Roy B. Blizzard's Blog, page 5

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFICULT WORDS OF JESUS PT. IV

What does it mean to be comforted?  You shall establish yourself on righteousness.  What’s righteousness?  Turn to Isaiah 51:3, “The Lord will comfort Zion.  He will comfort all her waste places.” (v. 12)  “I, even I, am he who comforts you.”  (v. 19) “Two times of calamities have befallen you.  Who feels sorry for you and commiserates with you.  There is desolation and destruction and famine and sword; how shall I comfort thee?”  He’s already answered the question.  I, even I, am he who comforts you.  What does it mean to be comforted?  It’s a synonym for salvation.  It means to be saved. 

              Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who are thoroughly repentant, who have turned from their sin, who love God and keep his commandments, who are broken hearted for their own spiritual strength and they cry out to God in helplessness and despair, these are the people that are going to be saved.  These are the ones over whom God is ruling now.  Comforted means saved. 

              Matthew 5:5: “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”  What does it mean to be meek?  Ps. 37:11: “But the meek shall inherit the land…”  There it is. It isn’t original with Jesus.  Would you be surprised if I told you that Jesus said almost nothing that is original with him?  He did almost nothing that someone before him had not done.  He came performing all of these mighty works…it wasn’t unusual.  It’ wasn’t unique.  In many instances they weren’t even impressed.  They didn’t run out and say, Boy, did you see that miracle?  We’ve never seen anything like that before.  They said, “What manner of man is it that does these things?  No one can do what he is doing unless God is with him.”  They had been sustained throughout all of their history with miracles.  In Hebrew there isn’t even a consciousness of miracle as there is in English.  There isn’t even a word for miracle as we think of miracle in English.  Why?  These people were the children of God.  They just expected it.  It wasn’t a miracle, it was an inheritance.  So he says almost nothing unique.  He’s always hinting back to that which had already been said and then getting his own idealistic interpretation as he had come to reveal truth.

              Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.  Right out of Ps. 37:11.  But what does it mean to be meek.  Whatever it is I want to get it.  I want to be it because it’s only going to be the meek that are going to inherit the earth. Look back up 37:9, “evil doers shall be cut off; but those who wait and hope and look for the Lord shall inherit the earth.”  Now it tells me here that those who hope and look and wait for the Lord are going to inherit the earth.  By the way, what is hope?  Hope is now wishful thinking.  Hope is one’s confident conviction that God will do what he said he will do.  Who are going to inherit the earth?  Those who are hoping for, waiting for, and looking for the Lord.  They are going to inherit the earth.  v. 29, “Then the uncompromisingly righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.”  v. 21, “The wicked borrows and pays not again; but the uncompromisingly righteous deals kindly and gives (is generous).”  Who is going to inherit the land?  The uncompromisingly righteous will.  What does it mean to be meek?  It means one who is hoping for, who is confidently expecting the coming of the Lord, who is waiting for him, who is uncompromisingly righteous, in that he gives of himself in the ministry to others.  This is the person who is going to inherit the land.  What does it mean to be meek?  To be uncompromisingly righteous.  Who’s going to inherit the land?  The uncompromisingly righteous are going to inherit the land.  What does it mean to be meek?  It means to be righteous. 

              Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”  Do you see what’s happening?  He’s just building one right on top of another.  What does it mean to be meek?  It means to be uncompromising righteous.  Now blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting after that righteousness.  Ps. 37:17-19: “for the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.  The Lord knows the day of the upright and blameless; and their heritage shall abide forever.  They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”   Do you see that?  There is a lot of nonsense that’s going around in the body of Christ.  A lot of it is based on nothing more than fear that things are getting bad, times are getting hard, it’s going to get worse and worse, economic situation is going to collapse, money market is going to collapse, the whole world is going to collapse around us, and therefore we need to go out and store up all of this rapture foods, freeze dried foods, and get ready for the rapture.  One of these days, when all of this comes down, if we don’t have all of these groceries stored up we won’t make it through.  The church is going to have to go through the tribulation and all kinds of nonsense.  Listen brethren, I know of great men of God, great churches, that have been deceived by this doctrine.  I could name off one right after another.  I know of two here in Texas.  I’m talking about great churches and great people.  I was speaking at one of them several years ago, and the church was so large that it had 8 full time pastors on the staff.  They came to me excited and told me how that God had showed them how hard things were going to get and how they needed to store up all of these groceries and they had gone out and bought four acres of ground and every pastor had bought an old box car and they were going to fill that box car with groceries and go out and bury it in the ground and have all of that food ready whenever difficult times came.  After talking with them they abandoned the whole project.  That whole concept is based on fear and the Bible says that God has not given us the spirit of fear.  Fear doesn’t come from God. What do you mean?  Who is this man?  Who is this that is in me?  God!  Do you mean that this one who had the power to take five loaves and two fishes and feed thousands and then take up 12 baskets full can’t supply me in my hour of need?  You mean this one who took 7 water pots and turned it into wine hasn’t got the power to take water and turn it into gasoline if necessary to get me from point A to point B?  If he doesn’t do it that way at least he could transport me in the spirit like he did Philip.  What does this say?  “The Lord upholds the righteous and he knows the days of the upright and the blameless, and they’ll never be put to shame in the time of evil.”  In the days of famine they’re going to be satisfied.  V. 25: “I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, not his seed begging bread.”  How immature can the body of Christ be?  I happen to have close personal friends of mine that have numbers tattooed on their arms from Concentrations camps in Nazi Germany.  They told me that one of the first things that happened when Hitler rode into power was that they came and confiscated all of their food.  One of our prayers partners, a mighty warrior for God, out in CA, five years old Hitler used her as an example of the pure Arian race because she was blond headed and blue eyed and he didn’t know that she was a Jewess.  Wounded 38 times in her body with shrapnel with the bombing of Berlin.  Laying in the gutter with her life’s blood flowing out of her veins, cried out to God to spare her, came here, found Jesus as her Messiah and she’s on fire for God.  She’s told me time and again that the highlight of the week was when they got one egg.  They spent all week thinking about how they were going to cook that egg.  Were they going to hard boil it or were they going to scramble it or were they going to fry it.  What were they going to do with it?  The first thing the Nazi’s did when they rode into power was to confiscate all of their food and all of their goods.  Do you think it’s going to be any different if times get hard?  The only way that we’re going to be sustained and that’s to be uncompromisingly righteous and if we are because even in the midst of famine we’re going to be fed and I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.  Isaiah 55:1, 2 “Wait and listen everyone that is thirsty.  Come to the waters and he who has no money come, buy, and eat.  Come buy priceless spiritual wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy?  Harken diligently unto me for that which is good and let your soul delight itself in the fatness, the profuseness of spiritual joy.”  Isaiah 65:13: “Therefore thus says the Lord God, behold my servants shall eat but you shall be hungry.  My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty.  My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame. Blessed are those are hungering and thirsting after righteousness because these are the kinds of people God saves.”  That’s what it means to be filled.  Ps. 22:26, “The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord who diligently seek for, inquire of, and for him and require him as their greatest need.”  Notice who is going to eat?  The poor and afflicted.  See how all of this builds on one after the other?  What does it mean to be poor in spirit?  What does it mean to be a spiritual mourner?  What does it mean to be meek?  Uncompromisingly righteous.  Now who is going to be filled?  Those who are uncompromisingly righteous who are hungering and thirsting after God’s salvation because these are the people God saves.  Righteousness in Hebrew doesn’t mean holiness.  It has two meanings: in the broad meaning righteousness means salvation, and if you’ll just look in Isaiah you’ll notice the righteousness is used time and time again synonymously with salvation.  Righteousness means God’s salvation.  In narrow limited sense it’s the Hebrew word tzedakah, and it means alms giving.   We’ve already read the uncompromisingly righteous is going to inherit the land because he gives.

              Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.  Where do you find giving mercy in the Old Testament?  You don’t.  You will never find it used of man in the O.T. but you will in the writings of the Rabbis.  You’ll find it in Rabbinic literature showing mercy and bestowing mercy, but you will find receiving mercy.  Proverbs 28…what does it mean to receive mercy?  This is magnificent but it smarts a little bit.  We think mercy is receiving comfort or being sensitive to one’s needs and ministering to them and holding their hand when their sick, visiting in the hospital.  v. 13: “He who covers his transgressions shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsakes them shall obtain mercy.”  Who is going to get mercy?  Whoever forsakes his sin and confesseth it.  Do you remember that the poor in spirit are those who are sorry for their sins, they are repentant, penitent who has turned to God, loves his word and keeps his commandments.  Now mercy…he who confesses his sin and forsakes his sins shall obtain forgiveness.  So mercy means forgiveness.  Now, here’s the rub. Blessed are those who are forgiving for they shall be forgiven.  Do you remember what Jesus said?  If you expect me to forgive you you’d better be forgiving and forgive your brother.  If you’ve got any sacrifice to offer unto God and you’ve got anything against a brother you go to your brother and get that thing taken care of first and then come and then come and offer your sacrifice. If you do not forgive your fellow man your heavenly Father is not going to forgive you.  If you don’t forgive you’re not going to be forgiven.  I see it everywhere I go.  Men and women have been expecting something from God.  They’ve been praying for healing and haven’t received it.  Why?  I dare say that more people fail to receive from God whatever it is that they need whether it be prosperity, physical healing, whatever because their bound with spirits of bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness.  Their holding a grudge against somebody and their just bound up with all of that hate and anger and bitterness and they won’t let go. It happened 30 years ago but they won’t forget.  Do you know something?  God doesn’t expect you to forget, he expects you to forgive and then whenever you forgive it doesn’t make any difference.  You say but you just don’t understand how I’ve been hurt.  You don’t understand what that person did.  You don’t understand how that person treated me.  You don’t understand what that person said.  I don’t care.  What I do understand is that unless you forgive you’re not going to be forgiven, so that means it doesn’t matter how you feel you’re going to have to forgive.  You can be honest with God and he knows all of this anyway.  You can say God, you know my feelings.  You know what happened and you know that I don’t feel like forgiving.  But because your word says to forgive and because I love you and I want to keep your commandments I’m going to forgive. The confession of my mouth is going to be I forgive and then you say I forgive and say it over and over and all of a sudden you do forgive because God got your feelings in line with the confession of your mouth.  Then you can begin to receive from God.  Blessed are those who are forgiving because they’re going to be forgiving.  

              Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  Where is that found in the O.T.?  What kind of people are the worshippers of God?  Ps 24:3, 4: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in the holy place?  He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, and hath not sword deceitfully.”  What does it mean to be pure in heart? Never to have lifted yourself up to falsehood, nor sworn deceitfully.  What does it mean to be pure in heart?  It means to be a man of integrity and not a liar.  How does one of the Ten Commandments go?  Thou shall not bear false witness.  What does that mean?  It does not mean thou shalt not lie.  There are all kinds of lies and we’ve thought that all kinds of lies were bad.  One lie is just as bad as another. There are little white lies and there are big black lies and all kind of lies in-between and one lie is just as bad as another.  That’s not what this commandment says.  There are times when a little white lie is the better part of wisdom.  How do you like my new hat honey?  Is your coffee and toast ok this morning?  Are your eggs like you like them?  I’m going to eat them because if I don’t I know whose going to be fixing them tomorrow.  To bear false witness means to give false witness in a court of law.  You remember that the Bible says that at the mouth of two witnesses a matter of established.  What this has to do with is that in a court of Law when man is on trial for his life, you’re not going to bear false witness against him that will lead to his harm, so when it says in the Biblical text that thou shall not bear false witness and when it talks about lying it’s talking about the intent on the part of the person to deceive to one’s harm.  Lying in Hebrew means an intentional deception to the harm of the individual. 

Who is going to stand before God?  Who is going to see God?  The one who has a pure heart.  But what does it mean to have a pure heart?  It means one who has never lifted himself up to falsehood to intentionally deceive.  One who is a person of integrity, a man of his word, one whose word is as good as his bond.  I’ve had to live down, for 30 years of my life, going into a community, trying to live down the reputation of some preacher before me who was run out of town because he didn’t pay his bills.  Now the situation has worsened.  It’s not just preachers anymore but people in the pew.  It’s gotten to the business that I’d almost rather do business than a heathen than I would a Christian because at least they pay their bills.  About the only time that I’ve gotten ripped off in my ministry is with Christians.  Somehow or another we’ve for this Pollyanna philosophy that God owes it to us.  I’ve got it coming to me.  You don’t.  God expects his people to live in the world and before the world without rebuke.  He expects them to honest and live within their means, to be men and women of integrity and people who pay their bills on time or at least make arrangements to take care of their obligations if difficult times befall them.  To be pure in heart means to be honest, it means to be a man and woman of integrity, and one whose word is as good as their bond.  Who’s going to see God?  Those who haven’t sworn deceitfully nor lifted themselves up to falsehood.  

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.  What is a peacemaker?  It’s never used of men in the O.T., it’s only used of God.  But it is used in the Mishnah.  (Peah 1:1)  Do you know what peah is?  The plural is peyot.  Have you ever seen an Orthodox Jews with the long side curls hanging down?  That is a peah, plural peyote.  He doesn’t cut the corners of his hair.  Why?  This ties in with everything that we’ve been saying.  In the O.T. commands the Jews that he isn’t to cut the corner of his hair to remind him that he’s not to cut the corner of his fields, but he is to leave the corners of his fields for the poor to glean in.   It was Ruth that was gleaning in the field of Boaz. 

It's not found in the O.T., but it is found in the Mishnah.  Sons of God you’ll find in Hosea 1:10.  “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” Who are the sons of the living God?  Those who are making peace whatever that means.  What is the Hebrew word for peace?  Shalom.  What’s the Hebrew word for Hello?  Shalom.  What’s the Hebrew word for goodbye?  Shalom.  We can go on and on. One of my colleagues when he was writing his doctoral dissertation did the entire work on the root shem, lamed, mem from which shalom comes.  Shalom means to be whole, complete, perfect, at peace, at rest, saved, secure.  Blessed are those who are bringing men and women into wholeness, into completeness…these are the people who are called sons of the living God.   How can one bring one into peace?  How can a man be whole, saved, secure, how can he have real peace?  Jesus says, My peace I leave with you.  My peace I give unto you.  Be not afraid.  Only in him can one be made whole.  Blessed are those who are bringing men and women into wholeness, completeness, salvation…blessed are those who are getting men and women saved because these are the ones who are called sons of the living God. 

Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  What does it mean to be persecuted for righteousness sake?  There are over four mistranslations in this passage alone.  It has absolutely nothing to do with persecution. 

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFICULT WORDS OF JESUS PT.III

The reason why it’s been so difficult for us to understand the words of Jesus is because we didn’t understand, until recently, that this material was not Greek.  Now we’ve been told for a number of years, ever since the German school of theology had its origin in the latter part of the 18th century, that the New Testament was written in Greek and that Jesus spoke Aramaic.  Today we know that neither of these statements is true.  Rather, the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the first fifteen chapters of the book of Acts were originally a part of a Hebrew life story written most certainly by Matthew.  Why Matthew?  Because that’s what the oldest traditions say.  Taking us all the way back to the patristic fathers in the latter part of the first century.  The Hebrew gospel is mentioned in many ancient sources.  Beyond that Jesus spoke Hebrew and not Aramaic or Greek.  We should have known that but our minds have been so trained to think in one little, narrow limited focus that the obvious escaped us—that Jesus was a Jew.  That he was a Rabbi.  As a Jews and a Rabbi and Hebrew being the holy language, he most certainty spoke Hebrew.  Someone says, well, yes, he probably did speak Hebrew when he read the Bible or in synagogue, but the language of the common people was Aramaic.  Today we know that that also is not true.  Why?  Because as I told you last evening because of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  What do they have to do with it?  In the Dead Sea scrolls we found some 40,000 scroll fragments.  400 Biblical books represented.  It’s obviously that we don’t have 400 biblical books, but we found several copies of the same text.  For example, we found two relatively complete, one of them completely complete copies of Isaiah.  The whole Isaiah scroll, all 66 chapters.  All of this material, with the exception of one scroll, was in Hebrew not Aramaic.  The commentaries on biblical material were in Hebrew and not Aramaic.  The manual of discipline governing the life of the community that’s just a secular scroll, in the language of the people of the first century, was in Hebrew and not Aramaic.  And then that caused us to think and to look at the text again and then as each individual archaeological discovery would come to light, for example in our archaeological discovering at the temple mount, they didn’t start until February 1968, I joined in June of that same year, until this day we’ve not found one single Aramaic inscription.  But we have found a number of them in Hebrew and some of them quite significant.  All the coins of the period, about a hundred years before Jesus, to the time of Jesus, to almost a hundred years after Jesus all Jewish coins have Hebrew inscriptions on them and not Aramaic.  The burial ossuaries in which the bones of the deceased were placed, many of them in the scrawled handwriting of the ordinary common individual of the day, and not some learned scribe or some stone mason who was artistically placing the name of the individual on the ossuary, but just in the scrawled handwriting of the man of the street, it’s Hebrew.  Then we began to look at this material again and realized that this is terrible Greek.  Anything that knows anything about Greek at all knows that the Greek of the synoptic gospels is terrible Greek.  No one ever stopped to ask why.  For years classical Greek scholars have always looked down their nose at koine Greek scholars and said, “Well, their students of Holy Ghost Greek” because it was so bad.  Today we know that it’s not even Greek.  It’s Hebrew in Greek dress.  The marvelous thing about it is that this original Hebrew life story, when it was translated in to Greek, was translated so literally that it contained all the Hebraisms, all of the idioms, all of the expressions that are so meaningless in Greek or in English.  All we have to do is translate it from the Greek right back into Hebrew.  Many times you don’t even have to change the sentence structure.  We can restore the original Hebrew gospel sand we can hear once again the original Hebrew words and teachings of Jesus.  When we do it’s absolutely glorious.  He has some marvelous things to say.  Not just us he has some marvelous things to say about himself.  Who he was.  The reason it’s so important that we know who he is, first, foremost and above all is because until we know who he is we cannot know who we are because it is he that is within me.  So I need to know who he is, and I need to hear what he has to say about himself.  Once I realize that he is a Jew, and we know exactly what the Jew did during each individual period of their life…he was a rabbi, he was trained in the law in all of the scriptures, he had the Mishnah that existed in his day committed to memory because it was not written down until 200 years after his day, and all of the midrashim, or the commentaries on law, all of this material was committed to memory and then, as a Rabbi, was using a rabbinic method of instructed known as Remez, or hinting, in which he was always hinting back at something in the Old Testament.  All of this material was so familiar to his hearers that whenever he said a word or sentence it immediately painted a word picture in the minds of his hearers of the entire passage, the entire chapter, the entire book, and the development of the entire theology.  It was perfectly clear to his hearers what he was trying to say.  Some of the things that he had to say about himself are some of the most important things that we can possibly read about in the synoptic gospels. 

              We have, in our minds, an erroneous concept of who this man is.  We call him the son of God.  Son of God isn’t a Hebraic term.  You’ll never find the term “son of God” used in the entire Old Testament.  You’ll find it in the plural “sons of God”, but the term son of God as the son of God you’ll not find in the entire O.T.  It’s not Hebraic.  It’s Hellenistic, or Greek.  But Jesus when he refers to himself refers to himself as the son of man.  But who is the son of Man?  You see the Greeks, because they didn’t understand all of this, assumed, at the end of the first century and into the second century, that son of man referred to his humanity, son of God referred to his deity.  Then they got into all kinds of problems over the nature of Christ.  There were those who believed that he was God, but if he was God how could he come in the flesh?  The Bible says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.  Flesh and blood cannot enter into that eternal realm.  God is a spirit; he is not flesh and blood therefore how can he be God and yet human flesh at the same time.  So they said, actually what happened was that he was God but he just gave the appearance of coming in human flesh.  He really didn’t have human flesh.  If you don’t know what’s going on historically, in Greek thought called Gnosticism, you don’t understand what John writes in one of his epistles, “If anyone says that Jesus Christ didn’t come in the flesh he is a liar and the truth is not in him.”  But the Greeks had problems with it because they didn’t know Hebrew.  Jesus, though, when he refers to himself as the son of man is not talking at all about his humanity.  He’s talking about his deity because son of man is a direct reference back to Daniel 7:13, 14 the most super natural figure in the entire biblical text.  Son of God isn’t Hebraic, but son is.  There are many euphuisms or synonyms that are used for God such as servant of the Lord, or Lord, or the righteous, the branch of David, or the son of David, or keep in mind just the word David is a euphemism for this one that was to come.  The term son is a term that is used in a very Hebraic way to refer to this one that was going to come as Yeshiva Elohim, that is the redemptive aspect of deity—God in the flesh reconciling the world unto himself.  And all flesh shall see Yeshua Elohim, the salvation of God.  But Yeshua Elohim doesn’t mean in English the salvation of God.  It’s just another name for God like ruach Elohim, or Adonai Elohim, or El Shaddai, all these names are just euphemisms for God.  They simply reflect to us, as read them in Hebrew, some aspect of his deity.  The Bible says that we’re going to call his name Yeshua because he’s going to Yoshua his people from their sins.  But who is going to do that?  Who’s going to save his people from their sins?  This one who’s going to come as son. 

              Do you remember Ps. 2:7?  “Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee.”  Do you remember Ps. 89:26?  “He shall cry to me, you are my Father, my God and the rock of my salvation.”   When Jesus in Luke 10:22 says, “All things have been given over in my power and my authority and my keeping by my Father” they immediately thought of Daniel 7:13, 14 –the one to whom was given power and glory and authority and kingdom and of whose kingdom there would be no end. They also thought of son/Father relationship and they recognized and realized and understood that before them was one speaking who claimed to be God.  You see when the Rabbis heard son/Father they linked them together and deduced that when Messiah came that he would in some special way come as son. 

              Luke 9…and we’ll see something every interesting in that God uses this same type of remez, or hinting, in this particular passage to identify exactly who Yeshua is.  You’ll remember the incident:  Jesus has been transfigured on the mountain with Peter and James and John.  Peter seeing Jesus transfigured with Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets, he said it’s a good things to be here.  Let’s go out and build three churches: one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.  All of a sudden there is a voice that rings forth out of heaven (v. 35) “This is my son, my chosen, hear him.” What does all of that mean?  This is my son?  Ps. 2:7 – thou art my son.  This day have I begotten thee.  My chosen, Isaiah 42, all they had to do was use this one word.  Just a word and the whole passage came into mind.  Isaiah 42:1, Jesus loves the book of Isaiah.  Did I tell you that the book of Isaiah that we have in our possession, all 66 chapters, is based on 150 years before the time of Jesus? It’s perfectly legible like it had been written a few years ago, the entire scroll of Isaiah dates to 150 years before Jesus.  When he was born that scroll that we have in our possession today, was 150 years old and he had it all committed to memory.  So did the people of his day.  They had to commit it to memory. They didn’t have any books.  There weren’t any Bibles as we know them today only scrolls and theses were so scarce and so few that they were only in the synagogues.  If you wanted to know anything about the word of God that existed at their particular period of time, they had to commit it to memory.  Thou art my son, my chosen.  Look at Isaiah 42:1, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights.  Let’s notice what God did to his chosen.  All I have to do is know chosen, and I also know that I have put my spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice and right and reveal truth to the nations.  Do you remember on one occasion Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.  Where did he get that? All he had to say was truth and Isaiah 42 comes to mind.  My chosen I have put my spirit upon him and have commissioned him to bring forth truth.  Therefore, it is to him and to him only that you shall listen.” 

              Deut. 18:15 -  Moses prophesies and says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from the midst of your brethren like unto me.”  Moses prophesies and says that one day the Lord God is going to raise from our midst one like unto me.  Who was he?  What did he do?  We call him Moses the great law giver.  What was he commissioned to do?  To reveal law or truth to his people.  Moses says one day there is going to be one rise up from among the midst of Israel one who will be commissioned to bring forth truth.  To him you shall listen.  In Hebrew what does it mean to listen?  Listen doesn’t mean hear.  It means to obey.  Listen means to obey.  Hear him means to obey him.  God says, this is my son (Ps. 2:7) my chosen (Isaiah 42:1,2) the one upon whom I have put my spirit to reveal truth, no longer Moses, no longer Elijah, now obey him.  Why obey him?  Because of who he is and what he was commissioned to do.  What was he commissioned to do?  Who is this person?  Who is this Yeshua?  We’re told in Isaiah 7:14 and we’re going to call his name Immanuel, God with us.  Isaiah 9 he’s going to be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father.  How is it that son can only be father?  Unto you, a son, is born and the son is going to be called everlasting Father, might God, prince of peace.  How is that possible?  Hebraically it’s the most sensible thing in the world.  Hebraically it makes perfect sense. Hebraically it’s so magnificent and so fantastic as to be spiritually awesome.  But in English, and in Greek, it’s incomprehensible. 

              Who is this man?  What was he commissioned to do?  Listen to his own words.  You’re going to call his name Yeshua because he’s going to Yoshua (save) his people from their sins.  Luke 19:10, “For the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”  What does Yeshua mean? Salvation.  Do you know what shalom means?  Hello, goodbye, peace…shalom is shalom.  When I say Jesus what does that mean to you?  What happens, what clicks in your mind?  Nothing.  Because Jesus is not English and it’s not Hebrew.  It’s a transliteration and a very poor one from the Greek and we don’t know Greek.  Why should I be expected to know, I don’t know Greek.  So, I’m confused about who this individual is.  But if you knew Hebrew and you said Yeshua we wouldn’t have to stop to think or translate.  There is no problem.  We would immediately know what he was commissioned to do.  We know that Yeshua in Hebrew is salvation and Yeshua Elohim means the salvation of God.  Now he says, the son of man (Lk 19:10; Daniel 7:13, 14) has come to seek and the save that which was lost.  We should have known that.  We were told that from the very beginning that he had come and was come to save.  God in human flesh reconciling, and not just reconciling something more than that, restoring mankind unto himself.  The son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.  Who came to seek and save that which was lost?  The son of man.  Who was the son of man?  (Ezek. 34)  Whenever he says seek and save the Jewish audience knows exactly what he is talking about.  When we hear that we’re not all that impressed.  But when Jesus says that to the Jews he immediately gets the point.  (Ezek 34:11: For thus saith the Lord God, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.”)  Who is going to seek the sheep?  God.  “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. (v. 12)” What does rescue mean? It means to be saved.  Who’s going to seek and save those that are lost?  God says, I, I myself.   Look at v. 16, “I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away...”  What does it mean to bring back that which was driven away?  To save.  Look at v. 20, “Therefore thus said the Lord God unto them:  Behold, I, even I will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.”  Then he says, and remember the euphemisms that are used in the biblical text Hebraically, “I will raise up over them one shepherd. (v. 23)” Shepherd is a euphemism.  “…and he shall feed them, even my servant David…”  Servant and David are both euphemisms.  Who is he talking about here?  He says, I’m going to raise up over them one shepherd, even my servant David and he’s going to feed them and he’s going to be their shepherd.  Who is it talking about?  Is it talking about King David?  No, because when this was written David has been dead for 400 years.  It couldn’t be David unless God was going to raise him from the dead.  So who is this David that he’s talking about here?  Messiah, who’s going to come.  Who is going to come?  God says, I, I myself (v. 11) am going to seek and to save those that are lost.  When Jesus said, “the son of man (Dan. 7:13, 14) has come to seek and to save (Ezek. 34) that which was lost.”  They immediately understood him to say, I am God. 

              In everything that Jesus did, everywhere he went, everything that he said, he declared himself to be God. We’ve been told erroneously that everywhere that Jesus went he tried to hide his identity.  He tried to hide his Messiah ship.  Nothing can be further from the truth. As I mentioned in our last session, even at the age of 12 Jesus declares himself publicly to be son when he says, “Know ye now that I must be about my Father’s business.”  No Jew before and after him, to this day, has ever dared to call God my father.  In Hebrew all of their prayers are, “Our Father” and not my father.  Even in the little things that he did.  For example, did you ever wonder why Jesus always went around spitting on folks?  That’s not even sanitary when you stop and think about it.  Mark 7:33- he too him aside from the multitudes, a man with an impediment in his speech, and he put his fingers in his ear and he spit and touched and touched the tongue.  Then he looked to heaven and said, “Be opened” and the man’s ears were opened and he could speak fluently.  Why did he do that?  Mark 8:23- blind man at Bethsaida.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town, and then he spit right in his eyes and he put he hands on them and he said, “Can you see anything?”  The poor, blind man said, “How can I see anything with all of this spit in my eyes?”  Why did he do that?  On another occasion there is a blind man and he spit on the ground and made clay out of the dirt and rubbed it on his eyes and told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam and when he did he saw.  (John 9:6) Why did he do that?  He did it for a very dramatic, specific reason.  Every time he did that and someone was healed it was a dramatic testimony as to his true identity.  It’s all written here in the law.  I’m going to read you from p. 253 Everyman’s Talmud.  “For eye trouble spittle was commonly used.  But we are told there is a tradition that the spittle of the first born son of a father has healing powers, but not the first born son of the mother.”  In Judaism there was a tradition that the spittle of the first born son of the Father had healing virtue and every time Jesus spit and touched someone’s tongue or anointed their eyes and they were healed it was a dramatic testimony that this was the first born son of the father.  Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee.  When that happened they knew immediately who he was. 

That’s the reason why everything he went they wanted to rush out and touch the hem of his garment.  Why did they do that?  What was it that they were doing?  Do you remember the passages about the people touching the hem of his garment?  Turn to Matt. 9:20.  “And behold, a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the order of his garment: for she said within herself, if I do but touch his garment, I shall be made whole.” Why did she touch the hem of his garment?  What was it that she touched?  If I just touch his garment I will be made whole.  That’s exactly what happened.  Jesus turned around and said, daughter be of good cheer, thy faith hath made thee whole and she was made whole from that hour.  Well, it was probably just some silly, old woman.  She just reached out and touched Jesus as a point of contact.  Matt. 14:34, 35  “and when the men of that place had knowledge of him they sent out into all of the country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched were made whole.”  A bunch of silly old men?  Why were they doing that?  When I was a kid growing up in Joplin, Missouri every year we use to have a Mexican festival.  I remember every year I had a Mexican hat that had these little balls hanging down.  When I read this a number of years ago I imagined some little balls or tassels like that Mexican fringe on that hat at the bottom of Jesus dress.  I didn’t have any idea what it was but I knew that that’s what the Arab’s today use to dress up their pickup trucks.    What was it that they touched?  Why did they touch it?  Why, when they touched it, were they healed?  Turn to Numbers 15:37ff, “and the Lord said to Moses, (this is God giving Moses explicit instructions) Speak to the Israelites and bid them to make fringes, or tassels, on the corners on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and put upon the fringe of the border of the tassel of each corner a cord of blue and it shall be for you a fringe or tassel that you look upon and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them.  Remember and do all my commandments and behold unto your God. I am the Lord your God.”  What were they supposed to make?  It says a tassel or a fringe in English.  How long were they supposed to do that?  To put that tassel or fringe upon the corner of their garment? They were to do this forever--throughout all of their generations.  When did it start?  Moses, 1400 BC approximately and 1400 years late we know exactly how Jesus was dressed.  Why?  Because he always kept the law and this was a matter of law.  They were to make for themselves a four cornered garment and on the corner of each of the four corners they were to tie a tassel or fringe.  In Hebrew that’s called a tzit-tzit.  Have you ever seen a Hebrew prayer shawl?  Do you know what it looks like? 

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFICULT WORDS OF JESUS Pt. II

This has passed us by for centuries.  We’ve never understood it.  As a result we’ve conjured up in our minds all kinds of erroneous conclusions over the things that Jesus has had to say whenever we heard him say anything or listen to him at all.  But most of us, as we have already demonstrated, have simply just passed him by because we have not understood the things that he did say.  If I asked you, why do you spend your time in the Epistles and not in the Gospels, you wouldn’t really be able to give me an answer.  It’s actually subconscious.  We don’t know why. The why is because whenever we read we don’t understand what it is that we hear. 

              If the apostle Paul came into town and he was speaking on one side of town and Jesus came into town and he was speaking on the other side of town, and you had the opportunity to go listen to one of the two, but not both, which one would you listen to?  It’s no contest.  There wouldn’t be anybody there because Paul would come to listen to him too.  So I think it’s about time that we listen to him also.  He had some exciting things to say.  They have been all the more exciting by the archaeological discoveries that we’ve made in Israel that have led us into this understanding.  We should have known all of these things all of this time because the material has always been there, but the Bible says that blindness is what happened to Israel until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.  If we’re Jews, and a part of the commonwealth of Israel, that means that we’ve been blinded to some extent too doesn’t it?  But God is lifting that veil of the Jews and he’s lifting the veil for those of us that are wild olive branches that have been grafted in and it’s unbelievable what is happening in Israel today.  I wish I could tell you of some of the exciting things that are going on.  I just spent two hours on the telephone from 2 am until 4 am talking to one of my colleagues in Israel who was telling me about some exciting things that have happened this week.  My son is in Israel now studying at the Institute of Holy Land studies in Jerusalem, and we’ve made so many giant steps forward in the understanding of the word of God in the last 15 to 20 years that I believe that today, right now, at this moment, we as God’s people have the capacity to understand more about the word of God, to move out into a dimension of knowledge and understanding and therefore power and victory than at any other time in human history.  We have the capacity to know more about the word of God then even the men that wrote it.  Why?  They didn’t write it all.  It was written over 1500 years by many different people and they didn’t have the complete picture and we’re living now, 2000 years, on the other side of the fact and we have all of the material at our disposal and now we have all of the knowledge, archaeological and textual, and now we can know more about God and the things of God and the word of God than even the men that contributed to the writing of it.   I don’t know whether that excites you or not, but it does me.  We know today a number of things that we’ve always wondered about and I’ve shared some of these with you before. 

              For example we were talking about John the Baptist a few moments ago.  What was he doing in the wilderness?  Why was he baptizing in the wilderness?  Why wasn’t he in Jerusalem where all the people were?   Some said he was baptizing in the wilderness because the Jordan River was there and they needed water to baptize and so that’s why the people were going from Jerusalem to be baptized.  But when you read in Acts 2 there were 3000 people who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they were baptized in Jerusalem and they didn’t have to go all the way to the Jordan River to be baptized.  Where were they baptized?  For years we didn’t know, and that’s why for about 250 years there has been an argument between the immersionists and the non-immersionists over the subject of baptism.  The non-immersionists have said, they must have been sprinkled because there isn’t any place in Jerusalem for that many people to have been dunked.  It was dry most of the time and this was right at the spring of the year and there probably isn’t that much water and so they must have been sprinkled.  The immersionists said, No, they must be dunked.  Now they didn’t know why they must be dunked, and they didn’t understand the whole subject of Jewish ritual immersion but they are supposed to be dunked.  Don’t think that I’m being facetious or unkind when I talk about a particular denomination.  You see I have to be specific in order to use an illustration.  I’m not just picking on one particular denomination.  If you come to me and tell me what denomination you belong to I’ll pick on you because by the large none of us in Christianity have understood the ordinances of the church.  But, the Baptist for example, immersionists, have said that the way that it was done was that they were dunked under the water.  Now they didn’t really know why.  They were dunked under because that was the outward expression of an inward act that had already taken place which meant that the individual didn’t really need to be dunked in order to be saved.  They can be saved and go to heaven without being baptized.  But you can’t get into the Baptist church without being baptized.  If you want to be a member of the Baptist church you have to be baptized because you can’t be a member without being baptized.  Which means that it takes one more step to get into the Baptist church than it was into heaven.

              But we know exactly what Jewish ritual immersion was.  We know what it was and how they did it, why they did it, and now we even know where they did it.  As a result of our archaeological excavations at the Temple Mount in 1974 we found a whole ritual immersion bath complex where the 3000 were baptized on the Day of Pentecost.  As a matter of fact, we can today pinpoint within a matter of steps the exact spot where Peter stood and preached the first gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost.  Monumental staircase along the southern wall of the Temple Mount…we know where the Holy Spirit fell.  You thought that it fell in an upper room some place didn’t you?  The Bible says that they got themselves up into the house.  What house? What house in Jerusalem was big enough for all 120 disciples?  Then for them to preach and 3000 to respond.  What were they doing all 120 sticking their heads out of windows someplace?  Hollering to the folks down in the streets?  We never stop to think these things out.  That passage is not English and it’s not Greek and it doesn’t say that they got themselves into a house it says “the house”.  But not knowing that this isn’t Greek they just literally translated it from “the house” to house and now we have a house someplace.  But in Hebrew they got themselves up to Ha Bite “the house”.  But in Hebrew bite just doesn’t mean house. Bite can mean household, family or many other things, but one of the principle things that it means is Temple.  If you were with me in Jerusalem and we wanted to go to the temple mount I would say to my driver, La Ha ha bite…to the mountain of Ha bite, the house.  Even to this day in Hebrew ha bite means the Temple.  It says that they got themselves up to ha bite.  We even know from the Mishnah where they got themselves up to.   The Mishnah tells us that there was a monumental staircase along the southern wall of the Temple mount that led up to two gates, a double and triple gate that was known in the time of Jesus as the Huldah gates after the prophetess Huldah from the Old Testament time of Josiah (621 B.C.) and the reform and cleaning of the Temple during the time of Josiah king of Judah.  The gates were known as the Huldah gates.  There was a monumental staircase and we’re told that it was the custom of the Jews to assemble themselves together at this monumental staircase at three of the principle feasts or festivals of the year (Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles).  When did this happen?  Pentecost.  Where were the people?  The monumental staircase.  Where was this staircase?  At the Temple, it was part of the temple.  When Peter stands up under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and preaches the first gospel sermon and the people are stirred in their hearts and say,
What must we do to be saved? And he says, repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit they don’t have to stop and say, “Where are we going to be baptized?”  How are we going to do this?  There isn’t a lot of water in the Kedron valley.  They didn’t have to walk any further than from here to the back of the auditorium to reach the ritual immersion pools  and because of the way that the Jews baptized all 3000 could have been baptized in about 15 minutes time.  We didn’t find just one or two ritual immersion baths, we found a whole ritual immersion bath complex so large that all 3000 could have been immersion in a few moments time.  We know all there is to know about ritual immersion.  We know why it was done, how it was done, we know how big a ritual immersion bath had to be.  It has to be at least 43 inches high, we know it had to contain at least 120 gallons of water because if it contained 120 gallons minus one spoonful it wasn’t kosher and they had to go and be completely re-baptized all over again.  So it always had more than 120 gallons.  It had to be tri portioned.  We know how they immersed when they went down into the water. This is interesting.  No one ever immersed anyone else.  In Hebrew when it talks about John the Baptist, it’s not John the one dunking someone under.  It’s John the one who by virtue of what he is saying is causing the people to go under.  We know exactly how ritual immersion was done.  The Jews went down into the water, there was always someone there in attendance to assist them to see if they went completely under, this was especially important for the women for the hair because every single hair on their head had to be surrounded by water.  They would go down into the ritual immersion bath, stand with their feet apart, their arms out in front of them, their fingers spread apart, usually with their eyes and mouth open, and then they would dip themselves.  The one who was in attendance, the one doing the baptizing, was there to see if they didn’t get all the way they could give them a slight assist.  Just recently we found the oldest wall painting, called a fresco, of the baptism of Jesus by John.  It was on the catacombs in Rome.  It shows John standing out on the bank reaching forth and giving Jesus his hand and pulling him out of the water that he had just baptized himself according to Jewish method. 

              Much of what we know today, once it has been made known, will completely revolutionize theology.  It’s going to necessitate a restructuring of most major denominations.  That’s exciting to me because there is nothing that I cherish, no doctrine, no dogma, no tradition, that I have so dear that I’m not willing to lay down in face of the truth.  The reason for that is that the truth can only do one thing for us—set you free!  Did you catch that?  The other side of the coin is that I’m saddened because traditions do not come down easily.  There will be many who will turn a deaf ear to the truth.  But once you know what I just told you it eliminates any possibility of infant baptism.  In Judaism nobody ever baptized anybody else.  Baptism was always self-administered.  We know so many things that have never been published. 

We know how they crucified in Jesus’ day.  How many of you have heard, that we found, not too long ago, in a stone ossuary, or stone coffin, the bones of a man who had been crucified?  The first archaeological evidence that we have ever had of a man who had been crucified, and the man we know what his name was, and he dated back to the first century contemporary with Jesus.  We know how he was crucified.  He wasn’t crucified with his feet together as we see in the common method of crucifixion on the crucifix.  We even found in the ossuary in which his bones were placed, the nail that had been placed through the bones in his feet.  It even had a board on the front of it which had an inscription on it at one time which brings us in remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus where they said that they had an inscription in three language.  What were those languages?  Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.  The man was crucified with his heels together sideways and the nail was driven through his heels.  Orthopedic surgeons who examined the bones said that it was at that particular point that they put a pin in the foot for certain types of orthopedic surgery.  Then they went on to describe what kind of a death this man would have suffered in that kind of a position on a cross when his feet would have been together with a board across his feet this way, the nail through his heels, and then turned in this kind of manner and suspended on the cross.  He would have suffocated in his own body fluids unable to support himself.  In certain ways you can support yourself, but in this way you cannot.  We’ve known that since 1968, and I was in Israel when it was found. I even know the man’s name.  It’s never been published to any degree.  The information that I’m going to be sharing with you in “Understanding the difficult words of Jesus” will be published this week for the first time in this country for the general audience.  This is just the beginning of what we know.

I just pray that you will join with me in praying that God will make it possible for all of the information that we have at our disposal as a result of the researches and discoveries in Israel in the last 30 years, that that information can be known to God’s people. 

Jesus was a Jew.  He was not only a Jew, he was a Rabbi.  As a Rabbi he taught in Hebrew and as a Rabbi he used a rabbinic method of interpretation, or study, called remez or hinting.  The Hebrew taught in one of four different ways. They had a word that was an acrostic that was formed from the first word of each of the four different methods.  That word was called pardett which means an orchard in Hebrew.  That is where you pluck, or harvest, that which is nourishing and sweet and sustaining and conducive to growth.   Those four methods of interpretation were Pshot, or remez, hinting at something, Drash which was homiletical, and Sod which was spiritual or hidden. Jesus was a master at remez.  It’s only when you know this can you begin to understand the difficult words of Jesus.   Jesus is always hinting back at something.  By using a word, a phrase, a sentence immediately he would call into the minds of his hearers the whole passage, the whole chapter, the whole book, the whole theology on the subject.  Because the Jews in his day, by and large, had all the Bible committed to memory.  Not only the Bible but Mishnah and Midrash, or commentary on law.  All he had to do was use a word and all of this information would be brought to mind.    

How many of you have been to Texas?  State Capitol?  When I say state capitol what comes to your mind?  You see it don’t you?  It looks like the capital in Washington except ours is bigger, and it’s made out of pink granite and ever night you can see the lights shining and as we come over the hill we can see the State Capitol and that mental image comes into our mind the moment I say state capitol.  Jesus is using this type of method of study known as remez.  He would use a word or phrase and when he used it that brought that whole chapter, or book, or teaching on that subject to their mind.  All he had to do is say, “If a man’s eye is single his whole body is filled with light.  If his eye is evil his whole body is filled with darkness.”  His audience would know exactly which passages he was referring.  They knew exactly about what he was speaking about.  The reason that we haven’t understood it is because we didn’t know this. But now we do and now we can begin to study and we can begin to hear Jesus speak to us.  Again, I say unto you, with great emphasis, he is the teacher par excellent.  What he has to say is revolutionary.  What he has to say about himself.  Who is he by the way?  Who is this man?  Who is Jesus?  We’ve never understood this really.  The ecclesiastical church has never understood for 1900 years who, or what, Jesus is.  Therein lies our problem because if we do not know who he is then we don’t know who we are.  It is he that is in me. 

How many of you heard that Jesus always tried to hide his messiah ship?  Everywhere he went he told people not to tell who he was or what he had done.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Everywhere Jesus went, and everything that he said and did, it was a dramatic declaration as to who he was.  He made some very dramatic statements about himself.  One thing that may come as a surprise to you is that he never calls himself the Son of God.  He never uses that term on himself and it’s not Hebraic.  It’s not Hebrew, it’s Hellenistic.  When we think of son of God, by and large we have a limited mental image in our mind as to his person.   When Jesus refers to himself he always refers to himself as the son of man.  What’s the son of man?  There are those folks that are confused and they think well son of man, because these terms are used in the gospels almost interchangeably and not knowing that one of them is Hellenistic or Greek and the other one is Hebrew they say, well son of man refers to the humanity of Jesus and son of God refers to the deity of Jesus and that he was both human and divine.  But nothing can be further from the truth.  Jesus never called himself Son of God.   He does use a number of terms that he does use in reference to himself. He does call himself son.  He does call himself son of man.  But who is son and who is son of man?  What is son of man?  What does it mean?  Son of man is a reference, a remez, or hint, back at Daniel 7:13, 14.  Let’s have a look at that passage of scripture.  The most supernatural figure in the biblical text.  “And I saw in the night visions, and behold on the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  There was given him dominion, glory, kingdom that all people’s, nations and languages should serve him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”  Who’s he talking about?  The son of man.  The most supernatural figure in the entire biblical text.  Every time Jesus says son of man he might as well say Daniel 7: 13, 14.  The one to whom is given glory, and power and kingdom and dominion that all people’s, nation’s and language’s should serve him. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. 

Who is the son of man?  Before we start listening to Jesus let’s listen to the word of God if there is a difference.  In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.  The word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Turn to Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.  Behold a young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.”  What’s Emmanuel?  God with us.  But, I don’t understand God with us because doesn’t God say at one time on one occasion “this is my beloved son”?  It just so happens that son of God is not Hebraic.  Son of God is not messianic.  Son of God is not a Hebraism for the person of Jesus.  But the word son is.  In the O.T. there develops the concept that when the messiah comes he’s going to come as a son.  There is going to be a son/father relationship.  Turn to Luke 10:22, (remember Daniel 7:13, 14; the one who is presented before the ancient of days and to whom is given glory, and power, and authority, and dominion.)  Now listen to Luke, “All things have been given over to me into my power by my Father.  No one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son and anyone to whom the son may reveal and make him known.”  Here Jesus is claiming to have this son/father relationship.  As soon as Jesus uses the term son the Rabbis know immediately what he is talking about.  As soon as he uses the term father the Rabbis know immediately what he is talking about and to what he’s referring and the whole theological implications.  Turn to Psalms 2:7, “I will declare the decree of the Lord.  He said to me, “you are my son, this day have I begotten you.”  Turn to Psalms 89:26, “He shall cry to me you are my father, my God and the rock of my salvation.  I will make him the first born the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy and loving kindness will I keep for him forever more and my covenant shall stand fast and be faithful with him. He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God.”  Who’s he talking about?  Son, father, who is this man?  Do you remember that even at the age of 12 Jesus has a conscious awareness of who and what he is?  As a matter of fact he makes a statement that is so dramatic, that is so revolutionary, that when he says no one can possibly mistake what he means.  We’ve never understood it of course because we’ve not seen it in its Hebraic context.  But do you remember when he was at 12 years of age there in the Temple questioning with the rabbinic authorities of his day and his parents come and his mother says, “What have you done?  You had us so worried.”  He turns and says, “Know ye now that I must be about my Father’s business?”  No Jew before or after to this day has ever dared call God, my Father.  That’s the reason why she pondered those things in her heart.  When Jesus taught his followers to pray did he teach them to pray my father?  Our father and all Jews to this very day pray, “Our father which art in heaven”.  Only Jesus dared call God his father.  Notice this son/father relationship. All things are delivered unto me by my father.  What is he doing?  He’s hinting back at something and once you know what’s happening the euphemisms that he’s using, the parallelisms, what he is saying is something much more dramatic than what we see in our theological concepts of Jesus as the son of God.

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus Pt. I

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus

Dr. Roy Blizzard

(transcribed by Dr. Barry Fike)

 

Part One

The Bible tells us that in the last days prior to the return of the Lord that a number of interesting and significant things are going to happen.  These things are given as signs to the body of believers to prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord.  Of course the Bible tell us that no man knows the day nor hour of the Lord’s coming, and there is an old Rabbinical saying that a man should repent one hour before his death.  The students asked the Rabbi, how can a man repent one hour before his death when no one knows the hour in which he is going to die?  The Rabbi said, that’s the point.  A man needs to always be in an attitude of repentance because he does not know when the Lord is going to come.  So, we need always be living in momentary anticipation of the coming of the Lord.  He could come at any time. 

The Bible tells us that in the last days there is going to be a number of exciting things take place.  To me I believe that one of the most exciting of all is the fact that there is going to be, in the last days, an increase in knowledge.  We have not given that the careful attention that it deserves by the body of Christ.  We’re looking at more phenomenal events: earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars and none of these things really excite me to any degree.   But the increase of knowledge and it’s not talking about knowledge in so far as secular knowledge is concerned.  If we were going to discuss the subject of secular knowledge we could talk about how knowledge, in the secular field, and scientific disciplines has increased two and three four and then two and three fold again since 1945.  Just think what has happened in your lifetime and mine.  I believe that the knowledge that it’s talking about here in so far as we are concerned is the knowledge of the word of God.  The knowledge not just of the word of God but a knowledge of God and a knowledge of who we are in God.  I do not think that this is any mere coincidence that there is a reason for it.  That reason, I believe, is something that we have often overlooked as Christians.  Knowledge is power and ignorance is powerlessness.   I do not believe that when the Lord comes that he’s going to come for a little skinny, shriveled, disheveled, snaggy tooth bride impotent and ineffectual with a wart on the end of her nose.  I believe that when he comes he’s coming for a bride that is beautiful, clothed in the wedding garments and is moving out in the dimension of power, authority, operation, victory, unprecedented in the course of human history.  For the church, the bride, to move in that kind of dimension of power, she has to move in knowledge.  The Bible says for lack of knowledge the people perish.

What is the principle commission to the church?  We’ve never understood this.  As a matter of fact we don’t even know what church is.  I know what church is…that’s when the organ starts playing and the choir marches out and we all stand up and sing together the opening song, the preacher leads us in the invocation, then we all sit down sing three all songs, and then we take up the offering, the preacher stands up and preaches a sermon.  But to whom does he preach?  Saved folks.  Then we all stand up again and have the invitation hymn, the benediction and we all go home and that’s church.  That’s not church that’s just some kind of mickey mouse game that we’ve been playing for about 1500 years and most of us don’t know what’s going on out there.  We’ve never understood the difference between the didasko of the word and the kerusko of the word.  Didasko is teaching…Kerusko is preaching.  What’s the commission to the church?  Go into all of the world and make disciples.  But we don’t know what a disciple is because we’re looking at it in the English or the Greek and we’re confused about what is a disciple.  In Hebrew a disciple is a talmid and that means a student.  The picture is of the student sitting at the feet of the Rabbi who is giving them instruction.   Then once they have been instructed they are to do what?  What is the commission of the church?  To go and make disciples and then do what?  Baptize them and continue to teach them and to instruct them to bring them into a maturity of the word.  Teach, baptize, Teach…but what about preaching?  Who is supposed to be a preacher?   Every believer is supposed to be a preacher.  Besides you don’t have to be very smart to be a preacher.  As a matter of fact you don’t have to go to Bible College, you don’t have to graduate from some Theological Seminary, and you don’t have to know much at all in order to be a preacher.   I can teach you everything that you need to know in 10 seconds to be a preacher.  What is a preacher?  One who proclaims the good news?  What is the good news?  Jesus Christ died, buried, rose again, ascended to the right hand of the father, and salvation is available to all those that come to God through him.  That is the kerusko of the word that is the eugelion and that’s all that you need to know to be a preacher.  Now someone says, that’s interesting…tell me more and that’s where teaching comes in.  You actually have to know more to be a teacher.  You have to know that you don’t know.  When someone wants more instruction and you don’t know anymore, tell them that you know where you can go and find out.  You never to be afraid to say, I don’t know.  I don’t know is a perfectly logical response to any question if you don’t know the answer.  More preacher need to learn that and more teachers need to learn that and more Christians need to learn that.  I don’t know. 

But the emphasis, the commission to God people, where is it?   I believe the greatest sin that believers are committing today is a failure to heed the admonition of the apostle Paul when he said, “Study to show yourself approved unto God a workman that need not be ashamed because you know how to rightly interpret the word of truth.”  That’s what we’re here to do this evening is to set the foundation for you that you can begin to build on that foundation the house on the solid rock that’s going to be able to stand when all of the fiery darts of the wicked one are directed against it.  There’s only one house that’s going to stand and that’s truth.  The truth of God’s word.  What is it?  We’ve been busy for so long playing our little theological games that we haven’t understood the commission, ourselves, the nature of God, and our problem has been one of ignorance and ignorance is powerlessness. 

When it comes to our Bible reading we have to admit that many of us are lax in reading the Bible and studying the word that would give us the knowledge to move out in power and authority and victory.  Then, whenever, we do study, most of us begin our study on the basis of false premises that we’ve been taught for a number of years.  This may come as a surprise to you but we have been taught in error a number of things.  As a matter of fact, perhaps the larger part of what we believe and think as Christians today in organized Ecclesiastical Christianity is wrong and has been wrong because it was founded on the basis of Protestantism of the 16th, 17th or 18th century, or the Catholicism of the Middle ages and the Dark Ages.  There has never been an attempt made on the part of God’s people to go back of Protestantism, to go back of Catholicism, and go all the way back to the historical foundations of our faith, which, by the way, are not rooted in the Gentile theology of the third, fourth and fifth centuries.  They are firmly rooted in the Judaism of the first century in Palestine.  It might come as a surprise to you that Jesus was a Jew.  There are some folks that really have never come to grips with that.  They think that he was a Protestant and was a member of Baptist church that John founded.  But I’m excited that in these days in which we live, the religious climate is changing. We are no longer moving and acting in a dimension of nothing more than emotion and experience.  God’s people are beginning to rise up and move in a dimension of knowledge and understanding and power.  It results from a number of exciting things that have happened in just the last few years.  It all started with a number of archaeological discoveries that were made with which most of you are familiar.  The most significant was the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Do you remember in 1947, and then in 1956, in a series of caves, approximately 13, along the western short of the Dead Sea at the northern end over 40,000 scroll fragments were found representing some 400 different books of the Bible in addition to other scrolls such as commentaries on the Bible, scrolls governing the religious life and activity of the people who lived in this peculiar little Jewish community called Qumran.  It’s located about 4 to 5 miles in a straight line where we read about John the Baptist baptizing in the wilderness.  As a result of those scrolls there began a revolution in our understanding of the word of God.  Prior to the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls a method of biblical interpretation, called higher biblical criticism, had reigned for 250 years. It was started back in 1751 with a French physician by the name of Jean Austruck and it reached its culmination in the 19th century, about 1856, and then 1876, with a man by the name of Groff and another by the name of Velhausen in Germany that proposed a hypothesis that is known as the documentary hypothesis that said that all of the books of the O.T. were based on one of four different sources.  The Jehovah source, the Elohim source, the Deut. Source or the Priestly source none of which dated any earlier than 850 B.C. which of course immediately eliminates any possibility of Mosaic authorship or divine inspiration.  From the basis of these various sources, one was able to go to the Bible and divide the passages in the O.T. into a patchwork of JEP or D based upon the usage of divine names on parallel or duplicate accounts or on the variation in diction and style that one found in the Hebrew in the Masoretic texts of the O.T.  Until we found the Dead Sea Scrolls, and then just like someone took the rug and yanked it out from under their feet, the whole of the documentary hypothesis came tumbling down.  Not only the documentary hypothesis but the whole German school of theology that had also been telling us, and there are very few people that are aware of this fact, that this idea came to us from the same German school that gave us the documentary hypothesis.  The N.T. was written in Greek and that Jesus spoke Aramaic.  We know today, on the basis of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and all of the other of our archaeological findings, and textual studies as a result of what we found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, that both of those statement are false.  

The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, in additional to the material found in the first 15 chapters of the book of Acts, comprised an original life story of Jesus undoubtedly written by Matthew.  Why Matthew?  The oldest, patristic tradition that takes us back to the end of the first century and the beginning of the second century says that Matthew wrote the first gospel and it was written in Hebrew.  We’ve always had that.  It’s always been extant.  But because of the influence of the German school whenever we saw Hebrew immediately scholars said Aramaic in spite of the fact that there is a completely different word in Latin and in Greek for Aramaic as opposed to Hebrew.  Undoubtedly this was written by Matthew.  The original Hebrew gospel.  The language of Jesus was not Aramaic, although he certainly knew Aramaic, but it was not the language in which he taught.  It was not Greek although he knew Greek and probably Latin because the people of his day were multilingual.  But the language of instruction of Jesus was Hebrew.  And the language of the synoptic gospels was Hebrew.  What difference does that make?  It makes all the difference in the world in understanding many of the things that Jesus has to say.  When you come to Jesus and you begin to read the words of Jesus a lot of it is very strange and difficult and hard to understand.  For example, not every that saith to me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.   What does he man?   Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot see the kingdom of heaven?  What does he mean?  That’s not too difficult, and we think that we know what that means.  The problem is that it’s more dangerous when we think we know what it means than when he says something like, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and men of violence take it by force.”  That’s so confusing that we just forget about that and go on to something else and leave that for later.  How about such passages as, “If a man’s eye be single his whole body is filled with light.”  What does that mean?

Matthew 6:20:  It starts talking about don’t lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Now I want you to listen very carefully to something because it’s going to take me a long time before I answer the question.  Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt where thieves break through and steal.  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.  One question I have to ask you is how do you lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven?  How do you do that?  Has anybody ever told you?  Does anybody know?  Jesus told us that that was what we were supposed to do.   How many of you have been doing it?  How do you do it?  If you don’t know how to do it how do you know whether you have any of it or not?  Then he goes on to say that the light of the body is the eye.  Then he says if a man’s eye be single, clear, pure, good, sound, healthy…there are 8 or 10 translations here.  Which one is it?  If a man’s eye be what?  How many of you have heard messages preached on single mindedness?  Having your attention focus on one subject and having that single mindedness and having the mind of Christ….doesn’t have anything to do with that.   The translators didn’t have the basic fundamental understanding of a couple of things that are very important for us in our study in understanding the difficult words of Jesus.  That is: #1  Jesus was a Jew!  #2 He wasn’t just a Jew but he was a Rabbi.  WE know just exactly what Jesus did at any one given period in his life to lead him to the point to where he could be called Rabbi. 

How many of you have heard all of these crazy little doctrines or theories that have been floating around as to how Jesus, when he was just a young boy, went off into India and there he studied Eastern Mysticism.  Whenever he came back he was preaching some very heretical doctrines and teachings to the people of his day.  That’s pure stupidity.  It’s a basic fundamental lack of understanding of anything Hebraic.  The face is that we know exactly what he was doing.  How do we know?  Because of a number of things that he himself said like, “I did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law.”  How does one fulfill the law?  By keeping it.  Not only that he said that he so revered the law that he said that not one jot or one tittle of the law is going to pass away until all of these things be fulfilled.  Isn’t that exciting?  How do you know?  Do you know what a jot is or a tittle?  I’ll tell you exactly what he says.  Not one yod and not one kotz is what is says in Hebrew is going to pass from the law until these things are fulfilled.  Is there anybody here who knows what a kotz is?  What’s a yod?  The smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Did you ever hear of a kotz?  It’s not one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  So what is it? 

How did he revere the law?  He regarded the law that he said not one yod or one kotz was going to pass form the law until it was fulfilled.  But who was going to fulfill it?  Only he could fulfill it by becoming the embodiment of it which means that in all of his life he lived according to law.  We know what law required of the Jewish boy.  That’s how we know exactly what he was doing at every point in his life.  Do you want to know what he was doing?  Go to the Mishnah, and it tells you exactly what he was doing.  How old he would be when he was doing whatever he was doing.  Everyman’s Talmud is a thumbnail sketch of and Jewish law and commentary on law; the Mishnah is the second law known in Hebrew as the Oral law and they believe that the Oral Law is on par to the written law that was given to Moses at Sinai.  In the Mishnah it says that Moses received the Torah, all of the Torah, at Sinai including the Mishnah.  So it’s always been considered to be on a part with the written Law (Gen. – Deut.).  This is an assembly of a commentary on it and the rabbinical laws regarding Torah.  In the Mishnah, it says, “At 5 years the age is reached for the study of scripture (129 -ET); at 10 for the study of Mishnah; at 13 for Bar Mitzvah (when a son becomes a son of the covenant and the responsibilities of law fall on his shoulders.  That’s interesting…completely contrary to Christian theology.  Once you understand what’s going on all of a sudden you realize that the doctrine of original sin is not Hebraic.  Do you know what the doctrine of original sin is?  Man was born in sin.  He’s born basically evil and from the moment of birth there is that need on the part of man for redemption.  That’s the reason why, in Catholicism, if a child is aborted or a miscarriage occurs, it doesn’t matter what age or stage of development that fetus may be in, the nurses who are in attendance in the operating, or delivery, room are instructed as to how they are to open the fetal sack and to administer the right of baptism because baptism is for the forgiveness of sin and the child is born in sin and if it’s not ministered the last rites, or the sacrament of baptism, then it’s going to go to hell.  Where did all of that doctrine originate? Not in Judaism.  It began with Augustine.  It’s called the Augustinian concept of original sin.  In Hebrew the man is born basically good and he is what his parents are.  That’s the reason that the parents are instructed to teach their children and to bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.  When they reach that age of accountability, about the time of puberty, at 12 for the girls and 13 for the boys, then they make that decision that they continue to work with God and the responsibilities for keeping law now falls on their shoulders as opposed to the shoulders of their parents.  But until the time that they reach the age of accountability the child is what his parents are.  The parents are charged with the responsibility of teaching the children and bringing them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and then the Bible says when they are old, and it doesn’t mean elderly—it means when they are adolescent or it comes time for them to make the decision for themselves, they’re not going to turn away from it but their simply going to walk on in it.)  So at 13, Bar Mitzvah; at 15, the study of Talmud, the commentary on Law; at 18 to the canopy (their eligible for marriage); at 20 then they move into their vocation (did you ever wonder why Jesus did not begin his ministry until the age of 30?  Why not 29?  Why not 31?  If he knew that he was going to have just three years I may just have postponed it until 50.  Why 30?  Because the Mishnah says at 30 a man moves out into his full vigor.  That is the mission and responsibility of whatever it is…into his full vigor.  At 40, understanding.  At 50, counsel.  60, old age, 70 the hoary head, 80 special strength, 90 bending beneath the weight of one’s age, 100 it’s as if the man is already dead.  

It’s all in the Mishnah.  If Jesus said that he and every instance fulfilled law, then that means that’s exactly what he was doing at each one of these particular periods in his life because that was what they were supposed to do according to law.  Only if he had done that would the members of the Sanhedrin, such as Nicodemus who came to him by night, have come and said, Rabbi, we perceive that you are a Rabbi (teacher) come from God because no one could do the things that you can do unless God is with him.  He was a teacher, the teacher par excellent…but very few of us pay any attention to anything that he says. 

Let’s take a survey.  How   you, in your Bible reading in the N.T., concentrate most of your energy in reading in the N.T. in the epistles or you spend most of your time reading in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).  How many of you would say that you spend most of your time reading in the epistles?  How many of you in your reading in the N.T. spend most of your time reading in the synoptic gospels?  (1/10th)    It happens every time, everywhere I go and it doesn’t make any difference if there are 400 people or 4000 it’s always the same.  The percentage will be anywhere from 75% to 95% of the people spend all of their time, or the majority of their time, reading in the Epistles rather than reading in the Gospels.  We’ve never come to the realization to the fact that all of this material in the Epistles was written to a poor bunch of dumb Gentiles who didn’t know anything about spiritual things.  They were immoral, they were faithfulness and spiritually immature, they were factional, had all kinds of problems and, yet, most of our theology is constructed on the epistles that Paul wrote to these congregations who had once been Gentiles.   By the way, did you know that in the biblical text there are only two classes of people?   Those who are a part of the family of God and those who aren’t.  Those who are a part of the family of God are called Jews.  Those who aren’t are called Gentiles.  Gentile means pagan.  We talk about Gentile churches.  Well, some of them are.  More than you would think.  But Paul in writing to those who had once been pagan, said, you who were once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, who were once afar off, have through the blood of Christ been brought nigh.  Been brought nigh to what?  To Judaism to the commonwealth of Israel.  There are the foundations of our faith.  Properly understood, we are those wild Olive branches that have been brought from the natural Olive tree.  I don’t know about you but I’m not a Protestant.  I’m not protesting anything except sin.  I’m not a Catholic and don’t care one thing about the ecclesiastical church.  I don’t consider myself to be a Gentile.  I have no ties, no association with the Gentile theology of the second, third or fourth century.  My desire to go all the way behind Protestantism, all the way of Catholicism, all the way back of the Gentile church of the second, third, and fourth century to the historical foundations of my faith and ask myself, “Who were these people?  What were they doing?  What were they saying?  What was the results that they garnered from doing whatever it was that they were doing??  Unfortunately, I can’t do that in a Gentile context.  I can’t do that in a Greek context because Jesus wasn’t speaking Greek.  He wasn’t speaking English.  He was speaking Hebrew and it’s only when we know Hebrew and we hear him speak to us in Hebrew that we’re able to understand what he’s saying.  Why?  Because he’s a Rabbi and he’s using a rabbinic method of instruction. 

What Has Happened to the Church? Is it Pagan or Hebrew?

Have you ever stopped and come to grips with how bad the spiritual situation is in the world today? It is frightening when we give ourselves to some serious thought and realize how far we have digressed from what was intended to our present state. We read of a united Church in the New Testament – a Church that was alive, dynamic, and moving out in a dimension of power and authority.

By Roy B. Blizzard

Have you ever stopped and come to grips with how bad the spiritual situation is in the world today? It is frightening when we give ourselves to some serious thought and realize how far we have digressed from what was intended to our present state. We read of a united Church in the New Testament – a Church that was alive, dynamic, and moving out in a dimension of power and authority.

Today, however, we see over 400 warring Protestant denominations, Catholics, and many others who all use the same Bible as a foundation for their beliefs. Each one of these groups is calling out, “We have the way” or, “Lo, here is Christ.” The result of all these splits, feuds, and divisions is that most of us are running around in some kind of fog, bewildered, and asking essentially the same question that Pilate asked 2,000 years ago: “What is truth?.”

It is almost inconceivable for us to believe that such a thing has happened. But, it really has. What is of the utmost importance now is “What are we going to do about it?” First, we must find out how it happened, when it happened, with whom it happened, and why it happened. This requires study because we are dealing with factual history which can be substantiated by historical evidences. We can trace the factionalization of the Church from the very beginning, down to the present day. We can name the individuals involved, the dates, when it started, why it started, how it started, and what the end results were.

The digression actually started in the latter part, of the 1st century of the present era. It was hinted at in the writings of the Apostle John in I, II, and III John, and in the Book of Revelation. As the Gentiles came into the Church, a problem developed that most have never noticed. Remember, Jesus was a Jew. The Apostles were all Jews. The scriptures from which Jesus taught were Jewish. Every writer of the New Testament was Jewish, with the possible exception of Luke, who many believe was a proselyte. We are dealing with Hebrew people, Hebrew words, and a Hebrew culture which defines the meanings of the words of the Bible.

Somewhere between 90 to 96 of the present era, after the death of the last Apostle, John, we have a head-on collision as the Hebrew words of the Bible are assigned new meanings by the gentile church leaders who are products of the Greek/Roman culture. The leadership of the Church shifted from Jerusalem to Antioch and finally, Rome. By 311 CE when Constantine, the Emperor of Rome, issued the Edict of Toleration, the spiritual situation was already critical. Just think of it, Constantine, head of the greatest empire on the face of the earth at that time, became a Christian. Anything that was good enough for the Emperor was good enough for the subjects, so, Constantine began to award medals, prizes, and money to those who converted to Christianity. Would it surprise you to know that most who converted did so for the medals, prizes, and money?

Constantine came from a pagan background and did not have the foggiest idea about spiritual matters. The people who converted came from pagan backgrounds and had nothing to which they could relate the teachings of the Bible. As they encountered these foreign terms such as “baptism,” “Lord’s Supper,” “repentance,” “Sabbath,” etc., they took certain concepts from paganism and simply carried them over into the structure of the Church, assigning them a Christian meaning. For example, how did imagery get within the structure of the Church? How many of you have ever seen a picture or a statue of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms? Did you ever wonder where this image came from? If you would sometime go to Israel with me, I would take you to Ashkelon, one of the cities of the Philistines, and I would show you a statue of Isis, the Egyptian deity, holding the child-god Horis in her arms. These representations were from centuries before Jesus, but it looks just like a statue you might expect to see of Mary and the baby Jesus. If I did not tell you any different you would think that is exactly who it is. And, this is not an isolated example. I don’t know how this fits into your theology, but I would not like to be taught that a picture or statue of a pagan god holding a baby god is supposed to be Mary and Jesus.

Another pagan concept that found its way into the Church was Saturnalia. You probably have never heard of it, but let me describe it to you and see if it doesn’t ring a bell. It was a happy period when freedom and equality reigned. Violence and oppression were unknown during this celebration. During this period, all public business ceased. Masters and slaves changed places. This was a time of feasting, merry-making, and exchanging of gifts. This festival was celebrated from about December 17th until the 23rd. (I hope it doesn’t shock you to learn that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th.) There is not one verse in the Bible about Christmas. Where did we get the word “Easter”? Did you ever hear of the Ashtaroth, the fertility goddesses mentioned in the Bible? The Hellenization of Ashtaroth Ishtar is transliterated into English as Easter. Have you ever wondered about the Easter egg and the Easter bunny and all of the other concepts and ideas connected to this festival? Where did they come from? Would it surprise you to find out that this is another pagan custom that was brought into the Church? By the way, the only place the word “Easter” is found in the Bible is in Acts 12:4, and it can only be found in the King James Version or versions based on it. When we look at the Greek text we see the word pascha, which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word pesakh, which should be translated as “Passover”. If you want to read about Ashteroth and get God’s view on the subject, read Judges 2:13; 10:6; I Samuel 7:3-4; and 12:10.

From this quagmire of pagan beliefs, with little or no understanding of biblical truths, emerged a religious organization that ultimately resulted (sometime around the middle of the 7th century) in the Roman Catholic Church. In CE 1050 the first major factionalization resulted in a split between the church to the east and the church to the west that became known as the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church. These two organizations continued until 1517, when Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic priest, became disgusted with the abuses and the heresy in the church, and he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He had no intention of starting a new church, but only wanted to halt the corruption within the church. His primary target was the misuse of indulgences (pardon for some of the penalty of sin). An example of this can be seen in the story about Tetzel, a Dominican monk. Tetzel was a high-pressure salesman who was peddling indulgences in an unusually scandalous manner. In his sales pitch he said, “The moment you hear your money drop into the box the soul of your mother will jump out of purgatory.” It was this kind of abuse that prompted Luther to speak out. As a result of his actions, he was excommunicated.

In 1534, Henry the VIII, King of England, had a small problem: how to get rid of his wife so he could marry another. In order to do that, he had to get an annulment of his first marriage from the Pope. The Pope wouldn't give it, so Henry severed all ties with the Roman Catholic Church and refused to recognize the authority of the Pope. This marked the beginning of the Anglican Church in England, which was essentially structured along the lines of the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglican Church remains as the state church of England. From the Anglican Church we have the Episcopalian Church, and then the Methodist Episcopal, followed by the Methodist Church with John Wesley.

All of the various denominations have come forth from the Protestant Reformation which began with Martin Luther in 1534. We can trace their development. We know the names of the individuals who were involved: their basic doctrines, why they thought what they thought and believed what they believed. It is all a matter of documented, recorded fact. Have you ever wondered why there is a Northern Baptist and a Southern Baptist Church? They were united until May 1845, when the Southern Baptist Convention was organized. The acting board of foreign missions of the Baptists was located in Boston and was heavily influenced by the abolition movement. There was bitter debate among the board members over the issue of slavery. In the early 1840’s it became evident that this board would not accept slave holders as missionaries. The question of missionaries and missionary money was the immediate cause of the split.

The end result of all these various arguments and debates is over 400 different denominations with each one saying, “Lo, here’s Christ.” This has created utter confusion. As unbelievable as it might seem, there has never been an attempt on the part of religious leaders to go back behind Protestantism, back of Catholicism and Constantine, and go all the way back to our historical roots in the 1st century. I don’t know about you, but I am not protesting anything, except ignorance. So, I am not interested in being a Protestant. I am not interested in being a Catholic. I want to be part of a living, dynamic, organism that operates in power and with meaning.

I want to emphasize something before you misunderstand what I am talking about. Restoration is never going to be accomplished on a denominational level. It can only happen on an individual basis. If you are in the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, or whatever denomination, restoration can happen. It will happen as there is an increased hunger and desire on the part of God’s people for true factual information. It will happen as individuals begin to ask questions about their religious beliefs and test them against linguistic, cultural, and historical facts. The good news is that it is probably already happening to you.

We are beginning to see individuals, groups, and even congregations coming together with the goal of becoming a living, dynamic, organism as described in the Biblical text. In order to do this, we have to lay aside all of our denominational concepts and go back of Protestantism, back of Catholicism, back of gentile theology, right back to the historical situation in the 1st century. There, we find a Jewish body of believers operating in a dimension unknown in our churches today. To put it simply, it is time that we begin doing Bible things in Bible ways, and in order to do that we must come to grips with the fact that this 1st century Jewish body of believers was structured on the exact pattern of the 1st century synagogue.

For example, we see Jesus walking on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and he says to Peter, James, and John, “Come, follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.” He selects them and others as his twelve “apostles.” Where did he get that idea? Was it just some brilliant stroke of genius that he came up with as the divine son of God? What was an apostle, and are there supposed to be apostles in the Church today?

In the 6th chapter of Acts, the believers deem it necessary to select out from among them the seven men who are to be called deacons. Where did they get that idea? Was this another brilliant stroke of religious genius? Was it divine inspiration (By the way, did you know why Nicolas is called a proselyte and not a Christian?) What is a deacon and what is he or she supposed to be doing? We just know that they are supposed to serve on the board, pass the offering plate, and help pass out the Lord’s Supper. But what did the deacons of that Jewish body of believers do?

The Apostle Paul admonishes Timothy to go around and ordain elders in every congregation. Where did elders come from and what were they supposed to do? We see in the Bible that there are elders, pastors, presbyters, bishops, overseers, and rulers. The sad fact is that we just do not even know who these various functionaries are, much less what they are supposed to be doing.

What about the synagogue? Do you know anything about it? How was it organized? Did you know there was a group in the synagogue who were called elders, and another group called deacons? They also had apostles and teachers. Would it come as a surprise to you to find out that there is not a single thing that the early fellowship of believers did that was original with them, that they had not done before? To learn the answers to these and other questions, we are re-recording two of our series, “Historical Roots” and “The Organizational Structure of the First Century Community of God”, which will be available for you.

Who is Isaiah 52:13-53:12 talking about?

Who is Isaiah 52:13-53:12 talking about?

Dr. Barry Fike

              Jesus would constantly tell his followers: Relax!  Isn’t that what he really is all about?  Especially is this true of his resurrection.  One of those fascinating accounts is recorded in Luke 24:13-35 and deals with two disciples that met Jesus on the road to Emmaeus.   They are talking with each other and did not recognize Jesus.  From v. 26 on Jesus “began with Moses and all the Prophets and explained in all the Scriptures the things about himself.”  What were all these scriptures?  No doubt they must have included Isaiah 53.  This is the same gentle teasing, almost playful Jesus that we have seen throughout the Gospel record.  He may be back in a different body which appears and disappears and walks through walls, but he can be recognized, and he acts just as he did when in his unresurrected body! 

              We hear of Isaiah 53 being read by the Ethiopian Eunuch as he was riding in his chariot back to Egypt (Acts 8:26-40). 

              But who is this section of scripture talking about?  While the words are clear, who this servant is, is not.  Of all the passage thought by Christians to reflect Jesus in the Old Testament, Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is the one most intensely held by Christians and questioned by skeptics.  Christians see the suffering servant as Jesus while others claim that the servant is Israel and that this scripture describes the history of the Jewish people.  One author claims, “The messiah is never called the servant of God, not in Isaiah, and not anywhere in the Hebrew Bible.  Therefore, it is plain idiocy to claim that the servant refers to the messiah.”  In response, look at Zechariah 12:10 and Daniel 9:26.

 

“I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a

Spirit of grace and supplication.  They will look on Me, the One they have

Pierced, and they will mourn for HI, as one mourns for an only child,

and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a first born son.”  Zech. 12:10

 

              Daniel spoke of a specific time when the Messiah would appear and be “cut off”, declaring plainly that this would occur before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.  

 

“After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have

nothing.  The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city

and the sanctuary.  The end will come like a flood; War will continue until

the end, and desolations have been decreed.”  Den. 9:26

 

              Another states, “Messiah means ‘anointed one’.  It was the custom to anoint kings and a high priest with oil at their inauguration.  Most of the time Messiah refers to an anointed king.  The anointment for a Jewish king is to be done by a priest or prophet.  Jesus was never anointed as king by a priest or prophet, and he never had any kingship, so he simply was not a messiah.”

              Still others claim that Christians see Jesus in the “servant” section of Isaiah partly through the benefit of hindsight and partly because Christian scholars have tampered with the Hebrew text.  They say that by a combination of wishful thinking and dishonesty we have changed the powerful political Messiah of Jewish expectation into a suffering Servant who dies as a sacrifice for the sins of others. 

              They continue in this thought by saying that the concept of a Deliverer who suffers and dies voluntarily as a sacrifice for the sins of others is a concoction of Christian theologians.  Nowhere in the book of Leviticus, or anywhere else, does the Torah allow any form of HUMAN BLOOD as an atonement.  That practice was a purely pagan notion performed throughout the world, but never in the Jewish world.  The Jews have never offered a human sacrifice with the consent of the Jewish court and community.  Furthermore, the entire chapters 17 of Leviticus, and even verse 11, seems to indicate in the strongest terms that all sacrifices and means for atonement that blood must be used in the Tabernacle or Temple.  Since Jesus was not offered in the Temple, nor did any priest sprinkle his blood, was the atonement for anyone?  In addition, the idea of a god dying in order to atone for the sins of others is purely a pagan idea.  Sometimes the accumulated sins of the entire people were placed upon their dying god.   This idea is basic to the pagan mind.  In addition, the beginning of the book of Leviticus mentions various animals which could be used as an offering in the Temple, and since it specifies only certain animals, it indicates that only those animals, and no other animals, and certainly no humans may be used as an offering. 

              While it is true that the term “servant of God” can refer to others (Isaiah 20:3; Isaiah 22:20; 24:2; 36:9, 11; 37:5, 24, 25; Israel: Isaiah 41:8, 9; 49:3, 6) it is also true that the term ‘servant of God’ can refer to the Messiah according to the Rabbis (Isaiah 42:1, 19; 43: 10; 44: 1, 2, 21, 26; 45:4; 48:20; 49:3, 5; 49:5-7; 50:10; 52:13; 53:11).  Look at the intensely personal nature of some of the Servant passages:

 

“Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One in whom I delight;

I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.”  Isaiah 42:1

 

The Lord says – He who formed Me in the womb to be his servant to bring

Jacob back to Him and father Israel to Himself…He says: “It is too small a

thing or you to be My servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring

back those of Israel I have kept.  I will also make You a light for the Gentiles, that

You may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”  This is what the Lord says…

to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, …”Kings will see You

and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord,

who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”  Isaiah 49:5-7

 

              These words point to an individual distinct from even the godly remnant (here referred to as “those of Israel I have kept”).  Moreover, no Old Testament prophecy declares that this godly remnant will be “despised and abhorred by the nation.” 

              The beauty of those words in Hebrew is almost beyond description.  It is no wonder that Jews in ancient times read them with great pathos.   Up to a thousand years ago, the rabbinic commentaries applied the words to the Messiah.  The problem with the rabbinic interpretation is that they are ancient interpretations.  Beginning in the 1800’s most Jewish scholars rejected the idea that Isaiah 52:13-53:12 referred to the Messiah and began to apply it to a remnant in Israel.  Since then they have been saying that these words will be spoken by Gentiles, who in the last days will stand corrected and brokenhearted before the suffering nation that has borne their hatred and sins.  They say that this entire passage is a last-days confession of a Gentile world, admitting that its proud and mindless anti-semitism has been the curse of Israel’s pain.

              However, the ancient commentators, with one accord, noted that the context clearly speaks of God’s Anointed One, the Messiah.  The Aramaic translation of this chapters, ascribed by Rabbi Johnathan ben Uzziel, a disciple of Hillel who lived early in the second century C.E., begin with the simple and worthy words: 

 

Behold my servant Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high, and increase,

and be exceeding strong: as the house of Israel looked to him through many

days, because their countenance was darkened among the peoples,

and their complexion beyond the sons of men. (Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 53, and locum)

 

We find the same interpretation in the Babylonian Talmud:

 

The Messiah – what is his name?...The Rabbis say, the leprous one, those of

The house of Rabbi say, the sick one, as it is said, ‘Surely he hath borne

Our sicknesses.’   (Sanhedrin 98b)

 

              Similarly, in the Midrash Rabbah, in an explanation of Ruth 2:14:

 

He is speaking of the King Messiah, “Come hither” draw near to the

throne “and drip thy morsel in the vinegar,” this refers to the chastisements,

As it is said, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised

For our iniquities.”

 

              In the same manner also in a later midrash, the Midrash Tanhuman, Parsha Toldot, end of section, it says:

 

“Who are thou, O great mountain?”  (Zech. 4:7)  This refers to the

King Messiah.  And why does he call him the “great mountain?”  Because

He is greater than the patriarchs, as it is said, “My servant shall be high,

and lifted up, and lofty exceedingly.” He will be higher than Abraham who

said, “I raise high my hand unto the Lord” (Gen. 14:22), lifted up above Moses, to

whom it is said, “Lift it up unto thy bosom” (Num. 1:12), loftier than the ministering

Angels, of whom it is written, “Their wheels were lofty and terrible” (Ezek. 1:16).

and out of whom doe she come forth?  Out of David.”

 

              The famous Middle Ages Rabbi and Philosopher Moses Maimonides stated:

 

“What is the manner of Messiah’s advent…there shall rise up one of whom

None have known before, and signs and wonders which they shall see

Performed by him will be the proofs of his true origin, for the Almighty,

Where he declares to us his mind upon this matter, says, ‘Behold a man whose

Name if the Branch, and he shall branch forth out of his place (Zech. 6:12).  And

Isaiah speaks si8milarly of the time when he shall appear, without father

Or mother, or family being known.  He came up as a sucker before him, and as a

Root out of dry earth, etc….in the words of Isaiah, when describing the

Manner in which kings will harden to him.  At him kings will shut their mouth; for

That which had not been told them have they seen, and that which they had not

Heard they have perceived.”  (From the letter to the South (Yemen), and quoted in the Fifty-third chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters, KTAV Publishing House, 1969, vol. 2, 374-375)

 

              Rabbi Moshe Kohen Ibn Crispen described those who interpret Isaiah 53 as referring to Israel as those;

 

“having forsaken the knowledge of our Teachers, and inclined after the

stubbornness of their own hearts,” and of their own opinion, I am pleased to

interpret it, in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah…This

prophecy was delivered by Isaiah at the divine command for the purpose of

making known to us something about the nature of the future Messiah, who is to

come and deliver Israel, and his life form the day when he arrives at discretion

until his advent as a redeemer, in order that if anyone should arise claiming himself

the Messiah, we may reflect, and look to see whether we can observe in him any

resemblance to the traits described here; if there is any such resemblance, then we may

believe that he is the Messiah our righteousness, but if not, we cannot do so.”  (From his commentary on Isaiah, quotes in “The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters”, KTAV publishing house, 1969, vol. 2, pp. 99-114.

 

              Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Iszchaki, 1040-1105) and some of the later Rabbis, though, began to interpret the passage as referring to Israel as a suffering nation.  They knew that the older interpretations referred to it as the Messiah.  However, Rashi lived at a time when a degenerative medieval distortion of Christianity was preached.  He wanted to preserve the Jewish people from accepting such a faith and, although his intensions were sincere, other prominent Jewish Rabbis and leaders realized the inconsistencies of Rashi’s interpretation.  They presented a threefold objection to his innovation.  First, they showed the consensus of ancient opinion.  Secondly, they pointed out that the text is in the singular.   Thirdly, they noted verse eight.  This verse presented an insurmountable difficulty to those who interpreted this passage as referring to Israel.  It reads:

 

He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his

generation?  For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the

transgressions of my people was he stricken.

 

              Were the Jewish people, God forbid, ever cut off out of the land of the living?  No!  In Jeremiah 31:35-37, God promised that we will exist forever.  We are proud that Am Yishrael Chai stated: “The people of Israel are much alive.”  Likewise, it is impossible to say that Israel suffered for the transgressions of “my people,” which clearly means Isaiah’s people.  Surely, Isaiah’s people are not the Gentiles, but the Jews.

 

              Moshe Kohen, a 15th-century Rabbi in Spain, explains the section:

 

Although the singular number if used in it throughout.   Others have supposed it to

Mean the just in this present world, who are crushed and oppressed now…but these

Too, for the same reason, by altering the number, distort the verses from their natural meaning.  And then it seemed to me that…having forsaken the

knowledge of our Teachers, and inclined “after the stubbornness of their

own hearts,” and of their own opinion, I am pleased to interpret it,

in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah.

 

              For the same reason, Rabbi Moshe Alsheikh, Rabbi of Safed, late 16th century, points out this fact saying:

 

I may remark, then, that our Rabbis with one voice accept and affirm the

opinion that the prophet is speaking of the King Messiah. 

 

              Rabbi Sh'lomoh Astruc (14th c.) also states that:

 

My servant shall prosper, or be truly intelligent, because by intelligence man is really man -- it is intelligence which makes a man what he is. And the prophet calls the King Messiah my servant, speaking as one who sent him. Or he may call the whole people my servant, as he says above my people (lii. 6): when he speaks of the people, the King Messiah is included in it; and when he speaks of the King Messiah, the people is comprehended with him. What he says then is, that my servant the King Messiah will prosper.

 

              Much to the point is the commentary of the great Jewish educator, Herz Homberg (1749-18451). Who says:

 

According to the opinion of Rabbi and Ibn Ezra, it relates to Israel at the

End of their captivity.  But if so, what can the meaning of the passage, “He was wounded for our transgressions”?  Who was wounded?  Who are the

Transgressors?  Who carried out sickness and bore the pain?  The fact

Is that it refers to the King Messiah.

 

              The passage is not read in the synagogue today, but no one can be certain why this is so. 

              Before we ever get to chapters 52, 53 we know something already about the Messiah from Isaiah.  He appears many times throughout the book.  He is seen as a baby in chapter 9 and grows up in 11.  Messiah is repeatedly referred to as the servant too, and contrasted with faithless Israel.  Messiah is Israel’s redeemer and covenant makes no sense that suddenly servant Israel is strong and righteous.  Isaiah 52:1`3 – the Epistle to the Hebrews attempts to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is greater than Abraham (7:7), than the angels (1:4), and than Moses (7:7).  The same is said in Isaiah 52:13:

 

“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.”

 

              The Messiah will be more “exalted” than Abraham, more “extolled” than Moses and more “high” than the angels.  The method of this midrash is based upon the assumption that no word in the Bible is senseless.  Why would three synonymous verbs appear in this verse?   Each of the three apparently has a special meaning: the first indicates the superiority of the Messiah to Abraham, the second his higher degree than Moses, and the third his greater value than the angels.  Such an exegetical method is very common in rabbinic literature (Judaism and the Origins of Christianity, Flusser, pp. 246, 247)

              It is written in Isaiah 52:13 – “Behold my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and he shall be very high.”  Already in the Aramaic Targum of this verse, “my servant” is translated “My servant, the Messiah”.  Three verbs describe the superiority of the Messiah.  For the midrashic approach, they cannot be only a stylistic repetition: all of them have to have a particular meaning.  But to whom will the Messiah be superior?  He “shall be exalted” above Abraham, and “lifted up” above Moses, and “shall be very high” above the ministering angels (ibid, p.248).  According to the Jewish faith, Moses is the central and exalted figure, both in his meekness and in his greatness.

              The epistle of the Hebrews proved that a Midrash existed at the time of the Second Temple, or soon after its destruction, dealing with the Messiah along this same thematic line.

              In the Tannaic Midrash, namely Sifre, on Numbers 12:3-7, Rabbi Jose says that Moses is greater than the Patriarchs and the angels.  Hence originated the Midrash which attempted to prove that the Messiah is greater even than Moses, than the Patriarchs, including Abraham, and the Archangels  (Jewish Sources in Early Christianity, Flusser, p. 64).  In these verses the author, along the same lines as the Rabbis, quote Numbers 12:7, but whereas the Jewish sages quote this verse in order to show the superiority of Moses, the epistle to the Hebrews uses the same biblical verse in order to prove that Moses is inferior to the Messiah.

              In Hebrews 1:4-14 we have the idea of the superiority of the Messiah to the angels.  In order to support his assertion “and thus he is superior to the angels as he inherited a name superior to theirs” (Heb. 1:4), the writer has to resort to seven biblical proofs.  Thus, in the first two testimonia (1:5) the main point demonstrating Jesus; superiority to the angels is that only he – in contrast to the angels – is the Son of God: “For to what angel did God even say: ‘Thou art my son, today I have become thy father?’” (2 Sam. 7:14)…the last four (1:7-14) are quoted in order to show that all the angels without exception are nothing but ministering spirits, sent forth to serve and devoid of ruling power, since of them it was said: “Who makes his angels into winds, his servants into flames of fire” (Ps. 104:4).  The remaining arguments in chapter two are very important for our subject, since these – in contrast to those in the first chapter dealing with Jesus the Son of God – are concerned mainly with proving the superiority of Jesus in his role of Messiah and Savior.

              On the last night at the Passover meal, Jesus says to his disciples:

 

“When I sent you out with no purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”  They

Said, “Nothing.”  He said to them, “But now, let him who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag.  And let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one.   For I tell you that this Scripture must find its fulfillment in me: ‘And he was reckoned with transgressors.’” (Luke 22:35-37)

 

              The phrase Jesus quotes is from a famous passage in Isaiah (52:13-53:12).  His point seems to be that since the prophecy concerns a description of the Messiah in which he is thought to be a transgressor or criminal, it is only appropriate that there should be a sword or two in the possession of his band so that when arrested or apprehended the symbols of rebellion will put Jesus, as it were, in the company of rebels.

              The disciples show him a couple of sword they happen to have and comment,

 

“Look, Lord, here are two swords.”

 

              His answer is,

 

“It is enough.”  (Lk. 22:38)

 

              Of course, he must have smiled lightly, for the swords are only tokens.  In the face of death, he can somehow laugh.

              There are perhaps only one or two other expressions in the many words of Jesus recorded for us which hint at what must have been long hours of meditation on passages such as those we recall when we mention Isaiah 53.   The sparsidy of such references only emphasizes that high intellectual sophistication by which he lived on those Scriptures which spoke so clearly to him. 

              Isaiah 53:8 – The great Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, in his book “Two Types of Faith”, (104f) says this about the self-awareness of Jesus: “It was written of yet another, of the servant of YHVH (Isaiah 53), that he was ‘taken’ and ‘cut off from the land of the living…’  This too is removal, a removal also to a particular, especially elevated office: he shall become a light to the nations (42:6; 49:6)…; through his mediation the salvation of God shall rule unto the borders of the earth (49:6)”  (Jesus the Jewish Theologian, Young, p. 276) 

              Jesus will constantly, throughout his ministry, define his messianic task (Lk. 5:33-39).   One such was in the verse, “But when the bridegroom is taken away from them.”  No doubt such a verse puzzled his audience.  The word “is taken away” (in Hebrew lukach, in Greek aparthe) was another way of saying, “when he dies” or “when he is killed”.  Why must the bridegroom die?  The term “bridegroom” could be associated with the coming of the messianic Redeemer (cf. Matthew 25:6).   The time will come when he will be taken, then his disciples will fast.  In the puzzling saying of Jesus, one sees both joy and sadness interrelated.  But how can one associate the joy of a wedding with the death of the bridegroom?

              Jesus quote possibly alludes to Isaiah 53:8, where the same Hebrew word refers to the death of the suffering servant.   Joy is associated with the coming of the Messiah.  But when the Messianic idea is connected to the suffering servant in the words of the prophet Isaiah as Jesus taught in his prophecies concerning his death, a reference to the death of the bridegroom is not out of place.  Both of the diverse feelings of joy and mourning may be associated with the coming of the messiah figure in the teachings of Jesus.   At least in Isaiah 53:8, 9, we read, “He was taken from rule and from judgment…For he was cut off from the land of the living.”  Is it possible that Jesus makes a veiled mention of his death as the bridegroom?  (Jesus the Jewish Theologian, Young, p. 159)

              Anguish and suffering were prophesies: (52:14) 

 

“As many were astonished at him – his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of man.”

 

              The verse depicts the individual as unpretentious and sorrowful.  Rejection would meet him:  (v. 3)

 

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…”

 

              Yet, his rejection and suffering had a divine and beneficial purpose:  (vs. 4-6)

 

“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.  But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.  WE all, like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him and iniquity of us all.”

 

              His suffering would be with dignity: (v. 7)

 

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth,

And like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb so

He opened not his mouth.”  (Also see Isaiah 50:5, 6)

 

              The end would be death: (v. 9)

 

“They made his grave with the wicked and in death the rich,

although he had done no violence and there was no

deceit in his mouth.”

 

              The theology of Christian faith attaches deep significance to the cross.  Without death there is no resurrection.  Without resurrection there is no hope over death.  “Oh, death where is thy sting?”  Through his agony upon the Roman cross, he shared with and participates in the sufferings of all humanity.  His suffering should also be recognized as a point of unity with his people.  For the Romans he was just another trouble maker among the Jews who needed to be deal with severely.  Perhaps there is no other point in history where Jesus is so much at one with his people than when he suffered upon the cruel cross of Rome.  (Jesus the Jewish Theologian, Young, p. 238)

              Yet, the death would not be meaningless:

 

“We esteemed his stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

Upon him lay the chastisement that made us whole,

And with his striped we are healed.”  (vs. 3, 4)

 

              Nor would it be permanent:

 

“When he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring,

He shall prolong his days.”  (v. 10)

 

              The expression “by His knowledge My righteous servant will justify many” means that by knowledge of Him many will be justified.  The Servant here is not portrayed as a teacher but as a Savior in His priestly ministry, saving people by bearing their iniquities, not by imparting knowledge to them.   The benefits of His atoning work will be received by those who came to know Him.  Their salvation will crown His work with success:

 

“Therefore, I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide

The spoils with the death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

For He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.”

 

              Verse 12 denotes intercession, not in the restricted sense of prayer for others, but of the wider one of meritorious and prevailing intervention, which is ascribed to Christ in the New Testament, not as a work already finished, like that of atonement, but one still going on (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24; 1 Jn. 2:1).

              When we read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in its entirety and take it in its simple, unforced, and obvious meaning, the evidence shows that the speaker is not the Gentile nations but a redeemed community.  The passage also reveals a suffering Servant who bears a striking resemblance to Jesus as He endured suffering on the cross. 

 

                [1] http://www.mayimhayim.org/Hebrew%20Pe...

Bible Study Get-Togethers-Flex Scheduling

The last three conferences have gone very well and we have conferences scheduled for the 6th of October and 27th of October.  But for flexibility, we are offering flexible scheduling including weekends or during the week . 

These special Get-Togethers will be strictly limited to eight participants at $300 per person or $500 per couple.  Because meetings are limited if you plan to attend you should call Dr. Blizzard and make your reservations now. If you are interested  in attending you should email Dr. Blizzard immediately:  roy@biblescholars.org.  These have been very successful and we invite you to participate in one of our upcoming schedule Bible study programs.

Bible Study Get-Togethers

The last three conferences have gone very well and we have conferences scheduled for the 6th of October and 27th of October.   Because meetings are limited if you plan to attend you should call Dr. Blizzard and make your reservations now. 

These special Get-Togethers will be strictly limited to eight participants at $300 per person or $500 per couple.  If you are interested  in attending you should email Dr. Blizzard immediately:  roy@biblescholars.org.  These have been very successful and we invite you to participate in one of our upcoming schedule Bible study programs.

The Names of God

By Dr. Roy Blizzard

Here is an article from a few years ago that has been requested by many of our readers. The nature of God can best be understood by the numerous names of God in the Hebrew text of the Bible. The best place to start is with the most important words, the word One. We could go as far to say that it is one of the principal words in the Bible, reflecting one of the most important concepts of the God of the Bible. That God concept is monotheism. Monotheism comes from two Greek words, mono (one) and theos (God), and means one God. The central theme of Biblical faith is that God is one. Monotheism is such an important biblical God concept and is so radically different from the God concepts of the other great nations and peoples of the Bible, that is stands as a marvelous indication of the internal evidences for inspiration contained in the text itself. In other words, this concept of monotheism is so radically different from all other prevailing religious systems that it cannot be accounted for on purely natural grounds. It demands the supernatural to explain such a lofty concept. And it is this concept that becomes the foundational tenet upon which Biblical faith is based” “Hear O Israel, The Lord your God is One.” This the Shema, as it is known, is still recited twice each day by religiously observant Jews.

However, this one God has manifested Himself in history in so many multifaceted ways. He is known by a myriad of names, during many varied circumstances, and for many different reasons or purposes. A clear picture of Him begins to emerge only when we examine the names by which He is known, as each will reflect some aspect of His nature.

Although God is known by many names it is of the utmost importance to stress that He is One. Many parallels can be found in this concept of Oneness. For example: Law. Law is one, and it is God’s revelation of Himself and His will for man to man. However, there was the Law God gave to Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel before the flood. There was the Law God gave Noah after the flood. There was the Law God gave to Moses at Mt. Sinai. It consisted of: 1: The Written Law, consisting of the Moral aspect of Law (10 commandments); the Ceremonial Law (daily, Festivals, Sabbaths) and the Civil Laws. 2: The Oral, consisting of Haggadah (telling’s, stories, legends) and Halacha (pathway Laws).

But it was all ONE. The One Law of the One God.

As God is One, the Law is One, and so also man is One. The Biblical concept of man is that God created man in His image. Therefore, as God is, so man is. God is one, so man is one. Although man consists of a body (of earth or earthly) and a spirit (of the heavens), the two form an inseparable unity. The spirit and the flesh will never be separated, but the both are made for eternity. This idea of man constituted a basic belief of Jesus, the Pharisees, and the Apostle Paul, who all taught on the resurrection of the dead. Although flesh and blood will enter the eternal realm of the World to Come (Olam Haba), “we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible shall put on incorruptibility'' (I Corinthians 15). Scientifically we know that once matter has been created it can never be destroyed. Only its form can be changed.

This concept of ONE as the coming together of two or mere parts to constitute a whole first introduced to us in the first chapter of Genesis: "And there was evening and there was morning, ONE day'‘ (Genesis 1:5).  Notice it takes both the evening and the morning, two parts, to come together or to be joined together, to form the one day.

Let's look now at some of the over 50 names I have chosen to share with you. Each reflects some attribute or characteristic of the ONE God of the Bible.

The first name for God we want to note is the simple Semitic name El. The word El in Semitic languages seems to reflect strength or power. El is the God of strength and power.

YHWH, the tetragrammaton (4-lettered) name for God is often transcribed and vocalized in English as Yahweh and transliterated as Jehovah (an incorrect transliteration as there is no letter J in Hebrew.) However, the name YHWH was not to be pronounced except on special occasion, so the four-letter name of God is usually vocalized as Adonai, or Lord. As used in the Bible, YHWH reflects the covenant attribute of deity, as it is always YHWH who is entering into covenant relationships.

YHWH is used hundreds of times in the Bible and is usually translated into English as Lord, though one must be careful because other words, such as Adon and Baal are also translated as Lord. Let me suggest that if you do not have Young's Analytical Concordance, you get it. I personally find it more helpful in many ways than Strong's and will, in this article, give you the English word under which you can find the entry in Young's Analytical Concordance.

Elohim is a plural masculine noun used for the one God of the Bible. Some scholars have associated Elohim with the singular El, but this association is not without problems. However, regardless of the root, Elohim is used for the One true God, the Omnipotent, creative God. It is Elohim who, in the creative aspect of His nature, is calling the universe into existence simply by the words of His mouth in

Genesis 1. Elohim is also used hundreds of times in the Biblical text, and is usually translated in the English as God.  The singular form El, mentioned below, is also used many times and is also translated as God.

In many instances YHWH and Elohim are joined together as in Genesis 2, YHWH Elohim. When used thusly, is appears to reflect the totality of all that God is. It is used hundreds of times in the Bible. An even more expressive form is the union of all three of the most commonly used names in the El Elohim YHWH, the all-powerful, creative, covenant God.

A host of construct names follow, each beginning with the word El and joined with another word that reflects an attribute or characteristic of God which serves to illuminate our understanding of His nature.

El Brit: the God of the covenant. The God who makes covenants with His people, i.e., Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Israel, and ·also, with us. Although the proper name, El Brit, appears in Judges 9:46, possibly as the name for a Canaanite god; nonetheless, in Psalm 78:10 and again in II Chronicles 34:32 God is sees as one who makes a covenant with His people.

 Ha El HaNe'eman, used with the definite article: the faithful God. The one who is faithful to His word, His covenant, His creation, His people. (Deut. 7:9)

Ha El HaGadal: the Great God. (Deut. 7:21, 10:17; Jer. 32:18; Dan. 9:4, Neh. 1 :5, 9:32; Ps. 95:3)

Ha El Hakadosh: the Holy God. (Is.5:16)

El Yisrael: God of Israel. (Rs. 68:36)

El HaShamayim: God of the heavens. (Ps 136:26)

El Sali: God is my rock. (Ps. 42:10)

El Simchat Gili: God who is joy of my exaltation. (Ps, 43:4)

El Ro'i: God who allows me to see Him to understand, to know Him. How? Through His word, His deeds and in the lives of His people. (Gen.16:13) 

El HaKavod: God of glory, respect, or honor. (Ps. 29:3)

El De'ot: God of knowledge; omniscience. (I Sam. 2:3)

El Olam: eternal, or everlasting God. He who is without beginning and without end. (Gen. 21 :33)

El Ha'oneh Oti Beyom Tzarati: the God who answers me in the day of my trouble. (Gen. 35:3)

El Emet: God of truth. (Ps. 31 :6; II Chron. 15:3)

El Emunah: God of faith. (Deut. a2:4)

El Yeshuati: God of my salvation. (Is. 12:2.; Ps. 88:2)

El Chaiyai: God of my life. (Ps. 42:9)

El Echad: one God. (Mal. 2:10)

El Rachum: God of compassion. (Deut. 4:31; Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:15)

El Nashah: God who forgets (forgives). (Gen. 41 :51)

El Chanun: gracious God. (Jonah 4:2; I Chron: 19:2)

El Kana: jealous God. He is a God who demands love, worship, honor, praise. There is no room in our lives for anyone or anything else (as an object of worship). (Deut. 4:24, 5:9, 6:15; Ex. 20:5, 34:14)

El Tzadik: righteous God. Only God is Holy. But man can be righteous, and He demands we be righteous as He is righteous. Often, this righteousness is reflected in not what we do to or with God, but what we do to our fellow man. (Is. 45:21)

El Shaddai: the all-sufficient God, or possibly the God who nourishes and sustains me by suckling me from His breasts. If so, this would reflect the female aspect of deity in a very profound way. (Gen. 17:1, 8:3, 35:11, 43:14, 48:3; Ex. 6:3)

El Elyon: the highest God. (Gen. 14:18-19, 14:20,22; Ps. 78:35)

Elohay Kedem: the God who was before, or the pre-existent God.

(Deut. 33:27) Elohay Tzur: God of Rock. 01 Sam. 22:47)

Elohim Kedoshim: Holy God. Again, only God can be holy. A place or a thing, or a person can be holy only if God resides there. It is He who makes the place. thing, or person to be holy. (Lev. 19:2; Josh. 24:19)

Elohim Chaiyim: Living God. (I Sam. 17:26; Jer. 10: 10)

Elohay Tzva'ot: God of hosts. 1 Sam. 5:10; I Ki. 19:10, 1.4; Jer. 5:14, 15:16; Amos 3:13; Ps. 89:9)

Elohay Mishpat: God of judgment. (Is. 30:18; Mal. 2:17)

Elohay Selichot: the God of forgiveness. (Neh. 9: 17)

Elohay Marom: God of heights (on high). (Micah 6:6)

Elohay Mikarov: God who is near. (Jer. 23:23)

Eiohay Chasdi: God of my kindness (of men to men, piety). (Ps. 59:11, 18)

Elohay Mauzi: God who is my strength. (Ps. 43:2)

Elohay Tehelati: God who is my praise. (Ps. 109: 1)

Elohay Yish'i: God of salvation. (Micah 7:7; Hab. 3:18; Ps. 18:47, 25:5, 27:9)

Elohay HaElohim: God of Gods. (Deut. 10:17)

Elohay Kol Basar: God of all flesh. (Jer. 32:27)

El Elohay Haruchot Lekol Basar: God, the God of the spirits of all flesh. (He is the one who gives life to all flesh.) (Num. 16:22)

Ruach Elohim: Spirit of God, i.e., the Holy Spirit. The empowering aspect of deity. Found in such places as: Gen. 1 :2, 41 :38; II Chron. 24:20; Ex. 31:3, 35:31; Num. 24:2; I Sam. 10:10, 11 :6, 16: 14, 16:23, 19:20,23)

Adonai YHWH: Lord God, i.e., the God who is ruler or master over my life. (Gen. 2:4,5,7,8, 3:8)

YHWH Mekadesh: God who causes me to be holy. (Ez. 37:28)

YHWH Yireh: the God who sees, i.e., the all-knowing or omniscient God. (I Sam. 16:7)

YHWH Nisi: God who is my banner or standard, or the God who Is my miracle. The God who leads me and in so doing sustains me by his miracles. (Ex. 17:15)

YHWH Shalom: God who is peace, i.e., wholeness and/or completeness. (Judges 6:24)

YHWH Tzidkenu: God who causes us to be righteous. (Jer. 23:6, 33:16)

YHWH Shamma: God who is there. Actually, a synonym for the city Jerusalem. However, it reflects the omnipresence of God. He is there, He is everywhere. (Ez. 48:35)

YHWH Tzva'ot: Lord of Hosts. Again, the one who leads His people into battle and to victory. (I Sam. 1: 11, 4:4, 15:2, 17:45; II Ki. 19:31; Jer. 11 :17,20, 20:12, 27:18; Zee. 12:5)

Yah: an abbreviated form of YHWH used in poetry; especially in the Psalms, as in Psalm 104:35,

hallelu-Yah, "Praise ye Yah the Lord."

Moshiah: savior. This word is used in dozens of forms and reflects the saving or redeeming aspect of deity. In Exodus 14:13, and in II Chronicles 20:17, we see the phrase alluded to in Luke 3:6: Ve ra'u kol basar et yeshuat Elohim (And all flesh shall see the salvation of God, or God's salvation). In Exodus 14:13, we read, Re'u et yeshuat YHWH. (See the salvation of YHWH.) In this context Yeshuat Elohim and Yeshuat YHWH are construct names for God, referring to the redemptive or saving aspects of His deity. In Psalm 149:4, God is known as the one who will beautify the meek with salvation.

Yefaer anavim bishuah: In this context He is called the one who will beautify the humble or meek, i.e., those who are "righteous," with His salvation. (Ps. 149:4)

I hope this special study will be beneficial to you in assisting you to understand more about the nature of God as reflected in His names. We have noted over fifty different names for God in this study and have not nearly exhausted all the possibilities. There are many additional names I did not use because of time and space. In addition, in Hebrew there are many euphemisms that are used for God, such as Hamakom, the place, or Hashamayim, the heaven. The nature of God is such that we simply cannot even begin to exhaust all the possibilities. Even if we studied all the names of God in the Bible looking at all He had done and was doing, there could be only one conclusion at which we could ultimately arrive, one final and ultimate truth: Our God is more than all we can know or say about Him, and He is more than enough!

New Book Recommendations

Over the last two weeks I’ve had the opportunity to read 6 new books that I would like to recommend to all of you.  The first book is entitled “Help me Mom!” By Gail A Nel.  If you have had a child that has been hooked on drugs or if you have a friend whose child has been or is hooked on drugs this is the book for you.  I personally know Gail and her situation and want to sincerely recommend and encourage you to get this book.  If this situation applies to you in any way you do not want to miss this book.  It can be ordered from Xlibris phone number 1-888-795-4274.  Order it right away for yourself and maybe additional ones for friends.  

 

Overview 

This is the story of the heart-wrenching journey of a mother and her son as they struggle to come to terms with and overcome his addiction to heroin. The facts in this story are all true and serve to map out the challenges and the heartache of the life of a mother living with an addicted child. In a very real and candid way, it is written both to identify with and to encourage mothers and other family members who are living through this same nightmare—the nightmare of dealing with an addicted child!

The second book is entitled “Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel” a Jewish commentary on the gospels Volume 1 by Rick Litvin.  Rivi just recently completed Volume 1 and plans to follow with additional Volumes completing her Jewish commentary.  Rivi is a 3rd generation Israeli scholar and currently resides in Southern California where she continues teaching and working on the final volumes of her book series.  Rivi’s Book can be ordered from MileStones International Publishers PO Box 904 Traveler’s Rest, SC 29690.  

The third book is entitled “His Hallowed Name Revealed Again” by Keith E Johnson.  Keith Johnson has a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois.  He is the founder of Biblical Foundations Academy in Atlanta.  This book is an action-packed study on the question, What is the name of our Heavenly Father that is to be hallowed?  Copies of Keith’s book can be obtained at .  

The next book I want to recommend is a book written by Keith Johnson and his coauthor Nehemia Gordon entitled “A Prayer to Our Father”.  This inspirational book written by Nehemia and Keith is an exciting study on the Hebrew version of the Lord’s Prayer.  It is a study I think you will find both interesting and inspirational.  This book may be ordered from www.hilkiahpress.com.  

 The next book is entitled “The Hebrew Yeshua versus the Greek Jesus”, New light on the seat of Moses from Shem tov Hebrew Matthew.  By Nehemiah Gordon   this is another book from Hilkiah Press and is a very interesting book by Nehemiah Gordon with his co-author Keith Johnson. This book may also be ordered from www.hilkiahpress.com.