Christians believe the Son of God was a Jewish rabbi from Nazareth. Yet for thousands of years of church history, a huge divide between Jews and Christians over that issue has led to disagreement and dispute, and devolved to destruction.
But after millennia, these divisions may finally be healing.
And a central figure in the rediscovery of Christianity's Jewish roots is bestselling author and renowned Scriptural teacher Jonathan Cahn, the subject of the hit new documentary "The Harbinger Man."
Cahn argues more Jews are coming to believe Jesus Christ was the Messiah than at any other time since the time of the New Testament.
TRENDING: America's most dangerous demographic
Meanwhile, many Christian churches are now investigating, acknowledging, even incorporating practices long linked to Jews – a move Cahn celebrates.
"Never before in history did you have churches with shofar blowing, celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, or having Passovers," marveled Cahn. "Never happen!"
Yet as the leader of his own Messianic congregation, Beth Israel, Cahn says these celebrations and traditions are something Christians can participate in without feeling they are somehow foreign to Christianity.
"Ultimately, those holidays were about Messiah," Cahn stated.
Cahn's journey to becoming a Messianic leader began when he started attending Pastor Charlie Rizzo's Church of the Nazarene in Paramus, New Jersey. Recalling Cahn's days as a member of his church, Rizzo stated with pride, "It's been a constant revival all these years, Beth Israel started right here."
He believes Cahn was destined to lead a Messianic congregation.
"It was certainly God's will that Jonathan be the head guy there because I've seen the Lord scope this thing throughout the years," he said.
Noting Cahn’s Jewish appearance, Rizzo laughed as he remembered how Cahn "really looked like a follower of Jesus."
Eventually, Cahn was approached by Gary Selman, a Jewish believer who had a vision to begin a Messianic ministry. The result was Beth Israel, which became an independent ministry in 1988, starting with a group of about 35 congregants. Today, the Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel is one of the largest Messianic ministries in the world.
Cahn is not the only Christian leader who sees this process of unification between Christians and Jews. Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, the man who discovered the blood moons phenomenon, mourns how "Christians were missing so much by seeing themselves as cut off from the Jewish mindset and culture."
Biltz argues the reconciliation between Jews and Christians is moving in two directions.
"More Jews are coming to realize the importance of following the Torah and having a closer relationship to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel," Biltz said. "They are also realizing more and more that Yeshua (Jesus) was a Torah observant Jew who never went against the Torah or taught people that it was done away with."
At the same time, Biltz also believes Christians are increasingly coming to believe God's promises to the Jews as a people were never abolished or transferred to the Christian church. This represents a rejection of what is often called "replacement theology."
"I believe replacement theology will become the big divisive issue of our day," argued Biltz. "Those who are blinded to the truth will hold to the old paradigm that the church is the center of the theological universe rather than God's chosen people Israel. Those who realize believers are grafted into an already existing Jewish tree belonging to Messiah Yeshua, who is Jewish by the way, will be coming to the forefront more and more.
"True believers are leaving traditional mainstream churches in droves. All they serve is baby food spiritually and people want the real deal."
Cahn argues the Apostle Paul warned Christians against creating a separation between themselves and the Jews.
"You're grafted in," said Cahn. "You're a fellow citizen of Israel."
Filmmaker, bestselling author and host of "The Underground" Joel Richardson confronts "replacement theology" directly in his newest book, "When a Jew Rules the World."”
He argues replacement theology is not just Scripturally unsound, but positively dangerous because of its anti-Semitic consequences.
"One only need to look at the long, painful, and bloody history of the Christian church, and it's early embrace of Jew hatred, to recognize how quickly the church rejected its Jewish roots and what a detrimental effect this has had on the completion of the Great Commission," Richardson told WND.
Richardson believes the end of this pattern is something to celebrate.
"While there are some who have taken this trend too far into the arena of Judaizing, overall I think it is very positive that Christians realize that the religion is in fact thoroughly 'Jewish,'" said Richardson.
"All one has to do is glimpse through any new Christian book catalog and see all of the various Judaica items for sale to recognize that an interest and a return to the Jewish roots of the Christian faith is increasingly becoming very popular. This has really been the case trending over the past 15 years. Within the more mainstream messianic movements, I see this as a very healthy thing."
Both Richardson and Biltz give Cahn and his Beth Israel congregation a good deal of credit for sparking this revolution in American Christianity.
"Jonathan is waking people up to the importance of seeing the Bible in living color with 3-D glasses through a Jewish lens rather than the narrow, one dimensional black and white lens the church has looked through for centuries," Biltz told WND.
And Richardson stated: "I think the popularity of preachers such as Jonathan within mainstream Christianity is a testimony to the fact that messianic Judaism is now being widely embraced within evangelicalism."
The story of Cahn's thrilling rise from atheism to becoming a leader in the Messianic movement as told in "The Harbinger Man" was been called "truly inspiring" by viewers. But Cahn himself believes he is simply part of a larger plan, something set in motion by God Himself.
"There's a mystery that God set up the age as a Hebrew year," Cahn said. "And so what [it] means is, the mystery means the end of the age is a time of repentance for the Jewish people, they're coming back to Him at the end, not the beginning. And the end is the time of Teshuvah, return. The return of the Jewish people to Israel, the return of the church to its roots, the return to Jerusalem, the return to Messiah on the Mount of Olives."
See the trailer: