Are Jews really Christians?

In the Old Testament, Jews were commanded to perform animal sacrifices. They were to give up their “best” of the flock. The purpose of these sacrifices was to insure through ritual that the message that God was going to sacrifice his “best” as a “savior” or “Messiah” for them was not forgotten.

When Jesus was sent to become this “Messiah”, the Jews did not accept him as such. They were taught that when he came he would set them free in two ways by fulfilling two promises; first save them from their sins, and second, save them from bondage by becoming their King. They were told that this would take two visits. They only looked forward to the visit where they would be set physically free and not the visit that would set them spiritually free. The Jews had been given countless prophecies about his coming, but when he continually refused to proclaim that he was the "King of the Jews" and that he was there to govern them, they in large rejected him.

Since as a people the Jews were constantly persecuted and even captured and used as slaves, they looked forward to the day that their “Messiah” would lead them out of captivity and become their King.

They had forgotten that the “Messiah” was going to need two “visits” in order to fulfill both promises. We as Christians know that he will return a second time to fulfill the second promise yet sometime in the future.

So, in reality while the Jews are waiting for what they perceive as his first visit, and we are waiting for his second, we both are waiting for the same “Messiah” or Christ. Therefore, perhaps Jews are really Christians, and they just won’t know it until he shows them the nail marks on his hands when he returns.