Transcription
You know how can God be infinite and reveal Himself to find out human beings? How can He be transcendent and yet imminent? We have the answer: it's Yeshua. God can reveal Himself in a person.
[Music]
Hey friends, I'm back with Dr. Michael Brown, and today we are discussing and answering theological Jewish objections to Jesus.
One of the questions I had before believing in Jesus as the promised and foretold Messiah, Son of David, born in Bethlehem, had to come before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. He brought the Gentiles to faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the one prophesied in Isaiah 53, from the tribe of Judah, a prophet like Moses, one who would be forsaken and pierced but vindicated, the rejected cornerstone, the one called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Yeah, that guy. Should I go on? No, I can, but don't take my word for it; it's all in our Hebrew Scriptures.
So, before putting my faith and trust in Jesus, one of the main theological statements I used to make was, "I don't need a savior; I can save myself." Many Jewish people don't have a concept of needing a savior, a mediator between us and God. Michael Brown will be discussing that and more with us here today. For the full interview, click on the link below in the description. Check it out!
So, let's get into some theological objections. Most Jewish people would say believing in Jesus is idolatry. You Messianic Jews and Christians believe in multiple gods; we believe in one, as it says in the Shema. How do you respond to that?
We believe in one God and one God only. We believe in one God who is echad. The Hebrew word "echad" in and of itself does not mean explicit singularity. You know, the first time it's used is in Genesis 1: "You have day and night, one day" (Yom Echad). So, it's the combination of day and night that brings one day.
Then you have in Genesis 2 that Adam and Eve, the man and the woman, will become "basar echad"—one flesh. You know, you have this usage throughout the Old Testament. "One" just means one, like our English word "one."
The one God of the Bible, just using the Hebrew Bible, we see sits enthroned in heaven as God. We see that His presence fills the universe. We see that He works among us by His Ruach, by His Spirit. And we see that at times He reveals Himself in human form, like in Genesis 18.
So, are there multiple gods, or is there one God sitting enthroned in heaven whom no one can see because of the brightness of His glory, who sometimes makes Himself known in human form on the earth in a human body, and who works among us at all times by His Ruach, by His Spirit? That's the God that we worship.
So, Christians develop the theology called the Trinity that speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But that's what I just described: the Father hidden in glory that no one can see, the Son who makes Him known, and the Spirit who works among us.
And it answers the many questions that are posed in Judaism. You know, how can God be infinite and reveal Himself to finite human beings? How can He be transcendent and yet imminent? We have the answer: it's Yeshua.
So, we worship one God and one God only. God does not become a man; a man cannot become God. But God can reveal Himself in a person. God can take on human form.
So, we have the precursors in the Hebrew Bible and then the fullness of it in the New Testament, where the Word, the very revelation of God, comes in human form. And that's why Yeshua can pray to His Father, because there is this relationship of Father and Son, and yet the Son Himself is eternal.
You say, "Well, that's a lot to think about." Well, study Jewish mysticism, the ten Sefirot—that's even more to think about! Look at the various Jewish ways of where, if in the Hebrew Bible, God is seen.
Well, it's the glory of God that we see. I mean, look, one place God says, "You can't see me and live," and in another place, He says, "You see me; come here," and it says they saw Him. How are both true? It's all through the Son; it's all through Yeshua. That's how it all comes together.
We worship one God, one God only. And around the world, Jesus has brought hundreds of millions of former idol worshipers out of idolatry to now worship the God of Israel.
Another objection is that the Messiah will be a man but will not be divine. So, there are verses in the Hebrew Bible that do point to a divine Messiah. The best translation of Isaiah 9:5 and Hebrew 9:6 in English is that the Messiah will be called "Pele Yoetz El Gibor Aviad Sar Shalom," which is a series of names, and "El Gibor" is Mighty God, which is the title of Yahweh in Isaiah 10:21.
In Psalm 45:7, it's a wedding psalm of the king, but the Psalms are often foretastes of the Messiah and pictures of the Messiah. It says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever." This is about the King of Israel; it obviously can't just refer to him in its fullness. It refers to the Messiah.
So, you do have these verses, and then Judaism has a highly exalted Messiah. So, our simple question is: What does the Hebrew Bible say? That's our question. Let's put aside the New Testament. What does the Hebrew Bible say?
And we can point to a divine Messiah in the Hebrew. That being said, the great emphasis is that the Messiah is one of us, that He took on flesh and blood. That's the miracle—that's God. Think of this: reaching out His hand to come right in our midst and live among us while still remaining God enthroned in heaven.
Alright, Dr. Brown, one last final note to anyone out there watching, especially if they are Jewish. If you go to realmessiah.com, that is our Jewish website, watch some of the debates that I've had with rabbis. Get both sides; watch them.
You've got questions; probably a lot of your questions we've already answered there. We've got written answers, we've got video answers. Find out more about my own testimony, and then ask God: "God, would you show me?"
Maybe you don't even know if God’s there. "God, if you're there, help me to know it." It's hard for me to believe in God in light of the Holocaust or losing my wife to cancer or the divorce I went through. It's hard for me to believe in God.
You know, just be honest: "God, if you're there, help me." And if you believe in God, you're a Jewish person: "God, help me to follow you as a Jew."
Something's been wrong in our history—that the Temple's been destroyed for almost 2,000 years. Yeshua said it would happen because we rejected Him. He said we'd be scattered around the world until the fullness of the Gentiles came. Then it was time for our return. Jerusalem would be trampled underfoot by the nations.
Something's been wrong through our history. It's not a surprise that we rejected Moses, we rejected the prophets, we went into exile, we came back, then we rejected the Messiah, and we went back into exile. There's a reason.
But God desires to have mercy. There is a way for your sins to be forgiven. There is a way for you to be intimate with God. There is a way for you to know what happens to you when you die. There is a way that you can bring a message of hope and light to the rest of the world as a faithful Jew.
So, explore, study, dig, pray, and you will come out believing the same thing we do: Yeshua, Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world.
Wow, well, there's so much more to cover with you, Dr. Brown, but obviously, we can't cover it all in one discussion. Where can people find more about you and see your teachings, find your books?
Yeah, askdoctorbrown.org is the general website. Askdrbrown.org. We've got all of our videos there, all of our articles, and other things. And then from there, if they just click on "Jewish," it'll take them to realmessiah.com. But to get the rest of the story, all the other materials, askdoctorbrown.org.
Great! And to all those Hebrew speakers and readers out there, we have here in Israel Dr. Brown's book, "The Real Coaster: Jesus Yeshua, One of Us." Like you said, just click on the link in the description of this video, and we can send you a copy.
We have been sending out quite a lot of these recently, so we can send you a free copy of this book if you click on the link down in the description.
Dr. Brown, thank you so much for your time here and for sharing your wisdom with us on the Jews for Jesus YouTube channel.
My joy! Keep up the great work there. Thank you, Dr. Brown.
So, don't be afraid to read the New Testament for yourself. I mean, you owe it to yourself. After all these years and all those times hearing that it's a book for Gentiles, it's anti-Semitic, it's for the Christians, we have ours, they have theirs.
It won't take long before you realize that none of what you were told was true. All it took was this: Jesus came to unite Jew and Gentile as one in Him.
So, thanks for watching, and don't forget to visit our website at jewsforjesus.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. God bless you all!