Dear Respected Rabbi Mike Hendersen,
Shalom! Thanks for your question on Isaiah 43:11...when it states clearly that there is no other Saviour other than the Lord God of Abraham, why do Christians believe that Christ is their Saviour? Whilst answering your question, I would try to base my answers on the Scripture portions (hyperlinked for your easy referencing) pertaining not only to The Blessed Tanach but also the New Testament portions of the Christian Bible. In the course of my response, I would also throw light on the history asssociated with the constant progressive revelation of God’s Will and His constant, progressive sanctification of the Priestly, Blessed Nation of Israel (Exodus 19:5-6).
The answer to your question based on Isaiah 43:11 is both simple as well as profound. Christians not only believe that Jesus Christ
A) as the God-ordained Saviour who died an atoning death for their sins and rose again from death (in essence what is called by the New Testament Section of The Bible as the Gospel) to become Christians in the first place (1 Cor 15:1-4/Rom 10:9-10) but
B) they continue standing steadfastly on that truth because on accepting the truth that Christ as the God-ordained Saviour (who died a substitutionary death on the Cross for their sins) in their lives, they have always experienced His power of deliverance from sin borne out of selfishness, when they trusted Him to deliver them from their clutches of sin/utter selfishness (everyone is born with, the innate rebellious Adamic nature of wanting to live life on one's own terms rather than the terms of the Creator to whom we all owe so much, including our very bodies). My experience, which I shared of total transformation of spiritual priorities after accepting Jesus as the God-ordained Saviour in my life, with Respected Rabbi Waldman has been similar to that of countless Christians in the last 2 thousand years, In essence it can be said that every Christian has a BC and an AD experience in his life meaning that
i) before that Christian accepted the God-ordained Saviour Christ into his/her life as His own God-ordained Saviour, he/she had been a hopeless sinner living to satisfy one's own personal desires but
ii) after Christ's advent into his/her life that person now (with the Spirit of Christ indwelling him/her/Romans 8:9….this has to be personally experienced as the good ole saying goes….proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof) starts living a God-pleasing life to such an extent that he/she being now empowered from within not only says NO to sins such as Lust of the Eyes, Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life (Genesis 3:6) but YES to even Divine Demands to sacrifice even his/her legitimate rights for pleasing and glorifying the Almighty by the strength of the God-ordained Saviour. For instance, in my own life giving up pleasure-seeking, debilitating addictions depending upon the Saviour’s power was relatively easy but when it came to giving up my lucrative Government of India Job in order to enter full-time Priestly Ministry, I had to rely more on His power.
The following Scripture portions which I am quoting verbatim here-below, were actually written 2000 years back, by a rabid Jew (who persecuted Christians-Acts 26:1-20) before he became a Christian namely Apostle Paul. These relevant Scripture portions (relevant all through the last 2000 years) sum up the transformation a Christian experiences at the point of his/her regeneration (read becoming a Christian), …
______________________________________________________
When you came to Christ, he set you free from your evil desires, not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual operation, the baptism of your souls. For in baptism you see how your old, evil nature died with him and was buried with him; and then you came up out of death with him into a new life because you trusted the Word of the mighty God who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead in sins, and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then he gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins- Colossians 2:11-13
When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! All these new things are from God who brought us back to himself through what Christ Jesus did. And God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him. For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you—be reconciled to God. For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us! - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
_____________________________________________________
Dear Respected Rabbi Mike, mark my words for describing Christ...I am stating repeatedly that He is not the Saviour by Himself but ordained by the Almighty to be the Saviour just like the great men of faith in their lifetime namely Joseph(though Pharoah was the King, Joseph was the King-Ordained “Saviour for Egypt and the World at large-Genesis 41:53-57) and Moses (like Joseph, Moses too was initially despised and rejected by his brethren and later accepted as God-ordained Saviour) who pre-figured Christ (Genesis 50:15-21/Exodus 3:10). Kindly note that, Jesus’s elevation as the God-ordained Saviour was not accidental or coincidental but providential and prophetical with so many signs/symbols (like Saints pre-figuring Him appearing in the Revered Tanach/Passover cum Levitical sacrifices pointing towards His eventual atoning sacrifice on the Cross-Psa 118:21-27/Exo 12:13/1 Cor 5:7/Rom 5:9/ Exodus 12:46/John 19:31-37) and Prophecies directly foretelling and forth-telling about His Advent and atoning death on the Cross by crucifixion (Psa 22:16/Luke 23:33/Isaiah 53:9-12/John 19:38-42/Luke 23:34) which would precede His elevation. Oh to have the heart of the Blessed Psalmist as he is reading the Blessed Scriptures….
“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful truths in your Law” -Psalm 119:18
To state the truth, even his birth in Bethlehem was prophesied in Micah 5:2/Luke 2:1-21. Heavenly Father arranged things in such a way that Mary the mother of Jesus who was residing in Nazareth at that time of her advanced pregnancy was forced to travel to Bethlehem by Royal decree/compulsion borne out of Divine will-Proverbs 21:1. Today millions of Christians’ throng Bethlehem to see the birthplace of their God-ordained Saviour and I was one of those privileged ones’ in October, 2011.
Now coming back to the core subject. What exactly happens when a person becomes a Christian is the fulfillment of the following Holy Prophecies of the Blessed Tanach. Whatever the Lord God of great Abraham has been doing in the lives of Christians is again not something accidental or coincidental but Providential and Prophetical. Kindly consider the following highlighted Scripture portions…
I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.- Ezekiel 36:26
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.- Jeremiah 31:21
After about 3000 Jews became Christians on the Blessed Festival of Pentecost on 29 AD (that occasion marks the birth of the Christian Church) subsequent to a fiery message preached by Apostle Peter (one of the 12 Disciples of Christ). The new passion for Holy, righteous living with love for God and love for fellow Christians was evident in those new Christians for all to see as evidenced in the following Scripture portion…
______________________________________________________
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.-Acts 2:37-47
The Sinai Covenant the Almighty God had made with the Jews is NATIONAL in its outlook so much so that when even one Achan sinned in the matter of treasures of City of Jericho, the Almighty’s wrath came upon ALL of the Nation (Joshua 7:1/22:20). So when the Devout Jews in 29 AD on the Blessed Festival of Pentecost realised on Apostle Peter’s preaching that other Jews were cruel in their attitude towards the Messiah, they repented sincerely and asked what is to be done. The answer of Peter, as it is mentioned above was and repeated herebelow was…
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Just as Moses was first rejected (Exodus 2:13-14) and then accepted (Exodus 4:29-31)by the Jews as their “God-ordained Saviour” from the Egyptian Slavery, Jesus too who would be like Moses (as per the Prophecy in Deu 18:18/ incidentally both in their infancy were saved miraculously from the murderous plots of the respective Kings of their times-Exodus 2:1-10/Matthew 2:1-15) was first rejected by many of the Jews leading to His death but later after His resurrection and glorification was accepted by many (but not all) Jews as their God-ordained Saviour. Incidentally about 3000 Jews had died when the Law (good in itself) was being given for they had rejected Moses and the Law (Exodus 32:1, 32:28) and exactly about 3000 Jews were “saved from sin” when they accepted the God-ordained Saviour Jesus in their lives, with the Holy Spirit (i,e…the Spirit of Christ) being“given” to them (rather the Holy Spirit meaning the “Spirit of Christ” was “deposited” in their hearts) making them inclined to obey our Heavenly Father in all matters. As for other hard-hearted Jews, who refused to accept God-ordained Saviour and Gospel, associated with Him, what happened to them? Like those who rejected Moses in the Wilderness journey perished, it pains me much to state that History bears witness to the fact that Divine Comeuppance caught up with them by way of dispersion in 70 AD in fulfilment of Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19 (and like faithful Caleb and Joshua who were on the side of Moses, all Christians of Jewish background escaped that tragedy).
As regards Gentiles with whom the God of Abraham establishes a Covenantal relationship and makes them privy to manifold spiritual blessings like we now become the Temples of God on accepting Christ in our lives as the God-ordained Saviour (1 Cor 3:16/1 COR 6:19-like the 3000 Jews on the Day of Pentecost), lest we become proud and look down upon Jews who have not yet received Christ as their God-ordained Saviour there is a strict warning in the following Scripture Portion (Romans 11:11-24) which I have quoted verbatim herebelow…
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Did the Jews stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
Now coming to yet another subject on the basis of closer study of the Blessed Tanach
Good, better and the Best-Progressive Revelation and Progressive Sanctification in the Israeli History
I) Good Period (from the Call of Abraham to the Sinai Covenant-about 450 years, later) can also be called as the Age of Promise (as promise was given to Father Abraham about giving the Blessed Land of Canaan to his descendants-Genesis 12:7)
There is no doubting the fact that the history of the Blessed Nation of Israel begins with the Call of that great Patriarch Abraham from the idolatrous Mesopotamia as reminisced by the great Leader Joshua in his final, farewell speech (Joshua 24:1-3). While this period was indeed a good period in terms of holiness (no idol-worship seen in the lives of revered Patriarchs), there were still some “rough edges” like the ones’ enlisted below...
A) like marrying one’s own stepsister (ostensibly due to constraints like relatively a lesser population in those times-Genesis 20:11-13)
B) Marrying two Sisters by one person which fuelled sibling rivalry and domestic brawls-Genesis 30:1-21
C) Worshipping the Lord by constructing Earthen Altars wherever the Patriarchs felt inspired albeit with a pure heart-Genesis 12:8, 26:25
Note: I call the above spiritual “loopholes” as only “rough edges” and not “sins”, as the Law addressing the said issues, was not yet given and the Heavenly Father in His sovereign wisdom had “permitted” them. As such, they were prevalent by His “permissive will”, though they were not in conformity with His “perfect will”, which would be revealed progressively with passage of time!!!
II) Better Period-From the Sinai Covenant onwards till the Advent of Christ spanning 1,500 years…also can be called as the Age of Law (with Blessed 613 Laws given…which would make the Heavenly Father, Lord God of every area of Jewish Lives…including how to maintain cleanliness by way of proper toilets in war-zones during war times-Deuteronomy 23:12-14)
A) During which the rough edges of Age of Promise (mentioned above in points A,B and C) were ironed out by way of Laws specified in
i) Leviticus 18:9 ii) Leviticus 18:18 and iii) Deuteronomy 12:5-11
B) The spiritual peak scaled by the Blessed Nation of Israel, during the Age of the Law would be constructing Majestic Temple for the Almighty and the Lord’s Spirit indwelling the same (2 Chronicles 5:1-14)
C) However some rough edges were there such as polygamy (which would prevent a man from genuinely loving only one wife with his love being shared by many wives-2 Sam 5:13-16), acts such as emotional adultery (casting a lustful look on virgins, which devout Job abhors-Job 31:1), emotional murder (getting angry at fellow Jews well within the Jewish society as evidenced in some imprecatory Psalms such as Psalms 109:9-11) (Note: what is Emotional adultery and Emotional murder by New Testament Standards is recorded in Matt 7:21-48) and detestable idol-worship which got purged out by the refining fire of first Assyrian Exile (2 Kings 17:1-18) of the Kingdom of Israel and then Babylonian Exile (2 Chronicles 36:15-23) of the Judean Kingdom.
If in Adamic Covenant obedience to the Creator ensured an eternal stay on virtually "a little Heaven", to our forefathers (sadly,it was transgressed with Adam and Eve losing the same-Hosea 6:7) , likewise the Sinai Covenant with the Jews carried with it blessing of Jews guaranteed a living virtually in a little “Paradise on Earth” (I am an eye-witness to the fertility of that Blessed Land-Deuteronomy 11:11-12) which they would lose on being disobedient (firstly Assyrian Exile-2 Kings 17:1-18 and then Babylonian Exile-2 Chro 36:15-23). The entire History of the Nation of Israel can be summed up as an outworking/fulfillment of the Prophecies in Deuteronomy Chapter 28!!!
Best Period -What Christ the God-ordained Saviour would bring from 26 AD…as He commenced His Ministry with these words (which would apply to every Christian who accepted the Gospel)…
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand…(Matthew 4:17). What is this Kingdom of God, Jesus was talking about? Let the Scripture itself give the answer …joyous presence of God in one’s heart (Psalm 16:11/Psalm 51:11-12…which was an exclusive preserve of only anointed Kings, Priests and Prophets of the Blessed Law Dispensation) and in another place, it is described thus in the New Testament Scripture…
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking (like in Garden of Eden or in any fertile place), but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit- Romans 14:17
Virtually, it is a case of having a foretaste of “Heaven, right here on Earth” (available to EVERYONE, who receives the God-ordained Saviour into His /her heart), with allied immeasurable peace of mind which comes with the realization of a comforting truth that when all is well between me and my Omnipotent Creator, what is there to be worried about so such so, a person who has tasted it is
“like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.-Matthew 13:45-46
Can there be a greater privilege, then becoming the very temple of God, a person in whose heart the Spirit of the Almighty in tandem with that of God-ordained Saviour resides (Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Cor 6:19-20, John 7:37-39)???
Now in all fairness, with greater privileges come greater spiritual demands…like monogamy, no drinking of wine, loving even irritating neighbours of other faiths, having a peaceful disposition with the social, emotional, spiritual persecutors-1 Tim 3:1-7/Matthew 5:38-48
Dear Respected Rabbi Hendersen, all my reasoning aside, in conclusion, all I would like to state is that you may if Divinely inspired at this juncture, make a sincere prayer to the Lord God of Abraham, wanting Him to send the joyous spirit of the God-ordained Saviour into your heart (like He did into my heart on Oct, 16th, 1983) and experience for yourself, all the Heavenly joys and truths I have brought out in my correspondence with you.
Yours always praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Psa 122),
Suresh Manoharan
