WHAT JEWS BELIEVE AND TRUST
Jews have thirteen basic beliefs, including the following:

• • • Belief that God exists.
    • Belief that the words of the prophets are true.
    • Belief that the written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah were given to Moses.

Judaism is therefore based on the belief that God has spoken through these people:

• • • Prophets of the Old Testament.
    • Moses’ words as recorded in the Torah.
    • The authors of the Oral Law (i.e. Talmud, Misha and other writings by Jewish rabbis/scholars.)

Clearly, Judaism is dependent on words written by men in times past. Although God spoke to Moses and the prophets, the words he spoke through them are still shrouded in mystery and symbolic language. The mystery and symbolic language are not accidents. This hard to understand language is in the Bible by God’s design.

STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of the origins of the Bible.

Understanding of mysteries, symbols, parables, signs, types, allegories, copies and shadows is impossible for religious people who do not listen to God’s spoken voice. Understanding is possible, however, for New Covenant disciples (i.e. true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses and warriors) who do know how to hear God’s voice. That is why God anointed these people and sent them as true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses and warriors to interpret (i.e. reveal the meaning) the mysteries and secrets of the Bible to people who can only understand the literal words of the Bible.

As the ultimate example of these sent messengers, Jesus is called a mediator between God and man. Mediation, and intercession between God and man is what God’s servants and shepherds do. They are not gods, but, because they have been anointed by God’s spirit, they have power and authority to speak God’s words. God uses these messengers to write his spiritual laws on the hearts of religious people who, because of their hard hearts, are unable to hear God’s spoken voice. They do this writing by speaking God’s words.

Since Judaism is a religion that follows religious laws, it is an Old/First Covenant religion that depends on the teachings of  Jewish religious leaders (i.e. rabbis) who are false prophets and pharisees. False prophets only understand the literal words of the Bible and cannot interpret the mysteries of the Bible. Since Judaism depends on the written words of dead men and the interpretations of false prophets, it must be said that Judaism does not allow that God speaks to individuals today. Thus it must be said that Judaism is an Old/First Covenant religion.

Even though Judaism embraces the written words of prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel who wrote about the New Covenant, Jews do not believe that this will happen in the lifetime of any living Jew. For Jews, the New Covenant is a future event — not a current reality. Jews, therefore, do not believe that God will speak to their hearts directly. Whatever they hear from God comes through written words which they first understand with their intellectual minds and then apply through religious rituals and traditions. These rituals and traditions are the substance of Judaism. 

Since these traditions are practiced in public, they are not based on biblical faith because true faith cannot be seen.

Here is what Jews believe and trust:

• • • Specific, approved written words (i.e. Torah, Talmud, Mishna and other approved writings).
    • Interpretations of those specific, approved written words by trusted rabbis.

From this brief review, we see that Judaism is exclusively dependent on words written by men in times past and does not allow that God speaks to individuals today. Thus it must be said that Judaism is an Old/First Covenant religion.

Even though Judaism embraces the written words of prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel who wrote about the New Covenant, Jews do not believe that this will happen in the lifetime of any living Jew. For Jews, the New Covenant is a future event — not a current reality. Jews, therefore, do not believe that God will speak to their hearts directly today. Whatever they believe about God comes through words written by men which they understand with their intellectual minds and then apply through religious rituals and traditions. These rituals and traditions are the essence of Judaism. They are  traditions which God hates. In fact, these and other traditions are stumbling blocks to hearing God’s voice.