The Messiah Our Redeemer: Part 1 of 12

As I have been telling everyone for about eight months, a close friend of mine asked me to compile a list of arguments to present to a Jewish friend about our faith in Yeshua. Of course this is not an easy task and is further complicated by being unsure of the spiritual status of this Jewish individual. So after eight months my thoughts have mushroomed into 40 pages and it seems I am adding another paragraph with each weekly Torah reading. But tomorrow is the Sabbath for this document. In other words, it may not be complete, but the time to move on to other endeavers has arrived. Having said that, I always appreciate any feedback you have. - Scott


I. Man Was Created To Have A Relationship With God

Since man was created in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and not by random chance, man must have been created for a specific purpose in accordance with the plan of God. In the order of creation, man was created and then God rested to establish a pattern for the Sabbath so that the created man might immediately enter into rest and fellowship with God. By design, the LORD set eternity in the hearts of men (Eccl 3:11) so that each man might…

“Seek the LORD while He may be found; and call upon Him while He is near”.
(Isa 55:6).

The LORD is never far from any of us, as it is written, “the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to Him” (Deut 4:7) and also, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him” (Psa 145:18). Even when we stray from the presence of the LORD, “if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 4:29). The LORD has set his plan in motion and it cannot be changed; He desires to have fellowship with His creation, even to dwell among His people (Ex 2:45) forever (1 Chr 23:25).

Whereas the so called “gods” of this world require man to climb the mountain to acquire a distance knowledge of the “god”, the LORD is always seen in scripture as coming down to dwell among His people. The LORD first came down to walk in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8), but the sin of Adam prevented the relationship from continuing as before. Adam was driven from the Garden and the LORD placed “cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:24). Nevertheless, the LORD continued to seek an opportunity to come down and fellowship with His creation.

The LORD found that opportunity in Abraham and swore an unchanging oath that “all nations on earth will be blessed” (Gen 22:18) through Abraham because he obeyed the word of the LORD. In the days of Israel’s captivity, the LORD came down and appeared to Moses from the burning bush (Ex 3:8) to rescue His people from Egypt. Then the LORD came down onto Mount Sinai (Ex 19:11) to appear before all Israel to establish His everlasting covenant. The LORD commanded Moses to “make a sanctuary for me” (Ex 25:8) for the LORD to “dwell among the Israelites and be their God” (Ex 29:45). The experiences of Adam, Abraham, and Moses demonstrate that God has revealed Himself to people in human history. Therefore, God can be known and people can have a personal relationship with Him.

After the death of Moses, the LORD continued to dwell among His people in the tabernacle until Solomon built a permanent house in Jerusalem at the place where the LORD chose to “put His Name…for His dwelling” (Deut 12:5). At the dedication of the LORD’S house, the LORD appeared as “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.” Just as in the days of Moses, “The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it” (2 Chron 7:1-2). The glory of the LORD remained in the Temple until the sins of the world overcame the people of Israel, as the song of Moses had foretold (Deut 32:1-43), and Ezekiel saw the LORD leaving the temple and returning to heaven (Ezek 10).

At Mount Sinai, as in the Garden of Eden, the LORD sought to establish a one-on-one relationship, “face to face”, with each person of Israel. However…

“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’” (Ex 20:18-20).

Although Moses tried to encourage the people to approach the mountain, great fear overcame them and they would not move forward to listen to the LORD.

“At that time I (Moses) stood between the LORD and you (Israel) to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.” (Deut 5:5).

Since the people would not come forward to hear, the LORD told Moses, “Go, tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess”. (Deut 5:30-31). What God intended to speak and write on the hearts of each Israelite at Mount Sinai became written on tables of stone delivered to Moses.

Moses, fulfilled the request of the people to act as a mediator, but in doing so, the people lost the opportunity to have individual communion with God. Only Moses would have a personal relationship as he spoke with God “face to face” (Ex 33:11). Moses became the representative for the entire nation of Israel, but as a man, Moses was physically unable to mediate individual needs before God for each person of the nation. If Moses could have, the LORD would not have spoken of a future time when He would restore to His people a relationship based on His original intent at Mount Sinai.

"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD."I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD, 'because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jer 31:31-34)


The word “new covenant” comes from the Hebrew word “chadash”, which is more frequently translated as “renew”, as it is written, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Ps 51:10). Chadash is also closely associated with the word “chadesh”, which is used as “new moon” associated with the celebrations and offerings in the Bible (Num 29:6). Just as a “new” moon is a renewal of the existing moon, the “new” covenant spoken by Jeremiah is a renewal of the promises originally promises spoken to Abraham and periodically renewed to the Patriarchs.

The covenant spoken by Jeremiah holds the promise of a personal relationship with the LORD as our teacher, as it is written,

“Many people will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths’” (Isa 2:3). AND

“The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendents, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 30:6).