Can the teachings and nuances of first century Israel be fully understood from the perspective of twentieth century Oklahoma? As far as settlement of peoples other than the American Indian, Oklahoma is only about 100 years old. Our nation was established in 1776, a little over 200 years ago. The Americas were settled a little over 500 years ago. This gives us, at best, a historical perspective of five centuries. In the "New Testament:" we are looking at a culture half-way around the world some 2,000 years ago. This same culture started some 4,000 years before that. Continuous in the same place for about 6,000 years is a people from which our faith springs.

I will quote some statements that will clarify my position. I trust these will help you to understand why I have the interest that I have and spark some interest in you as well.

"The Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people...he has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him...the Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound, and splendor, then faded to dream- stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they're gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was...all things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"- by Mark Twain

"To explore and understand the Jewish roots of our faith is to expand and to enrich our Christian experience. This premise is at the heart of the educational endeavors of The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, a non-profit organization that is restoring to the Church an appreciation of its full Hebrew heritage."

From the beginning there were only two classes of people; Jews and Gentiles, those who believed in the one true God and everyone else...who, then, are we? We believe in the one true God. This is a Hebrew concept. We have also accepted Jesus as the Messiah. We are therefore no longer Gentiles, regardless of our ethnic or geographical background. We, in fact, are spiritually Jewish. We have not replaced the Jews as some would have us believe, the Jews have not passed away or become irrelevant with the advent of Jesus. The prophecies were fulfilled, Messiah has finally come. Y'shua Ha Massiciah, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Anointed One has come to earth and fulfilled the scriptures. Judaism is just as valid today as it was 2,000 years ago. The vast majority of traditional or formal Jews simply do not accept Jesus as Messiah, they are still looking for Messiah to come and establish an earthly kingdom. They have missed the two comings, one as the "Suffering Servant" and the second as "Majestic King." We find both in Y'shua. This misunderstanding is to be both pitied and rejoiced over. Pitied because so many have missed out on their personal relationship with Jesus and rejoiced over because this opened the door for us, the Gentiles of the world, to enter into the true faith. We are now grafted into the root of the Olive Tree, Israel, according to the eleventh chapter of Romans.

Paul teaches us that God did not reject His people, Romans 11:1-6. The elect obtained what Israel so earnestly sought, the rest rejected it, and because of this, salvation came to the Gentiles according to verses 7-12. Paul seeks to arouse the Jews to envy and save them. Verse 16 says that "If the root is holy, so are the branches." Paul declares that the root is holy! Furthermore, he declares that the grafted in branches are holy! We are not to despise the Jews, we are to embrace them. They are our spiritual kinsmen and, as such, we have much to learn from them. We also have much to share, but it must be done in love and not from arrogance. We see that branches have been broken off and wild olive shoots are grafted in - we, Gentiles, have accepted Jesus and thereby are grafted into Judaism - we do not support the root but the root supports us! We are warned not to be arrogant for if the natural branches were not spared, neither will the grafted in branches be spared. We are part of the same tree by grace, God is also able to ingraft the natural branches again if they believe (verses 17-24.) Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles have been saved (grafted in) and then all Israel will be saved. We are all candidates for mercy (verses 25-32.)

This is why I feel it is important to study our Jewish background. We are "grafted in Jews," we need to know who we are, where we come from and how we are to relate to our roots. Without this understanding, we can hardly expect to grasp the depth of the scripture. I would like to quote David Bivin and Roy Blizzard from their book Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus. "The writers are Hebrew, the culture is Hebrew, the religion is Hebrew, the traditions are Hebrew, and the concepts are Hebrew."