Moshiach's RedemptionBy David T. E. S. Cooke
July 12, 2007
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Many Christians are surprised to learn that most Jewish people believe in Christ. Yes, faith in Christ is a cardinal tenet of their religion. However, this is not to say that they accept the Lord Jesus!
A famous Jewish rabbi named Maimonides outlined thirteen essential principles of Jewish belief. Principle number twelve reads: "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Messiah. How long it takes, I will await his coming every day." It also says, "[God] will send our Messiah at the End of Days, to redeem those who await His final salvation."
The Jewish people prefer the term Messiah or
Moshiach (in Hebrew) to refer to Christ. They believe their Bible (the Tanach; our Old Testament) explicitly predicts his coming and redemption. But they vociferously reject Jesus' claims to be this individual. They also dismiss 2,000 years of Christian testimony. Jesus is considered to be, at best, a nice man or, at worst, a satanic impostor. Messiah - Christ - is seen as a future reality that has not yet come to pass. For when he does arrive we will all know it because, according to Judaism, he will redeem the world from every evil.
There is a weekly Jewish Orthodox publication called
L'Chaim - Toronto filled with devotional-style teachings for the average Jewish person. One of its regular columns is entitled, "Moshiach Matters," with a focus on the coming of Messiah. In the days leading up to Passover this year, the following article appeared:
"In [the Jewish month of] Nisan [March/April] our ancestors were redeemed, and in Nisan they will in the future be redeemed," say our sages. More specifically, the Redemption that started with the exodus from Egypt was incomplete for it was followed by further exile and suffering. But the process of Redemption that started then continues till now and will be completed in the true ultimate Redemption with the coming of Moshiach.
Oddly enough, the writer has missed the stunning connection between his hopes for Messiah's redemption and the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed it was in the month of Nisan - during the Passover festival - when Jesus went to the Cross as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). It was then that Jesus led His people (Jewish and Gentile believers) out from this world of sin-bondage into a heavenly kingdom of freedom and righteousness. As the writer states so well, the first Exodus truly was an incomplete salvation that points us forward to "the true ultimate Redemption" in Messiah. But what he cannot see is that this redemption has already been wrought at Calvary.
As Jesus hung on the Cross, He said, "It is finished," marking the completion of the ultimate Passover sacrifice, the ultimate Exodus, the ultimate work of redemption. As the New Testament Scriptures tell us:
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit...who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. - 1 Peter 3:18-22.
No, we are not living in a redeemed world in the Jewish sense - evil still exists; perfection has not yet arrived. But that does not mean Jesus failed to qualify as Messiah. Jesus went to the Cross to save us so that, when He returns to finally put an end to all ungodliness, He will not put an end to us! There is wickedness within each one of us that had to be dealt with first of all, which is what the Cross was all about.
By faith in Jesus' atoning blood, by trusting in His once-for-all sacrifice, the doors to our souls are covered. We are protected from the destroyer. Though we will continue to face suffering and temptation in this life, we are assured of our place in heaven as well as peace and joy along the way. We have confidence of better things to come and enjoy a personal relationship with our God. Apart from Jesus Christ, none of this is possible! May the Lord grant the Jewish people eyes to see Jesus as the very One - the Messiah - for whom they are waiting. Amen.
