Why We Believers in the Messiah Are Messianic Patriarchists
Ethnicity and Spiritual Identity Through Faith
Many believers in the Messiah are commonly called “Christians”, “Messianic Jews” and some people call them “Hebrew Christians”. While this term may be appropriate for Jewish people who believe in the Messiah. However, it does not accurately describe believers from the nations who are not descendants of Jacob. A person cannot become ethnically Jewish by faith alone, nor can faith change one’s physical ancestry. However, people from all nations can become children of Abraham through faith and obedience. This faith is directed to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Blessing for All Nations
The Scriptures teach that God’s covenant plan began long before the existence of the Jewish nation and before Judaism. Before there was a kingdom of Judah or a religion known as Judaism, there were the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God established His covenant with them and promised that through Abraham all nations of the earth would be blessed.
In Genesis 12:3, God declared to Abraham:
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you..”
Again, in Genesis 22:18, God promised:
“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”
Covenant Promises and the Messiah
These promises were not limited to one ethnic group or one family. They pointed forward to the coming of the Messiah. Through Him, people from every nation are invited into God’s covenant blessings. As Messianic Patriarchists, we bless the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We also bless Abraham and his Seed, the Messiah, in our daily prayers from morning to night. We believe God wants this, and He blesses those who honor His covenant and walk in His ways. This is something many believers lack because they were not taught it. We honor the Holy Word and believe this is the pattern God desires for all people on earth. People should acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they should also acknowledge the Messiah through whom God blesses all nations.
God blesses all nations through the Seed, the Messiah Yeshua, known in English as Jesus Christ. The patriarch Jacob himself prophesied concerning the coming ruler from the tribe of Judah. In Genesis 49:10, while blessing his sons, Jacob declared that the scepter would remain with Judah until the one to whom it belongs comes. Many believers have long understood this prophecy as pointing to the Messiah. “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Messiah and the Patriarchs
The Messiah did not come to establish a new religion disconnected from the patriarchs. Rather, He came as the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His message consistently pointed people back to the God of the patriarchs and to the coming Kingdom of God.
One clear example appears in Matthew 8:11. Messiah says that many will come from east and west. They will sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. This shows that people from all nations enter through faith.
“Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The Messiah did not say that believers from the nations would sit with philosophers, religious leaders, or later tradition founders. He said they would sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Kingdom banquet shows the feast of the patriarchs. People from every nation enter it through faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Likewise, in Matthew 22:32, Yeshua quoted God’s words:
“I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
The people of Israel worshiped the God of the patriarchs, meaning the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s people based their identity on covenant relationship with Him. This covenant relationship came through faith and obedience, beginning with Abraham and continuing through his descendants.
Messiah and the Biblical Feasts
The Messiah Himself also participated in the biblical feasts. John 7:2–8 records His journey to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles. These appointed times were not merely Jewish cultural traditions. God appointed these feasts as sacred times of worship and remembrance.
For this reason, believers from the nations may find the term Messianic Patriarchist more accurate than Messianic Jew or Hebrew Christian. Such believers do not claim physical descent from Jacob, nor do they claim a Jewish ethnic identity. Instead, they identify with the faith of the patriarchs. They believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They accept the Messiah and seek to walk in the covenant principles revealed in the Scriptures.
Messianic Patriarchism teaches that not everyone can be a descendant of Jacob, but anyone can respond to God’s call in faith. Through faith in the God of Abraham and His Messiah, people from every nation can join the covenant family. They can receive the blessings promised to Abraham and take part in God’s appointed times. They also look forward to sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The ultimate invitation of the Messiah is not to adopt a particular ethnicity. It is to enter the covenant of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is also to join the great gathering of faith foretold from the beginning.