A Christmas CHALLENGE from a Messianic Jewish Rabbi

Shabbat Shalom!

I woke up yesterday morning, and while our family has never formally celebrated Christmas, I love to read Luke 1–2 each year while much of the world is focused on the birth of Yeshua. It is one of the most powerful moments in history. Coupled with the fact that I have been deeply burdened by the open antisemitism coming from some who call themselves followers of the “Christ child,” I felt compelled to look more closely at the text.

As I reread those chapters, I noted every place where the coming of the Messiah is explicitly connected to the people of Israel. After doing so, I issued a friendly challenge on Facebook, inviting people to read Luke 1–2 afresh—through Jewish eyes.

It stirred quite a conversation on my public page. Hopefully, you will find it meaningful as well:

“CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE” FROM A MESSIANIC JEWISH RABBI—it will only take a few minutes but might blow you mind (or soul)!

This Christmas morning, take a few minutes and read Luke 1-2.

Read them as if you had never heard the story before!

📖 You know no New Testament theology.

📖 No one has ever told you that the Church is the new Israel.

📖 Or that God has cursed Israel forever, in favor of the Church. 

You’re reading it fresh. A serious question then confronts us: Would anyone come away from these chapters thinking that God had rejected Israel? Or would the unmistakable conclusion be the opposite—that God was acting decisively to rescue, restore, and redeem His people Israel?

Luke leaves very little room for ambiguity.

LUKE 1: GOD REMEMBERING HIS COVENANT WITH ISRAEL

1. THE STORY BEGINS IN THE TEMPLE (LUKE 1:5–23)

We find:

🖖 A priest, Zechariah

🖖 Serving according to the order of Abijah

🖖 Offering incense in accordance with the Torah

We see covenantal Israel at the center of the story. God’s action begins inside Israel’s sacred space, not outside it. 

2. JOHN’S MISSION IS EXPLICITLY ISRAEL-FOCUSED (LUKE 1:16–17)

The angel declares that John will: “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (1:16). Drawing from the Hebrew Bible, the language echoes Malachi (Mal. 4:5–6) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:37)—not a new religion, but national repentance and restoration for Israel.

3. MIRIAM’S (MARY'S*) SONG: GOD HELPING ISRAEL (LUKE 1:46–55)

Miriam’s Magnificat is one of the most explicit statements of covenant continuity between God and Israel in the New Testament: 

🇮🇱 God has helped His servant Israel (1:54)

🇮🇱 He has remembered His mercy

🇮🇱 He is fulfilling promises to Abraham and his seed forever (1:55) 

This is not the language of replacement or rejection. It is the language of faithful remembrance. 

*Miriam, the same name as the sister of Moses, was Mary’s actual name. 

4. THE DAVIDIC MESSIAH (LUKE 1:32–33) 

The angel tells Miriam/Mary: “The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David… and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 

This is unmistakably Jewish messianic expectation, grounded in: 

📜 2 Samuel 7

📜 Israel’s royal covenant

📜 National hope for restoration 

A Messiah without Israel would be incoherent here. You cannot disconnect Yeshua from the Jewish people or the Hebrew prophets. 

LUKE 1: ZECHARIAH’S PROPHECY—REDEMPTION FOR ISRAEL 

Zechariah’s prophecy (Luke 1:68–79) is perhaps the most explicit passage of all. 

5. “HE HAS REDEEMED HIS PEOPLE” (Luke 1:68) 

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.” No redefinition is offered. “His people” means Israel, just as it does throughout the Hebrew Bible and the gospels. 

📖 "For he will save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).

📖 "Shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel" (Matt. 2:6 quoting Micah).

📖 "A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" (Lk. 2:32). 

6. SALVATION FROM ISRAEL’S ENEMIES (LUKE 1:71–75) 

Zechariah speaks of: 

⛓️‍💥 Deliverance from enemies

⛓️‍💥 Freedom from those who hate us

⛓️‍💥 Serving God without fear in holiness and righteousness

This is not a purely inward or spiritualized salvation. It reflects Israel’s historical longing under oppression, now answered by divine action. Such language echoes the Hebrew prophets and dozens of Messianic promises. “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance.” (Joel 2:32). 

7. GOD REMEMBERING HIS COVENANT (LUKE 1:72–73) 

“To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham.” 

Again, the emphasis is covenantal continuity—not discontinuity. There is no hint that God is rejecting Israel, but rather that He is fulfilling his promise to her. 

LUKE 2: THE BIRTH OF ISRAEL’S MESSIAH 

8. BORN IN THE CITY OF DAVID (LUKE 2:4, 11) 

Joseph goes to Bethlehem because he is: 

🐫 Some people have posted that Bethlehem is in Palestine. It is in what is known as the Palestinian territories today. But in the time of Jesus, there was no such province called Palestine. It was the name the Romans gave to the region in 132 CE. At the time of Yeshua, it was an exclusively Jewish city, the birthplace of Israel’s most famous King, David. In fact, the angel refers to it as “the city of David.” 

🐫 “of the house and lineage of David” (2:4) 

🐫 The angel announces: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Messiah, the Lord.” (2:11) This is royal, Jewish geography based in Messianic prophecy. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). 

9. “GOOD NEWS FOR ALL THE PEOPLE” (LUKE 2:10) 

When the angel speaks of “all the people,” the immediate referent is Israel—the people awaiting redemption. Luke will later expand the horizon in Acts 10 to the nations, but he does not erase the starting point. 

10. FAITHFUL TORAH OBSERVANCE (LUKE 2:21–24) 

Jesus is: 

✡️ Circumcised on the eighth day

✡️ Presented at the Temple

✡️ Consecrated to God and his parents offered up sacrifice “according to the Law of Moses” 

Luke goes out of his way to show that nothing about Jesus’ coming breaks covenant faithfulness. Luke’s deep familiarity with Jewish law has led many newer scholars to reconsider the possibility that he himself was Jewish. 

11. SIMEON: CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL (LUKE 2:25–32) 

Simeon, a Jewish prophet, is described as: 

✅ “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (2:25)

He praises God because his eyes have seen:

✅ God’s salvation

✅ Who is prepared “in the presence of all peoples.”

✅ “A light for revelation to the Gentiles.”

✅ And crucially, “the glory of Your people Israel” (2:32) 

Gentile inclusion is real—but Israel remains central, not sidelined. God’s plan was never “Israel or the nations,” but “Israel and the nations.” According to Psalm 67, God would use Israel to bring salvation to the nations. “May God be gracious to us (Israel) and bless us (Israel) and make his face shine on us, so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (v. 1-2). 

12. ANNA: REDEMPTION OF JERUSALEM (LUKE 2:38) 

The Jewish prophetess Anna speaks to all who were: 

“waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” 

Jerusalem—not a metaphor, not a symbol, but the city and people of Israel—stands at the heart of the expectation. 

WHAT WOULD A FIRST-TIME READER CONCLUDE? 

If someone read Luke 1–2 fresh—without later theological filters—would they conclude: 

🤔 That God had rejected Israel?

🤔 That Israel’s story was over? 

Or would they conclude: 

🤩 That God had remembered His covenant?

🤩 That He had come to rescue His people?

🤩 That the Messiah had arrived for Israel, in fulfillment of Scripture? 

The answer is unmistakable. 

THE TRUE MYSTERY: GENTILE INCLUSION, NOT ISRAEL’S REJECTION 

The great mystery of the New Testament is not that God replaced His ancient people, Israel. Paul explicitly denies that notion elsewhere (Rom. 11:1, 11). Rather, the mystery—hidden and now revealed—is that Gentiles are welcomed into Israel’s Messiah and all the covenant benefits within. “But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah” (Eph. 2:13). 

Paul could not be clearer: 

“This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Messiah Jesus through the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:6) 

🌎 Gentiles are included, not substituted.

🌎 The kingdom is expanded, not transferred.

🌎 Israel is fulfilled, not erased. 

CHRISTMAS, PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD 

The Birth of the Messiah is not the story of God abandoning Israel. It is the story of God keeping His promises to Israel—and astonishingly, opening the door so that the nations might come in as well. 

It is not a story of One who forgets His covenant—but One who remembers. 

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW? 

Antisemitism is not only growing in the Muslim world, but in the Christian world. Every day, we can find posts by those who identify as Christian (whether truly born again or not, I’ll leave that up to God) who are speaking the most horrible lies about the people who birthed Messiah Jesus, and wrote the Bible (the Jews). 

Paul had an expectation that the Gentiles who were coming into the kingdom would be kind towards Israel (Romans 11:11-22). Just as Israel interceded for the Messiah to come 2,000 years ago, who would be “light for the nations” (Is. 42:6), God expects Gentile believers to intercede for Israel to be re-grafted back into her own olive tree (Rom. 11:24). Together, Jew and Gentile, we are the one new man (Eph. 2:15). 

Guard your heart against the resurgence and normalcy of anti-Jewish rhetoric and disproven conspiracy theories. 

JESUS IS NOT RETURNING FOR AN ANTISEMITIC BRIDE. 

Be part of the end-time prayer army crying out for Israel’s salvation and that the message of Messiah would reach the ends of the earth. Dr. Ron Cantor, Ashkelon, Israel

www.roncantor.com