Following Judah's Lion

The Errors of the Messianic Churches

Eph.2:14-16 - For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Col.2:16-17 - Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Heb.8:6-13 - But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

There is a movement that has many different streams that I will call the “Messianic Movement”. These are churches who not only acknowledge the Jewish roots of Christianity, but who also teach that the Christian church should have outward manifestations of Hebrew culture, as well as observe many feast, festivals, Hebrew words, and have an overall Hebraic distinction about their theology and practice. Generally, in my experience, these are saved people who love Jesus.
You may recognize these churches by their names or symbols. The words Hebrew, Zion, Israel, and Hebrew words many times are part of their name or are displayed prominently on their signs and literature. And their worship services contain many Hebrew sounding songs (which I like) and with Hebrew words, and the overall atmosphere of their service has an unmistakable Jewish flavor. There are varying degrees of this phenomenon.
Some call themselves synagogues and some even change their personal names to Hebrew names. The pastor is called a rabbi, the Bible is called the Torah, and so on it goes. I believe it is beneficial to understand more fully the connection between the Old Testament and the New, especially as it pertains to Christ Himself. I have attended a few Passover Seders and have been edified by a further revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in those teachings settings.
But this movement is misguided in many ways. The church is not an extension of Israel, and in fact, the church is a brand new work of God called the body of Christ. It is unique and miraculous, and the church in no way is tethered to the Old Testament Law, or the feasts, or any observance other than baptism and communion. The entire Old Testament is a futuristic mirror that reflects the Lord Jesus and His redemption.
But when a church clothes itself in Old Testament visuals, and when they speak as Jews, and when their theology is almost more pro-Israel than it is pro-Jesus, then it has in practice strayed from being the Bride of Christ which in ethnicity is overwhelmingly Gentile, but is neither Jew nor Gentile in substance. Paul himself was severely persecuted by the Jews because he taught that believers in Christ need not obey the Law or observe the feasts or fashion themselves in any way after the former covenant. And some churches, a la John Hagee, even teach that a Jew can be saved without Jesus. That, my friends, is blasphemy!
Another unchristian aspect of this movement is the self righteousness exhibited many times by those who practice it. The Messianic Christians openly suggest that their way of worship is the God ordained method, and that God also desires us to support Israel without reservation and that New Testament theology is only pure when it is tethered to the format outlined by the Old Testament. That is untrue and leads directly to a clique mentality and a spirit of theological hubris.
The Old Testament was the scaffolding God used to build a structure upon which He could bring forth His Son and fulfill His plan for eternal redemption. But once Christ had died and resurrected, the scaffolding should only be used to look back and see God’s plan. It was never intended to be infused into this new building of the Spirit. The glory of the Old Testament was that it shined a prophetic light upon the Lord Jesus, and in fact that glory was to bow to the eternal glory of God’s Son, not to compete with it.
I admire their zeal. I admire their demonstrative worship. I admire their sincerity. But their direction is wrong. The church is a new thing, a creation out of God’s redemptive love, and she is the Bride and Body of Jesus Christ. It is beneficial to research the shadows and types of Jesus throughout the Old Testament, but it is a mistake to mold the church in the likeness of the Old Testament. We are to be living replicas of the Lord Jesus Christ, not replicas of shadows of days gone bye.