THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

There have been many books and articles written on the history of the church, but they have all had one thing in common. They have started with the idea that the church was a new thing, started by Yeshua, and an entity separate from the Jewish faith. That being so, little, if any, notice is paid to the first one hundred and fifty years of church history, or it’s Jewish connection, except for that which is contained within the scriptures themselves. Some, like the Baptists, attempt to rewrite history by claiming that their movement was from the very beginning of the church, instead of the seventeenth century when it actually began. Of course, the Catholics, with better historical evidence to back them, claim that theirs was the first church and all other movements were defections from the ‘Mother Church’. There is a great deal of truth in what the Catholics say, except that they were not the first church any more than the Baptists were. The rise of Roman leadership within the church coincided with the demise of the Hebrew leadership under which it had started. How can I say this? Let us return to the idea that the church was a new thing and see if it holds up under the light of the scriptures.

Let us start with what is undoubtedly the most often quoted scripture in this regard.

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18).

This is the scripture that Catholics maintain established the foundation of the ‘church’ with Kefa, [Peter], as it’s head. I might first point out that it was the statement that Kefa had made that Yeshua, [Jesus], was the ‘Son of the living G-d’, that was the ‘rock’ upon which the church was to be built, not Kefa, himself. That aside, the fact is that the leadership of the early believers is clearly set forth in the scriptures, and it was not Kefa, it was Ya’akov, [James], the brother of our L-rd.

“And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.” (Galatians 2:9-12).

This scripture, along with that found in Acts 15:13, seems to indicate that Ya’akov, not Kefa, was the early leader of the followers of Yeshua. It is made even more evident by the fact that Kefa appeared to fear Ya’akov’s disapproval. However, what I would like you to notice from the declaration of Yeshua about the foundation of the ‘church’, is that not one of Yeshua’s talmidin, [disciples], ever asked the question of our L-rd, ‘What is a church?’. Therefore, this was not a term that was unfamiliar to them nor one with which they did not have a clear understanding of it’s meaning. “How can this be so?” you may ask. A diligent reader of the Bible will not find that term in the Tanakh or ‘Old Testament’. Therefore, it is obviously a Brit Hadashah or ‘New Testament’ term, and as a result, unknown to the people of Yeshua’s day. Is this not so? The answer to this question is, no, it is not so.

The problem is that we are dealing with a multitude of languages including Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, as well as English. The translation of any writing into English is subject, at least in part, to the mindset of the translator. For example, in this instance, the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ is translated as ‘congregation’ in the LXX, or Septuigent, (the earliest Greek translation of the Old Testament), especially when referring to Israel being gathered before the L-rd for religious purposes. Yet this same word is translated as ‘church’ by those responsible for rendering the Greek and Aramaic of the Brit Hadashah into English.

The Greeks originally employed the word ‘ekklesia’, to mean an assembly or ‘congregation’ of free citizens summoned or ‘called out’ by a herald in connection with public affairs. The Jews were an ‘assembly’ or ‘congregation’ who were ‘called out’ from the nations by Hashem, to be His special people and the recipients of His grace. Thus, the Jews were all very familiar with this idea of G-d calling them apart from the world that they might serve Him and the word that Yeshua used in this instance was very familiar to them.

The English word ‘church’ with its cognate form, ‘kirk’ is derived from the Greek word ‘kyriakon’ meaning ‘the L-rd’s’ or ‘belonging to the L-rd’. The translators of the English Bible, saw no connection between the Jews and the church of their day and being hostile in the extreme toward the Jews, they did not intend to imply that there was one. Therefore, in most instances, they translated the word ‘ekklesia’ as ‘church’ instead of ‘congregation’. Having now established that the idea of the ‘church’, or more correctly the ‘congregation of the L-rd’, to be a familiar Jewish concept, let consider the beginnings of our faith.

First, let us consider how the first believers in Yeshua worshipped G-d. Did they worship Him in some totally new way, or did they in fact, continue to worship as Jews? To answer that, let us first consider Yeshua Himself. Did he keep the feasts of the Jews, or did he ignore them as unnecessary? It is clear from the scriptures that Yeshua kept the feasts. Take for example the feast of Pesach, [‘Passover’];

“Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.” (Matthew 26:17-19).

This keeping of Pesach is also recorded in Luke chapter 22, and Yeshua is called ‘the Lamb of G-d’ in many places in the scriptures. The very legitimacy of His sacrificial atonement for our sins, is based on the passing over of the children of Israel by the Death Angel as set forth by scriptures in the Book of the Exodus, and the Passover feast was established in remembrance of this event. To say that Yeshua would ignore the very Feast of the L-rd that made His rescue mission for the soul of mankind possible, is to fly in the face of all that is logical and reasonable, not to mention the scriptures themselves. I believe that this makes it very clear that Yeshua kept the Jewish feast of Pesach. Moreover, Rav Sha’ul, [ the Apostle Paul], expected the followers of Yeshua also to keep Pesach. It is the keeping of this feast that he is talking about in this scripture;

“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).

Because the church has separated itself from it’s Jewish roots, it has misinterpreted this passage to mean the setting up of a new ordinance, or sacrament, that of ‘communion’, when in fact it is speaking of observing Pesach. When Yeshua spoke the words recorded here by Rav Sha’ul, He was speaking of the third cup of the Passover seder, known to the Jews as the cup of redemption. Yeshua was telling them that every time they partook of this cup of redemption at the Passover meal, once a year, they were to remember Him, His sacrifice, and His promise to return. Therefore, communion, as practiced by the ‘church’ today, is based on a misconception of what Yeshua said that night.

The next feast that we shall look at is Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks [Pentecost]. To the Jews this is the anniversary of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai and is therefore considered to be the birthday of Judaism. It is also considered the birthday of the giving of the Rosh HaKodesh, [Holy Spirit], to those in the upper room and the foundation of the Congregation of Believers, or what is commonly called the ‘church’, as recorded in Acts chapter 2. As the day of this feast is numbered from Pesach and not the pagan celebration of Easter, the ‘Church’ does not now even keep the proper calendar day. There are several mentions of this feast in the Brit Hadashah, but I will only use the one that shows that Rav Sha’ul planned his travels in accordance with it.

“But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.” (1 Cor. 16:8).

This makes it clear that Rav Sha’ul placed a great deal of importance on the keeping of Shavuot, [ Pentecost], and there is no doubt that he kept this feast and taught his followers to do the same.

Let me here point out that the timing of the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and the rest of the feast days are not left to our own discretion, to celebrate if we see fit. The scriptures declare these feasts to be ‘the Feasts of the L-rd’, (Lev 23:4), and are therefore gatherings set up by Hashem, Himself, and not to be kept or ignored by His people as they choose. Consider Yeshua’s parable of the feast given by the king;

“Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” (Luke 14:16-24).

I ask you then to consider this. Hashem, Himself, has invited us to feast at His table on certain specific dates. We tell Him that those dates are not convenient for us, but He is welcome to join us on dates that we have chosen! Would you do this to someone of great power, from whom you were seeking favors? What would you think that the reaction of such a person would be toward you if you did such a thing? Then why would you presume to do such things to the Most High G-d, and think that they would be acceptable?

Now let us consider the Feast of Sukkot, [Tabernacles]. Here is the definative answer for those people who believe that the feasts of G-d are no longer of any importance since the coming of Yeshua. Yeshua not only kept this feast but the Prophet Zechariah declares that in the Millennial Kingdom, ruled by Yeshua, this feast shall be kept and that any nation that refuses to keep this feast will have the rain withheld from it.

“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” (Zech. 14:16-17).

The Feast of Sukkot is a seven day celebration. During the celebration, the priest, followed by a procession of the people, would take water from the pool of Shiloach and carry it back to the temple where he would pour it out on the altar. On the final day of the feast, this would be done seven times instead of once as on previous days. It was on the last day of this feast that this scripture was recorded;

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.). (John 7:37-39).

Thus it is clear that Yeshua kept this feast, and any feast He kept, His early followers kept also.

Now let us consider Hanukkah, [ the Feast of Dedication], a celebration that is a not set forth in the scriptures, but is a tradition of the Jews. Surely, this was something that Yeshua would ignore. Hannukkah celebrates the cleansing and rededication of the temple after it was defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes about the year 167 BCE. Antiochus insisted that the Jews accept the Greek forms of worship and abandon the faith of their fathers. He sacrificed a pig on the altar and erected an image of the Greek god Zeus in the temple. The efforts of Antiochus were resisted by a priest named Mattathias and his son, Judah, who was nicknamed ‘Maccabee’ [the hammer]. Judah Maccabee became the leader of the revolt against the Syrians that became known as the Maccabean rebellion. After they had defeated Antiochus, the Maccabee’s sought to cleanse the temple, but only one day’s worth of special oil for the menorah, which symbolized the light of G-d, was available. It would take eight days to prepare more. This light was to be kept lit at all times. It symbolized the eternal light of Hashem, and it was the task of the priest to keep it fed with the holy oil necessary to keep it from going out. A choice had to be made. Was it better to wait until they had more oil prepared before lighting the menorah, or to light it at once, even though it would only stay lit for one day? They decided that it was better to light the lamp and have G-d’s light for one day, than to do without G-d’s light and wait for the new oil. To their amazement, the one day’s supply of oil lasted for the eight days it took for new oil to be made. Did Yeshua keep this feast? The answer is very definitely yes, as the following scripture makes clear;

“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.” (John 10:22-23).

The celebration of this feast became known for the brilliant illumination of the sanctuary of the temple. Yeshua was watching such an illumination of the temple when he uttered these words;

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12).

It was while Yeshua was attending this particular Hanukkah festival that the people asked Yeshua to tell them plainly if he was the Messiah and the following was his answer;

“Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.” (John 10:24-30).

I believe that I have now demonstrated that Yeshua not only kept those feasts set forth in the scriptures, but also the extra biblical feast of Jewish tradition known as Hanukkah. Now let us consider how the Emissaries, [ Apostles], as well as the rest of the early believers, worshipped G-d. I have already shown that Rav Sha’ul expected all the followers of Yeshua to keep the Passover, ( 1Cor.11). I think that it is reasonable to assume that Rav Sha’ul, taught those whom he lead to the faith, to worship as he did himself. Was that some new form of worship? I think not, but let us see what Sha’ul himself said in regard to this subject.

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:” (Acts 24:14).

We today, when looking back on those days, lose sight of two things. First is the fact that those outside of the Jewish faith in the days of Rav Sha’ul, were pagans, worshipping pagan gods. The second is that G-d himself set up the Jewish faith and Yeshua’s coming was and is part and parcel of the culmination of that faith. When Rav Sha’ul and the rest of the Emissaries, came to faith in Yeshua, they did not cease to be Jews nor did they cease to worship in the traditional, [scriptual], Jewish way.

You may ask me did the followers of Yeshua not change the day of worship to the first day of the week, instead of the Sabbath or seventh day? Let us look at the passage that has fostered this belief.

“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.” (Acts 20:7-12).

Does not this scripture make it plain that the followers of Yeshua had changed the day of their worship from Saturday to Sunday? The answer is no! What the ‘church’ fails to understand here is that the first day of the week was a work day for the Jews of that day, even as it is for the Jews in Israel today. Therefore, the early believers had to work on that day. Well, what about the scripture just quoted? Does it not show that they did not work on Sunday, but worshipped then instead? Again, because of a lack of knowledge about the faith and the practice of the Jewish people, the ‘church’ has misunderstood what was happening here. A day for the Jews then and now begins at sundown, not at midnight as it does for most people. The ‘first day of the week’ for the Jews, began at sundown on the Sabbath, or Saturday evening. It was the Jewish practice then, and still is today, to hold a service, mostly in the home, to mark the passing of the Sabbath. This service is called ‘Havdala’ and means ‘separation’. This ceremony marks the separation of the holy Sabbath from the mundane workweek. That the Messianic Jews would meet someplace outside the temple or synagogue to observe this ceremony is consistent with the keeping of the Jewish way of worship, not the starting of some new way. It is still the practice that the leader of the Havdala service gives a talk on things pertaining to the faith, and this is what Rav Sha’ul was doing on that night. It was an extended service because he was a highly regarded leader and he was leaving them the next day. This made it a special occasion and the people were anxious to hear him teach before he left. It explains why this Havdala service went on so much longer than was normal. Have you never faced a separation , perhaps a very long or permanent one, from someone that you cared for very much? And did you not try to stay with that person as long as possible, in order to put off the parting that you so dreaded? Therefore, I say to you again that this was a continuation of the normal Jewish way of doing things, not the beginnings of a new and non- Jewish way of honoring G-d.

When the Emissaries such as Yochanan, [John], Kefa, as well as Sha’ul and the rest, made converts from among the Gentiles to faith in Yeshua, they were made converts according to the Jewish faith, which Yeshua Himself followed. They renounced their pagan beliefs and embraced the faith and customs of the Hebrew people. In other words, they became Jews and they were taught to worship in the Jewish manner by those who brought them to the faith. You may ask me then ‘Why, if the early converts had already become Jews, did some of the Pharisees, who had become believers, insist that they be circumcised, and why did Sha’ul resist their circumcision if they were truly converts?’ To answer that question you need to know a bit more about the Jewish faith as practiced by the Pharisees.

The Pharisees are the fathers of modern Judaism and their ideas are those that guide the traditional Jews to this day. The belief that set them apart from the Sadducees and other Jewish sects, was the belief that Moshe, [Moses], had been given a set of oral commandments by Hashem at Mount Sinai, as well as the written commandments, or Torah. These oral commandments, known as the Oral Torah, were supposedly handed down from generation to generation in an unbroken chain until they were finally written down by Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi, [Judah the Prince], and his colleagues at the beginning of the third century, in a book known as the Mishnah. The Pharisees taught that these laws were as binding on all Jews as the Torah, or written laws themselves. They also taught that Hashem had given the Rabbis the authority to expand or explain these laws, and they did so until the beginning of the sixth century, when the compiling of the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds were completed. The two Talmuds, which were made up of the Hebrew Mishnah and the Aramaic Gemara, reflected the interpretations of both the written and oral Torahs as it concerned all aspects of life, both secular and religious. These are the texts that the leaders of the Traditional Jews spend their lives studying to this day. It was this Oral Torah, or law, that the Pharisees were really wanting the new converts to obey and this is the law from which the Jerusalem council freed them.

“Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.” (Acts 15:22-29).

As to the matter of circumcision of the converts, Rav Sha’ul’s objection to that had to do with the vision of Kefa at Joppa.

“And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house: And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:1-18).

Essentially what Hashem had told Kefa was that He had declared these Gentiles to be clean, and that he, Kefa, was not to declare them unclean by refusing to enter their dwellings, (as all Jews were obliged to do in the case of pagans), or refusing to accept them as brothers in the faith. What these Pharisees were saying was they could not be true Jews, until they had undergone circumcision. Rav Sha’ul understood this to mean that the Pharisees were saying that these converts, whom Hashem had declared to be clean, were still unclean as all Gentiles, or pagans, were. This was exactly what Kefa had been warned not to do on that Joppa rooftop. Rav Sha’ul was so incensed by this blasphemy that he made this statement;

“I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” (Galatians 5:12).

Actually, the King James translation does not convey what Rav Sha’ul was really saying here. A better translation of this verse would be, “I wish the people who are bothering you would go the whole way and castrate themselves!” A rather strong statement by Sha’ul, but one fully expressing his feelings toward those who would place burdens on those who came to believe, and which Hashem had not imposed.

Some have declared that the Gentiles were coming to salvation in Yeshua by a different way than the Jews, thus making two covenants. The Jews coming by the covenant of the Law, while the Gentiles were to come by the covenant of grace, but this is non-sense. Both Rav Sha’ul and Yeshua, Himself, made it very clear that all who came to Hashem, came by the same path.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20).

What Rav Sha’ul was saying here is that all who came to Hashem before Yeshua, came by faith and not by the Law. If that were not true, then the fathers of the faith, even Abraham himself, could not have entered the kingdom, as the Law had not come until Moshe. How could those who had never heard the Law, come to the faith by the Law? They were drawn to faith in Hashem by the Ruach HaKodesh even as we are, according to Yeshua.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” ( John 6:44).

The thing that most people overlook is that the Brit Hadashah or ‘New Covenant’, was given to the Jews, not the Gentiles, and furthermore, Hashem made it clear that this new covenant, was never to be taken from them.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:31-37).

I want you to notice in particular that not only does this scripture make it clear that the ‘New Covenant’ was given to the Jews, but also proves that Hashem is never going to take this covenant from them. But did not Yeshua say that this covenant was to be taken from the Jews and be given to others more worthy? Yeshua did, indeed say those words, but since Hashem does not change His mind nor contradict Himself, we have a problem. Let us look more carefully at this scripture and see if we can discover what we have overlooked in regard to its true meaning.

“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”( Matthew 21:43-46).

A careful examination of this scripture shows us the answer to our problem. First, the leaders of the Jewish nation are the ones that these words were spoken to and they knew that Yeshua was speaking to them personally. That is the reason that they sought to lay hands on Him. He also was speaking to that particular generation of the Jews, the ones that would deny Him and turn Him over to the Romans to be put to death. However, He was not speaking to all the generations of Jews that were to come. Rav Sha’ul made this very clear in his letter to the Romans;

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”( Romans 11:25-27).

By this, we can see that according to Rav Sha’ul, Hashem his never deviated from His purpose of granting salvation to the children of Israel as He had promised Avraham, [Abraham]. For Hashem to cast off Israel after He had promised that He would never do so, would mean that G-d’s word can not be trusted. If that were so, then how could we trust the promises made to us by Yeshua?

What is the point of all this? It is that we, both Jew and Gentile, are a part of the same covenant, and come to Hashem in the same way, and are therefore, of the same faith. There is no distinction between us, and because we worship the same G-d, it follows that we worship Him in the same way. To say otherwise, is to say that there are many roads to G-d, while our L-rd declares that there is only one. Yet, it is clear that the ‘church’ does not now worship G-d in the manner that the Jews or the early believers in Yeshua did.

That being said, how then, did the road diverge from the way of the early followers of Yeshua, to what it is today? The answer is not to be found in the histories written by the ‘church’, although some of it is to be gleaned there. For us to find the complete answer to this question, we must also look at the history of the Jews and the Romans.

First we must understand that the worship of the Jews themselves has also changed to some degree. Part of that is because the temple was destroyed, so that the proscribed sacrifices were no longer able to be performed. However, there were also some changes due to the response of the traditional Jews to the claims of the early believers in Yeshua, and the actions of those believers in response to those claims.

With the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, a new chapter in the history of the Jewish faith was begun. The small group of believers in the Messiahship of the carpenter from Galilee, grew into a new sect within the structure of the Jewish faith. It must be understood, that the Jewish faith of those days, was not a homogeneous structure, any more than it is today. There was an allowance within the faith for widely divergent opinions, even as there is within the ‘Christian Church’ of our day. The scriptures list some of these different groups: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, and the Herodians. History tells us of other sects, such as the Essenes of the Dead Sea scrolls fame, and there were other even smaller groups of which we know little or nothing. These sects had different interpretations of the scriptures, and in many instances, had no great love one for another. A point in case was the Sadducees and the Pharisees, who hated each other, but came together in their desire to get rid of Yeshua.

“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.” (Matthew 16:1).

“But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.” (Matthew 22:34).

The point is that the followers of Yeshua became a sect within Judaism called ‘The Way’, and was accepted as a legitimate expression of the Jewish faith, even though it was considered heresy by some, particularly the Pharisees. This is what Rav Sha’ul had referance to when he said;

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:” (Acts 24:14).

This acceptance by the rest of the Jewish people was tenuous at best, but it remained until the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., (A.D.). At that time, much to the consternation of the rest of the Jews, the followers of Yeshua not only refused to help with the defense of the temple, but fled from Jerusalem. The Traditional Jews thought the Messianic Jews to be traitors and cowards, but the Messianics believed that they were obeying these words of Yeshua;

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:20-24).

After the destruction of the temple, the Rabbis added a nineteenth blessing to the ‘Shemoneh Esrei’, [eighteen], a group of eighteen blessings or prayers, also known as the Amidah, (standing), because they are recited during the synagogue service while the congregation is standing. This additional ‘blessing’ was specifically added because of the defection of the Messianic Jews in 70 C.E. and is called ‘Against Heretics’. To this day, it is still read during the services in traditional Jewish synagogues. It reads;

“ And for the slanders let there be no hope; and may all wickedness perish in an instant; and may all Your enemies be cut down speedily, May You speedily uproot, smash, cast down, and humble the wanton sinners-- speedily in our days, Blessed are You, Hashem, Who breaks enemies and humbles wanton sinners.”

You might ask, ‘How could these men write such a prayer against their own people?’

In reply I ask you a question or two, ‘How would you feel toward an American that you found out had been aware of the plot to bring down the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and refused to do anything to prevent it? Would you not be enraged against such a person?’ I think that if such a person, or group of persons, were found to exist within America, the authorities would be hard pressed to prevent their lynching. Certainly the vast majority of Americans would insist on their punishment, if not their destruction.

This is how the Jews of 70 C.E. felt about the Messianic Jews that refused to defend the temple. Yet these were the sons and daughters of the Jews that had not accepted Yeshua, and so the anger of many Jews abated. The Messianic Jews were, reluctantly, accepted back within the Jewish community by many, but not all. However, the main reason that Messianic Jews remained a part of the Jewish community was due to the fact that those Jews who believed in Yeshua as the Messiah, refused to see themselves as anything but Jews. They were willing to remain sitting in the synagogue while the leaders recited the ‘nineteenth blessing’ against them. Their Jewishness was so important to them that they were willing to endure this insult to maintain their Jewish identity. This uneasy state of affairs continued for some sixty odd years, until about 135 C.E. and the Bar Kochba Revolt.

The Bar Kochba rebellion began as a spontaneous movement. When the Romans had destroyed the temple in 70 C.E. , they had forbidden those Jewish practices that set them apart from other peoples, such as the keeping of the Sabbath and the circumcision of the newborn. Those Jews who wished to keep these practices were forced to do so in secret, by hiding in caves and other obscure places. The Roman officials employed spies to inform on them, and guide the soldiers to their hiding places. When Romans soldiers raided such a location, the people there, who faced death anyway, resisted with much courage and often with great success. In due time, a defensive pact was established between these groups, so that if one was attacked others would come to their assistance. The Jews became so successful in their defense of one another, that they soon progressed from defending themselves to attacking the Roman troops.

It was during this phase, that a military leader emerged, one of great personal strength and military genius. His name was Shimon bar Kosiba, but the great spiritual leader of the Jews, Rabbi Akiva, changed his name to Bar Kochba, which meant ‘son of a star’. This was an allusion to the scripture verse ‘A star shall go forth from Ya’akov’(Numbers 24:17). The ‘star’ of this verse referred to the coming Messiah, and Rabbi Akiva thought that Shimon bar Kosiba was great enough to be that promised Messiah.

You must understand that according to Jewish thought, the Messiah would bring peace to the earth and establish the Jewish nation as the leader of the world. It is because Yeshua did not do either of these things, that traditional Jews do not accept Him as the Messiah. The Jews believe that the Messiah would accomplish the goals of peace and Jewish predominance, in one of two ways, or perhaps even both. One was by being a great spiritual leader and causing Torah to be studied throughout the world. Recently, this was why some Jews thought that Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson of New York might be the Messiah. As the leader of the Lubavicher movement until his death on June 12, 1994, he is thought to have done more than any other man of our times to bring about the study of Torah. The other reason a man might be considered to be the Messiah was for him to be a great military leader, smashing the armies who opposed him and thereby raising up Israel as the leader among nations as it had been at the time of David.

This was what made Rabbi Akiva think that Shimon bar Kosiba might be the Messiah. Bar Kochba organized the many centers of resistance into regular companies, with competent leaders at their heads. With these forces, Bar Kochba began to force the mighty legions of Roman out of their fortified positions until he forced the Roman governor of Jerusalem, Tinneius Rufus, to order the hated Tenth Legion, (the Legion that had led in the destruction of the temple), to abandon Jerusalem to the Jews. This began a two and one half year period of independent Jewish rule over Eretz Yisrael.

The Romans now faced up to the fact that they were confronted by a very serious threat to their rule. It had required three of their legions to defeat the Jews in 70 C.E., but now they brought in six more legions to join with the Sixth and Tenth, already in the country, along with further detachments of infantry and cavalry. They reasigned Julius Severus from Britain to command the army and he was joined by emperor Hadrian, himself.

The Romans then began their counterattack. They respected the forces of Bar Kochba too much to engage them openly, but proceeded slowly and carefully, attacking outposts and interfering with food supplies. The commander of the Twenty-second Legion, did not share this respect and advanced his legion too far into Jewish territory too quickly. As a result, his legion was completely destroyed by Bar Kochba. It was never reconstituted and was forever after omitted from the roster of units in the Roman army.

The rest of the Roman army continued its slow advance until it occupied most of the country surrounding Jerusalem. They then besieged the city for twelve months before it finally, fell into their hands once more. However, the fall of Jerusalem did not mark the end of the Bar Kochba revolt. Instead, Bar Kochba withdrew his troops to the city of Beitar, where he continued his fight for three and one half years. At first things went well for Bar Kochba and his troops. They performed amazing feats of bravery and inflicted great casualties upon the Romans, but with his success, Bar Kochba’s opinions of himself grew as well. The Jews believe that it was the arrogance of Bar Kochba and his attributing his success to himself rather than Hashem, that led to his defeat. Finally, on the ninth of Av of the Jewish calendar, in the year 133 C.E. , Beitar fell to the Romans and Bar Kochba was slain. According to Jewish sources, the number of people killed defending Beitar was enormous. “ For seven years, the non-Jews fertilized their vineyards with no other fertilizer than the blood of the Jews (slain at Beitar)” (Jerusalem Talmud, Gittin 57a). The ninth of Av, according to the Jews, was the same day of the year that the temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. and to this day, it is a day of morning for the Jews.

The cost of this nine year war for the Romans in men and material, was huge. According to Dio Cassius in his ‘History of Rome’, “Many Romans perished in this war. In writing to the Senate, therefore, Hadrian did not employ the opening phrase commonly used by the emperors: ‘If you and your children are in health, it is well. I and the legions are in good health.’ ” Because of this, the Roman hatred toward the Jews and their thirst for revenge against them knew no bounds. The defeat of the Jews in 70 C.E. meant the destruction of Jerusalem; the defeat of the Jews at Beitar sixtythree years later, meant the destruction of Eretz Yisrael.

To illustrate the depth of the rage of the Romans against the Jews at Beitar, let me quote a passage from the Jerusalem Talmud about the day the city fell. “[The Romans] went on killing until their horses were submerged in blood to their nostrils. The [torrents of ] blood [flowed so strongly that they ] overturned [huge] boulders and streamed [twenty miles to the coast and ] two miles out to sea” (Jerusalem Talmud, Taanis 4:5). Roman sources also agree that there were huge losses of life among the Jewish defenders of Beitar. Dio Cassius reports that one half million Jews were killed there.

The murderous fury that possessed the Romans against the Jews, did not end when Beitar fell. Instead the Romans went on a rampage, destroying every inhabited place throughout Judea. The women and children were killed, the men were sold into slavery. By the time the Roman rage had abated, no organized Jewish communal life was left in Judea. When this campaign of genocide was over, the Romans turned to healing their own wounds. The Romans had to rebuild the depleted legions, attend to the enormous number of wounded as well as collecting money to pay for the war. That was a short period of calm for the Jews left in the empire, but once the Romans had dealt with those problems, they turned their attention once again to the ‘Jewish problem’. This time they meant to deal with this problem,---- permanently!

For the remnant of the Jews left in the land of Israel, this was a time of dread and fear. They knew that the citizens of Rome were demanding harsh retribution be leveled against them, and that the leadership of Rome was determined to give their people what they wanted, and more. Some of the Jews, who were weak in their faith, left the Jewish community and denied their Jewishness. It was at this time that the final break came between the believers in Yeshua and the Jewish community.

I have dealt with the Bar Kochba rebellion in great detail here, because of the tragic results that came of it, to both the Messianic Jews and the traditional Jews. I believe this to be the greatest watershed in the history of the faith. It began when Rabbi Akiva declared Shimon bar Kosiba to be the Messiah. Up until that time, the Messianic Jews were a part of the fight against the Romans. The Roman edicts against keeping the Sabbath and the study of Torah, were as abhorrent to them as to the rest of the Jews. However, with naming of Bar Kochba as the Jewish Messiah, the Messianic Jews could no longer support the revolt. In their mind, to do so would mean that they were supporting a false messiah, and this they refused to do.

To the traditional Jews, it was a repeat of the Messianic Jewish refusal to defend their people and their land, that had occurred at the time of the destruction of the temple. Although the Sages, ( those leaders of the Jewish faith who were considered wise and learned men, and who guided the Jewish faith into the new ways of worship found necessary after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E.), including Rabbi Akiva, had already excluded the Messianic Jews as apostates, the believers in Yeshua had continued to claim to be a part of the Jewish community. Now, as they saw that the Romans were going to wreak havoc upon the Jews, they began to separate themselves. While the Messianics admitted that they had their beginnings in the Judaism, they now claimed that they were a new faith and denied that they were any longer a part of the Jewish faith.

Then the separation of the believers in Yeshua and the traditional Jews was complete. Up to that time it was like a divorce where the wife, (the traditional Jews), wanted the divorce, but the husband, (the Messianic Jews), refused to consider it. Now the husband had agreed to the divorce and their parting became official. To get a clear picture of the situation of that time, let us look at the writings of the Jewish historian Halevi.

In his work called ‘Doros HaRishonim’, he quotes the church historian, Eusebius, “Up to the time when the Jews were subdued by the Romans [after the Bar Kochba revolt], there had been fifteen bishops, all of whom were Hebrews by birth--- for at that time the entire [Christian] community [of Jerusalem] consisted of Hebrews--- afterwards, the bishops of the circumcised [i.e. bishops who identified themselves as Hebrews] ceased” ( Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius).

You may ask how, and why, the Messianic Jews separated themselves from the traditional Jews at this time. I will explain the ‘how’ first. After Beitar, the Romans were determined to stamp out the Jewish faith for all time. First of all, they reinforced the ban on the practice of circumcision, the keeping of the Sabbath, the laws of family purity, ( such as woman immersing themselves in the mikva each month, from which the practice of baptism came), and the reciting of the ‘Shema Israel’. The ‘Shema’, is the very foundation of the Jewish faith and is recited twice a day by observant Jews. It begins; “Hear O Israel, the L-rd thy G-d, The L-rd is one!” In the scriptures it goes on to say “And you shall love the L-rd thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” These were the actual words of Yeshua in Matthew 22:37, in answer to the question put to Him as to which was the greatest commandment in the law.

After their deliberations, the Romans added these things to that which were forbidden on pain of death: The teaching of Torah, the wearing of tefillen, ( the binding of small leather boxes containing copies of the law upon their foreheads, and left hands, with the straps going up the left arm, which was closest to the heart, as they prayed, in obedience to that which is written in Deuteronmy 6: 6&8); the reading of the Megillah, ( the book of Esther, read in the synagogue during the celebration of Purim); eating matzah, unleavened bread, the only bread allowed Jews during the celebration of Passover; taking the lulav, a bouquet made up of branches from the date palm, myrtles, and willows, which Jews are commanded to “wave before the L-rd” during the celebration of Sukkot, [Tabernacles], according to Leviticus 23:40; reading from the Torah during synagogue services; building a succah, a temporary structure that Jews are commanded to build and live in during the celebration of Sukkot, in obedience to Leviticus 23: 42; wearing the tzitzis, fringes upon the garments that the Jews were commanded to wear according to Numbers 16:38&39; and freeing slaves in accordance to Jewish Law. In fact the Jews were strictly forbidden to keep any of the feast days that the scriptures commanded them to observe.

These were just some of the things forbidden by the Romans that we are able to document, but there were undoubtedly others, as no exhaustive list of these decrees exists. Rome’s purpose in these decrees was threefold. First they wanted to eliminate the observance of the Torah in general. Secondly, they wanted to end all gathering of Jews anywhere in their empire. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they wanted to destroy any possibility of orderly Jewish communal life continuing anywhere.

In order to make sure of this, the leaders of the Jewish community, or Sages, as well as their students, became the prime target for extermination by the Romans. One of the first to die was the one who had proclaimed Shimon bar Kosiba to be the Messiah, Rabbi Akiva. Despite the danger to themselves, the Rabbis kept on teaching Torah and conducting services. There was a terrible slaughter among them, but they remained faithful to what they saw as their duty, and the Jewish faith survived.

This is even more remarkable when you take into account the cruel and barbaric ways the Romans came up with to kill them by. I will name just two in order to give you some idea of what they did to those they caught breaking their edicts. One way that was very popular, was to heat up iron balls white hot and place them under the victims armpits, thus taking their lives. Another popular way was to shove reed silvers under their fingernails until they finally died.

The Messianic Jews could not justify dying, and certainly not this manner, for an act of war that they had no part in, and for a people, the Sages, that hated them. Yet in order to escape that fate, they had to abandon totally their Jewish identity. Make no mistake, there were those amongst the Messianic community that refused to do this and most of them paid the extreme penalty for their obstinance. However, most of the Messianic community, yielded to the demands of Rome. They no longer kept, at least openly, the Jewish Sabbath, nor any of the feast days. They taught from the writings of Rav Sha’ul and the other Apostles as they were available, and not from Torah. They no longer wore the tzitzis or the tefillin or did anything that would identify them as Jews. The result was that Messianic Judaism, almost totally, disappeared from the scene.

The leadership of the church ceased to come from those who were Jews and was taken over by those who had converted from pagan backgrounds. These men readily accepted the Roman decrees against the Jews, because they had no love for the Jews themselves. It may be hard to understand how they could worship a Jew and yet hate the Jewish people, but the answer is found in the fact that the Jewish people had rejected Yeshua, and handed Him over to the Romans for execution. This made it easy for them to blame the Jews for the death of Yeshua, as they had no love for the Jews anyway. How is it that their hatred was directed against the Jews and not the Romans who actually killed our L-rd, I find difficult to understand, but that is what happened.

As time continued, the new leadership of the church not only failed to blame the Romans for the death of Yeshua, but joined with them in their hatred for the Jews. This acceptance of the Roman hatred of the Jews by the church was codified when Constantine made Christianity the official faith of Rome. One only has to read some of the writings of Martin Luther to see how the anti-Semitism of Constantine has remained in the church.

This has led to the sad state of affairs that exists today, where the church has lost contact with the Jewish roots from which they sprang. This, in turn, has led to a great number of doctrines within the church that could not exist had we continued to adhere to the teachings of the scriptures from the standpoint of Jewish faith and culture as the early believers had, and in point of fact, Yeshua Himself had.

It is my hope, that this attempt by me to bring to light the reason for the split between the church from its Jewish roots, might help us return to those roots and better understand just what Yeshua and the apostles were teaching us as believers. It is to that hope that I dedicate this work.

Wally Callen

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