Future
of JudaismFuture
of Judaism
The "suffering servant" of Isaiah 53:
The "temporary"
salvation expected by many Jews from the Messiah is like nothing compared with the
"eternal" and "universal" salvation brought by the Messiah, just like
a drop of water compared with the ocean...
The salvation brought by Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, was like the one announced all
along the Tanakh: Salvation from eternal Hell into eternal Heaven... and not only for the
Jews, but for every man and woman of the human race, born before or after Jesus the
Christ.
The "future" of Judaism is described in many places of the Scriptures:
The main error of many Jews is that they were expecting a Messiah to
save them from the "temporal" problems, when the Christ of the Torah is an
"eternal" savior... he comes to save man from eternal Hell to bring him to
eternal Heaven...
... and not only the Jews, he comes to save each human being, since Adam to the last man
or woman to leave the earth, it is a "universal salvation"; this is why Jesus
tells us that Abraham and all the prophets are in Heaven, when all of them lived many
years before Jesus (Matt.8:11, Lc.13:28)... he came to save every Hindu and Muslim and
Indian, and every Egyptian who lived 5,000 years before Christ, and every man and woman
who may live 5,000 years from now...
... The "temporary" salvation expected by many Jews, was like nothing compared
with the "eternal" and "universal" salvation brought by the real
Messiah, by Jesus the Christ...
... Another problem for many Jews is that the Tanakh (Old Testament) gives 300 prophecies
of the First Coming of the Messiah, the suffering servant of Is.53, but gives 500
prophecies about the Second Coming of the Messiah, the triumphal king of Zach.14... to the
point that some rabbis talk about "two Messiah", and for most Jews, the
"triumphant one" was the Messiah they were expecting.
- WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?... to appropriate the salvation
brought by the Messiah?...
... The answer is the massage of each page of the Bible, in 3 words: "faith in
God", in the Old Testament... and "faith in Christ" in the New, which is
almost the same!... "trust in God"... (John 3:36, 5:24).
St Paul repeats it in different ways: "The Gentiles, who were not
looking for saving justification, found it, the righteousness through faith. While Israel
looking for saving justification by law-keeping, did not succeed in fulfilling the Law.
And why not?, because justification comes from faith, not from works" (Rom.9:30-32).
- WHAT TO DO?... ... Very simple, says St. Paul: "If you confess with your lips that
Jesus is the Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved" (Rom.10:9-13) ... everyone!... Jew or Gentile... Christian or Muslim or
Hindu... Everyone!... and this is the only way for everyone!...
And this is nothing new!:
- Starting with Abraham, he was declared and actually made "just", because of
his "faith to God", "Abram put his faith in the Lord, and this was reckoned
to him as righteousness" (Gen.15:6)... the Circumcision of Abraham in Gen.17 was not
the reason for his justification, but the "sign" that he was declared
"just"...
God tested several times the faith of Abraham, and again the Lord changed the name of
Abram into Abraham not because of his works, but because he made the works with faith in
God... "faith" was the key of his justification, not "works", says St.
Paul (Rom.4:3, Gal.3:6), the "works" were the signs that he had really
"faith in God"... by faith in the Lord he was justified!... it is the same in
the New Testament: "we know that a person is justified not by the works of the Law
but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we
may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the Law, because no one
will be justified by the works of the Law" (Gal.2:16).
The massage of each page of the Bible, is "faith in God":
... The Prophets give to faith so much importance, that "not to have faith in God" is called: "prostitution against God", or "adulteress against God" (Hos.1:2, Is.1:21, Jer.2:20, Lev.20:7, Deut.31:16, Ex.34:15).
"By faith we understand that the universe was created by a word from God.
It was because of faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and for
that he was acknowledge as just, and through this, though dead, he still speaks.
... It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not experienced death.
... It was through his faith that Noah took care to build an ark to save his family; his
faith was a judgment to the world, and he was able to claim his own righteousness that
comes from faith.
... It was by faith that Abraham became justified. It was equally by faith that Sarah was
made able to conceive in spite of her age.
... It was by faith that Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob and Esau for the still distance
future.
... It was by faith that Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter and
chose to be ill-treated in company with God's people; by faith he left Egypt, he kept the
Passover by faith, and by faith they crossed the Red See.
... It was by faith that the walls of Jericho fell down.
... By faith, Gideon, Samson, Samuel and David, and all the Prophets, conquered kingdoms,
did what was right and earned the promises... (Hebrews 11).
FIRST, "the Jews coming to the promised land", since the
establishment of the state of Israel;
SECOND, the "Jews for Jesus" movement, realizing and believing that Jesus of
Nazareth was the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, the promised Messiah, the
Christ...
- We will comment both of them in "Judaism Today", and
Branches of Judaism
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Edited 1998 Home E- Mail to: J. Dominguez, M.D. Last edition: May, 2006