Category Archives: Scripture

Scripture Studies

Words and more words…the wrong kind!

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There are too many words spoken by men; they refuse to shut up.
It strains the ears and wearies the soul.
 I am drowning in a sea of them and can’t take it anymore!   
Yet at the same time, I’m burning up in a vast desert void where there’s a dearth of words being expressed to glorify You Abba.     
What a pitiable shame and such a reversal of priorities.    
The foolishness and vanity of men is an endless wasteland leaving in its wake emptiness and ruination!  

You are my lifeline and my cool, refreshing drink. Thank you Abba!

This addendum comes a couple days after I initially made this blog post. This is a comment from Jerry and Lisa in response to this post. It’s an excellent Spirit-led word of exhortation for us all. Selah (pause and reflect)

Yes, that’s true. I feel it too.

 

I’m also convicted to do better in this myself as I find myself sick and tired of the ignorance, foolishness, arrogance, deception, unrighteousness, injustice, and more. Then I find myself allowing myself to be provoked within myself by it all, and then at times I find myself displaying the same shameful foolishness in the reactions of my flesh, thinking I am speaking truth, which I often am, but not of the right spirit. even returning evil for evil sometimes. I confess and repent, even now.

 

We must not be lured into it and lower ourselves to such carnality, vanity, and even demonic destructiveness. We must be sober and alert. We must walk circumspectly and be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.

 

Thanks for expressing this heartfelt grief and longing. I agree in prayer that He pour out His Spirit on all flesh, convict of sin, righteousness, and judgement, that He set us apart in the truth through His word, and that His word would dwell richly in us, and not depart from our mouths.

These are His Words that have come to me in hearing what you have shared here:

 

“Do not be quick with your mouth nor hasty in your heart to utter a word in God’s presence. For God is in heaven, and you are on the earth—therefore, let your words be few.” [Ecc 5:1]

 

“Even a fool, if he will hold his peace, shall be counted wise: and if he close his lips, a man of understanding.” [Pro 17:28]

 

“Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct let him show his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. or where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in shalom by those who make shalom.” [Jas 3:13-18]

 

“I solemnly charge you—in the presence of God and Messiah Yeshua, who is about to judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom—proclaim the Word! Be ready when it is convenient or inconvenient. Confront, rebuke, encourage—with complete patience and instruction.” [2Ti 4:1-2]

 

“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says Adonai: “My Ruach who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your offspring, or from the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says Adonai, “from now on and forever.” [Isa 59:21]

 

Please pray for me, even as I will pray for you.

 

Lessons from the Rich Young Ruler

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Mark 10:21, Sell…follow me. What Yeshua is telling the young man is this. Get rid of anything in your life that is hindering you from following me. Such is an idol and needs to be removed from your life. In the young man’s case, it was his riches and likely those things that consumed his time and energies to maintain his riches (e.g. caring for his business and investment interests), and which prevented him from pursuing the true spiritual riches. Idols such as riches and materialism make it difficult for a person to enter the kingdom of heaven as Yeshua goes on to say in verses 23–25.

Mark 10:26–27, Who then can be saved? This was a legitimate question of Yeshua’s disciples. But in the next verse, Yeshua seems to imply that YHVH in his sovereignty can save anyone he chooses. If YHVH chooses to save someone, does this violate man’s free will? Not at all. YHVH can pour out his Spirit on anyone he chooses, call them and draw them to himself like an irresistible magnet, so that it’s virtually impossible for the person to refuse YHVH’s love and grace. This being the case, the person still has to choose to follow YHVH, even though the Sovereign Creator makes it all but impossible for a man to resist the call.

 

Yeshua’s Model for One-On-One Evangelism

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Mark 10:17–22, Yeshua’s model for one-on-one evangelism is here revealed. In his encounter with the rich, young ruler, Yeshua reveals a method of evangelizing in a one-on-one scenario. He uses the following five-step approach:

  • Yeshua first establishes the character of YHVH Elohim and how man falls short of this in comparison. Namely, YHVH is good, and man is not.
  • Next, Yeshua presents the Torah as Elohim’s moral and spiritual standard that determines the definition of good—right and wrong.
  • Yeshua then shows the young man that he was violated that standard of goodness by violating the Torah’s standard of righteousness.
  • He advises the young man then to repent of his Torahlessness (or of breaking YHVH’s laws, which is the biblical definition of sin, see 1 John 3:4).
  • Finally, Yeshua invites the young to make the total commitment to being a good person and to follow him.

We see this evangelistic model again in Acts 17:24 when Paul addresses the Greeks on Mars Hill.

 

The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again

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Let Elohim be true and every man a liar!

Genesis 42:27–28, 35, His money…each man’s bundle of money. Some modern biblical scholars suggest a discrepancy in this account, thus ostensibly proving that this story draws from two different oral traditions and documents that have been combined to form the biblical narrative we now have.

For example, J.C.L. Gibson states that “the brothers were dumfounded when they open their sacks at a staging post, on their first return form Egypt, and find their money in them (Gen 42:27–28). It is a dramatic moment, but it is stretching our credulity more than a little to find that they were likewise dumfounded on finding the money after they had returned to Canaan” (Gen 42:35; Language and Image of the Old Testament, pp. 39–40).

There is, however, one small detail that this University of Edinburgh Old Testament professor fails to take into consideration. The Bible doesn’t say in Gen 42:27–28 that each of the brothers opened his sack as the author incorrectly states, but, rather, that “one of them opened his sack…” and that when they got home “they emptied their sacks….”

The fact is that only one man opened his sack (that had presumably been sown shut) in order to provide food for the brothers for their journey home, but when they got home, all the brothers “emptied their sacks” (v. 35) presumably to transfer the grain into more secure storage vessels than sacks were the grain would be subject to destruction by fungus, weevils, moths and rodents. So the brothers were dumfounded the first time when the one sack was opened to find the money, and then dumfounded again when all of their sacks were opened at home to find each man’s money.

Considering that grain sacks are sown shut with a large needle and small cordage, and that once a sack is open, it is difficult to keep the contents from spilling out—especially when being transported over a rough path in a jostling cart—it is highly unlikely that the brothers would have opened any more sacks than necessary except to supply their food needs along the way. This is why only one sack was opened, and not all of them, just as the biblical account tells us.

 

Genesis 42–46 Two Brothers and the Two Houses of Israel in End-Time Prophecy (Pt 1)

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Biblical Types and Antetypes

A major key to understanding biblical prophecy is to recognize the relationship between antetypes and types in the Scriptures. This means that an event or a series of events occurred once, was recorded in the Scriptures, and then at a later time a similitude of the event repeats itself, but with different characters and scene.

An antetype is a type or pattern of something that occurs before the actual event occurs (sometimes incorrectly referred to as an antitype, which means opposite rather than before). In other words, the first event predicts or points prophetically to the future event. This is a way for the Creator to give clues and hints about future events that will come to pass. Those who are ardent students of his Word and those “who have (spiritual) ears to hear” will pick up on these clues and be able to have a sense of what the Creator is going to do at some future date. In this way, those who diligently seek him are rewarded with understanding or “inside information” about what he is planning to do in the future. At the same time, his divine plans and purposes will be obscured from those who don’t have a diligent heart to seek him and his truth, and who could possibly misuse the truth, if they were to discover it, for selfish purposes if they were to learn it.

Similarly, the Gospels record that Yeshua explained deep spiritual truths via parables not to make the meaning clear to the general public, but rather to obscure it. His teachings were meant to be understood only by those whom he had called that they might know the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of Elohim (Matt 13:10–11; Luke 8:9–10).

For thousands of years, the prophets of the Bible, as well as biblical students, scholars and sages have understood the concept of antetypes and types and it has helped them to understand Bible prophecy and future events.

Biblical antetypes are identified in three ways. First, the Scriptures themselves identify events as being ante­typical. Examples would be:

  • The life of Moses pointed to Yeshua (Deut 18:15–19; Heb 3:3–6).
  • The serpent on the pole pointed to Yeshua’s crucifixion (John 3:14).
  • The rock from which the Israelites drank prefigures Yeshua (1 Cor 10:4).
  • The manna the Israelites ate prefigures the Word of Elohim or flesh of Yeshua (John 6:32, 48–51).
  • Aaron as the high priest was antetypical of Yeshua’s high priesthood (Heb 5, 7 and 8).
  • The sacrificial system pointed to Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross (Heb 9 and 10).
  • Jonah in the whale is a prophetic picture of Yeshua’s death and resurrection (Matt 12:40).
  • Melchizedek was an antetype of Yeshua (Heb 7).
  • The first exodus (or redemption of Israel out of Egypt) was prototypical of a second exodus or redemption of Israel out of the world in the end times (Isa 11:11; Jer 23:7–8).

The Jewish sages from antiquity have also identified antetypes. Examples would be: Continue reading →

 

Addressing Rabbinic Jewish Arguments Against Yeshua’s Messiahship

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The arguments that Orthodox Rabbinic Jewish scholars make attempting to disprove Yeshua’s divinity and Messiahship may appear clever and convincing on the surface, but upon closer examination they prove to be false and are easily refuted.

When one looks through the smoke and mirrors of human deceit, one will see that these Jewish antimissionary arguments are patently false and demonstrate a major degree of spiritual blindness. At the very least, they reveal a dishonesty and disingenuousness on the part of their proponents, and at the most, a gross lack of understanding of the Scriptures. This is because a spirit of blindness has fallen upon rabbinic Jews as the Bible states (Rom 11:25)

To the naive, uninformed, misinformed and those who are either neophytes in their understanding of the Scriptures, or who have lost their first love of Yeshua and have fallen away from him spiritually, the antimessiah arguments of the rabbinic Jews seem compelling and convincing. Yet, upon careful examinations, all of their arguments have only a thin veneer of truth. Upon closer examination, it is easily proven that they do not line up with the WHOLE truth of the Bible, nor do they, in many cases, even line up with what their own pre-Christian Jewish sages taught and believed about the Messiah and the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Sadly, I have found that these blind unbelieving Jewish guides prey upon weak or disillusioned Christians who don’t know their Scriptures. They are able to draw many lukewarm and deceived Christians into apostasy, even causing them to renounce their faith in Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of Elohim and who is Elohim incarnate (John 1:1, 14). This is tragic!

Below are some of the most common antimessiah arguments that rabbinic Jews make in order to disprove the validity of the gospel message and faith in Yeshua the Messiah. My answers are short and to the point. A whole article could be written answering each point.  At the end of this brief study, I offer additional resources for those who want more information.

Rabbinic antimessiah statement: Elohim, the God of the Bible is one (Hebrew echad), not a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches the idea of monotheism, not polytheism as Christianity teaches in the doctrine of the trinity.

Response: The word echad in Hebrew means “a compound unity—or one thing that is comprised of several units that together make up the unified whole (like a bunch of grapes).” The hidden reality is that many rabbinic Jews believe that Elohim is composed of ten component parts as pictured by the mystical sephirotic tree.

Rabbinic antimessiah statement: Countless times the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament or Tankah) declare: “I am HaShem (YHVH or the LORD) your God (Elohim), outside of me there is no other!” Everything you pray to other than him becomes a god or idol before HaShem (YHVH). HaShem forbids praying to anyone but Him!

Reponse: Actually, this isn’t a quote from the Torah, but from Isaiah. The Tanakh or OT actually teaches that there are two YHVH’s, not one—the Father and the Son. Moreover, Continue reading →

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 12-10 Through 12-16-17

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Miketz — Genesis 41:1 – 44:17
Haftarah — 1 Kings 3:15 – 4:1; Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7**
Prophets — 1 Samuel 18:1 – 24:22
Writings — Psalms 70:1 – 76:12
Testimony — Mark 11:19 – 14:52

Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2017-2018 is available to download and print.

Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.

The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.

** A different Haftarah is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week it is Shabbat Chanukah on the traditional calendar and Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7 is read. Otherwise, 1 Kings 3:15 – 4:1 would be read.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 12/10/17 through 12/16/17.