The short answer is that Messianic Judaism is a Judaism that believes that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah. This answer often brings up the question of whether Messianic Judaism is really just a form of Christianity. If Christianity is defined loosely as one who follows Christ, that is Jesus, then in that sense Messianic Jews are Christians. However, despite the close kinship we share with Christians due to our shared belief in Yeshua, and despite the fact that spiritually we are one with all of His followers; most Messianic Jews are not content for various reasons to call ourselves Christians. One reason is sociological; "Christianity", due to the distance that the Church has grown from its Jewish foundations, has become synonymous with "not-Jewish." Likewise, "church" has come to mean "not-a-synagogue." The understanding (and often the reality behind that understanding) of the terms "Christianity" and "Church" distances us from our Jewish brothers and sisters with whom we are a part. Even though many within Judaism often reject us, we refuse to cut the tie with those with whom we share a common ancestry, history, and destiny.
Theologically we often object to the term "Christianity" because it often carries with it the latent understanding that Yeshua (or Paul according to many) formed a new religion (i.e. Christianity) that has replaced Judaism. We strongly believe that neither Yeshua nor Paul replaced Judaism by formulating a new religion. Rather, Yeshua, rightly understood, is the fullness of what Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms point towards. The Temple sacrifices instituted under Moses point to Yeshua's sacrificial death, as does the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. The prophet Micah prophesied that the future ruler of Israel would be born in Bethlehem as Yeshua was (Micah 5:1 or Micah 5:2 in Christian Bibles) as Yeshua was. Daniel prophesied that Messiah must come before the destruction of the second Temple as Yeshua did (Daniel 9:26). Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be called Immanuel (that is, God with us - Isaiah 7:14) and other divine appellations that apply to Yeshua (Isaiah 9:5 or Isaiah 9:6 in Christian Bibles). If Yeshua fulfilled these prophesies and several others all written by Jewish prophets that preceded His arrival by hundreds of years, if His life parallels that of the greatest Jews such as Moses and Joseph, if His teachings were couched in Jewish terms and symbols to an almost exclusively Jewish audience, if His death fits into the pattern set forth by the Jewish Temple rites, if His resurrection is powerful evidence to the Jewish belief in a resurrection of the dead, if His early followers were Jews who never left and never planned to leave Judaism, then why must we today separate from Judaism in order to follow Him as our Messiah? The obvious answer is that we don't. In fact, not only should Jews who believe in Yeshua not leave Judaism, but Gentiles with a desire to connect more with their Savior within His Jewish context are often drawn into Messianic Synagogues (and we lovingly welcome them to be a part of us as equals).
Sometimes, however, the next question after explaining Messianic Judaism is not why we don't just call ourselves Christians, but why believe in Jesus at all? Why not just be Jewish without Yeshua and join a more mainstream synagogue? Part of the answer is found in the previous paragraph - we simply cannot ignore the proof texts found in the Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament). We find that when we dig deeply into the Tanakh, a picture of the Messiah emerges that Yeshua fits perfectly. Arguments brought up by the so-called "anti-missionaries" against the messiahship of Yeshua are usually easily dismissed with research that leads us to a correct understanding of the biblical texts in question (apologists such as Dr. Michael Brown have done an excellent job in answering the anti-missionaries’ arguments). On the other hand, those who reject Yeshua as the Messiah find a difficult time answering certain messianic questions. For example, if the prophet Daniel said that Messiah would come before the second Temple was destroyed (in 70 C.E.), which other historical figure other than Yeshua might have been the Messiah? Also, since Leviticus 17:11 and several other texts clearly show that it is blood that makes atonement for our souls, how can we reject the blood atonement of the perfect Lamb of God, Yeshua? If Isaiah 53, which outlines the death and resurrection of Yeshua very clearly, really points to Israel or another non-messianic entity, why did the rabbis of the Talmud almost unanimously call the figure in Isaiah 53, the messiah?
There is also a reason beyond the writings of the Tanakh for which we put our trust in Yeshua. It is the fact that He still changes lives. Many of us were once riddled with guilt, but we find in Him forgiveness so deep that we feel the guilt and shame of the past melt away. Some of us struggled with addictions, but we find in Yeshua the power to overcome those addictions. Some of us felt unloved and unlovable; we find in Yeshua someone who found us valuable enough to face an excruciating death. Some of us felt distanced from God; we find in Yeshua the way to the very presence of God. In other words, we find a Messiah who not only has an historical reality that fulfilled the words of the prophets but also a Messiah who has present-day reality that fills the needs of our hearts.
We invite you to join us at Tree of Life Messianic Fellowship. Come with your questions, your desires, your curiosity, even your skepticism; but come, because you may find exactly what your heart needs – a very loving and very real Messiah. Our doors are open to everyone, as is the love of Messiah.