Every human being who has ever been born or will be born has been redeemed by the sacrifice of God’s Son for sinners — all persons. The Man, Christ Jesus/Messiah Yeshua, is the Redeemer.

Not everyone is saved. The Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua Messiah is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

I wanted Judge Ruzin to give a decent verdict so that God could continue to have mercy on Israel, rather than seeing it having reached a point of removing the restraint. We haven’t quite gotten there yet, but the verdict in May, 2010 — and the way it was covered up locally/nationally — kept Israel on a course heading for severe troubles from the Judge who stands at the door, who also happens to be Sovereign Lord over worldly affairs.

There is growing religious revival all around the world, with the Middle East having the highest profile, perhaps. What we want to pray into is for this search for ‘meaning and purpose’ will lead seekers for true truth and righteousness and peace to be brought all the way till they are confronted with the reality of those good and noble things being found in Yeshua and the Father.

Levi genes can not save! (1Tim 1:4; Heb 7:11-13)

My prayer is that believers grasp by revelation and faith the reality of the new creation, the one new man, in Messiah (Gal 6:14-16; Phlp 3:7-16; Jn 17:20-23; Is 41:17-20).

It is not just a matter of Jewish and Gentile believers worshipping the one true God together; that will be fully realized as a Millennial Kingdom reality when Israel and the nations will be ruled and reigned over by Yeshua and those holy and blessed ones who have part in the first resurrection. (Rev 20:6) It seems to me that that company of first resurrection saints are a set apart priesthood and Bride — the one new man reality prayed for by our Lord — whose inheritance is Yeshua, and the Father’s Kingdom with Him.

My Husband -

1 Do I have a gentle and quiet Spirit as I relate to him ?

2 Does he feel and know that I respect him ?

3 Do I affirm his leadership ?

4 Can he have total confidence in me ?

5 Am I completely faithful to my husband in my thoughts, as well as my words and actions ?

6 Do I bring Honour to him ?

7 Can it be said that I bring Glory to my husband ?

8 Do I think about how to encourage and affirm him ?

9 Do I take time to think and pray through his aspirations and goals ?

10 Am I committed to being a helper to my husband ?

God bless you all. Naomi

“That victory, which was accomplished not only by the Australlian Light Horse, but also by British infantry, as well as New Zealand horsemen, broke the Turkish-German line, and led ultimately to the British-led conquest of all of Palestine and the province of Syria. This in turn led to the collapse of the four hundred year old Turkish Empire.

“Coupled with this great military event was the decision of the British Government on the very same day, 31 October 1917, to favour the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish National Home, which in time became the State of Israel. . . . In other words, what happened in Beersheba on 31 October 1917 had far-reaching historical importance. Without an Allied victory there, the land of Israel may have remained under Turkish Islamic control, and the Jewish people would not have had an internationally recognized legal framework under which to be restored. Also, five independent Arab nations (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia) may not have come into existence.

“So we are not looking here at just an ordinary military victory. We are looking at something that had significant worldwide ramifications.”

Quoted from the Introduction to the book, JOURNEY TO BEERSHEBA, by Kelvin Crombie, 2011
kjcrombie09@bigpond.au

It is by personal faith in YHVH God and His Word that we are saved and in a vital union and fellowship with the Father and the Son, and with all others born-again by the Holy Spirit. Natural birth and culture may give privileges and honor, but do not guarantee acceptance. Many are called but few are chosen. Yeshua/Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.

Acts 17:1-6 the world turned upside down: This suggests that the new and living way is no mere correction or fine-tuning; nor a re-newed covenant; but rather something new and radical which turns our world upside down, a very significant thing.

Mt 16:13-18; 1Jn 2:22 belief that Jesus/Yeshua is the Messiah/Christ, the Son of the living God. The holy and righteous Creator God took on flesh and blood to redeem us human beings (whom He had created in His image and likeness) in order to restore us to Himself through the sacrificial death of the Son of God/Son of Man.

Jer 31:31-34 (30-33 Heb) a new covenant; not like the old “You have heard it said, but I say. . . .”

1Cor 3:16; Col 1:26-27; Jn 14:19-23; 2Cor 6:16; 1Jn 3:24; 4:12-16; Rev 3:20
God is in us, not just for us, with us, upon us It has all to do with loving Jesus Christ/Yeshua Messiah and obeying Him.

Acts 2:16-18 the Holy Spirit given to all believers, not only to Israelis, men, prophets, priests, kings

Jn 15:4; 1Jn 2:24-25 in Messiah; in the Son and in the Father; not merely a cultural or a national religious affiliation This gives us the assurance of faith in the hope of the love of God in His promise to us — eternal life.

Jn 1:12; Gal 4:6-7; 2Cor 6:18; 1Jn 3:1 we are sons and daughters of God, not merely slaves or servants: Such love! The world does not acknowledge us as children of God, for it does not know [the true] God. This was our own condition before we were saved and brought into the truth and the light.

Mk 7:14-16; Acts 10:9-16; Rom 14:2-3,14,20; Heb 13:9 food and other social barriers broken down We are freed to eat with whomsoever — and them with us — wherever God may have us or send us!

Heb 7:12; 1Pt 2:4-5 Law changed; priesthood of all believers–male and female–from any and all families, with direct access to the Father through our High Priest Jesus, by the Holy Spirit Requires no special ordination.

Heb 7:20 – 8:6; 10:19-21; 1Jn 2:25 a better covenant with better promises
–the priesthood; access to God through the veil
–our sins and sinful nature totally forgiven, removed, and forgotten through shed blood of Messiah
–we are a new creation; one new man
–resurrection of the body for eternal life
–all the other things mentioned above

Gal 1:11-12; Rom 10:1-4; 1Cor 1:21; 11:23 the gospel is neither Jewish nor Greek; not of man, but by revelation from God in Messiah; not of religion or of science or of philosophy

Gen 25:23b; Mt 20:24-28 the greater shall serve the lesser
–to whom much is given (the birthright and blessing by sovereign will, wisdom, and grace), much is required
–Is 40:2; Rom 2:9-10 double honor and double judgment
–Rom 2:17-20; 3:1-2; 9:4; 11:24 for individuals and for nations

Jn 13:12-17; Mt 20:28; Lk 12:37 Yeshua came to serve; He washed the disciples’ feet; He made them breakfast; He will serve us at the great supper; He cares for us each and every day.
God can not deny Himself; He is who He is!

The U.S. Secretary of State announced yesterday that the U.S. will begin to use diplomatic and foreign financial aid to push the legitimacy of homosexuality (of both sexes) and transgender people (sex-changed) in countries around the world.

Once accepting that something unnatural is natural and a ‘universal’ human right, then willingness to engage in it can not be too far behind. After all, it is deemed ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ by those “who have exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and who worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever”. (Rom 1:25) Isn’t it interesting that the Hebrew word for ‘gay’, transliterated as a term for homosexual, is the same word for ‘pride’ — גאה, גאיים – ‘gay’ah‘; ‘gay’im‘ — in the singular and plural forms. This was the core of the sin of the sinners of Sodom, for which God judged them (Ezek 16:48-50; 2Pt 2:6; Jude 7) as an everlasting example known by all.

This season marks the celebration of Jesus Christ coming into the world as a flesh and blood human being to save sinners. May many of the LBGT’s be convicted by the Holy Spirit of their unbelief and sinful nature, in the hope that they would call upon the name of the LORD — who has Himself established what is holy and profane, good and evil, clean and unclean — to save them in His great mercy and power. As a new creation in Christ, their shame in which they now glory will be turned to the praise of the God of Glory, who forgives, heals, delivers, and cleanses.

Being now three generations in Israel, with the birth of our granddaughter, looking at the Bible and Israel’s history, we wonder if this, too, is not a ‘sign’ of the times foretelling about when the Lord Jesus Christ will return. There is one family that I can think of who represent four generations of Jewish believers in Yeshua here in the land.

YHVH God refers to the 3rd and the 4th generations in significant ways to do a judgment, and a consequent redemptive work for those who stay with Him, or else repent and return to Him. (Gen 15:12-16; Ex 20:4-6; 34:6-7) The third generation is still a ‘living link’ to what the first generation went through (the grandchildren of the first generation; whereas, the fourth generation either ‘believes’ the report and identifies in a healthy way after all the trauma; or, they believe the account and are bitter regarding their history; or, they are apathetic and cut themselves off from their own family’s and nation’s history. (This is a simplistic and generalized analysis.)

Where are we. . . as the Judge stands at the door, and the only wise God and Savior is preparing to intervene in powerful ways to make His order out of the prevailing chaos within His own household, and among His own people and nation, and in the wider world which He created and made?

We are newly-grandparents!

The conception of Jesus the Messiah was miraculous, being that it was by the Holy Spirit and the young virgin maiden, Mary (Miriam).

His birth was completely natural, like our baby granddaughter. Praise God for this amazing and incredible reality and truth!

Jesus Christ is the only person ever born without a sinful nature; therefore, He knew no sin; did no sin; sin was not in Him: He was truly God with us — Immanuel — God manifested in the flesh! We were all born in sin; Yeshua was not. He took on the likeness of sinful flesh, that He might be tempted in all things as we are, yet the Son of Man showed Himself to be also the Son of the Highest.

This being so, Jesus/Yeshua was the perfect baby. All things natural for a baby to do, He would have done. Yet. . .He was without sin. All of His ‘babiness’ would also have been distinguished by sinlessness, by no self-ishness. His body systems would have been in perfect working order for normal functions and normal stimulus responses, but without showing indications of some measure or sympton of ‘sickness’.

Can you consider how the Perfect Person — outwardly and inwardly, naturally and spiritually — throughout His life from beginning to end — when He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him — would be seen as ‘other’, as holy, in all things in every way? It is a bit difficult for me, a sinner saved by grace with sin still evident, to reflect with much wisdom on such high and wonderful things.

Glory to God!

Bless you,
Howard

While others see the events of our days through a political prism or a nationalist prism, those of you actually laboring in the harvest field in Israel often see current events as the hand of God sweeping Israel along towards His ultimate desire for His people.

I really appreciate you sharing the biblical account that this major news event brought to your remembrance. And I really love what you brought out about Esau never accepting God’s Sovereign choice in giving the land to Jacob/Israel. I don’t think I have ever seen that before.

What would you say that the Spirit is speaking to the churches today?

”Then Jacob said, ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, YEHOVAH who said to me, “Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you”. ‘I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, and the mother with the children. For You said, “I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude”.’ ” (Gen 32:9-12 [Eng])

I believe that Jacob’s prayer about 3800 years ago needs to become Israel’s and the Jewish people’s prayer today: to honestly and humbly [re]turn with faith to YEHOVAH, the Everlasting God Who Is, acknowledging His faithfulness to keep His covenant promises regarding the land (and the return to it), the good things, the innumerable multitude of the people. And to confess sincerely their hope in Him, and their fear of their brother Esau (who also represents a nation Gen 25:23), whom Jacob/Israel has good reason to believe intends to kill him and the whole family. (Gen 27:41)

This family history is playing out to its fruition in our day and time: the seed that was sown is bearing its fruit and showing its kind. Israel’s only hope is in returning to her God, who is also her Savior. Until now, Israel relies on his/their own abilities and power, rather than on the Spirit of YEHOVAH. (Zech 4:6)

Israel and the Jewish people do not have a completely clean conscience, which keeps them from turning in contrition and in faith to ask God’s intervention on their behalf. The Lord knows how to bring even this to pass. Hallelu-Yah!

“In that day,there shall no longer be a Canaanite (‘merchant’) in the house of Yehovah of Hosts.” (Zech 14:21b; Jn 2:16-17)

While Israel’s prophets prophesied the restoration of God’s kingdom to Israel, when all things will be HOLINESS TO YEHOVAH, we who already have been redeemed and saved can recognize that the particular reference to Jerusalem’s sanctity is also applicable to the whole of the people and land, and ultimately to the entire Earth and peoples. These things will be when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in great power and glory to establish God’s Kingdom on Earth. Then will the Father’s will be done on Earth as in Heaven.

Meanwhile. . .the house/land of the LORD is filled with Canaanites, traders merchandizing religion at great profit to themselves. There is much use of the rich religious history here throughout the land of Israel to capitalize on the Biblical record, which is seen everywhere.

Pedlars from all the religious interests here exploit what God has done here, having left a record written in the rocks and human structures lying in ruins as witnesses of the truths written in the Bible. Sceptics, cynics, opportunists, unbelievers in the God of the Bible make money off His fame; business men and women come up with schemes to capture the wealth of the nations; religionists sell their versions of history and truth in competition with the others. Praise the Lord for those who serve Him with meekness and integrity!

It is wonderful to travel around Israel and see so much evidence of the events recorded in the Old Testament and in the New. Our faith is not based on fables, but on concrete eyewitness accounts, and on the witness of the Holy Spirit. (2Pt 1:16)

For those in Messiah now, we are the field and the House and Temple of God. Are we selling ourselves and enriching our own selves and houses, or are we faithfully representing and serving the Lord Yeshua/Jesus with holy zeal for the Father’s honor and glory?

“…You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24)
“For the love of money is a root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1Tim 6:10)

May we see in our generation the cleansing of YHVH’s House, His land, His people! Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!

On Sunday, we went to an evangelical Palestinian church in Bethlehem, ‘dropping in’ to the surprise of our friend the pastor. We came in a bit late, having to find our own way to where the church meets (with a little help from some friendly taxi drivers). When the pastor noticed us, he asked me to come up to pray for the Lord’s Supper which was about to be served following the worship in song. This is something which very much blessed a number of members of that church — most of whom would probably be in favor of a new country called Palestine. I mentioned to the pastor later in his home that should that happen, what took place that day will probably not be able to happen again. There will be a heavy loss of fellowship if the world is allowed to have its way, and for those who would consent. There will always be a heavy price to pay as long as people — especially Jewish and Christian — insist on ‘ a way that seems good to a man, but its end leads to death’. It is my firm conviction that the Lord will use whatever takes place over the course of the next month to serve His own purposes, including bringing even more of His people back to Him through Jesus, and to bring many others to new birth by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in the gospel.

We have been to four weddings in the last month-and-a-half. Some have been Jewish, or a combination between Jewish and Gentile believers; another has been Arab. They have each been different. One thing that particularly concerns me about our young people — and about those who have assumed spiritual authority over them — is that too many times the wedding ceremony (or some other event) may be Messianic/Christian, but the “party” following is definitely not. Why shouldn’t the celebration also be clearly discernible as being of the Holy Spirit just as we confess in our vows and in the words of exhortation to the new couple? Speaking as a Jewish believer, it seems that sometimes we are more concerned with whether there is a chuppa (wedding canopy), a kippa (yarmulke; skull cap), or a tallit (modern prayer shawl), or a glass to break with the foot than we are with the substance of what it is to honor what is taking place and the spirit that manifests once the formalities are concluded. Is this only an issue with me, or in Israel among too many believers, or do others of you in your own countries also worry and grieve over this? The Scriptures clearly teach that discerning between good and evil is an indicator of spiritual maturity (Heb 5:14), is the responsibility of the priesthood (Ezek 44:23), and reflects the character of God (Gen 3:22). Let there be music; let there be dance! But let us know the difference between Mordecai and Haman; our right hand from our left (Jonah 4:11). Let all that we do be unto the Lord, and not what the Bible calls idolatry. (1Cor 10:6-11)

For those of us living here, we too often complain about things. But for a visitor from Africa, he sees a great deal to be thankful for. Victor’s first impression after being picked up from the airport is the quality of the road and highway systems. Where he lives, and what we have experienced in the few African countries we have visited, roads are hugely neglected, and often a rutted and gutted dirt path is what is called a ‘road’. He sees fields ripe for the natural harvest, full of food and available to the people. There is drinkable running water from the tap in every city, town, and village. We live in a land of plenty — to the glory of the God of Israel — a testimony and pledge of the fruitfulness that will come when Yeshua returns to His own people when they call on HIM with a cry of ‘Hosanna’, ‘Save us’.

Victor has seen that the reports he hears from the media back home are NOT representing the reality of his on-site eyewitness. He expected the Israelis to be unfriendly, but that has not been so with him. He expected a violent people, but that has not been what he has felt. (And he knows what violent people are like, coming out of African culture.) He has seen Arabs and Jews intermingling freely. In short, he has seen a nation that ‘stands alone’ — a ‘land’ surrounded by ‘seas’ of Gentile nations. It is a testimony of GOD keeping covenant BECAUSE Messiah Jesus has died — and risen again — to CONFIRM the promises made to the fathers. There are some Jewish sects that do not recognize the State of Israel! Why? Because, they say, the Messiah has not come! But He has, and that is WHY Israel is being re-established back in the very land which YHVH promised! O for that day when He comes again!

According to Messiah Himself, knowing and understanding the first of His parables is crucial to understanding all the rest of His parables. It is the privilege of His disciples to know them, whereas the multitude does not. The parables of Yeshua help us understand the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven as God works in the world today.

Some key points to get hold of from the first parable (Mk 4:1-20):

–Everyone hears the Word of the Voice of God: Ps 19 1-4a (5a Heb); Rom 1:18-23; 10:14-18;

–Not all who hear receive, accept, believe, obey: Is 53:1; James 1:22-24; 2:18-19; Is 29:10-13; Heb 3:14-15

–There is eternal security for the believer: Ps 16:8-11; Rom 10:9-13; Heb 3:14-15

–The Lord knows His own, and all who call upon His name will depart from iniquity: 2Tim 2:19

The parables of Jesus help us understand the way of God with His people – both Israel and the Body of Messiah. When Jesus gave the apostle John His letters to the seven churches that are in the Book of Revelation, He evaluates the condition of the believers based partly on what He taught His disciples in His parables. Let us in the fear of YHVH gain knowledge, understanding, and wisdom for the times in which we live so that we are walking in the Spirit of Truth with our God and Savior. God has a plan and is carrying it out by His Spirit according to His Word and covenants.

The Kingdom of Heaven governs our lives. Our attitudes and relationship to it and to the Word of the Lord determine the quality of our life – both in this world and in the world to come.

The Earth is ~70% water and 30% land.

The human body is ~70% water and 30% solids.

Isn’t it interesting to ponder that the Creator of the heavens and the Earth made the first man from the dust of the ground, and is of the earth — 70/30?

Israel’s present physical state reflects an interesting present spiritual reality: ~70% desert and 30% green.

Let us look with faith and hope to that day when “the desert and wasteland shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of YHVH, the excellency of our God”. “For YHVH will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her desert like Eden, and her wilderness like the Garden of YHVH. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” (Is 35:1-2; 51:3)

Israel has four bodies of water — the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba, the Dead Sea, and the Sea of Galilee. Plus it has the famous Jordan River, the Yarkon River, the Kishon River, and the Yarmuk River. At other times, the wadis (dry river beds) become filled with flowing streams. Israel has a rainy season (or two, depending on which reckoning one uses), and it snows on its mountains, most critically on Mt. Hermon on the borders of Lebanon and Syria. For all this, Israel lacks water — both natural and spiritual.

As the Holy Spirit prompts us to pray for revival within us, so, too, He wants to revive and refresh His Land. It begins with us who believe in hope of the coming of the Lord, who will transform even the Negev Desert into the Garden of Eden, the Garden of YHVH. (Is 51:3) Then, the world that He returns to, that He made, will know Him. Then, His own, to whom He will come, will receive Him. For all that have thirsted, it will be finished!

Yeshua’s first words to the question by His disciples regarding the last days were, “Take heed that no one deceives you!”. ‘No one’ can be human, angelic, or demonic. (2Cor 11:1-15; Gal 1:8)

One of the clearly false teachings of these days (although not a new teaching) goes by the name of “Dominion Theology”, or “Kingdom Now”, or some such variant of the idea. The main thrust is that Christians — and a special elite group at that — are to rule over the world before Jesus returns, if He returns at all. These will be the manifest sons of God, some special ‘Joel’s Army’ that is more than willing to bring down fire from heaven on those who do not “walk with us”. Yeshua rebuked His apostles who considered that an option. (Lk 9:51-56) Notice that this took place as Yeshua set His face to go to Jerusalem, knowing His time was coming to be crucified in His love for His Father first of all. This fire from heaven that even some of His closest fellows wanted to call down in emulation of the power of Elijah is not the same fire that Jesus will baptize us with. (Mt 3:11) How is it that the gospel is going to bring forth a huge harvest of living saints to present the Kingdom of God to the returning King of kings and Lord of lords, when the Lord Himself says that unless He returns, no flesh would be left alive?! (Mt 24:21-25; Rev 6:9-11)

We know that Yeshua was the Son of God/Son of Man before He was born and took on flesh and blood. He is God with us, the express image of the invisible God. Yet, it was by His resurrection that He was declared with power to be the Son of God! (Rom 1:4; Ps 2:7)

So will it be for us. The revelation of the sons of God for which the whole creation groans and waits will be manifested at the first resurrection. Those who are holy and blessed to have part in that resurrection will be declared with power to be the brothers and sisters of Jesus, who hear the Word of God and do it, and have overcome through repentance and faith to be the Bride of Messiah, who will sit with her Husband on His throne to rule and reign with Yeshua for 1000 years over Israel and the other nations. (Rom 8; Rev 20:6; Lk 8:21; Rev 3:20-22)

Many of those caught up knowingly or not in this aberrant teaching think that God is going to culminate His great plan of redemption in them. The U.S. — or the “victorious” Church in the U.S. — seems to still hold the prominent place in their thinking, therefore replacing Israel as God’s chosen nation destined to become the head when they finally accept Jesus/Yeshua as Lord and Messiah. This is just another manifestation of replacement theology, even though many of these deceived Christians who are deceiving others are supporters of Israel! (2Tim 3:13) I thank God for all those who stand with Israel from God-fearing motives, but ‘Israel’ is (mis-)understood in all manner of ways by all manner of believers and unbelievers. The strength of deception is that, if we are, we do not know it. We do have a present responsibility to be overcomers in the face of the wiles of the devil, doing what is possible now to promote righteousness, even as we anticipate with longing for that blessed hope of the Lord’s return.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews helps us see our place in God’s sovereign plan of redemptive history: “And all these [great cloud of witnesses], having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” (emphasis added Heb 11:39-40)

God is creating one new man in Messiah Yeshua. It is a corporate thing, a body thing, made up of countless individual living stones who have put their hope in the promises of YHVH God throughout history. Those who are that by His marvelous grace will inherit together whatever God has planned for the next 1000 years or so, when He completes His purposes for this very good creation in anticipation for that which is perfect to come.

We certainly do need a revival within the Body of Christ — not to have a military spiritual coup, but to get right with Jesus, and demonstrate that we are sons and daughters of God His Father.

There is no place like home! Vacations are usually nice; traveling to other cities and countries can be very interesting and exciting; but there is no place like home.

The ‘prodigal son’ came to realize that it is much better to be ‘home’, than on his own, doing his own thing, in rebellion against his father, family, and home. One does not necessarily need be physically away from ‘home’ to be ‘not home’. Although Abraham was in the land which God promised him for an everlasting possession, he, nonetheless, looked for a permanent home, an eternal dwelling place with God, where he would no longer be a stranger and sojourner in the land, in the world, but forever home.

When my wife and I married, we considered moving away from my hometown city of Richmond, Virginia, where we also met. At that time, it did not matter that much to me where I lived, and my wife thought she would prefer somewhere else after having lived there for about five years already. We took a bicycle trip after our wedding — a cyclelogical odyssey — looking for a ‘home’. As we considered other cities as possibilities, we became more aware that each one had its own pros and cons, and Richmond began looking better to my wife. While on the U.S. west coast, we saw for the first time coffee shop bookstores. (This was back in 1980.) That struck a chord with me, and where better to open one if not in my own city where I was familiar with the neighborhoods, and I would at least have some initial customers: family members and friends!

Psalm 137 speaks of the heart of the Israeli Jew: it needed/needs to be in Jerusalem , the physical and spiritual center for the home land of the children of Israel. One may be in physical exile, but the heart needs to know where it’s home is, if the soul is to know any hope and joy. The Lord Jesus says that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. I had come twice to Israel in my early 20′s: once as a tourist; once as a volunteer on a kibbutz in the afternmath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israel was important to me; it was “our” country. But. . .I still felt that the U.S. was my home: my family was there; my friends; my comforts; my freedom to travel. I was at ‘home’ in exile, but, praise God, He was also working on that!

While still on our cycling journey, in the first nano-seconds of being born again by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God spoke to me, “Go to Israel.” Jesus made Israel HOME on Earth for me! Not Richmond; not the U.S. We arrived seven months later. I have a Palestinian pastor friend, who thinks that ‘the occupation’ began in 1948 (!). I told him that Jesus brought me home. These are obviously two opposing ‘worldviews’ for the present age. What we do agree on, though, is what the Holy Spirit needed to do to convict me that I was a sinner: Yeshua died for me, and because of me and my sins, and has brought me home to my Father in Heaven.

May we all, who know God the Father and Yeshua, whom He sent, earnestly look for that eternal day of great joy in the Father’s house when all His children are rejoicing together at home in His love.

Gen 21:27-31

And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and both of them cut a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said to Abraham, What are these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves? And he said, For you shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, so that they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well. This is why he called that place Beer-sheba, because they swore, both of them, there.

(taken from The Bible Wheel, p. 208, by Richard Amiel McGough) “The Hebrew idea of an oath is the fullness and completeness of commitment. An oath is not an oath if it is anything less than a complete and perfect assent to whatever terms and conditions are stated. The symbolic power of the Number Seven therefore combines the ideas of fullness, completeness, the giving of one’s word, the making of an oath. . . .God marked the Bible with the Number Seven as a sign that it is the fully sealed, completely finished, and perfect revelation of His sevenfold oath, His covenant, His promise to us. It is God’s numerical signature to show us that He has fully given us His Word.”

God has given us who live in Beer Sheva — a desert oasis — a significant place to bear witness to His covenant promises and oath which He gave to our Fathers, and which He is bringing to pass in these last days through His Son by the outworking (working out) of the Holy Spirit. Even as YHVH has made Abraham the father of all who believe in Yeshua/Jesus, Beer Sheva remains a prophetic place of destiny for the redemption and restoration of the national Israel of God. May the hearts of the fathers be turned to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, as the Day of the LORD nears.

Bassoon: the choice instrument of a particular variety of excellent low-toned fish

On this U.S. Independence Day celebration, isn’t it wonderful to know that, as her light is fast waning and gross darkness is encroaching upon the Earth, “we have the prophetic word confirmed, which [we] do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in [our] hearts”! (2Pt 1:19)

Messiah Jesus plainly says in Mt 24:36-37:

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, but My Father only. But, as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

It does the cause of the truth no good whatsoever, as it regards the gospel and the Kingdom of God, when some one claims that he knows or that the Bible guarantees a specific day and hour. YHVH is the God of Hosts (Armies), and knows how to wage war and to keep certain necessary things secret. There is an enemy who could figure it out, too, if it were revealed to any one else.

The Lord Jesus also rebukes His people, especially those who are given to rule and lead, in Mt 16:3a:

. . .Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

So, there are signs of the times, and if the sons of Issachar could discern the times and have understanding as to what Israel should do (1Chr 12:23, 32) without the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, how much more should we who do have that promise of the Father through the risen Savior understand our own times in this generation which God has given us to live in!?

Jesus/Yeshua bemoans His rejection by His own people, in Mt 23:38-39:

Behold! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, You shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of YHVH’!

In other words, “Blessed are You, Lord Jesus Christ!” “Save us, Lord Jesus, Son of David!”

Thank God for His ‘untils‘!

The Apostle Paul writes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in Rom 11:25:

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Another sign of the times and a clue as to the timing of the taking up of those alive and remaining in Christ until His coming (1Thes 4:15-18) is given us by our Savior in Lk 21:24b:

. . .And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The victory and capture of Jerusalem by Israel in the June 1967 Six-Day War did not bring to fulfillment the times of the Gentiles nor their fullness into the Body of Messiah. Jerusalem is still being trampled under foot by various Gentile agencies: the Temple Mount has a Gentile temple upon it; East Jerusalem, which is the Biblical part of today’s Jerusalem, is mostly populated by non-Jews, and has long been considered as a possible concession to them should there be a Palestinian state; the Vatican and the United Nations all claim and insist that Jerusalem, in some form or other, be under international control rather than under Israeli sovereignty. Clearly, the ‘untils‘ have not yet occurred.

So, it seems that the rapture will not occur until individual Jewish believers and the time and the fullness of the Gentiles have been completed –for the Bride is made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers as one new man– and until the Jewish people as the nation of Israel call out desperately for Jesus/Yeshua to save them. No one can predict or prophesy the day and hour for all this to concur, but we are to be discerning of the times we live in, watchful and prayful as we continue in His business until that day does surely come.

I was once asked by a Christian believer whether I considered myself a Jewish American or an American Jew? Not long after, I was asked by another Christian, “What’s a Jew?”, in reply to my query regarding the Jews being the Chosen People. Both questions were appropriate and provocative, and interestingly enough, my wife and I immigrated (made aliyah) within a year of those questions.

Whether the debate is about authentic Jewish thought, the Law of Return, legitimate Jewish faith and religion, valid conversions, the status and relevance of the Bible, or even anti-missionary activities, the answer to “What/Who is a Jew?” remains elusive. Who has ultimate sovereign authority to say? By our own internal quarreling and judgments, both within the State of Israel and in the dispersion abroad, we, the children of Israel, give credence to the New Testament Christian understanding (who have similar crises of defining identity and belonging) that not all Israel is of Israel, and not all of Abraham’s natural descendants through Isaac and Jacob are truly Jews/Israelis.

My own answer to the two questions I was asked — “I’m a Jew!” — was no more conclusive than those being given now in the nation’s search for true identity with integrity. What is it that makes a person a Jew, and not merely Jew-ish? One does not necessarily have to be a Jew in the full sense in order to do things ‘Jewishly’, especially when living in Israel.

I once heard a Talmud teacher answer a question I put to him following a public lecture that to seek the truth is a mitzvah (a commandment; a good deed), but to find it is a sin! Please, let us not so dishonor the God of our fathers with such vain and futile unbelief.

YHVH God says though Moses to the children of Israel, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. (Lev 19:18)

Golden Rules
Judaism – Talmud, Shabbat 31a

“What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.”

Christianity – Matthew 7:12 (New Testament)

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

Islam – Number 13 of Imam “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths”.

“None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother (i.e., fellow Muslim) what he wishes for himself.”

God and Christ/Messiah (Prophet, King, Priest)
Judaism says that YHVH God is a Father, and there is a Messiah, but that Jesus is not God’s unique and only begotten Son, nor is He the Messiah and King of Israel.

Islam says that God is not a Father, and so He has no Son (or any children), and that Mohammed is the Prophet of their God.

Christianity says that Jesus/Yeshua is the Christ/Messiah, the Son of the Living God. (Mt 16:16; 1Jn 2:22-23)

As the NATO forces fight in Libya and witness and complain about the fact that the Muslim forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi use mosques, hospitals, schools as places from which to fight and to store weapons; as they use women and children as shields; as they call for ‘truce’ but believe that the jihadists will simply use it to re-group….will these same NATO and other nations continue to blame and to condemn Israel when she must fight to defend herself against the same ‘unfair’ rules played by those who do not recognize the rules of the game — I mean of the war!?

Yeshua is alive! From His resurrection and the emptying of His grave, He began — as the omer (the sheaves of wheat waved before God each of the 50 days by the priests beginning the day after the Sabbath during Passover week as proof by faith of the coming harvest) — to show Himself alive with many infallible proofs to Mary and to His apostles and on to the other of His disciples — all together about 500 people. Not that many, and far less than the eyewitnesses at Mt. Sinai when YHVH manifested His presence to Moses and the children of Israel. Once again we see that numbers are not crucial with the living God to change a people or to do His works. Israel was not chosen to be His ‘peculiar’ people because of their great number, and certainly not because of any inherent righteousness; yet…through Israel He has given a microcosm of all humanity for an example to the Church — to all people everywhere anywhere at all times who come to the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob through the Messiah Yeshua of the Tribe of Judah, yet Who is also the representative Son of Man and also the express image of the invisible God. What a God! What a Savior!

So we press on to enter into that blessed hope of our own resurrection or rapture, and towards the great harvest to come as the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the Kingdom, and the salvation of all Israel, with an innumerable multitude of sheep nations to serve Yeshua, the King of Israel and the Jews.

In his letter to the Phillipians, the Apostle Paul speaks of the high calling in Messiah Yeshua. He lived his life in such a manner that he might obtain that for which he was called and chosen. He wanted to live so that he might attain to the resurrection from among the dead.

Paul is not here referring to the general resurrection of the dead, which even the unbelievers and condemned will experience, but, through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he writes regarding the better resurrection, the first resurrection, the one which the Lord Himself speaks of in the Revelation as being ‘blessed and holy are all those having part’ in it.

What would be such a life that would ‘qualify’ us for that blessed hope at the Lord’s coming? Certainly, we would say we must love others as ourselves. Perhaps Yeshua would take us beyond and require that we love [the brethren] in Christ as He has loved us.

As Paul, none of us would confess that “I” have attained, or that “I” am already perfected. But are we pressing on? Is the high calling, this resurrection in our sights, our vision? Is being the Bride of the Lamb, co-rulers with the King of kings, loving His appearing as dear to us as it very much seems to be to Him? Are we making choices, and concerned how our attitudes, motives, actions stemming from those choices affect others in a way that reflects on the name of Jesus/Yeshua, and on other believers? In other words, are we loving Him above all, and loving others as ourselves regarding the consequences of what we do or not, and why we are doing it or not?

With Passover drawing near, many of us see in the appointed feasts/holy days of the LORD as not only actual historical events, but also redemptive and prophetic. When Yeshua came the first time. . . and was killed, buried, resurrected, appeared to many, ascended to Heaven, and gave the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father. . .all these took place right on time and within the timing of the calendar days. Should we not apply the same thinking and interpretation of the same Scriptures speaking of the upcoming appointed times, which prophetically and redemptively speak of the end-times in anticipation of the Lord’s return and the establishing of the Kingdom of God here? That is, these will be fulfilled right on time and within the timing of the calendar days. Even so, the day and hour of the Lord’s return can not be known, but as children of the resurrection, we can be secure in faith that the Holy Spirit will help us in whatever way necessary that we can be prepared and ready as we understand the times in which we live.

Thank God! May He have mercy on us all, and may we encourage one another, provoking one another to love and good works, especially as the day nears.

The unrest and uprisings in N. Africa and the Middle East have western Christianized nations speaking out of their own imaginations of democracy finding expression in the results of the overthrows of the existing oppressive regimes. Democracy has become almost a mantra, and certainly an idol to praise and bow down to. Yet isn’t it evident that its most inspiring expression, as seen in the United States of America, is shorter-lived than the major historic empires of history?

In Israel, where government is more democratic than in the Islamic world surrounding it, there are also elements which reject democracy as their model. The ultra-religious admit that Judaism and democracy conflict: Israel can not be a Jewish nation concurrently with democracy, which deteriorates to everyone doing what is right in his own eyes. Messiah Yeshua intends to restore the Kingdom of God back to His people whom He has chosen to be His inheritance, and the first-born of many other nations. This is not democracy, yet, being the King whose throne is established in righteousness and [righteous] judgment, there will be much freedom for those subject to His rule.

The prophetic voice calls for repentance back to YHVH God, and for mercy and justice to the poor and needy in society — both for the native born and for the stranger who has joined himself to the people. We are called to be salt in the world, and to maintain the salt of the covenant. If this salt becomes saltless, Yeshua teaches that it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out. Yeshua is coming back!

With Purim just past, and as we were studying from the book of Genesis this evening, it dawned on me that Haman is our (Jewish people’s) distant relative! How can that be?!, you may be saying.

Let’s trace it out; it won’t really take that long:

Gen 25:23 Esau and Jacob are fraternal twin brothers/two nations
in their mother Rebecca’s womb; and the older would serve the younger.

Dt 23:7a; 14:1-3

You (children of YHVH God) shall not abhor an Edomite (another name for a descendant of Esau), for he is your brother.

Gen 36:15-16

These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, were . . . Chief Amalek . . . in the land of Edom….

1Sam 15:8

[King Saul] also took Agag, king of the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

Esth 3:1

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.

So, Haman is a son of Agag, son of Amelek, son of Esau, the brother of Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham!

The verse in Dt 23:7 in the Law of Moses prepares us who believe, by the grace of God, in the Lord Yeshua as Messiah and Savior to seek God for an increase of faith perhaps to fulfill the New Covenant commandment to love one’s enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us, that we may be sons of our Father in Heaven…. (Mt 5:44-45a)

Passions and murderous grudges run deepest within families, especially when one feels cheated out of an inheritance or blessing, even if beforehand those same gifts were of little value to them. (Heb 12:14-17; Mt 10:34-36; Mic 7:5-7)

Our present suffering cannot compare to the glory to be revealed! Vengeance is the Lord’s!

Dt 25:17-19 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall be, when YHVH your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which YHVH your God is giving you to possess an an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

The God who sovereignly and ‘secretly’ superintended and oversaw events in the days of Mordecai and Queen Esther, is the same God today who is still going about His business, even if most of His own people in Israel and within the Church do not acknowledge it and give Him honor. For example, is Israel today of God, or of man? Is Yeshua bringing to fulfillment all that is written in the Law and the Prophets, or has God broken or annulled them now that Messiah has already come once? God is still hiding His face, but do we who know Him in Messiah ‘see Him’ in all the things taking place?

Believers in Yeshua must deeply root ourselves in the matter of the integrity of our lives and testimony: when people see us, they are thinking about Jesus! Who and what are they seeing that reflects back on God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ? What is our manner of life and the use of the members of our bodies?

Is 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure!”

Num 23:18-23 Then [Balaam] took up his oracle and said:

Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor!!

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that he should regret. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received [from YHVH] to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!

He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. YHVH his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox.

For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, “Oh, what God has done!”

Is 54:17 ‘No weapon formed against you shall succeed, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of YHVH, and their righteousness is from Me,’ says YHVH.

Jer 31:31,34 Behold, the days come, says YHVH, that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah. . . .No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know YHVH!’, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says YHVH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jer 50:20 In those days and at that time, says YHVH, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found: for I will forgive those whom I preserve [as a remnant].

Jer 51:5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, YHVH of Hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

Mt 1:21 And [Mary] will bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Yeshua (Jesus), for He will save His people from their sins.

Mt 16:16-18 . . .on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades/Sheol shall not prevail against it!

Rom 11:1,11 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!. . . I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Eph 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Messiah also loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Rev 3:19-22 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent! Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!

Rev 1:8 “I am the Alpha (Aleph) and the Omega (Tav), the Beginnng and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

God bless you and yours.

Lk 17:28-30 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

As we were studying Genesis in our Bible study some weeks ago, a verse spoke out loudly to me concerning these days leading up to final things:

Gen 19:9 And [the men of Sodom] said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to live here, and he keeps acting like a judge; now we will deal worse with you[, Lot,] than with [your male guests].”

How long had Lot been living in Sodom from the time he separated from his uncle Abram/Abraham? The record isn’t too clear, but it seems like it had certainly been some good number of years. The Apostle Peter lets us know by the Holy Spirit that Lot was a righteous man, who was daily vexed in his soul by the wicked and filthy lawlessness of the city where he resided. (2Pt 2:6-10) Yet for all of Lot’s years and life there — growing and raising a family, engaged in his work — the moment of truth came when he took a righteous stand for godliness (Mt 5:10): “Who are you to come here to judge us!?”

What struck me here was the truth that when God sets His face to bring judgment on a people, a city, the world, it is because their iniquity has become full. (Gen 15:16) What the Lord Jesus says about His deliverance and His judgments at the end of the age being like as in the days of Lot, He is also telling us that we, or anyone or anything else, can not prevent it. Those of the world will not accept us who are no longer of the world. (1Jn 4:4-6) For the cleansing of a people, a city, a land, righteous judgment is necessary to bring inner defilement to an end. (Ezek 36:16-36)

The gospel is the power of God to save! It is the gospel that we have received that causes us to go out ‘to make a better world’. But the Scriptures have given us Lot as an example to know that there are set limits to our efforts, or to the world’s appreciation of those efforts: Who are you to come here and judge us?!

We can not ultimately impose God’s righteousness on a fallen, rebellious world. Satan is still the god of this world, and will be so till the Lord returns and puts him away. Israel is still the enemy of the gospel, and will be so till they bless Yeshua who alone comes in the name of YHVH. Until these two issues have been resolved by the coming of the Lord, the world will not be a ‘better place’ to live and fulfill God’s purposes from His eternal perspective. We are pilgrims and sojourners here — strangers — which is how the ungodly men of Sodom considered Lot when he admonished them for their wickedness: “This one has come here to live and makes himself our judge.” We are ambassadors of another King and another Kingdom — of Messiah.

2Tim 2:4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who who enlisted him as a soldier.

Are we serving as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, or have we become entangled with the world order that is opposed to Him? (Mt 26:52-54; 13:22)

1Cor 5:11-13 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person. For what do I have to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person”.

Our primary sphere of influence for righteous living is within the Body of Messiah. Our lives should be such that those outside have no legitimate accusation against us, even though they may not believe the truth of who Yeshua is. (1Pt 2:11-12) Our good works outside done in the name of Yeshua are our light to bring honor and glory to Him and the Father. (Mt 6:1-4) And as the Lord Himself teaches His disciples, we want to guard against over publicizing our good deeds, lest we wind up with that being our reward, and not receiving a far better one from our Father. Doctrine helps in making us strong believers; applying doctrine in our life should give us a fragrance of Messiah. (2Tim 3:16; 2Cor 2:14-17)

Ja 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

We are challenged to maintain the integrity of the gospel of God and the uniqueness of Yeshua as being the only Savior and way to real life which God has prepared for those who love Him. It becomes an entanglement, a snare, to unequally yoke ourselves with unbelievers, or with those named brethren who are not walking in the light, in matters of business, politics, etc., if we must leave Jesus out to do so. (2Cor 6:14 – 7:1)

As it was in the days of Lot, even so will it be in the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Relegating Israel to the dustbin of history, by either hoping or believing that God has rejected or else replaced her, is not something that only began with Gentile Christian history. God’s dealings with His people have perplexed other people for millennia up until these end times of the last days. Hear what the LORD let Jeremiah know about 700 years before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD:

Jer 33:23-26 Moreover the word of YHVH came to Jeremiah, saying, “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families (i.e., David’s for the kingship, and the Levites for the priesthood) which YHVH has chosen, He has also cast them off!‘? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.

“Thus says YHVH: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and Earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’”

Mt 16:16-18 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Yeshua answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in Heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (Sheol) will not prevail against it.”

Gen 49:24b . . .by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel)

Yeshua and His legal father, Joseph, are called carpenters (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). They may well have been; the Galilee area around Nazareth certainly has plenty of trees. But the region is also rich in stones. The Greek word used in the two passages referred to is transliterated tekton. It generally refers to a skilled builder or craftsman, used for carpenters as well as for stonemasons and metalworkers. The Hebrew equivalent would be pronounced charash, and is also used for skilled laborers in wood, stone, and metal.

It is interesting that the imagery throughout the Bible makes much use of rocks and stones when it comes to building things, especially for endurance. There really is not a whole lot speaking of wood for overcoming the rock of the ages and the sands of time. Fire, especially, is an enemy of wooden structures. Rocks, gems, and precious stones can withstand the heat and other forces for a much longer period, and are often enhanced in color and purity. Rocks speak of strength, solidity, and stability. Gems and jewels express symbols of beauty, worthiness, divine qualities. YHVH God is our Rock; He is our refuge; and we are His workmanship!

Here are some verses (English numeration) from the Scriptures that suggest the probability that Jesus, while perhaps also working with wood, was primarily, perhaps, the best stonemason and gemologist who ever will be! The natural physical qualities and abundance of stones and rocks in the Land of Israel provide the template for working with us and on us spiritual stones:

Ex 20:25 And if you build Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.

Dt 8:9b …a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper

Ps 31:2b …Be my rock of refuge, a house of defense (a fortress) to save me.

1Cor 10:4 (Ex 17:6) and all drank the same spiritual drink. And that Rock was Christ (Messiah).

Is 51:1-2a Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek YHVH: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug (the quarry). Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. . . .

Ezek 36:26-28 I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers: You shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Ps 118:22; Mt 21:42; 1Pt 2:7 The stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone!

Is 28:16; 1Pt 2:6 …Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.

Is 8:14: 1Pt 2:8 He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel. . . .

Mt 3:9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!’

Lk 19:40 But [Jesus] answered and said to [the Pharisees], ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out!‘

1Pt 2:4-5 Coming to Him as a Living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah.

1Cor 3:9-15 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Eph 2:19-22 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in Whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Mt 16:18; Jn 1:42 [When Peter confesses Yeshua as the Messiah, Son of God, this testimony of who Yeshua is is the Rock upon which Yeshua builds His church, His body. What is interesting is that the new name which Jesus gave Simon was Peter, which means ‘rock, or stone‘. Upon the likes of simple, ordinary people, who are also sinners, Jesus takes us as living stones to build His body, a holy and stable spiritual House of God. It is Peter in his first epistle that uses this metaphor for born-again believers, and the foundations of the wall of the great city — the holy New Jerusalem, whose architect (designer) and builder are God (Heb 11:9-10) — are the twelve apostles. (Rev 21:14)

More than that, Yeshua is the Son, which in Hebrew is ben. This is the root word for boneh, which means Builder! The Hebrew word for house is ba’it, whose root word is baht, meaning Daughter! O for the wisdom of God and the treasure He has given us — Yeshua and the Bible! Praise the Lord for Zion, and the virgin Daughter of Zion, the dwelling place of the Father and the Son in the house of God (Jn 14:23): for the New Jerusalem, the Mother of all who are a new creation through Messiah Jesus! What honor and glory to become the virgin, spotless, and glorious Bride of the Son of God — co-heirs with the King of kings and Lord of lords, all living together in the Father’s house — the eternal new heavens and new Earth!

Rev 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

Rev 21:9b-11,18-21 “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. . . .The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: . . . . The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

The Lord Jesus Christ. . .more than a carpenter indeed! There is NONE like Him!

In Ezek 20:33-38, the Lord YHVH expresses His dissatisfaction (could be an understatement) with His people, and speaks of gathering them out of the countries where they (we Jewish children of Israel) are scattered, and bringing us into the ‘wilderness of the peoples’dealing with us “face to face” as He did with our fathers in the wilderness of Egypt. The word translated as ‘wilderness’ here (midbar) is better translated ‘desert‘. This land that is the ancestral home for the Chosen People of God had lain a desolate and dry wasteland for all the intervening centuries of the dispersion of the Jewish people, and only with their return here over the past century or so has it begun to show its potential for regeneration.

As believers in Yeshua, we know that Israel today – representing most of the world — is a spiritual desert, with a few oases located here and there. The shepherd’s job and responsibility is to lead his flock to these pastures of food and drink on the way to being the final resting place — Zion.

Yeshua is dealing with His people ‘face-to-face’ in our own land, yet it is but a desert/wilderness. They/we have not yet entered the promised land which YHVH covenanted with an oath to give to the descendants of Jacob. The promise land is called here the Land of Israel. The Lord will not bring the rebels against Him and His covenant into that inheritance, which encompasses far more territory than now “possessed”, and where/when He will rule over them!

Israel finds herself vis a vis the nations similarly to the believers in Yeshua/Jesus here find ourselves vis a vis Israel: little or nothing they or we do to explain, defend, justify themselves/ourselves is taken to heart as sufficiently acceptable to change the envy and hatred without a cause towards either Israel in the eyes of the rest of the world, or of Yeshua and those who believe the gospel in the eyes of the powers that be in Israel. When we are not walking in obedience to the Word of God, our moral strength of conviction of HIS righteousness is weakened (2Cor 10:3-6). God is squeezing us all into a tight and narrow road that we will feel the pressure, either bringing about a humility of love for those we are mutually pressing and for the Lord Himself, or bringing about an unloving and self-preservation attitude from within the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

If Israel today is a desert of the peoples, how much more so the spiritual reality in lands not chosen to be “the Holy Land“?

Many Jews and Christians teach that the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law from Sinai, given by YHVH through Moses for Israel, are God’s righteous standard — that they reflect the full righteous character of God for human beings to live up to. Many churches and Messianic congregations display the 10 Commandments, or have a Torah scroll in a special cabinet, as if to maintain God’s standard before the congregations. (Why shouldn’t believers in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah/Christ, the Son of God, have the whole Bible in view?!)

I believe that that the New Testament/New Covenant shows us and requires of us a much higher standard of God’s righteousness (which is further testimony that the New Covenant is new, not re-newed).

Here are a just a few examples of this much higher standard of righteousness than that which the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law (Torah) demand — similar to a standard for children or for slaves being raised even higher for more mature sons and daughters, and for real friends:

1. Mt 5:21-22 [Messiah Yeshua says], You have heard that it was
said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever
murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you
that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his
brother, ‘Raca!’, shall be in danger of the council. And who-
ever says, ‘You fool!’, shall be in danger of hell fire.

2. Mt 5:27-29 You have heard that it was said to those of
old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that
whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for
it is more profitable for you that one of your members
perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

3. Mt 5:31-32 Furthermore, it has been said, Whoever divorces
his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I
say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason
except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and
whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

4. Mt 5:43-45a You have heard that it was said, You shall love
your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love
your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who
hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. .

5. Mt 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,
neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.

6. Mk 7:14-16 When He had called all the multitude to Himself,
He said to them, Hear Me, everyone, and understand: there is
nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him;
but the things which come out of him, those are the things
that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!

7. Jn 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another: as I have loved you, so you also love one
another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if
you have love for one another.

8. Rom 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God apart from the
Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ,
to all and upon all who believe. . . .

It is often said that Jesus/Yeshua kept the Torah perfectly, and some want to try to do the same themselves now that they believe in Him and have the Holy Spirit. Yet, there are many requirements in the Law that Yeshua did not have to do: the Law is for sinners; Yeshua was not a sinner, but God Himself in flesh and blood! He lived a higher standard of righteousness than what the Torah recognized, but did point to. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:3-4)

God is love (a noun): He does not merely love (as a verb). YHVH’s thoughts and ways are far above ours. His wisdom is inherent in Himself; we must ask wisdom from above when we are aware we lack it. The Word of God (who is Yeshua) “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart“. God is perfect; He does not need to be perfected. Our ‘perfection’ will only become realized in the resurrection, and even then, we will forever glory in the wondrous greatness of our Father God and Savior!

Legislated law — however excellent — can never change the heart of persons. We must be born again by the Holy Spirit, through faith in the gospel of the death and resurrection of the Son of God/Son of Man for our sinful natures and our sins, and receive a new heart and a new Spirit. Even so, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, to bring the righteous Kingdom of God to this Earth!’

Yeshua says that He came to fulfill the Word of God. I have sought to show from this timeline that all of the ‘holidays’ are significant, and that even His birth date is a fulfillment of the Scriptures, with the LORD’s appointed times, and those He has otherwise provided His people, as a help in seeing some spiritual reality of the prophetic times in God’s hands.

Thank-you for encouraging us. You Gentile believers have much to offer also, which we also need. Praise the Lord!

Howard

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Peace in the Messiah,
Jim

Jer 3:1-5 They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot with many lovers; yet come back to Me, says Jehovah! (2) Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see. Where have you not been lain with? By the highways you have sat for them, like the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have defiled the land with your fornications and with your wickedness. (3) Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a harlot’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed. (4) Will you not from this time cry to Me, My Father, You are the guide of my youth? (5) Will He keep His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done all the evil things you could do.

John 16:8-11 8 And when He (the Holy Spirit) is come , He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me (Yeshua/Jesus); 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world (Satan) is judged.

_ _ _ _ __

Shalom to all who stand in the gap for the sake of the gospel and the name of the Lord — Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ!

As the prayers for rain are called for and go upward, I’ve been wondering what will we do when the two witnesses are here and given authority and power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. (Rev 11:6) All of us want needed rain, not only for ourselves, but also for plants and animals, and for seedtime and harvest. Yet there come times when God withholds His mercies and blessings in order to work repentance in His own people first of all — believers in Yeshua first of all, and also His chosen first-born nation, Israel.

Although the site may not be as organized as could be, I think you will find much to “chew on” in the Reflecting Pool and in some of the School of Fish.

Blessings,
Howard

With much justifiable criticism of recent statements by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church by Israelis and Jews, Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus need to be as clear about the doctrines and practices of Talmudic/Rabbinic, traditional Judaism as former Catholics about the Roman version of the universal Christian faith and religion.

There are many who are concerned about what KIND of country the State of Israel is supposed to be regarding race (we are all human) and religious practice. Even among Jewish believers there is dispute on this issue.

The Balfour Proclamation of Nov 2, 1917, proclaimed the position that Israel (Palestine) was to become a homeland for the Jewish people. The United Nations vote in November 1947 called for a Jewish state alongside an Arab Palestinian one (which the Arabs rejected). The religious Zionist (those who accept the legitimacy of the right of the Jewish people to live in this sovereign nation) Jewish community wants a country where rabbinic Jewish law and practice are the defining factors as to the kind of Jewish homeland for the Jewish people.

What do the Scriptures say? YHVH, God of Israel, is going to restore all Israel — a remnant from all the tribes who will return to Him through repentance and faith in the gospel (Rom 11:25-27). The 10 northern tribes of the divided kingdom had long ago rejected the house of David (and of Judah) as having received the dominion over the nation (1Kg 12:16-20). The southern kingdom of Judah has also long rejected YHVH and His Son Yeshua — the Son of David — – from being their God and King (Jn 19:15).

Many who are returning to the land may well be descendants of the “lost tribes” (not ‘Gentiles’), but who were never really “Jewish” in the Judaistic and rabbinic sense, and they still resist coming under rabbinic Jewish interpretations, even though Jesus gave the scribes and the Pharisees the authority to interpret the Law of Moses for the Jewish people who do not believe in Yeshua as being the Messiah (Mt 23).

God will restore Ephraim and Judah as one stick (Ezek 37:15-28)– as a reunited people and nation under His rule, and take away the hostility between them (Is 11:13). He will also give an equal inheritance to those “strangers” (Gentiles) who live among the children of Israel in their tribal inheritances (Ezek 47:21-23). When Yeshua returns to judge and to rule His people and the nations, what is considered “Jewish” now will not be the standard for what will be “Israeli” then.

As Jewish and Gentile believers in Yeshua/Jesus now, we ought to be concerned with the salvation of Jews and Gentiles now, and have a prophetic vision through the Word and Spirit of God for what the Father has in His heart and mind to do. If we allow ourselves to become politicized, ‘religiousized’, nationalistic, or racial (in a racist sense), then we will make void the Word of God as we pursue our own futile and short-sighted agendas, and solutions to problems which only God has authorized Himself through His Son to solve. His thoughts and ways are far above ours, but He has given us the mind of Messiah. Praise to His holy name!

The faithfulness and love of Christians and Jews and others towards Israel will be severely tested before the coming of the Lord.

As Israel continues to tenaciously struggle for its identity and calling as The Chosen People by the Sovereign YHVH God, the steadfast love for the least of Yeshua’s brethren [in the flesh] — BECAUSE they are His nation to whom He is returning to restore the Kingdom of God — will become more and more politically incorrect in a world departing more and more from the God who made the world.

As Israel increasingly shows itself as a nation — and as the Israeli and Jewish people show as a people — that they are the enemy of the gospel, the capacity of born-again believers in Jesus/Yeshua to maintain their faith in God’s purpose to redeem and to save His people is going to be strained to the uttermost.

The faith of the friends of the Israeli Jewish believers is going to be tried in maintaining their love, for Yeshua’s sake, as we show ourselves imperfect in your expectations of us. The answer to the prayer of our Lord for our oneness and love will be answered supernaturally: it will not be according to any methodology on the part of believers; nor will it be merely ‘grown into’. It will require an intervention of the Holy Spirit as through groanings of labor and birth pains of a mother.

Martin Luther was not a Jew, and he found us a burden too heavy to bear. The apostle Paul was a Jew, and although he, too, got exasperated with his own people for their unbelief and hardness of heart, it was the very fact that he never gave up his identity and love for his people that he managed to bear such a burden — with the help of the grace and power of God.

The love of Israeli and Jewish believers in Yeshua towards our Gentile brothers and sisters — and for the Church, the Body of Messiah — will be likewise tested as we see them falter just as we have and do.

The Day of Atonements is over (Lev 16 and 23). Most of those who observe the day in Israel emphasize the fast — abstaining from eating. The Word of YHVH emphasizes the requirement to afflict one’s soul (Lev 23:27,29) for our sin against Him (Zech 12:10-14). The eating or not eating may affect the body, but will not afflict the soul over sin. If our soul is afflicted, then we will not feel like eating! (2Sam 12:13-17)

In our family, we shared the moment — if we have had one — when the Holy Spirit broke in on us regarding our sin and sins that brought a response from us that broke the heart and made our spirit contrite. It is this breaking which forever changes one’s life from within as well as without.

For revival in the church, it is going require, I believe, such a move of the Spirit of God that the meaning of the cross becomes ever more real in our own life.

The affliction of soul is first of all toward God and the Lord Jesus Christ. But my own personal experience just these last few days brings me to believe that it is also going to be required in our offenses against our brothers and sisters. The second commandment is not much different from the first, Yeshua tells us. And we may still suffer unpleasant consequences for our sin, even though we may be forgiven by the one sinned against.

Praise God for His mercies and grace, and that our sins are forgiven. May we quickly learn to be forgiving of one another when we are offended, so that our Father in Heaven will forgive us when we are the cause of the offense.

All glory to the Lamb of God, who looked like a goat (in the likeness of sinful flesh) to His own, and who is still the Scapegoat for sinners.

Below is an exchange of e-mails (beginning from the bottom of the entry) on a topic which was contentious in the beginning of the last days nearly 2000 years ago, and is still contentious as the end of the age is nearing. The two views were not and are not compatible towards expressing the truth of the one new man created in Messiah Yeshua/Christ Jesus. A crucial question, then, is which view is governed more by the reality of the new priesthood in Messiah during this age of the Great Commission?

At 08:18 AM 8/24/2010 +1200, you wrote:
Your talking about Covenant Change, How can I be with Yeshua and know were Not in New Religion, but better Covernant, I wish you well and Hope someday your realize our People need Yeshua so much that we must not be ashamed of our New Life, Yeshua is who Moses was told would come, and YHVH is The only truth, I disagree with your views on scripture, I guess you like Dr Arnold Fruiterburm >>>Incorrect spelling,sorry…he Teaches some great stuff, but again Misses the Point on Torah and who Torah is, and We are not wrong Thousands of Jews like myself, and some like you, do eat ham, dont think much of YHVHS Torah>>>I guess when YHVH tells me in His 10 Commandments, Not to steal, and commit adultery I took Him seriously< Grace is In torah!, Its heaalthy boubdries, and YHVH Still deems His Torah Very Important today……Salvation In Yeshua is our only Hope, yet how are we living in it?. Well thanks for sharing, I see where your heart is at,
Blessings in Yeshua, J. Agree to Disagreee. I dont have time to cover all the ground, ONly Yeshua can open up your heart to see!. If Your come out Judaism in past your have some mind sets and walls in some scriptures, so I can only share in Love, YHVH will or not, GOd bless on your Walk!

22.8.10
Shalom J,

Thanks for sharing your heart, and I appreciate your graciousness.

Without going into the great amount of teaching from the Lord and His apostles in the New Testament Scriptures about our new and living way, I only want to mention a few points that govern many others:

–The Law was given Israel as a tutor, to bring us to faith in the promised Messiah (The Prophet, the Great High Priest, the King of kings), the Son of God.

Having come to faith in Yeshua, we see some significant differences and changes from what was to what is (when we read the last nine chapters of Ezekiel about the coming Messianic Kingdom, there are also some modifications to the Law of Moses):

–Under the Law/Torah, only Israelis could be in covenant relationship with YHVH God. The Gentiles, as we read in Ephesians, did not have such a relationship. In Messiah and the New Covenant, both Jews and Gentiles can be in covenant relationship with the Creator and Redeemer.

–Under the Old Covenant, only males were to be circumcised as a sign of that covenant made with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Under the New Covenant, all persons who believe are immersed/baptized into Christ’s death and burial, and raised with Him by faith in His resurrection.

–Under the Law, only High Priest, Prophets, and Kings were anointed with oil for their calling and ministry. In Messiah, all believers are ‘anointed’ with the Holy Spirit.

–Under the Law of the Old Covenant, the priesthood was given by God to the Levitical family of Aaron and his sons, and it was only for men. According to the letter to the Hebrews — a book especially directed to Jewish believers — the very fact that the priesthood has changed in Messiah necessarily changes the Law we live by, whether we are Jewish or Gentile believers. In Messiah, all believers — male and female from any family among Jews or Gentiles — are priests unto God according to a superior priesthood that already existed with God before the giving of the Law at Sinai.

–YHVH God promised through Moses to raise up a Prophet similar to him, but also greater than Moses, and God told Israel that He would require us to listen to whatever He says. Jesus came, and said a number of things by saying “you have heard, but I say”, and some of these things touch on issues of the Torah itself, not only on wrong interpretations of it.

–When YHVH gave Moses instructions for Israel concerning His appointed times/feasts in Lev 23, He also spoke twice concerning the ‘day after the Sabbath’, which is also fulfilled in the resurrection of the Lord, and in the giving of the Holy Spirit on Shavuot/Pentecost.

–Yeshua made all foods clean. Clean foods were already clean; therefore, He has also made unclean foods clean to eat. This one consequence of the gospel has broken down a huge social barrier (a wall of enmity) between Jews and Gentiles who believe, and also allows us to be sent by God anywhere in the world to any people group, and to be able to socialize with them around the table. We are not under obligation to eat everything or anything, but we are free to do so for the gospel’s sake.

–We are called to go outside the camp, where Yeshua is, and bear His reproach; to be a scapegoat with Him; to fellowship in His sufferings.

Praise God for our common faith and salvation in Yeshua, and we do look for the salvation of more Jewish people, and many other Gentiles as well, so that the veil will be removed from Israel, and ‘all Israel’ will be saved of those in Jacob who turn from ungodliness.

Many blessings, J,
Howard

20.8 10
shalom Howard.
thanks for sharing your views, and I actually find your spirit to be humble.
I have not stood into believe in striving to live in Frame work of Torah observant life style, In Yeshua I have learnt to respect YHVHs Torah< as Paul was taught through HolySpirit to observant life in Yeshua as He is our Torah>Gentiles in Yeshua to understand.
I am not here to denounce anyone but to speak in Yeshuas direction, as our Own people Jews deem us as betraying them as we follow Yeshua, Yet they only need to awake to Isaiah 53 and know Yeshua, as Israel will do some day.
Anyway Howard I have a book to share (Torah REdiscovered,challenging Centuries of Misinterpretation and Neglect) by Ariel and Dvorah Berkowitz .

YHVH had showed me Himself when I was 2 years old, and in 1972 I came to Yeshua. I have never not been with YHVH. I know now for many years the truth of the Gospel, Kingdom of YHVH and how Yeshua Did not start a new Religion called Christanity. Many more people I have met who have shared with me this truth too. At times I have felt like Elijah > the only Prophet of YHVH left, as I have been convicted about living outside of the Frame work of Torah, I have found I am now more respectful to myself and others especially YHVH. It is through Yeshua I have Salvation alone, and no good deeds, or Torah observant life could make me right before GOd YHVH Paul Observered Torah and he was so misunderstood in Galations, western church has missed Pauls Points, and taken it to extreme of Out with old Judaism, and Law>>>AS if thats a dirty word, and say they have Christ, cross, christanity> Jews off to hell!> Many Christians are now waking up on fire in Holyspirit, leading Jews to know Yeshua as they realize wrongs done on both sides as Christians honour their Messianic Judaism >>>Restored Biblical Judaism IN YESHUA>>>NOt man made Oral laws, and imposters in adding, to YHVHs HOLY PERFECT WORD< or taking away.
Yeshua is Torah Fact< YHVH is not contradicting scripture, and we all have got much wrong
lets work together in Preparing the Way of the Return of the KIng< show Israel we have found Our Messiah
Lets agree we do not know or understand all in Torah, and NT
Your faith is Jewish, we have Jewish King, and our Bible Is Jewish Book!
I can give you much more facts and info on this important matter.
But if you were to ask me if I follow Christanity, I would say NO>I follow Yeshua, Messanic Judaism is nearest I could translate it to you, I hounour Saturday>>>Shabbat, Feasts of YHVH< Torah encourage each other in Biblical Love and stay Holy for deeds of darkness will use all it can to denounce you, But your an Overcomer.
Love in YHVH MIss J, daughter of Zion.

18 Aug 2010
Thanks, J, for being honest in your feed-back to what I said. It’s important to know how I come across and what reactions or responses there are among the different people.

The reason I say it is a different religion is maybe how I ‘define’ religion: doing, living what you believe. If someone is ‘righteous’ within his/her own community of faith (whatever that faith may be), then he/she will be known as someone who lives by his/her faith.

The New Testament, based on the fact that Messiah has already come, and that He is Yeshua, and that He died and rose again for our sins, tells us that we are a new creation, no longer under a/the Law to obtain righteousness, but rather that God has imputed to us a righteousness through genuine faith in the gospel. Yeshua does fulfill the Torah, and also the Prophets, and He will fulfill everything that has been written in the whole of the Law and the Prophets and the Writings (the Old Testament).

Under Judaism — or any other religion and faith based upon righteousness by works of Law in that community or under whatever God they say they believe in — people live to prove themselves righteous (self-righteousness); people are generally more concerned with the approval of other people rather than with pleasing God; we think we are better than others, because in the case of the Jewish people, God chose US and not some Gentile nation to be His first-born nation; and, with all these things, Judaism (and other religions which are similar to what I have just described, including even within Christianity) does not accept or believe that Yeshua/Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God — in whom we say that we also believe (YHVH, the Creator and Redeemer of the heavens and the Earth).

Anyway, this is what I mean when I say that Messianic Jews belong to a new religion. Our whole perspective on life and living has been changed, even while we are still Jews (if we are), the natural branches whom God by His grace has grafted back into His olive tree, and given us the spirit of adoption, so that we, too, call upon God as our Father in a personal way, and not just in some general way that Jewish people/Israel may say, and that even Greek philosophers acknowledge.

God bless you, J,
Howard

At 11:28 AM 8/18/2010 +1200, you wrote:
shalom and thank you for your news letter, I pray for you both, But must confess I disagree with your statement> about us Messianic Jews belong to New Religion, this word you shared in Tauranga, I feel your precious souls, But I live (in Restored Bibliical Judaism in Yeshua, ) I know He is Torah and has not changed, Salvation alone is in Yeshua Not torah, I know many Jews like myself know this, and I know when Yeshua returns Soon, He will Restore all areas of Israel, Love in Yeshua Miss J, amen.

Mt 24:29-37 ‘. . . I (Yeshua) tell you the truth, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. . . .’

Where Man has failed, Yeshua/Jesus fails not; where Israel has failed, Yeshua fails not; where the Church is likewise failing, Yeshua fails not! He is the Savior of sinners, and especially of those who believe! The same Yeshua whom the apostles saw ascend into Heaven is coming again in like manner: visibly, actually, bodily, and, I hope too, in this generation.

This is the generation which has great-grandchildren and grandchildren (3rd and 4th generations) of those courageous ANZAC soldiers who captured Beer Sheva during WW1, making a ‘way’ for the Balfour Proclamation out of England to establish a homeland for the Jewish people right here in the very land YHVH God Himself swore to give to the children of Jacob/Israel for an everlasting possession. This is the generation with grandchildren, children, and living eye-witnesses (1st, 2nd, 3rd generations) of the attempt to destroy the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Europe during the Holocaust. This is the generation which has seen the re-establishment of a sovereign state of the Jewish people being resurrected figuratively from the dead (the worst is still to come, but the salvation of all who turn from ungodliness in Jacob is assured, just as is a pure, spotless, and blameless Bride for the Lamb), voted and approved by a recognized body of the world. This is the generation which has seen Jerusalem ‘as if’ re-united, but which is still being trampled under by the Gentiles. This is the generation with more Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God than at any previous time, at least since the days of the apostles. This is the generation when our own sons and daughters are helping both to defend the nation naturally from her enemies, and also bearing witness and testimony to the truth of God amongst their own people in an acculturated way. This is the generation which is witness to an accelerating falling away from truth, as revealed by the Spirit of Truth through the whole of the Bible. This is the generation which is seeing all these things as prophesied by our Lord Yeshua Himself, and through the apostles whom He chose to write the New Testament Scriptures.

The prophetic word still speaks, and louder than ever, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God draws near!”

We often hear many ask, “What is your vision? What is the vision of your congregation?” What are we aiming for? Where are we headed? Do we see where we are going, and are we keeping our sight/vision clearly in view?

Jn 3:3,5 Yeshua answered and said to [Nicodemus], “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of God.

Jn 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.

1Cor 13:10,12 But when that which is perfect comes, then that which is in part will be done away. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. . . .

2Cor 3:16-18 Neverless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Eph 4:12-16 . . .for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Messiah, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head — Messiah — from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Phlp 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Messiah Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Rev 1:13-18 . . .and in the midst of the seven lampstands, [I saw] One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters. He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore! Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and Death.’

Rev 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the Earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. This looks to the revelation of Jesus Christ/Yeshua Messiah!

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Messiah, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. This looks to the Millennial Kingdom of God on this Earth, when righteousness and justice rule.

2Pt 3:11-13 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner ought you to be to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new Earth in which righteousness dwells.

We celebrated a wedding. It was wonderful. Better than we could have ever been certain of. More came than originally planned. Jesus was in the midst of us. But we didn’t do all the good that we should, for we didn’t invite everyone that we could! (A little rhyme is good somethyme. )

For days after, once we realized what did happen, and what could have been, we agonized over the disappointments, the rejections, the offenses. We know what it is like; we’ve been there ourselves.

Some who were invited did not come: some could not; others were ‘yes’, then ‘no’, without notification; some had reasons, some had excuses. The lovely couple put a few restrictions on the wedding list, but we didn’t invite some that we could, some that we should. Oh for the day when there is no more offense! When we no longer offend or let others down! When we are no longer offended or let down! When there is fullness of joy!

“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

There are many who evangelize by telling unbelievers to “invite/ask Jesus into your heart” and be saved. JESUS WILL NOT COME INTO AN OLD HEART! God calls people everywhere to REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL, and He gives us a NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT. This is the reality of the New Covenant: our sins are FORGIVEN and we become a NEW CREATION. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit dwell in the new heart of a born-again BELIEVER. (The church of Laodicea was just that. . .a community of lukewarm Christians, not the ‘world’ of unbelievers, whom the Lord was calling to repentance.)

Here, through e-mail exchanges within Israel, I try to draw what I believe to be an important distinction in words often used synonymously: Deity includes divinity; divinity does not always denote deity.

Thanks Howard. I hope the whole Body of Messiah will believe in this truth.

C

—– Original Message —–
From: Howard & Randi Bass
To: C
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 6:28 PM
Subject: Divinity and Deity

Hi C,

A little more to my earlier ‘fine’:

There are several verses indicating that Yeshua is submitted to the Father, not only Jn 14:28. As I mentioned already, He prayed to the Father.

He also only said and did what the Father gave Him to say and do. Phlp 2:6-8 makes it very clear that this was a willing emptying and humbling of the Son to God the Father; He ‘could have’ come and said that He was equal with God. . .because He is.

At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, He will deliver the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and authority and power, so that God will be all and in all (1Cor 15:24-28). Love will be ‘the law’, and there will be no sin and no need to rule over anyone.

The Word was with God and the Word was God! God is [invisible] spirit; He spoke, which was the Word that came out from Him, who ultimately became flesh in the person of the Son of God/Son of Man — the Lord Yeshua the Messiah! The Word (the Son and express image of the invisible God) is subject to the One who spoke it. This great mystery of Godliness is a one-triune-YHVH God thing!

I hope this further helps to clarify what is obviously too great for us, but enough is revealed to be believed on as the truth, without falling into otherwise idolatrous and blasphemous retreats of the natural mind. It is a revelation which we must believe in order to begin to grow in the understanding of what otherwise is unknowable. God is light!

Shabbat shalom, C,
Howard

At 07:20 AM 12/12/2008 +0200, you wrote:
Dear Howard

In your email below you make a statement that Yeshua “is the Son of God, equal as God”. This is partly true as a general statement. I would agree as far as power but not in authority. Please see John 14:28 in which Yeshua says “…the Father is greater than I”. I think this point needs to be brought too.

Have a peaceful Sabbath
C

—– Original Message —–
From: Howard & Randi Bass
To: MCLN
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 5:03 PM
Subject: [MCLN] Re: What we believe – Divinity and Deity

Shalom,

I received a question, which perhaps others of you have, about the distinction between ‘divinity’ and ‘deity’.

For me, it is understood like this:

Gen 1:27 So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Ja 3:9 With [the tongue] we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the image of God.

2Pt 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature . . .

Jn 12:34-41; Is 6 The Son of Man, Messiah Yeshua, is YHVH Tzva’ot (LORD of Hosts)! Men and angels worship Him! Hallelu-Yah!

Phlp 2:5-11 . . .that at the name of Yeshua/Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on Earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Yeshua the Messiah is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

Col 2:9 For in [Yeshua] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

Rev 1:8 ‘I am the Aleph and the Tav, the Beginning and End’, says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!’
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

From the first three examples, Man was created with a certain measure of divinity, being uniquely created and made in the image of God, according to His likeness. According to James (Jacob), this is still true for unsaved humans (Ja 3:9).

Peter tells us that we have become partakers of the divine nature if we are born-again by the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is in those who are saved; in fact, we are a new creation; and, I would say, we have a greater measure of divinity now in Messiah than when we were only in Adam. (The Dalai Lama can claim divinity if he wants to, as any other man, but their use of it is distorted and perverted!)

We who are born-again can claim divinity in this sense, too, if it is important for us to do so.

Yeshua, though, is not only divine, but also deity (Deity). He is the Son of God, equal as God, and can be worshipped. He is not created, but rather came to us and had a body prepared for Him.

For all our divinity and divine nature as born-again believers, we are not God (even though Ps 82 and Yeshua refer to religious-political leaders-judges as ‘gods’), and we are not to be worshipped! We did not create anything, nor can we redeem and save anyone, not to mention much else that only the one true living God is and does.

I hope this helps, not only in grasping the uniqueness of who Yeshua is, but also why only the Scriptures, which are inspired by the Holy Spirit (and our God has graciously given them into all of our hands) must be the authoritative source for our faith and our life, and brotherly love and unity.

Howard

This is a response to on-going controversy in Israel within the Body of Messiah:

For the present controversy over the authority of rabbis or any other religious office, it’s also important to re-affirm the deity of the Son of Man, and also His humanity. . . . the belief of some believers who are recognized as brothers in the Body of Christ here, but who apparently deny the full humanity of the Son of God, saying that since God can not physically suffer, Jesus could not have been fully human and suffered in His death on the cross, or something like that!

In general, these are the points that I think need to be clearly stated in whatever statement is put out by the group you are putting together, and with supporting Scripture references:

–that Yeshua, as the Son of God, is God who came in the flesh, but also that He willingly emptied Himself of His glory. (This last part is important because Jesus needed to pray to God His Father, and He did not — at least while here — know all things; for example, the day and hour of His coming to gather His elect.)

–that Yeshua, as the Son of Man, came in flesh and blood, and will come again in the flesh. (His coming both times personally in the flesh is important, because the denial of this is of the antichrist.) At His first coming, Jesus was without sin, but was made sin for us in His sacrificial death; at His second coming, He will come again apart from sin.
(These points are important to distinguish Him from the rest of humanity, as all of us have sin in us, and we sin.) Yeshua is truly and fully Man in the express image and likeness of God.)

–that born-again believers are under no other authority but of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Body, which is the church, and of His Apostles, through whom we have the New Testament Scriptures. All believers, in whatever capacity we serve God in Messiah, are under the authority of the Holy Spirit-inspired written Word of God.

Here are some exchanges I had regarding the significant issue of the Deity of Yeshua/Jesus and of the value of His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins on the cross:

Thank you Howard,

This is short and to the point. I am thankful that we can stand together against these error teachings. We have the victory in Yeshua.

D

From: Howard
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 6:27 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: Deity and Blood

D and M, this is an answer I gave to someone last year. It actually includes the importance of the Deity and the humanity of Yeshua.

Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:07:49 -0600
From:
Subject: Re: Deity and Blood
To: Howard

Thanks so much, that was very helpful and I will share this with my friend. This is a great explaination for anyone to share Yeshua, even to Gentiles. Thanks and blessings to you. A

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 1:26 AM, Howard wrote:

Thanks, A. I’m glad our requests can be passed on, and hope that they are helpful for praying with more understanding.

The issue of Yeshua’s deity is a problem here, and is a cause of separation. A Yeshua who is created is not the same as Yeshua who is YHVH God manifested in the flesh. This is the essence of love, that God Himself came in the great mystery of godliness that He alone can do, and gave Himself a sinless sacrifice made sin that we sinners can be saved and granted to live with Him eternally.

The Holy Spirit is not going to leave us in doubt over this, since the Father is seeking those who worship Him in spirit and truth, and He will not have any idolatry over this. If Jesus is created, He is not to be worshipped; if He is, as the Son of God, the express image of the invisible God, then He is worthy to be worshipped to the glory of the Father. God is a Spirit; Yeshua makes Him visible and known; no one can truly know the one true God except through knowing Jesus — Savior, Lord (and YHVH), and Messiah — the Son of God, the Son of Man. Praise the Lord!

I’m not aware of the problem about the blood and communion here, unless it is connected with the Roman Catholic transubstantiation. Jesus was alive when He gave His disciples the bread and the cup to institute the Lord’s Supper.

Shalom to you all,
Howard

At 05:04 PM 06/04/2008 -0600, you wrote:
Howard, I was talking to a friend of mine today that has been supporting two Messianic congregations for about ten years now. She said she received an update that stated Yeshua as Savior, but not as God, and she was wondering if this is a common stumbling block for Messianic believers. I thought I would get your take on this. I remember that there were folks that were struggling with communion because of the mention of blood, but I don’t really recall the other, although I’m not on the firing lines like you are. Any info would be great, since she wants to know how to pray, etc. Thanks!

I am forwarding your prayer requests to those with a burden for Israel. One woman I just met last week, who the Lord woke up in the middle of the night and very urgently told her to start praying for Israel. She said that had never happened to her before and wanted to know more about what is happening in Israel, so I forwarded her your prayer requests.

Love and Blessings to you in Yeshua, A
–
“but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”– Daniel 11:32(b)

This is in reply to a young brother in the Lord who wants to be true to the what the Lord Yeshua has accomplished on the cross, and to the Word of God as given in the Law of Moses:

The very fact the YHVH God has established ‘everlasting ordinances’ with/in Israel is a Scriptural answer to those who say that God has no more plan for Israel as a nation, or for this promised land as an inheritance. Also, these everlasting ordinances are specifically given to Israel, and so the New Testament does not impose the ones you refer to upon the Church — redeemed, born-again, men and women from among Israel and from any other nation.

But the believer is supposed to uphold the truth of God’s word — including that there is an everlasting promise to be fulfilled, even if that promise is an ordinance. Every jot and tittle of the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled. The Millennial Kingdom is what God has promised that will bring to fulfillment every promise that is everlasting in this creation, in these heavens and Earth, until the end of time. If you look at the last nine chapters of Ezekiel (40-48), which describe what can only be properly understood, I think, as looking ahead to the 1000-year kingdom to come after Jesus returns, you will see all those ordinances that you refer to. We can certainly observe some of the holidays today as believers, especially here in Israel, but for those in Christ, we enter through faith into a new relationship with God that no longer requires keeping religiously types and shadows, since we have the substance, who is Messiah.

Yom Ha-Kippurim (Day of Atonements) does not specifically mention a fast, but to “afflict your souls”. An afflicted soul will not want to eat, or feel like eating, but not eating does not afflict our souls. When Israel sees Him whom they have pierced . . .(Zech 12), the nation will afflict their souls, and have their full atonement, which will last forever on the basis of the sacrifice which YHVH required that they accept if they want to be accepted by Him (Lev 23:29-32). For us who already believe, even if we are Israeli Jews, we do not need any more to fast or offer another sacrifice for our sins, since we have already accepted God’s sacrifice of Yeshua, and, hopefully, each of has afflicted our souls when we recognized that He died for me and for my sins, just as the full remnant that will be all Israel as a nation — each one individually and all together corporately– will do “in that day”. (As we grow in our Messiah-like character, we will be repenting of sin, which will cause a continuing measure of soul affliction as we humble ourselves by confessing our sins and accepting forgiveness, all this leading to further thanksgiving and praise to God.)

“Olam” has different meanings. It can mean ‘world’, ‘forever’, ‘everlasting’, ‘age’ (as in ‘end of the age’). For an individual person, his ‘olam‘ can be said to end when he dies. (We who are born-again have died with Messiah, been baptized in water into His death, and risen with Him through faith, baptized with the Holy Spirit into His life, to forevermore live unto God.) Yeshua received promises that were dependent upon His being raised from the dead in order to have them, so olam for Him personally is forever, even unto the ages to come (Eph 1:21, as one example). And this is true for all who are IN Messiah. When God promised the fathers the Land of Canaan as an everlasting possession; or to Aaron an everlasting priesthood (carried on through his son Eleazar, then God’s covenant with Phineas, on through Zadok), it is clear that God is going to do what He says, even though it seems to be “taking forever”. (Born-again believers are not Levitical priests, though, but of another and transcendant priesthood with Yeshua, after the order of Melchizedek. This necessarily, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, brings a change of the Law for us, and is why not all of the ordinances given to Israel still apply to us, even though some of them are “everlasting”, and even if some of us are Jews.) The Millennial Kingdom will see these everlasting ordinances to and through Israel restored and fulfilled, through to the end of time. (There is no ‘time’ in the eternal new heavens and new earth.) Everlasting life is eternal, without end; shame and everlasting contempt for those who will be in hell uses the same word for everlasting (olam) in Dan 12:2, meaning everlasting existence , without end: each truth applies according to their respective resurrections.

So we who believe establish the Law by faith (Rom 3:31), and the Law is a tutor to bring sinners to repentance and faith in Messiah: God is faithful and will fulfill all things in righteousness for His holy name’s sake, for He has spoken!

An exchange of e-mails concerning a problem of those who would be teachers of the Law, but do not really know what they are talking about.

Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 11:09:20
From: B & R
Subject: Re: Yeshua/Jesus – Replacement Theology

Amen! Amen! to your most recent email re. the “discussion” about Torah! We had hopes of being tempering agents in the Fellowship and maybe waiting for the Lord to bring the leaders to a broader vision/understanding of salvation and the life in Yeshua. Little signs of their teaching content changing so far, so before long we may be parting company.

I’m aware there has been much discussion in the Messianic Body world-wide about Christology and how far parts of the Torah (ie. as in the Tenach especially) should be observed, and here in [the city] several attempts at establishing a balanced Messiah Fellowship have floundered on the rocks of legalism. Earlier this year we thought we would ‘hang in’ for the rest of this year and pray and ‘work’ for constructive changes of the preaching. . . .

R and I have even been asked to start up a Fellowship but we’ve held off in the hopes that a healthy one will evolve that can include the Messianic flavour without getting caught up in what is virtual legalism. We’ll be continuing to pray about our position in the present fellowship.

Meantime may the Lord’s favour be upon you all in the coming days of ministry and the Court proceedings. Interestingly, the Christian TV channel ____ had a short piece on the Christian News slot about the attacks on the Beersheva congregation and the court case, You were briefly interviewed about it – especially your comments re. the case not being against Israel or fellow Jews, but to uphold normal legitimate rights of the nation to express your faith.

Shalom, every blessing, and love from us both,
B

Shalom B,

Some more thoughts: sin is not ‘Torahlessness’. Sin is lawlessness (1Jn 3:4), whether against God’s Torah or any other legitimate rule of law. Sin is unbelief in the one true God and against Jesus Christ/Yeshua Messiah, whom He sent and who came as the Savior (Jn 16:9). Lawless people, ultimately personified in the antichrist, do not submit to any higher law over them, but set them up as being a law unto themselves, and expect others to submit to their lawlessness!

The Torah ‘came in by the way’, and is for sinners. The New Testament does not do away with the need for it as long as there are sinners on the Earth, and that will be for at least another 1000 years. During the Millennial Kingdom, though, there are modifications to the Law of Moses, which is further proof for us that the ‘Torah’ is not an end in itself, but a means towards something greater and more ‘mature’. But for those IN Messiah, we are commanded to submit to the proper civil and religious authorities over us (including parental), which is to submit to the highest authority, the Lord Jesus Himself. We are under HIS Torah, which is higher, wider, broader, deeper than the Law of Moses, and His Torah puts us under grace by the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who will fulfill the righteousness of the Law in us who are believers in Christ, and we establish the Law by faith as being a good, holy, righteous necessity.

For those going in reverse, wanting to place themselves and others under the Law, and to say that our very righteousness and salvation may be dependent upon that, are themselves ‘replacing’ the fuller revelation of God’s mind and heart and purposes (God’s theology) which has been revealed through the gospel as unfolded for us throughout the N.T. Scriptures.

Many blessings of peace unto you and R,
Howard
_ _ _ _ _

Hi B,

As for me, of course, I am a Jew, and in no way, as far as I am aware, in replacement theology, but God has placed me back into HIS! Hallelu-Yah!

Also, and I appreciate the interest of this couple, but our salvation is based on being born-again in Christ/Messiah, and not on our particular understanding of a number of very important issues. We will certainly be rewarded as believers for the works we will have done as believers, whether good or bad. Our salvation is all of grace, based on God’s righteousness and our repentance and faith in the truth of the gospel. Our rewards are not of grace in quite the same way (but there is no doubt that EVERYTHING we will have and inherit is God’s lovingkindness/grace and mercy towards us), but will be according to our perfect Father, Teacher, and Judge, who knows how to properly evaluate and give His children and His students/disciples, etc., commendations and marks/grades for how well we did with what He provided us. And He knows perfectly how to ‘handicap’ so that there is no partiality nor inequality or inequity in His measurement of things. To whom much is given, more will be required.

There is still time in God’s redemptive plan to bring all of us into line with what is important to Him before the coming of the Lord. The prayer of Jesus will be answered for true unity and love. And one thing that He is not requiring of us at this time is what name we call Yeshua, as long as we honor Him in whatever language we use. If it were otherwise, then the Holy Spirit would have inspired the writers of the Septuagint and of the New Testament to have always transliterated the name Yeshua as Yeshua, and not let it be given in Greek as He did to sound like Iesous (or something like that)!

Blessings,
Howard

At 10:01 AM 4/16/2010, you wrote:
No. 3 of 3 Howard.

Wish I was more computer literate to have “tied” them together for you in one email. Haven’t made reference to C of your initial response to me, but will fwd. her response to my email below or any result of dialogue re. the Cohanim matter etc. in what I sent, but my movements in the coming month are taking myself and R out of [the city] for most of it.

May not be back in touch until toward end of May. Again, thanks for any comments, and prayerful thoughts and every blessing in Yeshua, B

—– Original Message —–
From: B & R
To:
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 9:39 PM
Subject:

Thanks for a helpful response. The question of being Cohanim in the future Kingdom is a topic I (and I’m sure many others) would be interested in exploring/discussing.

. . . .

Will keep in touch and continue in a few weeks discussion on some of the matters referred to in this week’s emails to and fro.

Shalom and blessings,
B (& R)

—– Original Message —–
From:
To: B & R
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 11:58 PM
Subject: Lawsuit by Messianic Believers

Thanks B.

It is I, C, who wrote the email, and so I am responding. These are good questions you ask and yes they need careful answering. I am choosing to answer straight away from my understanding to date.

Many of those who are now Messianic Jews were once Hebraic Christians i.e they were Hebrews and in the Church. In our early walk, G and I read David Stern’s Jewish Manifesto and since then works and articles about the Jewish believers walk back out of Replacement Theology which is Christianity in the organisational sense, to being fully Jewish again and yet in Messiah. To be born again is of course a very Jewish understanding. There are many born again experiences in Jewish life style, bar Mitzvah, Mikvah are just two. Life events of renewal are often seen as being born again and it is this that Yeshua alluded to knowing the people would understand in essence, yet of course being born again into the the Kingdom, took the whole experience into another realm. I certainly felt born again when I came into the Messianic Movement, even though I had had a born again experience with Yeshua and in the Ruach Ha Kodesh when I came to know him. The promise of eternal life if we endure to the end in him, leads us to the full and final rebirth of course, in the renewal of our bodies in fact our whole self, in the resurrection.

Regarding Replacement Theology, the outworking of our faith in Yeshua does need to be in line with his teachings, so the Torahlessness of Replacement Theology may eventually bring condemnation. As we know, we have been warned that many will say to Yeshua, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we do fine works in your name, expel demons in your name, and he will say to them, “Get away from me you workers of Torahlessness”. After all Torahlessness is the apostacy that came very early after the emmisaries were killed. So yes Replacement Theology if deliberately continued by a believer, may be what discounts him/her from the final call for the Kingdom at least to be the cohanim despite having had the experience of being born again. It is the working out in spirit and truth of what pleases YHVH, that counts. Of course there are other passages that talk about the love and good works, especially towards Yeshua’s brothers, the Jews, and towards one another in his body, that are also markers of the Torah of Yeshua. It is YHVH who will decide of course at the final Teruah, or at our death which ever comes first as to who is the the greatest in the kingdom or who has been in the kingdom “in vain”, which is the Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew’s rendering of the usual word, ‘least’. I looked up the Hebrew meaning of vain and it means, without validity, or meaning!

I am very concerned that so many feel they can love Israel and remain in Replacement Theology. I feel that this is anti Semitism at it’s worst. You and R for example, have stepped out of Replacement Theology both in word and deed as well as loving Israel from your heart, therefore you are truly loving Israel by also loving their Elohim, all be it in the newer way without the sacrificial system but in Yeshua. I am so sure it is time for all to do the same. Talmidei Yeshua exists to teach all to love YHVH Elohim in a way that pleases him in Spirit and Truth and in a way that really witnesses to his people Israel. I am personally very tired of hearing about people who love Israel but do not love Israel’s Elohim, by obeying his commandments. I think this sends a very confusing message to Israel, and this is why I understood Netanyahu’s response.

Thankfully so many nowadays are waking up to the fact that yes, to be born again in Yeshua, but to live outside his ways in Replacement Theology may lead to finding yourself outside YHVH’s Kingdom. I realise that we are citizens now of the Heavenly Kingdom of which the Torah is a shadow of things to come. However even a shadow is imaged from the actual, not a replacement, or something different. After all if the nations are to be ruled with a rod of iron and made to keep Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh and Sukkot in the Millenium, how important is it for those in training to be Yeshua’s Cohanim for the millennium and eternal life, to keep his ways.

I hope this has answered your question – bottom line for me – yes, deliberately remaining in replacement theology for the body of Yeshua may mean the individual is outside of the final Kingdom as Cohanim, despite his/her born again experience.

Thank you for listening and being there. Yes of course we are willing to discuss anything with you and R, at greater length should you wish to. Feel free to disagree!

Shalom in Yeshua
C

Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:40:53
From: B & R
Subject: Fw: CBNnews – April 15 – “Last Day” in Court
To: Howard

Shalom Howard

Below is a copy of my first response to C & G, leaders of ____. I will also fwd. C’s response and then my further response. Feel free to comment on any of the content. Appreciate your interest.

G is Jewish but brought up in a Christian setting. C is not Jewish but shares a similar background to G.

Many thanks. B

On 14 April 2010 11:00, B & R wrote:
Shalom C (and G),

Before trying to respond to your email more fully, or perhaps better still sitting together some time to discuss the matters, would you please share your thoughts on the difference between “Hebraic Christians” and “Messianic Jews”? Also, does “living a Replacement theology life style”, mean a person is not “born again” or outside Yahweh’s Kingdom?

Thanks for giving some time to these matters.
B

—– Original Message —–
From:
To: B & R
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 2:34 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: CBNnews – April 15 – “Last Day” in Court

Thanks B, we appreciate you sending us this update.

I am just concerned about one thing. It has bothered me for a while now. Does this Messianic Congregation talk about Yeshua or Jesus, as they seem to mention both names in the commentary and do they follow Christianity or the Scriptural life of the Torah in Yeshua. From observing some Messianic groups in Israel over the years, there seems to be a struggle to understand the difference between being Hebraic Christians and Messianic Jews, which I would imagine might add to the orthodox pressure against the Congregations, not that there is ever an excuse for violence! What is your opinion on this, as you will have visited many congregations over there. For the same reasons, I can understand the Prime Minister of Israel not accepting roses from Christians, even those who love Israel, as many who love Israel sadly still live a Replacement theology life style. We cannot blame him for being afraid of any form of assimilation.

Shalom,
C

On 11 April 2010 16:05, B & R wrote:
Subject: CBNnews – April 15 – “Last Day” in Court
This seemed worthy of sending to a wider group than usually get these updates. B

Winter is over; Spring is come; Israel still looks for his/her Savior.

Shalom again!

As I wrote in my last letter, “unbelieving Jewish Zionists — those who believe that the Jewish people have the right to return and to live in the sovereign State of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people — do not include, nor ever intended, that a Jewish and Zionist state in the Land of Promise would include active faith in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah, Son of the living God.” On the other side, there are those who, knowingly or not, hold to a view that suits what is written in Ps. 83: “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

This past week a conference was held which, by and large, found various ways to espouse a “Biblical” theology mixed with politics to de-legitimize a specific nation of a specific identifiable people, chosen by YHVH God to be His people, in this particular land which He covenanted and swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to give to Israel’s descendants as an everlasting possession, by His grace and in His righteousness to accomplish redemption — not only for His own people, but for the entire world and creation. Let those who think they stand be careful that we don’t make up some theology of our own to ‘blot out’ others for whom God promised a future and a hope through faith in the true gospel.

Hallelu-YAH! In His controversy with His own people, He is working to bring them to bless Yeshua, who alone is the one who comes in the name of YHVH, and, as He promised Jerusalem, then they will see Him, and He will save them who pierced Him. In His controversy with the nations, the one true God is working to bring them all against Jerusalem, where He will judge them in righteousness for coming against Him by seeking to destroy Israel. In His chastening of believers in Jesus, our Father is working to bring all His children in agreement with all His purposes of love, of holiness, of truth, and to sanctify His holy name in all peoples: all will know that He is YHVH, and every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord/YHVH!

Shalom. . . on a hot, windy, and dusty day (sharav)!

I have been reminded again from comments by unbelieving Jewish Zionists: those who believe that the Jewish people have the right to return and to live in the sovereign State of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people do not include, nor ever intended, that a Jewish and Zionist state in the Land of Promise would include active faith in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah, Son of the living God. If we were to be honest, I think this could be compared with those who believe that when people have normally spoken of and written laws about marriage, no one had ever remotely considered that that could be understood to include two men or two women marrying each other.

One could say that the comparison is not a fair one, but both have to do with faith, and both reject the truth of the Word of God. When the Lord Jesus returns, as He promised, He will not set up a rabbinic Jewish state, but will restore the whole House of Israel under His sovereign and righteous rule. Until then, we can expect stiffer opposition to His Kingdom and those who are of it, as the mystery of iniquity comes to fullness, even as the Holy Spirit works in the saints to fully complete that which God has begun to conform us to the image of His Son, making us ready for His coming and the redemption of our bodies, to rule and reign with Him over His people and the nations. Meanwhile, we are called to suffer with Messiah outside the camp, bearing His reproach, being sent into the world to help bring others out to Him, the MAN whose heart is fully after God’s, and whom God anointed to be His choice of King over His creation. This is the great mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in the flesh that He could dwell literally in the midst of His people.

One thing is becoming clearer to me – and I hope to you, too: the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not comparable to any other religious faith! It is neither Judah-ism (ask any self-respecting Jewish person who does not believe in Yeshua/Jesus for who He is), nor is it Christian-ity as a mere form of godliness but denying its power. Both of these two similar faith groups on either side of the cross focus on themselves, whether Jewish or Christian. The faith once for all delivered to the saints is a personal living relationship with the living God – our Father in Heaven and His Son through the Holy Spirit dwelling within all born-again believers. Not all Israel is Israel; not all the Church is the Church/Body of Christ. We are hid with Messiah in God, and are a new creation. . .thank God!

The cross is an offense to the Jewish people (and to many others who have the pride of life in their chosenness or election), and Yeshua the Nazarene is the Stumbling Stone which YHVH God Himself has placed in the way for all those ‘on a journey’. “Whosoever falls on this Stone will be broken; but on whomsoever It falls, It will grind him to powder”. (Mt 21:42-44) Yeshua/Jesus is still a sign spoken against; He is still destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel (and in the Church), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Lk 2: 34-35)

I do not know much (as I have been told by more than one more than once), but I thank and praise God that He knows me and has given me to know this: Jesus Christ is Lord/YHVH! And the time is coming, and now is, that we who say we believe are going to have to be with Him if we do not want to be against Him. Love for Him and for all the brethren – Jewish and non-Jewish (or, to put it another way, Gentile and non-Gentile) – is a distinctive of the ‘true religion’.

Should we continue to hear “solidarity statements” from our leaders and intellectuals over offenses to other people and institutions of faith, but not to us and ours, let us remember the words of the apostle John: “. . .every spirit that does not confess the Yeshua Messiah has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world; therefore, they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. WE ARE OF GOD. HE SHO KNOWS GOD HEARS US (the Apostles whom Jesus chose to write the New Testament Scriptures); HE WHO IS NOT OF GOD DOES NOT HEAR US. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.” (1Jn 4:3-6)

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Messiah is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Rom 10:1-4)

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For is they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on Earth, much more if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven, whose voice then shook the Earth, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the Earth, but also Heaven”. (Hag 2:6-23) Now this, “Yet once more”, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire!” (Heb 12:25-29)

May there be many who repent unto salvation, and unto righteousness for holiness this new year!

Your brother and fellow servant in God’s vineyard and His whole field.

God is moving on! This really must be our faith in the sovereignty of the Lord: nothing can or will prevent Him from having His way! We are to His praise, even if opposers consider us blasphemers. Even some of them will become His friends when they come to realize not only who Jesus really is, but also who they really are in the light of His countenance.

Randi and I spent about 10 days in Germany. I didn’t go to Germany until 1999, but I have been there since then more times than to any other country. There is truly a special relationship between German believers and Jewish believers which the Holy Spirit has produced. Both Jews and Germans have been guilty of the most blatant sins against God the Father and His Son, and both have been forgiven and given a new life in Messiah which testifies to the power of the blood to heal and to cleanse us from all our sin. It was very beautiful to see the autumn colors on the trees, something which we do not have here. It’s a reminder that when one dies in the Lord, there is glory!

I felt that the time for the message of God’s plan for the nations and of the necessity of the Millennial Kingdom has come. Only a relatively few had considered this before. There is very little thought, and even less teaching on this subject which all the Scriptures anticipate. Israel is the first-born son/nation; therefore, there will be others. Egypt, for example (Is 19:23-25; Zech 14). Other nations are spoken to by the God of Israel concerning their future in His Kingdom. Jesus is coming to rule over Israel and the other nations, and those who have part in the first resurrection will join Him in that rule. Because YHVH God is going to save Israel as a nation, other nations also have significance. A remnant from many nations will enter in to the Messianic Kingdom when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in great power and glory. Individuals from every people-group are being saved and born-again now. Nations will follow at the revelation of Jesus Christ! Those who have blessed the least of Yeshua’s brethren will be shown mercy; those who lightly regarded them will be sent away. (Gen 12:2; Mt 25:31-46) I have no doubt that this subject will find more and more attention in the days and months and years ahead of us. And I also believe that effective evangelism of the Jewish people will require an answer to the still unfilled promises of God for the NATION, even as individual Jewish men and women believe the good news of salvation today, which is far better!

Praise God for Yeshua/Jesus, whose name is the Word of God, and about whom the whole of the Book is written! Moses in the Torah points to our need of Him who saves all who believe from the death sentence upon all who seek their own righteousness as a way of salvation.

There is a spiritual law which says that as you judge, so shall you be judged; therefore be careful how you judge. It’s written that even the Gentiles have a law unto themselves, and they know what is acceptable or unacceptable between them, and judge accordingly. Even groups like the Mafia have their own code of law that they use to judge amongst themselves. In Ezekiel 18, YHVH God, who knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart, says to Israel — and to the rest — that the Chosen People think that the Lord’s ways are not right — do not make sense. But He says, isn’t it that your ways are not right — do not make sense?! The judgments of God are past finding out, and no one is able to live up to His high and holy standard of righteous — none, that is, except for the sinless Son of God/Son of Man, whether He is known as Yeshua Messiah, or as Jesus Christ. The perfect way of the only wise God and Savior says to Israel (and to the Gentiles), “My way doesn’t make sense to you, then I will judge you by your own standard. . .and unless you repent, you will die! Why should you die, O Israel!?” The Lord Yeshua will be found perfectly just when He judges (Ps 51:4; Jn 5:22-24).

I believe that God is compressing all of history into this last generation, so that when He judges, all will know His righteousness. The last days shall be as the beginning: the way of Cain; as in the days of Noah and the flood; as in the days of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. All these episodes of human history have been recorded for us and impressed upon the human consciousness to ‘help’ people fear YHVH, the righteous Judge of all the Earth. But, as the apostle to the Jews writes for us, we willfully forget; there is a collective amnesia which sears the conscience, with the false hope that there isn’t really the God that the Bible and the Holy Spirit tell us IS.

All normal people recognize that the Holocaust really occurred. There are many dear German Christians who have sought the mercies of God over their sins, and the sins of their relatives, repenting of them, and showing genuine and tangible love for the Jewish people and for the nation of Israel. Those who would publicly deny the Holocaust, and seek to persuade others likewise, have absolutely no basis in historical truth against the vast amount of evidence and of still living eyewitnesses on both sides to testify of the great horror and sin, and of their thankfulness that the Jewish people and Israel nonetheless survived and have even prospered. Some praise God for this; others praise themselves; others are still simply devastated by it all.

Without acknowledging the Word of God, the Jewish people say that all German people are guilty the Holocaust, whether or not they were directly involved, and whether or not they were even alive at that time. Yet this is indeed what the Bible teaches: in Adam we all have sinned; in our rulers the people become guilty (Lev 4); we and our fathers have sinned against the Lord. Only through personal repentance and faith in Jesus and His sacrificial death for us, and His resurrection from among the dead is a person freed from this inherited ‘original’ sin. Just as the Jewish people have and are judging the German nation, so is the God of Israel still holding His own people to account for the very thing which we have sought to deny, dismiss, escape, forget — and to get others to do the same (Mt 27:62-66; 28:11-15; Acts 3:12-26): the crucifixion and the resurrection of the very one whom God has made the Scapegoat for OUR sin of unbelief, rebellion, and dishonor against our Father God and against His Son.

As God is sovereignly working out His history to save His people from their sins, He is also going to judge them by their own conduct; and unless they repent, they will die by their own standard of righteous judgment towards others who have sinned against them. Israel does not and can not live up to its own lower standard: they say, “we will never forgive and never forget!” If this is so with God’s own people and inheritance, how much more so will He judge nations and persons who willfully seek Israel’s calamity! God does forgive, and He no longer holds our sin against us: He “forgets”. This last generation is being brought before the one true God, and will know first-hand His righteousness throughout the ages. He changes not, so that we are not consumed.

Please pray for the repentance unto salvation for Jewish people everywhere, that in loving the Lord, they would also honor all those who fear Him and do righteousness.

Praise God for Yeshua that our names are already written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!

As Israel and the Jewish people prepare to observe the holiest of holy days in the redemptive calendar which God has given to her — the Day of Atonements — it’s interesting to consider a remarkable feature of the incarnation of God appearing in the flesh, that great mystery of godliness. We often think of the Lord Yeshua as the Lamb, and as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The Lion, symbolizing the authority and power of the King of kings who is rightly to be feared and honored, emptied Himself to become the lowly and meek dependent Lamb of God, who always walked in the Spirit in faithful obedience to the Father. But what is interesting on the Day of Atonements (Yom Ha-Kippurim) is that the sacrificial animal which God ordained was a goat, actually two goats, to provide the atoning sacrifice of all Israel’s sins.

A goat is a clean animal, acceptable for both eating and for sacrifice, but which has a character that will not enter the Kingdom of God (Mt 25:31-46). Goats do not love their shepherds, but are very content to benefit from all that the Shepherd provides as He leads them to pasture. Goats can pretty well take care of themselves, and are not choosy about what they will eat, and will also annoy the sheep by eating their food, too. Shepherds can waste a lot of time and energy dealing with the goats, while it is the sheep which require their attention. Sheep are faithful to their shepherd, and are dependent upon him for their protection, guidance, and provision.

The apostle Paul writes in Rom 8:3 that Messiah came in the flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh. The Lion who is the Lamb not only came in a body like ours which requires to be replaced with a new and eternally suited one in the resurrection, but in the judgment of men, Jesus was/still is a troubler within and among the children of Israel and also of all humanity. He did not entrust Himself to man, but rather to God. He did not submit to their authority when it opposed the truth and will of God, but as a sacrificial Lamb with the authority of the kingly Lion, He both taught and corrected and rebuked with all authority. In the eyes of human powers and judges, Yeshua was a deceiver and a criminal. In their eyes, at best He was a goat who was expendable for the sake of their own flock. God was willing to come down to dwell among us to be condemned in order to provide salvation for us all, especially for those who repent and believe the good news!

There is a beautiful song, “Above All”, but the last line misses the heart of the Lamb. In Lev 16 we have the most detailed description of God’s provision of His sacrifice to forgive all of the sins of all Israel, especially for those who believed it. One of the goats was sacrificed unto YHVH. The other was sent alive with all of the sins of the people upon it unto Azazel, and is the scapegoat outside the camp bearing all the reproach, even though it has made it possible for God to dwell amongst His sinful people. Before Yeshua went to the cross, He first went to the Garden of Gethshamane. There He offered Himself, with tears and bloody sweat in prayer to God His Father, to willingly obey Him in His love for Him, to accomplish salvation according to the plan of the uniquely one God before the creation of this universe. Afterwards, Jesus went to the cross and bore the sin of the world and all of our sins, asking the Father to forgive us because we really don’t know what we have done or do with respect to the holiness of our God. The song concludes that Jesus first of all thought about me, but the truth is that first of all, He thought about His Father, and in that, He gave Himself also for us, still considered “clean but sinful”, but for the grace of God to give us eyes to see, ears to hear, a new heart and a new spirit. It’s all about Him!

For the glory of the Ancient of Days and the Lamb upon the Throne!

I think that fairly describes what the Jewish New Year is really about. The Jewish people just don’t realize it yet! YHVH God’s redemptive plan for Israel and for the whole Earth looks forward to the repentance of Israel from all her sins against the God who chose her and the land for His inheritance, and the national day of Israel’s sins being forgiven, as prophesied by Zechariah in chap. 12. Israel will be re-born as a people and nation — just as individual Jews and also Gentiles are re-born now. Truly that will be a ‘new year’ to be forever celebrated with a new song of the one whom they still despise and reject, but whom the full remnant from all the tribes (‘all Israel’) will come to love with all their hearts, souls, mind, and strength. There is good reason to hope with anticipation that this great day will occur during the lifetime of some of us reading this! But whether we be dead or alive, the voice of the Son of God will sound forth — or, perhaps, shout out like the blast of the shofar — “COME UP!” (or whatever He wants to say ). And those who hear that voice of our great Shepherd, will enjoy ruling and reigning with Him over His beloved Israel and the other sheep nations He has rewarded for their righteous deeds done to Him through their love for least of His brethren. (Mt 25:31-40)

The over-arching theme of my teachings/exhortations seem to be that “God Is Redeeming Israel Today”, and within that, it seems that the heart of the message is the sanctification of the name of YEHOVAH (including of Yeshua/Jesus) in connection with the fear of the LORD/YHVH. The fear of His Name will be the impetus to sanctify/hallow the Father’s holy name (Ezek 20; 36; 39; Mt 6:9; Rev 11 and 15, for a very few examples). True revival will restore awe and holy fear in believers, and we will honor our great God and Savior, repenting of our sins, forgiving those who have sinned against us, returning to the WORD OF GOD for truth and sustenance in hopeful expectation of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in great power and glory. As our troubles become more intense — because of our faith and hope and love for Yeshua — so, too, will our expectation and anticipation grow and intensify for the heart-felt cry of the last prayer in the Bible: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” To this end, all the prophets and apostles speak with one voice.

Greetings in the love of truth and peace!

Tisha b’Av (the 9th of Av, which is the fifth Hebrew month in the Biblical order) is about over. The Jewish religion has made this day a day of mourning and fasting, almost to a degree greater than that of the Day of Atonements (Yom Ha-Kippurim), commemorating firstly the destruction of the first Temple. The second Temple was also destroyed at the same time, and other tragedies in Jewish history. God is apparently trying to communicate something to His people. The Rabbis say that only the Messiah can change the fast days connected with the destruction of the Temple to days of joy and gladness (Zech 8:18-19). That being so, I think that the anti-christ will do just that, as a proof that he has the privilege and authority of taking the rightful place of the true Messiah, and he will do it without any truth as to the reason for why the temples were destroyed and the other tragedies have occurred. They will celebrate the new building they have built and the restoration of sacrifices they hope will bring cleansing and forgiveness for all their sins. The true Messiah, Yeshua, has changed these days for the Jewish believer (Is 61:1-3) already now, and He will do so for the saved remnant when they know Him for who He truly is.

In the meantime, even as we pray and intercede for our people, we also have a testimony that Messiah has come and has given us joy in our God and His salvation and the newness of life. As an aside, these four fast days were instituted by the Jewish people for themselves, and God recognized them if not commending them. The Jewish people also instituted Purim and Hanukkah, and the Lord recognized them. Why should He not allow the Gentile segment of the Church the same privilege and honor to establish meaningful days/dates to commemorate, whether or not they are always done with the purest of motives? If all Israel is not Israel — and we do not dissociate ourselves from our unbelieving brethren in the flesh — then it is no strange thing that all the Church is not the Church.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Thank-you, G, for replying.

Your objections are not new to me, and I have had to deal with them over the years. The conclusions I have come to satisfy me completely as a Jew, who believes in the death and resurrection of Messiah, and the New Covenant in His blood — meaning that it is established upon His death, the very thing which the Lord’s Supper reminds us of (1Cor 11:26) The New Testament is written by Israeli Jews, other than Luke and Acts, who received their status and authority by the Lord Yeshua Himself, and through whom the Holy Spirit has given us their teachings grounded in Yeshua’s (Jn 16:12-15; 17:20), and brings in the newness which His resurrection brings believers into (Heb 10:19-23). There is both continuity and discontinuity, and it is all rooted in the one true God and His Word. Our Hebraic roots are found in God’s covenantal promises, which as Jesus testifies, all speak of Him.

I will respond briefly to your points, just enough to help show that the common objections can not be applied dogmatically. My source for anything pertaining to our faith and practice comes from the whole counsel of God — the whole of the Bible — which is both a Tenach/Old Testament and a New Testament requirement (Is 8:20; 66:1-5; Mt 15:1-9; Rev 3:8).

(My responses follow the objection, and begin indented.)

At 12:56 PM 7/28/2009 -0700, G wrote:

1- Peter’s dream that all foods are clean. If you read the entire section, you will notice that Peter was confused. He later realized that the true interpretation was that the gentiles are “clean” and brought into the the vine. The “Kosher” foods are actually health instructions.

Peter may have been confused, given the new thing the Lord was showing him. We probably would have been, too. That Peter did come to understand that the unclean animals he was told three times to kill and eat did not pertain to Gentile people only (he didn’t begin to kill and eat them!), but to the more mundane thing of God breaking down the tremendous social barrier which the Law had set up between Jews and Gentiles because of dietary regulations, is clear from Gal 2:11-14. This event probably occurred after the Jerusalem Council established the guidelines for Gentile participation and equality in the Body of Messiah. Peter, who knew what God had shown him about food and Gentiles, was hypocritical and fearful of those Jewish believers who still had not understood fully how the gospel allows Jewish and Gentile believers to eat the same foods together at the same table, and frees Jewish believers to be sent throughout the world with the gospel to all peoples! Peter accepted this rebuke from Paul, and even commends him and the wisdom he had from God for all of us to pay heed to, despite the difficulties (2Pt 3:14-16).

“Kosher” foods were not given primarily for bodily health, but to distinguish between the unclean and the clean (Lev 11:47). I have no doubt that God’s ‘diet’ to Israel would have been healthy, yet I also have no doubt that the God of the Jews and of the Gentiles did not leave 99.9% of the world eating unhealthily. Foods do need to be properly prepared and cooked, but the New Testament ‘diet’ available to all believers, should we want or ever need, is given in Mk 7:14-20 and 1Tim 4:3b-6. God does not want His people to be in our own character like the unclean animals. The blood of the Lamb has made us ‘kosher’, and He wants us to show it.

2- Paul’s comment about the sabbaths was not for the Sabbath (7th day). Yeshua is Lord of the Sabbath and he never changed it. The sabbaths represented are for the festivals. (e.g., the first and last days are sabbaths).

I don’t know how you can limit Paul’s teachings on the Sabbath to only those which begin and end YHVH’s own ‘festivals’. Those sabbath days were important to Him, as well. It is interesting that in all the accounts in which Yeshua comments on the continuing relevance of the [10] commandments, He does not mention the 7th day Sabbath. He Himself is God’s Sabbath rest, and ours, too. We are to cease from our own works (Heb 4:10), and to do the work of God. While Jesus was alive, He had no reason to change the day, for the day after the Sabbath is “the day that YHVH has made, and we shall rejoice in it”, and it speaks to His resurrection (Ps 118:22-24; Mt 21:38-44). Praise God for the resurrection of Yeshua, for this is to justify those who believe! The Holy Spirit is fulfilling the Word of God — from Moses, the prophets, the Lord Messiah, His apostles — even if people and councils and churches do not realize or recognize it. It is very revealing that all these ‘Jewish concerns’ — Sabbath and food regulations — receive no emphasis in the epistles of the apostles to the circumcision — Peter, John, and James; nor in the letters to the churches representing the whole Body of Messiah throughout the age by the Head of the Church and the King of Israel!

3- The Roman Catholic church which was the church brought about by Constantine. Proposed in 317 AD and accepted by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. All its rituals are of pagan origin. It also removed the commandment about idols and split another to make ten.

Many of the pagan rituals of the RCC are similar to pagan rituals which Israel herself already did before, and which the prophets rebuked and called them to repentance for centuries (Jer 7:18; Ezek 8; etc). Living in Israel even today places us in the middle of tremendous idolatries and superstitions by the most religious of the people. Nonetheless, just as YHVH God has never let go of His covenant claims upon Israel, despite her gross idolatries, neither has Yeshua/Jesus forsaken His purchase of all who confess Him to be the Christ/Messiah, the Son of God (Mt 16:15-18). We see this clearly in His letters through John to the seven churches, and the Thyatira church does sound very much like the RCC. He is calling us and them to repentance, or else face certain judgment, for He still has authority over all of us, just as He still does over Jewish people and Israel, and is still calling them/her to repentance back to the Father through faith in Him (Lev 26:40-45; Zech 12:10-14; Mt 23:37-39).

4- You must understand Jewish Culture to truly understand the meaing of both the Tenach and B’rit Hadashah. Some of your interpreataions are from the “Christian” hijacking of the Jewishness of the Bible.

I am Jewish, and have always been conscious of my identity and culture. It is not my intention to be ‘hijacked’ by either Judaizers or Hellenizers, for the gospel is neither Jewish nor Greek, but of God in Messiah from Above. No flesh will glory in His presence. But to assume that one must understand Jewish Culture in order to ‘truly understand’ the Bible is arrogant. Do only the learned, the wise, the mighty, and the noble know God and His ways? (1Cor 1:20-25) Has God left most of the world’s inhabitants through most of the centuries who have never known a Jew — and when Israel was not a nation in its own land and culture — ignorant of knowing Him and His ways? Even the prophets and angels did not always know exactly what God was doing and when! The religious leaders of Yeshua’s days and following ridiculed and dismissed the apostles as unlearned and mere Galileans, and thought that Yeshua Himself was only a carpenter’s son who did not sufficiently understand their religion and customs. Learning can be interesting and useful, but it can also become a snare, and there is much which is falsely called ‘knowledge’. (1Tim 6:20-21)

It is also wrong to presume that anything which the ‘Christians’ have interpreted is inadequate to those of us who are Jewish. Does God only reveal truth to and through Jews? Are only Jewish believers able to teach all other believers? This thinking is a recipe for pride and envy, and for even mocking the many great contributions which God has graciously and bountifully blessed the world with through these sons of Abraham by faith, and filled with the same Holy Spirit which He gave first to the Jewish believers. This attitude does not promote the unity and equality of Jewish and Gentile believers in Messiah, and of the one new [corporate] man who is also the Bride of Christ. It is a cause of division and discord amongst the brethren. We Jews have shown that we do not always know what we are talking about, yet, as the natural branches, we should be learning to be merciful to those who have been grafted in contrary to nature. We will be judged more severely. We all have much to learn in knowing God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ whom He sent!

We must all be reconciled to God and to His thoughts and ways. This is sanctification, and the Holy Spirit is thankfully still at work in us to finish what God has begun.

All in all, bless you and all “fighting” for the spread of the Gospel in Israel.
G.M.

Thank-you, and God bless you, too.
Howard

The Messianic community in Israel and abroad is not of one color or in one stream. There is no ‘spokesperson’ whose views are accepted by all as representing them – and this is right. We do not all look the same, nor do we all have the same preferences when it comes to the many things which are offered us. We are not called to the same service or gifted with the same gifts or skilled with the same skills. Of all that which is lawful, not all are evaluated in the same way by every one at all times as to whether it is helpful or edifying, or whether any one has come under its power into bondage.

People tend toward labeling and stereotyping because it seems neat and natural. Oftentimes there is much truth in the description, but the exceptions usually take exception to being categorized or lumped together in quite that way. There are a number of things spoken of in broad strokes and generalizations by both believers and unbelievers regarding the people, the faith, and the practice of “Messianic Jews”. (The term, Messianic Jew, is problematic, because Lubavitch Jews/Chabad and Temple Mount Faithful adherents are also ‘messianic Jews’.) I want to set some things in order from my present view and understanding because, yes, I am one of those who does not like to be too rigidly labeled and categorized. Others have done that for me at times! But as one who is born of the Spirit, I myself cannot tell always where I may come from or where the Lord is taking me. Right now, I am reacting and responding to a number of things which have recently, and some for many years, been expressed. Perhaps the Lord is preparing for something.

Randi and I moved to Israel only seven months after becoming believers in Yeshua/Jesus as the Christ/Messiah. We briefly connected at first with what was then the Messianic Jewish movement, but we did not ‘subscribe’ to it, nor were we in the U.S. very long as believers. We came to Israel, where most everything is already Jewish. I have dear friends and brothers who are in the Messianic Jewish [synagogue] style of expressing their lives, both here and in the U.S. What keeps us in good fellowship, though, is our agreement on the ‘real’ Yeshua – both in His deity and in His humanity; on the ‘true’ gospel – there is only one way of salvation, both for the Jews and for the Gentiles (Why would God change His way for the Jews after He started the way of salvation with them?!); and, on the ‘holiness’of the Holy Spirit. To be open, I have no problem that we fall into the category of what some might call fundamentalist and evangelical. We are also Pentecostal and charismatic, but also in these, not in the way of ‘labeling’ and ‘stereotyping’. The problem comes when some want to find fault with being a believer like this, or in a congregation of this kind – mostly for the reason that we don’t quite fit their ‘acceptable norms’. What is the matter with believing the Bible to really be God’s Word, of preaching the gospel for salvation, of being baptized in/by/with the Holy Spirit, of having and using spiritual gifts?

Joseph was in Egypt and received an Egyptian name. God arranged that, and used Joseph in wonderful ways to save many lives, both of Gentiles, and also of His family, the house of Jacob. So, too, with Yeshua: too many love Yeshua, but are embarrassed about Jesus. God has let His anointed and beloved Son be called by many names amongst the languages of the nations. The day will eventually come when YHVH will be one and His Name one. But if we are thankful for what our sovereign God has done, and for who He is, then we can speak honorably of Him, and praise His name, in all the languages God has given mankind to glorify the Savior of the world. The name Yeshua in Hebrew appears a number of times in the Tanach (the Old Testament, which is passing away; it has not passed away). Some examples are in Ezra 3:2 and Neh 8:17. In English it appears as Jeshua; in the Septuagint, which was translated more than two centuries before Yeshua was born in flesh and blood, the Greek translation of the name Yeshua/Jeshua is the same as in the New Testament. In other words, Jesus is not some pagan name, but rather a name which God has been pleased to honor for many centuries! The same is true regarding Messianic or Christian. They are the same word, meaning the same thing. It is neither a Jewish nor a Gentile designation, but an identification with the Messiah/Christ.

The same regarding the birth of the Lord: His birth is not a pagan event, but a very holy one. It is a Biblical day of rejoicing by those who looked for and loved the fulfillment of the promise given so clearly to Adam and Eve, to the Middle East through Balaam, to Israel through Isaiah. The Jewish shepherds in Israel sent by the rejoicing angels to behold the One who had come into the world; the righteous and devout Jewish Israeli old man, Shimon/Simeon; and the Israeli prophetess Hannah/Anna, all celebrated the birth of the Messiah of God, the Holy One of Israel, the Son of the Highest! Let the unbelievers and the heathen do what they will, but let us sanctify the Lord in our hearts and worship Him in purity, not giving over anything to the devil, but redeeming that which has been taken over by those who fear not YHVH.

Not all Messianic Jews religiously follow the customs and traditions of normative Judaism. Neither do we renounce all of those traditions, but follow or use them in the liberty we have when it seems appropriate or simply desirable. The focus, though, is on the substance, rather than on the shadow or type, or on the culture itself. I was raised in the Conservative Jewish synagogue. When I was born-again, I was no longer Jew-ish (like a Jew), but, by the wonderful grace of God, became a Jew!

For those who claim to keep Biblically kosher (i.e., maintaining dietary laws regarding clean and unclean meats, but [rightly] disregarding the rabbinic prohibition against eating meat and dairy foods together), I have never heard one say that the numerous passages in the New Testament are relevant as to what makes for Biblical. It is written that Yeshua made all foods clean. Yeshua came first of all to the House of Israel, to the ones who had the Law (Torah) with its regulations about ritually acceptable foods. Once we accept that, or reject it, our understanding of the other verses and passages will be influenced. Clean foods were already clean, and so needed no ‘cleansing’ by the Messiah; it is the unclean foods which He made clean, which makes sense when I realize that not only did He cleanse the ‘defiled’ Gentiles in the hearts and minds of the Israeli Jewish Apostles, but He also cleansed this ‘unclean’ Jew! We are free to eat what we want or not, but let us honor the word and the work of our Lord in His death and resurrection when we speak of those things which are lawful and permissible, without any judgment of one’s ‘Jewishness’. Let us testify to the new creation which we are, and to a new priesthood and its duties and privileges, which necessarily also changes the law for those in Messiah in His New Covenant.

Likewise regarding the 7th day Sabbath (Shabbat): it has not been done away with, and it also has a prophetic fulfillment with the soon coming Kingdom of God back to Israel and the whole of creation. However, Moses wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the ‘day after the Sabbath’ (Lev 23:11, 15), referring to the first fruits/resurrection, and to the day of Shavuot/Pentecost. The Scriptures do not make any special mention of either the 16th or the 17th of the first month (Nisan), nor of the 6th of the third month (Sivan). The counting of the omer/sheaves begins with life from the dead! Our new life begins not with our death and burial, but with our resurrection in and with Christ! Eternity is after this very good creation is brought to an end – when time and history are concluded — and the perfect new heavens and new Earth is created for all who love God in truth. It is this day after the Shabbat, i.e., the first day of the week, that the Jewish Israeli Apostles wrote about to celebrate as a witness and a testimony to the fulfillment of what God did in Yeshua resurrecting from among the dead sometime early Sunday morning.

Again, we are free, according to New Testament instructions (which are very realistic for what God is doing to save people wherever they may live and from whatever culture), to assemble together for worship on any day now, if that will be most helpful for most of the people. Here in Israel, among the Jews, it is obviously most normal to meet on the Saturday; in a Muslim country, Christians may find it more useful to meet on Fridays. For Arab Christians here, Sunday evening is the normal day for most to gather together. Whatever day it may be, we still have the responsibility to honor the days which YHVH God has specially honored, because we are His witnesses to His work of creation and redemption, and to show ourselves approved by Him. It is not a badge of faith in Yeshua/Jesus just because we meet on Shabbat, especially when most of the world naturally assumes that those who believe in Him would worship on Sunday. It may be Jewish, but not necessarily Messianic!

1Jn 2:22-25 makes it very definite that the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints is neither Judaism nor Islam, each of them falling into the negative categories which the Holy Spirit inspired John to write for our admonition and learning. God’s own ‘theology’ of monotheism is different than the definitions given by both Judaism and Islam. God has given Israel to be an example to the Church, meaning that the Jewish people are a microcosm of all humanity, because the Body of Christ is made up of persons from every tribe and nation. Judaism is likewise a paradigm for other religions that have once received the revelation from the true God, but turned it into a legalistic, works-based approach to righteousness (Rom 10:2-4). The Roman Catholic Church is very similar to Judaism, but on the other side of identifying who Jesus is, and any other Christian/Messianic denomination or stream can fall into the same pattern of having those who place works and tradition above living faith and hope, which have the capacity to be all things to all people for the gospel and the Kingdom of God’s sake, rooted in the righteousness of God.

I think that it is reasonable to say that Judaism – the religion whose focus is presumably on YHVH God, but which has turned inward onto itself/themselves, departing from the true knowledge of God, and so seeks man’s approval over God’s – will not be the ‘religion’ of the Millennial Kingdom which Yeshua is coming back to usher in and preside over! There is definitely a future for the Jewish/Israeli people, at least another 1000 years! Praise the Lord! But the full remnant that is all Israel is not all ‘Jew-ish’, but is rather the restoration of the whole House of Israel (Ezek 37:15-28). So now, in the Body of Messiah within Israel, the Jewish believers are difficult to define, to put a finger on. And it is not really helpful to insist on it, in order to prove one’s Jewish or Israeli credentials to some one or other’s satisfaction. Our faith in Jesus/Yeshua places us outside normative Judaism, and no self-respecting unbelieving Jewish person will accept it otherwise. Only a revelation from the Father can change the notion which says that Jesus is not for the Jewish people, and that Jews can not believe in Jesus. (See this very enlightening response by unbelieving Jews to a believer: http://www.jewishisrael.com/profiles/blogs/weve-got-mail-from-missionary ) The Scriptures are true: Israel is an enemy of the gospel, but beloved for the fathers’ sake, and for the salvation of countless Gentiles. This reality will not change until Israel cries out for Yeshua to save her/them (Mt 23:37-39).

Our current court case against the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Beer Sheva, Yehuda Deri, and against the anti-Messianic/Christian organization, Yad L’Achim, is not in order to gain legitimacy for Jewish believers in Jesus here in Israel in a normal civil liberties sense. Homosexuals and others who want to be recognized as a legitimate grouping within society also may ‘wave the flag’ of serving in the military and the paying of taxes as reasons enough to approve them, if not to embrace their ‘faith’ or lifestyle. Nor is our lawsuit in order to avoid or to prevent any future opposition or persecution against believers, which, according to my understanding of the end times, is going to increase before the great and terrible Day of YHVH. It is to uphold a standard of righteousness which still exists within the current laws of the State of Israel, and to, hopefully, help BREAK THROUGH THE STRONGHOLD OVER THE MINDS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE AGAINST THE GOSPEL, and to allow SOME to consider what they are doing, and turn away from evil, and towards the truth, light, and righteousness, and that they be saved by the very One they now hate without a cause. God in His longsuffering and goodness is bringing repentance in the fear of His Name to many in Israel, and to His people still dispersed among the nations.

We are called to have a prophetic voice, to be light and salt, to be witnesses of the truth of Messiah in Jesus. We are also called to strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace – love – with all who call upon the name of Yeshua/Jesus from a pure heart. May the grace of God our Father continue to work in me to enlarge, soften, purify my heart to love Him more, to love the brethren more, to love my fellow man more, to love my enemies more.

Hear, O Israel, YHVH our God, YHVH is one! May we see the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in great power and glory speedily in our day and generation!

Shalom From the Mighty God!

God bless you,
Howard

As many here know I have made an important decision concerning my service in the Israeli Defense Forces. I want to share some of the principles which have come out as a result of my decision, for we all fare trials of our faith in Messiah. We have a responsibility to stand in faith in order to bear witness of God in Christ, and not of ourselves or others.

From the very beginning–nearly eight months ago–that I took action by writing to the IDF explaining my position, according to what the Holy Spirit had made known to me, almost immediately I encountered opposing viewpoints from believers and others, who were unaware of my attitude or action. Yet I rested in my peace with God because I felt certain about what He had shown me.

Over the months, the Lord confirmed His Word to me, which strengthened and encouraged me, and for this I gave (give) Him thanks and praise. Looking back I can see His preparing me for stronger and direct opposition from the IDF itself, and more subtle testing of my obedience to faith from those nearer to me. All acted or spoke out of a genuine concern and with good intentions, and some even used the Scriptures. (I appreciated that the most actually.)

Let me emphasize that I appreciate very much the prayer support and encouragement I have received from all of you even though there is not complete agreement or understanding. God in His infinite wisdom will use us as goads for one another to challenge and to prove our faith and resolve, and to enable us to stand the greater trials to come in our sojourn towards the Promised Land.

It is not that we have exactly attained resurrection life or are already able to be perfect, but we are to follow after these in Messiah Yeshua. So I hope that by His mercy I have obtained grace to answer those who have challenged me with love in the assurance of the victory I have in Christ.

In Romans 14 it is written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that anything not of faith is sin. Just last week as I was reading the Bible, one verse spoke out which could allow someone to take a different stand than I have and justify themselves. A seed of doubt entered my mind despite all that the Lord had spoken and shown to me through the whole of Scripture. This seed, if left unchecked, threatened to weaken my resolve to stand firm upon the truth God had given me, and to be lukewarm is most distasteful to our Lord. So I asked Him to help me out, even to the point of providing me a proper way of changing or modifying my position. This time He used another brother, not aware of my doubt, to encourage and strengthen me, as well as ministering to me through His word and through other believers who have taken a similar view. Our perfect Teacher and Father was preparing me to stand by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony.

Our faith must operate along the distinct path which the Lord has for each of His elect, and which therefore we must accept as from Him. He has His mind for each one of us, and it is our individual responsibility to use the mind of Christ we have received both to know and to do His will. I cannot have faith for another, nor can another for me, insofar as our personal walk by faith in the Spirit is concerned.

Without faith, we cannot please God. And except there be works of faith to test it and give evidence of it, our faith is dead and not living, But what must our faith be subject to or based upon in order for it to build up the inner man and be pleasing to God? The Scriptures say that the righteous shall live by his faith– his own personal faith. And we see that our faith must be subject
to righteousness–our right relationships with God and with man–distinguishing between believers and unbelievers, between family and others, etc.

We are instructed in righteousness by the Scriptures–the inspired word of God–the truth. Except our walk of faith be grounded in truth, it cannot be a walk in the righteousness of Christ , and it will not be confirmed by the Holy Spirit. Anything we do in our life that is not anointed–no matter our intentions or opinions or our own ideas as to how to win souls for salvation; no matter how we allow ourselves to be deceived to justify or rationalize our actions– can best be described as a filthy rag and will burn in the day of judgment of our works. Only that which is in and of Christ is able to be resurrected– is able to live eternally and minister life to others. For God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit; and in fact, the Father is even now seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Faith is the reality of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen. Abraham believed in YHVH–the invisible, self-existent, eternal God–and it was accounted to him as righteousness. We are born again into a new life of righteousness. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. God’s Kingdom is not of this world– is not of that which is temporal or tangible or in opposition to His sovereign grace– but of that which is above, unseen, spiritual, eternal.

Our faith must be based upon God’s word and brought to life in us and through us by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit, for the word of truth alone can also kill and minister death. Truth must pass through the cross in order to glorify God in Christ Jesus.

If we are certain of what God has shown us– and He cannot contradict His word or else there is no sure foundation– then we can stand against the schemes of the enemy and overcome the trials of our faith and obedience towards God. Our most difficult trials often come through others whose God is also the LORD.

In 1 Kings 13 it is written of a man of God sent to prophesy against the ungodly ways of the king and the priests. The LORD also instructed the prophet not to eat or drink, nor to return by the same way by which he went. When he had finished his mission, he began to return according to God’s word to him. An old prophet heard of what the man of God had done and went looking for him. Finding him, he invited him to his house. The man of God repeated the word of God spoken to him, and the old prophet lied to him, saying that an angel spoke the word of the LORD to him also, that the man should return with him to his house. So he did so.

Perhaps the old prophet’s heart was with good intent. Maybe he wanted to know more about the man of God and what he had accomplished on his mission. But it was not what the LORD had spoken to the man of God himself. In his disobedience to the living Word of God, he wound up being eaten by a lion on his deterred way home.

We know who the roaring lion is, and he is not usually the Lion of Judah! If we do things leaning on our own understanding or according to our own will contrary to God’s revealed will for us, we too will meet the lion in the form of unrest, lack of inner peace, irritation, or anger when challenged, and our further usefulness will be impaired.

Jesus died for our sins. His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He is risen from the dead in glory. Let us not make the cross of no account in our lives or testimony, or dishonor the price paid for our redemption and salvation. Let us believe the Word of God in faith, and seek the faith to believe when we lack it. Works of Christian faith are not works born of fear or uncertainty. Let us not strive to please men (for man is never satisfied), but rather live to please God. For even He has placed all of His faith in His Word and in the power of the blood of His Son to accomplish His eternal purpose. Surely we can trust Him to take care of us.

Greetings in the name of the Lamb who is also a Lion,

Much is said about how the Jewish people missed the first coming of Messiah because they were looking for a conquering king to free them from the yoke of the Romans and the Greeks — politically and religiously. We were expecting and wanting a king like the Gentiles have — not particularly holy, or even righteous, but someone ‘to be proud of’. When we willfully rejected the Anointed One of God — the true God — we were willing to accept not only a king like the Gentiles have, but the very gentile king himself, Caesar! This apostasy remains till this day on the part of the Jewish nation, wherever we may be — whether in Israel or still scattered amongst the nations to where YHVH drove us.

A particular attribute of God our Father and the Lord Yeshua Messiah is that He is no respecter of persons: He is not partial; He is not prejudiced; His scales are just; to whom more is given, more is expected. He requires more of His own people — Israel on the one hand, and the believers on the other — because we have been the recipients of His revelation and covenants. Judgment begins in His own household as a witness to all of His Fatherly love and of His righteousness.

Many in the Body of Messiah today are showing themselves to be no different than the Jewish people in their misapprehension. Fear God. . .for He has committed us all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. There is no place in the Lord’s all-seeing view for pride or arrogance.

Just as most of Israel set aside much of the Word of God regarding the necessity for the Messiah to suffer the things written about Him and to enter into His glory, so it seems today throughout much of ‘christendom’ that the truth of Jesus being the King of kings is being set aside in order to make nearly all things acceptable to the One who died a criminal’s death on the cross. The false teaching is growing that God in His great love will forgive all sin and sinners, and that virtually no one will have to suffer everlasting punishment for their unbelief and rebellion or lukewarmness against Him for who He Is! Rather than looking for Yeshua to return and judge all unrighteousness and to establish His Kingdom on the Earth, too many of us are satisfied with a gospel of tolerance and of being already full, already rich, already ruling without the others whom the Holy Spirit is bringing to maturity together as one new man with all who have historically placed their faith and hope and love in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lamb is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David; The Lion is the Lamb of God, who was slaughtered for our sins, transgressions, and iniquity. . . .and who rose from among the dead to receive the glory that was His with God before the world was! Messiah/Christ is not divided. He is who He is, and will do all that is written in the Scriptures concerning Himself. To Yeshua/Jesus is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen!

The Sea of Galilee is still far below its minimum safe level, and the water crisis is just one of many which Israel is struggling to cope with all at once: environmental, political both within and without, financial, moral. The incoming government is already shuffling around deals and ministries simply to form a government. The outgoing government is already anticipating the eventual downfall of the new. Rather than cooperation, there is opposition and envy. These strange coalitions and alliances we see forming in Israel and globally between incompatible individuals and ideologies and ‘means to an end’ remind me more and more of the toes in the image of King Nebuchadnezzer’s dream which Daniel interpreted for him and us: there is no cohesiveness; it is the weakest element at the point of most need of support; the iron and clay will bring the whole thing down. The coming of the Lord draws near! It is very interesting to me that in Revelation, the coming of the Kingdom of God with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is good news for those of Heaven and for those humans whose hope is set on God and His intent to establish His Son as King in Zion and over all Israel and the Earth. But it is considered a woe for those who are of the world, who are enemies of the true God and Father and of His beloved Son. (Rev 11).

The holiday of Purim is this week, and we remember God’s sovereign ways and power to deliver His people from the hands of those who would destroy them. Ultimately, it did require help and deliverance from another place for God to bring salvation to His people through the Lord’s death on the cross. And, despite all of our best efforts to ‘make the world better’ (tikkun) — and God will judge us on what we have done as believers, whether good or bad — we will still need help and deliverance from that same ‘other place’ for God to bring everlasting righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit to the world He created to be a habitable place.

The last days weather patterns are certainly less predictable than just a few years ago. God’s covenant blessings of the right amount of rain at the right times were based on Israel’s obedience with faith in Him. Since this is still not the case, and since the times are nearing for God’s interventions in righteous judgments, then the lack of ‘good’ rain is a means by which He would want His people to repent and return to Him. (Dt 28:12, 23-24)

Yet God has promised since the Flood that as long as this Earth remains, there would still be the four seasons (Gen 8:22). And He has further promised that as long as He is in control of our unique solar system within His universe, and that the size of the universe can not be determined, Israel would remain a nation before Him, and His covenants with David and with the Levites would not be broken (Jer 31:33-37; 33:19-26).

So we can be assured that Yeshua is going to return at the appointed time to regenerate this Creation and make the Earth a very habitable place during His reign! (Ps 96; Mt 24:32-39; Rom 8:18-25)

There are times I teach or preach or otherwise communicate in ways that can offend, without intending to be condemning. Yet, like the Lord spoke to Amos, “YHVH God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” The apostle Paul knew the difference when he was speaking the words of God and when he was giving his own sanctified opinion. (1Cor 7:10,12,25,40) I suppose in one way, that is my aim: to speak the truth in righteousness and in love, with a humble spirit, knowing that whatever I have to offer that has any value has only been given me through God’s grace. It’s obvious I am not always going to succeed, but neither can I refrain when the Spirit of the Lord has stirred up something within me that needs to come out.

An Arab brother who has been responding rather sharply to me – sometimes generally as representing a side, other times personally since my name is given – wrote in one response that he can not mention his own name publicly when criticizing Israel or Messianic Jews because he would lose financial support either for his family and/or for his ministry. I told him that that happens to us, too, sometimes.

I remember some years ago, we were receiving support from a family to the congregation. . .until I became called and chosen to be the pastor. The donors were going in an opposite direction regarding ‘church’ and didn’t approve that we were moving in what we believed was the biblical direction of having a full-time pastor dedicated to the flock. Other times I have written regarding my/our views with respect to rabbinic authority and oral law on believers in Yeshua and the New Testament – especially on Jews, but also on Gentile believers. There is also the matter of gifts of the Spirit and our attitude towards different ones which have been directed towards us, and my responses. I do not know all of those on our mailing list personally, or the inclinations of every one on some of these issues. I write and instruct on issues of reconciliation, especially between Jews and Arabs/Israelis and Palestinian believers.

I have taught on the priesthood in the congregation and sent out an article on the appearance of Jesus, touching in a special way on the length of His hair. It is not for me to give my own personal opinion apart from the Word of God, but having His word, who can but ‘prophesy’? Even the full moon has been a point of controversy, as more believers seem to want to go back and celebrate the new moon. Amos gives another of Scripture’s own interpretation: that the new moon is when it is dark/’hidden’, not when the light is first visible as a sliver, which is actually the Islamic symbol! (Amos 8:5; 1Sam 20:5)

Recently, the whole issue of war and its surrounding aspects of proportionate response, and the character of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, has taken a front-line place. I personally needed to have a better understanding of the subject, not only because our son is directly involved, but also because of the attacks within the Body of Christ, here in Israel and also from abroad. What sayest the Lord?!

On all of these controversial issues amongst ourselves, there is a risk involved in speaking out. We may not only be misunderstood; I may be not understood. It is not for me just a platform to discuss or argue certain points, but to have an answer from the Word and Spirit of God to take away stones and to make straight the teaching of God that gives peace when we all can agree that we are all under HIS authority and teaching, and not under any one’s personal or denominational distinctions.

I am not writing this because of finances. It is just an encouragement to myself from Amos, who was not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet; he was just a sheep breeder. We are all being sanctified as we cooperate with the Spirit of Messiah, being brought to maturity and fullness to the glory of our Lord and God, who is also giving us His glory.

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Messiah Yeshua has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything [we] think otherwise, God will reveal even this to [us]. Nevertheless, to that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

As much as we may prefer negotiations to settle disputes, it is clear that not everybody responds to ‘talk’. God has given parents authority to spank their children when talk isn’t enough; God chastens those whom He loves when ‘grace’ isn’t appreciated; He has given governments the power and authority to bear the sword when internal criminals or external enemies transgress the law more than can be tolerated for the general welfare of the citizenry. If believers, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, can’t/won’t always ‘do good’ and are hardly saved, what is to be expected from those who are in open rebellion against Him!

Shalom IN Messiah,

The war in Gaza between the Israel and Hamas has drawn a strong reaction from an Arab brother towards his Messianic Jewish brethren.
http://www.comeandsee.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=954

Some of you may want to take the opportunity to speak with humility and understanding into the situation and to the Arab evangelical Christian community at such a time as this. In any case, it provides a window into the inner conflicts we all deal with here. What is God going to have to do to bring us into that oneness of which Yeshua prayed?!

When we walk in the light, there is fellowship. Let our conversations be seasoned with grace and salt.

Love,

Our Father in Heaven cares for you all, and His eyes are always upon you, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. As Yeshua has told us, He is with us all the days, even until the end of the age!

Do you have living hope — based upon the sure Word of God — that that end is within your own lifetime?

T, I apologize for not communicating more clearly, and also that I didn’t suggest that you could write in Hebrew. (Typing in Hebrew would take me too long.) I think you’re right, too, that we look at things quite differently, something I had said at the beginning, and that also ‘confuses’ our language. Hopefully, God will bring us both closer to Him, and so to each other.

Shana tova,
Howard

At 05:03 PM 9/15/2008 +0200, you wrote:
I find it amusing how i can say one thing and be understood in a way that didn’t even cross my mind. obviously we live in parallel worlds, and this is why we don’t even share the same language.

be well
t

Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: what’s in the name Notzri

It seems as if we have come full circle, T, in our exchanges, which for me, at least, has been enlightening and helpful. If I can close on a few points, which probably won’t find favor with you, but do answer for me to your last remarks:

– Everyone is called to convert/be converted! According to both the Tanach and the N.T., we have all worshipped idols and need to repent, and all persons are called to repent and believe the good news and be changed (converted) into the image of God’s Son, of God truly being our Father. It’s not only about faith and religion, but about our whole nature and being.

–We Jews didn’t as a people/nation receive/accept Yeshua before there were Gentile Christians and Christianity. Our first controversy is with the Lord our God Himself, afterwards with the goyim and the Christians. Christians need to ask themselves how well they have done in obeying their own particular calling with respect to Israel: provoke to jealousy and show mercy. (written in Romans)

–When I read the Tanach, every time there was a revival amongst the people was when they recognized and repented with regret and a broken heart over their disobedience to what was written in the Law of Moses and spoken/written by the prophets. Some examples with which I’m sure you are familiar are found in 2Kings 22:8-20; Daniel 9:13. In Nehemiah 8:7-8, the priests read from the Law and helped the people to understand (to make disciples, we could even say). In Isaiah 8:20, YHVH rebukes the people turning away from the Law and the testimony. In Malachi 3:22 (4:4 Eng), YHVH calls on Israel to remember the Law of Moses, that He had commanded from Horeb. And, of course, Moses himself said that a prophet like unto him would come, and that we must listen to him and to the words which YHVH God has put into His mouth. Yeshua a number of times in His ‘sermon on the mount’ spoke about what had either been written or had been said (‘oral law’?), “but I say to you . . . .”.

–It seems that what the Bible says has never been regarded very highly by the Jews, and we are simply a picture of human nature in this. I certainly didn’t consider the Tanach worth the treasure that it is before I believed that Jesus is actually the Messiah. We are the chosen people, and through us God has made clear for all to see what He is like, what people are like, what the enemies are like. You have put me (and others) in a category that can not satisfy or meet your approval: if we say we are Jews, you say we are just Christians; if we say we are Christians, you say we deny our Jewish identity and heritage. So I take rest in what Paul said (who had excelled beyond his peers in the Jewish religion as the Pharisees taught it), and I will not seek the praise or approval from men, but from God.

Respectfully,
Howard

T wrote:
Well, your own particular take is not of interest to most Jews since for them faith in Jesus means conversion. You can choose to ignore it but this is the single most important reason why Jews refuse to consider Yeshua seriously. Again what you want is of little consequence and presenting Yeshua with this “what the Bible says” slogan is so thoroughly Christian that it only intensify the sense for most Jews that they are dealing with converts. It is a wishful thinking that Israel will accept the Christian Jesus. they have refused to do so for 2000 years and will continue to do so, and for very good reasons.
t

Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 8:16 PM
Subject: Re: what’s in the name Notzri

I nearly always start off by saying that I am a Jew who believes in Jesus/Yeshua. After that it doesn’t matter too much to me, but, like I said, and try to show in the teaching, I want people to understand what the Bible says a Notzri is, and even a Messianic/Christian, since the issue to me is not actually a Jewish-Gentile one, but who is Messiah and what does it mean to believe in, follow, belong to Him. Maybe the term Jew has become so synonymous with rabbinic Judaism that Christians have thought a Jew who believes in Jesus can’t be a Jew anymore. God hasn’t changed His thoughts even if people have — with more than enough help from the devil.

Howard

T wrote:
Notzri is not controversial, and this is why it is not a problem for most interpreters. However, when dealing with social and historical issues, the term notzri became synonymous with Christianity, hence we can’t use it. Messianic Jews who call themselves Christians abroad and Messianics in Israel are telling everybody that they are Christians, not Jews. ignoring the convention only strengthens misconceptions.
t

Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: what’s in the name Notzri

Hi T,
Just to avoid any misunderstanding about my use of the name Notzri, it has to do with all believers in Yeshua, not to Gentile Christians only, nor to a Jewish sect, which seem more like the Samaritans in ‘kindred spirit’ (they don’t seem to know what they worship). It’s interesting that in all books and studies on the names of YHVH or Messiah that I have seen, the controversial name of Notzri is left out! To God be the glory and to the Lamb upon the throne!
Shavua tov,
Howard
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __

Very timely! I’m glad you read it, T, and if any of it is helpful to your own article, you are welcome to make use of it.

When people ask me ‘what’ I am with respect to my faith, I say that I am a Jew who believes in Jesus as the Messiah. If they say that I am a Christian or a Notzri, I do not deny it, but rather use the opportunity to explain what those terms really mean if they don’t know. The first century Jewish believers were called Notzrim, whether honorably or not, to identify them with Yeshua.
What does bother me is when Jewish believers make a separation between being Jewish and being identified as a Notzri or Christian (even though the two words don’t actually translate the same), usually because they don’t know the true significance and just react to a negative impulse. So it’s not that we have to rush out and start calling ourselves Notzrim/Christian, but neither should be separate ourselves from the Lord or from the Body of Christ by rejecting such a name. Not all Jews or Israelis honor YHVH’s name or themselves as His people, yet today none of us believers (there are secular Israeli Jews who do) would think of somehow refusing to be identified as Jews or with Ahm Israel.

Let’s be consistent, which will, I think, help make for peace and healing in overall Messianic/Christian fellowship at large, and stop the mouth of those like Yad L’Achim who always use this hypocrisy against us.

T, if nothing more comes out of our exchanges than that you might see that I (and others similar to me) am not against, or out to obliterate, Jewishness or Israeliness, but rather to fulfill my/our identity and calling by being obedient to the New Covenant/Testament reality that Yeshua’s death on the cross and His resurrection brought in, I will be pleased.

There is definitely a future for the Jewish people and Israel — at least 1000 years! There won’t be a Judea and Ephraim divided kingdom any more, nor what we have today, which, though ‘one people’, still says, ‘What have we to do with the house of David!?’ Israel of the Millennial Kingdom (which I obviously believe in) will not be a rabbinic Jewish state or country or people, as we would understand that today or for the last 1900 years. It will be ISRAEL, a kingdom of priests, under Messiah’s rule with those out from every nation — including Israel today — who have part in the first resurrection; even Ezekiel’s detailed description of the laws, etc. of that future time differ from the Law of Moses in significant areas.

L’chaim,
Howard

T wrote:
Funny you sent me this paper because I have been working on writing an article on that subject for the last two months or so. Still, are you suggesting we should call ourselves notzrim? Unfortunatly this is no longer possible. I have said for years that the best name for us Jews who believe in Jesus is notzrim and if it wasn’t for the historical circumstances that attached this term to Christian gentiles, I would gladly adopt it.
T

Lovingkindness and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua Messiah/Jesus Christ!

I’ve just had a conversation yesterday with a brother about the giving and use of many large donors/donation to Israel, and it seemed appropriate to pass on some of our thinking together regarding big-time financial support from believers abroad, based on experience we have all had over the last 20 years or more:

–First of all, it is important to stand with the existence of the State of Israel for the sake of the testimony of YHVH God, who said/says that He would bring His Israeli/Jewish people back to this land which He had promised in covenant. That we as a people are still unrepentant and in unbelief does not justify Israel, but demonstrates the faithfulness of God to keep His Word, since He can not lie. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He can not deny Himself. (2Tim 2:13) He will save Israel by mercy and grace through His righteousness just as He saves any one of us.

–Secondly, the gospel must be preached to Israel and to Israelis/Jewish people, as well to any and all other people and nation-groups. The cross, which is a stumbling to Israel, can not be removed, nor can the righteous judgment(s) of our God against and upon Israel for her continued opposition to His good news in Messiah Yeshua.

–The promise of ‘blessing those who bless Abraham, and cursing him who curses (makes light) of you’, if it means what evangelical Christians have given it to mean, then it also applies to how God treats and relates to Israel and Jews who make light of and disrespect Christians — whether Jewish or Gentile, the seed of Abraham through faith in His God. It is here that evangelical Christian Zionists (or by whatever other label) have failed to hold the Israeli government and Jewish religious institutions and movements which they support accountable– in humility but with salt–for the manner in which they treat publicly and legislatively the local Messianic/Christian community in the State of Israel. Too many times Christians have given support ‘to bless Abraham’ which has wound up in the hands of those who actively oppose the gospel and make trouble for the community of believers in Israel, both against citizens and also against volunteers who are here to bless.

–Evangelical supporters who want to bless Israel financially would find it in their best interests and (I say) better support the interests of the Kingdom of God in Israel at this time by first giving to local believers in Yeshus/Jesus and to the local congregations and other legitimate ministries operating out from those congregations to enable them to at least make ends meet, and also to live out their lives and carry out these ministries in a manner which would testify of God’s hand and His family’s hands upon them — provoking the Jewish/Israeli people to jealousy while showing them mercy. This love within the family