Following Yeshua never meant throwing away the teachings God gave through Moses.
Key Verse:
“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.” —John 16:2 NASB
Background Context:
In John 15, Yeshua had just warned His disciples that the world would hate them as it hated Him. Now in John 16:1–4, He explains further: they would even be cast out of the synagogue—the very center of Jewish community and worship. At this time, Yeshua and His disciples were still fully engaged in synagogue life and remained rooted in the teachings of Moses. Their separation would not be commanded by God, but imposed by men who did not know the Father. Jesus told them this ahead of time so that when it came, they would not stumble or lose heart.
(Continued and expanded after scripture.)
Jesus’ Warning
1“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. 2“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. 3“These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. 4“But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Reflection on John 16:1–4:
It is important to see what Yeshua did not say. He did not command His disciples to abandon the synagogue or the teachings of Moses. He did not instruct them to start a “new religion.” Rather, He prepared them for rejection by others who failed to recognize the Father or the Son. Their being cast out was not God’s design—it was the tragic result of unbelief.
This should challenge us today. Many Christians have been taught that the law of Moses is irrelevant, or that following Jesus means leaving behind the Hebrew roots of our faith. Yet here we see that Yeshua and His disciples lived fully within that context. The separation came through persecution, not through God’s command. Sadly, over time, both Jewish rejection of Yeshua as Messiah and Roman influence on the early church drove an even wider wedge between faith in Messiah and the Hebrew roots from which He came.
Yeshua’s words remind us that when we are rejected or misunderstood for our faith, it is not because God has abandoned us. He told us these things so we would remember: the world may cast us out, but we remain His.
Application:
Do not view faith in Messiah as a break from God’s instructions or His Hebrew foundations. Instead, see it as their fulfillment. Test what you’ve been taught, and ask whether it aligns with what Yeshua lived and taught. When rejection comes—whether from those outside the faith or even those within religious institutions—stand firm. Your identity is not in human acceptance but in the truth of God’s Word and the Messiah who fulfilled it.
Closing Prayer:
Father, thank You for the warning Yeshua gave His disciples, and for the reminder that rejection by man is not rejection by You. Keep me grounded in Your truth and faithful to the roots of my faith as revealed in Your Word. Help me to remain steady when opposed, and to walk in obedience to You, remembering that Messiah has come as You promised. In His name I pray, Amen.
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Just because many Jewish people reject Yeshua as Messiah, does not mean we who follow Him should reject our Hebrew roots that were consistent with all that He taught and demonstrated.
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May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. John Golda
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