The prophecies Yeshua fulfilled are "dead-on" accurate, according to a mathematician!

ANTI-MISSIONARY ASSERTIONS:  Jesus didn’t “fulfill” ANY of the prophecies – and those that Christians insist he did fulfill, are merely coincidences and/or some clever Scripture twisting! 

MESSIANIC RESPONSE:  According to mathematician Professor Peter Stoner,   the prophecies Yeshua fulfilled are"dead-on" accurate and that the probability of at least 48 OT prophecies about Yeshua being fulfilled in one person is the incredible number of 10^157 power!

Quote from Stoner:

For example, what's the likelihood of a person predicting today the exact city in which the birth of a future leader would take place, well into the 21st century? This is indeed what the prophet Micah did 700 years before the Messiah. Further, what is the likelihood of predicting the precise manner of death that a new, unknown religious leader would experience, a thousand years from now - a manner of death presently unknown, and to remain unknown for hundreds of years? Yet, this is what David did in 1000 B.C.

Again, what is the likelihood of predicting the specific date of the appearance of some great future leader, hundreds of years in advance? This is what Daniel did, 530 years before Christ.

If one were to conceive 50 specific prophecies about a person in the future, whom one would never meet, just what's the likelihood that this person will fulfill all 50 of the predictions? How much less would this likelihood be if 25 of these predictions were about what other people would do to him, and were completely beyond his control?

For example, how does someone "arrange" to be born in a specific family?

How does one "arrange" to be born in a specified city, in which their parents don't actually live? How does one "arrange" their own death - and specifically by crucifixion, with two others, and then "arrange" to have their executioners gamble for His clothing (John 16:19; Psalms 22:18)? How does one "arrange" to be betrayed in advance? How does one "arrange" to have the executioners carry out the regular practice of breaking the legs of the two victims on either side, but not their own? Finally, how does one "arrange" to be YHWH-Come-in-the-Flesh? How does one escape from a grave and appear to people after having died a horrible death?

Indeed, it may be possible for someone to fake one or two of the Messianic prophecies, but it would be impossible for any one person to arrange and fulfill all of these prophecies.

A word about the Hulk Hogan sex tape scandal

Our world is such as sad place on many fronts.  Most people (even some who call themselves “believers”) are IN the world.  They look like the world, act like the world and talk like the world – yet they wear crosses around their necks so everyone can see they’re “holy.”    One such person is the wrestler, Hulk Hogan, who recently took “Gawker Media” to court and was awarded $115 million for “invasion of privacy and “emotional distress” after  Gawker published a two-minute highlight reel of a 2012 tape  of Hogan and another man’s wife having sex.  The sex tape was viewed 2.5 million times.  

On one hand, I’m GLAD “Gawker” was slapped down, because it’s about time that “freedom of speech” was required to include some common sense and decency.  Certain private things should remain private because they are no one else’s business.  On the other, hand, whether or not Hogan knew he was being taped, he was committing adultery – which is a sin.  So, what’s with the cross around his neck?  It seems in our world there is a blurring of the lines when it comes to “right and wrong” and “good and bad”;  and many are willing to overlook all manner of sin, and to “be tolerant” and instantly “forgive” those who commit the sins…because they are under the erroneous impression that “Jesus died” to forgive us everything.  “We’re free!  We’re under grace!  God forgives us!”

Really?  Perhaps they need to take a closer look at what happens to those who commit purposeful sin.  (And let’s face it, if you’re having sex with someone else’s spouse, you are breaking the Seventh Commandment!  You didn’t accidentally do this – it’s a planned thing in a secret place where their spouses hopefully won’t discover them!)

Numbers 15: 30 "'But an individual who does something wrong intentionally, whether a citizen or a foreigner, is blaspheming ADONAI. That person will be cut off from his people.

Hebrews 6: 4. But they who have once descended to immersion and have tasted the gift from heaven and have received the Ruach haKodesh 5. and have tasted the good Word of Elohim and the power of the world to come, 6. cannot again sin and a second time be renewed to repentance; or a second time execute him on a stake and insult the Son of Elohim. 7. For the earth that drinks the rain which comes often upon it and produces the herb that is of use to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from Elohim. 8. But if it should put forth thorns and briers, it would be discarded and be approaching closely to a curse, and its end would be a conflagration. (AENT)

Hebrews 10: 26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment, or raging fire that will consume the enemies.

The above Scripture is not referring to those unclean bondages that dwell in our flesh but to the conscious choices believers make. It refers not to our unintentional sins but to those we pursue knowingly and willingly.

2 Peter 2: 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for a person is slave to whatever has defeated him. 20 Indeed, if they have once escaped the pollutions of the world through knowing our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them, their latter condition has become worse than their former. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them.

How many of today's believers behave in a way they know is sinful and yet they go ahead and do what they feel like doing, anyway? That's because they mistakenly think Divine grace covers intentional sin. That is a huge misconception! Divine grace has made wonderful provision for unintentional sin. But there is no provision for intentional sin. The Bible tells us so.

Deliberate, premeditated sin is willful disobedience and rebellion against ELOHIM. It results in severe punishment or even loss of our salvation.

Leviticus 26: 23 If, in spite of all this, you refuse my correction and still go against me; then I too will go against you; and I, yes I, will strike you seven times over for your sins.

1 Corinthians 6: 9. Or don't you know, that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of Elohim?* Make no mistake! Neither sexual sinners, nor idol-worshippers, nor adulterers, nor the corrupt, nor men who lay down with other men, 10. Nor the oppressors, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of Elohim. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE: Compare this to Matthew 5:17-20, where we are told that breaking the least commandment of Torah and teaching others to do the same makes a person "least in the kingdom" but they still get in. Y'shua implies that those with more serious sins won't make it in: "Depart from me, workers of iniquity, I never knew you"; but here, Rav Shaul gives a more specific list of what will keep them out.

1 Corinthians 6: 17. But he that joins himself to our Master (Y'shua), is with him one spirit. 18. Flee from sexual sin. For every (other) sin which a man commits, is external to his body*; but he that commits sexual sin, sins against his own body. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE: Actually the sexual sin goes deeper than the body, as the note on Romans 1:26 shows. But the other point is also that a sexual sinner brings sin upon himself rather than his partner, and vice versa, unless rape or abuse is involved.

It is not sin per se that causes a person who professes to be a believer to be eternally estranged from YHWH but, rather, it is our surrender to sin which causes our faith and faithfulness to dim or completely die out. We flirt with spiritual disaster if we - by our thoughts, words, and conduct - deny Messiah, reject grace, spurn redemption, and push away the Holy Spirit.

Deliberate sinning is a death knell for believers.  YHWH expects His people to turn from sin and “be holy because I am holy!” (something He reiterated again and again throughout Torah). And how does one know how to "be holy"? It was revealed to us in Leviticus 18:

Leviticus 18: 1 ADONAI said to Moshe, 2 "Speak to the people of Isra'el; tell them, 'I am ADONAI your God. 3 You are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Egypt, where you used to live; and you are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Kena'an, where I am bringing you; nor are you to live by their laws. 4 You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; I am ADONAI your God. 5 You are to observe my laws and rulings; if a person does them, he will have life through them; I am ADONAI. (CJB)

Being holy doesn’t mean you wear a cross around your neck so everyone can “see you’re a Christian.”  It means you do everything in your power to BE set apart in mind, body and soul.  You LIVE your faith because you KNOW you are not fooling our ELOHIM! 

Things have changed drastically in my lifetime....

It’s mind-boggling to realize exactly how much the world has changed in my lifetime! I was raised in a small, three-room shack a few years after WWII ended when Germany was still busy rebuilding. My foster parents didn't have anything - including running water or electricity. Once a week or so, they would carry a couple of buckets 1/3 mile to the town "square" (such as it was) to draw our water from the community pump.  The water buckets sat uncovered on a rack Papa had built, right next to the wood stove we used for heating and cooking.  A ladle hung on the wall for us to use whenever we were thirsty.  Nobody worried about germs at our house!

There was no sink in the house, and so the few dishes we owned weren’t washed; they were stacked into a white ceramic bowl filled with water, and removed as needed.  (The water was rarely changed.)  Usually, we only ate bread and butter for all our meals, but sometimes on Sundays Mama would make potato soup  (meat was a rarity!), dunk the dishes into the murky water inside the ceramic bowl, and dry them off with a dirty dish towel. 

She only did laundry every three or four months, max – and it was done in cold water because it was too much trouble to heat the water on our wood stove.  Laundry day was usually an all-day event because by the time she got around to doing laundry, we had used up every stitch of clothing in the house.

We were probably the poorest people in town, but we “made do” and I somehow survived the filthy conditions in which I was raised.  By the time I turned 9 (right around the same time my natural mother came and yanked me out of my foster home to take me to America with her new, American soldier husband) I had only had maybe two baths in my whole life (both in the summer time, of course).  Bath time is difficult when you have to fetch the water in buckets from the community pump, and chop the wood to heat the stove so you can boil the water to pour into the tin bath tub that had to be dragged into the kitchen from a shed behind the house.  And, of course, we all used the same water!  Mama would always bathe me first, then she would dry me off and step in, and then Papa’s turn came last.  I remember the water was always a dark gray and sudsy by the time we finished our bathing ritual.)

Times were truly tough after the war.  By the mid-Fifties, only the rich had a telephone and TV. Washing machines in my tiny hometown were unheard of at the time, but many houses (especially apartment buildings) had a "wash kitchen" with a huge cement sink and wash boards where the women did the laundry by hand.  The only way to dry your clothes was to hang it on clotheslines.  I remember once when Mama had done a laundry during the winter time, all the bed sheets ended up frozen and came off the line, stiff as boards.

Things in my neighborhood started changing when I was approximately 7 or 8, when somebody built two new apartment houses near our shack at the edge of town - and manufactured right into the side of these two complexes were several “outhouses!”  SUPER modern, slick and smooth and stained a reddish-brown … AND there was always toilet paper in them!  (It didn’t take me long to realize I didn’t have to take old newspapers with me whenever I sneaked across the way to use one of those “modern” outhouses…)  My family had this chipped old “chamber pot” (that was emptied only when it was totally filled to the brim), so these two apartment buildings and their amenities were an absolute treat! 

Looking back, I honestly don’t know how I survived the dirt, but I was HAPPY!  I had a happy childhood because I had two foster parents who truly loved and cared for me, doing the best they could.  We were on welfare and Papa was an alcoholic, so any money we received was normally spent at a local bar before he had a chance to bring it home from the court house.  On those days, Mama would wait well into the afternoon before putting me on the back of her bicycle and then pedal her way to Papa’s favorite “watering hole” where she would have me sneak in and confiscate his wallet so we could use whatever money was left to buy some groceries at the tiny hole-in-the-wall grocery store next door, and hope it would sustains us until the next welfare check.

Anyway, it’s a good thing we can’t see our future, because my life changed in ways I could never have imagined, the day my natural mother and her new American husband came to jerk me out of my “happy life.”  (She had to take me back because I was the only one of the three children she had given away who wasn’t adopted, and she couldn’t leave Germany until that was resolved.)  I’m going to fast-forward and skip over the details of that awful day because I want to stick to the story of how much the world has changed just over the course of my lifetime….

Bottom line, I was thrust into the life of two these strangers who were total opposites of my foster parents - and suddenly having a “new” little brother (who was 5 at the time) meant I was no longer the center of attention.  We remained in Southern Germany with my mother’s new husband for about a year before moving to the US. Suddenly, I went from “dirt poor” to rich, because my “new” family had a big, American car (a two-tone green ’56 Pontiac), a telephone,  a black-and-white TV, and a small refrigerator.  Their tiny one-bedroom apartment also had indoor plumbing and a bath tub and toilet in the stairwell area that we had to share with other families, and I quickly learned that baths were to be taken regularly (in those days, once or twice a week).  We were definitely “uptown!”  (Having experienced only two baths until now in my short life, I really couldn’t understand the constant bathing!)

But I was in for another surprise, a year later, when my adoptive father was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, because there we had to move into on-post “quarters” where every apartment had its own bathroom – and so (per my mother) we had to take baths every day now!  My brother and I each had our own bedrooms, which was nice.  The place also had a basement with a wash machine and an indoor clothes line. And yes, of course, we still had our black-and-white TV, and the place came with a  phone (they were all black in those days) AND a dishwasher – which I hated because you had to pre-wash the dishes, or else they wouldn’t come out clean.  So, we had EVERYTHING!  What else could a family possibly need? 

A year later “Dad” retired and moved us to Missouri where he became a postman. We moved around several times before my parents finally settled down, but every place had a bathroom and a telephone.  No more outhouse experiences for me!  Although I missed Germany (and secretly planned on running away some day to return to my foster parents), I thought America was GREAT!  Things were certainly a lot more modern over here than in Germany!

Eventually, my parents made enough money to buy a brand new house on 10 acres.  (I remember, the total price was $30,000.) It was great!  We kids helped Dad build a little barn and got a horse and some cows and sheep and chickens.  It was fun, but a lot of hard work. Backing up a little, when I was in the Fifth Grade, something special happened one day.  The teacher rolled in a TV on a stand and we were told we were about to see history in the making as NASA launched John Glenn into space to orbit the earth.  This was the EPITOME of thrilling! Of course, America’s excitement was squelched a year later when President Kennedy was assassinated… And just when you thought the craziness would stop, suddenly the USA (in the mid-Sixties) began to erupt in “race riots” that ultimately saw the death of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King in1968. 
Yes, man had always been at war (I learned that from my history books in school), but one would have thought we would have LEARNED from our mistakes and stopped the stupidity!  Instead, it seemed, we kept repeating our mistakes, over and over and over….I couldn’t figure out WHY people hated those of different colors.  (And it certainly didn’t help that my own family was extremely prejudiced!  Once, “Dad” told me that “a good Negro knows his place” – and I, being quite naïve, said, “What place is that?  We’re all human and this is the Sixties; they’re not slaves anymore!”  My only answer was a cold scowl.  The look on his face revealed he clearly felt he hadn’t raised me right.)

It was during my senior year of high school in Speech and Drama Class, when I read the Diary of Anne Frank, when I finally learned WHY my mother had always warned us kids to never “tell anyone you’re Jewish!”  My mother had always refused to talk about her childhood in Germany and so I had no clue that Hitler had taken it upon himself to try to wipe out theentire Jewish race during WWII!  While reading the Diary of Anne Frank, I was under the impression it was fiction, because I couldn’t fathom something like that happening for real!  I refused to believe it was an autobiography until my teacher assured me it was.  I was absolutely dumbfounded!   Was the world crazy or something?

Something else shifted in the Sixties, with the advent of a new birth control method called, The Pill which brought about a change that even I, as a young teen at the time, understood to be “wrong” somehow!  Suddenly, the whole one-man-one-woman concept changed as a subculture sprung up that was dubbed, the “Hippie Movement” - which believed in community living and loving and the “if you’re not with the one you love, love the one you’re with” ideology.

Yes, I realized world knowledge was increasing and we were becoming ever more modern; but deep down, I sensed this really wasn’t a good thing.  On one hand, we had horrible things happening around the world with thousands dying in the Vietnam War; yet on the other, we were becoming ultra modern and more sophisticated on every front.  We had jets flying the skies with smartly-dressed “stewardesses” (I actually considered a career as a stewardess upon high school graduation, but there was one problem:  I was afraid of flying….), and it seemed EVERYTHING was becoming automated.  Even telephones were evolving to have "push buttons" instead of the old round dial-thingy!  Surely, one day it would all end – because, how much more modern could things possible get?

I had just graduated from high school when mankind reached another pinnacle: We landed on the moon - which I watched on a COLOR television!   And shortly thereafter, I joined the Army to get away from home.  My parents had split when I was in the ninth grade, and my mother was remarried and re-divorced …and I was simply anxious to “get away” and start my own life.  By now I was sick and tired of the Nomad life we had led!  I mean, we truly WERE "nomads" ... by the time I graduated from high school, I had attended 14 different schools! 

Anyway, by that time, many women had started working outside the home, and families needed TWO cars – which, or course, required a “two car garage” and bigger houses.  And eventually, one phone and one bathroom weren’t enough, either, and so people needed even bigger homes….

Backing up again, in my junior year of high school, I decided to take a typing class (just in case I might need to type something one day!), and I learned on an old, manual Underwood, but occasionally got to practice on other, more modern electric models such as the IBM Selectric.

I have to admit, I honestly thought the Selectric was the be-all-end-all (because, what more could there possibly be?) … until in 1973, when (during my second hitch in the Army) I ended up working at Headquarters, United States Army, Europe and Seventh Army in Heidelberg, Germany, in “Classified Copy Preparation.”  There they used a fairly new invention called  the “Magnetic TapeSelectric Typewriter and Composer System” wherein you could program codes directly into the documents (left, center, right, and “justify” margins, etc.) as you were typing the document (seeing it all on this long roll of paper as you typed).  All the while, your entire document was recorded on a thick “magnetic tape cartridge” which you would insert into the Composer system which then typed out your document at 150 words per minute, in “camera-ready” format!  (It was great for putting out Army Regulations and Pamphlets, etc.)   This HAD to be the epitome of modern, because WHAT ELSE COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE?

Well, I soon found out, when my boss returned from some a seminar one day where he had learned about “a new thing called ‘Word Processing’ where you could see on a television screen what you were typing, and make corrections BEFORE running it off on paper!  We listened in disbelief as he told us we would one day be able to simply backspace to correct typos, and even move whole paragraphs around just by clicking the “copying” and “pasting” buttons.  And then you could simply press another button, and PRESTO! – out pops your final copy on a separate printer.  No more “correction tape” or “White-Out!” 

We sat there and snickered and made jokes about living like the Jetsons.  “We gonna have flying cars and robot maids, too?”  Some of us protested because we didn’t think we NEEDED any improvements “in this day and age.”  What was wrong with how we were doing things NOW? Why fix something that ain’t broke?

But sure enough, “that day” did arrive when every office had at least one of something called a  “computer”; with the ultimate goal of one day banishing the need for paper or filing cabinets.  At first, the offices I worked in had one computer, each, with everything stored in the basement somewhere in a “main brain.”  We still had typewriters, of course, but we all anxiously awaited our turn to work on this marvelous new thingamajig. 

Well, it wasn’t long before everybody in the office got their own computers, and also, practically every household eventually got “personal computers” and “pagers” where parents could contact their kids to have them call, or whatever.  And video games.  And, oh yeah, let’s not forget a great little thing called a cellphone.  (Now THAT one took me a long time to get used to!  After all, I had never needed a phone in my purse throughout my whole life; why should I lug one around now?)

Okay, and then along came “Smart Phones” that doubled as cameras and video equipment AND typewriters (unfortunately, you used only your thumb to “text” – YIKES!)   By this time, I was an “old fogey” who was truly tired of learning to use new-fangled things.  Good grief.  How much more can there be?  I mean, even my car is a computer!  If I want to make a phone call while in my car, all I have to do is press a button on the steering wheel and a woman’s sultry voice asks, “How may I help you?”  (I tried telling her she could fix me up with a million dollars, but she ignored me and said, “Sorry. I did not understand that command.  Please try again.”)

Yes, my life has been an amazing journey so far, and before I end this article, I must mention that I’ve noticed a huge change in PEOPLE over the years, as well.  People didn't fare as well as the "inventions."  They seemed to "get worse" as time went on.  Those of you who are "of a certain age" know what I'm talking about, right?  People simply aren’t the same as they used to be. They used to be kind and courteous to each other, willing to help each other out without expecting something in return.  Today, everyone is always in a huge hurry, impatient and cranky.  We’ve got all this “knowledge” and “information” at our fingertips; but yet WE are “different” and more short-tempered now.  We are also more self-centered and me-oriented.  Honestly, we're even dumber, really.  I mean, we have high school graduates who can’t read and young folks coming out of college who can’t tell you how many continents there are, or name the three branches of government….or even tell you how many moons the earth has!  So, what are kids learning in school today? 

I mean, they don’t even have to go to the library anymore because everything is online – yet they don’t know anything.  You don’t even have to touch a real book if you don’t want to, because you can use your Kindle to read your homework on!  They don’t have to learn how to add or subtract because the calculators on their cellphones will do it for them.  Kids today can give you a blow-by-blow about the latest basketball or football game, or sing you the latest tune from their favorite trash-talking "rap" artist, etc., but ask them a question with substance, and you get blank stares. Many today don't even know how to read a map; they rely on their GPS to get them where they want to go ... sometimes driving into rivers or off cliffs, or getting lost in a desert somewhere - because they weren't smart enough to realize their GPS might have been "off"....

The Bible says knowledge will increase in the end times…and it certainly has!  Ever since the advent of electricity, mankind has invented all kinds of machines to help make life easier, and we’ve flown to the outer reaches of Space.  But have we actually gotten any “smarter?”  It really doesn’t seem like it because, here on earth, we’re STILL fighting each other, and figuring out ways to kill each other off with ever-more powerful weapons.  People in some parts of the world are starving to death, or dying of thirst because the rains won’t come anymore.  In other parts, we have dictators rousting up their armies to kill and/or drive out all those who refuse to comply with their sick rules.  We have groups of lunatics such as ISIS, Al Qaida and Boko Haram who go around kidnapping, maiming and killing people, just “make a statement.”   Racial tensions in the US are being revived, with "hate speech" on all sides.  We humans haven’t figured out how to conquer many diseases – and we have new ones cropping up on a regular basis.

So, our technology has changed, but WE are still the same, lost and carnal people trying to do things OUR way, instead of turning to YHWH and submitting to HIM!  With all our knowledge and “worldliness” one would think we would exist in a perfect Utopia by now.  (We ARE, as far as technology is concerned...but WE people have never really advanced!  What a crying shame!)  

A mini-study of Romans 10

Oh my, this passage sends chills down your spine because it resonates throughout the generations! It is so VERY powerful! Myriads do NOT know the righteousness of ELOHIM because they constantly seek to establish their own righteousness….

Romans 10: 1. My Brothers, The desire of my heart, and my intercession with Elohim for them is that they might have life.  2. For I bear them witness that there is in them a zeal for Elohim; but it is not according to knowledge.  3. For they do not know the righteousness of Elohim, but seek to establish their own righteousness: and therefore they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of Elohim.  4. For Mashiyach is the goal[1] of Torah for righteousness to everyone that believes in him. 

5. For Moshe describes the righteousness which is by Torah, this way: Whoever will do these things will live by them.  6. But the righteousness which is by faith, says thus: You will not say in your heart, Who ascends to heaven and brings Mashiyach down?  7. Or, Who descends to the abyss of Sheol and brings up Mashiyach from the house of the dead?  8. But what says it? The thing is near to your mouth and to your heart: that is, the Word of Faith which we declare.  9. And if you will confess with your mouth our Master Y’shua, and will believe with your heart that Elohim has raised him from the dead, you will live.  

10. For the heart that believes in him is made righteous; and the mouth that confess him is restored to life.  11. For the Scripture says: Everyone that believes in him will not be ashamed.  12. And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one, Master YHWH,[2] over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him.  13. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH,[3] will have life.  14. How then will they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or, how will they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? Or, how will they hear, without a preacher?  

15. Or, how will they preach if they are not sent forth? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of the heralds of peace[4] and of the heralds of good things?  16. But all of them have not obeyed the proclamation of the Good News. For, Yesha’yahu said: My Master,[5] who has believed our report?  17. Therefore, faith is from the hearing in the ear; and the hearing in the ear, is from the Word of Elohim.  18. But I say: Have they not heard? And, lo, their proclamation has gone out into all the earth; and their words to the ends of the world.  

19. But I say: Did not Israel know?  First, Moshe said thus: I will awaken your emulation by a people which is not a people; and by a disobedient people I will provoke you.  20. And Yesha’yahu was bold, and said: I was seen by those who did not seek me out; and I was found by those who did not ask after me.  21. But to Israel, he said: All the day have I stretched out my hands to a contentious and disobedient people. (AENT)

FOOTNOTES: 

[1]  Mashiyach is the goal of Torah, not its termination (“end”, as so many translatons use).  Love is also the sakal (goal) of the commandment, not the termination.  This is validated throughout Rav Shaul’s writings in key places like Romans 3:31; 7:12; 10:4.

[2]   The first time in this Epistle where YHWH (MarYah) is used instead of Elohim/Eloah. This verse indicates the ONENESS of the Malchut Elohim.  ONE YHWH, One Kingship and One People. This is a continuum; NOT a drastic change in Covenant, but a renewal of YHWH’s people unto Himself.

[3]   MarYah, as opposed to the Greek kurios, can only refer to YHWH, giving Aramaic a huge interpretive advantage.  It is a critical fact, as is pointed out here, that Rav Shaul specifically tells believers to call on the name of YHWH, which is certainly not at all represented by the name “Jesus.”  John 17:11 tells us that the name of Y’shua is of the name YHWH. 

Before Rav Shaul came to believe, Y’shua had already ascended to the Right Hand of YHWH (Revelation 19:13).  Prayer was being offered unto YHWH in the name of Y’shua. Y’shua stated that his mission was to bring glory to His Father YHWH.  Y’shua’s name (YHWH is salvation) is accomplishing the salvation of YHWH.  It was also prophetic that the Gentiles would come to know the Name of YHWH, according to Jeremiah 16:19-21:

“O YHWH, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto you from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?  Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is YHWH.”

And, of course, this is to be done according to the Perfect work of Mashiyach! 

[4]  Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15.  The Hebrew b’sorah (good tidings) originates from the prime word basar; tidings or news. David says, “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation.” Psalm 40:9.  The Good News is that YHWH and His Mashiyach are righteous and Just, and all who put their Faith in YHWH are being called into righteousness to walk as Mashiyach walked.

[5]  In Isaiah 53:1 YHWH (MarYah) is in conversation with the prophet, referenced by the words, “who has believed our report.”  But Rav Shaul points out that the “arm of YHWH” is Y’shua who, while on Earth, is addressed in human terms, where Mari (my Master) is more appropriate. 

This does not mean that Y’shua is not called YHWH elsewhere but, rather, is a forceful way of identifying the source of this “arm” which relates directly to YHWH’s name and His chosen messenger.  He is the only “messenger” in the Tanakh with the ability to forgive sin and to officiate in the Name of YHWH, as opposed to the title of “El” (Exodus 23:20-22).

Words of wisdom and a short history lesson in Hebrews, chapter 2

Words of wisdom and a short history lesson in Hebrews, chapter 2:

Hebrews 2: 1. Therefore we should be exceedingly cautious in regard to what we have heard, or else we fall away.  2. For if the Word spoken by the medium of Messengers was confirmed, and everyone who heard it and transgressed it received a just retribution;  3. how will we escape if we hate the things which are our life,[1] things which began to be spoken by our Master (Y’shua), and were confirmed to us by them who heard from him,[2]  4. while Elohim gave testimony concerning them, by signs and wonders and by various miracles and distributions of the Ruach haKodesh which were given according to his will?  5. For to the Messengers he has not subjected the world to come,[3] of which we speak. 

6. But as the Scripture testifies, and says: What is man that you are mindful of him? and the Son of man, that you attend to him?  7. You have made him somewhat lower than the Messengers: glory and honor have you put on his head; and you have invested him with authority over the work of your hand.  8. And all things have you subjected under his feet.[4] And in this submitting of all things to him, he left out nothing which he did not submit him to. But now, we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 

9. We see that he is Y’shua, who humbled himself to become a little lower than the Messengers through his suffering and death, but now he is crowned with honor and glory because he tasted death for the sake of everyone apart from Elohim.[5]  10. For it became him by whom are all things and on account of whom are all things and (who) brings many sons to his glory, to perfect the prince of their life by suffering.  (AENT)

FOOTNOTE:

[1]  By quoting D’varim/Deuteronomy 32:47 Paul’s teaching is towards the Renewed Covenant of Torah being written upon the heart.

[2]   “Confirmed to us by those who heard from him” – this writer was not an eyewitness to Y’shua’s glory during his earthly ministry.  This is perhaps one of the greatest clues given by the writer of Hebrews regarding his identity.

While it is true that other writers, like Luke for example, collected accounts of Y’shua’s life from eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1-5), Luke himself is counted as as a Gentile (Colossians 4:11-14), making it unlikely that he would have enough apostolic weight to have his words encouraged in a Hebrew believing community as Rav Shaul himself makes a division between missions to both groups, while they contained the same message (Galatians 2:7).

When we look at prominent Jewish leaders who were specifically enjoined to preach the Gospel to the Israelites who are scattered among the nations, that brings us to a very short list of possible authors.  When we add to this criteria the fact that this same Jewish leader was important but not a direct eyewitness to Y’shua and that he has sent the letter according to direct reference (13:24) and very reliable Eastern and Western manuscript tradition from Italy (possibly Rome), that list, I believe, comes down to one name:  Rav Shaul.  The emphasis also on the writer’s encouragement to “remember those in prison as if you were bound with them: and recollect those in affliction as being yourselves clothed in flesh” (13:3, and also see 13:23) also fits very well with the other times that we know Rav Shaul was writing from his places of confinement.

[3]  Olam Haba - the world to come refers to an age where time and space ceases to exist; all lifeforms will enter into new dimensions. 

[4]  Psalm 8:4-6 

[5]  The most important phrase here is satar min Alaha: “apart from Elohim”; but the Greek translators removed it.  This omission was likely due to a theological debate; the Monophysites were a powerful sect that sprung up in the middle of the Second Century in Alexandria, Egypt. Their core belief was that Mashiyach only had the appearance of a human but was in reality, completely divine.  Such theology ignored statements like “Not my will, but Your Will,” along with many others; nevertheless, it gained popularity when the Imperial Byzantine “New Testament” text was emerging. Earlier versions were so violently suppressed in the West that only Aramaic believers in the Middle East had retained the original. 

In context, two facts become critical. First, we know this heresy arrived early; Origen (ca. 185-232) quotes the Peshitta-exclusive reading of this verse and further substantiates this view.  Second, this reading also plays into extensive themes about Mashiyach laying down his humanity, as well as showing that Elohim’s divine nature neither bled nor died on the stake (Acts 20:28).

This is one of the clearest examples where original Jewish understanding was almost completely obliterated by Roman and Byzantine cultures who preferred polytheistic theologies. Peshitta, in the rival Persian Empire, escaped all these revisions and kept its original Eastern (and Jewish) values intact.

On this matter, Stephen Silver noted: It is understood by the use of the phrase, khaya b’qnomeh in John 5:26, that Y’shua “had the price of redemption,” “Life in Himself” to redeem all that “call upon his Name.”  Clearly, this was and is the “will of the Father.”  In Hebrews 2:9, setar min Alaha “Life in Himself” represents both Elohim in him, as well as Y’shua’s “humanity”; so it is obvious that his humanity was laid down that he might take it again (John 10:17). This was the “will of the Father made manifest in the Son” by his life, death and resurrection.”

There is a “remez” (hint) here that refers to Genesis 44:30, “v’naf’sho k’shurah v’naf’sho,” “and his soul is knot-tied in his soul.”  Substituting b’tibohteh for min seta reflects Pagan thinking that Torah was to be replaced by “grace.” However, “Life in Himself” manifests this grace and truth of Torah, eternally (John 1:17, Exodus 34:6). Torah, without Y’shua Mashiyach, is “dead letter.”  Y’shua Mashiyach without Torah, is “sloppy agape.”

Wisdom in Colossians, Chapter 1

Okay, goosebumps!  I don’t care how many times we read through the Bible, our eyes will ALWAYS find something to remind us of our ELOHIM’s awesomeness!  While searching Scripture for an answer to someone’s question today, I “happened upon” the following passage that I “just had” to share…but the more I read, the more of the passage needed to be shared, until I copied almost the entire first chapter of Colossians.  Please read through this and see if you don’t get some “holy” goosebumps, too!

Colossians 1:4. For behold, ever since we heard of your faith in Y’shua the Mashiyach, and of your love to all the Set Apart believers; 5. because of the hope that is laid up for you in heaven of which ye heard before in the Word of Truth of the Good News  6. which is announced to you as also to all the world; and which grows and yields fruits as it does also among you from the day you heard and knew the grace of Elohim in reality:[1]  7. As you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant who is for you a faithful minister of the Mashiyach;  8. and who has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 

9. Therefore we also, from the day we heard (of it), have not ceased to pray for you; and to ask that you may be filled with a knowledge of the will of Elohim in all wisdom and in all spiritual understanding;[2]  10. That you may walk as is right and may please Elohim with all good works, and may yield fruits, and grow in the knowledge of Elohim;  11. and may be strengthened with all strength, according to the greatness of his glory in all patience and long suffering;  12. and may, with joy, give thanks to Elohim the Father who has fitted us for a portion of the inheritance of the Set Apart believers in light; 13. and has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son  14. by whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins: 15. who is the likeness of the invisible Elohim and the first-born of all creatures:  16. and by him was created everything that is in heaven and on earth, all that is visible and all that is invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; everything was through him and was created by[3] him:  17. and he was prior to all, and by him every thing exists. 

18. And he is the head of the body the Assembly; as he is the head and first-born from among the dead, that he might be the first in all things.  19. For it pleased (the Father) that in him all fullness should dwell;  20. and by him, to reconcile all things to himself; and through him he has pacified, with the blood of his stake, both (those) on earth and those in heaven.[4]  21. And also to you, who were before alienated and enemies in your minds because of your evil deeds,  22. to you he has now given peace by the body of his flesh and by his death; that he might establish you in his presence, Set Apart, without blemish and without offense;  23. provided you continue in your faith, your foundation being firm, and do not be separated from the hope of the Good News of which you have heard, that it is proclaimed in all the creation beneath heaven; of which (Good News) I Paul am a minister. 

24. And I rejoice in the sufferings which are for your sakes; and, in my flesh, I fill up the deficiency in the afflictions of the Mashiyach, in behalf of his body which is the assembly;  25. of which I am a minister, according to the stewardship[5] of Elohim which is given to me among you, that I should fulfill the Word of Elohim,  26. (namely,) that mystery which was hidden for ages and generations, but is now revealed to his Set Apart believers;  27. to whom Elohim would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which (mystery) is the Mashiyach who in you is the hope of our glory;  28. whom we proclaim and teach and make known to every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect[6] in Y’shua the Mashiyach.  29. And for this also I toil and strive with the aid of the strength that is imparted to me.  (AENT)

FOOTNOTES:

[1]  This verse showcases two deep poetic features. First, another meaning of sebar is in an implied wordplay with the word keroz (preach). Interestingly enough, “preach” is also a synonym for sebartha (Good News)! In fact, the Eastern traditions have always referred to the Good News as karazuta, or “the preaching” of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Second, there is the use of the word alma. Generally, this word is translated as “world.”

However, alma also has another meaning, that of “age” or “eternity” and this speaks to a very Jewish pattern of describing the “the world to come” the olam haba. In this case, most Jews knew all too well that there was a wordplay between alam (world) and ahlam (forever), and so apparently did the student of Hillel’s grandson, Rav Shaul, the Apostle Paul. Therefore Paul’s point, which is completely lost in Greek, is that what is being preached throughout the world is the true revelation of Elohim from eternity past.  

The irony is that Greek has a term that comes very close to this understanding, yet it was not used. In Matthew 28:20 Y’shua says, “And behold I am always with you, even unto the end of the aion.” This word also has a dual meaning of “world” and “age” and this is more than reflected in the varying English translations from that source, where the rendering is effectively split between the two.

However, in this case the dual meaning of alma is not used by Greek redactors, who instead opted for the meaning that kosmos provides. Kosmos can also mean “world” or “universe” but its definitions do not extend to mean “age” like aion does.  Much more about the revelatory (mystical) aspects of Colossians is available in Ruach Qadim by Andrew Gabriel Roth, which is available online at www.ruachqadim.com. 

[2]   Recall that the first attribute (sefira) – Keter – literally means “crown” but is also given the added title of “will.” Paul’s usage here, however, with the word tzebinah, is most significant because he is both referencing and superseding the mystical traditions in one stroke. This is because it is this exact same word that Y’shua uses to describe the Divine Will in the Master’s Prayer; so here Paul is substituting that term for Keter, even as many mystics interchange the Hebrew da’at with Keter.

If this were not yet powerful enough, da’at also finds its own interchanging with Paul’s revelatory writings in the form of its Aramaic cognate yadata. In the case of the latter, what proceeds from the Divine Will is “knowledge” (da’at/yadata); this form is considered pure, coming straight from the mind of YHWH. Another way of accomplishing this same goal can be achieved by taking chokhmata and adding to it through description, a higher level of power that turns it into da’at/yadata. 

[3]  The literal Aramaic reading is “by” him, whereas Greek and English texts have “for” him.  Mashiyach is the creative Word through which everything was made (Psalm 33:6, John 1:1-5, Hebrews 1:1-5).  The common Aramaic idiom here and in John is "through his hands" meaning as the Word, Mashiyach crafted all things according to YHWH's blueprints.  Mashiyach Y'shua emerges as the Word from YHWH's breath and command and, as such, was with Him in the beginning (John 17:1-11).

[4]  Here is one of the most stunning mystical parallels in all of Paul’s writings! Not only does Resha perform the exact same function of Keter by being the attribute (sefira) that has all the others inside of it (before they emerge), hence, “by whom the whole body is constructed”; but Resha dovetails with Keter in another amazing way.

By “standing with the joints and members” Paul is showing a very clear understanding of the sefirotic tree forming the spiritual blueprint of man, or Adam Qadmon. It is no coincidence, then, that this same title applies to Mashiyach, whom Paul upholds as the maker of all things. However, as other attributes fold out of Keter, we find the lower but also important spheres of learning in terms of wisdom and understanding. 

[5]  The term “dispensation” was erroneously inserted to bolster “dispensationalsim” or “replacement theology.” The deception of “dispensationalism” plays an important role in the “mystery of the Evil One” (2 Thess. 2:7); by making void Torah it is impossible to exit paganism. 

[6]  Noah was “perfect” B’resheet/Genesis 6:9; Avraham Avinu was “perfect” 17:1; All of Israel is called to be “perfect” D’varim/Deut 18:13; Solomon prayed that Israel would be “perfect” 1 Kings 8:61; Hezekiah walked before YHWH with a ““perfect heart” 2 Kings 20:3; the men who upheld David as King had a “perfect heart” 1 Chron. 12:28; the Israel of Elohim in the time of Dawid had “perfect hearts” 1 Chron. 29:8; 9;  2 Chron. 16:9 “For the eyes of YHWH run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him; Job was “perfect” Job 2:3; Y’shua instructs his followers, “You therefore be perfect as your Father in heaven who is perfect.” 

Matthew 5:48. 

“The Torah of YHWH is perfect, converting the soul,” Psalm 19:7  Every perfect man in Scripture observed the Torah of YHWH, Y’shua and Paul included.  The work of anti-Mashiyach is anti-Torah; therefore, “the Church” has a formidable task ahead: Christians will either repent of their shameful violations against Torah, or face the wrath of YHWH when His Mashiyach returns. 

Mashiyach’s true followers don’t spend their time finding creative “theologies” with which to break the Word of YHWH; all followers of Mashiyach are called in Grace to live righteous “perfect” lives that are pleasing to YHWH.  This is the continuum that Mashiyach brought to humanity, but it is being trodden asunder by all manner of false religion and “one-up-man-ship.”