The Ten Tribes of Israel as 'being Christian' (22 September, 2014 , 27 Elul, 5774)
How will the descendants of the Ten Tribes eventually reunite with the Jewish People?
We have the answer to this complex question. There are some scholars who envision the reunification of the Ten Tribes with Judah as 'being Christians'. They suggest leaving them alone as they are until the arrival of the Messiah who somehow at the End of Days will turn them from 'being Christians' to worshipping the God of their fathers, His Holy Torah and bring them back to the Promised Land.
We think that concept of 'Israelites being Christians' is not correct and that the truth is not represented by 'Hebrew Roots' and the like: Their eyes and hearts still have not been opened to the Almighty God of Israel. They have continued to worship their Trinity God and Messiah Jesus. They preach the doctrine of 'no works' which is the direct rebellion against God's Laws. Even Jesus was against this teaching: 'If you want to enter into life, keep the Commandments.' How can they return to their Israelites roots without acceptance of God's Sacred Words and His Laws? The definition of sin is the transgression of these very Laws. Instead of surrendering, repenting and obeying these Laws, the Christians have decided to bypass and ignore them because, in their mind, salvation will come 'not through works and obeying the Laws of God but faith alone'.
Scripture and the Sages say this is not acceptable: 'There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death' (Proverbs 14:12) or 'Keep my Decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD' (Leviticus 18:5) and more: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens' (Jeremiah 10:11). Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12:12-14) concludes: 'Fear God, and keep His Commandments; for this is the whole duty of everyone.'
Who is God speaking about in the verses below?
'O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil' (Isaiah 3:12; 5:20)
and more:
'For the customs of the people are vanities. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with the axe by the hands of the craftsmen. They decorate it with gold and silver; they fasten it with the nails and with hummers that it moves not' (Jeremiah 10:3-4).
Is this not the Christmas tree, very familiar to all Christians, God speaks of and condemns here? Or consider another passage:
'What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save' (Isaiah 45:20).
To 'bring the Israelites back' does not literally mean to bring them to the Promised Land only. Rather, turn them to the God of Israel and to His Divine Torah. We doubt very much that the Almighty will redeem those of the Ten Tribes who wish to remain 'being Christians.' Those who reject the God of Israel and continue worshiping false gods, who cannot save, and craven idols,
'Will I number you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter' (Isaiah 65:12).
Why such a harsh punishment? '
It is because these people abandoned the Covenant of the LORD the God of their fathers' (Deuteronomy 29:25). The explanation given is right on target! This issue is very important. It is a matter of life and death. Here is no compromise. God warns those who 'forsake God of Israel' and forget 'My Holy Mountain' (Isaiah 65:11), who wish to be remained Christians,
'My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed. And the LORD God will put you to death' (Isaiah 65:11, 15).
These are very strong words! Those Christians of the Ten Tribes of Israel in exile who understand and accept the prophecies of the Last Days, (especially prophecies of Israel being 'My Kingdom of Priests' and 'My holy nation'), and wish to fulfill them, better listen to what the Almighty God has said and obey His Divine Word:
'Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other' (Isaiah 45:22).
It is mostly the responsibility and Divine Mission of the Jewish people to go to the Israelite Tribes in exile, wherever they live, and bring them the light of the Torah and knowledge of the God of Israel. It is their duty and destiny to do everything possible to awake this sleeping giant, Joseph, to their Israelite identity and bring them back to One and only Almighty God, God of Israel. Therefore, Judah will bring to the Holy Land not 'Joes' and 'Jacks' of Joseph, the 'Born Again Christian Zionists', Jews lost to Christianity, Christians of the Ephraimites Tribers who found their Hebrew roots in order make a phony Christian Aliyah to missionize and steal Jewish People from the flock of the Almighty. Quite the contrary. 'Our Judah will bring back the newly repented, the Torah accepting Israelites with a 'new heart' and a 'new spirit' who finally will get out of their 'graves' of exile and out of the chains of false religions. They will found the God of their fathers, the one and only Almighty God of Israel. As the Bible says:
'The children of Israel in the Last Days will seek the LORD their God' (Jeremiah 50:4-5).
'The LORD their God' most definitely means God of Israel, not Jesus, Mohammad or anybody else. The God of Israel has always remembered His people of Israel and He has a beautiful future for them:
'For your maker is your husband, the LORD Almighty is His name; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the Earth. For a small moment I have forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you' (Isaiah 54:5, 7).
Yes, we would send Judah to the Ten Tribes to bring them the light of the Divine Torah with its everlasting Laws, with the knowledge of God that they might realize who they really are and be able to restore themselves to the point as they were at the Mount Sinai when the Creator revealed Himself to all Twelve Tribes of the Israelite nation and gave them His Holy Torah, as it is written:
'Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I return the captivity of My people' (Hosea 6:11).
This verse is a direct confirmation of the Almighty that the rest of the whole House of Israel (Ten Tribes) will return and join their brothers, the Jewish people.
Judah once saved the life of Joseph by convincing his brothers not to kill him but rather sell him as a slave (Genesis 37:27). Now the time has come for Judah to repair all wrongdoings to his brother Joseph (the Ten Tribes of Israel in Exile) and bring him back to the rest of the family, to the Almighty God of his fathers, and to the Promised Land.
The Jewish people have to take the initiative, to awaken the giant Joseph. They must go to the Ten Tribes wherever they live, and bring to them the light of Torah and knowledge of the true God of Israel. That is exactly what God wishes them to do:
'In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers' (Jeremiah 3:18).
Walk with the house of Israel some translators understood as saying 'go unto'. 'Judah and Benyamin (i.e. the present-day Jews) are destined to go unto the Ten Tribes in exile and bring them back in order to merit with them the Messianic Era and life in the World-To-Come' (Yalkut Shimeoni, Song of Solomon 905).
'For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, declares the LORD GOD, there the whole House of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the Land (Ezekiel 20:40).
Then, united together and redeemed by God, they will become again one nation and one Kingdom of Priests, a light to the World. Together they will merit the Messianic Era and life in the World-To-Come.
The people of Israel were designated by God to be unto Him 'a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation' (Exodus 19:6). To achieve this glorious status and become what the Almighty wants them to be, the Israelites of the Ten Tribes cannot longer remain 'being Christians.' No matter how many Christian apologists may say that Judaism and Christianity are the similar religion, worshipping the same God; the truth is that these religions are very different, and they do not worship the same God. They never have.
To repent means to change one's way of thinking and behaving. In order to achieve this, the Ten Tribes have to be shown the truth of their Israelite origin and receive a clear explanation as to how they become what they are. It needs demonstrating to them that the reason they have forgotten their Hebrew origin and the God of Israel is sin and transgression of the God's Laws. Basically, they have violated Commandments # 1 and # 4. The First Commandment is: 'You shall have no other gods before Me'; and the Fourth: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy' (Exodus 20:2-17). The Almighty gave to the Israelites the sign by which they would have been recognized as God chosen people,
'Keep My Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God' (Ezekiel 20:20).
This 'sign' has been lost by the Ten Tribes for more than two and a half thousand years. The Israelites have forgotten the God-given holy Sabbaths and replaced it by the meaningless Sundays. God foresaw what would happen to His people Israel in exile. 'And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, that you say, We will be as the Gentiles, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone' (Ezekiel 20:32).
And lastly, the most important aspect of their return will be the arrival of the Messiah who the Almighty will send to reunite the whole House of Israel, bring them home to the Land of their fathers and redeem them. All of this will happen in the beginning of the Messianic Age. They will be perfectly ready for the 'two sticks' of Ezekiel 37:
'And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. And David my servant king shall be over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them' (Ezekiel 37:22, 24).
Yes, before the coming of the Messiah, the Israelites must repent and have perfect faith because the Final stage of the Third Exodus is a spiritual return to the God of Israel and to His Torah in order to be redeemed by the Almighty.
Alexander Zephyr