It has been said that the God of the Christian church is not the same as the God of the Jews, but is that really the case? I have heard more than one Christian Theologian state that the Jews and the Christians are actually more alike than they are different. Oh sure, there are religious practices that are strictly unique to the Jewish faith and other practices strictly unique to the Christian faith, yet both faiths have a kin-ship that cannot be ignored. This is verified by a number of Messianic-Jew Theologians who agree that the God of the Hebrews is the same God we Christians worship. The only major difference is that the non- Messianic Jews are still waiting for their Messiah, and the Christian church has found theirs.
The God that the Christians worship is a triune God, a Holy Trinity of a Father, a Son and a Holy Spirit, also sometimes called the Holy Ghost. The Holy Bible states that these three have always existed, have always been a unit together, and were all three present during the old-testament times. This means that although the Jews only worshipped God, the Father, the other two members of the God-head were present also. The funny thing of it is, that the old testament prophecies that thoroughly explained how the Messiah of the Jews would come into this world and how He would go out, match perfectly with the new testament accounts of Jesus and His life.
Jesus was born a Jew, the first off-spring of a Jewess named Mary, who incidentally lived a married life just like every single other married human female since Eve. Not only did she have marital relations with her husband, Joseph, but they had other children after Jesus. This is clearly indicated in the Holy Scriptures. The only Christian faith that disagrees with this is the Catholic church, but they are a territory entirely by themselves, apart from the rest of the Christian domain. Jesus grew up in the Jewish faith, learned the doctrines, worshipped his own Father, (the one in Heaven, not Joseph) and lived a perfect, sinless life, which clearly set him aside from the rest of the human population.
The old testament prophecies regarding the coming Messiah were quite clear...he would have to be born of a virgin of the lineage of David. He would be born in Bethlehem, and would be crucified without any broken bones, which by the way, is entirely possible. The bones of the hands and feet are so designed that a large nail can certainly be inserted both through the feet and the hands without touching a single bone. It said that his side would be pierced and blood mixed with water would come out of the wound. This too, is physically possible, especially if the person has died from hanging/asphyxiation and has been pierced through the heart.
Plus, it says in the old testament that the Messiah would rise again three days after his death by crucifixion, having fully defeated death and hell so that the peoples of the world could freely enter Heaven when they died. Yet, despite all of this incredible evidence, most of the Jewish people still refused to believe in Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah, even though He was the only person in the entire history of this world who actually fit the prophecies 100%. There were some Jews, however, who did accept Jesus as the promised Messiah, and these were the very first Christians. Because of this little fact, the Christian church and the Jewish faith, are basically one and the same, with only one mighty barricade separating them.
Although Jesus, when He walked in human form, was fully human, He was also fully God, and that is the difficult to comprehend fact that kept most Jews from believing in Him. Despite the clearly written prophecies in their old testament books, the Jews still insisted that their Messiah should be a King, strong, tall, wise, and powerful. Jesus came meek and mild, an infant born in a manger, rather than a castle. This caused much debate over the Person of Jesus. They called Him a blasphemer when He merely told them the truth about Himself, and attempted to stone Him when He preached to them. But this was prophesied as well, because God had always known that his chosen people would reject Him in the flesh. That is why Jesus spent much of His short Earthly ministry teaching and associating with non-Jews.
Think about it this way if you will...if a young virgin girl was betrothed to be married, but had not yet had that marriage consumated, yet turned up pregnant anyway, what would be the first thing you would think? Of course, it is the same as anyone would think: That she had cheated on her husband and gotten herself pregnant by someone else. At that time such an offense was strongly punished, usually with public disgrace, flogging and immediate divorce. Now think of yourself as this young woman's husband. You love her dearly and deeply, so what would you do? Would you allow her the public humiliation or would you try to divorce her quietly? This was the decision Joseph had to face and he chose to put her away quietly without all the uproar. Luckily the angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and told him just Who the child was. He did not divorce his wife after all.
This was another reason why Jesus was not easily accepted as the promised One, because when Mary turned up pregnant, it was assumed by all that she had cheated on her beloved when in fact, she had not. Believe it or not, Mary was still a virgin even after the birth of Jesus. There is scriptural evidence for this as well, because it was written that Mary knew not her husband until well after the birth. She went through an entire nine month pregnancy and beyond without ever once having sex with her own husband. You are probably thinking, "how on earth could a woman remain a virgin after giving birth? Not possible." Really? Nothing is impossible for God. I'm just going by what the Bible states, and these things are clearly written.
So, Jesus was born of a virgin, who was also a Jewess, of the lineage of David, and he was born in Bethlehem in a manger, fully prophetical in every way. He lived a perfect, sinless life, started a ministry at the age of thirty and died on the cross three years later. He was crucified, buried, and rose again on the third day, descended into hell, conquered it and ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father. And now he awaits the time when the Father will tell Him to gather up His bride to bring her home for the wedding supper of the Lamb. This is the God of the Christians, a Father, a Son and a Holy Spirit, who were around at the very beginning of the world, and who have no end.
~The Chad