What’s the difference in belief between Christians and Jews? We agree on some core biblical teachings – such as the God of the bible is the creator of the world. Also, the majority of Jews believe there was a historical man in first century Palestine by the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Most Jews believe this Jesus was crucified at the hands of Pontius Pilate. The split in the road of faith occurs at the Christian belief that Jesus is the (suffering) Messiah and proved He is the Son of God when He was raised from the dead (Romans 1:4).
Dr. Michael Brown is a Jewish convert to Christianity. Some of his Christian beliefs are not too hot but his debate as a former Jew with a modern day Jewish Rabbi can really help us see the difference between the Jewish faith and the Christian faith. It also will help you grow in your faith in the crucified Messiah who was victoriously raised from the dead and ascended back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God.
Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and then listen to this 36 minute debate (even if it takes you a few days to listen to all of it).
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Just as many were appalled at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred beyond that of a man,
And His form beyond the sons of mankind.
So He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what they had not been told, they will see,
And what they had not heard, they will understand.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.
However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the living
For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the Lord desired
To crush Him, causing Him grief;
If He renders Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will bear their wrongdoings.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His life unto death,
And was counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.