The next day was Wednesday. The day of the Bible study. The study was at his friend Michael’s house. He was on the soccer team with Jeremiah. The Jewish beliefs that Jeremiah held never bothered Michael or any of the other teammates. It did make them curious. But what Jeremiah didn’t know was that Michael’s mother was Jewish, but she believed in Messiah 
Jesus. His father was a Christian. So Michael grew up knowing two things; he was a believer in Yeshua 
-Jesus as the Messiah 
and his dad was a believer in Jesus. He got both worlds at one time.
Jeremiah had just learned that his mother had her belief and was Jewish, and I had my belief and he was truly Jewish.
So that night at the Bible study, Michael’s mom pulled out her Bible and started reading from Isaiah 
53. It was a “forbidden” chapter for Jews, but an atoning chapter for Christians.
That chapter would forever change our lives. We had both lost a love—me a wife and life partner, he a mother. How was this hole going to be filled that remained in our souls when she left? By who? How?
For Jeremiah, that book, Isaiah 
53, would open the door. For me, tradition and all of the good and cumbersome trappings tried to ease and fill the void. Jeremiah had never read or heard anything from Isaiah 
53. It was never mentioned in the synagogue on Friday nights or on Saturday mornings. But he knew one thing: his mother was gone, and it had left a hole in his soul. Would this be the key to his healing?
They all ended up taking turns reading from the chapter. All of the participants were touched that night, but mostly Jeremiah. From the very first words, he was moved. Isaiah 53:1. “Who believes this message?” he began thinking. “Is this a truth that we as Jews have rejected? Or do Christians not understand this report?”
Then when he thought about the second part of the verse: “…and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” He began to get nervous. As it was read, he either believed or not. Now God was speaking. He knew this had to be read. God was speaking of a man, not well-formed or especially handsome with an appearance that did not attract us.
Jeremiah questioned himself, “Who is this man God is taking the time to reveal some truth since he spoke of it? Why would people despise and avoid Him? What did He do to receive so much hate?” Now the man had pains. “Was he that sick?” Jeremiah wondered. “Who IS this man? WHO IS HE??” People turned their faces from him, despised him, didn’t value him. “WHAT did He do to be on the receiving end of this treatment?”
Michael’s mom stopped the reading and looked at Jeremiah. She asked, “What is going on in your mind? I can see that you are really thinking over there, almost like you are in pain.”
“I am. I want to know why people would do such things to this man. He appears to have done nothing wrong!”
She softly said, “You’re exactly right, Jeremiah. He did nothing wrong, but mankind turned against Him.” She started reading the next few verses. This touched Jeremiah somewhere he didn’t know existed. He began to weep as he was listening.
The teenager next to him read verses 4 and 5. “…it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought He brought it on himself, that God was punishing Him for His own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!”
Now Jeremiah was sobbing uncontrollably. He was not alone in his emotions; others had begun to cry, as well. As the next two verses were read, something happened. “He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises, we get healed.”
Jeremiah could not help himself. He stood up and began to scream, “Who are you that you were punished for MY sins!?”
The leader stood up and came over to Jeremiah. She put her hands gently on his shoulders and looked at him in the eyes. “Our Messiah 
Yeshua 
, Jesus.”
As the tears continued to fall he asked her, “Why was I never told about this?”
The young man who was reading was crying now, too. But he answered, “Because the veil in your heart was torn today for you to see that He is real. He has come to save you from your sins.”
Michael’s mom spoke again to Jeremiah. “Do you now believe? Not in a ‘Christian Messiah’ but in Messiah 
Himself. I think your heart has told you. He is neither a Christian nor what we have made Him out to be. He is Messiah , Savior of the world. He died, rose, and will return again! You, Jeremiah, have just met the Messiah 
that your soul has been longing for. A Jewish Messiah 
rejected by His own people, misunderstood by Christians because we had stripped him of his roots, but believed in by the poor, meek, and downtrodden. That is OUR Messiah 
!”
They finished with the Bible study. Several of the participants still emotional, but they had come to know and accept Jesus as their Savior. But Jeremiah wasn’t ready to go yet. He asked Sabrina to wait for him in the car.
“I didn’t know all of this!” His tears were slowly beginning to stop, even though he was still full of emotion.
“Now you do! You have met Him; He has come to you. Now you need to learn from Him daily. Read about Him, talk to Him, and He will show you His Father’s plans for your life, for he is Adonai—God.”
“How do you know all of these Jewish terms?”
“Well, you see, I am also a Jew. A Jew that believes in the Messiah 
. I felt God wanted me to lead others to Him through this Bible study, whether they were Jew or Gentile. It was during a Bible study that I learned about and received the Messiah 
. Just like you just did tonight. Now we are family in the Messiah 
. We are here to help you learn and grow. We’ll give you some verses in the Tanakh ְ
O.T. of who He is and why He came. Then you can cross-reference them in the B’rit Hadashah 
(New Testament).” She went over to a bookshelf and brought him a book. “As a gift to you, I want you to have my Complete Jewish Bible by David J. Stern. He is a righteous man; it took him over twenty years to do this work. In my eyes, he is a Tzadik 
—a righteous man!”
“Thank you,” was all he could say as he took the Bible. “I really don’t know what to say.”
She told him that there really wasn’t anything to say. “Thank you is enough.”
As Jeremiah started gathering his things to leave, Michael’s mom told him, “I will give you a word of caution. You will be confronted by others for your faith in Yeshua. Be aware. I’m here if you need prayer or just to talk.”
Jeremiah was a new man that night after leaving the Bible study, but he never realized the price he would pay for it.