Did Jesus follow or reject the oral law? David Bivin concludes his assessment of the Jewishness of Jesus.

Last week we began to look at how Jesus not only lived as an observant Jew but was readily recognised as such by his contemporaries; discovering evidence for this in Jesus's upbringing, the acceptance of Jesus as a 'rabbi' by those around him, his relationship with his disciples and his method of teaching and preaching.

Attitude to the Oral Law

Jesus also appears to have adhered to the oral law in his attitude towards such practices as sacrifices, fasting, almsgiving, tithing and blessings. Notice, for example, how he gave tacit approval to the offering of sacrifices in Matthew 5:23-24: “If you are offering your sacrifice at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your sacrifice there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your sacrifice.”

Jesus also commanded the lepers whom he healed to perform the ceremony for their cleansing prescribed in the Bible. This ceremony included the offering of sacrifices as well as ritual immersion. He told the ten lepers to show themselves to the priest and specifically charged another leper, “Show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifice Moses commanded” (Matt 8:4).

Fasting

Jesus also took for granted that his disciples would fast when he commanded them to “put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who Is unseen” (Matt 6:17).

Jesus was accused of not living the ascetic life of John the Baptist, which might give one the impression that he did not fast a great deal. However, if he were practising what he preached about the concealment of fasting, those who accused him would not have known whether he did so or not. Certainly, Jesus could not have criticised those who made a show of their fasting if he himself did not fast.

In recounting the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, he criticised the Pharisee, not because he fasted twice a week, but because of his overweening pride.

Jesus appears to have adhered to the oral law in his attitude towards such practices as sacrifices and fasting.

It is also inconceivable that Jesus did not fast on the Day of Atonement each year throughout his life 'to afflict his soul.’ This was interpreted by the rabbis to mean a total fast (abstinence from both food and drink) of approximately 25 hours. Scripture specifies exclusion from the community as the penalty for anyone who did not afflict his soul on that day (Lev 23:29), and states that anyone who did any work on that special occasion would be “destroyed by God” (Lev 23:30).

It should also be noted that after his baptism, at the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus fasted for 40 days (Matt 4:2). So Jesus was one who fasted.

Giving and Tithing

In the same section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus criticised the hypocrites who only fasted that they might be seen by men, Jesus also criticised those who made a public display of giving to the poor.

He must have been a generous giver himself. We can assume this because Jesus taught that one should lay up treasure in Heaven rather than on earth, and that if one's eye were 'bad' (that is, if one were stingy), “his whole body will be full of darkness” (Matt 6:19-23). Again, “When you give to the needy” said Jesus (Matt 6:2), not 'if you give to the needy'.

Jesus assumed that his disciples were almsgivers, and one may confidently assume that the Master was as well, even without there being any specific New Testament example of such action.

Any discussion of almsgiving raises the related issue of tithing, and since tithing is as much a biblical commandment as giving to the needy, there should be no question but that Jesus both tithed and gave to the poor.

Jesus assumed that his disciples were almsgivers, and one may confidently assume that the Master was as well.

Some Christians maintain that Jesus criticised the Pharisees for being so pedantic as to tithe even the spices and herbs in their gardens, and consequently they therefore assume that Jesus opposed such tithing (Matt 23:23). This is an error resulting from a faulty reading of the text. It is similar to the misunderstanding some people have that money is the root of all evil. What Scripture states, however, is that it is “the love of money” that is “a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:10).

Jesus did not pronounce his woes upon the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill and cummin, but rather for keeping only such 'lighter' or less serious commandments, whilst failing to observe the 'heavier' or more important ones.

In the written law, the commandment is that one should tithe only on grain, oil and wine. But the rabbis (at the time of Jesus and just before), ruled that anything used for food had to be tithed.

Jesus, when speaking of this tithing of the herbs in the garden, says that it should not be neglected (Matt 23:23). His statement leaves no doubt about how Jesus felt about tithing, and more importantly, how he felt about the observation of the commandments as they were interpreted by the rabbis.

Saying of Blessings

A few verses previously, in Matthew 23:3, Jesus explicitly instructed his disciples with regard to their attitude towards the scribes and Pharisees concerning the keeping of the oral law: “You must obey them and do everything they tell you.” The sole scriptural basis for the many blessings that an observant Jew still says daily is Deuteronomy 8:10: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” Literally, the text says, “And you shall eat, and you shall be full, and you shall bless.”

The sages found in this verse justification for saying a blessing before the meal as well as after; and on many other – indeed almost all - occasions. The general rule is that anything that a man enjoys requires a blessing.

There is a blessing to be said before a public reading from the Torah, and another at the completion of the reading; a blessing after immersing oneself in a mikveh and a blessing upon seeing a great scholar.

There is an obligation to bless God for calamity and misfortune, as well as for prosperity and good fortune. For rain and for good news one says, “Blessed is he who is good and who gives good.” For bad news the form is, “Blessed is he who is the true judge.”

Jesus did not criticise the scribes and Pharisees for tithing, but for keeping such 'lighter' commandments whilst failing to observe more important ones.

There is evidence that Jesus adhered to the ruling of the oral law in his use of various blessings. In conformity with the rabbis' interpretation, Jesus not only recited a blessing after meals but also said the blessing before meals. This blessing is:

Baruch atah Adonai eloheynu, melech haolam, ha-motzi lechem meen ha-aretz ('Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth').

If you learn that blessing, you can bless the Lord for each meal the way Jesus did!

Blessing the Food or Blessing God?

It is recorded that at the last Passover meal observed by the Lord and his disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus “took bread and blessed and broke and gave to his disciples” (Matt 26:26). Since in the Greek text there is no direct object following the verbs 'blessed,' 'broke' and 'gave', English translators have usually felt it necessary to supply the word 'it' after each of these verbs.

English readers therefore receive the impression that Jesus not only divided and distributed the bread, but blessed it as well. But this is simply a misunderstanding of the Hebraic and Jewish connotations of the word 'bless'.

Because of this recurring 'blessed, broke and gave the bread' in the gospels, it is a common Christian misunderstanding that Jesus actually blessed the bread. But in a Hebraic setting one does not bless things, one blesses God who provides the things. The blessing that was said in Jesus' time before one ate was praise and thanksgiving to God who so wondrously provides food for his children.

Even in his supernatural, resurrected body, Jesus, when eating with the two disciples in Emmaus (Luke 24:30), did not neglect the required blessing before the meal.

We might note at this point that it is a similar mistake to assume that Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes by blessing them (Matt 6:41). What Jesus did was simply to bless God before the beginning of the meal. The miracle was not a result of the blessing, for food did not multiply on other occasions when Jesus gave thanks for the provision of food.

Even in his supernatural, resurrected body, Jesus did not neglect the required blessing before the meal.

The matter of blessing before eating may be a good example of how the Western Gentile Christian's lack of knowledge of Jewish customs has led to a misunderstanding of precisely what Jesus did. In this case it has led to the development of the Christian practice of 'saying grace before meals' in which we 'bless the food', rather than give thanks to God for it, and which as such, has no foundation either in Jewish culture or in Jesus's own practice and teaching.

It is also an example of how a Jewish book, written for Jews, can create confusion for later, non-Jewish readers. Luke made it clearer for his Greek-speaking readers when he referred to Paul's practice in Acts 27:35: “He took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.”

Did Jesus Wear Tzitziyot and Tefillin?

The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus, like all observant Jews of the 1^st Century, wore tzitziyot, which is the Hebrew word for the tassels or fringes that hung from the four corners of the outer garment or robe of a Jew at that time. This is commanded in Numbers 15:37-41 and Deuteronomy 22:12.

That Jesus wore these tzitziyot is illustrated by the story in Matthew 9:20 of the woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for 12 years and who was healed when she came up to Jesus and touched 'the fringe of his garment.' The Greek word kraspedou, translated as 'hem,' 'border,' or 'edge' in English translations of the New Testament, is the word used for the tzitziyot.

There is no explicit evidence offered in the gospels that Jesus also wore tefillin on his forehead and right arm. Called 'phylacteries' in the Bible (Matt 23:5), these are the two leather boxes which each contain four passages of Scripture inscribed on tiny parchment scrolls. These boxes are bound by leather straps, one on the forehead and one on the arm. The arm box contains a single parchment on which all four passages are written, while the head box is divided into four compartments, each of which contains a parchment with one of the four Scripture passages written on it.

Wearing these phylacteries was the rabbinic way of observing the commandment in Deuteronomy 6:8 to bind the words of the Lord as a sign on their hands (the correct translation is 'arm'), and on their foreheads. It might be argued, of course, that this is metaphorical language and that one is not meant to literally bind all or part of God's word to a person's arm or forehead.

Jesus, like all observant Jews of the time, wore tzitziyot, the tassels that hung from the four corners of the outer garment.

Nevertheless, Jews living in the time of Jesus viewed the wearing of tefillin as a biblical commandment and they were part of ordinary Jewish dress. Putting on the tefillin only at the time of prayer, as is practised by Orthodox Judaism today, is a later custom. In Jesus's time they were worn throughout the day and removed only for work or when entering a place which was ritually unclean. Tefillin dating from the 1^st Century have been found in the caves near Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea, and are almost identical to those worn by Orthodox Jews today.

In Matthew 23:5 Jesus criticised some of the Pharisees because “They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long”. But rather than criticising the wearing of tefillin and tzitziyot, Jesus was condemning the religious hypocrisy that led to an exaggerated size being worn that would be obvious to others.

While Jesus condemned such ostentation, we have no reason to believe that he did not himself wear them. Had Jesus himself not worn phylacteries, as well as having the fringes on his garment, he surely would have been attacked on that count by the religious leaders of the day.

Rediscovering Our Hebraic Roots

In general, one gains the impression from the gospels that Jesus dutifully adhered to the practices of observant Jews of his day and that his attitude towards these practices was guided by the interpretations of the rabbis as expressed in the oral law.

During my research I have come to see that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi or, if we do not want to use the word 'rabbi' (since it was not a title in those days) we can say that he was a Jewish teacher.

Large sections of the Christian Church find this difficult to accept and to understand, and their difficulty illustrates how dim is our recollection of the Jewish origins of our faith, and to what extent we have been assimilated into the pagan culture that surrounds us.

One wonders what kind of dynamic organism the Church might have been throughout the ages had she clung more closely to her Hebraic roots, rather than embracing and becoming amalgamated with the pagan Hellenistic philosophy that persists to a very great extent in the Church up to this present day.

What kind of dynamic organism the Church might have been throughout the ages had she clung more closely to her Hebraic roots!

The Church’s only hope, of course, is to see Jesus, but this time to see him and know him personally as he really is: an observant Jew, a Jewish rabbi, the Jewish Messiah of God and - one might add - God himself, Immanuel.

The Gentile Church must become Hebraic in its thinking and approach to understanding the New Testament and should purge itself of the pagan influences of 19 centuries. May we who are members of Christ's Body but who are not of Jewish parentage rid ourselves of the arrogance of which Paul warned the Roman Christians:

Do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you…Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. (Rom 11:18-20)

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 9 No 5.

As another Dead Sea Scrolls cave is discovered this week, we ponder whether Jesus or John the Baptist might have had connections with the Qumran Community.

Did John the Baptist or Jesus have any connection with the Qumran Community? This is a question that has interested biblical scholars for generations.

There are no direct references in the New Testament to the religious community that lived among the rocks and caves overlooking the Dead Sea. But there are many possible links that are still being explored as more is being discovered from the Dead Sea Scrolls that are still being translated.

The Qumran Community

The Qumran Community was composed of a particular group of Jewish people who most probably were part of the Essene Sect, of which both Josephus the Jewish historian and Philo of Alexandria wrote. It is interesting, however, that the name ‘Essene’ has not appeared in the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been discovered and published to date.

The Essenes were a strictly Torah-observant group who had broken with the Temple worship in Jerusalem because they believed that the priesthood of that day was corrupt and had betrayed both God and the people. As a result, they had become a separatist group who had withdrawn into the desert in order to “prepare in the desert the way of the Lord”.

There they sought to serve God by entering into what they called the ‘new covenant’ relationship, and they awaited the coming of a prophet and the ‘Messiah of Aaron and Israel’ who would ‘expiate their iniquity’. There is no doubt that the prophet they hoped for was the One promised to Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18; but there is some difficulty in knowing whether they were looking for one Messiah or two.

It is evident that there was both a priestly and a kingly understanding in their Messianic hope. However, clearly they did not ascribe a unique saving role to their Messiah such as is given to Jesus in the New Testament.

The Qumran Community were probably an Essene sect, a strictly Torah-observant group of Jews who sought true devotion to God.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Qumran Community left behind a considerable number of documents. Discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves or holes in seven different locations around Qumran (on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea), these consist of 818 documents - many of them fragmentary - of which only some 40% have been officially published to date.

Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered - now part of the West Bank. See Photo Credits.These documents include scrolls and fragments of books or passages from the Old Testament covering every book of the Hebrew canon (except Esther), commentaries on biblical writings – the most important of which are undoubtedly those covering their theological beliefs – and details concerning their lifestyle and community rules.

Prof Marvin Wilson, who has done much to introduce Gentile believers to the Jewish roots of their faith, has noted that the majority of the biblical texts found cover the three books of Deuteronomy, Psalms and Isaiah, illustrating that these were the most popular and generally well-known Old Testament books around the time of Jesus. He has linked this to the fact that not only are these the three books from which Jesus most often quoted, but that the majority of Old Testament quotations appearing in the New Testament are also taken from these books.

Connection with John the Baptist?

Whether or not John the Baptist had any connection with the Qumran community is unknown, and cannot be proved either way. Prof Joseph A Fitzmyer has conjectured that, in the light of Josephus’ statement in his Jewish War that the Essenes were known to take other men’s children while yet pliable and docile and mould them according to their ways, John might have been brought up in the Community following the death of his elderly parents. We know from Luke 1:7 that Zechariah and Elizabeth were elderly at the time of John’s birth, so it is quite possible that he was orphaned at an early age.

That is, of course, speculation. But we do know from the Synoptic Gospels that John came out of the desert of Judea and preached his message in the area of the Jordan River only a few miles north of Qumran.

Luke 3:2 tells us that the word of God came to John in the desert and all four Gospel writers make the point that he saw himself as fulfilling Isaiah 40:3 in that he was the “voice of one calling in the desert: ‘prepare the way for the Lord’.” The fact that this was the same Scripture which the Qumran community used to define their role may be significant.

The Dead Sea Scrolls include commentaries on biblical writings and details concerning the Qumran Community’s lifestyle.

John’s Message: Repentance, Refining and Judgment

John came “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). This was a new message, for although the rite of baptism was used as a means of publicly confirming Gentile proselytes into Judaism, it was not specifically linked with sin, repentance, or forgiveness.

For the Qumran community, however, the practice of baptism and ritual washing was extremely important. According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, entering into ‘the covenant’ was linked to ‘entering into the water’. They saw this as being linked to purification from sin but, unlike John, they did not appear to see it as doing away with sin in the sense of forgiveness. It is, however, quite conceivable that, in giving John his unique message of the ‘baptism of repentance’, the Lord was building on an understanding that John had first learned from the Qumran Community.

In the well-known passage in Matthew 3, John prefaces the appearance of Jesus by telling his hearers that whereas he baptised in water, the One who will come after him will baptise with Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt 3:11). Again, there is a passage in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls which says that “God will purge by his truth all the deeds of human beings, refining by fire for himself some of mankind”. It continues by saying that the purpose of the refining is “to cleanse them with the Holy Spirit from all wicked practices, and to sprinkle them with the Spirit of Truth like purifying water”.

John undoubtedly linked fire with judgment, as is clear from Matthew 3:12, but he differed from the Qumran Community statements in that he applied the refining work to Jesus.

The Essenes emphasised refining and judgment - John the Baptist built on this, applying this work to Jesus.

Perhaps too, the strong element of judgment in John’s message was fuelled by the Qumran teaching that the Community members were the ‘true Israel’, ‘the sons of light’, ‘the Israel that walks in the way of perfection’ – and that those who were not part of their number belonged to the company of the ‘sons of darkness’ whose only future was “an abundance of affliction…because of the furious wrath of the God of vengeance”.

John’s message, as stated in Matthew 3 and Luke 3, where he spoke of the coming wrath, “the axe is already at the root of the trees” and the burning up of the chaff with unquenchable fire shows that he linked God’s judgment with the coming of Jesus.

Contact with the Outside World

As with the Qumran Community, John evinced a strong dislike for the Jerusalem priesthood. He referred to both the Priests and the Pharisees as “a brood of vipers”. In many ways, it could seem strange for one whose parents were of the tribe of Levi, although both “upright in the sight of God” (Luke 1:6), to be so publicly outspoken about the representatives of Israel’s religion. But if John’s righteous indignation partly arose from the influence of Qumran, it would be better understood.

From the Qumran writings published to date, none of Jesus’ teaching bears much direct relationship to their thinking, although he would obviously have known all about them. Prof. David Flusser of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has suggested that, in his parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16, Jesus is seeking to contrast how he expects his disciples to behave to the ways of the Essenes. The ‘sons of light’ would have no involvement of any kind with those whom they considered outsiders.

The Upper Room

Additionally, there are those who believe that the “large upper room, all furnished” of Luke 22:12, was part of an Essene guesthouse in Jerusalem. They were known to have small communities in various towns and cities (Damascus was one) and they did have a base in Jerusalem where there was a ‘gate of the Essenes’ and where they offered hospitality to those outside their sect.

The man carrying the jar of water in Luke 22:10 was doing work normally done by a woman in those days and therefore was possibly an Essene since, according to both Josephus and Philo, they were an all-male celibate society.

It is possible that the upper room used for the Last Supper was part of an Essene guesthouse in Jerusalem.

Reference is also made to “a large guest room” (Luke 22:12) which conceivably points to a guesthouse of some size which may well have belonged to the Essenes. That it was an Essene guesthouse would also fit in with the assertion that Jesus celebrated his last Passover the day before the recognised Feast Day that year (see John 13:1 and 18:28). This is because the Essenes were known to have followed an ancient solar calendar – references to which may be found in Ezekiel 45:18-20 - which fixed all the feasts on the same day each year. The rest of Judaism followed a lunar calendar which moves the feast days around from year to year.

The Essenes found serious fault with this practice, which they believed was not in keeping with God’s original instruction and was another reason why they broke away from the Temple worship in Jerusalem. For Jesus to have wished to celebrate the Passover on the day with which they were in agreement would have made them happy to lend him their guest room for that purpose.

Part of Our Heritage

One of the main Essene practices was ‘community living’, the basis of this being a ‘community of goods’ – having everything in common, as at Qumran. They were unique in this practice in Israel at that time, so it is of great significance that in the early Church, the first Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah should immediately after Pentecost organise themselves along the same lines (Acts 2:44-45).

There is no doubt that this group of people who withdrew to the desert to worship and follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, did so with devout and sincere hearts. Whether they could be rightly classed as being of the ‘remnant of Israel’ – those who, like Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Simeon and Anna were looking for “the consolation of Israel” (e.g. Luke 2:25) - is perhaps open to question. Nevertheless, they are part of that rich Jewish heritage from which our faith has sprung and to which we owe so much.

The Feast of Pentecost (or Shavuot) is the perfect time to celebrate the miraculous birth of the Church – and a reminder that all further growth is equally supernatural.

The original outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place on what is also known as the Feast of Weeks – seven weeks or 50 days after Passover, when Jesus was crucified. It's a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest, and it's interesting to note that the number of disciples increased sevenfold on the Day of Pentecost. For 3,000 souls were added to the 500 already following Jesus Messiah (Acts 2:41; 1 Cor 15:6).

Shavuot is also traditionally (as encouraged by the rabbis) the anniversary of the giving of the Law (Ten Commandments) to Moses on Mt Sinai and, on this level, is also fulfilled in Jesus who came, not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them, as he stated so clearly in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:17).

In fact, he now writes the law on our hearts and minds (Jer 31:33; Ezek 36:26f), not on tablets of stone, to enable us the more easily to follow its precepts. And he spelt it out 'on the Mount', as his Father had done through Moses.

Power from On High

Even though the 'established' congregation of Jesus's first disciples had clearly been born again as, through Divine revelation, they recognised Jesus as their Messiah, they still needed "power from on high" (Luke 24:49) for any significant missionary success. If they wished to get beyond what was humanly possible through persuasion, supernatural help was necessary.

As it happened, Jews from throughout the known world were in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, the disciples having waited in the city in obedience to Jesus's command to wait until they were endued with heaven-sent boldness.

Even though Jesus's first disciples were born again, they still needed 'power from on high'.

They weren't told how it would be manifested, so they would have been profoundly shocked to witness tongues of fire resting on each one of them. But it was a sign of how their message would be conveyed. For they suddenly found themselves speaking in languages they had never learnt – and thus it was that the gospel spread like wildfire.
It was a reversal of the Tower of Babel, when men failed in their rebellious efforts to reach the heavens as God confused their language. But now, in these last days, the gospel preached in every tongue unites all who follow Christ, creating "one new man" born of his Spirit (Eph 2:15).

'Pentecostal' Outpouring

The Apostle Peter saw it as the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy of when God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh, which surely also speaks of the time approaching Jesus's return – the last of the last days – when another great revival would circle the globe.

There can be little doubt that a 'Pentecostal' outpouring has been gaining pace over the past 100 years. I have studied the worldwide Pentecostal movement myself – and written a book about it, Tongues of Fire (Sable Publishing) – and I implore readers to wholeheartedly embrace the kind of empowering we really cannot do without if we are to maximise our impact on the world (though I am not saying you must necessarily accept everything 'charismatic' as kosher).

We need to get away from doing things 'in the flesh', restricted by our human intuition and emotions, when God wants to fill us with power from on high. One of my favourite stories from Pentecostal history is of Henry Garlock, an American sent as a missionary to West Africa in 1920.

His denomination didn't believe in 'tongue-speaking' but, when he faced the prospect of ending up in the cooking pot of a tribe of cannibals he had inadvertently upset, he suddenly found himself speaking a language he had never learnt and it got him and his colleague out of very hot water! Although he had no idea what he was saying at the time, it turned out that he had been persuading them to kill a rooster in their place! And the incident set the ball rolling for the conversion of the entire tribe.

We need to get away from doing things 'in the flesh', restricted by our human intuition and emotions.

Pentecost Comes with Persecution

Some Pentecostals have gained a reputation for over-the-top methods and much excitement, which may seem out of place. But there's a balance to all this exuberance. For Pentecost comes with persecution, which is what happened to those first believers: Stephen, empowered by the Spirit, was stoned to death! Others were crucified, or thrown into arenas to be torn apart by wild animals.

Today it's happening all over again in Syria and elsewhere, where true Christians are being beheaded for their faith. Even in the UK Christians are losing their jobs and landing up in court for refusing to compromise.

Indeed, Joel prophesied that a latter-day heavenly outpouring would be accompanied by "blood and fire and billows of smoke" on earth (Joel 2:30). Israel's fortunes would be restored, but its enemies judged (Joel 3:1f); and like a wounded snake, evildoers will lash out at those who stand with God.

So although we are witnessing a global revival – with massive church growth in Asia, Africa and South America – the pressure to conform to ungodly ways remains severe. The Bible speaks much of a "remnant" (e.g. Acts 15:17) holding onto God's Word, and Jesus asked: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). When things got tough, when his teaching seemed too hard, "many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him" (John 6:66).

By all means allow yourself to be caught up in the excitement of God's blessings; but at the same time make up your mind that you're going to follow Jesus no matter what. There will be tears, but you will triumph in the end. And Jesus will wipe your tears away (Rev 7:17).

So seek God with all your heart and allow yourself to be baptised¹ in the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost comes with persecution - by all means allow yourself to be caught up in the excitement of God's blessings, but also make up your mind to follow Jesus no matter what.

Revival for Israel?

A very significant revival took place in Pensacola, Florida, in the mid-1990s and I'm sure it was no coincidence that Messianic Jew Dr Michael Brown played a key role there with his profound teaching ministry.

Perhaps we are about to witness a great outpouring in Israel itself. It's 49 years since Jerusalem's Old City was restored to the Jews for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. That year – 1967 – also marked the beginning of the 'Charismatic' wave of the Holy Spirit (a second stage of the modern-day Pentecostal movement) in the old established churches. And it was the very same year that saw the birth of Messianic Jewish congregations in the Land.

Will Israel experience Pentecost in the 50^th year since restoration?

References

1 From the Greek baptizo meaning 'to immerse, plunge or dip'.