“What is the meaning of life?” is an age-old question that some people never find the answer to even in their old age. Here is the answer to this question from a teenager.
New Video: A Teenager on the Meaning of Life
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New Video: A College Student on Friendship Evangelism
How do we do the great commission of preaching the good news of the kingdom to those around us? This video gives some helpful tips on friendship evangelism—how to gently share the gospel with those around you.
Isaiah and the Second Exodus
What is below is an extract from a much larger work I have published on this blog on the subject of the second exodus. You can find it at http://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/2014/04/19/the-second-exodus/. Natan
Isaiah 11:10–12:6, The Second Exodus
Although consisting of two chapters, this passage of the Scriptures is part of the same prophecy and speaks about the coming of Messiah, and the regathering of the outcasts of Israel from the nations to which they have been scattered. Below is a list of the salient points that pertain to the second exodus along with my commentary.
11:10, The root of Jesse (the Messiah) will be an ensign or banner to the Gentiles of the nations. We know that Yeshua was that root of Jesse who commanded his followers to preach the gospel to the Gentile world. The gospel has gone to the entire Gentile world only in the 20th century via the means of modern travel and mass communications.
11:11, Here, the prophet seems to be talking about another group of people — a remnant of his people (the outcasts of Israel, verse 12) as opposed to the larger group of Gentile believers from among the nations (who have heard the gospel message) referred to in verse 10. YHVH will recover his people — the remnant of Israel — the second time (i.e., the second exodus) from all lands including the islands of the sea (North and South America, England, Australia, Japan, etc.).
11:12, YHVH will set up an ensign or banner for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah. Yeshua is that banner. Even though Yeshua is the ensign for the Gentiles of the nations and for the remnant outcast of Israel who are scattered among the nations, only the outcasts of Israel will be regathered along with the dispersed of Judah.
11:13, It is among this remnant group of scattered redeemed Israelites and dispersed redeemed Jews that peace between the two groups will occur. How may we ask are these two previously antagonistic groups brought together? This can Continue reading
The Bible or handcuffs? There are only two choices!
When men fail to govern themselves from within by a higher moral and spiritual code to which they have chosen to adhere—namely the laws of Elohim as represented by the Judeo-Christian ethic, they, by default, will have to be governed by the secular humanistic laws of men as officiated by human tyrants.
In other words, men will either exercise self control and self-restraint by adhering to an internal moral and spiritual compass, or they will be forced to endure the legal chains of slavery foisted upon them by an overbearing and oppressive overreaching human government.
This is what happened when the children of Israel rejected Elohim as their spiritual leader and governor and chose to be ruled by a human king. In a sense, they chose the king as their god and master instead of YHVH Elohim.
The same thing is happening in America as this nation turns away from YHVH Elohim, the God of the Bible, and big government by default becomes their new god or master. Europe has long been going down this spiritual path, and look at the resulting judgments!
Simply stated, men have two choices: freedom and the Bible or the handcuffs of man’s government!
Chains of Tyranny: The Lies of the Socialists and Progressives
One of the main lies of big government socialism and so-called progressivism is that it buys people off by promising to take care of and protect them. This results in the loss of people’s freedom.
The problem is that to take care of the people, the government has to steal the people’s money and resources in obvious and subversive ways to pay for it.
Furthermore, in the process, socialism and progressivism makes the people dependent on government hand-outs, so the people are no longer self-dependent and self-sufficient. In this way, the power of the people has been transferred to their government overlords thus making it almost impossible for the people to cast off the chains of government tyranny and control without biting the hand that feeds them thus imperiling their own existence and security. This is one of the main lies of big government socialism and so-called progressivism.
Do you not think that the moneyed elite power brokers and social planners don’t know how to use the lure of government hands to ensnare the people into their grasp? Do you not think they don’t use the promise of government handouts (thus preying on people’s natural tendency toward laziness and wanting something for free, while not having to work for it) to enslave the people in a supine position, while insuring their own power-positions and financial security (at the people’s expense) as the people’s permanent overlords? Yet, sadly, the people are too blind and stupid to see this, and they keep voting in those who would package the chains that would enslave them in little boxes neatly wrapped in bright colors, ribbons and bows.
Many in the younger generation who don’t know their history and who have lost their moral and spiritual compass have fallen prey to the lies of socialism and progressivism. That’s why they’ll vote for people like Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and pro big government Republicans et al.
Prophecies Concerning the Jews and Christians; the Formation of the NT
Isaiah 8:14–16, In the following several verses we see an amazing prophecy concerning the two houses of Israel who, generically speaking, have become the modern church and the rabbinic Jews.
Here Isaiah prophesies about the canonization of the Bible into two subdivision—the Torah (or loosely speaking, the Old Testament) and the Testimony (the New Testament). He also predicts that each of these two religious groups (the Jew and he Christians) would spiritually stumble over or have a problem with the identity of the Messiah, who is the Stone of Stumbling and the Rock of Offense. In general, as we shall see, the Christians struggle with the pro-Torah message of the Old Testament (or Word of Elohim), and the Jews reject the message of the New Testament (or Testimony of Yeshua) about the Messiahship of Yeshua.
Isaiah 8:14, Stone of stumbling. Both houses of Israel (Ephraim and Judah; i.e., the Christian [see notes at Gen 48:14,16] 48: and the Jews) have stumbled over the stone of stumbling, who later on is identified as Yeshua, the Messiah (1 Pet 2:4–8; Rom 9:32–33; 1 Cor 1:23). The non-believing Jews stumbling over the Messiahship of Yeshua who is the Living Torah-Word of Elohim incarnate (John 1:1,14), while the Christians stumble over the Written Torah, which they claim was abolished and is minimally relevant to them.
This stone of stumbling is an obvious reference to Yeshua who is a stone of stumbling to both houses of Israel (i.e., the non-believing Jews and the Christians.) The Christians stumble over or reject (at least, in part) Yeshua who is the Written Torah-Word of Elohim (John 1:1). The non-believing Jews, on the other hand, reject Yeshua, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim who came in flesh form (John 1:14).
Isaiah 8:16, 20 Bind up the testimony…my disciples. Heb. testimony means “confirmation, attestation.” This appears to be a prophecy concerning Yeshua’s disciples, whom he commissioned to “seal the Torah” (loosely speaking, the Old Testament or OT) and add to it the Testimony about him (the New Testament or NT).
Here Isaiah is prophesying the canonization of the NT by the disciples of Yeshua (who are mentioned in verse 13). Did you know that the NT’s name for the NT isn’t the NT, but the Testimony of Yeshua—a name that John who finalized the NT canon gave it when he was writing the Book of Revelation? There, he calls the OT or Tanakh the “Word of Elohim” and the NT “the Testimony of Yeshua” (see Rev 1:2, 9; 6:9; 12:17; 14:12; 20:4).
What do the words bind and seal signify? The Hebrew for the word bind means “to close.” The word seal means practically the same: “to cap off, to enclose.” This is exactly what the apostles did with the message which Yeshua the Stone and Rock of Isaiah 8:14 gave them. They were to complete it. Bind it up. Close it shut. The authority to perform such an important job may have been reflected in Messiah’s teaching that the apostles had power to ‘bind on earth’ (Matthew 16:19). The word to bind has the significance of authorization or giving judgment, just as the word unbind means “not to receive or not accept. …” In a word, the apostles felt that they had authority, even from the Old Testament, to bind, seal, authorize and canonize the Law and Testimony of Messiah. This meant to put the teachings of Messiah in a book, just like the Old Testament was given to the early Jews (Restoring the Original Bible, by Ernest Martin, pp. 298–299). (For more on this subject, see notes at John 16:12–15; Rom 16:25–26 and Mark 3:16–17.)
A Virgin Will Conceive…
Isaiah 7:11, A sign … either in the depth, or in the height above. Sign is the Hebrew word owth (Strong’s H226) meaning “sign, token, signal, a beacon, a monument, evidence, prodigy or omen.”
Traditionally, Christians have viewed this passage along with the following verses as a prophecy concerning the Messiah would be born of a virgin.
Some who are opposed to the virgin birth interpretation of Isaiah 7:14 will say that owth is never used in Scripture in reference to a miraculous sign. To the contrary, there are numerous examples in the Scriptures where owth is indeed used in reference to a miraculous sign (e.g., Exod 4:8, 9, 17, 28, 30; 7:3; 8:23; 10:1, 2; Num 14:22; Deut 4:34; 6:22; 7:19; 11:3; 2 Kgs. 20:8–11; Neh 9:10; Isa 20:3; Jer 32:20, 21). For example, owt describes such supernatural occurrences as rods becoming serpents, the Nile turning to blood, the death of the Egypt’s first born, the splitting of the Red Sea or time moving backward ten degrees on Hezekiah’s sundial. So when Isa 7:11–14 uses the word owth to describe a virgin miraculously giving birth to a child, such an interpretation is not a biblical hermeneutical twist on this scripture.
The word depth is the Hebrew masculine noun aymek (Strong’s H6009 from H6010) meaning “valley or depression.” This same Hebrew word in its adjective form (same spelling, different vowel points) refers to the depths of sheol or hell (Prov 9:18; Job 11:8). In Psalm 139:15, David in reference to his formation in his mother’s womb (verse 13) says, “I … was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth (Heb. aretz). Aretz (Strong’s H776) is the commonly used word for earth or land in Scripture. A valley or depression is the lowest part of the earth. Here David figuratively likens his mother’s womb to a low place or depression in the earth. Though the Hebrew words for depth in Isaiah 7:11 and lowest parts in Psalm 139:15 are different, the Hebraic concepts seem connected and analogous.
Height is the Hebrew word gabahh (Strong’s H1361) and means “to soar, to be lofty, to exalt.” This root word in its adjective form is also gabahh (Strong’s H1362) with the only difference between the two words being a slight vowel pronunciation difference in the second syllable. This word means “lofty or high.” We see this adjective used in Job 35:5 as a poetic reference to heaven (Heb. shamayim) as well as in Isaiah 55:9; Psalm 103:11 (“For as the heaven/shamayim is high above the earth …” or “according to the heights of heaven” (alternate Hebrew rendering, KJV marginal notes).
Above, which is opposite the word height in the passage under analysis, is the word ma’al (Strong’s H4605) meaning “upward, above, overhead, from the top, exceedingly.” Thus, the phrase in this verse could be rendered as highest heaven (where YHVH abides). The word ma’al can be used as an adjective to refer to heaven above where YHVH dwells (Deut 4:39; Josh 2:11).
What is the point we are trying to make here? YHVH prophesies, through Isaiah, that he will give a supernatural, miraculous sign to the house of Judah from both the depths (or womb of a woman) and the highest heavens. In verse 14 Isaiah speaks of the (the Hebrew uses the definite article the) virgin or the young maiden (depending on your Bible translation) giving birth to a son named Immanuel meaning “El With Us.”
Now great controversy has raged as to the meaning of the word virgin (Heb. almah). Does it refer simply to a young maiden or to an actual virgin? Much has been written by scholars on both sides of this hotly debated issue and it is outside the scope of this work to deal with this particular subject. Both sides (the pro-virgin birth side and the anti-virgin birth of Messiah side) have valid points to their credit. This author maintains that if Isaiah 7:14 were to stand alone, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove the virgin birth of the Messiah either way. However, with the context of verse 11 considered (not to mention the other references in the Tanakh referring to the virgin birth of the Messiah (e.g., Gen 3:15; Isa 9:6–7; Pss 2:7; 110:1–7), it seems that Isaiah had one thing in mind in penning verse 14: the Messiah would be born of a virgin. He would be formed in the womb of a woman (without the seed of a man (see Gen 3:15) and at the same time would originate from the highest heaven. This seems to be a clear reference to the incarnation, that YHVH would miraculously fuse (by the Spirit of Elohim [Matt 1:20]) with the physical egg of a woman to form the Yah-Man (God-Man) referred to in Christian theology as the incarnation or the hypostatic union.