1) Why has the church not taught us our Jewish roots before?

I believe that God has appointed times and seasons.The book of Exodus tells the story of Jacob’s family who came to Egypt as 70 people and became a multitude of millions who became enslaved to Pharaoh for 430 years. It is easy to wonder why it took them 430 years to cry out to God to be released from their bondage, but again, the answer is simple. It was not God’s appointed time. Acts 7:17 says, “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt”. When it was His appointed time for this part of His story to unfold, (time of Amorites was done), His people cried out and He came down to deliver them. God’s timing is PERFECT. There is 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. This is known as “the time of silence” because God did not speak through a prophet all those years. From Matthew 1, when Jesus was born, to the time of His ministry at age 30, Hebrews 1 says,

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…”.

Silence for 400 years plus 30 years until the beginning of Jesus’ ministry is 430 years! It is the exact same “time of silence” in Exodus. It is so perfect that we can not take the credit or blame for any of it!

By God’s will, Joseph was sent into Egypt after being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. He took on an Egyptian name and dress and was promoted to a position of royalty. When his brothers came to Egypt for provisions during the famine, Joseph was so Egyptian he was unidentifiable to them. But, at the “appointed time”, he gathered them in a room alone, took off his Egyptian garb and said in Hebrew, “I am Joseph, your brother, who you sold into Egypt”. ( Genesis 45:4) Likewise, Jesus, in the third century, took on a gentile form with everything about His Jewish identity removed from Him. God purposely hid Him for 1800 years so all the gentile nations could come to know Him. But one day soon in the future when He returns to this earth, like Joseph, He will gather His Jewish brothers in Jerusalem,without His Greek identity, and say in Hebrew,”I am Yeshua, the One Whom you pierced”. (Zechariah 12:10)

Since the rebirth of Israel in 1948 there has been a prophetic shift and the church has had their eyes slowly opened to God’s plan and purpose for the land of Israel, for the Jewish people, and a hunger to discover our Jewish roots. Did we all of a sudden wake up and have understanding? No! It is getting close to the time God chose for His Jewish brothers to have their eyes open to the revelation that much of what they carry in their Jewish faith is about Jesus, and for the gentile believers to see that their true identity can only be found in the ancient Jewish root that Paul says in Romans 11 that we are grafted into. (Romans 11:16-18)

When Jewish people have a revelation that Jesus is their Messiah and we have revelation that our identity is found in the Jewish root that supports us, we will express what the Father has always wanted: “One new Man”(Ephesians 2:15), Jew and Gentile. We can not be mad at our church fathers or church leaders for keeping it from us. Rather, we should be thankful that through centuries of persecution and darkness, they were able to keep the gospel message alive. Faithful dessert fathers and a remnant of faithful brothers and sisters from different Church denominations through 2,000 years of church history, kept the flame burning and kept the testimony of Jesus alive in their hearts and passed it on to most of us that are the fruit of their faith and labors.

God has ordained that the knowledge of our Jewish roots would be kept until this time in history. He allowed the Jewish people to faithfully carry a treasure box with precious jewels that help us know our Jewish Messiah and gives rich explanation and meaning to our Hebrew Bible. We are living in a time when Jesus, like Joseph, is removing His Greek exterior and is wanting to reveal to His Jewish AND gentile family, “I am Yeshua.”

2) Do you celebrate Christmas?

I understand why people ask this question. When they begin to discover the richness of meaning in the Biblical feasts that Leviticus 23:2 says are His feasts, they begin to wonder about the Christian Holidays that don’t seem to be Biblically rooted. If you trace the history of Christmas and Easter, you will find a lot of historical information that implies their orgins are from pagan traditions. Consequently, John and I have known Jewish and gentile believers who chose to quit celebrating these holidays. That is an individual decision that I respect if it is born from true conviction of the Holy Spirit rather than a self-righteous, religious spirit that wants to judge and condemn those who see the issue differently.

My family has many happy memories around Christmas that go back 3 generations. I did not grow up with any religious emphasis that celebrated the day around the birth of Christ. When John and I became Christians, we tried to bring the spiritual meaning of Christmas into my family’s traditions for the sake of our kids, but every attempt felt awkward and forced. At the same time we were beginning to celebrate the Jewish Holidays with John’s family and with our friends because I was beginning my search for Jesus in the feasts. After a few years of trying unsuccessfully to make Christmas “more holy”, we came up with a workable solution. We celebrated Christmas with my family as a holiday of twinkle lights, good food and gifts, and then celebrated the Jewish feasts focusing on the richness of traditions that celebrate the two comings of the Messiah and all He has done and all He will do in the future.

This brings up the question, “Yes, but knowing you are honoring a day with seemingly pagan roots, isn’t that wrong?” I asked the Holy Spirit, and for our family; I felt that it is more important to honor relationships and not separate ourselves making a statement that what they are doing is “evil” and what we are doing is “pure”. I would rather win someone by letting them “taste and see”, instead of making them feel dishonored and condemned. I feel it is more important to focus on heart intent not issues. The church often seems more interested in being right than being relational. One day the whole world will be on God’s calendar celebrating His feasts with Him. While that gradual shift is taking place, I believe it is important to keep our focus on loving Him and loving people above issues and controversy. This is an individual conclusion; everyone will have to ask God for themselves and do what He tells you to do.

3)   This is all new and a bit overwhelming. How do we begin to walk it out?

My search is ongoing and with each festival, with each Sabbath, and with every scripture I read, I am asking the Father to reveal Jesus to me. I pray that if your own heart is stirred to search for Him in the pattern of the Leviticus 23 festivals, that you do not feel overwhelmed if you are at the beginning of the journey. It has taken me almost 40 years to make a switch from Greek to Hebrew thinking and to plow through endless books the Holy Spirit put in my path to glean; sometimes only one sentence, and then toss away the rest.

I asked Him endless questions and sometimes He would take years to answer or He would randomly drop things in my heart that I had never even thought to ask Him. My tenacity was fueled by the pleasure of His fellowship and presence in the pursuit, without which I never would have continued. So please don’t feel overwhelmed. He will help you navigate through the foreign culture, the foreign thinking, and the Jewish concepts and idioms that are found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Yes, it will be foreign to your Greek lens that you have been looking through, but it is what He has grafted you into, and He will give you revelation understanding and walk with you and be your teacher. Just stay child-like and don’t focus on theology; focus first on His heart and His emotions and your theology will follow. How do we begin walking in this? My answer is simple. Just say yes and tell Him you want to find Him in the riches of the pattern of His festivals. With a child-like spirit and a resistance to gaining head knowledge before heart revelation, you are headed in the right direction. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”.

I am putting some practical ways for you to begin celebrating the Sabbath and the festivals in a practical book called, Rehearsing with Ruth: let the journey begin. Of course it is not complete because it is an ongoing walking with Him and there will be more riches to be unveiled for eternity. I will just give you some practical resources that John and I have done to get you started, and over time, you and the Holy Spirit will add your own unique expression and make it yours. We are forming an international community walking out the biblical feasts together so we are creating a website at ruthsroad.org, as a place to post teachings and insights with one another to keep learning and celebrating together. The website will keep you informed of new material we will publish in the future as well as short podcasts of new teaching material. In the mean time, buy a Jewish calendar and be aware of His appointments and just “show up” and ask for Him to meet with you.