Tag Archives: Matthew

Growing Up in Messiah: Offense Versus Sin — Are You a Spiritual Pouter?

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Matthew 18:15, When your brother sins. Yeshua says that when your brother sins against you, you ‘re to follow certain protocols to correct him in effort to restore him to spiritual relationship. Many people read this verse to mean that when your brother offends you or hurts your feelings, you’re to go to him. This is not what Yeshua is saying here. He says, if your brother sins against you. By biblical definition, sin is the violation of the law or Torah of Elohim (1 John 3:4). Therefore, if your brother lies to you, steals from you, or sexually violates your wife, you are to go to him, and possibly the church leaders — not if your brother offends you (hurts your feelings) in word or in deed. In this case, Yeshua instructs us elsewhere that we’re to turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies, bless and not curse, and do good to them.

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Here’s something my wife Sandi wrote that deals in more detail with this issue of offense among brothers.

By Sandi Lawrence

Have you heard someone say that they are claiming their Matthew 18 rights because they have been offended by this or that person? It’s actually quite common and is often what is taught as how to handle offenses between brothers. Continue reading →

 

Binding, Loosing and the Biblical Calendar

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Matthew 16:17–19, Bind…loose. Here, Yeshua clearly gave the authority of the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of Jewish leaders in Yeshua’s day) over to his disciples. No longer do we need to look to the authority of the Jewish leaders for determining how to obey YHVH, or for making rulings pertaining to religious service.

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First of all, there is no Sanhedrin today to tell us these things.

Secondly, in Matthew 16:17–19, Yeshua clearly transferred to his apostles — the church leaders of that time — the authority of the Sanhedrin to make binding ruling and decisions about spiritual matters pertaining to his kahal (congregation or church).

This authority would include making determinations about the biblical calendars. No longer, does the kahal of Yeshua have to wait for a Jewish Sanhedrin to form to tell them how to follow the Word of Elohim with regard to the biblical calendar or any other subjects for that matter.

Yeshua here permits and empowers the spiritual leaders of the saints to simply teach and do what the Bible says, and heaven will honor or endorse their decisions (called “binding” and “loosing”)! That’s what Yeshua says in Matthew 16:19, and this is exactly what his apostolic leaders did in Acts 15 at the first apostolic counsel.

For more information on the biblical calendar, please go to http://hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast where you will find several short teaching articles on the subject.

For a free biblical, printable calendar, go to http://hoshanarabbah.org/calendars.html.

 

Is the Church a Something or a Someone?

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Matthew 16:18, The church. This is the first place the word church is found in the Testimony of Yeshua. This causes us to ask several questions. Did the first-century followers of Yeshua call themselves a church or meet in a church? Emphatically, no! In the Testimony of Yeshua, the Greek word translated in our English Bibles as church is the word ecclesia which means “a gathering of people called out from their homes to either a secular or a religious gathering in a public place.” It does not mean “a building,” but rather “a group of people.” So accordingly, the saints don’t meet in a church or go to church — they are the church!

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In our modern vernacular, the word church not only refers to the building where the saints meet, but to the group of saints that meets in the building. The first definition is biblically incorrect, while the second definition is biblically correct.

But even the modern term church while referring to a group of people has, by in large, lost its spiritual potency. It now simply means a group of religious people — normally Christians — that have formed a group. In reality, behind the word church (as used in the Testimony of Yeshua) is the Greek word ecclesia meaning “the called out ones.” Called out from what? The saints are called by Elohim out from the world and a secular or heathen lifestyle. Sadly, most church-goers while failing to understand the true meaning of the word also fail to live up to its stringent definition — to come out spiritually and to be separate from the pagan culture around them and to adopt a biblical congruent world view and lifestyle.

Even the derivation of English word church is antithetical to how the term ecclesia is used in the Testimony of Yeshua. Ironically, according to the dictionary the word church originates from the German word kirche and the Old English word circe. Circe is of Greek origination and is the name of the sorceress and enchantress goddess daughter of Sol or Helios, the pagan sun god. Some historians claim that Circe and Kirche were the same individual who was the Babylonian moon goddess. The word circe is related to the common words circle, circus and circumference. Just as the sun is circular, and the Romans worshipped their sun-god in circular arenas called circuses where horse races and other athletic competitions occurred in honor of the sun god, so today many well-meaning individuals worship today in churches on Sun-day. (Information sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition; The Final Restoration, by C.J. Koster; Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Random House, 1983.)

 

Prophetic Implications of the Miracle of the Five Loaves and Two Fishes

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Matthew 14:13–21 explained:

(An excerpt rom Natan’s yet unpublished commentary on the Gospels.)

This account appears to be an allegory pertaining to end-time events—specifically, the regathering of the Israelite exiles, and is another allusion to the final redemption.
John the Immerser (Baptist), who came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for Messiah, had just been killed by the politico-religious system of his day. (Similarly, it is interesting to note that the two end time witnesses or prophets who will come in the spirit of Elijah will be martyred in Jerusalem just prior to the return of Yeshua [Rev 11:1–13].) In response to John’s murder at the hands of Herod, Yeshua and his disciples left the area to escape any possible backlash of the wrath of Herod (who allegorically represents the devil). This seems to be a picture of what is prophesied to occur to the bride (the saints) of Messiah during the great tribulation just prior to the return of Yeshua (Rev 12:12–17). The boat seems to metaphorically represent the eagle’s wings of Revelation 12:14 that carried the woman into the wilderness, which is a place of protection and safety during the great tribulation.

33398287 Once in the wilderness, “when the day was far spent … and now the time is far passed” (a prophetic reference to the end of the age just prior to the return of Yeshua), Yeshua fed the multitude five loaves and two fishes provided by a young boy. The five loaves speak of the five books of YHVH’s Torah (since the number five alludes to Torah in Hebraic thought and bread or manna is symbolic of the Word of Elohim [Matt 4:4]. This points to Yeshua who, spiritually speaking, is the Bread of Life and Torah-Word of Elohim made flesh [John 1:1, 14; 6:32–58]). The two fish could either refer to Continue reading →

 

Yeshua Is More Than a Mere Carpenter

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Matthew 13:55, Carpenter’s son. Yeshua was physically and spiritually a carpenter or housebuilder (Pss 104:3; 127:1; Heb 3:1–6). He still works with wood in that he’s joining the two sticks of the two houses of Israel together (Ezek 37:19).

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Men are like trees or sticks that Yeshua is putting together (Mark 8:23–24) into one house, or one tree — the olive tree of Israel (Ezek 37:19 cp. Rom 11:16–18; Jer 11:16; Hos 14:6). At his second coming, Yeshua will permantly bind or graft the two houses together legally as he finalizes the new covenant, which he initated at his last supper (Matt 26:28 cp. Heb 8:8, 13 and Jer 31:31, 33).

 

Will You Have a Sunny Disposition in the Kingdom?

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Matthew 13:43, Shine forth as the sun. The reward of the resurrected righteous will cause them to shine forth like the sun or stars (Dan 12:3), and like Yeshua (1 John 3:2), whose face shines like the sun (Rev 1:16), for he is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), who will be the light of the New Jerusalem shining in place of the physical sun (Rev 21:23; 22:5; Isa 60:20).

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Paul speaks of the resurrection of the saints or their glorification that will occur at that time, and he also likens the saints’ appearance to the stars. As stars have different levels of brightness, so too will the saints (1 Cor 15:41–43) in accordance with their levels of rewards based on their level of obedience to the Torah (Matt 5:19; 16:27; Rom 2:6–11; 2 Cor 5:10; Eph 6:8; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev 19:8; 22:12–15).

 

If Yeshua Is Lord of the Sabbath, Did He Break It?

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Matthew 12:1–14, On the Sabbath. (See also Mark 2:23–28; also see note on John 5:18.) From this passage, many Christians reason that since Yeshua is the Lord of the Sabbath, it was therefore permissible for him to break it. Does this passage substantiate this line of reasoning from Hebraic thought? Let’s examine this issue.

Sabbath 3 33398107 This scripture teaches us that there are levels of Torah laws, and some laws take precedence over others. For example, the priests technically violated the Sabbath during the tabernacle and temple service, but were guiltless because Torah commanded them to do certain things on the Shabbat that otherwise would have been forbidden. The Talmud explains this by saying that whenever a positive commandment and a negative commandment contradict, the positive commandment takes precedence over or supersedes the negative one (b. Shabbat 133a). What Yeshua is teaching in this passage is that the temple service trumps the Sabbath, and human need or saving life (the ox-in-the-ditch scenario) trumps the temple service. This view is confirmed by the Jewish sages (b. Yoma 85b). In verse six, when Yeshua said, Continue reading →