10 ‘Jewish Facts’ About the New Testament
As a new believer in Yeshua (Jesus), I assumed I was no longer Jewish—that believing in this Jewish man had nothing in common with Jewishness. However after reading the New Testament, I was shocked to find out that it was a Jewish book, telling a Jewish story in Israel about Jewish people. Check out these 10 facts:
1. Jesus’ actual name is Yeshua. Yeshua comes from the Hebrew noun Yeshu-á, which means salvation. When Joseph was visited by the Angel, he was told that he must give the child the name Yeshua, because He would be Yeshu-á for His people! (Matt. 1:21) You miss this powerful prophetic wordplay in Greek and English.
2. His mother’s name was not Mary or even Maria. She was not Catholic! Miriam is the same name as the sister of Moses. It is a Jewish name, and that was her name. She was an Israelite who lived long before the Vatican even existed.
3. John was not a Baptist. No disrespect to my Baptist friends, but John was the last and greatest of the Hebrew prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel. He prophesied the coming of the Jewish Messiah. He too was an Israelite calling the Jewish people to get ready for the appearance of the Lamb of God.
4. Baptism is not unique to the New Testament. Jews, believe it or not, used water immersion for centuries before John began to baptize his Jewish followers. One of the reasons they did not resist was because it was familiar to their culture. Next to the Temple, archaeologists have discovered nearly 50 immersion tanks (Mikvot) that were for those coming to be ritually cleansed before making their sacrifice at the Temple.
5. Peter was not the first Pope! Peter, a Jew, was only the leader of the first Jewish believers for a few years. He turned over the reigns to Jacob (we will talk about him in a minute) the brother of Yeshua and began to travel, sharing the message of Salvation through Yeshua. There is zero evidence that Peter was the Bishop of Rome or that he passed down such a mantle to anyone else. He was a Jewish fisherman who became one of the greatest communicators of Yeshua’s message of Salvation. He never stopped living as a Jew, and certainly never referred to himself as Catholic. Oh, and the Bible states very clearly that Peter had a mother-n-law, which would lead me to believe he had a wife, and for some strange reason, Catholic priests (including the Pope) are forbidden to wed.
