Several months ago, while in a religious Internet chat room, a man had some questions for me about “this Jesus guy.” Naturally, I was willing to answer any questions that this stranger had about God. I was even more interested when he told me that he was Jewish! He went on to ask me why I believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

I explained that Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), and gave him a few examples. More importantly though, I explained how Jesus changed my life. When I asked him if he was religious, he said, “No.” I did not expect to ever hear from Aaron (not his real name) again.

A couple of months later, Aaron wrote me an email apologizing for having lied to me. He had been afraid to admit that he was indeed religious. In fact, he was a young Orthodox rabbi!

Over the next few weeks, through instant messaging and emails, he continued to pepper me with questions about “this Jesus guy.” He asked me about heaven and hell and how Jesus fulfilled the ancient prophecies, all the while pleading with me to be blunt with him in answering these difficult questions. He wanted to know the truth.

Aaron asked me about my own Jewish practices, since I am a Messianic Jew, and about the traditions that I kept. What about the rabbis, the Talmud and the Torah? When I challenged him to read the New Testament for himself, he responded that he would never be able to read such an anti-Semitic book! I told him that what he had been taught about the New Testament was not true. In fact, I told him that the New Testament was very Jewish because Jesus was a rabbi and never gave up his Jewish identity. The way that Jesus taught was so very Jewish!

I reminded Aaron about God’s promise, through the Prophet Jeremiah, that He would, one day, make a new covenant with the House of Israel and write the law (the Torah) on our hearts. I explained that a man could observe all 613 commandments in the Torah as best he could and still be a wicked person. The law does not change the heart of men! I pointed out that Jesus made the law a matter of the heart. Where the Torah says that we must not murder, Jesus says that even if we hate our brother in our heart, we have committed murder. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31. Aaron was completely dumbfounded. He had never heard such amazing teachings! This “Jesus guy” really WAS a great rabbi!

Because he lived in a very closed Orthodox Jewish community, Aaron would not be able to bring a New Testament into his home. I prayed with all my heart that God would begin to draw him by His Spirit and make a way for Aaron to come to faith in Jesus. I very much wanted this to happen but did not want to push him too quickly for fear that, if I pushed too hard, I would simply push him away entirely.

One night, feeling led to share what was on my heart, I explained to Aaron that my friends and I, mostly singles in our twenties, meet a couple of times a month to pray. We have a list of Jewish friends, family members and acquaintances that we pray for by name, asking God to reveal Himself to them in dreams and visions. We ask God to set us up on divine appointments with other Jews to enable us to share the gospel with them. We also pray for all Jews to be drawn by the Spirit of God. “Aaron,” I said, “you are an answer to our prayers!” He could not understand how a group of strangers would take the time to pray for him and started to weep!

One night, I came home to find an urgent email from Aaron asking to speak to me right away. I had never spoken on the phone with him and felt very nervous and inadequate to be sharing Jesus with him. I prayed for God to be able to give me the words to speak. I was literally shaking by the time the phone rang.

Aaron had to walk out of his neighborhood so as not to be discovered. The moment I heard his voice I knew he was nervous. Unmarried Orthodox men are not permitted to even look a girl in the face, let alone speak with a girl on the phone. He kept thanking me for taking the time to speak with him. We talked for a while about Jesus. I asked if he ever talked to God. Orthodox Jews pray all the time, but the prayers are always the same, and are repeated at the appropriate occasion. Haaronng, a conversation with God, was not something that Aaron had ever considered before. I explained that when I pray to God, I talk to Him, like I would a close friend. Aaron told me that he had been sneaking into a bookstore and reading the New Testament.

I felt led by God to show how Jesus is evident in the Passover holiday. I explained to Aaron that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities, by his stripes we are healed. At Passover, the unleavened bread that we eat has bruises, stripes and holes, just like Jesus. Then I felt led to ask him,. “When our people were in their homes on the first Passover in Egypt, what was it that saved the lives of the firstborn children?” After a long pause, he replied, “The blood.” I knew then that he really understood.

He then asked me what he had to do to accept Jesus as the Messiah. I could hardly believe what was happening. I told him that all he had to do was to pray. I was as scared as he was. I had never led anyone to the Lord before. He asked me to help him to pray to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Together, we both cried as we prayed for Jesus to enter Aaron’s heart and for God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. “There is no turning back now,” he said.

It has been a couple of months since Aaron prayed to receive Jesus into his heart. For most of us, accepting Jesus as our Savior only carries a small price but for Aaron, as an Orthodox Jew and rabbi, the price is far higher. If anyone finds out what Aaron did, he will be cast out of his community. He wanted to know the Truth no matter what it cost him. And in reality, it is going to cost him everything. He could loose his family, his friends, his congregation, and his reputation.

I am still in contact with Aaron, and I continue to pray for him. He is struggling and is being attacked from every angle. Satan hates it when someone comes to know Jesus. Yet, when a Jew accepts Jesus, he hates it all the more. God has made a covenant with the Jewish people, and he will fulfill it. However, the Jewish people must still exist in order for God to keep his promises to them. This is why Satan wants to exterminate the Jews. If he can kill us, then he can prove God a liar. This, we know, will never happen! Satan also knows that in the End-of-Days the blinders will fall off the eyes of the Jewish people and they will be saved. Satan knows his time is short, especially when the children of Israel are returning to the God of their fathers!

God is a God of miracles, and Aaron’s salvation story is a miracle. There are thousands more people just like Aaron who are searching. Continue to pray for him and his fellow Jews. Continue to share your faith because God will use you, if your heart is willing!

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