What a striking work! Inspiring! And also quite different from Jewish Messianic literature today.
Two things struck me when reading these papers. First, the emphasis on Christianity. And second, their certainty of the coming kingdom of God.
Here’s a snippet:
“From my youth up I have been occupied with religious problems and eventually I came to the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel and the Redeemer of the world.
This conviction did not lead me away from my Jewish people. On the contrary, it unfolded for me the unique significance of Israel in the Divine purpose.
I have walked on many paths, of life, of faith, of politics, and of the spirit. They were needed in order to gather experience. Much vanished as unessential, much appeared as of importance, but one thing alone took entire possession of me: Jewish Christianity.
If the Divine revelation to Israel is an objective reality and if Jesus is the promised Messiah, then the present day Jewish-Christian movement is of great historical significance and a sign of the times.
This I believe to be the case.
I want to tell my brethren that we Jewish Christians have not forsaken or betrayed our people, but remain true to it in all its dangers and necessities. We love our people and will never grow weary of striving to obtain its confidence.
Consistent Jewish Christians are at present without a home in the world, but theirs is the future.
In this faith we speak and act. To have this faith means beholding the spiritual, seeking the eternal in time, and living and working in the present for the future. Our gaze is not fixed upon our own day only, but upon the centuries. We look to the end.
The apostles of the New Testament as well as the prophets of the Old Testament were convinced that the “remnant” of Israel will be saved.
When this will take place we do not know, but we do know that God knows it, and so we can leave the when and the how to Him. It is for us to sow; others, who will come after, will reap. We have neither begun the work, nor shall we finish it. At all times, and in all lands, there have been Jewish Christians, like the “Nicodemus Jews,” the secret believers in Palestine to-day. They did not appear publicly, none knew of them, for the time was not yet ripe.
But to-day the time is fulfilled, and the flag with the Cross in the Star of David is flying.
Joseph Rabinowitz and his circle fulfilled the task in their day; we fulfill it in ours, and they who come after us will fulfill it in the future, until the time shall come which shall call Israel to its highest task and bring the hour of final fulfillment…
But all of us are built upon that foundation of all time and of all eternity: Jesus the Christ. Here is the root of our strength, here is the secret of that power which has worked through the centuries and which will conquer in the future.
Whether some smile, and others shake their heads, and the rest say it is impossible, we go on our way undeterred to the End. For we know that the Christ always does the impossible and He is a “tireless Hunter”. We see the light in the darkness and the day in the night, the rainbow of peace above the storms of time, the Sign in the Heavens as the promise of Victory.”
Jews that believe in Yeshua in modern times, going by the name Messianic Jews, very often refrain from associating themselves with Christianity. Many of us like to view ourselves apart from pagan and defiled Christianity. For better or worse, this was not so with some of the early pioneers of modern Messianic Judaism who, by any measure, were Jewish Christians who saw themselves as part of the fulfillment of the restoration of Israel, fully embodied within Christianity.
As I read these old reprinted materials from Jewish Christians in the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, I started to realize just how lacking we are today, to understate the matter. Our faith life is junk compared to these men and women. It’s our turn, it’s our time to fulfill that time of Israel restoration! And what have we done? Most of us have been found off to the side, bickering and dividing ourselves until we’re just a bunch of small, easily conquerable Republic of Daves, Kingdom of Toms. What a shame we have wasted so much of our time with infighting.
Here they were, before the recreation of the state of Israel, at a time when most believed God was done with the Jews, with persecution coming from both Judaism and Christianity; here they remained firm in their identity, certain of God’s plan and coming kingdom, rejoicing in what’s to come. Not focused on various doctrinal errors or pagan influences, but rejoicing in what God’s doing.
Maybe I’m being too Grandpa Tevye, maybe I’m thinking the grass is always greener. But a casual reading of these papers reveals a hope and certainty I don’t have. I’m envious.