The Scriptures
We believe that the Scriptures, both the Tanakh and Brit Hadashah, are fully inspired and are God’s complete and final revelation to man until the Messiah returns. The sixty-six books of the Bible are inerrant in the original autographs. They are true and the sole authority for faith and practice in all matters to which they speak.
The Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
We believe in one God, existing from all eternity as the Father, the Son, and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). See a more detailed statement below.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the one and only living and true God. He has always existed in eternity past, present, and future. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He has revealed Himself to mankind in many ways, but three distinct persons are: God the Father (Abba), God the Son (Yeshua HaMashiach), and God the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) (Deuteronomy 6:4; Genesis 1:1; Matthew 3:16-17; John 1:1-3).
We believe God is Echad (One) and Triune at the same time. We do not get hung up on the use of the word Trinity. God is Three Persons and yet One in name, nature, deity, essence, character and attributes, yet distinct as to their Persons. While the Three Persons share Oneness, there exists within Elohim a hierarchy of position and authority.
We believe in the Words of the Shema that declare our God is one, but we also recognize that there is a plurality in the use of the word Echad for “one.”
We believe that Yeshua is the Messiah.
We believe that in the fullness of time, the Divine Son, the eternal Word and Wisdom of God, became a human being, Yeshua the Messiah, a true and perfect Israelite and a fitting representative and one-man embodiment of the entire nation, born of a Jewish virgin, Miriam (Mary) of Nazareth.
We believe that He lived as the consummate holy tzaddik (righteous man), fulfilling without blemishing the mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah and bringing to perfection the human expression of the Divine image.
We believe that He died as a once-for-all sacrifice and atonement for the sins of Israel and of the entire world, was raised bodily from the dead, and ascended to heaven; and that He will return in glory at the end of the age to judge the world, to save those who belong to Him, and to accomplish the final Tikkun Olam (Restoration of the world) (Isaiah 53; Isaiah 60; Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:27-32; John 1:1-3; John 1:14; 1 John 4:9).
By His death, He made it possible for all who believe and follow Him to be reconciled and united with God for all eternity (Luke 23:46; Romans 5:8; Galatians 1:4; Hebrews 9:26).
Messiah Yeshua, when He ascended, sent the Comforter, the Spirit of God. The Ruach HaKodesh is with us and in us to guide and teach us according to the new covenant promised by the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 31). The Spirit leads us in such a way as to fulfill Torah, leading us to live lives above the minimum standards in Torah and assures us of forgiveness of sin.
We believe baptism shows outward obedience to God in our new walk with Messiah.
God’s Appointed Times
God’s Appointed Times are a part of our annual lifecycle.
We observe and honor each of the 8 feasts as described in Leviticus 23: Shabbat (Sabbath), Pesach (Passover), Matzot (Unleavened Bread), Bikkurim (First Fruits), Shavuot (Weeks), Yom Teruah (also Rosh Hashanah or Day of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), & Sukkot (Tabernacles).
All of these feasts have both historical and prophetic intent. We see their prophetic fulfillment in Yeshua and see festival celebration described in Scripture and in eschatology (last things).
We encourage all of Beth Messiah to celebrate the Moadim in this age (Zechariah 14:16-19, Luke 1:26:38, Luke 2:21, Luke 23:46, Acts 2:1).
Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift and offered to all who believe by faith in the work of Yeshua on the cross.
We believe that forgiveness of sins, spiritual renewal, union with Messiah Yeshua, the empowering and sanctifying presence of the indwelling Ruach HaKodesh, and the confident hope of eternal life and a glorious resurrection are now available to all, Jew and Gentile, who put their faith in Yeshua, the Risen Lord of Glory. Through obedience to His word, all who repent and confess Yeshua as Lord are joined to Him and His Body through that same trust in His saving work. It is faith that saves us, but obedience follows. This includes identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua through Messianic Tevilah (Immersion) as a symbol and sign of our obedience. Yeshua is the Mediator between God and all man, and no one can come to the Father except through Him.
Yeshua, by virtue of His miraculous birth and sinless life, voluntarily gave Himself as the perfect atoning sacrifice as the Lamb of God for the sins of Israel and all mankind. By His death, He made it possible for all who believe and follow Him to be reconciled and united with God for all eternity (Luke 23:46; Romans 5:8; Galatians 1:4; Hebrews 9:26).
After His death on the cross, Yeshua was buried, rose from the dead on the third day as He had prophesied (which occurred on Bikkurim), was seen by over 500 people, and 40 days later ascended into heaven. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father as our Intercessor and Advocate, the only mediator between God and man (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 18:33; Luke 24; John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:15).
Forgiveness of sins can come only through a blood atonement (Leviticus 17:11). All mortal men are sinners by the first Adam and in need of salvation, which can only be accomplished by confession (turning away from sin) in Yeshua HaMashiach through His perfect blood atonement, death and resurrection (Romans 3:23-25; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
The Body of Messiah
We believe that the Body of Messiah is a community chosen and beloved by God, a marriage of two equal but not identical parties, united in a common acknowledgement of Yeshua as Adonai (Lord), Redeemer of Israel and the Nations.
We believe this one community existing in two forms is called to a life of mutual support and encouragement, and to sacrificial service and public testimony to Yeshua. Its unity and love is a sign of God’s purpose in Messiah for Israel and the Nations, and a confirmation of Yeshua’s role as the One sent by the Father.
We believe that Messianic congregations are an essential part of national Israel, and as such lives in accordance with the Jewish traditions and customs and participates in the wider life of the Jewish people. As Israel’s Messianic firstfruits she is a prophetic sign to the Jewish People of its ultimate destiny in history – salvation in Yeshua.
We believe that the Christian Church becomes part of an enlarged multinational Commonwealth of Israel through union with Yeshua, and comes alongside Messianic Jewry as One New Man under the banner of Messiah (Ephesians 2:14-16).
We believe the Christian Church is now part of a holy, priestly people, a renewed eschatological Kehilah founded on Yeshua’s twelve chosen Emissaries, and participates in the fulfillment of Israel’s mission to be a light to the nations. At the same time, neither the Christian Church nor the Body of Messiah as a whole is a replacement for national Israel (the Jewish people), nor does the Christian Church inherit fully the promises given to national Israel.
We believe that committed support of our local congregation with our time, giftings, talents, and finances is vital to the wellbeing and growth of a healthy body of believers. Though we are no longer under the Levitical priesthood (Psalm 110:4 & Hebrews 5:5-6), we believe in the biblical principle of tithing and physical support of our local congregation, though we are not legalistic about it. We believe God loves a cheerful giver (1 Chronicles 29:14, 2 Corinthians 9:6-11, Proverbs 11:25).
We believe in community, and that as a congregation, we are determined to live according to the words of Yeshua in Matthew 22:37-40 (TLV):
And He said to him, “You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments
Israel
The calling of Israel is irrevocable. Both the physical and spiritual restoration of God’s chosen people and national Israel in 1948, is a miracle in our time and will lead to the complete fulfillment of Israel’s destiny, and national salvation of the Apple of God’s Eye (1 Chronicles 16:17; Proverbs 7:2; Ezekiel 16; Ezekiel 37; Hosea 2:21; Romans 11).
The Hebrew people (physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, whether through matrilineal or patrilineal descent), who place their trust on Yeshua Ha Mashiach, continue to be Hebrew (Jewish) according to the Scriptures. Gentiles become spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham and are branches grafted into a Jewish Olive Tree with Yeshua as the root. All of God’s promises to Israel are still valid and Biblical Judaism is the faith of the first century believing community under Yeshua. The New Covenant Messianic Community (the Body of Messiah) is composed of both Jews and Gentiles together who have received Yeshua as their promised Redeemer (Romans 1:16; Romans 2:10; Romans 3:23).