Dr. Couch, I heard one of the covenant guys on the radio say that there is no true orthodox Jews today, that at the most, the so-called orthodox would be Talmudic, following the traditional commentary writings of the sages of the past. Is this true?
ANSWER: This is both right and wrong, and is more wrong than right! Just like the covenant guys who follow traditional covenant teaching (that is not biblical) and who are enamored with the imperfect church creeds, so many of the orthodox Jews rely more on the Talmud than with the OT Scriptures.
However, to say that there are no orthodox Jews today, that they all simply follow the Talmud, is false, and shows the lack of research on the part of the covenant proponents. I happen to have one of the largest Jewish libraries of any Bible teacher I know of, and the orthodox hold to everything a dispensationalist would hold concerning prophecy, the end-times, and the nature of the Messiah. Of course they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But they hold that when He comes, He would be holy and sinless, that He would substitute for sin, that there will be a seven-year tribulation, that He will establish the Davidic Kingdom, etc. On these and many other issues they are absolutely correct!
In many of their writings there is some mysticism and wild views, but overall they hold biblically what we premillennialists believe in. The covenant guys are very ignorant of what these issues are all about. They accuse us of being uncritical, of believing what the Pharisees believed. They say we are Judaizing the Scriptures. If I hold to the literal, normal interpretation of the OT, I am indeed doing what Christ and the OT saints were doing—i.e., taking the Bible at face value in interpretation. Christ did not chide the Pharisees for their Kingdom belief, and about the coming of the Messiah, but He did criticize them for their legalism and hypocrisy. Too, they just did not believe that He was the One!
So I am good company, holding to the teaching of the OT as Christ and the prophets did. It is the covenant guys who bend the OT promises and make them apply to the church. Through the ages this allegorical interpretation was tolerated but the time has come when it must be challenged, discarded, thrown out, and rejected as being part of the great lie that distorts the biblical doctrines about the coming tribulation and the return of Christ to reign on David's throne. Enough is enough!
The Jewish scholar, Raphael Patai, in his wonderful book The Messiah Texts, refers kindly to Revelation 21 that is about the final days of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. He even quotes the whole chapter. He writes:
I am completing a new book entitled For the Cause of Zion. I have a chapter in the book labeled "Much in Common." In it I write:
Someday the eyes of the Jewish people will be open concerning Christ, and we will have much in common.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
ANSWER: This is both right and wrong, and is more wrong than right! Just like the covenant guys who follow traditional covenant teaching (that is not biblical) and who are enamored with the imperfect church creeds, so many of the orthodox Jews rely more on the Talmud than with the OT Scriptures.
However, to say that there are no orthodox Jews today, that they all simply follow the Talmud, is false, and shows the lack of research on the part of the covenant proponents. I happen to have one of the largest Jewish libraries of any Bible teacher I know of, and the orthodox hold to everything a dispensationalist would hold concerning prophecy, the end-times, and the nature of the Messiah. Of course they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But they hold that when He comes, He would be holy and sinless, that He would substitute for sin, that there will be a seven-year tribulation, that He will establish the Davidic Kingdom, etc. On these and many other issues they are absolutely correct!
In many of their writings there is some mysticism and wild views, but overall they hold biblically what we premillennialists believe in. The covenant guys are very ignorant of what these issues are all about. They accuse us of being uncritical, of believing what the Pharisees believed. They say we are Judaizing the Scriptures. If I hold to the literal, normal interpretation of the OT, I am indeed doing what Christ and the OT saints were doing—i.e., taking the Bible at face value in interpretation. Christ did not chide the Pharisees for their Kingdom belief, and about the coming of the Messiah, but He did criticize them for their legalism and hypocrisy. Too, they just did not believe that He was the One!
So I am good company, holding to the teaching of the OT as Christ and the prophets did. It is the covenant guys who bend the OT promises and make them apply to the church. Through the ages this allegorical interpretation was tolerated but the time has come when it must be challenged, discarded, thrown out, and rejected as being part of the great lie that distorts the biblical doctrines about the coming tribulation and the return of Christ to reign on David's throne. Enough is enough!
The Jewish scholar, Raphael Patai, in his wonderful book The Messiah Texts, refers kindly to Revelation 21 that is about the final days of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. He even quotes the whole chapter. He writes:
Entirely within the spirit of Jewish prophecy is the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem contained in Revelation 21. The book of Revelation was written … in Greek, late in the first century. Its author [John] was a Jewish Christian, well versed in the Scriptures who, while he believed in the Messiahship of Jesus (whom he calls "the Lamb"), expected his return in the Future to Come, and described the heavenly Jerusalem in Jewish prophetic terms.
In the Talmud … the heavenly Jerusalem is a standard Haggadic notion, presented in great detail and in many variants. In them, the undying love of the Jewish people for Jerusalem, the Holy City, the city of the Temple and the royal seat of David, finds eloquent expression in … the glories of the future Jerusalem in the days of the Messiah. This Messianic Jerusalem, which will descend in its entirety from heaven, will comprise a thousand towers, fortresses, street corners, pools, and cisterns, … Its radiance will light up the whole world and will rise up to God's Throne of Glory.
In the Talmud … the heavenly Jerusalem is a standard Haggadic notion, presented in great detail and in many variants. In them, the undying love of the Jewish people for Jerusalem, the Holy City, the city of the Temple and the royal seat of David, finds eloquent expression in … the glories of the future Jerusalem in the days of the Messiah. This Messianic Jerusalem, which will descend in its entirety from heaven, will comprise a thousand towers, fortresses, street corners, pools, and cisterns, … Its radiance will light up the whole world and will rise up to God's Throne of Glory.
I am completing a new book entitled For the Cause of Zion. I have a chapter in the book labeled "Much in Common." In it I write:
World history keys off of both Judaism and Christianity. Christianity cannot be understood without the Old Testament, though the church is certainly different than Israel. What was said in the Old Testament, beginning with the Jewish people, brought about the blessings of salvation to the Gentiles nations through Christ, who is Jewish. And, when God has done His final work with the nations He will again work with the children of Israel as prophesied. We are moving rapidly toward that day!
Someday the eyes of the Jewish people will be open concerning Christ, and we will have much in common.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
