It is important that we love our brothers in Judah. While we do have some differences with them, and while we are presently denied an ability to live in the Land of Israel, we need always to show our Jewish brothers the kind of love that we would like to be shown. If we ever lose sight of this, then we have lost sight of the Torah.

 

 

Judah has blocked us out of the Land, and continues to deny us the ability make aliyah (immigration). Yet, when someone else does us wrong, that does not give us an excuse to do them wrong, or to hate them. Two wrongs just don’t make a right. They never have, and never will.

 

In Nazarene Israel and The Post-Millennial Return, we show how there are two houses of Israel, Ephraim and Judah. We also show that at the time of this writing (2011 CE) the bulk of Ephraim is still essentially lost in the replacement-theology church system (which tells them that the church has replaced Judah). This is tragic, because it leads many in Ephraim to hate and disparage their Jewish brothers. This is not pleasing to our Father, who loves both of His children very much.

 

Brothers, if any of you are fathers, how do you like it when your children do mean things to each other? And does it matter to you if they allegedly “have excuses?”

 

Many of our Jewish brothers simply do not know who their Messiah is. This is because our good heavenly Father YHWH has not revealed it to them yet. In His good time, He will.

 

 

Revelation 14:12 (above) tells us that the saints are those who both keep YHWH’s commandments, and also keep the faith of Yeshua. Yet part of keeping the faith of Yeshua is not to do wrong. It is not to do evil to anyone, even if they have done evil to us. It will be a great day when all in Ephraim understand this, for we also have done many evil and awful things to the Jews. Just like two children with a feud, or like the Hatfields and the McCoys, we find reasons or excuses to do each other evil. It has to stop somewhere, and the only people we can control is us.

 

If we are willing to accept it, on the one hand, all of the Ephraimites and Jews who do not walk in the fullness of truth are part of Israel, and on the other hand they are not. On the one hand they are following YHWH, and then on the other hand they are not. This irony was not lost on either Yeshua or the apostles, and this is why some passages describe both Ephraim and Judah as being part of Israel, while other passages say they have been (temporarily) cut off.

 

 

In Divorce, Remarriage and Sexual Sin we showed that YHWH treats divorce as a temporary condition. It is never permanent. While He may have sent Ephraim away and given her a bill of divorcement, she remains His wife by covenant. The divorce is only ever intended to last until she repents, and we can assume that whatever disfavor brother Judah has in YHWH’s eyes is also temporary. While YHWH may have to turn His favor away from us temporarily in order to get us to comply with His wishes, He never abandons His people completely. To do so would be contrary to His nature.

 

Brothers, we are made in YHWH’s image. How do we treat our children? If they do something wrong, we will talk with them. If they continue, we may spank them. If they are really out of control and do something wrong out in society, then they might even go to prison, but does that mean we ever stop loving them?

 

Is there ever a time when we stop loving those who come forth from our loins? Sadly, some of us have done this, but YHWH says that He will never do this to us. He loves His children always, and is always ready to take us back when we repent and start to do right.

 

 

Judah has done wrong to Ephraim, and Ephraim has done wrong to Judah; yet it always amazes me when people try to say that our Jewish brethren are not really Jews. Usually they try to support this claim with some kind of racial argument, suggesting that “all of the true Jews are really either black, or British (or whatever).” We show how these arguments do not work both in the Nazarene Israel study, and in the article About Racial Israelite Theories.

 

Another argument that Ephraimites sometimes make is that “the Jews are not really Jewish because they are really Russian Khazars.” It is true that many Khazars (and Germans, and French, and Arabs, etcetera) did graft into Judah over the centuries, this is only a good thing. It also has no bearing whatsoever on their status as Israelites, because as we will see below, Israelite identity has never been established by genetics, but rather by practice of our faith.

 

[While we are on the topic, it is also very ironic that any Ephraimite would even think to argue that the Ashkenazi Jews are “not really Israelites” due to their inability to trace their bloodlines back to the twelve tribes, because no Ephraimite in the world can do that. We in Ephraim know we are grafted in by favor (grace) due to faith; so it is hypocritical to point our fingers at our Jewish brothers and say, “They are not Israelites! They cannot trace their ancestry all the way back to the twelve tribes!” (because we cannot do that either).

 

Citizenship in the Nation of Israel has always been spiritual, rather than racial (or genetic). It does not depend on one’s bloodlines (or on the color of one’s skin), but on allegiance to YHWH (and His Son). This is why, even though Ruth had originally been a Moabitess she was considered an Israelite from the moment she gave her allegiance to YHWH.

 

 

YHWH does not care about the flesh, but the heart. Even though Ruth had originally been a Moabitess, when she converted she was no longer thought of as a Moabitess, and King David came from her lineage only two generations later.

 

Yochanan HaMatbil (John the Baptist/Immerser) told the Pharisees not to boast in their genetics, or to say “We have Avraham as our father,” because YHWH does not want anyone to glory in their flesh, but only to show fruits worthy of repentance.

 

 

Zechariah 12:10 gives us perhaps one of the strongest witnesses that our Jewish brothers and sisters are, in fact, “Jews” (and are loved of YHWH).

 

 

While it is not absolutely conclusive that this passage refers to the Jews who live in Jerusalem today, it clearly shows that there will one be a people who:

 

1.    Pierced (YHWH/Yeshua)

2.    Live in Jerusalem (and throughout the Land of Israel), and

3.    Have Levites in their lineage.

 

There is only one people who fits all these criteria, and they are the Jews who live in Israel.

 

As we explain in The Post-Millennial Return, YHWH will continue to work with our Jewish brothers and sisters, to show them who He is. While we do not know exactly when that will take place, there are many indications that it may happen soon. Already the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that certain classes of Messianic Jews can return back home to the Land of Israel, and from there the right to return home will more than likely be extended to other classes of believers (in His time).

 

We are in transition, hoping to build good relationships with our Jewish brothers and sisters. It only makes sense that we should be as good to them as we can. It only makes sense to do unto them as we want them to do unto us. And yet some would also point out that Scripture does give us some commands. For example, Second John 7-11 tells us not to receive those who do not accept Yeshua into our homes, or greet them.

 

 

If we accept that all Scripture is inspired, what is the wisdom of this verse? How can we reconcile it with the fact that he who is not against us, is for us?

 

 

Scripture is likened unto a double-edged sword, and it cuts both ways. There are many “Sunday Christians” who are friendly towards Nazarene Israelites, and these are essentially “for us.” They are “friendlies.” Yet there are other Sunday Christians who behave hostilely towards us when they learn we think of ourselves as Israelites; and these are effectively “against us.”

 

 

The word “Shalom” refers to something that is perfect, whole, or complete. For example, in Hebrew, when you pay a bill you “shalem” (make peace). Something (i.e., the debt) is out of balance, and when we pay the debt the situation is made whole, or complete. There are no longer any issues, so there is shalem/shalom.

 

I remember when I first noticed that my Jewish friends (who do not believe in Yeshua) would not say “shalom” to me. If I said “shalom” to them, they would respond with something else. At first I did not understand why they would do this, and I kept saying “shalom” to them, trying to get them to say “shalom” back to me. Then one day I realized that the reason they were not saying “shalom” back to me was not that they wished me ill or anything like that, but that they were just being honest. Even though we were friends, the reality is that there was an issue between us (and obviously, that issue is Yeshua). Even if they were to say “shalom,” there would still be an issue. So, even though we all want to continue being friends, it fell to me to realize just how important it is in the Hebraic mind to be honest and correct in our speech.

 

So now, rather than say “shalom” to them, I typically use that word only with Nazarene Israelites. I use it with those who both keep the commandments of Elohim, and who keep the faith in Yeshua.

 

 

We just have to listen closely, and be honest with ourselves (and with YHWH) as to whether true shalom really exists between ourselves and someone else. If there is true peace and a sense of real wholeness as brothers, then we can bid them shalom. Or if there is no real sense of connectedness and peace, then we should let our greeting return back to us. Yet at no time does this need to become a reason for condemnation, or for doing anything displeasing to our good heavenly Father, by condemning our other brothers.

 

May YHWH restore His people, and build the bonds of friendship and relationship between them. In Yeshua’s name, amein.