The Jewish Road Podcast

In John 14, Jesus tells His disciples of the image of many rooms in His father’s house - He gives an invitation to come and take up residence. This is more than just a dry statement of faith. Jesus speaks in metaphor, using the concept of a marriage to illustrate the human relationship with God.  In first-century culture, men would often go away to prepare a ‘place’ for their bride - usually encou...

This Thanksgiving week, there is much to be grateful for. As Jews, we are familiar with the concept of "Tikkun Olam" - translated from Hebrew as “Repair The World” - to remind us that though brokenness abides in our world, we've been invited to partner with God to help repair it. We don't do this work alone. God's own acts of restoration have reverberated throughout history and continue to make th...

The barriers preventing many Jewish people from believing in Jesus are numerous and deeply entrenched. Unfortunately, much of this is due to the history between the Jewish people and the church throughout history. From the early church fathers to the Crusades, and extending from Martin Luther to the Holocaust, in the mind of the Jewish people, there is a history of how Christians have caused pain...

On this episode of the Jewish Road Podcast, we sit down with our friend, Rich Ferreira, from GTI Tours on his podcast. We talked about everything from an overview of the Jewish holidays that take place in the Fall as well as our upcoming trip to Israel. Rich has been a friend for years who is well-versed in all things Israel and living as a Christian immersed in the Jewish context of Scripture. We...

It seems as though Jesus keeps showing up at the right time unless you're part of the crowd trying to keep the same old traditions unchanged. He shows up and brings a whole new meaning to an ancient feast. The Feast of Booths, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar. It is a pilgrimage feast when Jews worldwide celebrate the harvest and...

In this episode of the Jewish Road podcast, we take a look at the Jewish High Holy Day of Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement. This holiday has roots in both the Old and New Testaments, and its implications are still relevant to how we live today. Imagine being the Israelites in the wilderness and having your community's sin cast onto the head of a goat that was then set free in the wil...

Rosh Hashanah - Feast of Trumpets - Yom Teruah - Zikaron Teruah - the Jewish New Year. That's right, so many different names describing one holiday. It is one of the biggest holidays on the Jewish calendar and is the start of the High Holy Days season. Synagogues are packed with Jewish people today, gathered to hear the blowing of the shofar and beginning 10 Days of Awe and repentance, hoping they...

On this episode of the Jewish Road podcast, we explore replacement theology and hone in on the book of Romans for a deeper look. The idea that "God is done with the Jews" is not new, but it has been gaining traction in recent years. But where does this thinking come from? And what does the Bible actually say about God's relationship with the Jewish people? We'll dig into all of that in this episod...

Are God's people, the Jewish people, still His chosen people? We'll give you the punchline now: Absolutely. But haven't they rejected Jesus as the Messiah? And doesn't that mean that they're no longer His chosen people? We believe the answer to both of those questions is a resounding "no!" Are we talking about an old relationship that once was, and now God has moved on to another love, the church?...

On this episode of The Jewish Road Podcast: The Jewish people are unique among all the people of the world. It is not that we are better than anyone else, smarter, or more numerous. Our “chosenness” is something that most Jews would like to understand better. I certainly had no clue what being chosen meant. It didn’t always seem like a great deal to be chosen. After all, being Jewish has exacted a...

If you've ever been curious about Israel, now is the time to take the plunge and join The Jewish Road on an unforgettable trip to the Promised Land. Israel is not only the epicenter of the story of God - past, present, and future - but it's also a place where you can deepen your faith and gain a new perspective on the Bible. Israel holds a special place in the hearts of Jews and Christians alike....

Times are tough and we need to laugh. When we started The Jewish Road Podcast, we knew we wanted to take the Word of God seriously, live urgently and be aware of the times we are in, and be sure to laugh a bit - because life is short. So we tell our own brand of jokes, Jewish humor. This episode gives you the best moments from season two so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a moment as we take yo...

Can a Gentile be saved? Overwhelmingly throughout the Biblical narrative up until this point, the story has been primarily Jewish. Even from the beginning, the Israelites were called to be a light to the nations (Genesis 12:1-3). The early church was made up of Jewish believers, but what about Gentiles? Can they be saved? This was the question that surfaced in Acts 10 when Jewish Peter meet a Gent...

When we look at Pentecost and Acts 2 we marvel and are amazed at the 3,000 who receive the Holy Spirit. We go to the next chapter and forget it's still Pentecost. Just six hours later, Peter and John are going up to the temple and a man who has been lame from birth is healed and the crowds are even more amazed. Peter says, "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as th...

Somehow over the last 2,000 years, the followers of Jesus have morphed so much so that Christians today don't remotely resemble their spiritual ancestors. The church doesn't look all that Jewish. So much so, we get a surprised and perplexed look when people find out that we follow Jesus AND WE'RE JEWISH! It's almost as if the two don't really go together. Go back 2,000 years and tables were comple...

 Have you ever been waiting for something with all your heart, and when it finally arrives, it's not what you expected? That's what happened to the disciples after Jesus' resurrection. They were devastated that he didn't fulfill all of their Messianic prophecies, but then Jesus appears to them on the road and opens their eyes to see everything in a new light. In Luke 24, hearts are opened and eyes...

Let's review a couple of fundamental truths. Jesus was Jewish. The disciples were Jewish. The prophets who had said he was coming for centuries were Jewish. The early church made up of the first "Christians" were Jewish. Christianity is rooted in Judaism, but many people don't know this.  If you're like most people, you may say that Jesus was a Christian and that the early church was started by Ch...

Holocaust Remembrance Day was this week. As we remember the 6 million Jews who were murdered along with millions of others, we also look to God's faithfulness and restoration. In this episode of The Jewish Road Podcast, we explore Ezekiel 37 and see how God brings life back to His people - not just flesh and bone, but eventually to breathe His spirit. This podcast is a powerful reminder of God's f...

Have you ever wondered about the biblical origins of Resurrection Sunday? In this episode of the Jewish Road Podcast, we explore the Feast of First Fruits and how it ties into the story of Jesus’ resurrection. We bring context to the resurrection story by going back to Act One, the Old Testament, and working through the themes of Jesus being the second Adam, what the Apostle Paul would later call...

SO, four times Yeshua is confronted by the religious leaders, and four times He answers and shows Himself to be the perfect Lamb of God without spot or blemish. Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians all put Him to the test.  Now He turns the tables on them and He has a question for the religious leaders…on the last day that Yeshua is speaking publicly so it’s very important to hear what He says...

Entering Jerusalem as He did isn’t the end of the story. Unfortunately, in its modern-day observance of Passion Week, it jumps from there right to the crucifixion. Palm Sunday → Good Friday.  That is the result of the early church deciding not to follow the Jewish calendar. That decision was made at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD (It was a symptom of a deeper problem).  What actually happened afte...

Entering Jerusalem as He did isn’t the end of the story. Unfortunately, in its modern-day observance of Passion Week, it jumps from there right to the crucifixion. Palm Sunday → Good Friday.  That is the result of the early church deciding not to follow the Jewish calendar. That decision was made at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD (It was a symptom of a deeper problem).  What actually happened afte...

Entering Jerusalem as He did isn’t the end of the story. Unfortunately, in its modern-day observance of Passion Week, it jumps from there right to the crucifixion. Palm Sunday → Good Friday.  That is the result of the early church deciding not to follow the Jewish calendar. That decision was made at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD (It was a symptom of a deeper problem).  What actually happened afte...

By the time Jesus gets to Jerusalem and the event of the Triumphal Entry, it was the tenth of the Jewish month Nisan.  And according to Exodus 12:3-6, it was on the tenth day of Nisan that the lamb was to be set aside for the Passover sacrifice.  Between the 10th and the 14th of Nisan, the lamb was to be inspected, scrutinized, and tested to be sure it was without spot or blemish (Ex. 12:5).  So t...

There's more to the scene than what you may know. What you know is that Jesus gets aboard a donkey and rides into Jerusalem while the people cheer on a coming king and deliverer from Roman occupation. What you may not know is that Jesus, the Passover Lamb, came with a different mission: Suffering Servant, not Conquering King. They were hoping Jesus was fulfilling the Feast of Tabernacles and the k...