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POSTED 01 MARCH, 2004
The Assurance of Our Salvation
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
People investigate the Messianic movement and their Hebraic Roots
for an entire host of reasons.
People who enter into the Messianic movement do
so because they are seeking God’s truth, and
they are seeking to be in greater compliance
with His Word. They enter into the Messianic
movement because they have discovered that they
are not entirely satisfied with what mainstream
Christianity today has taught them, and they
instinctively know that there is more to their
faith and in living like Yeshua (Jesus). Most
importantly, they know that Christian theology
has been incomplete in many areas, and they are
lacking spiritual fulfillment.
Those of us who have been in this situation and have been in the
Messianic movement for some time have certainly
experienced more spiritual fulfillment as
Messianics, then we did while we were average
Church-goers. While it may have been a process
for us—and that process was longer for some and
shorter for others—we nevertheless sought God’s
truth, and sought greater compliance with
Scripture. We changed our lifestyles and
overcame the hurdles of keeping the seventh-day
Sabbath or Shabbat, the Biblical holidays
of Leviticus 23, and eating kosher, among other
things. We study the Torah portions now on a
consistent basis and examine the Bible unlike
never before. We have reevaluated things we were
taught in the past like the pre-tribulation
rapture, and found that they were not supported
by Scripture.[1]
Sadly, one issue that is often not reevaluated from a Messianic
viewpoint is that of salvation. Oftentimes in
the Messianic movement the understanding of
“asking Jesus into your heart” is only changed
to “ask Yeshua into your heart.” The salvation
message of the Messianic movement by-and-large
is no different than what is presented in
contemporary Christianity, except with the names
changed. This is a problem, because what you
will discover is that the modern gospel message,
like so many other things, is incomplete. As
Messianic Believers who have a Torah foundation
in our walk of faith, we have a responsibility
to present a complete salvation message
to others, and most importantly have the
assurance ourselves that we are redeemed
children of God.
The Dilemma
It is important that salvation be reevaluated from a Messianic
perspective because of what many people in the
Messianic community are facing. As people read
the Scriptures and are challenged with things
that they believed in the past, doubts can
inevitably creep into a person’s mind, so much
so that the individual can question whether or
not he or she is truly spiritually regenerated.
These doubts can be in the form of people
wondering if they were truly pursuing things of
the Lord in their Church experience. The enemy
can use these doubts to get people to even start
wondering “what if,” and perhaps get them
dwelling on bad, unforgotten memories of their
past that may not even directly relate to their
spiritual life. Some people can be so
overwhelmed with new information, and they do
not know what to do, that the enemy can use it
to attack them and at the very least get them
confused, or at the very most, get them to deny
faith in Messiah Yeshua.[2]
Consider what we have all faced when entering into the Messianic
movement and exploring our Hebraic Roots. Most
of us were raised in an evangelical Protestant
denomination, where we were rightly
taught that Jesus Christ is the Savior of
humanity. We were rightly taught that we
were to receive Him into our lives and accept
His work on the cross to be forgiven of our
sins. We were rightly taught that as born
again Believers we are to follow Christ’s
Earthly example for living. But this is often an
incomplete message.
Many of us were not taught that the original name of our Lord and
Savior was Yeshua ([Wvy),
meaning “salvation.” (I was from a young age, in
fact, taught via Messianic Jewish teacher Zola
Levitt that Jesus’ original name was Yeshua.)
Many of us were not taught the complete Biblical
meaning of confession and repentance of our sin.
And, we were likewise not taught that a
critical part of following the Messiah’s
Earthly example for living was to follow the
Torah or the Law of Moses. Here is where the
doubts can begin. They are often then
compounded by those in the Messianic community
who try to judge others’ salvation, who is and
who is not “saved,” and those who are unbalanced
in regard to our Christian theological and
spiritual heritage.
Let us state very clearly from this point that it is
not our job
to determine who is and who is not “saved.”
That is something that only God can do, as He is
the only One who knows the true heart intent of
any individual. Only God Himself gets to
determine who enters into the Kingdom of God!
Consider the position of the person who is new to the Messianic
movement and is now finding out that Jesus’
original name was Yeshua and that He was a Torah
obedient Jewish Rabbi. What happens when certain
Messianics start telling this new person that he
or she must stop going to Church where worship
of the sun god takes place; that he must have a
long beard and that she must have her head
covered at all times; that regardless of whether
or not he or she is a nice person that the
spiritual experiences that he or she had in
Church were utterly worthless; and that even
though having asked Jesus to come into his or
her heart, because the person did not use
“Yeshua,” such a salvation experience was
meaningless.[3]
This might be a
somewhat extreme or exaggerated example,
but
it can and does happen. (And some Messianic
leaders, who know that these attitudes are
wrong, unfortunately lack the courage to speak
out against them.) These sorts of unfair and
grossly inaccurate accusations can lead to
someone questioning his or her salvation, and
lead to a very unstable Messianic faith. Those
of us who have been in the Messianic movement,
and have weathered the storm of the extremists,
must help the new people to grow constructively
in their faith, and also be accountable to one
another.
The tactic of the Adversary is to take as many with him to the Lake
of Fire as possible. He can use someone thinking
that he or she was not a true Believer while
attending church to persuade the person to deny
his or her faith.
Our job must be to know that we truly know Yeshua the
Messiah as Savior, are forgiven of our sins and
have been spiritually regenerated, and have the
assurance that—no matter what—we hold
onto salvation while we grow and mature in our
faith.
End of sample excerpt.
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J.K. McKee
(B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN
Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic
apologist.
He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical
Languages Award for Greek.
He
is author of
numerous books, dealing with a wide range of
topics that are important for today’s
Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on
theological issues,
and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries
of various books of the Bible.
NOTES
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