Why Should Christians Study Jewish Roots?

The Jewish Heritage

Understanding the bible specifically in the Old Testament, you must know that God chose a nation to set up a pattern and model for the world to appropriate to understand and to appreciate the Kingdom of God and that is Israel. The way God dealt with Israel from the beginning: showing His redmeptive plan, giving of Torah (Law), establishing His Messiah, etc these will not be obsolete as time go on. These matter are the foundation in which the whole world is grafted in to the heritage. Understand that when you look at the biblical Israel you are looking at a earthly picture of the Kingdom of Heaven, by that I mean when Israel is living out his full potential and destiny. The structure of the Kingdom, the laws, the practices, the calendar, the ways of life, the ways of worship all these are patterns and copies that are modeled directly from Heaven (Read Hebrews). Yes we no longer observe the animal sacrifice or keeping the forms of law like animal sacrifices, stoning of sinners, etc but you see these things are fulfilled in Christ. However, today we are to live out the full meaning and the true spiritual content of the law of God, that's why Jesus says I came to fulfill it and not to abolish it. For example, many Christians today don't understand the basis of sacrifice, they think Jesus has done it all and therefore as children of God we no longer need to do any sacrifce. No longer the church is weak and broken without the power and the glory of God!! If we don't understand the principles about the animal sacrifice based in the law from the OT, we cannot and we will not understand the life we ought to live out now in the New Covenant. First of all, you must understand that becoming a Christian does not mean now you've joined a religion and you have a faith in God. The meaning of becoming a Christian to the Hebraic mindset is this, you are coming into a covenantal relationship with the creator God and thereby becoming a child of Abraham partaking into the same covenant and given the same invitation to come into a relationship with God and thereby to receive the blessings that was promised to Father Abraham. You see to becoming a Christian to a Hebraic mind has nothing religious about doing, no it is totally about coming into that Jewish Heritage to receive the blessings that was given to the Father of Faith and be grafted into the same family and begin to learning to walk in a relationship with God by faith. The same way God has related to Jacob and Isaac when they first begin that's how we ought to appropriate God.

Covenant

What does Covenant really mean? Because we have come to make a covenant with God that's what being a Christian really mean. Jesus made a covenant with His disciples before He died to bring us back to the roots of that same covenant of relationship God made with man. He's renewing it, He's pointing back to it. We must clearly understand what our lives are about and what we are inheriting and coming into. But what does Covenant mean? Covenant is the most serious agreement usually made with blood and sacrifce between two party based on a most intimate relationship bewtween the two. For example, a marraige covenant between Husband and wife or two brothers are joining themselves becoming brothers by blood. You see God made a covenant with man kind through Abraham. Abraham sacrificed his very son to secure the covenant while God confirmed this covenant with Him by sacrificing His Son Jesus Christ. This covenant is made secure Heaven and Earth in agreement, the everlasting covenant shall never ever be broken again. We are entering in such relationship with God. Our faith is starting with accepting God's sacrifice and based on Abraham's sacrifice, but most Christian stop there not understanding what does it mean to walk out and continue in the covenant relationship. Because it applies to both parties!! Abraham's son for God's son, Jesus' blood for Peter's blood, they've secured the covenant to ensure the blessing to pass on. That's why now adays our Christians are passionless, careless, and lethargic. We don't understand what we are coming into when we sign up for this.

Sacrifice

I agree base on the bible that sin offering, sacrifice for atonement has been made complete by Jesus Christ once and for all. We no longer offer up any sacrifce to atone for sin because that has been done already. But do you know there are many different types of sacrifce in the bible: Burnt Offering, Free Will Offering, Drink Offering, Wave Offering, etc. Sin offering is only the beginning part of sacrifice. God initiate the invitation for us to particate the covenant by extending His offering, but we establish and complete it by giving our offering so the marriage covenant between the Lamb and His Wife can be made secure. Do you know your life is about offering up your marriage offering, gift, and sacrifice to your husband soon to be? This is about the greatest Marriage ever be given in all of History. Christ's offering to His Bride the church, and the corporate offering and sacrifice of the church to complete the vows between the two, so God can accomplish and seal the marriage for all eternity to tell. This is the most beautiful story of the universe.

Let me show you what God taught us about our sacrifice in the New Testament most Christians are ignorant about. 

[ A Living Sacrifice ] Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:1)

You see to offer up our bodies as living sacrifice to God is not a one time offering we make at altar call, it is an ongoing day to day battle. We continue to put our lives on that altar and holding on to His words day after day. We continue to give ourselves to walk in His holiness, righteousness refusing the defilement and sin of this world which is so easily entagled upon us. We continue to give ourselves to His words so our minds are being transformed to the system and thinking of Heaven instead of the Babylonian, Barbaric, Greek, or Egyptian way of thinking. This is a New Testament sacrifice that God says it is the most reasonable thing to do. Whenever we choose to live according to the word, like to hold ourselves to sexual abstinence before marriage and we continue to hold to marriage between one woman and one man we are offering ourselves as sacrifice to The Lord. Whenever we give oureslves to meditation and studying of His word so we can live like the word and to figure what God's will is for us at every given season, then we are offering up sacrifice to Him. This is the sacrifice of offreing our bodies, meaning our bodies are being at the right place at the right time, doing the right thing that God wants us to do. I believe the OT form of Burnt Offering is really speaking to us of this type of worship. And whenever these type of wholehearted offering is offered up, fire will fall from heaven to consume the sacrifice as a sign that God is pleased with our service and He accepted our sacrifice, He has heard our prayers and He will bless us. The same way in the New Testament, when you begin to walk in radical devotion and holiness unto The Lord, the Holy Spirit fire will fall on you and consume you as a sign that God is pleased with you, He had accepted your offering made to the God of fire. His favor and glory will fall on you, His authority and government will be restore to you. And He is granting authority over the powers of darkness and the evil authority (Elijah's Sacrifice). This is why I believe it is so important to us to connect to Jewish roots and understand much of these mysteries and not cut off the roots and say those are irrelevant to us today. All the Law are only patterns of what is true in the Spirit realm and the Kingdom of God, Jesus came to reveal the meaning of it and enabling us to appropriate them through His blood and sacrifice. Only when we connect to them rightly apply the principle joining to the roots we will be able to receive the fullness of blessing God has ordained for us.

More verses on sacrifce:

and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph 5:2)

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (Phil 2:17)

I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. (Phil 4:18)

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrificesGod is pleased. (Heb 13)

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 2:4-5)

So here we can see that we no longer offer up physical sacrifices of animals, but we do offer up spiritual sacrifices to God becaus we are holy priesthood unto God. Here we can categories a few areas of spiritual sacrifices:

1. Sacrifice of Praise and Worship (Wave/Meal/Peace Offering)

2. Sacrifice of Giving of Finance (like Grain Offering/Firstfruits)

3. Sacrifice of Intercession (sin offering, for us to applying Jesus blood and work on someone else)

4. Sacrifice of service (like drink offering)

5. Walking in Holiness and Obedience (like burnt offering)

6. Repentance (Trespass Offering)

There are much mystries we are yet to discover when we connect to our Jewish roots. Lastly our goal here is not to live and become like a Jew, rather we are to living according to biblical way of life in every arena of life. Most Christians box God in their spiritual area, yet this is still a Greek mindset compartmentalize our lives and only allow a certain portion for God. However God wants to transform every part of us from our sex lives to our relation to nature. You see when we come to realize how Hebraic mindset is biblically aligned you see all that God really have a saying in all these areas and His glory will invade all of them. We must not just study the outward form or follow customs, rather we must dig deep to understand the pattern the spiritual meaning and to act according to revelation so we may advance to where He wants us to be. What God really wants us to become is a Jew inwardly not by blood.

28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit,not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. (Romans 2)