In the past, I have covered the important issues of our honoring of the Torah, God’s way of life for the Jewish people; and the respecting of Jewish tradition, the Jewish people’s communal way of living out the Torah. We now come to the key to our “Messianic” identity, namely our glorification of our Messiah Yeshua.
We have a Judaism with a Messiah in our midst, and this is such a powerful part of our identity. Rather than simply having a Messiah of speculation, we have a Messiah who has demonstrated his Messiahship by a life of Torah observance and a willing self-sacrifice on the stake for us.
As I think about Yeshua, I am taken aback in the wonder of it all. Rather than waiting for a Messiah to come, we know today who the Messiah is, and we await His return to complete the redemption of all things. I think of the wonder expressed in the book of Yochanan, when the first followers of Yeshua encountered Him and Andrew excitedly told his brother Simon about Yeshua:
“He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’” (Yochanan 1:41).
Like Andrew, we have found the Messiah!
Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, the hope of Israel, the root and offspring of David and the One in whom the promises made to the fathers is uniquely answered. So, then, we can only in great awe acknowledge Him as both our Lord and Messiah and thereby seek to glorify Him and make Him known as the King of Israel.
The Messiah has come. He is Yeshua and we, as His disciples, now get the privilege and responsibility to glorify Him as we await that great day alluded to in the Aleinu, when all the nations of the earth will bend the knee, bow down and glorify Yeshua as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
We get the awesome task and privilege to joyfully now—today—give honor and in thankfulness bow before Him who is our Redeemer and coming King.
For us to build a mature Messianic Judaism, the glorification of our righteous Messiah needs to be intrinsically a part of our communal life.
May we all glorify Yeshua!
Sean Emslie is a Messianic Jewish theologian. For the original article, visit towardblog.com.
