What Is Modern Judaism?
Exploring the Rabbinical Teaching in the Talmud
Many, if not most, Christians are under the impression that modern Judaism is basically still the Old Testament religion of the Israelites; but of course, without Jesus as the Messiah. This is an extremely erroneous assessment held by far too many in the Western Christian Church.
Modern Judaism revolves, mostly, around the Rabbinical teachings in the Talmud, not the Word of God in the Bible. Therefore the Talmud, much of what Jesus called the doctrines and precepts of men (Mat 15:9 & Mark 7:7), is now Judaism's highest, and holiest, authority.
The Talmud is not one single book, it is actually a large collection of books similar to a small set of encyclopedias. These Rabbinical teachings began approximately six hundred years prior to the birth of Jesus. They also began shortly after God divorced the northern kingdom of Israel (Jer 3:8) and Judah went into Babylonian captivity (It is noteworthy that this is also the time period when God first began to call the Israelites Jews).
The Talmud's authority also takes precedence over the Old Testament scriptures. Therefore, in Judaism, and primarily modern Orthodox Judaism, the scriptures of the Bible are relegated to a subservient position.
With the scriptures of the Bible relegated to a subservient position, modern Judaism is therefore no different than any other religious cult that claims extra superior revelation apart from God's Word, the Bible.
Modern Jews do not follow most of the Old Testament Law or practice the religion of the Biblical Israelites. Furthermore, they do not practice even the corrupted version that was practiced by the Jews at the time of Christ. Moreover, since God eliminated all the physical religious aspects of the Old Testament Law (the Temple, priests, the Arc of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, and everything regarding the blood atonement sacrifices), it would be impossible for anyone to do otherwise. Finally, in A.D. 70, God ended the symbolic physical aspects of the Old Testament Law, and it will never return.
God eliminated Biblical Judaism after Jesus the Messiah brought redemption into the world; at that point, the old Jewish religious era of symbolically sacrificing animals for sin, to a God who was unapproachable by the people for the forgiveness of their sins (except symbolically through a High Priest), was over. At the Cross, the Veil of the Temple was torn in two from "top to bottom" symbolizing that God had now made himself approachable by anyone, not by just an individual human with the title of High Priest. God then gave man his Holy Spirit so as to establish a one on one relationship with himself. Therefore the Ark of the Covenant is never coming back to a tent or temple built by man, and the gift of the Holy Spirit will never be taken back.
For God to reestablish the symbolic physical aspects of the old Jewish religion would require moving the Holy Spirit back prior to the Cross, and that is never going to happen!
Moreover, Judaism at the time of Christ was a "ministry of death," and part of the "domain of darkness", as it is called in God's Word in 2 Corinthians 3: 6-7 & Colossians 1:13.
When Jesus, "The King of the Jews" died on the cross, physical religion, symbolized by the Judaism of that era, ended, and spiritual religion, religion by relationship began. Just as Jesus prophesied, physical Israel ended within one generation of the Cross, and the New Covenant called Spiritual Israel began; Spiritual Israel began at the Cross and it is the only true Biblical era Israel is left in the world today. Moreover, the Roman "criminal" charge against Jesus, which was placed above him on the cross, was not truly a human criminal charge it was a spiritual charge; it said "Jesus King of the Jews." Furthermore, what God ends no man can ever bring back. To claim otherwise is foolishness and bordering on, if not outright, blasphemy. Too many teachers in the Western Christian Church have been spreading blasphemy and this evil needs to be silenced by truth and eliminated from our midst. ..... And, let's not forget, on the cross, the crown that God had placed on "The King Of The Jews," was a crown of thorns!
The book of Jeremiah prophesies, in metaphoric language, what is happening in modern Israel as well as in many areas of the Western Christian Church today.
Jeremiah the Prophet:
Who is the remnant of this evil family?
The "Remnant" are those who embrace, in any manner, any of the old physical Jewish sacrificial systems whether or not it is actually being practiced. This includes anyone who believes that the old Jewish Temple in Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt and that sacrifices will again be offered in it. This includes not only numerous religious Jews but far too many Western Christians as well.
Moreover, Western Christians need to understand that a modern Jew is no more special or evil to God than any other person who rejects Jesus, and they are certainly not God's royalty. Furthermore, as with anyone who rejects Jesus, they are a people who embrace the spirit of anti-Christ.
Jesus said:
Modern religious Jews reject Jesus, therefore when Christians consider modern Jews as anything other than a people who reject the God of the Bible, and are in desperate need of the Gospel, they are then embracing and propagating the spirit of anti-Christ.
Christians therefore should pray for religious Jews as being just another lost group of people who desperately need the Gospel of salvation through Jesus. To do otherwise is to sin against them.
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