Are Jews Really Jews?
When Jesus confronted the “Jews” in John 8, they claim to be sons of Abraham, but not sons of Israel/Jacob. That was curious, I thought. Why not claim to be the sons of Israel?
The Edomites (whom God hated) were forced to convert to Judaism shortly before the time of Christ. It is said that King Herod was, in fact, an Edomite.
The Jews in John 8 claim never to have been enslaved. If the Jews of John 8 were Edomite converts, that would make sense. Esau was Jacob’s brother but Esau’s descendants did not go down to Egypt like the sons of Israel, where the sons of Israel became slaves.
Were the Jews in John 8 claiming NOT to be the descendants of Jacob/Israel?
Are there in fact any descendants of Israel left? We know Paul was one of the tribe of Benjamin. Certainly, James (the brother of Jesus) was of the tribe of Judah.
So where did they go? Or does it matter?
The Old covenant is utterly abolished and any claims to a relationship with God outside of Jesus Christ is really an alliance with the Antichrist.
There are not two chosen peoples — there is only one: those in Jesus Christ. When Paul refers to neither Greek nor Jew (Galatians 3:28), this is what he is saying: Identity as the chosen people Christ makes us one in Christ superseding our descent from Shem, Ham, or Japheth for the purpose of being of the Chosen people. The differences certainly remain for other purposes, such as social organization. How, otherwise, would one interpret that there is neither male nor female in Christ? You can be sure Paul was not advocating gender fluidity — that would utterly compromise the whole of Scripture. Interpreting Galatians 3:28 as an abolition of race would contradict Paul as well, who was willing to give his eternal soul for the salvation of his fleshly race. The differences remain between races just as do the differences between male and female — claiming otherwise is a betrayal of the Grand Narrative of the Holy Scriptures, it is a denunciation of God’s hand in the destruction of Babel, and it is an alliance with Babylon the Great in the Revelation.
More than one contemporary Jew has written that modern Jews are NOT descendants of Jacob/Israel, rather they are European converts. It is said that the vast majority of modern Jews are Khazarian from the area around the Black Sea and that they converted to Judaism over a thousand years ago, whence the Ashkenazi and even Sephardic Jews descend.
If they are converts, the opinion of Jesus Christ is follows:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)
If they are not converts, Christ statement stands — the Pharisees and Scribes (the torch bearers of Judaism) remain sons of hell.
Later, after the Resurrection, and after the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Jesus Christ renders this opinion of Jews in Sardis and Ephesus: they are false Jews of the synagogue of Satan. Rev 2:9 and Rev 3:9. Now, one could say that this statement only applies to the Jews of Sardis and Ephesus at that time (about 95 A.D.), but if that is the interpretation, then could one not say (as many evangelicals do) that entire portions of the Holy Scripture only applied at that time and in that context? That is a heresy (man made tradition) the church has dropped into. Did Jesus Christ say, “hey, the fifth commandment only applied way back in the time of Moses — it doesn’t mean that anymore.” No, He didn’t say that, but some evangelical Pastors take that route, replacing the father with themselves (as the Pharisees did in Matthew 15). Did Jesus Christ only appoint males as apostles because that was the context of the time? Should we then start ordaining females as heads of local churches? Ahh, but we have, and that is the route the Jews took — elevating their traditions over the Word of God.
Even if all the modern Jews are direct descendants of Israel/Jacob, to the degree that they reject Jesus Christ is the degree to which they are anti-Christ. Nothing can be clearer than 1 John 2:22: This IS the AntiChrist — he who rejects the Father and the Son.
Does the church not remember the rebellion of Korah? Descendants of Levi were swallowed alive into hell as they rejected their saviour and leader Moses (Numbers 16). Their rejection of Moses was their damnation, just as the modern Jews rejection of Jesus Christ is their damnation.
If in fact the Jews of the time of Jesus were all direct descendants of Jacob/Israel, what is His opinion of Jews?
- John 8:44 — Jews are the sons of the devil.
- Matthew 12:34 — The leaders of Judaism are a brood of vipers — the seed of the Serpent referenced in Gen 3:15
- Matthew 23:15 — the Scribes and Pharisees are sons of hell.
Q: Why does the evangelical church, in essence, worship those antiChrists?
A: The Church has gone the way of the Jews in elevating man-made traditions over the word of God. The Jews’ traditions are encapsulated in the Talmud, but that was an oral tradition in the time of Jesus. The evangelical church’s “traditions” claim that the Jews (antichrists in that they reject the Father and the Son) are in fact God’s Chosen. This contradicts what Jesus Christ directly said as referenced above. It also contradicts Hebrews 12:22-23 and also Jesus claim that He Himself is the Temple of God and that we (those in Jesus Christ) are in fact living stones built together as the Temple of God.
So between the great falling away in Christendom (since the “Enlightenment”) and the modern Church’s worshipping of the spirit of the Anti-Christ, we are in a world of hurt.
If I could do one thing it would be to re-arrange the Church’s thinking regarding who the real Chosen People are — they are ONLY the baptized and confessing believers in Jesus Christ as the literal and only begotten Son of God who created the entire world. Jesus christ is utterly unique — there is no one like Him.
Based on what Jesus Christ said, there is no Biblical foundation whatsoever to consider Jews as a people to be worshipped or adored or treated with deference. Should individuals (whether identifying as Jews or not) bow the knee to Jesus Christ I will rejoice for them as I rejoice at Paul’s conversion.
I do not advance a religion; I advance the interests of my Monarch Jesus Christ. He is the rightful ruler now of every nation on earth. The goal the Great Commission is the conversion of entire races and nations and bloodlines to recognize Jesus Christ as their Monarch.
This is in fact what happened to many European nations — they accepted Christ as their Monarch — their banners are emblazoned with the Cross of Jesus Christ. Thus, Europe was known as Christendom. Would that Christendom arises again, would that Ezekiel 37 be the destiny of the nations once explicitly loyal to Jesus Christ.
Fritz Berggren, PhD