Category Archives: Scripture

Scripture Studies

YHVH to Redeem His People From False Religious Systems and Idolatry

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Isaiah 43–44

Isaiah 43:21ff, Religious service is the flower or result of a life of devotion and service to YHVH and our fellow man. It is not the religious service itself that matters to YHVH, but the condition of one’s heart and the life of righteousness that precedes resulting in the religious service that counts. Israel had lost sight of this, and their religious service had become empty, ritualistic and meaningless to YHVH. Additionally, the offering presented to YHVH had to cost the offerer dearly. Though Yeshua fulfilled the sacrificial system by his death at Golgotha by becoming the ultimate sacrifice (and it cost him dearly), if we are in Yeshua we must follow in his footsteps. How is this? (Read Ps 51:15–16; 34:18; Isa 66:1–3; Rom 6:3–13; Gal 2:20 and Heb 13:15–16.) Remember, it is not what we do, or how we do it that matters to YHVH as much as why we do it. Why do you do what you do in your spiritual exercises? If it is for any other reason than to draw near to our Father in heaven, to love him, and to become like him, then your motives may be questionable.

Isaiah 43:23–24, The purpose of the offerings was to bring the offerer nearer to Elohim. Israel had lost that perspective and therefore YHVH states, “Not for me have you brought the lamb of your elevation offering ….” What were the wrong motives on Israel’s part with which YHVH took exception? What are your motives for obeying YHVH? In the Christian world, the need for “fire insurance” against the fires of “hell” is a major though sadly Continue reading →

 

Liar, Liar…!

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Acts 6:13–14, False witnesses…change the customs which Moses delivered to us. Mainstream Christianity has perpetuated this same lie of the false witnesses against Stephen in teaching that Paul taught that the law of Moses is no longer binding upon believers today. This false accusation cost both Stephen and Paul their lives.

Liar

 

Isaiah 40: Are you like one crying in the modern wilderness of this world?

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John Baptist preaching 20283162

Isaiah 40:1–26, The End-Times Elijah Generation Preparing the Way for Messiah

Isaiah the prophet ministered in Judah for about 40 years from 740 to 697 b.c., approximately 100 years before the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians in 586 b.c. Judah’s captivity in Babylon would last for 70 years. The Book of Isaiah contains more messianic prophecies than any other book in the Tankah, and many of those prophecies specifically relate to the redemption through the Messiah of the two houses of Israel.

In the Isaiah 40 prophecy, according to rabbinic understanding, Isaiah is prophesying (in verses 3–5) concerning Israel’s deliverance from exile seventy years after her captivity (The Soncino Pentateuch, p. 777). This is not an incorrect interpretation of this prophecy, although it is not necessarily the only one, for we know, as with many of the Scripture’s ancient prophecies, there are sometimes multiple fulfillments. Because the old adage that says, “history repeats itself,” is true, and because human behavior remains unchanged from time immemorial, though the players and costumes change on history’s theatrical stage, many biblical prophetic themes have cyclical patterns. In the present case, where Isaiah speaks in verse three of “a voice crying in the wilderness,” (Isa 40:3) we know that the gospel writers ­applied this to John the Baptist preparing the way for the coming of Yeshua the Messiah (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23). What in this prophecy did the gospel authors see as applying to Yeshua the Redeemer and Savior of Israel? First, Continue reading →

 

Digging for Treasure in Leviticus 14

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Treasure, digging-b 19866350

Leviticus 14:4–32, Yeshua in the skin disease cleansing ritual. Read this scripture passage and see how many clues you can find that point to Yeshua. We’ll give you hints along the way by providing you with the scriptures verses to look up that will give you the answers. The purpose of this exercise is to show you that all the ceremonies and rituals that were part of the sacrificial system and that all prophetically pointed to Yeshua the Messiah, who fulfilled them all. This means that if we place our trusting faith in him, we no longer have to do the laborious and involved rituals that our ancient forefathers had to do in order to atone for their sins—we simply have to repent and believe in, love, follow and obey Yeshua and his word.

Now let’s look at the ritual for cleansing a metzora (one with a skin disease—a picture of our sinfulness) who had tzaraas (an infectious skin disease caused by sin).

Verses 4–7, two birds: One bird (likely a dove or pigeon) was killed in a clay pot over running water. The other bird along with the cedar wood, scarlet cloth and hyssop were dipped into the clay pot containing the blood from the killed bird and the running water. The water blood mixture was then sprinkled on the diseased person (metzora) who was being purified, and the living bird was let loose and allowed to fly away. There is a lot going on here, but it all prophetically pointed to Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection. Before Continue reading →

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 4-10 Through 4-16-16

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Metzora — Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33
Haftarah — Malachi 3:4-24**
Prophets — Isaiah 41:1 – 47:15
Writings — Proverbs 23:1 – 29:27
Testimony — Acts 7:1 – 9:43

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 HaGadol on the traditional calendar. Otherwise, 2 Kings 7:3-20 would be read.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 4/10 through 4/16/16.

 

The Similarities Between Sin and Germs

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The surprising way Leviticus chapters 12, 13 and 14 relate to you

These several chapters are some of the most difficult ones in the Torah for us to wrap our brains around spiritually. What is the relevance of these arcane laws of ritual impurity and “leprosy” to us in modern times ? With a little thought, we can see that there are some deep and relevant spiritual truths contained in these biblical passages!

As Matthew Henry points out in his classic gospel-oriented commentary on these passages, after the laws concerning clean and unclean foods in Leviticus 11 come the laws concerning clean and unclean persons. As germs are contagions causing physical disease, so man is infected with the spiritual contagion of a sin nature that brings about spiritual disease leading ultimately to death. Henry points out that man imparts his depraved sin nature to his offspring at the time of conception, which is why the woman needed to go through ritual cleansing at the time of a child’s birth. Similarly, the Bible teaches us that the plague of leprosy (Heb. tzaaras referring to a generic skin disease) was judgment by Eohim against the sins of rebellion, greed and misuse of the tongue (e.g, Miriam, Gehazi and King Uzziah).

The spread of and cure for spiritual diseases is similar to those of physical diseases, as we’ll discuss below. First, however, let’s compare and contrast how physical germs are similar to spiritual sin “germs.” Continue reading →

 

New Video: The Biblical Dietary Laws: Godliness Is the Main Thing

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Why are the biblical dietary laws still relevant today followers of Yeshua (Jesus)? As this video shows, it is primarily a godlines and holiness issue, and only secondarily a health issue. When giving his people the laws of clean and unclean meats, Elohim was wanting them to be holy as he is holy, and he still wants a holy people who live an unpolluted lifestyle today.