by Tony Pearce ( Light for Last Days).               Back to menu ...

We have had scandals and splits, false prophets and fiascos. There has been a huge gulf between claims of what is happening and what is really happening. Back in the 1980's the Jewish community was genuinely concerned about the threat (as they perceived it) of the Messianic Movement. Today the Jewish community in the UK for the most part sees the Messianic Movement as a threat they have seen off.

As one who, although not Jewish, has struggled along with the movement, this led me to do some thinking and praying, asking the Lord, 'What has gone wrong? What is to be done?' I read three passages of scripture, which were relevant - Ezra 4-6, Psalm 85, Isaiah 66.1-5.

In the Ezra passage the returning remnant from Babylon had the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple and re-instate the worship of the Lord in Jerusalem. Although they started well, they were soon hindered and frustrated by the inhabitants of the land. First these inhabitants wanted to build with Zerubbabel and the Jewish remnant. Zerubbabel rightly refused to let them build (4.1-3). They then discouraged and frustrated the work (4.4-5), and made false accusations against the builders to Cyrus, leading to the discontinuing of the work (4.5-22). The work restarted through the ministry of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who overcame the opposition of their adversaries by making appeal to King Darius to consider the original edict of Cyrus (5). This he did and the work recommenced and was successful.

Psalm 85 is also about restoration and is an appeal to God to forgive the sin of his people and to restore true worship, to 'revive us again' that 'your people may rejoice in you.' God's answer is to speak to his people and to tell them that they should not 'turn back to folly'. Verses 8-13 of the Psalm really speak for themselves and need no comment. 'Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness look down from heaven.'

One of the major causes I felt that the Lord showed me for the failure of the Messianic Movement is the lack of truth, i.e. pretence. We have had Gentiles pretending to be Jewish, Jews who have never been Orthodox pretending to be observant, even some pretending to be rabbis when they are not. We have seen a kind of pseudo Jewishness which most real Jews are totally turned off by. We have had claims of success at bringing Jews to Jesus, which are bogus, and prophecies of impending revival, which have proved false. The Messianic Movement has also fragmented as people looked to America and apparently successful groups from the USA for inspiration and support rather than to the Lord.

As a result the Messianic Movement has imported many of the divisions and craziness which North American Christianity has injected into the UK Christian scene in general. The end game has been a state of decline, fellowships folding, splitting, leaving behind disillusioned and often bitter people some of whom are now alienated from the Lord and from one another. The result is a situation of decay and inertia not unlike the situation described in Ezra 3.

Isaiah 66, which is also a prophetic passage dealing with the returning remnant (also looking beyond that to the end times), tells us what kind of people God requires to remedy this situation - those who are 'poor of a contrite spirit and who tremble at my word.' No place for pride in Jewishness, learning, achievement here. No place either for the outward form of religion - even that which is ordained of God (verse 3). Verse 5 tells us that those who follow this way will be hated and cast out by 'your brethren.'

One of the delusions of the Messianic Movement has been that if we can be Jewish enough the Jewish community will accept us. Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok's book on Messianic Judaism is probably the most sympathetic treatment of the subject one could find by a non-believer. Yet his chapter on Jewish responses to the Messianic Movement shows that the Jewish community always rejects Jewish groups, which believe in Jesus in a way it never does if the Jewish community wanders into things, which are really hostile to the Torah and the Prophets, like humanism, Yoga or New Age.

It does not matter how Jewish we try to be in our music, our liturgy, our life style, how much we campaign against anti-Semitism and for Israel. If we believe in Jesus (Yeshua / Y'shua or whatever we want to call him) we are not kosher. The reason for this actually has little to do with culture or history. It is the same thing that Paul was writing about in Galatians 4 - that the flesh always persecutes the spirit as Ishmael persecuted Isaac. That does not mean to say that we should not campaign against anti-Semitism or for Israel and that we should not identify as Jewish as much as we wish to. But we should do it because we are convinced that it is right to do, not because we hope it will attract Jews to believe in Jesus.

Going back to the verse from Psalm 85 quoted above, 'Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness look down from heaven,' the only place we can find all these qualities is in Messiah Yeshua. The good news is that we can build again, even despite past failures and setbacks. He is the author of the edict for the building of this temple and He does not change His mind.

It is only in Messiah that the answer to the problems facing the Jewish community individually and collectively can be found. In view of the crisis, which is coming sooner or later (and in my view sooner rather than later) on Israel, we need to be preparing now for the opportunities that will come when that crisis breaks.

Today God is looking for those who will be of 'a contrite spirit and who tremble at my word.' He is looking for those who will turn away from empty words and silly religious games and grapple with the real issues facing the world in general and Jewish people in particular. He is looking for those who will build according to His word and not according to a lot of man made ideas, which lead to confusion and error. He needs people who will get involved in evangelism to the Jewish community and the teaching of the Word of God within the Messianic Movement. Will He be able to find such people?

Tony Pearce, email