Identity Theft Read online

  “Wait a minute. I recognize Peter, I mean Kefa. Is this what I think it is?”

  “Yes, it is the Last Supper; and tomorrow Yeshua will die.”

  “Are you telling me that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder meal?”

  “What else would you expect Jews to be doing on Passover in Jerusalem—celebrating Festivus?”

  I have an angel who knows Seinfeld jokes, I thought.

  “Look on your screen.” I did and saw:

  Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. [Yeshua] sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

  “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

  He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

  They left and found things just as [Yeshua] had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

  When the hour came, [Yeshua] and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:7-15)

  “When you see Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper, you don’t think Jewish. If I remember correctly, he has bread on the table! It’s Passover, for goodness sake; Jews don’t eat bread on Passover!”

  “What do you expect from an Italian painter in 1495? The Church had already drifted so far from its Jewish roots, no one would have even thought to bring it to the painter’s attention. In Spain they were already killing Jewish converts who returned to Judaism. Why would Leonardo emphasize the Messiah’s Jewishness? In fact, doing so could have put his own life in jeopardy.”

  “That makes sense,” I agreed. “So Yeshua died on the first day of Passover?”

  “Yes, but there is more.” Ariel and I were flying again. This was a very short trip. We landed on a grassy knoll near some large rocks. I realized later that they were tombs.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “No, ‘When are we?’ is the correct question. And I’ll give you a hint—in Heaven we don’t call this day Easter Sunday any more than we call the Passover you just saw Good Friday. Read this passage David.”

  This time it was a cloud that formed in the shape of letters. But it was in Hebrew. “Ariel, I can’t read Hebrew. I mean, I can sound out the words but I have no idea what I am saying.” Most Jewish boys in America learn how to read the Hebrew alphabet for their bar Mitzvahs, but rarely do we actually learn the language.

  “Try,” he said with a mischievous grin.

  So I did, and I found I could both read and understand Hebrew! Amazing! The verse said: “He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath” (Lev. 23:11).

  “Ah…so? What does this mean to me, today?” I asked.

  “David, this passage is from Leviticus 23. Adonai tells the Israelites to bring a Firstfruits offering before the Lord on the first Sunday after the first Saturday, or Sabbath, after Passover begins. On this day the priest would wave a sheaf before the Lord. It is called the Feast of Firstfruits. Shaul, remember him? He wrote this: ‘but now [Messiah] is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits…’” (1 Cor. 15:20 NKJV).

  This time it was in English and I was beginning to grasp the significance of what he was showing me. “Is this the day Yeshua rises from the dead? And if so,” my thoughts were racing, “you are telling me that not only did He die on a Jewish feast day, but He also rose from the dead on a Jewish feast day?”

  “Bingo! Such a good student you are,” and he actually pinched my cheek in jest. “But David, this is not just any Jewish feast day! It is the Feast of Firstfruits! Yeshua rose from the dead, as Shaul said, as its fulfillment. He is the Firstfruits of God’s harvest, and millions have followed Him. The same power that raised Him from the dead lives in them, giving them life everlasting. I imagine you would like to experience that, too?”

  I could experience it, too? This was what I was looking for. Yes, I want that joy, that peace; I want that serenity I saw in Kefa, Jacob, and Judah. And they are Jews! I am not turning my back on my people. They are my people! This is what I have been searching for!

  “Ariel, I’m ready. I want—Ariel? Where are you?” Finally, I was ready and my angel just disappeared. Unexpectedly there was a commotion behind me. I turned around and saw two women who looked absolutely terrified and a few Roman guards on the ground trembling with fear. Then I saw why. The massive covering stone had been removed from one of the tombs and two men in gleaming garments were standing beside them. No, they weren’t men. They were like Ariel… wait…it was Ariel! At least, one of them was. As they began to speak, their words formed in little clouds in front of me. I read as I heard them say to the women:

  …Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again” (Luke 24:5-7).

  When Ariel reappeared by my side, I said excitingly something akin to, “You were…you…ah.”

  “Yes, I was chosen to join Alexander in announcing that the King—the King of the Jews—had risen from the dead.”

  I was beginning to understand that I was with no Private First Class angel. This dude had some clout. And what did that say about the fact that he was sent to me? What did all this mean? I’m just a writer from Philadelphia.

  “That was an amazing day, that was,” he wasn’t even talking to me. “There was rejoicing in Heaven on a scale none of us had ever seen before; not even when Moses parted the Red Sea.”

  “You were in on that, too?”

  “No, but I watched it.”

  “My rabbi once told me that the Israelites passed through the Reed Sea, not the Red Sea and that the water was only a few feet high.”

  “Tell your rabbi that if he’s right, then an even greater miracle happened on that first Passover!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “All of Pharaoh’s army drowned in only two feet of water!”

  We both laughed out loud as he took my hand again. Being somewhat analytical, I realized that I wasn’t just laughing because he was funny, but because I was with an angel, 2,000 years in the past and I was happier than I had ever been in my whole life. Happy isn’t even the right word. I was beyond happy. I was ecstatic! I felt a joy beyond my ability, even as a writer, to express. Later I would find the term “joy unspeakable” in the New Covenant—and that summed it up perfectly!

  We were flying again but in daylight this time. When we landed, we were still in Jerusalem, but at the ancient Temple. We hovered above the courtyard and I noticed the city was packed.

  “Why are all these people here?”

  “Today is the day of Shavuot, one of the feast days on which Jewish pilgrims from all over the region come to Jerusalem to celebrate. It marks the ending of the forty-nine day counting of the Omer, from Firstfruits, the day Yeshua rose from the dead, to Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. Sadly, most Christians know this feast day only as the Day of Pentecost, a Greek word meaning “fifty.” Greek-speaking Jews would also have used this word, but the difference is that they knew it was a Jewish or biblical feast day. Most Gentile Christians know it only as the day that the Holy Spirit fell upon and empowered the believers, birthing the Kehilah.”

  “Can you unwrap that for me further? The Holy Spirit fell? What does that mean and why is this Jewish festival important to Christians?” I asked.

  “Ten days ago, forty days after His resurrection, Yeshua told His followers, about 120 of them, to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to empower them. He told them that once empowered, they would t
ake this message, the message of forgiveness of sin and redemption through His sacrifice, not only to Jerusalem and Judea, but also to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth. Look.”

  The cloud returned and I read, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

  I reached out and waved my hand through the cloud. The letters scattered, but then returned to form sentences again. Unreal, I thought. Suddenly there was a loud sound. It seemed to come from the sky, like a windstorm, and could be heard from afar.

  “Look down David,” Ariel instructed.

  When I did, I could see a large group, I assumed the 120, gathered in an enclosure that was part of a colonnade.1 I saw what looked like flames of fire resting over the heads of each of the believers there, who were now praising God loudly in different languages. They seemed intoxicated with joy. “There is Shimon Kefa,” I blurted out, as he made his way into the Temple courtyard, followed by the others.

  “Keep watching,” Ariel was smiling.

  The noise like a mighty wind, the flames of fire and the spectacle of Galileans speaking in foreign languages had quickly drawn a crowd of curious Jewish bystanders, which was growing larger by the minute.

  “Oh, so this is what he was talking about when he proudly referred to his sermon on Shavuot. He is going to speak now, right?”

  Ariel nodded, as Kefa stood up, “Men of Israel!” he declared. Kefa was right. This was an amazing moment. I had never heard anyone speak like this—certainly not in my synagogue. With passion, authority, and insight into the Scriptures, he proclaimed that Yeshua was Israel’s Messiah. His hearers were deeply moved. All these Jews, many of whom had come from other nations for Shavuot, appeared to be stunned by the rough fisherman’s dynamic delivery. Even the other believers were looking at Kefa with new respect and amazement, as if to say, “Is this the same Shimon Kefa that we know?”

  “This is the same Kefa who, only fifty-three days ago, denied that he even knew Yeshua!” Ariel said.

  “What!?”

  “I am afraid so. It was just after Yeshua was arrested. A young servant girl accused him of being a disciple of Yeshua. He swore up and down that he wasn’t. Kefa was a gaffe machine! One minute he declares that Yeshua is the Messiah, then the next, he is telling Yeshua that he won’t let Him go to the Cross. And then he denies even knowing Him—not just once, but three times!

  “Afterward, he was so ashamed. But Yeshua, after His resurrection, immediately reassured Him of His love and forgiveness and affirmed that he would have a significant role to play in His kingdom—no, not as the Pope,” he smiled, “but as one of the greatest communicators of Yeshua’s message there has ever been!

  “I’ll let you in on a secret. The Father doesn’t always choose the ones that others would. He took the youngest son of Jesse, David, and made him king over Israel. He chose Joseph, the hated brother of the sons of Jacob, who was sold as a slave, and made him the second most powerful leader in the world—just in time to save from starvation the very same brothers who had wanted to kill him. And here, He takes an impulsive, uneducated, burly fisherman and gives him a gift like no one has ever seen before. The Father is far more interested in a person’s heart than in their talents. And Shimon has a great heart. Take a look.”

  After hearing his message, the men cried out to Kefa and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

  Kefa didn’t hesitate, “Repent and be immersed in water, every one of you, in the name of Yeshua, the Messiah, for the forgiveness of your sins.”

  The crowd began to weep, as people openly confessed their sins. It was like someone took a collective blindfold off of these Jews and they saw clearly that they were in need of forgiveness. This was nothing like Yom Kippur in my synagogue. Every year we all dress up and come to the congregation to pray. We fast for twenty-four hours—many without even water. We spend the morning reading prayers that someone else wrote, confessing our sins—but never in tears! Never like this. I wouldn’t say it is a joke, but neither is it taken seriously. At least now I could see that. It wasn’t unlike the state of these people before the Holy Spirit fell upon them. They had come to Jerusalem out of religious obedience, but hadn’t actually expected to have an encounter with God.

  The apostles organized the crowd and used what appeared to be a system of baths (mikvot), to immerse these people in water. Thousands went into the water and came out on the other side. As they did, they were glowing. They entered with tears of anguish and guilt at the realization of their sin, but emerged with tears of joy. Many were actually dancing with each other as they came out. In fact, it reminded me of the story of Miriam and the Israelites dancing on the other side, having passed through the Red Sea unharmed. The city was in an uproar. And while I could see that these people’s lives were being radically changed, I couldn’t understand why a Jew would be baptized.

  “What is happening? Why are these Jews being baptized?” I asked Ariel.

  “Remember what John told you earlier—immersion in water began with the Jews. These mikvot or immersion pools have been in existence for centuries. It was the practice of all those coming up to Jerusalem to present an offering at the Temple to first be made ritually clean by passing through these waters.

  “The problem is that most Jewish people, when they hear the Greek word baptism, tend to think of the Middle Ages, when so-called Christians forced Jewish people to be baptized in water, symbolizing their conversion from Judaism to Catholicism, just like Christophe in our story earlier. To the Jewish mind, baptism is not equated with coming to faith in the Jewish Messiah or seen as a sign of dying to the old nature and rising to new life, but rather it is equated with persecution, expulsion, and even physical death.

  “But as you have just seen for yourself it was not like that in the beginning. Thousands of Jews, plus their wives and children, joyfully and willingly entered into the waters of immersion, seeing it as something entirely Jewish, which it is.”

  Written before me appeared an archeological reference in cloud-like letters as before:

  A series of public ritual bathing installations were found on the south side of the Temple Mount. Because of the stringent laws regarding purity before entering holy places, demand for mikvot was high and many have been discovered from first century Jerusalem.2

  “The difference is that immersion in water during the Temple period was something that needed to be repeated over and over again, each time one would come to the Temple to make a sacrifice. In the New Covenant, it is something we do only once, when we come to faith—as these have done today—and it symbolizes dying to our old life and entrance into a new life with God. Just look at their radiant faces—it’s so obvious, they’ve undergone a life-changing experience.”

  A passage appeared.

  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into [Messiah Yeshua] were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as [Messiah] was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4 NKJV).

  “Unbelievable!” I was beside myself. This journey was endlessly amazing. “Ariel, do you realize that Yeshua died on a Jewish feast day—on Passover? And that He rose from the dead on the Jewish feast of Bikurim, Firstfruits. And then, He poured out His Spirit for the first time on His followers on the Jewish feast of Shavuot. It’s almost as if God was trying to impress upon the world that this thing is Jewish! Am I right?”

  “You’re preachin’ to the choir,” Ariel was beaming. “However, within a few decades, the number of non-Jews who would join the Kehilah, the community of believers, would far outnumber the Jews, and the Father was laying a blueprint that would ensure people never forgot that salvation began with the Jews.”

  “But they did forget,” I offered. “The Christianity in most of those stories, the movies you sho
wed me, bears no resemblance to anything that I’ve seen here today. The Church changed so much over the centuries that Yeshua was no longer even recognizable as the Jewish Messiah of Israel. And it was not just His name that was changed, but His very nature. They made it seem like Yeshua was against the Jews!”

  “And,” Ariel interrupted, “they conveniently forgot that He’d said that He had been sent to the lost sheep of Israel, and that, not only were all His followers Jewish—He was Jewish Himself! Furthermore, according Jeremiah, the New Covenant would be made with the house of Judah and the house of Israel!” (See Jeremiah 31:31.)

  “Even baptism,” I jumped back in, “they managed to turn into something altogether foreign to Jews. Nor was it ever emphasized, if the Church was even aware of it, that all these powerful milestones of Christianity, like His death and resurrection, took place on Jewish holidays.

  “And another thing—why do Christians worship on Sunday when the Sabbath is clearly from Friday evening to Saturday evening? If this all started with Jews, why would they change the Sabbath?”

  “You wanna go there? Okay then, I guess we can take a look at it.” The angel stretched, feigning exhaustion. “But we will need to return to the classroom first. Hold on to me.”

  Instantly, we were flying again. I would never get tired of this!

  Notes

  * * *

  1. While it has been a longstanding view that the 120 were at the Upper Room, many modern-day scholars, including Daniel Juster and Richard Longenecker, as well as the NIV Study Bible authors, not to mention the 19th-century scholar Adam Clarke (Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible) and many others believe the disciples were in the Temple, probably in an enclosed area as part of Solomon’s Portico or porch.

  “When, moreover, we bear in mind the fact (which appears both from the Scriptures and from other contemporary records) that the Temple, with its vast corridors or ‘porches’, was the regular gathering place of all the various parties and sects of Jews, however antagonistic the one to the other, it will be easy to realize that the Temple is just the place—both because of its hallowed associations, and also because of its many convenient meeting places—where the disciples would naturally congregate. Edersheim says that the vast Temple area was capable of containing a concourse of 210,000 people; and he mentions also that the colonnades in Solomon’s Porch formed many gathering places for the various sects, schools and congregations of the people. In commenting on John 7 this trustworthy authority says that the gathering places in Solomon’s Porch ‘had benches in them; and from the liberty of speaking and teaching in Israel, Jesus might here address the people in the very face of his enemies.’ It was, moreover, and this is an important item of evidence, in Solomon’s Porch that the concourse of Jews gathered which Peter addressed in Acts 3 (see verse 11). Hence there can be little doubt that one of the assembling places to which Edersheim refers was the ‘house’ where the disciples were ‘sitting’ when the Holy Spirit came upon them.” (Philip Mauro, The Hope of Israel: What Is It?, 1922, accessed August 10, 2012, http://www.preteristarchive.com/books/1922_ mauro_hope-israel.html#CHAPTER_X.)