Who is Yeshua? Who is Yeshua? 2 Questioning, Always Questioning 4 Back to the Beginning 5 The Seven Spirits of God 8 We Have Inherited Lies 10 God is Our Savior; There is None Other 11 The Sin Factor 15 Moses 21 Isaiah 23 Wineskin 26 Who Do You Say I Am? 30 John the Baptist 32 I Am 35 A Word of Warning 41 So, What Does This Mean to Me? 46-1 -
Who is Yeshua? Ever since coming into the Messianic Movement I have heard a question I had never heard before within the body of believers. The longer I have listened and read and studied, the more I hear that many who have asked themselves this question have came up with a different answer than expected. Some of those people have left the movement entirely, beginning a true-blue Christian, and then completely converting to Judaism. What is this question? Is Yeshua God? I could do this very clever piece of work, hanging the audience in suspense until the very end, suggesting yet never quite revealing on which side my thoughts and feelings lay as a result of my studies, presenting both sides so clearly and plainly as to keep the reader guessing. Yet I find that in doing so, I will waste my, and my readers, time following false theories instead of focusing on the true results of my research, and I would much rather spend that time deepening our understanding of who He is and who we are in Him. I do not see a scriptural basis for the three-in-one Godhead often referred to as the Trinity. I do, however, see a very strong basis for multiplicity in the Godhead. Although I can t limit the number to three as there are at least seven spirits of God alone, one can t help but notice that Adonai Himself often speaks of Himself in terms of we and us. I do believe that One whom we know as Yeshua (Jesus) is indeed a part of that Godhead and will try to explain, using the Scriptures, why I believe thus. First I would like to address the question itself. Many of us have learned recently just how much falsehood has been inherited by the Christian church universal. This revelation has caused us to question everything we have ever been taught, checking to see what teaching has a true Biblical foundation and what ones are man s additions to them. This is a very good thing. We must, must check everything we are taught against scripture. We must keep in mind at all times to keep in the word with a good prayer covering when doing a study the depths of the one we are now beginning. We must remember that we are questioning not who God is, but our own understanding of who He is. He is who He is. With the exception of the apostles, Isaiah speaks of the Salvation of God more than any other. From the miracle birth never before seen to the coming of our King in Glory, Isaiah tells us all about both the first and - 2 -
second coming of Messiah. In fact, Isaiah gives us quite a large amount of material for the deity of Yeshua argument. The definition of the suffering servant almost reads like a gospel account of Yeshua s offering of the Lamb of God sacrifice. The prophet Isaiah has given us much insight into how Adonai sees and describes Himself, but Moses gives us even more insight into the role of Messiah than any other prophet by simply living out his life before us. His witness (his walk) is his testimony, and he testifies to Yeshua. And why not? Did he not meet with Adonai Elohenu (our God) on the mountaintop? Who better to testify to the Deliverer of Israel than the deliverer of Israel? We say that Yeshua (Jesus) must be the Messiah because He fulfilled so many of the Messianic prophecies, but do we know what they are? Are we just simply repeating the party line? Do the prophecies indicate the Anointed One is God? Most importantly, what does God Himself say? How does He describe Himself? The next step would be to see how Yeshua described Himself. Although all four gospel accounts give Yeshua s words, it seems that the book of John relays more of Yeshua s view of Himself than the other three. The real treat is his view of Yeshua in the end of days, as Conquering King, the Lion of Judah. What does it mean to be the first and the last? I believe the most important question we should then ask ourselves is this: What does this information mean to me? After all, isn t that the most important part of all of this information? Why study all of these things if we don t find a way to apply the information to our day-to-day life? Why is it important to understand that the Messiah is literally God in the flesh? Heavenly Father, merciful and gracious, abounding in lovingkindness and faithful to save, open the eyes of Your servants so that we might understand that which You have revealed to us. Write Your words on our hearts for now and forevermore. Lead us in the way we should go and let our foot not stray from the path You have chosen. May Your words bring life and healing to our lives, building our faith in You, our Husband and Master, knowing beyond doubt that You care more for us than we ourselves. We rejoice in Your Salvation, Yeshua, our Messiah and bless Your Holy Name for redeeming us from the punishment we so rightly deserve. Establish Your kingdom over all the earth! - 3 -
Questioning, Always Questioning For those of us with a real passion for the Truth, the questions never end, and neither should they. It is through the search for the answers that we find our faith strengthened. Many of us have recently discovered that what we had always thought was Truth, that which we had always been taught was Truth, couldn t be farther from the Truth. It is nothing more than the old pagan ways, wrapped in a mantle of truth. O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to You the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility and things of no profit." (Jeremiah 16:19) As a result of what we ve learned, we find ourselves questioning everything. We search the Scriptures to see if what we have always believed to be in the Bible really is in there, and not just the teachings of some church father with an agenda. We must be sure who it is that we fear is it God or is it man? The fear of Adonai is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of man is the beginning of the end of our faith. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (Psalms 119:103-104) As we dig deeper into His Word, we find ourselves falling deeper and deeper in love with this Bridegroom of ours. We are drawn to Him the way that bees are drawn to honey; we simply can t help ourselves. Wanting to know Him better, we find ourselves asking Him more questions. We seek His face, just as Moses asked Adonai to reveal Himself on the mountaintop. Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. "Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:18-23) - 4 -
If we have found favor in Adonai s sight, He will reveal Himself to us. All we need to do is simply ask. We must ask Him to send His Spirit, His counselor, to lead and guide us into all truth. We also must remember that He will not reveal Himself entirely; our minds simply could not comprehend the knowledge. Who was/is Yeshua, our Messiah? What is a Messiah? What does it mean to be anointed? Son of God? Son of Man? We use these terms all the time, yet do we understand what they mean? If Yeshua was the long awaited Messiah, how do we know for sure? What characteristics were they awaiting? Back to the Beginning In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" (John 1:1-15) - 5 -
Of all the gospels, John s seems to many to be the most mysterious. By that I mean that one constantly gets the feeling that he is talking about more than what he s simply talking about. We get this feeling from the very beginning, and that is because he is alluding to so much more, right from the very beginning. He chose these words very carefully to remind us of another passage in Scripture; the one at the very beginning. You see, John has a secret and he wants to share it with all of us. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1:1) (Genesis בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ Hebrew is a very interesting language but it can be difficult to translate into English, as the languages do not use the same letters. We therefore transliterate, using the closest spelling to produce the correct sound. Hebrew is read from right to left, unlike English s left to right. Of the seven Hebrew words above, only six are actually translated into English. The fourth word in the very first verse is not actually translated. It doesn t have an English counterpart. You see, it s more of a part of speech than anything else. Basically it tells the reader that the subject was not acted upon, meaning that God created, not that He was created. This word, spelled with the Hebrew letters aleph and tav, is pronounced et. There is something very interesting about this word it keeps showing up all over the place. The sages, down through the ages, have tried to understand the deeper teaching of this word. Not only have they been asking, What is the aleph and tav? but they have also been asking, Who is the aleph and tav? Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (alephbet) and tav is the last letter. But still, what does it mean? The prophet Isaiah has shed some light on this for us. "Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? 'I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.'" (Isaiah 41:4) "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. (Isaiah 44:6) "Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. (Isaiah 48:12) This word, pronounced et, consists of the first and last letters of the Hebrew alephbet, but also the Hebrew numbers as well. Each letter has a number associated with it. Aleph is equal to one and Tav is equal to four hundred. Another way of saying it is that aleph is the first and tav is the - 6 -
last. So when Isaiah tells us that Adonai Himself is the first and the last, he is actually writing, The aleph and the tav. Three different times Isaiah tells us that Adonai stated that He is the first and the last. Basically, what He is saying is that before anything else was, Adonai was, and after all other things are gone, He will still be. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8) The Apostle John was a good Jewish boy. Yes, he probably spoke Greek for business purposes, but for religious ones he stuck to Hebrew. That was the language of the Temple. So, it is reasonable to believe that when John saw a vision of heaven and heavenly things, the language spoken would have been Hebrew, not Greek. Since Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, it is obvious that John is agreeing with Isaiah; the Lord God is the first and last, the aleph and the tav. John heard a voice speaking to him and when he turned and looked, and saw a man standing there holding seven stars in His hand, and this is what the man said to him: When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18) As this person has just stated that He is the first and the last, it must be the Lord God, right? Yet look and see how else He describes Himself: I was dead and I am alive forevermore. This doesn t sound like the Almighty. That is because it is Yeshua, and He has just stated that He is the first and last, just as Adonai does in the book of Isaiah. That is because Yeshua is Adonai. He must be; otherwise He would be guilty of blasphemy, obviously a sinner, and therefore disqualified as the Lamb of God sacrifice and our hopes are pegged on a false messiah. Yeshua has just walked up to this apostle and said to him, I am the aleph and the tav, referring not only to being pre-existent, but also stating that the word back in Genesis that the sages have been asking about is Yeshua Himself. This word that tells us that God was creating was Yeshua. He is the creator aspect of the Godhead. Quite literally, Yeshua is the Word of God. - 7 -
Think about it. When a prophet wrote, The word of God came to me he saw a literal man walk up to him and speak the words aloud. This man was Yeshua. When Jacob wrestled with Adonai and received a new name for prevailing, it was Yeshua he wrestled with. Yeshua is the physical manifestation of the One True Most Holy God. We see this time and time again in the book of Genesis. Abraham spoke with Adonai face-to-face and lived. Abraham even prepared a meal for Him and He ate. Yeshua spoke of this event in the first person. If Yeshua was not the physical manifestation of God, once again He is guilty of blasphemy. "Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?" Yeshua answered, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God'; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Yeshua said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Yeshua hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:53-59) Remember, the Lord God is also referred to as, The Great I am. Once again, either Yeshua is blaspheming or He is speaking the Truth. This is what we each must decide for ourselves, because the watchword of our faith, the Shema, states that our God is one God. How then can we justify the statement that Yeshua is Adonai without blasphemy? The key is the word translated as one. It is the word echad and it means, according to Strong s concordance, a unified one. Like a beautiful diamond, our Elohim is multifaceted. The Seven Spirits of God One of the signs of the Messiah given to us by Isaiah was something called the seven spirits of God. The Spirit of Adonai had been given to prophets before, but never before had one been given all seven spirits (speaking again of the multiplicity of God). But there would be one - 8 -
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist. (Isaiah 11:1-5) Even the sages consider the Spirit of Adonai to be a distinct spirit in and of itself. Add Yeshua (the shoot of Jesse) and there are eight aspects of Elohim (which is also a plural word, by the way) in these verses alone. These attributes were found in different prophets, but none displayed all of them, so when one did come along displaying each and every one, we should sit up and take notice. This would be the One. Only one indwelled with the Spirit of God from birth could have all seven attributes, including the Spirit of Adonai Himself. And see, that s just it; only one born of the Spirit of God could have all seven spirits within. That is also the only way that Yeshua could be our savior. He must be God Himself to be our savior, because God Himself is our only Savior. "I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me. (Isaiah 43:11) When He created us, He did so in His own image. After we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God says something very interesting to Himself Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. (Genesis 3:22-23) Even when He created Adam He stated, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Who could He be speaking with beside Himself? The angels? Are the angels on the same level with God? - 9 -
We Have Inherited Lies O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to You the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility and things of no profit." (Jeremiah 16:19) How true, how true! We have inherited falsehood from our spiritual fathers. We have been told that most of the Bible doesn t apply to us. We were told that Yeshua s sacrifice did away with the Law of God, or that the Law was nailed to the cross with Messiah. Yet Yeshua Himself taught: "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18) Heaven and earth have not passed away, so neither has the Law. This is contrary to today s popular teachings. Even the rabbis teach that the Law doesn t apply to non-jews. This is in direct opposition to Torah (the Law of God), which states: "The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you." (Exodus 12:49) When we come to the realization that we have been lied to, we have the same type of reaction as those who have received notice of the death of a loved one. First, we deny it. We can t believe that so many people have been in on it, knowing all along that what they were teaching was wrong, yet teaching it anyway. Although there are those who are guilty of this, not all are. Many have been fooled just as we have. Many of us can t get past this point, refusing to admit that we have been victims of the lies handed down from generation to generation. The simple fact that I use the name Yeshua rather than Jesus has prevented many from reading thus far. For those of us who have passed the first step, we have now come to accept the falsehood as fact and have set about looking for the new boundaries. We need to know just how much of what we know is based on truth and how much is based on doctrine invented by man. For many of us, there is much to unlearn. Depending upon what was learned while growing up, this process could take many, many years. Others seem to accept the fact quickly and make changes to their lives that could give whiplash to others. - 10 -
Regardless, one eventually comes around to the question of the divinity of Messiah. Could this simply be another one of man s false teachings, or is this the real McCoy, so to speak? Taking it a step further, do we really need to know? I mean, does it really matter? And what about the fact that we are questioning at all is this a form of blasphemy? These are some of the questions we find ourselves asking and we can only push them off for so long. The time must eventually come when we must face these issues head-on and decide once and for all whether or not Yeshua is God in the flesh or if He really was just another prophet. I believe it does matter, as we don t want to stumble into idolatry. It s so easy to do; the Israelites did it time and time again. Elijah had to come and show which one truly is the Almighty God, for they had forgotten His name. We too struggle with the true name of the Almighty, just as we struggle with the true name of His Son. Just whose name do we call on? More than just a word that identifies us, a name also distinguishes our character as well. We must understand the character of the God we worship because this is what causes us to accidentally worship the wrong god. Who is this God we serve? What distinguishes Him from all other gods? Just what has He promised us that we may be called sons of the Living God? Do we know the Biblical answer to these questions? Do we know where to find them? How to find them? If we have been spoon-fed the Scriptures our entire lives, we probably don t know the answers to these questions. It s time for us to stop focusing on all the other issues while we settle this one. To do that, we will need to first see what Adonai says about Himself. God is Our Savior, There is None Other "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8) Our God is a jealous God and will not stand for partial worship. He will not share with another. If Yeshua is not God, we are taking part of what belongs to Adonai and giving it to another, in this case a prophet of God. For one only has to look at His works to see that He is of God. Healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and raising the dead are not works of the enemy; he is out to steal and kill not heal and bind. There was no hidden agenda for Yeshua; He truly loves us all. - 11 -
Growing up Catholic, I had never heard about graven images. When I did and questioned the command, I was told that it didn t apply to the statues of saints around us. I went looking for the definition of saint so I could see why they were exempt and discovered that I myself was a saint, according to the Biblical definition. I also discovered that the Crucifix was an idol. This was a shock to my system. We have been taught that Yeshua came to wash away our sins, yet this is one of the attributes of God. "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. (Isaiah 43:3) "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25) As the Pharisees asked, Who can forgive sins, but God alone? This is the basis of that question, and it is a valid one. He answered the question by the work of His hands, displaying His divinity for all to see. Seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you." The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" But Yeshua, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins have been forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? "But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"--he said to the paralytic--"i say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home." Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today." (Luke 5:20-26) Yeshua s actions caused the man to glorify God, as never before, as it did to those around who witnessed this event. A man who could not provide for himself could now be the man God intended him to be. He was no longer a burden, but could now help others. And all of this caused people to praise HaShem. What could be wrong with that? Indeed, Yeshua s statements would have been blasphemy if they had not been true. "Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, - 12 -
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. Listen to Me, you stubbornminded, who are far from righteousness. I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; and My salvation will not delay. and I will grant salvation in Zion, and My glory for Israel. (Isaiah 46:9-13) Yeshua is the righteousness of God. John teaches that we will be like Him, righteous in every way. The first letter from John so focuses on these facts that I would have to quote most of the book in order to show it here. Yeshua s name itself means Salvation and can be found translated as salvation throughout Scripture. This is why the angel told Joseph to name Him Yeshua. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins." Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Yeshua. (Matthew 1:20-25) Many people look at this passage, and the passage it quotes (Isaiah 7:14) and wonder why He wasn t named Immanuel (Emmanuel), since that was what the prophet said. According to Smith s Bible Dictionary: Imman'uel. That is, God with us, the title applied by the apostle Matthew, to the Messiah, born of the Virgin, Mat_1:23; Isa_7:14, because Jesus was God united with man, and showed that God was dwelling with men. - 13 -
Immanuel is considered a title, not a name per se. The Hebrew word translated as, name, is the word, shem, and means more than just what people call us. It also refers to the attributes of a person. A good name is a good reputation. The meaning of the name Immanuel is God with us and that is exactly what Yeshua was, God walking among us. This was exactly what Isaiah told us would happen; yet many people continue to deny the divinity or the deity of the Messiah. "I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison. I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:6-8) Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?" When the men came to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'" At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me." (Luke 7:19-23) Both John and Yeshua knew the signs of Messiah; do we? Like so many Jews down through the ages, we don t understand that the only one who could bring salvation is Adonai Himself. God says that He Himself will bring salvation, yet we continue to argue with Him, stating that a mere man, anointed by God yet a man nonetheless, could bring salvation to all of God s people. Scripture teaches that only the Most High God can do that. So Yeshua must be Him. "But I will deliver you on that day," declares the LORD, "and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 39:17-18) - 14 -
There are many things that Adonai promised to do for us. Yeshua came and did these things. He did more than any prophet before Him, even Moses. He also did more than any angel because He was above the angels, just as we were told He would be. But to which of the angels has He ever said, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET"? (Hebrews 1:13) The Sin Factor The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Do all the workers of wickedness not know, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they are in great dread, for God is with the righteous generation. You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, but the LORD is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation (*yeshua*) of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad. (Psalms 14:1-7) This message is so important, that it is given to us twice. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God," They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; there is no one who does good. God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Have the workers of wickedness no knowledge, who eat up My people as though they ate bread and have not called upon God? There they were in great fear where no fear had been; for God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you; You put them to shame, because God had rejected - 15 -
them. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. (Psalms 53:1-6) Wise King Solomon also saw this to be true. The day that he dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem, he prayed a prayer that has been recorded for us in the first book of Kings and in the second book of Chronicles. I will quote from the book of Chronicles as the sentence is not as long as it is in Kings. "When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near, if they take thought in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have committed iniquity and have acted wickedly'; if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. (2 Chronicles 6:36-39) Not only does this confirm what his father David said, but it also is a wonderful example of the sinner s prayer. These two witnesses have established the same fact that Paul told the Romans: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) But instead of simply quoting that statement and moving on, let s look at the entire lesson. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Messiah Yeshua; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, - 16 -
so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Yeshua. (Romans 3:21-26) Once again we see Yeshua called the righteousness of God but this time He is also referred to as the manifestation of the righteousness of God. Manifestation is defined as, An appearance in bodily form (as of a disembodied spirit). The righteousness of God cannot be separated from God, so Yeshua is the physical manifestation of the righteousness of God, according to Paul. Paul also is saying that Yeshua is our Redeemer, as our redemption came through Him. His crucifixion, His sacrifice of His human life, demonstrated His righteousness before all. But I thought all have sinned! Yes, all of us humans have sinned, just as our father, Adam, sinned. But Yeshua s Father was not Adam (or any other man) but Adonai El Shaddai Himself. This is why His birth had to be without a natural father. If He had been born of Adam, He would have been born under the very same curse as we and unable to rise above. Only God Himself can do that, as He keeps reminding us. Remember, Isaiah tells us that it is God Himself who wipes out sins and transgressions. Yet Yeshua forgave sins constantly, which is why the Pharisees and the Sadducees constantly yelled, Blasphemy! We must also remember that Mary and Joseph named Him Yeshua because, He will save His people. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:4-10) Who could possibly destroy the works of the devil except the Creator Himself? How could one stand up against the temptations of sin unless He - 17 -
was born from above? We have each been born with the sin nature, preventing us from living a life without sin. We all sin, falling short of the glory of God. Yeshua was spotless, however, as judged by the authorities themselves. Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" They answered and said to him, "If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you." So Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law." The Jews said to him, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death," to fulfill the word of Yeshua which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die. Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Yeshua and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Yeshua answered, "Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?" Yeshua answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Yeshua answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him. (John 18:29-38) Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, "You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. (Luke 23:13-15) As Paul put it so eloquently to the Corinthians: - 18 -
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) This is the key. If He had any sin in Him, He would have been disqualified as the sacrifice that takes away all sin, even that which was intentional. The blood of lambs and goats never did take away sin; they only demonstrated to us the need for blood to be spilled. Had Yeshua died in His own sin, there would have been no sacrifice, and His body would still be in the grave, just like any other prophet. But it is not in the grave. The witnesses of John, Mary, the soldiers set to guard the tomb, and many, many others have established this fact. According to Torah, it only takes the witness of two or three. This has never happened before or since. Sure, Yeshua raised Lazarus from the dead, but he later died again. Lazarus is not still alive, having received a new body. In all the time that Yeshua spent teaching at the Temple, no man could find adequate reason to come forward and publicly charge Him with blasphemy. He never hid the fact that He had a closer relationship with the Almighty Father than any other man. He stated it quite plainly. The things that He said and the timing in which He said them would have had a lesser man stoned in minutes, yet He continued to teach even the teachers. How is this? It is because of His works. They testify on His behalf. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND - 19 -
ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:14-24) So too Yeshua showed us Who He was by the works that He did, just as He said: "If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:31-47) These words are so true; so true. How can we believe in Him if we don t believe Moses? Not only did Moses speak of Him, he was also a foreshadowing of Messiah. - 20 -
Moses Moses is considered the greatest prophet of all times. He is also considered the greatest prophet of Messiah, yet most believers can t point to his prophecies concerning Messiah. Mostly that is because we don t study the teachings given to Moses. If we did, we would begin to see a much clearer picture of who Messiah is. "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.' The LORD said to me, 'They have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) What exactly does He mean by, a prophet like you? What was so unique about Moses that this coming prophet would be compared to him? Well, let s start with Moses miraculous birth. His mother, Jochebed, was a daughter of Levi who gave birth to Moses well after her change of life. Moses sister, Miriam, prophesied his birth, which was a bold thing to do seeing how her parents were not even living together due to Pharaoh s decree regarding the Hebrew babies. They had not wanted to risk having another child that would be killed before their eyes until Miriam prophesied that their child would deliver his people out of bondage. And isn t that exactly what Yeshua has done? He is our Deliverer, who has delivered us from the house of slavery. Just like Moses, He was the man sent by the Father to check on the welfare of His children. Just like Moses, there were signs and wonders surrounding His birth, and, unfortunately, the death of many male Hebrew infants. And also like Moses He was given a sign to show the Israelites so that they would believe that He was sent by God the Father: leprosy. Moses was first told to turn his shepherd s staff into a snake as a sign that Adonai El Shaddai had sent him. - 21 -
The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. (Exodus 4:6-8) The Torah (Law; teachings) given to Moses by God atop Mt. Sinai gives detailed instructions on many different sacrifices, how they were to be made and when they were to be made, along with various other commandments, statutes and ordinances. Among these are the rules and regulations concerning one who had been healed from leprosy. The procedure was as elaborate as the ordination of a High Priest, which seemed a little peculiar, as leprosy was incurable. Indeed, with the exception of Moses, Miriam and Naaman, who wasn t even an Israelite, no one had ever been healed of leprosy. That is, until Yeshua came along. And a leper came to Yeshua, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Moved with compassion, Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Yeshua could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere. (Mark 1:40-45) This story is repeated in Matthew and Luke as well. Once again, three witnesses. Notice that not only did Yeshua heal this man, but He also instructed the man to follow the commands given by Moses regarding his healing. This was to be a testimony to the religious authorities regarding His coming. Moses was such an authority that Adonai once told him that Moses would be as God to Aaron. - 22 -
Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, "Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. (Exodus 4:14-16) And indeed, Moses was as God to not only Aaron, but to Pharaoh as well. When Moses spoke, things happened. He was the Deliverer of the Israelites. He brought redemption, redeeming a captive people. He taught the ways of Adonai like no one else. He was a humble man. He spoke face-toface with God and lived. Pretty good description of Yeshua, don t you agree? One could easily do an entire teaching on this subject alone. We haven t even touched on some of the other Messiah-types found in scripture, from Joseph to Boaz, which is also another very interesting study. But there is one other prophet who gives us much insight into the Messiah and how to recognize Him. Isaiah Like the Apostle John, Isaiah gives us some deeper insight. His writings are prolific with talk of the Messiah. Much of our understanding of Messiah comes from the writings of Isaiah, including the sign of the virgin birth. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14) Now, any good rabbinical student could tell us that there is nothing special about the word translated as, virgin and he d be right. There is nothing here to indicate that this word means anything more than young maiden and does not necessarily imply that a man had never touched her. Most Christians would be stumped right there and begin to question where this teaching came from, and they would be right in doing so. The teaching doesn t actually come from the verse above, but from these: For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be - 23 -