I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? Far from it!
—Romans 11:1 

Reflection

The Bar-Kokhba revolt ultimately failed. After a three-year war, the Jewish people were once again left scattered, depleted, and despondent. Rome leveled Jerusalem, literally plowing it down with a yoke of oxen, and turned it into a pagan city. Hadrian forbade Jews to enter Jerusalem, changed Judea’s name to Syria Palaestina, and outlawed circumcision.

The Jewish believers who would not join the Bar-Kokhba revolt were from this point on excluded from the traditional Jewish community. A spirit of separation from their own people continued for the next few hundred years, until there arose one of the most significant instigators of the official divide between Judaism and Christianity: Constantine the Great.

On the eve of a crucial battle, Constantine saw a vision of a cross made of light in the sky with the inscription, ‘By this symbol you shall conquer.’ Later he dreamed that Jesus appeared to him and commanded him to make the cross and use it as a safeguard against his enemies.

What happened changed the course of human history. For three centuries, followers of Jesus had faced increasing persecution. Then, in AD 313, Constantine’s Edict of Milan declared that Christians could worship freely without fear of persecution. Over the following years, the Roman Empire shifted from outlawing Christianity to accepting and fully supporting it.

What seemed like a wonderful era for followers of Christ, however, became a nightmare for nonbelieving Jews. The more Constantine embraced this modern, Gentile version of Christianity, the more his hatred for the Jewish people grew.

In AD 325, he convened the Council of Nicaea. The Council produced foundational doctrines of Christianity, but it also made decisions that further tore Christianity away from its Jewish roots. Easter was established as separate from Passover, and its date was determined by the Roman calendar rather than the Jewish calendar.

Constantine’s reasoning revealed an anti-Semitic spirit. He used words such as detestable, wicked, and mad to describe the Jewish people. Yet the Lord was a Jewish Messiah, and the Scriptures available to Constantine were Jewish.

The division between Judaism and Christianity had already been growing for generations, but Constantine put into words the racist spirit emerging between the peoples involved in those faiths. From the Roman throne down to its subjects, the entire Jewish race was cast in a negative light.

Beloved, we must never allow our confession of Jesus to become separated from the truth that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah. God has not rejected His people. We must reject every spirit of hatred and remember the people, the Scriptures, and the covenantal history through which Messiah was revealed.

Application

• Reject every attitude of contempt toward the Jewish people, remembering that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah.
• Ask the Lord to restore your understanding of the Jewish roots and Hebrew Scriptures of your faith.

Prayer

Father, forgive the hatred and contempt that has been expressed toward the Jewish people in the name of Christianity. Keep me from separating Yeshua from His Jewish identity and from the Scriptures through which He was revealed. Remove every trace of prejudice from my heart, and help me remember that You have not rejected Your people. Restore honor, truth, and humility within the body of Messiah. Lead me to love what You love and to stand against every spirit of hatred and division. Amen.