church of Utsjoki, located in the far north of Finland.