Sid: My guest by way of telephone is Dr. Michael Brown, and if you’ve read my book, “They Thought for Themselves,” the book God literally came to me in a dream and told me to write this book of testimonies. One of the very important significant testimonies is Dr. Michael Brown. He’s President of Fire School of Ministry; he has a PhD from New York University in near Eastern Languages and Literatures. He reads, writes or understands at least a dozen Semitic languages; he’s considered by most myself included the top scholar in the Messianic Jewish movement. And he just come out with a new book that… have you ever had a question you’d like to ask a Rabbi, but you were intimated, afraid or even forget a rabbi ask a Jewish person? Well, the title of this brand new book is “What the Jewish People Think about Jesus and other questions Christians ask about Jewish beliefs.” Now, why would you be interested in Jewish beliefs? Because there is no way you can understand the New Testament and the nuisances of the New Testament. And the richness of the New Testament if you don’t understand the information that Dr. Brown has about Jewish people. And as a matter of fact Michael, I found it interesting, and I believe it might have been the forward or one of the endorsements of the book, was an individual that has been in Jewish ministry for years and he said, “It was amazing how many new things he learned by reading this book.
Michael: Well, I’m thrilled to hear that. For years we would get questions coming to our website about all kinds of issues, spiritual issues, life issues, revival issues etcetera and our staff is able to handle those, but then we had all these questions about Jewish things ranging from should Christian’s keep a seventh day Sabbath, to was the New Testament really written in Hebrew, to should Christians unconditionally support Israel, or is there another covenant that God has with the Jewish people? And what about replacement theology and on and on, and these questions would just keep coming to me. I never had time to answer them fully and I thought you know what I’m just going to write a book. I’ll take all the major questions that we’ve gotten think of the other major ones that come up that are of real interest and throw in a few bonus ones that will be fascinating for Christians to read, and enlightening for Jewish believers to read for every background and put the book together so we’ve gotten really encouraging responses. In fact better than I was expecting.
Sid: Well, let me ask you the number one question we get here at Messianic Vision has to do with the Sabbath and then connected with that is the Biblical festivals. From a Christian viewpoint does a Gentile Christian or a Messianic have to worship on the Sabbath Saturday, have to observe the Biblical festivals to be right with God?
Michael: Well that’s the key word, have to, is there an obligation. In other words, the same way we are obligated to love God and love our neighbors as ourself. The same way that we’re obligated to take the gospel into all the world. Are we obligated, are you commanded by God to keep the Sabbath or else? Or are we commanded by God to keep the feasts or else? Certainly that’s not the relationship we have with the Torah today and it’s unfortunate that in some Messianic circles there’s not only teaching that all Jewish believers are obligated to observe the Torah, but all Gentile believers are all also obligated to observe the Torah. Well, when we put that emphasis on it, and I have a whole section of the book that just deals with these kinds of questions, when you put that emphasis on it it’s the wrong emphasis, it does not understand the relationship that we have with the Law, with the Torah today. If you flip it around and say “Are these gifts from God, is there something that can be learned, is there something beneficial, is there something prophetic and spiritual about these things, is there value in the churches and the Messianic Congregations taking hold of some of or all of these things?” Absolutely!
Sid: Let me go a step further, we know historically things were changed and not changed for very honorable reasons, and all Biblical feasts were literally excluded from Christianity, and everyone needs a culture. Why not have a Biblical culture but with freedom?
Michael: Yeah, listen why is it right to celebrate July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christians don’t even hesitate about having that on their calendar. And then Easter dated as the church does which is separated from Passover we document how that happened around the fourth century where the church says we cannot rely on when the Rabbis’ state things with the dates. We basically have to be separate that’s why for example 2008 celebration of Easter was so different from the celebration of Passover. You know you may have Christians scratching their heads wondering why that happened of course we open that up in the book but in pointed fact Christians have no problems celebrating Easter, Christmas, I’m not saying that’s of the devil, I’m not saying that’s the pit. But hang on in the Bible we do have a prophetic calendar that is still not been fully realized because of the Feasts of Trumpets points to Yeshua’s return etcetera.
Sid: Not only that we’re going to celebrate these feasts in the millennium according to the written word of God.
Michael: Right, so this something that was commonly known among the early believers. Paul could even make reference to the Corinthians whether he was telling to literally celebrate a Passover, or spiritually do it they fully knew what he was talking about in 1st Corinthians 5. So why no recapture a Biblical calendar infused with the fullness of meaning through the coming of the Messiah into the world and with a prophetic proclamation as well. How can that be wrong and isn’t that part of a restoration movement to recover these things?
Sid: Let me ask you a question that many people will take this scripture, and as a result of it change it to want to observe the Biblical feast to have to observe. It’s Matthew chapter 5 verse 18 and 19 and Yeshua is speaking, “For assuredly I say to you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.” What it appears as that if you eliminate any of the commandments of God you’ll be called least in the kingdom of heaven, what would your response to that?
Michael: In fact the very next verse says that unless our righteousness exceeds out of the scribes and Pharisees we won’t even enter. Of course I have, I take that question on, head on in the book “Did Jesus abolish the law; did Paul abolish the law or there an obligation of all believers to observe every bit of the law?” The key is first found in Matthew 5:17 where Jesus says “I didn’t come to abolish law or prophets,” notice he didn’t just say law or prophets, but rather to fulfill. He didn’t say “I didn’t come to abolish but rather to uphold,” he didn’t say that he said, “I came to fulfill.” So let’s step back and ask what that means, everything having to do with sacrifice, offering, priesthood, approach to God, blood atonement. We don’t do that now; we don’t have an earthly priest that we go to, earthly sacrifices that we offer. Everything that was pointing to He brought it into its fullness with a once and for all atonement actually made all of us now priests to God. He took the moral and ethical requirements of the Torah and brought them to a higher level. For example not just talking about adultery He talked about lusting after a woman in someone’s heart. And then the other aspects of the calendar the festivals etcetera, the holy days He takes to a new meaning. For example the Sabbath He says, “If you want to find rest come to Me and you’ll find rest.” There’s a deeper Sabbath rest we enter into. The feasts start with the memory say of the Exodus from Egypt with the Passover, but now there’s the greater Exodus our Exodus from bondage to satan and now we’re redeemed we become the sons of the Living God etcetera. So you know if you’re going to say, “Well no He meant that literally you’ve got to keep every commandment so let’s take the commandment that if you have a brother who dies without having a child, and you’re married already you also marry his wife. We’re going to practice that, we’re going to practice polygamy? Or you got to go to Jerusalem three times every year or you can’t sit on certain chairs if a woman…
Sid: Okay, you’ve made your point, but what about the Jewish believer in Jesus? Isn’t there a greater obligation to observe the Biblical festivals?
Michael: You can say there’s a greater calling by way of identity and witness.
Sid: You don’t like that word obligation, do you?
Michael: Well listen, that is the problem. When Paul said that we’re not under the law, he meant that we’re not under it as a system of justification, we’re not under it to lead us to the Messiah, we’re not under its condemnation. He says in Roman’s 7 we no longer serve by the old way of the written code, but the new way of life in the spiritual things have changed. There’s a greater reality we’ve come to. Like one of my friends that’s a New Testament scholar said it’s like going from the typewriter to the computer. You’re stepping up into something greater; now you may say “We feel the sacred calling by God to this as a point of witness to our community or as identification with our community. Amen, go for it, but the moment you say were obligated then we’re obligated to do the rest and hang if you don’t keep the Sabbath there’s a death penalty. So where are you going to draw the line? I say draw the line with we have a new and better covenant which takes the fullness and richness of Torah and brings into a greater expression to life in the Spirit and that’s certainly the New Testament say.
Sid: And I have to say my operative word, my key word and I know it’s yours also because I read it in your book is freedom.
Michael: Hmmm.
Sid: If there isn’t any freedom, if there isn’t any liberty than we don’t know the same Messiah, because that is what He came to give us, freedom.
Michael: And look if anyone’s listening and they’re in a situation where they’re being judged, they are being put under pressure, they are being criticized because this is not written in their heart, we’re not talking about going out and robbing a bank, we’re not talking about breaking moral commandments, we’re not talking about denying the Lordship of Jesus. We’re talking about… okay someone’s judging you because you don’t observe Seven Day Sabbath, or someone’s judging you because you don’t keep a certain feast a certain way, or you have more freedom in it. Look Paul addresses that in Colossians 2, he’s dealing with some other issues there, but he plainly says “Don’t let anyone judge you.”
Sid: I’ll tell you what our time is escaping us…
