Jason Sobel was a hardworking Jewish kid living in New York City who believed he understood the complexities of his faith, though he now admits that he didn't. At the time, Sobel was working in a big New York recording studio and was surrounded by rock stars and rappers.
“I looked at their lives and thought, 'There has to be something more to this,'” Sobel told Crosswalk Headlines. “And so I began my spiritual journey. I went to synagogue, I studied with a traditional rabbi, and I started studying martial arts and Eastern philosophy.”
Eventually, he found Christianity, or, as he puts it, Jesus found him.
“One day I was meditating and I had a very strange spiritual experience. My soul started to leave my body and the next thing I knew I had ascended into heaven and was standing before this king,” Sobel said.
Sobel recalls a “bright light.”
“I felt the power of God pulsating throughout my body. I didn't know anything, but I knew it was Jesus sitting there and He told me I was called to serve God. Next thing I knew I was back in my body, running around trembling with heavenly power saying, 'I am called to serve God.' My mother said, 'Who have you been called to serve? We are Jews.'”
A testimony from a Messianic Jewish friend was the next step in his conversion.
“He asked me, ‘Jason, do you know the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament?’ And I said, ‘Of course.’”
His friend read to him the following verse: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
“He asked, ‘Is it the Old Testament or the New Testament?’ I said, ‘It’s clearly talking about Jesus. [so] “It must be the New Testament,” Sobel said. “He said, 'No, it's Isaiah 53 — A Jewish prophet who spoke 700 years ago [Jesus] He had never walked the earth. He invited me to a Messianic congregation where Jews worship Jesus the Jewish way. I went. At the end of the service, they played the piano and they prayed. I knew I needed all the help I could get, so I prayed. He said, “Anyone who's saying this prayer for the first time, please raise your hand.” I raised my hand. He said, “Anyone who has raised their hand, please stand up. You're just born again.”
Sobel had not intended to stand up, but he did end up doing so anyway, and was given the New Testament, the first copy of which he had ever seen.
“I took it home and read it, and realized that Jesus was the one Moses and the prophets spoke of,” Sobel told Crosswalk Headlines.
Sobel was ordained as a rabbi by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations in 2005. As a Messianic Jew, he has written several books on the Jewish background of Christianity, including the 2023 The Signs and Secrets of the SaviorHe hosts the TBN series of the same name.
“All the major events in Jesus' life occurred on biblical holidays,” Sobel said. “Jesus celebrated these holidays with his disciples.”
“We're doing what Jesus did,” he added. “All the biblical holidays point to Jesus.”
Photo credit: ©Facebook/Rabbi Jason Sobel
Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
