Five Truths About Jews in the New Testament

Today, we are starting a new series on Messianic Mondays called “The Most Common Misconceptions About Jesus, Jews, and the New Covenant.”

I grew up believing that all the Jews of Jesus's day rejected him. I was taught that only non-Jews believed in Jesus or Yeshua, as he was called in Hebrew. As a new believer, I was surprised to find out when I opened up the pages of the New Testament that Yeshua had a massive Jewish following. In fact, everyone in the gospel was Jewish! 

Let's take a closer look.

First of all, all of Yeshua's disciples were Jewish.

Secondly, when the Holy Spirit fell in Jerusalem on Shavuot (also known as Pentecost), 3,000 Jewish men, as well as women and children, chose to follow Yeshua as their Messiah. A few days later, we read in Acts 4, after a man was healed through the prayers of Yeshua's disciples, 2,000 more Jewish men, as well as women and children, put their faith in him. This early Messianic community rapidly grew to over 10,000 people.

Third, for the first decade after Yeshua's resurrection, the number of Jewish Jesus followers continued to rise, and that was before they even began to preach to Gentiles. When Rabbi Saul, AKA the Apostle Paul, came to Jerusalem to meet the other Messianic leaders. They told him that tens of thousands of Jews had put their faith in Yeshua, and they were all zealous for the Torah — in other words, they continued to live as Jews, not as members of a new religion.

Number four: according to Acts 6:7, it wasn't merely the uneducated or the easily duped that followed Yeshua, but a large number of Temple priests put their faith in him. One scholarly view is that the book of Hebrews was written to these Temple priests who had fled persecution. The detailed focus on Levitical priesthood, sacrifice, and the Day of Atonement would have had deep resonance for priests who had lived that system daily. The argument that Yeshua is the greater High Priest would have been particularly persuasive for them.

Number five: in Acts chapter 9, and again, this is before the Jewish Apostles begin to preach to the Gentiles, many more Jewish people became believers in Yeshua after two incredible miracles that God did through Peter. First, a paralyzed man was healed, and then a woman named Tabitha was raised from the dead. After these miracles, it says that all those who dwelt in Lydda and Sharon, a massive area that covers the Mediterranean Coastline—the greater Tel Aviv area today—turned to the Lord and all of these people were Jews.

We know from both the Old and New Covenants that many more Jewish people will find salvation in the Messiah in the End Times. Romans 11:26 says that eventually all Israel will be saved and Zechariah prophesied “I will pour out on the House of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication then they will look on me whom they have pierced, yes they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn child.”

Revival is coming to Israel!