To truly repent we must start to do the right things, and stop doing the wrong things.
How do we know what the right and wrong things are?
It is written, we need only to seek it with the mindset of doing it, and to live it out. In many aspects it is really quit simple, until theologians get a hold of it that is!
Repentance is not a justification for sin, it is a turning from sin, and a returning to God.
So what is the actual first step to take for repentance?
It has to be the realization that repentance is needed. You cant ask forgiveness of a sin, or sins you are not sorry for. You can not ask forgiveness for sins that you do not know are sins. The first step must be to understand what sin is, see it in your life, truly feel sorry for it, and want to stop. The first step is a recognition that repentance is needed.
So once we have that understanding, what's next? How is it that we are to repent?
Jer 29:13 When you seek me, you will find me, provided you seek for me wholeheartedly;
We must seek for God whole heartedly.
How are we going to turn to or return to Gods path if we do not know him, or His ways to do so?
We must seek Him.
To search for Him with all of our heart is something that I believe is grossly misunderstood in most theological circles today. To seek Him is not simply to want Him, or even to ask for Him. To seek Him can be summed up in one word.
OBEY!!!
To seek God is to seek His ways, to truly seek His ways, is to obey His Word. We cant go running into the chambers of the King, and say “ I have been looking everywhere for you. Well everywhere you said you wouldn’t be”.
Seeking the King where He said He would not be is not really seeking Him. We must seek Him where we know He is. In His Holy Word! We will not seek Him, and find Him by chance in some unknown dark location.
We must come to our King as a humble servant. We must recognize that it is about Him, and we are His servants. We must realize that we are the problem that needs to be fixed, not Him! We must come as obedient servants striving daily to live a life he wants us to lead. To be the image of God in this world, and represent the perfect picture given to us in our Messiah. Only then can we say that we have sought Him with all of our heart, and through that search have found repentance. You can not have repentance without obedience!
All things start in the heart. So the heart is where we begin our search. Searching the heart leads to action. Seeking God with all of our heart is obedience!
So obedience is the first step to repentance.
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
To Repent Part 2 of 4
To repent, or tshuv is not to change ones mind, but to change ones direction. It literally means to turn. We must change our actions in order to repent. Not just say words, that for so many are empty.
If this offends you please realize I am not writing this to any one person or group of people. It is something we must all take home.
If it does offend please pay even closer attention to this article.
(note see article : The Sword)
It is not simply saying we changed our minds, and continuing on the same path as before. It requires a physical change. If there is no physical change in our lives ,then we did not repent. It is less about the words, and more about the actions.
We must realize that there is a true need for repentance in our lives. Not just from some fear of hellfire and brimstone. We must see that we are in desperate need of a change in our lives. Our lives without our Messiah, and His teachings are leading us to ruin and destruction. Not only in some future world to come, but in this one we are in now.
At the end of my article (The other side of Tzedakah) I wrote about the need for repentance being that our Messiah is still with us, and feels our pain through our suffering. We must take this to heart. We must not seek repentance purely out of selfish reasons, but as a realization of our need to change. Not just our thoughts, words, or actions, and not just one day a week. But our need for true change in our lives, all of our life, everyday.
Please see this and take it to heart. IT IS NOT ABOUT US, IT IS ABOUT HIM. Him being God! We all focus so much on blessings and curses in our lives, and in doing so we forget that they are there for a purpose. They are there to show us the choice, to lead, and show us the very real True God. And in doing so to return to Him and His ways.
To return to our God, and His ways is true repentance. But for most of us its not that simple, because we have lost track of who our God is, and what our God wants. There is a true need for repentance in this world, and we need to get back to an understanding that can, and will lead us to it!
We must understand that repentance is not a one time thing. So many have a misunderstanding of what Salvation is. I hope to address this in future articles. But for know lets talk about it as it pertains to repentance.
So often many take the one time act of raising a hand, walking down an isle, and saying some words to be repentance. Through this misunderstanding of repentance they are now saved from all there sins, so now they can sin without the worry of missing out on Heaven, or going to Hell.
This is not repentance!!!
This is only the first step in understanding the need to return to God. It is not the end, but the beginning. The best analogy for repentance I have ever heard comes form the Bereans online. There analogy goes as follows.
“anyone who has ever driven knows that every straight line is actually a series of small turns.”
You cant drive on a straight path in a car without turning your wheel constantly making minor correction in order to keep yourself out of the ditch. There are always obstacles, potholes, and changes in inclines on the road, trying to knock you off the path.
This in a nutshell is repentance. It is the constant corrections necessary in our lives to keep us on the straight and narrow. We have to remember that repentance is not a one time thing, it is a lifetime of contently turning towards God and His path!
We must realize that our sins do actually separate us from our God. Many agree that we need a closer walk with Yeshua (Jesus), many speak about a closer relationship with God. But few realize that our sins actually keep us apart.
Hab 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil, you cannot countenance oppression. So why do you countenance traitors? Why are you silent when evil people swallow up those more righteous than they?
Can we see why we need a better understanding of Sin and repentance yet?
A call of repentance is in fact a call of returning to God!
We must gain a new found respect for the Word of God, All of it. We must seek a truer understanding of what it is we are to turn back to, and how so we can truly repent. We must learn to tremble at Gods word.
Isa 66:2 Didn't I myself make all these things? This is how they all came to be," says ADONAI. "The kind of person on whom I look with favor is one with a poor and humble spirit, who trembles at my word.
How many of us today truly tremble at Gods Word? How many think of it as having actual applications to our lives? How many see the Word of God, compare it to our lives, and truly tremble at the realizations that we are not even close to keeping the Will of God? To do this, and seek to return to the ways of God is true repentance!
We must ask ourselves, do I tremble at His Word?
We have been given such incredible tools to seek insight into Gods Word in this modern age. The tools our generation has to discover the truth in Gods Word is without comparison in ages past. We no longer have to be from a wealthy family to learn to read Scripture. We no longer have to know Latin to be able to read Scripture. We no longer have to depend on men to tell us what God wants in our lives.
We can know the wisdom of the ages by simply turning on a computer. We can access the Bible in almost any language in the world. We have tools to learn languages that were just a dream to understand for many in the past. In moments we can pull up commentaries, ancient writings, and translations.
Yet we must realize that where much is given, much is expected. We have been given incredible gifts in this regard. We must use these tools to seek Gods understanding, and not mans. We must strive to Tshuv, to repent, to turn back to God. We must seek His ways and not ours, only then can we truly say we have repented.
Repentance is not simply asking for forgiveness of some sin you cant even define. Repentance is a turning, it is admitting the sin, and quitting the sin. Admit it, and quit it! It is a true turning, not just in mind, and heart - but in action!
Do we tremble at Gods word? Not just treat it with the dignity, and respect it represents and deserves. But to actually read Gods Holy Word and understand that we are meant to follow it in our lives. Read it and follow it through!
Is it enough to call people to repentance, or to repent without teaching, or knowing what repentance is? Is it enough to walk an isle, raise a hand, or say a prayer? Is it enough to simply change ones mind, still continue in sin, but with a better outlook on life?
NO IT IS NOT!!!
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
If this offends you please realize I am not writing this to any one person or group of people. It is something we must all take home.
If it does offend please pay even closer attention to this article.
(note see article : The Sword)
It is not simply saying we changed our minds, and continuing on the same path as before. It requires a physical change. If there is no physical change in our lives ,then we did not repent. It is less about the words, and more about the actions.
We must realize that there is a true need for repentance in our lives. Not just from some fear of hellfire and brimstone. We must see that we are in desperate need of a change in our lives. Our lives without our Messiah, and His teachings are leading us to ruin and destruction. Not only in some future world to come, but in this one we are in now.
At the end of my article (The other side of Tzedakah) I wrote about the need for repentance being that our Messiah is still with us, and feels our pain through our suffering. We must take this to heart. We must not seek repentance purely out of selfish reasons, but as a realization of our need to change. Not just our thoughts, words, or actions, and not just one day a week. But our need for true change in our lives, all of our life, everyday.
Please see this and take it to heart. IT IS NOT ABOUT US, IT IS ABOUT HIM. Him being God! We all focus so much on blessings and curses in our lives, and in doing so we forget that they are there for a purpose. They are there to show us the choice, to lead, and show us the very real True God. And in doing so to return to Him and His ways.
To return to our God, and His ways is true repentance. But for most of us its not that simple, because we have lost track of who our God is, and what our God wants. There is a true need for repentance in this world, and we need to get back to an understanding that can, and will lead us to it!
We must understand that repentance is not a one time thing. So many have a misunderstanding of what Salvation is. I hope to address this in future articles. But for know lets talk about it as it pertains to repentance.
So often many take the one time act of raising a hand, walking down an isle, and saying some words to be repentance. Through this misunderstanding of repentance they are now saved from all there sins, so now they can sin without the worry of missing out on Heaven, or going to Hell.
This is not repentance!!!
This is only the first step in understanding the need to return to God. It is not the end, but the beginning. The best analogy for repentance I have ever heard comes form the Bereans online. There analogy goes as follows.
“anyone who has ever driven knows that every straight line is actually a series of small turns.”
You cant drive on a straight path in a car without turning your wheel constantly making minor correction in order to keep yourself out of the ditch. There are always obstacles, potholes, and changes in inclines on the road, trying to knock you off the path.
This in a nutshell is repentance. It is the constant corrections necessary in our lives to keep us on the straight and narrow. We have to remember that repentance is not a one time thing, it is a lifetime of contently turning towards God and His path!
We must realize that our sins do actually separate us from our God. Many agree that we need a closer walk with Yeshua (Jesus), many speak about a closer relationship with God. But few realize that our sins actually keep us apart.
Hab 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil, you cannot countenance oppression. So why do you countenance traitors? Why are you silent when evil people swallow up those more righteous than they?
Can we see why we need a better understanding of Sin and repentance yet?
A call of repentance is in fact a call of returning to God!
We must gain a new found respect for the Word of God, All of it. We must seek a truer understanding of what it is we are to turn back to, and how so we can truly repent. We must learn to tremble at Gods word.
Isa 66:2 Didn't I myself make all these things? This is how they all came to be," says ADONAI. "The kind of person on whom I look with favor is one with a poor and humble spirit, who trembles at my word.
How many of us today truly tremble at Gods Word? How many think of it as having actual applications to our lives? How many see the Word of God, compare it to our lives, and truly tremble at the realizations that we are not even close to keeping the Will of God? To do this, and seek to return to the ways of God is true repentance!
We must ask ourselves, do I tremble at His Word?
We have been given such incredible tools to seek insight into Gods Word in this modern age. The tools our generation has to discover the truth in Gods Word is without comparison in ages past. We no longer have to be from a wealthy family to learn to read Scripture. We no longer have to know Latin to be able to read Scripture. We no longer have to depend on men to tell us what God wants in our lives.
We can know the wisdom of the ages by simply turning on a computer. We can access the Bible in almost any language in the world. We have tools to learn languages that were just a dream to understand for many in the past. In moments we can pull up commentaries, ancient writings, and translations.
Yet we must realize that where much is given, much is expected. We have been given incredible gifts in this regard. We must use these tools to seek Gods understanding, and not mans. We must strive to Tshuv, to repent, to turn back to God. We must seek His ways and not ours, only then can we truly say we have repented.
Repentance is not simply asking for forgiveness of some sin you cant even define. Repentance is a turning, it is admitting the sin, and quitting the sin. Admit it, and quit it! It is a true turning, not just in mind, and heart - but in action!
Do we tremble at Gods word? Not just treat it with the dignity, and respect it represents and deserves. But to actually read Gods Holy Word and understand that we are meant to follow it in our lives. Read it and follow it through!
Is it enough to call people to repentance, or to repent without teaching, or knowing what repentance is? Is it enough to walk an isle, raise a hand, or say a prayer? Is it enough to simply change ones mind, still continue in sin, but with a better outlook on life?
NO IT IS NOT!!!
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
Sunday, January 29, 2012
To Repent - part 1 of 4
Many people have asked for forgiveness from there sin. Unfortunately many that ask don’t even know what sin is, let alone how to define it.
(note see article : What is Sin)
But even with this being the case it doesn’t stop the call for repentance from going out. So what is repentance? Is it simply asking for forgiveness from some sin, or sins in your life? How is it attained? What does it mean to repent? These are the types of questions I hope to address in this article. It is my sincerest hope that after reading this we can all walk away with a better and truer understanding of this subject.
Many out there may think they have a good grasp on repentance, and many will be surprised by what we think we know. I just ask that as you read this, do so with an open mind, and heart. With the mindset of seeking the truth of the matter, and not simply what we want to think.
So lets start of with answering the question, what is repentance? As with most things I think it is important to go back to basics when trying to define a word. Because at the end of the day, we are not trying to see what Americans, or Greeks thought of repentance. We want to know how it is defined in Gods Holy Word!
In order to do this we need to go back to the Hebrew to see what the word truly is. In Hebrew the word most commonly translated as repentance is Tsuv! The first thing we need to recognize is that repentance is a verb, it is an action word. It is something we do. It isn’t a state of mind, or a philosophy, it is an action. We have to understand that to repent is a great thing, but if you do not actually repent then you do not have repentance! That might seem confusing to some but stay with me.
One may ask how can you repent without having repented?
The first thing we need to realize is that if we do not know what we are repenting from how can we call it repentance. We have to have a better understanding of sin, what sin is, and how to define it in our lives. Otherwise we cannot truly call what we do repentance, for they are just empty words.
Second we have to realize that repentance is not a one time thing. Please understand that sin is not a one time thing. So how can repentance be a one time thing? We need to understand what repentance truly is, before we can claim it, or better yet actually do it!
The Hebrew word for Tshuv doesn’t actually mean repentance. You see repentance is an English word with an English definition. But as written before, we are not trying to seek the English definition for repentance. We are trying to understand it from the Holy Scriptures, and in the Holy Scriptures the word Tshuv means to turn or return!!!
One may ask, how in the world does the word for repentance simply mean to return. I thought you had to raise a hand, or walk an isle to do it right. What is all this returning stuff? I have heard many sermons, and in fact given many sermons on repentance in my past, and the basis for most of them is to change our minds. Now this leads us to a problem in most theological circles today.
We have focused so much on feelings, concepts and ideas of the mind, that we have virtually done away with action, and in many cases made the act of following Gods Word a sin. We have gotten so confused, and much of this comes from not understanding, or misunderstanding sin, and repentance. Let me pose a couple of questions.
How can one change there mind, if they do not change there actions?
How can one show that he has changed his mind, if there are no actions that follow?
To change one's mind, or say that we have, is not good enough. It is not simply about changing ones mind. What really matters is not what we say, or think, it is what we do. Remember repentance is not a noun it is a verb, it is something we do!
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
(note see article : What is Sin)
But even with this being the case it doesn’t stop the call for repentance from going out. So what is repentance? Is it simply asking for forgiveness from some sin, or sins in your life? How is it attained? What does it mean to repent? These are the types of questions I hope to address in this article. It is my sincerest hope that after reading this we can all walk away with a better and truer understanding of this subject.
Many out there may think they have a good grasp on repentance, and many will be surprised by what we think we know. I just ask that as you read this, do so with an open mind, and heart. With the mindset of seeking the truth of the matter, and not simply what we want to think.
So lets start of with answering the question, what is repentance? As with most things I think it is important to go back to basics when trying to define a word. Because at the end of the day, we are not trying to see what Americans, or Greeks thought of repentance. We want to know how it is defined in Gods Holy Word!
In order to do this we need to go back to the Hebrew to see what the word truly is. In Hebrew the word most commonly translated as repentance is Tsuv! The first thing we need to recognize is that repentance is a verb, it is an action word. It is something we do. It isn’t a state of mind, or a philosophy, it is an action. We have to understand that to repent is a great thing, but if you do not actually repent then you do not have repentance! That might seem confusing to some but stay with me.
One may ask how can you repent without having repented?
The first thing we need to realize is that if we do not know what we are repenting from how can we call it repentance. We have to have a better understanding of sin, what sin is, and how to define it in our lives. Otherwise we cannot truly call what we do repentance, for they are just empty words.
Second we have to realize that repentance is not a one time thing. Please understand that sin is not a one time thing. So how can repentance be a one time thing? We need to understand what repentance truly is, before we can claim it, or better yet actually do it!
The Hebrew word for Tshuv doesn’t actually mean repentance. You see repentance is an English word with an English definition. But as written before, we are not trying to seek the English definition for repentance. We are trying to understand it from the Holy Scriptures, and in the Holy Scriptures the word Tshuv means to turn or return!!!
One may ask, how in the world does the word for repentance simply mean to return. I thought you had to raise a hand, or walk an isle to do it right. What is all this returning stuff? I have heard many sermons, and in fact given many sermons on repentance in my past, and the basis for most of them is to change our minds. Now this leads us to a problem in most theological circles today.
We have focused so much on feelings, concepts and ideas of the mind, that we have virtually done away with action, and in many cases made the act of following Gods Word a sin. We have gotten so confused, and much of this comes from not understanding, or misunderstanding sin, and repentance. Let me pose a couple of questions.
How can one change there mind, if they do not change there actions?
How can one show that he has changed his mind, if there are no actions that follow?
To change one's mind, or say that we have, is not good enough. It is not simply about changing ones mind. What really matters is not what we say, or think, it is what we do. Remember repentance is not a noun it is a verb, it is something we do!
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
Monday, January 23, 2012
The other side of Tzedakah
The other side of Tzedakah
Many people know of the idea of charity in a Greek mindset. The benevolent act of giving to those less fortunate than you, or an act of philanthropy. But in Hebrew the word for charity is translated from the word Tzadik which actually means righteous. This is because the act of giving is seen as the ultimate act of righteousness.
Part of the reason why is, because it is an act of equaling out the scales. The idea goes as follows; if I have, and you have not, I will give some of what I have so we are both equal. No one is better than, or above the other and all needs are met.
Many forget that the act of giving is a command,
“I am not speaking about tithing” !!!
Deu 15:4 “Only, there should be no poor among you. For Hashem does greatly bless you in the land which Hashem your Elohim is giving you to possess as an inheritance,
Deu 15:7 “When there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, within any of the gates in your land which Hasehm your Elohim is giving you, do not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,
Deu 15:11 “Because the poor one does not cease from the land. Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall certainly open your hand to your brother, to your poor and to your needy one, in your land.
To give is an act of righteousness. Many have taught that giving is how we can best be the image of our creator. Think about it, what if the image of God is less about physical appearance and more about our actions. To be His representatives in this world. In truth, tzedakah is not about giving, tzedakah is about being. The book of Genesis tells us that we are made in God’s image.
None of us look alike, so the image of God can’t be just a physical likeness. What, then, is it to be Gods image? What does it mean to be God’s image in the world? Tradition teaches that what is essentially divine about God is that God loves unconditionally and that God gives freely.
We don’t earn God’s gifts, blessings, or salivations. God gives simply for the joy of giving. Many know this to be Grace, and are somewhat surprised to learn that Grace wasn’t invented in the New Testament.
To be God like means to give, and to be free means to be able to choose to give. To be free means to be able to love and to give. We are reflections of that divine image, which means that when we rise up in our freedom and we offer gifts of love, caring, and support then we are truly acting as the image of God.
We are in this material world, so to bring light into the world, and to share it with each other is our mission. A person who doesn’t give isn’t whole. A person who doesn’t reach out is, in some ways, not human. The fullest expression of our humanity is possible only when we reach out to each other and we connect with each other.
But there is another side of Tzedakah as well. It is easy to think of it from the side of giving and receiving needs, goods, or money. But what if we were not speaking of those types of things. What if we are speaking of hardship in general?
From ancient times the good in this world is represented by light, even in Judaism today sending a spark of light through tzedakah and mitzvahs is said to be spreading the light of God to the world.
But if this is the case then there is another side to it as well. All coins have two sides. What if by going through trials and hardships you are keeping others from having to go through them themselves. What if their faith isnt where it needs to be to fully go through it? Would you help and take some or all of there burden?
Taking on the sufferings of others so they do not have to.
(Note: see article, The Purpose of trials)
This is also a form of Tzedakah. It is what our Messiah did for us in taking on our sins and sufferings, in taking the death sentence to give us a chance not to have to redeem the rightly deserved penalty of our sins.
Isa 53:3 despised and rejected by men, a man of pains and knowing sickness. And as one from whom the face is hidden, being despised, and we did not consider Him.
Isa 53:4 Truly, He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Yet we reckoned Him stricken, smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our crookednesses. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
And as Disciples of Messiah aren’t we called to emulate him and do the same thing?
1Pe 2:21 For to this you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps,
1Pe 2:22 “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth,
1Pe 2:23 who, being reviled, did not revile in return; suffering, did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
1Pe 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His body on the timber, so that we, having died to sins, might live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
1Jn 2:6 The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.
In the past few years my family and I have gone through great trials and periods of loss. And as a man, I have struggled with it greatly at times. It is very easy to lose yourself in the selfishness of self loathing. Thankfully, I serve the one true God, and He is not only great and wonderful, but He is faithful , and never left me, or let me pull myself to deep into the pit of despair.
During one of the nights where I was going through a particular rough period, the Lord spoke to me. He made me see and think of the idea of Tzedakah as I described at the beginning of this article. He made me start to see things in a new light. What if my loss was keeping others from having to go through loss?
You may think it sounds strange, but it is really basic economics. Think of it like this, there is only so much money in an economy, only so much pie available. If my lack of money can help someone, who’s faith may not be as strong as mine, by giving them more pie, why not take less so they can have more? We must also keep in mind for some the riches this life offers will be there only reward, so shouldnt we give it freely?
This helped me a lot, because I could no longer see my lack as a curse but a blessing. The strongest time of repentance, and study for me came through my times of hardship and loss.
Psa 119:67 Before I was afflicted I myself was going astray, But now I have guarded Your word.
Psa 119:71 It was good for me that I was afflicted, That I might learn Your laws.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for the sake of Messiah. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I realized this many times before, and knowing this helped me keep my faith strong through those times. But that wasn’t all I needed to see.
Through this new understanding I was led not only to help myself, but to understand our Messiah much better. The fact is if I have to be, or can be afflicted so another doesn’t have to. If I have to, or can experience pain and loss so another doesn’t have to, is fine, it is even great.
But the real pain doesn’t come from my personal loss, it comes from having to see my family have to suffer as well.
We all want the best for our family’s, and being the head of a family that is lacking in many things is hard. To see them have to do without, when so many seem to have so much is the real pain.
This gave me an even greater perspective into our Messiah. Its harder to see those you love suffer than to go through suffering yourself. This is true almost across the board in almost any situation and with almost any person.
Now imagine our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
The beatings, torture, humiliation, and suffering to death on the cross, tree, branch, stake or what ever you want to call it, was in fact only temporary. What if that wasn’t the hard part? Think of all I have written so far. What do you think the hardest part was?
As written earlier the hardest part for most is not the suffering of oneself, but seeing those we love suffer. I believe the hardest part was going through all this suffering , so the world didn’t have to, and then watching them still make the same mistakes, and take the wrong path anyway!
We often think of Yeshua on the cross, and many teach it as if that was the end. Sure they speak of a resurrection and the hope we have in it. But often we don’t realize that Yeshua is still with us. Yeshua was resurrected, and Yeshua is still with us today. I believe the real pain for Yeshua is seeing us suffer needlessly and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Our sin causes our Messiah real pain. Our lack of repentance causes our God real pain!
Hopefully this will give us all more cause for, and a deeper understanding of the need for, and understanding of repentance!
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
Many people know of the idea of charity in a Greek mindset. The benevolent act of giving to those less fortunate than you, or an act of philanthropy. But in Hebrew the word for charity is translated from the word Tzadik which actually means righteous. This is because the act of giving is seen as the ultimate act of righteousness.
Part of the reason why is, because it is an act of equaling out the scales. The idea goes as follows; if I have, and you have not, I will give some of what I have so we are both equal. No one is better than, or above the other and all needs are met.
Many forget that the act of giving is a command,
“I am not speaking about tithing” !!!
Deu 15:4 “Only, there should be no poor among you. For Hashem does greatly bless you in the land which Hashem your Elohim is giving you to possess as an inheritance,
Deu 15:7 “When there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, within any of the gates in your land which Hasehm your Elohim is giving you, do not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,
Deu 15:11 “Because the poor one does not cease from the land. Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall certainly open your hand to your brother, to your poor and to your needy one, in your land.
To give is an act of righteousness. Many have taught that giving is how we can best be the image of our creator. Think about it, what if the image of God is less about physical appearance and more about our actions. To be His representatives in this world. In truth, tzedakah is not about giving, tzedakah is about being. The book of Genesis tells us that we are made in God’s image.
None of us look alike, so the image of God can’t be just a physical likeness. What, then, is it to be Gods image? What does it mean to be God’s image in the world? Tradition teaches that what is essentially divine about God is that God loves unconditionally and that God gives freely.
We don’t earn God’s gifts, blessings, or salivations. God gives simply for the joy of giving. Many know this to be Grace, and are somewhat surprised to learn that Grace wasn’t invented in the New Testament.
To be God like means to give, and to be free means to be able to choose to give. To be free means to be able to love and to give. We are reflections of that divine image, which means that when we rise up in our freedom and we offer gifts of love, caring, and support then we are truly acting as the image of God.
We are in this material world, so to bring light into the world, and to share it with each other is our mission. A person who doesn’t give isn’t whole. A person who doesn’t reach out is, in some ways, not human. The fullest expression of our humanity is possible only when we reach out to each other and we connect with each other.
But there is another side of Tzedakah as well. It is easy to think of it from the side of giving and receiving needs, goods, or money. But what if we were not speaking of those types of things. What if we are speaking of hardship in general?
From ancient times the good in this world is represented by light, even in Judaism today sending a spark of light through tzedakah and mitzvahs is said to be spreading the light of God to the world.
But if this is the case then there is another side to it as well. All coins have two sides. What if by going through trials and hardships you are keeping others from having to go through them themselves. What if their faith isnt where it needs to be to fully go through it? Would you help and take some or all of there burden?
Taking on the sufferings of others so they do not have to.
(Note: see article, The Purpose of trials)
This is also a form of Tzedakah. It is what our Messiah did for us in taking on our sins and sufferings, in taking the death sentence to give us a chance not to have to redeem the rightly deserved penalty of our sins.
Isa 53:3 despised and rejected by men, a man of pains and knowing sickness. And as one from whom the face is hidden, being despised, and we did not consider Him.
Isa 53:4 Truly, He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Yet we reckoned Him stricken, smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our crookednesses. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
And as Disciples of Messiah aren’t we called to emulate him and do the same thing?
1Pe 2:21 For to this you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps,
1Pe 2:22 “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth,
1Pe 2:23 who, being reviled, did not revile in return; suffering, did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
1Pe 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His body on the timber, so that we, having died to sins, might live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
1Jn 2:6 The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.
In the past few years my family and I have gone through great trials and periods of loss. And as a man, I have struggled with it greatly at times. It is very easy to lose yourself in the selfishness of self loathing. Thankfully, I serve the one true God, and He is not only great and wonderful, but He is faithful , and never left me, or let me pull myself to deep into the pit of despair.
During one of the nights where I was going through a particular rough period, the Lord spoke to me. He made me see and think of the idea of Tzedakah as I described at the beginning of this article. He made me start to see things in a new light. What if my loss was keeping others from having to go through loss?
You may think it sounds strange, but it is really basic economics. Think of it like this, there is only so much money in an economy, only so much pie available. If my lack of money can help someone, who’s faith may not be as strong as mine, by giving them more pie, why not take less so they can have more? We must also keep in mind for some the riches this life offers will be there only reward, so shouldnt we give it freely?
This helped me a lot, because I could no longer see my lack as a curse but a blessing. The strongest time of repentance, and study for me came through my times of hardship and loss.
Psa 119:67 Before I was afflicted I myself was going astray, But now I have guarded Your word.
Psa 119:71 It was good for me that I was afflicted, That I might learn Your laws.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for the sake of Messiah. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I realized this many times before, and knowing this helped me keep my faith strong through those times. But that wasn’t all I needed to see.
Through this new understanding I was led not only to help myself, but to understand our Messiah much better. The fact is if I have to be, or can be afflicted so another doesn’t have to. If I have to, or can experience pain and loss so another doesn’t have to, is fine, it is even great.
But the real pain doesn’t come from my personal loss, it comes from having to see my family have to suffer as well.
We all want the best for our family’s, and being the head of a family that is lacking in many things is hard. To see them have to do without, when so many seem to have so much is the real pain.
This gave me an even greater perspective into our Messiah. Its harder to see those you love suffer than to go through suffering yourself. This is true almost across the board in almost any situation and with almost any person.
Now imagine our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
The beatings, torture, humiliation, and suffering to death on the cross, tree, branch, stake or what ever you want to call it, was in fact only temporary. What if that wasn’t the hard part? Think of all I have written so far. What do you think the hardest part was?
As written earlier the hardest part for most is not the suffering of oneself, but seeing those we love suffer. I believe the hardest part was going through all this suffering , so the world didn’t have to, and then watching them still make the same mistakes, and take the wrong path anyway!
We often think of Yeshua on the cross, and many teach it as if that was the end. Sure they speak of a resurrection and the hope we have in it. But often we don’t realize that Yeshua is still with us. Yeshua was resurrected, and Yeshua is still with us today. I believe the real pain for Yeshua is seeing us suffer needlessly and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Our sin causes our Messiah real pain. Our lack of repentance causes our God real pain!
Hopefully this will give us all more cause for, and a deeper understanding of the need for, and understanding of repentance!
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The story of the boy and his Fathers list
Once upon a time there was a boy living in ignorance and enslaved to those who were around him. But the boys Father had been watching over his son for some time. And finally one day the boys Father came to save him from all those he was enslaved to.
After redeeming the boy and bringing him back to His house, the Father gave the boy a list of chores. To teach the boy who had lived apart form his Father for so long how to once again live with his Father. He then promised the boy that as long as he did the deeds on the list he would have a happy and long life. But if he ignored the list and went against his Fathers Will he would have a hard life indeed.
The Father did not make the list to easy to follow, in the intention that it would show the boy all that he should be doing and wasn’t. Also, it was to remind him that he couldn’t actually accomplish it on his own. To show the boy that he needed his Fathers help.
The boy immediately took the list and jumped for joy at the idea of not being enslaved, and for being able to move into his fathers house. He agreed immediately to do all the chores on the list. The next day the boy went to work, and for awhile he tried his very best to complete the list. Then it hit him, the list seemed to mock him and show him all that he had failed to do in his life so far. He tried his best but did not finish the chore list. The boys father came to him at the end of the day and told him how very proud he was that he took such initiative. And told the boy that the list was to assure him a good life in his Fathers house. But as a gift given in love, the Father would be giving him a great reward even tho he didn’t earn or finish the list completely.
The next day the boy awoke and grabbed the list his father had given him the previous day, and started to work it again. And altho there were many of the chores that he couldn’t do on the list the boy did as many as he could. When the boys Father realized what his son was doing he stopped the boy and reminded him that the boy had already gained the reward, and to most it would seem that what the boy was doing was not necessary. But the boy replied to his Father that altho he understands that the great reward never depended on him doing the chore list, he still wants to complete as much of the list as he can as often as he can. Because he loves his father so much and appreciates all that he has done for him. The Father replied that he was proud that the boy finally understood the purpose of the list.
The question is would you consider the boy to be a sinful son for continuing to follow his Fathers list?
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Jewish Law
It never fails that when I share the gospel of the Torah, or even mention the word Torah, or law the same question almost always comes up. “What? Do you expect us to go back to the days of stoning one another every time someone steps out of line?” Or some variation, usually having to do with stoning our children. I usually try, with no avail, to show them the beauty of God’s Law, and how it is a Law of Life and not death (Lev 18:5). But usually ignorance born of tradition, and lack of context wins out in the end. So, I am writing this to show that even in some of the strictest times in the history of Jewish Law (I am speaking of Jewish Law because we have accurate records of it in action.) which is based on the Torah, it is nowhere close to being as cruel as even our own.
The humanity of Jewish law is most clearly revealed in its attitude toward capital punishment. While accepting it in principle as prescribed in the Mosaic law, the Rabbis nevertheless kept from prescribing the death sentence and protected it with so many strict laws of evidence as to make its application almost impossible. A Sanhedrin which imposed capital punishment once in seven years was considered tyrannical. Eleazer b. Azariah added, "even once in seventy years." R. Tarfon and R. Akiba declared, "If we had been members of the Sanhedrin, no man would ever have been put to death." The strong tendency of Pharisaic legislation was to do away with capital punishment altogether, and there was a marked trend to mitigate all forms of judicial punishment.
No circumstantial evidence was admissible in capital cases. If it wasn’t concrete it wasn’t allowed. There was a need of at least two reputable eyewitnesses (Duet 17:6). They had to be reputable and there testimonies had to agree on all accounts. No man could incriminate himself—a principle not found in Roman law which so much of our own laws are based upon. Because of this torture was ruled out. Writing of law enforcement in ancient Egypt, at the time of the New Kingdom (16-8 c. b.c.), Erwin Seidl states:
“Criminal law and criminal procedure were inhuman. In contrast to the Jewish law which limited corporal punishment to forty strokes, one hundred strokes was the ordinary punishment in Egypt. Torture was often used, not only upon the accused but also upon independent witnesses. Strange forms of capital punishment seem to have been practiced, such as leaving the prisoner to be eaten by crocodiles. It was a special favor to allow a convicted criminal to commit suicide. Numbers of criminals, with their ears and noses cut off, were condemned to forced labor in concentration colonies on the frontiers of the country.”
Athens and Rome also permitted the torture not only of slaves but of others to obtain evidence. Roman judicial procedure developed a very elaborate system of torture of the accused (quaestio) and of reluctant witnesses. The Fourth Book of Maccabees enumerates a list of the horrible instruments of torture—wheels, joint screws, dislocators, rocks, and bone-crushers, catapults, caldrons, braziers, thumbscrews, iron claws, wedges, and branding irons. From Rome, the institution of torture passed over to medieval Europe and was standard practice in England, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and elsewhere until the eighteenth century. Even today scandals of torture used by investigators on US citizens in the form of sleep and food deprivation are common place in today’s society. Not to mention cases of water boarding within our governmental systems. Which raises the question of just how far even our government will, or can go.
The Church itself, through the Inquisition, and many other periods, employed torture to extort confessions. Heretics were often tortured by the civil power at the direction of the religious authorities. In Asiatic countries, torture as part of the legal system was and in many cases still is almost universal. Modern totalitarian regimes have added psychological forms of torture to the already crowded chamber of human horrors. Jewish law forbade torture. There is no mention of it in the Bible and no reference to it in the Talmud except as employed by the Romans or by King Herod, who in many other cruel respects copied the ways of the Romans.
During the Second Temple period in Jewish law no kinsmen, paternal or maternal relatives, or relatives by marriage could act as witnesses. If the accused had not been first warned by the witnesses of the consequence of his contemplated crime, he could not be found guilty. The court sitting in a capital case was composed of twenty-three judges, and the trial was held in the court of the Hewn Stone in the Temple at Jerusalem. A simple majority was sufficient for acquittal, while a majority of two was required for conviction. All, including the disciples of the Sages who were not among the judges, might argue in favor of acquittal, but not all in favor of conviction. There had to be an opposing voice raised in favor of the accused. Unlike non-capital cases, one who had argued in favor of acquittal could not afterward change his mind and argue in favor of conviction, but he was always free to alter his position in favor of acquittal. A verdict of acquittal could be reached on the same day of the trial, but not a verdict of conviction. A verdict of conviction could be reversed, but not a verdict of acquittal.
The judges declared their opinion in order, beginning with the youngest who sat at the sides of the benches which were arranged like the half of a round threshing floor. This was done so that the younger judges might not be influenced by the opinion of their elders. Witnesses were thoroughly examined in inquest and cross-examination.
If the accused was finally found guilty and sentence was pronounced, every precaution was taken to the very last moment of the actual execution, to reconsider the verdict in case any new evidence was presented. The court appeared to be hoping to the very end that some new evidence would turn up to clear the man, or that some technicality would be pointed out to force an acquittal. As the condemned man was being led away to the place of execution, a man stood at the door of the court with a flag in his hand, and another, mounted on a horse, at a distance. If in the court someone said, "I have something new to argue in favor of acquittal," then the man waved the flag and the horseman hurried and stopped the condemned who was being led to execution. Even if the doomed man himself said, I have something new to argue. Even if he said this four or five times, provided that there was any substance to his words. A herald went before him calling out: “if any man knows anything in favor of his acquittal, let him come and plead it”.
When everything failed, the condemned man was urged to make confession. Because it was believed that everyone that makes confession has a share in the world to come. He was given a strong drugged wine to drink to benumb his senses. If his punishment was hanging, his body was let down immediately after the hanging, and was never allowed to remain on the scaffold overnight (Dt. 21:23). That would have been a needless indignity inflicted on a human being.
At every stage of the trial, sentence, and execution, one is made aware of the scrupulous care which Jewish law took to protect the accused—a care scarcely paralleled anywhere in the ancient world, and not everywhere in the modern world. Jewish Law’s deep regard for the sanctity of human life, its vast compassion for the erring and the sinner, its profound humanity and its instinctive abhorrence of the shedding of blood—even the blood of the guilty—are everywhere in evidence.
Yet many would have us believe that our God the Creator of the world was such a tyrant that we were to stone our children at the slightest offense, and use this as a justification of not following our Father’s law. Yet even Jewish law was more compassionate than our laws today. And anyone who has studied antiquity will know was far more stringent than that of Torah alone.
May many insights into the traditional views be illuminated by this article. It is my sincerest hope that this article will at least raise some questions into the typically negative view of the Will of our Creator or His law, and help to lead us to the truth. Let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua Ha-Mashiach (Jesus Christ). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The purpose of trials: Part 2
Along came the spiders.
Oh I mean friends
Once again here we see a group of what many would probably call good people. They have journeyed to be with their friend in his time of need. Not what many would think of as overtly evil men. They were most likely not murderers or thieves. And once again we see that Satan didn’t use the obviously evil people in the world, to try and bring about the downfall of Job. He uses those close to him, and these friends have no idea of whom they are really working for.
Job 2:11 And Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, and they each one came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had met together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
Job 2:12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and did not know him, they lifted up their voice and wept. And each one tore his robe, and they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward Heaven.
Job 2:13 And they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights. And no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
These three friends did not come to harm their friend. Their intentions were good, and honorable. How many people have heard the expression “the path to hell is paved with good intentions?” These three friends came to comfort their friend in his time of need. Many of us would have, and have done the same. The Scriptures say that as they approached their friend they spotted him from far off, and he was so badly afflicted with these boils that he was unrecognizable. He was so covered that his close friends couldn’t even recognize who he was. And they wept. When they finally arrived next to Job they sat in silence for seven days because his grief was so great. They were so touched by his pain that they were rendered speechless for seven days. Once again its time to transport ourselves into the shoes of these friends. We have just heard that a close friend has lost all he owns, all his family, save his wife, and is afflicted with so many sores that they cover his whole body. So you rush around to make preparations to go and be with your friend. You get everything ready for the journey because you know he needs all the support he can get. Now ask yourselves, what would be going through our minds during this? Would we be only thinking of our friend? Would we be considering what brought this terrible tragedy on? Now allow yourself to come back into our own being. And ask the question, in all that I have been through, in all that my friends, family and those we know have been through, does any of it compare to this?
At this point I am going to resist the temptation to go through the rest of the book of Job. But instead I will over view some of what happens next. I implore all who read this to really spend some quality time studying the rest of Job. It is amazing how many times in the dialogues between Job and his friends we see conversations we have had ourselves.
Right after the lamentations over his very birth in chapter three we see his first friend already start to accuse Job.
Job 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
Job 4:2 If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?
Job 4:3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.
Job 4:4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
Job 4:5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
Job 4:6 Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
Job 4:7 Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
Job 4:8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
Eliphaz begins with reminding Job that he was thought of as a righteous person. He then continues with basically accusing him of sin. He asks the question who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cutoff? He is accusing Job of sinning and bringing on this punishment. This should sound familiar. I do not think that I have personally not been apart of any congregation to where this conversation has not come up at some point. I have seen televangelist make boastful claims constantly over this very issue. There are now people, in the world today, that have the false teachings, that the poor are only poor, because of there inequities. And just as Satan is using Eliphaze here he uses us when making the same claims. There are times when God punishes people for there inequities, but each and every time it is for instruction. It is to teach others. There are warnings, and teachings to prevent it. But to think that all trials and tribulation come from sin is an out right denial of Whom our God tells us He is
Jobs friends each test him continuously. They accuse him of many things. It runs the gambit from accusations of sin and refusal to repent, too not being righteous enough in the first place. They point out just as many prosperity teachers today do that God wants us to be wealthy on this earth and it’s all about our happiness. This is a clever, and perverse falsification of the Truth in Scripture. But as I said earlier it is simply amazing how much of our logic today you will see in these dialogues.
The conclusion
But as for now lets skip to the end and read the conclusion of the dialogues.
Job 42:7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Job 42:8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
Job 42:10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Through everything Job went through, the losses of possession, loss of health, pains beyond imagining, and even his wife and friends accusing and testing him, Job would not turn from God. He did not blame God foolishly, but accepted his Will in his life. He never gave in to the temptations to lie falsely about even his own life. He did not curse God. He worshiped God through everything. How many of us can say we would do the same under the circumstances? How many of us have failed in this while going through much lesser trials? How many are failing at this while going through something now?
So many focus on the fact that at the end of all this Job was given twice as much as he had before. And many of the prosperity teachers today use this exact example in there flawed teachings. Yes Job was given twice as much as he had before. But Job did not live within the Will of God or worship our Father, even in affliction, in expectation of personal or worldly gain. Job kept the Will of God for the sake of the Will of God. And for this he was rewarded. If one is living for worldly gain then the worldly gain will be his reward. We should all shoot for something much higher. Why settle for a life of wealth that does not last and is meaningless in the face of eternity? If we only keep the Will of God for a reward, we have already missed the point
After going through a trial we should not expect wordily rewards as if we deserved payment. That is not how blessing’s work. Many time the reward is in blessings of the Spirit, and these are far more valuable. But most of the time the blessing or reward from the trial is the trial itself!
Using Job as our example, we must realize that this is not some fairy tale, this is the history of a man. Job went through all of this for a purpose. And contrary to popular belief it was not to put Satan in his place. It was to show us that No matter how bad are trials are there is something to be learned. Can you imagine how these events changed the life of Jobs friends? How many people throughout the history of the world have found comfort from the history of Job? Do not let his suffering for our sake go in vain. Does this sound familiar? There was another that suffered for our benefit. There was another that was tried, and tested to show us the way. And his name is Yeshua (Jesus), our Messiah. While on this earth in the flesh, Yeshua went through all the temptations man can face, he lived and taught us the true meaning of what the Will of God is in our lives. He was mistreated, humiliated, tortured, and slain all to show us the Love that our Creator has for us.
As the book of Job was, so were the Gospels recorded through the Holy Spirit to give us a living example of what to do, and how to live in the Will of God. We cannot let their sacrifices and suffering for us go in vain. We must take the time to understand what they meant and why they happened. We must learn and teach others the True Love and Will of God through Yeshua Hamashiach, and in the Holy Spirit
2Co 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia.
2Co 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,
2Co 1:4 He comforting us in all our trouble, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
We are told that God comforts us in all of our troubles so we can comfort those who are in trouble. Our trials give us a testimony to others. We can say with all honesty we know what you are going through, we have been there, and it was Yeshua that pulled us through. Through our afflictions we are strengthened. Imagine yourself as a mountain climber. You start out with just your hands and the will to climb a hill. But as you climb you realize that you can’t do it alone. So you seek help, and through that help you are given the tools needed to climb the hill. Because of this you learn to rely less on yourself, more on God, and you gain more tools. Now not only can you show others how to attain the tools to climb the mountain, you can take on larger, and larger mountains until finally your mountains become mole hills before the Might of God. This is the true purpose of our trials. To equip us for what is ahead, and remind us that we cannot do anything without the Will of God in our lives. Nothing is truly possible without the Love of Yeshua, our Messiah.
Heb 2:18 For in that He Himself has suffered, having been tempted, He is able to rescue those who are being tempted.
Just as Yeshua, who we are to be disciples of, by overcoming our afflictions we are able to lead others to our deliverer.
Our trials and tribulations are
1. A way to strengthen us for what is coming ahead. They give us the tools we need to overcome temptation and truly live a life within the Will of our Father.
2. Understanding so we can help others. It gives us the tools and the compassion to truly love, understand and help our fellow man.
3. Witnessing tools by showing whom comforts and delivers us and leading others to the same comforter, and deliverer.
4. A way to get many to worship through prayer
5. A way to get many to worship through Thanksgiving.
As we close this journey, let us take this new insight and apply it to our lives. Lets start to look at our trials and tribulations as the blessings they are. Lets seek the knowledge, strength, and understanding they are meant to provide. So as we face these afflictions let us learn to be thankful for all the blessings that God provides. Even the ones we do not at first understand. I pray that as we go forth in our lives, study, and worship that we do so with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the Glory of Yeshua our Messiah Amen
Oh I mean friends
Once again here we see a group of what many would probably call good people. They have journeyed to be with their friend in his time of need. Not what many would think of as overtly evil men. They were most likely not murderers or thieves. And once again we see that Satan didn’t use the obviously evil people in the world, to try and bring about the downfall of Job. He uses those close to him, and these friends have no idea of whom they are really working for.
Job 2:11 And Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, and they each one came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had met together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
Job 2:12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and did not know him, they lifted up their voice and wept. And each one tore his robe, and they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward Heaven.
Job 2:13 And they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights. And no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
These three friends did not come to harm their friend. Their intentions were good, and honorable. How many people have heard the expression “the path to hell is paved with good intentions?” These three friends came to comfort their friend in his time of need. Many of us would have, and have done the same. The Scriptures say that as they approached their friend they spotted him from far off, and he was so badly afflicted with these boils that he was unrecognizable. He was so covered that his close friends couldn’t even recognize who he was. And they wept. When they finally arrived next to Job they sat in silence for seven days because his grief was so great. They were so touched by his pain that they were rendered speechless for seven days. Once again its time to transport ourselves into the shoes of these friends. We have just heard that a close friend has lost all he owns, all his family, save his wife, and is afflicted with so many sores that they cover his whole body. So you rush around to make preparations to go and be with your friend. You get everything ready for the journey because you know he needs all the support he can get. Now ask yourselves, what would be going through our minds during this? Would we be only thinking of our friend? Would we be considering what brought this terrible tragedy on? Now allow yourself to come back into our own being. And ask the question, in all that I have been through, in all that my friends, family and those we know have been through, does any of it compare to this?
At this point I am going to resist the temptation to go through the rest of the book of Job. But instead I will over view some of what happens next. I implore all who read this to really spend some quality time studying the rest of Job. It is amazing how many times in the dialogues between Job and his friends we see conversations we have had ourselves.
Right after the lamentations over his very birth in chapter three we see his first friend already start to accuse Job.
Job 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
Job 4:2 If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?
Job 4:3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.
Job 4:4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
Job 4:5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
Job 4:6 Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
Job 4:7 Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
Job 4:8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
Eliphaz begins with reminding Job that he was thought of as a righteous person. He then continues with basically accusing him of sin. He asks the question who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cutoff? He is accusing Job of sinning and bringing on this punishment. This should sound familiar. I do not think that I have personally not been apart of any congregation to where this conversation has not come up at some point. I have seen televangelist make boastful claims constantly over this very issue. There are now people, in the world today, that have the false teachings, that the poor are only poor, because of there inequities. And just as Satan is using Eliphaze here he uses us when making the same claims. There are times when God punishes people for there inequities, but each and every time it is for instruction. It is to teach others. There are warnings, and teachings to prevent it. But to think that all trials and tribulation come from sin is an out right denial of Whom our God tells us He is
Jobs friends each test him continuously. They accuse him of many things. It runs the gambit from accusations of sin and refusal to repent, too not being righteous enough in the first place. They point out just as many prosperity teachers today do that God wants us to be wealthy on this earth and it’s all about our happiness. This is a clever, and perverse falsification of the Truth in Scripture. But as I said earlier it is simply amazing how much of our logic today you will see in these dialogues.
The conclusion
But as for now lets skip to the end and read the conclusion of the dialogues.
Job 42:7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Job 42:8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
Job 42:10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Through everything Job went through, the losses of possession, loss of health, pains beyond imagining, and even his wife and friends accusing and testing him, Job would not turn from God. He did not blame God foolishly, but accepted his Will in his life. He never gave in to the temptations to lie falsely about even his own life. He did not curse God. He worshiped God through everything. How many of us can say we would do the same under the circumstances? How many of us have failed in this while going through much lesser trials? How many are failing at this while going through something now?
So many focus on the fact that at the end of all this Job was given twice as much as he had before. And many of the prosperity teachers today use this exact example in there flawed teachings. Yes Job was given twice as much as he had before. But Job did not live within the Will of God or worship our Father, even in affliction, in expectation of personal or worldly gain. Job kept the Will of God for the sake of the Will of God. And for this he was rewarded. If one is living for worldly gain then the worldly gain will be his reward. We should all shoot for something much higher. Why settle for a life of wealth that does not last and is meaningless in the face of eternity? If we only keep the Will of God for a reward, we have already missed the point
After going through a trial we should not expect wordily rewards as if we deserved payment. That is not how blessing’s work. Many time the reward is in blessings of the Spirit, and these are far more valuable. But most of the time the blessing or reward from the trial is the trial itself!
Using Job as our example, we must realize that this is not some fairy tale, this is the history of a man. Job went through all of this for a purpose. And contrary to popular belief it was not to put Satan in his place. It was to show us that No matter how bad are trials are there is something to be learned. Can you imagine how these events changed the life of Jobs friends? How many people throughout the history of the world have found comfort from the history of Job? Do not let his suffering for our sake go in vain. Does this sound familiar? There was another that suffered for our benefit. There was another that was tried, and tested to show us the way. And his name is Yeshua (Jesus), our Messiah. While on this earth in the flesh, Yeshua went through all the temptations man can face, he lived and taught us the true meaning of what the Will of God is in our lives. He was mistreated, humiliated, tortured, and slain all to show us the Love that our Creator has for us.
As the book of Job was, so were the Gospels recorded through the Holy Spirit to give us a living example of what to do, and how to live in the Will of God. We cannot let their sacrifices and suffering for us go in vain. We must take the time to understand what they meant and why they happened. We must learn and teach others the True Love and Will of God through Yeshua Hamashiach, and in the Holy Spirit
2Co 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia.
2Co 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,
2Co 1:4 He comforting us in all our trouble, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
We are told that God comforts us in all of our troubles so we can comfort those who are in trouble. Our trials give us a testimony to others. We can say with all honesty we know what you are going through, we have been there, and it was Yeshua that pulled us through. Through our afflictions we are strengthened. Imagine yourself as a mountain climber. You start out with just your hands and the will to climb a hill. But as you climb you realize that you can’t do it alone. So you seek help, and through that help you are given the tools needed to climb the hill. Because of this you learn to rely less on yourself, more on God, and you gain more tools. Now not only can you show others how to attain the tools to climb the mountain, you can take on larger, and larger mountains until finally your mountains become mole hills before the Might of God. This is the true purpose of our trials. To equip us for what is ahead, and remind us that we cannot do anything without the Will of God in our lives. Nothing is truly possible without the Love of Yeshua, our Messiah.
Heb 2:18 For in that He Himself has suffered, having been tempted, He is able to rescue those who are being tempted.
Just as Yeshua, who we are to be disciples of, by overcoming our afflictions we are able to lead others to our deliverer.
Our trials and tribulations are
1. A way to strengthen us for what is coming ahead. They give us the tools we need to overcome temptation and truly live a life within the Will of our Father.
2. Understanding so we can help others. It gives us the tools and the compassion to truly love, understand and help our fellow man.
3. Witnessing tools by showing whom comforts and delivers us and leading others to the same comforter, and deliverer.
4. A way to get many to worship through prayer
5. A way to get many to worship through Thanksgiving.
As we close this journey, let us take this new insight and apply it to our lives. Lets start to look at our trials and tribulations as the blessings they are. Lets seek the knowledge, strength, and understanding they are meant to provide. So as we face these afflictions let us learn to be thankful for all the blessings that God provides. Even the ones we do not at first understand. I pray that as we go forth in our lives, study, and worship that we do so with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the Glory of Yeshua our Messiah Amen
Monday, July 5, 2010
The purpose of trials: Part 1
The purpose of trials: Part 1
So many of us, and those we know are going through some tough times. So many of us are going through some kind of trial or tribulation. Many blame God for what they feel are punishments or wrongs being done in their lives. I think this misconception comes from a general lack of understanding of the place of trials and tribulation in our lives. And not acknowledging the many benefits, they provide. We need to stop being so selfish in our thinking, and truly submit to the Will of our Father. By doing so we will submit and truly serve, and learn to love our fellow man. Not everything is about us as individuals. It is supposed to be about the Will of God. Through this article I hope to put all of our minds at ease. By showing what our trials are really all about, what they are for, and how we are to use them. So many may be surprised to learn that trials are not meant just as a punishment, but a blessing. So many of the blessings God provides, are misunderstood, and are in fact under appreciated. We rejoice at healing, and revelation, but what about the trials that strengthen us, or give us insight. We will be looking at the true blessings behind our trials throughout this article.
The History of Job
Many of us know or are at least familiar with the history of Job. And in this article we are going to discuss an overview of the Book of Job. Let’s start of with a little history or what is thought to be known of the Book of Job. Many scholars believe the Book of Job to be the earliest book in the Bible to be written. Now this should at least give it some significance. One of the very first writings inspired by the Holy Spirit was to give us a better understanding of God, and the place of trials in our lives. I think we should all give Job a good read and really study what is going on.
Now the Book of Job is one of the best Books to study when we are going through hard times. If nothing else it gives us the ability to see, that no matter what we are going through, it could always be worse. And if this is all that you get from it then it was at least worth the read right? But we can’t allow ourselves to stop there. There is so much that the Book of Job has to teach us about the purpose of trials in our lives.
The Story of Job
Right off the bat we see that Job was a righteous man, perfect, and God fearing.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and upright, and one who feared God and turned aside from evil
This is very significant and it must be remembered to put things in context. Job did not deserve the tribulation he is about to face. These trials are not a punishment for his sins. But they did in fact have a purpose.
Now as we read on in the Book of Job. Satan has been given permission to test Job in verses six thru twelve. Verse six starts with a council held in Heaven to which Satan was present. When God asks Satan where he has been, and he answers. “From going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it’. He is blatantly stating that he owns the world and all who are in it. He is cocky and arrogantly stating his victory over fallen man, and the fallen world. But God brings up the one righteous man in the earth, Job. He states that none is like him in all the earth. In saying this God is letting satan know he has no hold on this man. In the process of this confrontation Satan issues a challenge to God, he states that he can control even this man if given the chance. He points out that of course he hasn’t turned from God. God has blessed him and protected him because of his true heart for obedience. And states plainly if he would but remove that protection, and let Satan test him, he would turn away from the Will of God. It starts just as it starts with most of us, by taking our possessions. Satan states plainly that he knows the heart of man. Man wants to own and possess. All he has to do is take away those possessions, then this man will curse him. Now take a moment to reflect over the trials most of us are going through.
So God gives Satan permission to test Job. But he is not allowed to afflict his person. He cannot touch Job himself. So Satan goes forth and in what can be described as one of the worst periods of time any man could go though. Job begins to lose all that he has. And in verses threaten thru nineteen goes on to tell us that he losses all of his livestock, wealth, servants, and finally his family. Leaving him, only his wife.
Now take a moment and take this in, just like on the Holy days, the appointed feasts of God. Imagine yourself in Jobs shoes. Imagine you haven’t just lost your job but all your wealth. You have lost all your livelihood. You have lost you servants. Then to top it all off you have just lost all of your children. Let the waves of grief this must have caused wash over you. Imagine what our response would be. Now look at the petty trials many of us are going through, and see how they compare.
But unlike most of us, Job stopped and praised God. His first response was to worship and pray to the creator of all creation.
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped,
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
In the midst of the greatest grief in his life Job worshiped. And acknowledge Gods sovereignty over his life. He blessed God. He didn’t question the Will of God. He did not sin. He did not blame God foolishly. Why do we so often ignore the history of Job when we go through our trials? Most of the time, our first response to loss, and grief, is to blame God. This is by definition sin. It is ignoring the Will of God. It denies the nature of whom our God is.
So we continue with the Story of Job. In Job 2:1 thru 2:7. Our Bible once again gives us an account of another council held in Heaven. To which Satan once again comes in the Presence of our Father. And in his arrogance he once again falsely proclaims his victory over man and the world. And God says well what about Job? Satan answers:
Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Satan basically answers with; well fine, maybe taking his possession wasn’t enough. You got me there. But if you afflict a mans flesh, take his health, then he will crumble.
Satan knows just what buttons to push to get to the children of God. Don’t forget he has been destroying man for a while now. And has control over almost all of the earth. His tricks haven’t changed much from then to now. But then again ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it right?”. So anyway its time to get back to the point. He says “I can still win this. Fine, so this one is special. He understands that all the stuff on the earth doesn’t matter. He understands that it all belongs to God. But if you hurt him physically. Then he will curse you to your face. Taking his possessions didn’t phase him but when you afflict there flesh all men will fold.”.
God gives Satan permission to afflict his flesh but not take his life. Satan then goes forth and afflicts Job with boils, painful sores that cover him from head to toe. Once again its time to use our imaginations. Imagine these sores. Imagine the constant pain. Not being able to eat or sleep. Being so afflicted you are unrecognizable. In such pain that you curse the day you were born.
What happens next is something I think allot of people miss.
Job 2:9 And his wife said to him, Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God and die
Here is his wife, not an evil woman. We can assume this because she is the wife of possibly the only truly righteous man on the earth. She is not evil. Satan rarely uses obviously evil people to do his work. He uses the every day, average people. He uses Church ladies, pastors, and deacons. Here satan used Jobs wife. She was not asking him to curse God out of vindictiveness. She was asking her husband to stop the suffering. Put yourself in her shoes. Here we have Job, her righteous husband. In more pain than most can even imagine, let alone endure. She was asking him to end his suffering. She wanted him to curse God to incur his wrath. Satan used the love of her husband to his own ends.
And even through all of this, Job would not sin.
Job 2:10 But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish ones speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Do not make the false assumption that meant that this was in anyway easy. Please read through chapter three. And really take the time to imagine the amount of pain this man was in. And once again compare your trials to Jobs.
I pray that we be given eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change as we go forth to put these perspectives to the test of Scripture, and seek the Truth of God. And in this Truth may we find the true peace of God in our lives.
So many of us, and those we know are going through some tough times. So many of us are going through some kind of trial or tribulation. Many blame God for what they feel are punishments or wrongs being done in their lives. I think this misconception comes from a general lack of understanding of the place of trials and tribulation in our lives. And not acknowledging the many benefits, they provide. We need to stop being so selfish in our thinking, and truly submit to the Will of our Father. By doing so we will submit and truly serve, and learn to love our fellow man. Not everything is about us as individuals. It is supposed to be about the Will of God. Through this article I hope to put all of our minds at ease. By showing what our trials are really all about, what they are for, and how we are to use them. So many may be surprised to learn that trials are not meant just as a punishment, but a blessing. So many of the blessings God provides, are misunderstood, and are in fact under appreciated. We rejoice at healing, and revelation, but what about the trials that strengthen us, or give us insight. We will be looking at the true blessings behind our trials throughout this article.
The History of Job
Many of us know or are at least familiar with the history of Job. And in this article we are going to discuss an overview of the Book of Job. Let’s start of with a little history or what is thought to be known of the Book of Job. Many scholars believe the Book of Job to be the earliest book in the Bible to be written. Now this should at least give it some significance. One of the very first writings inspired by the Holy Spirit was to give us a better understanding of God, and the place of trials in our lives. I think we should all give Job a good read and really study what is going on.
Now the Book of Job is one of the best Books to study when we are going through hard times. If nothing else it gives us the ability to see, that no matter what we are going through, it could always be worse. And if this is all that you get from it then it was at least worth the read right? But we can’t allow ourselves to stop there. There is so much that the Book of Job has to teach us about the purpose of trials in our lives.
The Story of Job
Right off the bat we see that Job was a righteous man, perfect, and God fearing.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and upright, and one who feared God and turned aside from evil
This is very significant and it must be remembered to put things in context. Job did not deserve the tribulation he is about to face. These trials are not a punishment for his sins. But they did in fact have a purpose.
Now as we read on in the Book of Job. Satan has been given permission to test Job in verses six thru twelve. Verse six starts with a council held in Heaven to which Satan was present. When God asks Satan where he has been, and he answers. “From going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it’. He is blatantly stating that he owns the world and all who are in it. He is cocky and arrogantly stating his victory over fallen man, and the fallen world. But God brings up the one righteous man in the earth, Job. He states that none is like him in all the earth. In saying this God is letting satan know he has no hold on this man. In the process of this confrontation Satan issues a challenge to God, he states that he can control even this man if given the chance. He points out that of course he hasn’t turned from God. God has blessed him and protected him because of his true heart for obedience. And states plainly if he would but remove that protection, and let Satan test him, he would turn away from the Will of God. It starts just as it starts with most of us, by taking our possessions. Satan states plainly that he knows the heart of man. Man wants to own and possess. All he has to do is take away those possessions, then this man will curse him. Now take a moment to reflect over the trials most of us are going through.
So God gives Satan permission to test Job. But he is not allowed to afflict his person. He cannot touch Job himself. So Satan goes forth and in what can be described as one of the worst periods of time any man could go though. Job begins to lose all that he has. And in verses threaten thru nineteen goes on to tell us that he losses all of his livestock, wealth, servants, and finally his family. Leaving him, only his wife.
Now take a moment and take this in, just like on the Holy days, the appointed feasts of God. Imagine yourself in Jobs shoes. Imagine you haven’t just lost your job but all your wealth. You have lost all your livelihood. You have lost you servants. Then to top it all off you have just lost all of your children. Let the waves of grief this must have caused wash over you. Imagine what our response would be. Now look at the petty trials many of us are going through, and see how they compare.
But unlike most of us, Job stopped and praised God. His first response was to worship and pray to the creator of all creation.
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped,
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
In the midst of the greatest grief in his life Job worshiped. And acknowledge Gods sovereignty over his life. He blessed God. He didn’t question the Will of God. He did not sin. He did not blame God foolishly. Why do we so often ignore the history of Job when we go through our trials? Most of the time, our first response to loss, and grief, is to blame God. This is by definition sin. It is ignoring the Will of God. It denies the nature of whom our God is.
So we continue with the Story of Job. In Job 2:1 thru 2:7. Our Bible once again gives us an account of another council held in Heaven. To which Satan once again comes in the Presence of our Father. And in his arrogance he once again falsely proclaims his victory over man and the world. And God says well what about Job? Satan answers:
Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Satan basically answers with; well fine, maybe taking his possession wasn’t enough. You got me there. But if you afflict a mans flesh, take his health, then he will crumble.
Satan knows just what buttons to push to get to the children of God. Don’t forget he has been destroying man for a while now. And has control over almost all of the earth. His tricks haven’t changed much from then to now. But then again ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it right?”. So anyway its time to get back to the point. He says “I can still win this. Fine, so this one is special. He understands that all the stuff on the earth doesn’t matter. He understands that it all belongs to God. But if you hurt him physically. Then he will curse you to your face. Taking his possessions didn’t phase him but when you afflict there flesh all men will fold.”.
God gives Satan permission to afflict his flesh but not take his life. Satan then goes forth and afflicts Job with boils, painful sores that cover him from head to toe. Once again its time to use our imaginations. Imagine these sores. Imagine the constant pain. Not being able to eat or sleep. Being so afflicted you are unrecognizable. In such pain that you curse the day you were born.
What happens next is something I think allot of people miss.
Job 2:9 And his wife said to him, Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God and die
Here is his wife, not an evil woman. We can assume this because she is the wife of possibly the only truly righteous man on the earth. She is not evil. Satan rarely uses obviously evil people to do his work. He uses the every day, average people. He uses Church ladies, pastors, and deacons. Here satan used Jobs wife. She was not asking him to curse God out of vindictiveness. She was asking her husband to stop the suffering. Put yourself in her shoes. Here we have Job, her righteous husband. In more pain than most can even imagine, let alone endure. She was asking him to end his suffering. She wanted him to curse God to incur his wrath. Satan used the love of her husband to his own ends.
And even through all of this, Job would not sin.
Job 2:10 But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish ones speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Do not make the false assumption that meant that this was in anyway easy. Please read through chapter three. And really take the time to imagine the amount of pain this man was in. And once again compare your trials to Jobs.
I pray that we be given eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change as we go forth to put these perspectives to the test of Scripture, and seek the Truth of God. And in this Truth may we find the true peace of God in our lives.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Authority of the Rabbis? Part 2
Authority of the Rabbis? Part 2
Is there any believer today who must follow the Rabbis as judges and legislators? No, for even in Israel in 2010, the Rabbis don’t wield the kind of civil authority over the general population as they did in the days of Yeshua. They are bound by the democratic nature of the State of Israel. Their authority is confined to their own sect, except in cases of marriage, divorce and burial where they have political sway in the Knesset (Congress or Parliament), of Israel. But even in Judah and Galilee in the days of Messiah, the Rabbis didn’t legislate their brand of theology. In other words, only Pharisees kept the Pharisaic teaching and way, and only Sadducees kept their way, and only the Essenes kept their way, etc.
Here too we can better understand Yeshua’s words in Mt. 23:2-3. The Sadducees weren’t put in jail because they didn’t follow the Pharisaic doctrine or way. The Essenes weren’t jailed because they didn’t keep the way of the Sadducees, etc. There were more than twenty different religious sects of Jews within Judah at the time of Messiah. Each Jewish person was free to practice his way of faith. Consequently, each Jewish believer was also free to walk out his faith as he was led by his community (Acts 2:40-47; 5:33-42; 6:1, etc.), when there wasn’t persecution for it (Acts 8:1-4, etc.).
The Jewish believer could live out his faith without breaking any laws of the land. There was no law that said that everyone had to believe and act like a Pharisee, or ‘do as they’ said, in terms of religious matters. This is how the believer could be free to believe, but constrained to obey ‘all they tell you, do,’ as the authorities in judicial and legislative matters.
Yeshua also wanted His followers to work out those civil differences, or problems with others, beforehand, so that they wouldn’t go to prison for things that didn’t pertain to the Kingdom. Because in prison they would stay until they ‘paid the last shekel:
Luk 12:57 And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
Luk 12:58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.
Luk 12:59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.
This refers to the judgement of the bet din (‘house of judgment’ or courts). Listen to what the Master says and note his speaking of the judge:
Mat 5:25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
Mat 5:26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Yeshua was concerned about us becoming entangled in the affairs of this world, to the detriment of the affairs of the Kingdom. He was giving His followers wise counsel that speaks to us today: don’t get caught up in things that are not of His Kingdom. It only wastes our time and energy. There are many ‘good causes’ out there, and many things, unrighteous things, that need to be made righteous, but we are to follow Him and do those things that He shows us to do.
Authority to adjudicate and legislate was taken away from the Pharisees, Scribes, and Rabbis, etc., with the fall of Jerusalem and never regained by them in any of the lands where the Lord dispersed His people (except among the Jewish communities). Even in Israel today, the Rabbis only hold a certain amount of civil authority. To illustrate their lack of civil authority in terms of religious matters, the breaking of Shabat (the Sabbath), is not a crime in the eyes of the State of Israel, even though biblically, it’s a sin of great magnitude (Ex. 31:15; 35:2, etc.). Of course, the Rabbis would love to see the Sabbath observed by all Israelis, and enforced, but they don’t have the civil authority to enforce it. And this is a Commandment of tremendous importance. They have absolutely no authority to enforce their religious ways or teachings upon any Israeli, believer or not. How much less a believer in another land?
The Rabbis have no authority to imprison anyone for breaking the Sabbath, or not eating kosher food, or not celebrating the Holy Days, etc. The people of Israel do not go to their courts (unless they are their followers), but even then, the secular courts of Israel can overrule and nullify the rabbinical courts. They have no power to legislate or enact laws or ordinances for the entire population of Israel. But it’s here in Israel, where their authority is much greater than anywhere else. Why would any believer voluntarily place themselves under rabbinic authority to a rabbi who does not know the Messiah of Israel?
The Rabbis were never meant to teach us. They didn’t teach Yeshua. They didn’t teach the Apostles. Why should they teach us now? This is another reason why their teachings are not binding on us, and why we are not under their authority. And they would agree with me on this. For what rabbi would accept a Jew who believes in Yeshua? And what bet din would want to have anything to do with such a Jew, let alone not be biased against him?
Another major problem with someone not understanding ‘all that they tell you, do,’ and trying to follow the teachings of the Rabbis is that Judaism doesn’t speak ‘with one voice’ (one teaching on all the subjects). It never has. Even in the generation before Yeshua, there were two very famous schools that fundamentally differed from one another, like day and night (the Schools of Hillel and Shamai). And the scriptural and halahic (how to walk out the Scriptures) controversies that separated their students are legendary. Today there are many sects within the Orthodox and Hasidic communities, etc., and each has their own rabbis that disagree with the other rabbis. So which sect or rabbi should a believer go to, if they were to misinterpret Yeshua’s words of Mt. 23:2-3?
Today within Judaism there are the Satmars and the Bretzlavs. There’s also the Lubavitchers who proclaim the late Rabbi Schneerson as the Messiah. And these are only three different sects within what is known as Hasidic Judaism. Then there’s Orthodox Judaism with its Neo-Orthodoxy and other various shades of ‘Orthodoxy.’ There’s also Conservative and Reform Judaism, as well.
We can glean much from two thousand years of rabbinic thought but we also must be aware of the tremendous anti-Messiah spirit that dwells within the Rabbis and their teachings. for the Spirit of the Living God, as well as the Talmud and Gematria, for these ways have truly warped many of the teachings of Moses. But just from a practical point of view, it would be next to impossible to determine which form of Judaism was ‘the right one’ that Yeshua would have wanted His followers to follow, if Mt. 23:2-3 is misinterpreted.
The Seat of Moses was a term used to denote judgment. In Mt. 23:2-3, Messiah Yeshua admonishes His followers to obey the Pharisees and Scribes, etc., in their authoritative roles as judges and legislators, not as teachers of Torah. They had civil authority to judge and so could place anyone in jail who didn’t obey them in those areas that dealt with the community issues. Another point we saw against obeying the Rabbis and their teachings had to do with the many confrontations with the Pharisees and Scribes, etc., that Yeshua had, over their interpretation of Scripture. Also, His words against them (Mk. 8:15, etc.), is a powerful incentive for us concerning anything rabbinical, let alone placing oneself under their teaching authority. Rabbinic authority today, even in Israel, is not as great as it was in the days of Yeshua, but even in His day, most Jews didn’t follow the Pharisees and Scribes. There’s no reason from an authoritative perspective then, to place ourselves under their authority to teach us. Yet even if we wanted to, what rabbi would we follow today? Judaism is very fragmented.
Those that say that believers should obey the teachings of the Rabbis misunderstand Yeshua’s admonition, not realizing that the Seat of Moses meant legislative and judicial authority, not theological. There is absolutely nothing in Scripture to substantiate, or to act as a second witness: to the poor interpretation of Mt. 23:2-3, that we should follow the Rabbis.
Deu 17:6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
Deu 19:15 A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
Mat 18:16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
2Co 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
None of the Apostles ever placed themselves under rabbinic authority or sought their teaching. Why should we? There is only one Rabbi that we are to follow and to learn from; Messiah Yeshua (Mt. 23:8, 26:25; Mk. 9:5; 11:21; Jn. 1:49; 6:25; 11:8, etc.). For only He is able to give us the true understanding of the Word of God, and the ability to walk in it.
No wear does it say Rabbi or any man in Deuteronomy 13:4:
Deu 13:4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
As a matter of fact this is taken from an out right command not to follow false traditions of men. And a warning about those who would claim authority over the word of God. We have Scripture, and we are to be lead by the Holy Spirit in its discernment. There is no need or room for the authority of man For Yeshua stated it best when he said that we could not serve two masters.
Mat 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon
Basically we must remember there is only one master over our lives. Although there are many truths that can be gleaned from many men, we must remember the source of the teachings. There are some that believe we must follow the Rabbis in order to fully understand Scripture, but this idea goes against the very Scripture we are trying to understand (see authority of man?). We must also remember that although the Rabbis have been studying and commenting on Torah for over 2,000 years, they have done so with out the understanding’s given to us by our Messiah, and through His Holy Spirit. Yes there are many truths, in many of the teachings of the Rabbis, but that does not make them authoritative in our lives. And when we study the teachings of the Rabbis we must do so carefully. Seek the truth yet be weary of the lies.
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Is there any believer today who must follow the Rabbis as judges and legislators? No, for even in Israel in 2010, the Rabbis don’t wield the kind of civil authority over the general population as they did in the days of Yeshua. They are bound by the democratic nature of the State of Israel. Their authority is confined to their own sect, except in cases of marriage, divorce and burial where they have political sway in the Knesset (Congress or Parliament), of Israel. But even in Judah and Galilee in the days of Messiah, the Rabbis didn’t legislate their brand of theology. In other words, only Pharisees kept the Pharisaic teaching and way, and only Sadducees kept their way, and only the Essenes kept their way, etc.
Here too we can better understand Yeshua’s words in Mt. 23:2-3. The Sadducees weren’t put in jail because they didn’t follow the Pharisaic doctrine or way. The Essenes weren’t jailed because they didn’t keep the way of the Sadducees, etc. There were more than twenty different religious sects of Jews within Judah at the time of Messiah. Each Jewish person was free to practice his way of faith. Consequently, each Jewish believer was also free to walk out his faith as he was led by his community (Acts 2:40-47; 5:33-42; 6:1, etc.), when there wasn’t persecution for it (Acts 8:1-4, etc.).
The Jewish believer could live out his faith without breaking any laws of the land. There was no law that said that everyone had to believe and act like a Pharisee, or ‘do as they’ said, in terms of religious matters. This is how the believer could be free to believe, but constrained to obey ‘all they tell you, do,’ as the authorities in judicial and legislative matters.
Yeshua also wanted His followers to work out those civil differences, or problems with others, beforehand, so that they wouldn’t go to prison for things that didn’t pertain to the Kingdom. Because in prison they would stay until they ‘paid the last shekel:
Luk 12:57 And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
Luk 12:58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.
Luk 12:59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.
This refers to the judgement of the bet din (‘house of judgment’ or courts). Listen to what the Master says and note his speaking of the judge:
Mat 5:25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
Mat 5:26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Yeshua was concerned about us becoming entangled in the affairs of this world, to the detriment of the affairs of the Kingdom. He was giving His followers wise counsel that speaks to us today: don’t get caught up in things that are not of His Kingdom. It only wastes our time and energy. There are many ‘good causes’ out there, and many things, unrighteous things, that need to be made righteous, but we are to follow Him and do those things that He shows us to do.
Authority to adjudicate and legislate was taken away from the Pharisees, Scribes, and Rabbis, etc., with the fall of Jerusalem and never regained by them in any of the lands where the Lord dispersed His people (except among the Jewish communities). Even in Israel today, the Rabbis only hold a certain amount of civil authority. To illustrate their lack of civil authority in terms of religious matters, the breaking of Shabat (the Sabbath), is not a crime in the eyes of the State of Israel, even though biblically, it’s a sin of great magnitude (Ex. 31:15; 35:2, etc.). Of course, the Rabbis would love to see the Sabbath observed by all Israelis, and enforced, but they don’t have the civil authority to enforce it. And this is a Commandment of tremendous importance. They have absolutely no authority to enforce their religious ways or teachings upon any Israeli, believer or not. How much less a believer in another land?
The Rabbis have no authority to imprison anyone for breaking the Sabbath, or not eating kosher food, or not celebrating the Holy Days, etc. The people of Israel do not go to their courts (unless they are their followers), but even then, the secular courts of Israel can overrule and nullify the rabbinical courts. They have no power to legislate or enact laws or ordinances for the entire population of Israel. But it’s here in Israel, where their authority is much greater than anywhere else. Why would any believer voluntarily place themselves under rabbinic authority to a rabbi who does not know the Messiah of Israel?
The Rabbis were never meant to teach us. They didn’t teach Yeshua. They didn’t teach the Apostles. Why should they teach us now? This is another reason why their teachings are not binding on us, and why we are not under their authority. And they would agree with me on this. For what rabbi would accept a Jew who believes in Yeshua? And what bet din would want to have anything to do with such a Jew, let alone not be biased against him?
Another major problem with someone not understanding ‘all that they tell you, do,’ and trying to follow the teachings of the Rabbis is that Judaism doesn’t speak ‘with one voice’ (one teaching on all the subjects). It never has. Even in the generation before Yeshua, there were two very famous schools that fundamentally differed from one another, like day and night (the Schools of Hillel and Shamai). And the scriptural and halahic (how to walk out the Scriptures) controversies that separated their students are legendary. Today there are many sects within the Orthodox and Hasidic communities, etc., and each has their own rabbis that disagree with the other rabbis. So which sect or rabbi should a believer go to, if they were to misinterpret Yeshua’s words of Mt. 23:2-3?
Today within Judaism there are the Satmars and the Bretzlavs. There’s also the Lubavitchers who proclaim the late Rabbi Schneerson as the Messiah. And these are only three different sects within what is known as Hasidic Judaism. Then there’s Orthodox Judaism with its Neo-Orthodoxy and other various shades of ‘Orthodoxy.’ There’s also Conservative and Reform Judaism, as well.
We can glean much from two thousand years of rabbinic thought but we also must be aware of the tremendous anti-Messiah spirit that dwells within the Rabbis and their teachings. for the Spirit of the Living God, as well as the Talmud and Gematria, for these ways have truly warped many of the teachings of Moses. But just from a practical point of view, it would be next to impossible to determine which form of Judaism was ‘the right one’ that Yeshua would have wanted His followers to follow, if Mt. 23:2-3 is misinterpreted.
The Seat of Moses was a term used to denote judgment. In Mt. 23:2-3, Messiah Yeshua admonishes His followers to obey the Pharisees and Scribes, etc., in their authoritative roles as judges and legislators, not as teachers of Torah. They had civil authority to judge and so could place anyone in jail who didn’t obey them in those areas that dealt with the community issues. Another point we saw against obeying the Rabbis and their teachings had to do with the many confrontations with the Pharisees and Scribes, etc., that Yeshua had, over their interpretation of Scripture. Also, His words against them (Mk. 8:15, etc.), is a powerful incentive for us concerning anything rabbinical, let alone placing oneself under their teaching authority. Rabbinic authority today, even in Israel, is not as great as it was in the days of Yeshua, but even in His day, most Jews didn’t follow the Pharisees and Scribes. There’s no reason from an authoritative perspective then, to place ourselves under their authority to teach us. Yet even if we wanted to, what rabbi would we follow today? Judaism is very fragmented.
Those that say that believers should obey the teachings of the Rabbis misunderstand Yeshua’s admonition, not realizing that the Seat of Moses meant legislative and judicial authority, not theological. There is absolutely nothing in Scripture to substantiate, or to act as a second witness: to the poor interpretation of Mt. 23:2-3, that we should follow the Rabbis.
Deu 17:6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
Deu 19:15 A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
Mat 18:16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
2Co 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
None of the Apostles ever placed themselves under rabbinic authority or sought their teaching. Why should we? There is only one Rabbi that we are to follow and to learn from; Messiah Yeshua (Mt. 23:8, 26:25; Mk. 9:5; 11:21; Jn. 1:49; 6:25; 11:8, etc.). For only He is able to give us the true understanding of the Word of God, and the ability to walk in it.
No wear does it say Rabbi or any man in Deuteronomy 13:4:
Deu 13:4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
As a matter of fact this is taken from an out right command not to follow false traditions of men. And a warning about those who would claim authority over the word of God. We have Scripture, and we are to be lead by the Holy Spirit in its discernment. There is no need or room for the authority of man For Yeshua stated it best when he said that we could not serve two masters.
Mat 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon
Basically we must remember there is only one master over our lives. Although there are many truths that can be gleaned from many men, we must remember the source of the teachings. There are some that believe we must follow the Rabbis in order to fully understand Scripture, but this idea goes against the very Scripture we are trying to understand (see authority of man?). We must also remember that although the Rabbis have been studying and commenting on Torah for over 2,000 years, they have done so with out the understanding’s given to us by our Messiah, and through His Holy Spirit. Yes there are many truths, in many of the teachings of the Rabbis, but that does not make them authoritative in our lives. And when we study the teachings of the Rabbis we must do so carefully. Seek the truth yet be weary of the lies.
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Monday, June 21, 2010
Authority of the Rabbis? Part 1
Authority of the Rabbis? Part 1
Mat 23:2 The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,
Mat 23:3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
There are some that teach that we must adhere to the doctrines of the Rabbis because they teach that Yeshua Himself commanded this in Mt. 23:2-3. Aside from the fact that Messiah is telling us that the Scribes and the Pharisees had usurped Moses’ authority by ‘seating themselves in the Seat of Moses,’ their interpretation of the passage is extremely faulty. Yeshua wasn’t telling us to walk out our faith in
Him by rabbinical teachings, but rather to obey the authorities of the land, which, at that time, were the Scribes, Pharisees and Rabbis in their judicial and legislative capacities.
The Seat of Moses was a judicial position from which judgments between two or more people were issued. In Yeshua’s day the Pharisees and Scribes had seated themselves in the Seat of Moses (Mt. 23:2). This understanding is brought out by both the Greek text and in some Bibles like the NASB and reveals that Yeshua wasn’t pleased with them in Moses’ Seat. In other words, God hadn’t put them there, but they had placed themselves there. This phenomenon is not unusual. It’s conceptually seen in the days of Hosea when the prophet says of Israel:
Hos 8:4 They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
To ‘seat oneself’ as the Pharisees did, was to usurp God’s authority. Yeshua was saying that since the Scribes and Pharisees were there, obey them in their judicial rulings and by extension, their legislative rulings. This is what we would call civil authority today. The Seat of Moses is a term taken from the days when Moses would sit and judge the people:
Exo 18:13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
Exo 18:14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?
Exo 18:15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
Exo 18:16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.
Exo 18:25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
Exo 18:26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
Also, the Judgment Seat of Messiah (Rom. 14:10; 2nd Cor. 5:10) and the Judgment Seat of Caesar (Mt. 27:19; Jn. 19:13; Acts 18:12, 16-17; 23:3; 25:6, 10-11, 17) point to the Seat of Moses in Mt. 23:2 as a seat of judgment. Yeshua spoke of following the Rabbis, Sadducees (for they had Temple authority and were of the priestly line), Pharisees and Scribes in their judicial capacity as judges (and legislators), not as teachers of the Law.
The Scribes, Pharisees and Rabbis, etc., had authority to adjudicate or to judge legal matters in the bet din, the courts of Israel. They could also act as legislators and enact laws for the community. It’s these positions of authority that Yeshua was speaking of for His followers to obey (adjudicative and legislative), not their doctrines.
When a judge-rabbi issued a court ruling involving a believer, or a city made a legislative ruling that effected a community, the believer was to obey it. The believer was not to say that it didn’t effect him because he believed in Yeshua. He was not to say that the judges or legislators had no authority ‘to tell him what to do’, because he only recognized Yeshua as his authority. In other words, he was to keep the laws of the land, just as believers do in the United States, Bolivia, Canada, etc., today. They keep the laws of their respective countries (that do not hinder their walk with Messiah;
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,
Act 4:20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
Act 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.
In this, Yeshua was following the Law of Moses which states that all Israel was
to obey the decisions of the priests (Sadducees) and judges:
Deu 17:8 If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose.
Deu 17:9 And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.
Deu 17:10 Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the LORD will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you.
Deu 17:11 According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left.
Deu 17:12 The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
Deu 17:13 And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.
With Moses and Joshua this law and punishment stood as a powerful incentive for godly obedience, but in the days of Yeshua, the position of the righteous judges had been usurped. In spite of this, Yeshua was telling His followers to obey their legal decisions. Yeshua was not saying that we should do everything that the Rabbis or Pharisees teach about Moses. This is evident from his saying not to do as they did. Yeshua was addressing two of the three ‘keys’ that were given to rabbis (and the priests who also had the key of forgiveness of sin; Lev. 4, etc.), upon ordination: the ability to teach authoritatively, to legislate and to sit as a judge. Yeshua addressed their civil authority. Paul conceptually says the same thing when he says in Rom. 13:1-2:
Rom 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Rom 13:2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
The Apostle Paul also teaches that each congregation should have its own judges to discipline their people when he rebukes the Corinthians for taking one another to court before the pagan judges:
1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life
1Co 6:4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
1Co 6:5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
He says, ‘Isn’t there any among you who can judge these matters?’ He didn’t say they should go to the Rabbis in their cities for a ruling between two believers. Likewise, the Apostles in Jerusalem didn’t run to the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, Rabbis, or the anti-Yeshua High Priest for advice and counsel when they didn’t know what to do concerning the theology of what the Gentile needed to do in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-7).
They called their own council and with the help of the Holy Spirit, they determined the will of the Lord (Acts 15:1-21). They made a decree that all their communities followed (Acts 16:4). But believers were also to obey rabbinic judges and legislation in the days of the Apostles that effected them also.
Another perspective that shows us that Yeshua didn’t mean for us to walk in the teachings of the Rabbis are the many confrontations Yeshua has with them. The Gospels and Acts are filled with accounts of clashes over the very issue of proper interpretation of Scripture between the Scribes and the Pharisees, even the Pharisees that would come to believe (Matt. 15:1-20; 23:1-39; Acts 15:5, etc.).
In Mt. 15, Yeshua sternly rebukes the Pharisees for both their teachings and their hearts:
Mat 15:3 He answered them, And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Mat 15:4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'
Mat 15:5 But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God,
Mat 15:6 he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
Mat 15:7 You hypocrites Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
Mat 15:8 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Mat 15:9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
It’s not just the Commandment that Yeshua cited that should concern us for He goes on to say that their doctrines are ‘the precepts of men.’ These words of our Messiah form a powerful barrier against any believer seeking the teachings of the Rabbis. For even though this was spoken to the Pharisees, everyone knows that the Rabbis are the spiritual descendents of the Pharisees. There are other admonitions of Yeshua that follow along this same line of thinking, concerning their doctrines and their stance against Messiah, that still stand today:
Mat 16:11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Mar 8:15 And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.
Luk 12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Mat 23:13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
We must be very careful what we ‘take in.’ The teachings of the Rabbis can seem very sweet, as I’m sure they did back then to many people, but are the teachings of the Rabbis today any better than their spiritual Fathers? Are the Rabbis today leading their flocks into the Kingdom of Heaven any more than the Pharisees and Scribes did back then? So, how could Yeshua be commanding us to place ourselves under the Rabbis or their teachings? Some believers don’t understand Mt. 23:2-3 and say that we are to do everything that the Rabbis say, except for maybe renouncing Yeshua?
I am not coming against the Rabbis or those that follow them, and as you will see in next weeks article, I agree that there is much that can be learned from many of there traditions. But it must always be looked at as writings and teachings of men, by men, and for men. They are not authoritative in our lives. All things must be taken with a grain of salt so to speak. We should keep the source of our teachings in mind as we learn from men, and always be prayerful as to what we are learning, and how we are learning it. Remember there is but one Rabbi that we must follow and His name is Yeshua our Messiah. We must Remember that there is only one authority that is above reproach, and that is our Father in Heaven and His Holy Word.
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Mat 23:2 The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,
Mat 23:3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
There are some that teach that we must adhere to the doctrines of the Rabbis because they teach that Yeshua Himself commanded this in Mt. 23:2-3. Aside from the fact that Messiah is telling us that the Scribes and the Pharisees had usurped Moses’ authority by ‘seating themselves in the Seat of Moses,’ their interpretation of the passage is extremely faulty. Yeshua wasn’t telling us to walk out our faith in
Him by rabbinical teachings, but rather to obey the authorities of the land, which, at that time, were the Scribes, Pharisees and Rabbis in their judicial and legislative capacities.
The Seat of Moses was a judicial position from which judgments between two or more people were issued. In Yeshua’s day the Pharisees and Scribes had seated themselves in the Seat of Moses (Mt. 23:2). This understanding is brought out by both the Greek text and in some Bibles like the NASB and reveals that Yeshua wasn’t pleased with them in Moses’ Seat. In other words, God hadn’t put them there, but they had placed themselves there. This phenomenon is not unusual. It’s conceptually seen in the days of Hosea when the prophet says of Israel:
Hos 8:4 They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
To ‘seat oneself’ as the Pharisees did, was to usurp God’s authority. Yeshua was saying that since the Scribes and Pharisees were there, obey them in their judicial rulings and by extension, their legislative rulings. This is what we would call civil authority today. The Seat of Moses is a term taken from the days when Moses would sit and judge the people:
Exo 18:13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
Exo 18:14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?
Exo 18:15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
Exo 18:16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.
Exo 18:25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
Exo 18:26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
Also, the Judgment Seat of Messiah (Rom. 14:10; 2nd Cor. 5:10) and the Judgment Seat of Caesar (Mt. 27:19; Jn. 19:13; Acts 18:12, 16-17; 23:3; 25:6, 10-11, 17) point to the Seat of Moses in Mt. 23:2 as a seat of judgment. Yeshua spoke of following the Rabbis, Sadducees (for they had Temple authority and were of the priestly line), Pharisees and Scribes in their judicial capacity as judges (and legislators), not as teachers of the Law.
The Scribes, Pharisees and Rabbis, etc., had authority to adjudicate or to judge legal matters in the bet din, the courts of Israel. They could also act as legislators and enact laws for the community. It’s these positions of authority that Yeshua was speaking of for His followers to obey (adjudicative and legislative), not their doctrines.
When a judge-rabbi issued a court ruling involving a believer, or a city made a legislative ruling that effected a community, the believer was to obey it. The believer was not to say that it didn’t effect him because he believed in Yeshua. He was not to say that the judges or legislators had no authority ‘to tell him what to do’, because he only recognized Yeshua as his authority. In other words, he was to keep the laws of the land, just as believers do in the United States, Bolivia, Canada, etc., today. They keep the laws of their respective countries (that do not hinder their walk with Messiah;
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,
Act 4:20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
Act 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.
In this, Yeshua was following the Law of Moses which states that all Israel was
to obey the decisions of the priests (Sadducees) and judges:
Deu 17:8 If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose.
Deu 17:9 And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.
Deu 17:10 Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the LORD will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you.
Deu 17:11 According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left.
Deu 17:12 The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
Deu 17:13 And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.
With Moses and Joshua this law and punishment stood as a powerful incentive for godly obedience, but in the days of Yeshua, the position of the righteous judges had been usurped. In spite of this, Yeshua was telling His followers to obey their legal decisions. Yeshua was not saying that we should do everything that the Rabbis or Pharisees teach about Moses. This is evident from his saying not to do as they did. Yeshua was addressing two of the three ‘keys’ that were given to rabbis (and the priests who also had the key of forgiveness of sin; Lev. 4, etc.), upon ordination: the ability to teach authoritatively, to legislate and to sit as a judge. Yeshua addressed their civil authority. Paul conceptually says the same thing when he says in Rom. 13:1-2:
Rom 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Rom 13:2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
The Apostle Paul also teaches that each congregation should have its own judges to discipline their people when he rebukes the Corinthians for taking one another to court before the pagan judges:
1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life
1Co 6:4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
1Co 6:5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
He says, ‘Isn’t there any among you who can judge these matters?’ He didn’t say they should go to the Rabbis in their cities for a ruling between two believers. Likewise, the Apostles in Jerusalem didn’t run to the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, Rabbis, or the anti-Yeshua High Priest for advice and counsel when they didn’t know what to do concerning the theology of what the Gentile needed to do in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-7).
They called their own council and with the help of the Holy Spirit, they determined the will of the Lord (Acts 15:1-21). They made a decree that all their communities followed (Acts 16:4). But believers were also to obey rabbinic judges and legislation in the days of the Apostles that effected them also.
Another perspective that shows us that Yeshua didn’t mean for us to walk in the teachings of the Rabbis are the many confrontations Yeshua has with them. The Gospels and Acts are filled with accounts of clashes over the very issue of proper interpretation of Scripture between the Scribes and the Pharisees, even the Pharisees that would come to believe (Matt. 15:1-20; 23:1-39; Acts 15:5, etc.).
In Mt. 15, Yeshua sternly rebukes the Pharisees for both their teachings and their hearts:
Mat 15:3 He answered them, And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Mat 15:4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'
Mat 15:5 But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God,
Mat 15:6 he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
Mat 15:7 You hypocrites Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
Mat 15:8 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Mat 15:9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
It’s not just the Commandment that Yeshua cited that should concern us for He goes on to say that their doctrines are ‘the precepts of men.’ These words of our Messiah form a powerful barrier against any believer seeking the teachings of the Rabbis. For even though this was spoken to the Pharisees, everyone knows that the Rabbis are the spiritual descendents of the Pharisees. There are other admonitions of Yeshua that follow along this same line of thinking, concerning their doctrines and their stance against Messiah, that still stand today:
Mat 16:11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Mar 8:15 And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.
Luk 12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Mat 23:13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
We must be very careful what we ‘take in.’ The teachings of the Rabbis can seem very sweet, as I’m sure they did back then to many people, but are the teachings of the Rabbis today any better than their spiritual Fathers? Are the Rabbis today leading their flocks into the Kingdom of Heaven any more than the Pharisees and Scribes did back then? So, how could Yeshua be commanding us to place ourselves under the Rabbis or their teachings? Some believers don’t understand Mt. 23:2-3 and say that we are to do everything that the Rabbis say, except for maybe renouncing Yeshua?
I am not coming against the Rabbis or those that follow them, and as you will see in next weeks article, I agree that there is much that can be learned from many of there traditions. But it must always be looked at as writings and teachings of men, by men, and for men. They are not authoritative in our lives. All things must be taken with a grain of salt so to speak. We should keep the source of our teachings in mind as we learn from men, and always be prayerful as to what we are learning, and how we are learning it. Remember there is but one Rabbi that we must follow and His name is Yeshua our Messiah. We must Remember that there is only one authority that is above reproach, and that is our Father in Heaven and His Holy Word.
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Monday, June 14, 2010
Authority of the Church? Part 2
Authority of the Church? Part 2
Our Faith has been around since before God created Man (Satan was in charge of songs of worship before his fall). We were not the first to worship our God. The angels were created first. Our Church or faith is older than our actual creation. We perverted that worship many times over. Yeshua is the beginning and the head, in the fact that he is the living God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). Many think that there was a new church created by our Messiah. But the date of our true faith is much older indeed.
This is not the creation of a new God, Church or faith. It is an assembly made to bring us around to the original.
Isa 56:7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Jer 7:11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD
Once again the house spoken of is not a new church but the Temple of God.
Mat 21:13 He said to them, It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.
Also Yeshua is God, weather in human body or not. He has been around in one shape or form since the beginning. What came first, this church as many know it today, or God? Was the church created for man to worship in his own way, or were we meant to worship our God in Gods way? If it is the same God, in NEW YET PROMISED FORM, HOW CAN IT BE A NEW CHURCH? Is God never changing, and everlasting no matter what form he is in? It’s like people who say the scripture changes each time they read it to fit their life accordingly, but it’s not the scripture that changes. We are the ones who change. If that’s true, isn’t it the same here? The assembly, or faith (church) never change’s we do And we weren’t ready to handle all of it. And so we got it a piece at a time. Doesn’t that make more sense and fit better into the history of our Holy Bible? And if that’s the case how much can we handle now? Is it finished? Has our Messiah fulfilled everything?
Our Faith was not created for us, but we were created for it. If God created us, and our assembly is the faith in that God, how could we ever be so arrogant to think that a Church was made just for us? Its like saying God is our servant. God promises to care for, and watch over us. God Loves, and helps us. He was not created to serve us, but we were created to serve him. Faith in God is for all mankind. But many seem to be under the delusion that it wasn’t that way from the beginning.
Gen 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Even in the Old testament the nation of Israel was to be the light of the world.
Psa 72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts
Psa 72:15 Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day
Isa 60:3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
When the Israelites were exiting EGYPT God preformed many miracles, signs and wonders. Not just for the Israelites, but to show the world He was the one true God. The only thing that separated the Israelites with the rest of the world was their belief in the One True God. Abraham wasn’t a Hebrew until he believed in God.
The mistake I think most seem to be laboring under is whether or not there was ever a separation in the Faith, or that there was ever supposed to be a separation in the faith. I can find many instances in the Bible referring to the believers as Jews, nation of Israel, and the like. I can even find the Nazarene sect of the Faith in the one true God.
Act 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
Act 28:22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.
Act 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
I can even find Christian.
Act 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Act 26:28 And Agrippa said to Paul, In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?
1Pe 4:16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
But I have a hard time finding any other name for faith in God. Where is Baptist, catholic, Protestant, or the like? In Judah the term Jew meant he who has faith in God. If you’re not that then you might want to do some serious contemplating. Also many seem to think the Jews were meant to become gentiles, but it is the other way around:
Act 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.
THE GENTILES WERE TO LEARN THE WAYS OF THE FAITH FROM THE PEOPLE THAT AT THIS TIME WERE CALLED JEWISH BELIEVERS OR JEWS.
Isa 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Isa 49:1 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
Isa 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples--of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isa 65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation that was not called by my name.
We were to be taught the existing faith, not a new one. Yeshua was to restore the Faith to what it was meant to be.
Many point to the New Covenant and say that this proof that we have a new church. But to say this, is to forget the fact that the New Covenant was specifically promised, and given to Israel:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
Jer 31:32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Isa 49:6 he says: It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
We are not joint heirs, just heirs. No new God, Church, or Body, just adding to the existing Faith. We were to be added to the existing covenant’s. Heirs adopted into the covenant, no longer gentiles or those of foreign beliefs. To be taught all the ways of God. Which was not the case in the time before the Messiah (or so was taught by man), Jews coveted their teachings and personal relationship with the One True God. Now they had to share. We are to follow the True Will of God, not to create our own. Believers, who follow, worship, and praise God. Believers who believe in the promised Messiah, and His Salvation. Believers who seek the truth and follow all of God’s Will. Not just the ones we choose. No longer gentile believers, just believers.
Many of these commandments that are taught by the false doctrines to replace the old covenant and commandments were in fact just to be the beginning of the Gentile believer’s doctrine. Gentiles unlike the Jews were not brought up in the true faith of God. So they needed to be brought in slowly with what they could handle. This is why we have but a few commandments based on the old in the New testament addressed to gentile Believers. Also I would like to point out that almost all of the Old commandments that are thought to be, done away with, are indeed mentioned or represented in the New. And to teach the belief that the new covenant does away with the old is very dangerous indeed. Because if it did, we are all in trouble. If a new covenant does away with the old, then every time it rains we should be heading to a boat just incase. Out of fear of another world wide flood
Avram Yehoshua OF Ramat Gan, ISRAEL wrote - “To understand the New Covenant from the Hebraic Perspective is to see it as an extension of the Old, not a completely new and separate reality as the Church has taught for 1,900 years. To fully understand the New Covenant is to see it as a rose on the stem of the Old Covenant, both thriving and alive.”
In the beginning God created man. He gave them one commandment and as long as they followed this one commandment then they were innocent. This was the first covenant God made with man. Then Man fell away. So God looked and found only one person that would listen to him so he had him build an ark, and then preceded to destroy the earth with a flood. After this, God made a new covenant with man to never destroy the earth with a flood again. Moving forward, we come to Abraham. And once again we see another new covenant with man. Then there’s the covenant with Isaac, then Moses and so on. If one destroys the other, what are we now left with? Is God a liar? For most of these covenants were stated to be everlasting. So how then, can we believe, that the new covenant did away with the old? Does it then make more sense that it doesn’t, and all covenants just add to the others to make a perfect covenant, or a fulfilled covenant?
If the church is the finial authority, then why does the Church as we know it have so many Pagan beliefs? Such as Sunday instead of Sabbath, Easter, Christmas, the Cross, and steeple just to name a few? As a matter of fact there is a prophecy in Daniel that speaks of this very thing:
Dan 7:25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times (feasts) and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
This tells of the corruption that has in so many cases become the church.
Avram Yehoshua OF Ramat Gan, ISRAEL wrote - “Understanding the Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective reveals to us how the Messiah calls us to walk with Him, both Jew and Gentile. There is more to the Word than initially meets our eye. And there is more to the Word that does and would effect us, to walk in His Way, if we only understood what the Church intentionally buried 1,900 years ago, and continually demonizes. For it’s by our understanding that we follow the Lord and obey His Will, the Scriptures. But if our understanding is faulty on a grand scale, involving not just us but everyone around us, we all fail to do His Will at those points of ignorance and satanic deception.”
The Revelation at Mt. Sinai, with God taking a wife (Israel), and sharing with her His desire for her (His Commandments, Words), reveals the Will of God. No other people had this. And no other people walked in this relationship, for better, and more times than not, for worse (due to Israel’s carnal nature, sins of rebellion and disobedience to God’s Law), than Israel. Does God’s will on sin change? Is He not the same yesterday, today and forever? So how can one possibly think that Sabbath has given way to Sunday? Where is any Scripture in the New Testament to declare such a major change? Where do we get the idea that we now have a whole new church? There is not one Scripture in the New Testament that decrees it as such.
Torah is the epitome of God’s Love to Israel. God has revealed Himself to His people and in this, He has revealed what is pleasing to Him and what is sin in His eyes.
Yeshua, far from destroying or replacing the Law claims to uphold it
Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Yeshua teaches us that the Law is God’s definition of love: ‘On these two Commandments’ (love God and love your neighbor), ‘hang the whole Law and the Prophets.’ Every law, every Commandment, every statute, has its ‘reason for being’ in showing us how to love God, or how to love each other. Each and every one of them.
Mat 22:37 And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
Mat 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
With the coming of Messiah did that change? The only thing that changed, or was given the ability to change, was man. We were given the opportunity to die to self as spoken of in Romans chapter six. So that we might live in Messiah and walk as he walked.
1Jn 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
1Jn 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
1Jn 3:5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Now, with His Spirit residing within, we can follow Him. We can be like Him. Was it sin for Him is sin for us? How could it not be sin for us then? Would it matter if one was born a Gentile? Since when does race determine what is sin and what is not? God determines what is sin, for all.
The word is the final authority, not the Church, because as we have seen many times throughout history, our assemblies do not get things right very often. That is why we have the Word, Laws, and commandments. It is by the authority of the church that the Word of God has been perverted throughout history, to slaughter untold numbers of innocent people. Man must never think that he has authority over the Word of God. That is one of the main points of our Messiah’s ministry, to remove the false teachings of man. And how do we repay him? By doing the same thing all over again!
In the Churches of man ( that so many have become) Men have the authority. Many of these churches define themselves in ways that are not truly found in scripture. And in these cases’ men have authority over the man-made church. But in assemblies that truly follow God then God has all authority. If man creates an assembly, then man can govern it, but if God creates an assembly then God controls it.
We have no authority without God, his Word, commandments, and Laws. God is the authority, we only get any resemblance of authority, if God is actually dwelling in us, and we are actually acting by his Will set forth by his Word. God does not follow men. Men follow God
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our Father
Our Faith has been around since before God created Man (Satan was in charge of songs of worship before his fall). We were not the first to worship our God. The angels were created first. Our Church or faith is older than our actual creation. We perverted that worship many times over. Yeshua is the beginning and the head, in the fact that he is the living God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). Many think that there was a new church created by our Messiah. But the date of our true faith is much older indeed.
This is not the creation of a new God, Church or faith. It is an assembly made to bring us around to the original.
Isa 56:7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Jer 7:11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD
Once again the house spoken of is not a new church but the Temple of God.
Mat 21:13 He said to them, It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.
Also Yeshua is God, weather in human body or not. He has been around in one shape or form since the beginning. What came first, this church as many know it today, or God? Was the church created for man to worship in his own way, or were we meant to worship our God in Gods way? If it is the same God, in NEW YET PROMISED FORM, HOW CAN IT BE A NEW CHURCH? Is God never changing, and everlasting no matter what form he is in? It’s like people who say the scripture changes each time they read it to fit their life accordingly, but it’s not the scripture that changes. We are the ones who change. If that’s true, isn’t it the same here? The assembly, or faith (church) never change’s we do And we weren’t ready to handle all of it. And so we got it a piece at a time. Doesn’t that make more sense and fit better into the history of our Holy Bible? And if that’s the case how much can we handle now? Is it finished? Has our Messiah fulfilled everything?
Our Faith was not created for us, but we were created for it. If God created us, and our assembly is the faith in that God, how could we ever be so arrogant to think that a Church was made just for us? Its like saying God is our servant. God promises to care for, and watch over us. God Loves, and helps us. He was not created to serve us, but we were created to serve him. Faith in God is for all mankind. But many seem to be under the delusion that it wasn’t that way from the beginning.
Gen 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Even in the Old testament the nation of Israel was to be the light of the world.
Psa 72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts
Psa 72:15 Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day
Isa 60:3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
When the Israelites were exiting EGYPT God preformed many miracles, signs and wonders. Not just for the Israelites, but to show the world He was the one true God. The only thing that separated the Israelites with the rest of the world was their belief in the One True God. Abraham wasn’t a Hebrew until he believed in God.
The mistake I think most seem to be laboring under is whether or not there was ever a separation in the Faith, or that there was ever supposed to be a separation in the faith. I can find many instances in the Bible referring to the believers as Jews, nation of Israel, and the like. I can even find the Nazarene sect of the Faith in the one true God.
Act 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
Act 28:22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.
Act 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
I can even find Christian.
Act 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Act 26:28 And Agrippa said to Paul, In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?
1Pe 4:16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
But I have a hard time finding any other name for faith in God. Where is Baptist, catholic, Protestant, or the like? In Judah the term Jew meant he who has faith in God. If you’re not that then you might want to do some serious contemplating. Also many seem to think the Jews were meant to become gentiles, but it is the other way around:
Act 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.
THE GENTILES WERE TO LEARN THE WAYS OF THE FAITH FROM THE PEOPLE THAT AT THIS TIME WERE CALLED JEWISH BELIEVERS OR JEWS.
Isa 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Isa 49:1 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
Isa 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples--of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isa 65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation that was not called by my name.
We were to be taught the existing faith, not a new one. Yeshua was to restore the Faith to what it was meant to be.
Many point to the New Covenant and say that this proof that we have a new church. But to say this, is to forget the fact that the New Covenant was specifically promised, and given to Israel:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
Jer 31:32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Isa 49:6 he says: It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
We are not joint heirs, just heirs. No new God, Church, or Body, just adding to the existing Faith. We were to be added to the existing covenant’s. Heirs adopted into the covenant, no longer gentiles or those of foreign beliefs. To be taught all the ways of God. Which was not the case in the time before the Messiah (or so was taught by man), Jews coveted their teachings and personal relationship with the One True God. Now they had to share. We are to follow the True Will of God, not to create our own. Believers, who follow, worship, and praise God. Believers who believe in the promised Messiah, and His Salvation. Believers who seek the truth and follow all of God’s Will. Not just the ones we choose. No longer gentile believers, just believers.
Many of these commandments that are taught by the false doctrines to replace the old covenant and commandments were in fact just to be the beginning of the Gentile believer’s doctrine. Gentiles unlike the Jews were not brought up in the true faith of God. So they needed to be brought in slowly with what they could handle. This is why we have but a few commandments based on the old in the New testament addressed to gentile Believers. Also I would like to point out that almost all of the Old commandments that are thought to be, done away with, are indeed mentioned or represented in the New. And to teach the belief that the new covenant does away with the old is very dangerous indeed. Because if it did, we are all in trouble. If a new covenant does away with the old, then every time it rains we should be heading to a boat just incase. Out of fear of another world wide flood
Avram Yehoshua OF Ramat Gan, ISRAEL wrote - “To understand the New Covenant from the Hebraic Perspective is to see it as an extension of the Old, not a completely new and separate reality as the Church has taught for 1,900 years. To fully understand the New Covenant is to see it as a rose on the stem of the Old Covenant, both thriving and alive.”
In the beginning God created man. He gave them one commandment and as long as they followed this one commandment then they were innocent. This was the first covenant God made with man. Then Man fell away. So God looked and found only one person that would listen to him so he had him build an ark, and then preceded to destroy the earth with a flood. After this, God made a new covenant with man to never destroy the earth with a flood again. Moving forward, we come to Abraham. And once again we see another new covenant with man. Then there’s the covenant with Isaac, then Moses and so on. If one destroys the other, what are we now left with? Is God a liar? For most of these covenants were stated to be everlasting. So how then, can we believe, that the new covenant did away with the old? Does it then make more sense that it doesn’t, and all covenants just add to the others to make a perfect covenant, or a fulfilled covenant?
If the church is the finial authority, then why does the Church as we know it have so many Pagan beliefs? Such as Sunday instead of Sabbath, Easter, Christmas, the Cross, and steeple just to name a few? As a matter of fact there is a prophecy in Daniel that speaks of this very thing:
Dan 7:25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times (feasts) and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
This tells of the corruption that has in so many cases become the church.
Avram Yehoshua OF Ramat Gan, ISRAEL wrote - “Understanding the Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective reveals to us how the Messiah calls us to walk with Him, both Jew and Gentile. There is more to the Word than initially meets our eye. And there is more to the Word that does and would effect us, to walk in His Way, if we only understood what the Church intentionally buried 1,900 years ago, and continually demonizes. For it’s by our understanding that we follow the Lord and obey His Will, the Scriptures. But if our understanding is faulty on a grand scale, involving not just us but everyone around us, we all fail to do His Will at those points of ignorance and satanic deception.”
The Revelation at Mt. Sinai, with God taking a wife (Israel), and sharing with her His desire for her (His Commandments, Words), reveals the Will of God. No other people had this. And no other people walked in this relationship, for better, and more times than not, for worse (due to Israel’s carnal nature, sins of rebellion and disobedience to God’s Law), than Israel. Does God’s will on sin change? Is He not the same yesterday, today and forever? So how can one possibly think that Sabbath has given way to Sunday? Where is any Scripture in the New Testament to declare such a major change? Where do we get the idea that we now have a whole new church? There is not one Scripture in the New Testament that decrees it as such.
Torah is the epitome of God’s Love to Israel. God has revealed Himself to His people and in this, He has revealed what is pleasing to Him and what is sin in His eyes.
Yeshua, far from destroying or replacing the Law claims to uphold it
Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Yeshua teaches us that the Law is God’s definition of love: ‘On these two Commandments’ (love God and love your neighbor), ‘hang the whole Law and the Prophets.’ Every law, every Commandment, every statute, has its ‘reason for being’ in showing us how to love God, or how to love each other. Each and every one of them.
Mat 22:37 And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
Mat 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
With the coming of Messiah did that change? The only thing that changed, or was given the ability to change, was man. We were given the opportunity to die to self as spoken of in Romans chapter six. So that we might live in Messiah and walk as he walked.
1Jn 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
1Jn 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
1Jn 3:5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Now, with His Spirit residing within, we can follow Him. We can be like Him. Was it sin for Him is sin for us? How could it not be sin for us then? Would it matter if one was born a Gentile? Since when does race determine what is sin and what is not? God determines what is sin, for all.
The word is the final authority, not the Church, because as we have seen many times throughout history, our assemblies do not get things right very often. That is why we have the Word, Laws, and commandments. It is by the authority of the church that the Word of God has been perverted throughout history, to slaughter untold numbers of innocent people. Man must never think that he has authority over the Word of God. That is one of the main points of our Messiah’s ministry, to remove the false teachings of man. And how do we repay him? By doing the same thing all over again!
In the Churches of man ( that so many have become) Men have the authority. Many of these churches define themselves in ways that are not truly found in scripture. And in these cases’ men have authority over the man-made church. But in assemblies that truly follow God then God has all authority. If man creates an assembly, then man can govern it, but if God creates an assembly then God controls it.
We have no authority without God, his Word, commandments, and Laws. God is the authority, we only get any resemblance of authority, if God is actually dwelling in us, and we are actually acting by his Will set forth by his Word. God does not follow men. Men follow God
As we go forth and test these new ideas in Scripture let us pray that our Father gives us His Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and truth. So we may see and walk as our Messiah walked, and be true disciples in the Name of Yeshua (Jesus). May we pray for eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to change for the glory of our Father
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