'Sabbath rest is ... in a person'

The speaker said Christians have a biblical obligation to stand with Jews in the fight against terrorism.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- "Shabbat Shalom."
Sid Roth greeted the congregation of The Place Where the Lord Provides Christian Center on Friday evening -- the start of the sabbath for traditional Jews -- with a traditional Sabbath blessing.
As a Messianic Jew, Roth taught the Christian congregation of the South Side church an extended version of the greeting, adding "in Yeshua."
Shabbat is Hebrew for sabbath or rest, he explained. Shalom can mean hello or goodbye, but also means peace or completeness. Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus.
For the Messianic Jew, the greeting "Shabbat Shalom in Yeshua" means peace, rest and completeness in Christ, he said. "Sabbath rest is not in a day, but in a person -- Yeshua."
According to the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, Messianic Judaism is a Biblically based movement of people who, as committed Jews, believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Jewish Messiah of Israel of whom the Jewish Law and Prophets spoke.
Before Roth spoke, the Davidic Army of God Ministry based at Pleasant Valley Evangelical Church, Warren, used a mix of music, costumes and dance as a call to worship. They waved flags -- some bearing Jewish symbols and a lion's head, a reference to "Lion of Judah" as one of the names of Messiah, played tambourines and danced. Several members sounded shofars, a traditional Jewish instrument often made from a ram's horn.
Roth said he chose to follow Jesus as Messiah because he discovered neither Judaism nor Christianity is complete without the other. Jews know the law and the covenant, Christians know Jesus.
Shedding of blood
On the Day of Atonement, the rabbi says that Jews today cannot fully celebrate the atonement without the shedding of blood. Christians have the shed blood of Jesus, but many are not familiar with the Old Testament and the covenants of Abraham and Moses.
Roth also had a more individual, political message for Christians. Christians who are not Jews have a biblical responsibility to both traditional Jews and Messianic Jews.
As Christians chose to do -- or not to do -- during the persecution and slaughter of Jews during World War II, Christians must today choose to stand with all Jews in the face of persecution and acts of terrorism, because many want to destroy the Jews as a people as well as the Jews as the nation of Israel.
Roth spoke of the faith Christians and Messianic Jews share and quoted Paul -- who called himself chief among Jews who then became a believer in Jesus as Messiah -- Ephesians 2:13-14 and 18:
"But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."
tullis@vindy.com