An author and leader within the Messianic Jewish movement says he converted from Judaism to Christianity after a friend helped open his eyes to Old Testament passages that prophesied the coming of Christ.
Rabbi Jason Sobel, the author of Mysteries of the Messiah and multiple other books, told Christian Headlines he grew up in a Jewish home in the New York area but didn’t examine the Messianic prophecies until he was an adult.
Sobel is well-known in the Messianic Jewish movement and serves as a consultant for the hit television series The Chosen. He is the host of the TBN series The Chosen Unveiled, which is entering its second season and launches June 23 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
His conversion, he said, began with a general dissatisfaction with life.
“I was working in the music industry in a large recording studio. I looked at the lives of all these famous people and said, ‘There has to be more to life than just this.’ I went on a spiritual journey, was studying with my rabbi, was doing martial arts.
“One day I was meditating, and I had a supernatural encounter with Jesus, Yeshua. And then my best friend right after that called me on the phone and said, ‘Jason, you went to Hebrew school, can you tell the difference between the Old and the New Testament?’”
Sobel confidently believed he could “spot” the differences.
“He read me this passage about the crucifixion, I was like, ‘That’s the New Testament.’ He said, ‘Let me read you another passage – He was bruised for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities and by His stripes we are healed.’ He’s like, ‘Is that the Old or the New?’ I’m like, ‘Clearly, that’s the New Testament.’ He’s like, ‘No, that’s Isaiah 53, the Jewish prophet speaking 700 years before He ever walked the face of the earth.’”
Soon, Sobel began attending a messianic congregation led by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn.
He has co-authored two books with Kathie Lee Gifford: The God of the Way and The Rock, The Road, and The Rabbi. He also wrote Breakthrough and Aligning with God’s Appointed Times. He leads a ministry, Fusion Global.
Jesus is the “one who Moses and the prophets spoke of,” he told Christian Headlines.
Sobel has chosen to maintain the Jewish traditions.
“We love churches, and we love worshiping in churches. But at the same time, we have to understand that Jesus and all the first disciples were Jewish. Jesus was a rabbi,” Sobel said.
“They honored their Jewish heritage, they honored their tradition, and they wanted to fulfill the calling and destiny that God had given to Israel and the Jewish people. … I want to honor the history and heritage and I find deep spiritual meaning to do what Jesus and the disciples themselves did.”
The goal of The Chosen Unveiled, he said, is to help viewers understand the Jewish background to the Bible.
“We actually film on location, on the different sets of The Chosen,” he said. “And basically, we’re helping people to go deeper into what is going on, both biblically [and] spiritually.”
Photo courtesy: iStock/Getty Images Plus/JerryGrugin
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.