You may wonder at this question. At the outset I must state that I do not intend a negative conotation.

I recenlty read an article by Al Brickner on the Jews for Jesus website. (Messianic Jews). It is titled "The Jewishness of The New Testament.

It is ironic that I happened upon this article as I have been pondering upon this matter for some time. I have seen much written about our status as a "mainstream" christian denomination, our place in the Protestant scheme of things and so forth. I fail to see why we need to be seen as mainstream. We are to be unique. We have a special message to the world.

I was always taught that the seventh day Sabbath will be the manifestation of the Seal of God while Sunday worship will be that of the mark of the beast. Now many members and ex-members are questioning the validity of this teaching.

Allow me to quote Mr Brickner: "So the NT vision is not a Gentile aberration. It is rather the vision of the ancient Hewbrew prophets who proclaimed that God would bring Gentiles into the blessings of Israel through the Messiah."

With the possible exception of Luke, all the disciples were Jewish, Jesus lived as A jew according to Jewish traditions while inacarnate in human form on earth.

Surely then, the NT era was just a continuation of the great Jewish drama? I see the SDA church as the true Jewish faith. We are modern spiritual Israel. We are truly Messianic Jews and have no need to be accepted as part of
"mainstream Christianity". When folks talk about the Christian Church they all have different ideas of what constitutes the Christian Church anyway.

Your observation might be true in the Old Testament scheme of things. But, with the rejection of Christ, God's plan went to what became Christianity, while Judiasm continued on the route it had chosen.

NO! The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not the continuation of the Jewish faith. They are seperate and they are not equal.

I believe the only difference between OT Judaism and NT Christianty (and now the remnant church or SDA) is we have accepted Jesus as the prophesied Messiah and His heavenly sanctuary ministry and His Kingship, whereas they do not. The church is now God's chosen people and peculiar nation and includes anybody and everybody who embraces the truth as it is in Jesus. All the OT laws and ceremonies still apply in this new national context. The world, not just the ancient borders of Israel, is the borders of the church - yea, the entire galaxy and universe.

All the OT laws and ceremonies still apply in this new national context???

What do you mean by that???

The OT laws and ceremonies dealt exclusively with the national status of Israel and the earthly sanctuary. But now that Christianty is God's chosen nation and Jesus is our king and high priest in the heavenly sanctuary the OT laws and ceremonies apply in a new and unique way. Our king and high priest is now in heaven and our national borders include the entire universe, and so now things work out differently under the NT covenant. All the OT laws and ceremonies have not been abandoned, rather they apply in a new way. The principles remain the same but the particulars are different.

Mike,

You do believe that the Ceremonials Laws were done away with, correct?

Not done away with in the sense we cannot learn truth from them. True, the spring feast days have been fulfilled, but the fall feast days have not yet been completely fulfilled by Jesus. And the early rain is still being fulfilled.

SDA's are more Jewish than Babylonnian churches are Christian. Judaism became Christianty when Jesus transferred the chosen nation status of Israel to the Church and then re-conferred it upon the Remnant Church in 1844. Yes, Judaism continued to function but only against the will of God.

SDA's are spiritual Jews. As in Romans 2:28, 29.

Why there should be any confusion on this issue is beyond me!

Romans 2:29 But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly;
That is a spiritual Jew.

Galatians 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Descendants of Abraham, spiritual Jews again.

John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Whether a Jew by birth or by adoption, if we abide not in Jesus, it doesn't matter.