The prophetic significance of Jesus (Yeshua) the Passover

This article is from MessianicBible.com and appeared in my inbox today. I would simply add a link to the article, but I couldn't find the actual article on line, so I have copied and pasted here, with acknowledgement given to the source.

the prophetic significance of Jesus (Yeshua) the Passover Lamb 

Matzah (unleavened bread) and wine are two of the symbolic foods of Pesach (Passover).

"This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."  (Mark 14:24)

“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”  (Exodus 12:13)

All over the world the Jewish People will be gathering at home with their families and friends for a special service that is always held on the first night of Passover.  Some families hold this special celebration on the first and second nights!

The Haggadah, the colorful book in the above photo, is the Jewish text that
sets forth the order of the Passover Seder.  It is estimated that there are over
2,000 versions of this sacred text, which is the most published Jewish text
apart from the Bible.

On the first two nights of the Festival, the story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold using a book called the Haggadah (the telling), which contains instructions for the Passover Seder (order), with all its symbolic foods, the blessings, and the Passover story.

The retelling of that story concludes with a wonderful feast.

"The LORD's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month."  (Leviticus 23:5)

Family and friends gather on the first night of Passover for the
Passover Seder.

Preparing and Purifying the House

For over a week now, we have been diligently preparing for the festival by cleansing our homes of all leaven (yeast), which is a symbol of sin, according to the commandment found in Exodus 12:19:

“For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses.  And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.”

Such cleaning has been performed before Passover for a very long time.

This morning before Passover, all the chametz (products with yeast) that
was found during last night's search for chametz, and anything that was
left over from breakfast, was burned.

In the Brit Chadashah (New Testament), Yeshua (Jesus) went to the Temple before the Passover Festival and cleansed it of the “leaven”—the corruption of the money changers doing business within.

“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Yeshua went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the Temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”  (John 2:13–16)

The Merchants Chased from the Temple, by James Tissot

In accordance with Jewish tradition and the Bible, Yeshua and His disciples also prepared for the Passover Seder (ritual dinner):

“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.  Yeshua sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.  ‘Where do you want us to prepare for it?’ they asked.
     He replied, ‘As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”  He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished.  Make preparations there.’  They left and found things just as Yeshua had told them.  So they prepared the Passover.”  (Luke 22:7–13)

Some calculate that this meal (also known as the Last Supper) was eaten on the evening of the 13th of Nissan and that Yeshua was killed by the Romans on the 14th of Nissan as the lambs were being slaughtered for Passover that evening.

“And He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’”  (Luke 22:15)

It was during this Passover Seder that Yeshua inaugurated the Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) with His disciples, when He said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you."  (Luke 22:20)

The Last Supper: Judas Dipping his Hand in the Dish, by James Tissot

The Prophetic Significance of the Lamb

Tonight, as Jewish families observe the traditional Passover Seder meal, retelling the story of the Exodus and first Passover, they will miss deeper, hidden meanings that point to spiritual redemption through Yeshua.

It was through the blood of the lamb, which was placed on the doorposts of the homes of the faithful, that the Israelites (and some Egyptians) were saved from the last of the ten plagues—the death of the firstborn.

Anyone, even an Israelite who failed to apply the blood would have been subject to the same judgment as the Egyptians.

The Signs on the Door, by

James Tissot

On that terrifying night, this remarkable salvation foreshadowed the coming sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah, the Lamb of God, who was slain on Passover and whose innocent blood also saves us from death and destruction.

Yeshua proclaimed this when He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”  (John 11:25–26)

With these words, He assured us that when God judges the world, we will be saved by the blood of the Lamb if we put our faith in the Messiah and the blood of redemption; God will again “pass over” us.

"The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!"  (John 1:35–36)

A Jewish man reads from the Haggadah during
the Seder reciting the blessing over one of the
Four Cups associated with redemption.

The Prophetic Significance of Shed Blood

"Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats."  (Exodus 12:5)

Even though the blood of the lamb played a central part in the deliverance of the Israelites on that dark night in Egypt, the lamb is strikingly missing from the traditional Jewish Passover celebration.

Still, the Tanakh (Old Testament) makes it very clear that the cleansing of our soul can only take place through the shedding of blood.

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.”  (Leviticus 17:11)

Because of that proclamation from the Lord, ancient Judaism was a religion of blood sacrifice.  In the Holy Temple, the blood of sacrificial animals flowed like rivers from the altar.

In modern Judaism, blood sacrifice is no longer practiced.  In fact, most Jewish people are repulsed by the very thought!

The importance of the blood of redemption and sacrifice of the lamb in Egypt, therefore, has lost its relevance for the Jewish people in today's celebration of the feast.  

Even so, it is an essential element of the first Passover and reveals the role that Yeshua the Messiah plays in our personal salvation.

How Yeshua Fulfill the Requirements of the Passover Lamb

Yeshua perfectly fulfilled the promise of redemption found in the Passover Lamb.  Here are a few of those ways:

1.    The Passover lamb was to be chosen and set apart on the 10th day of the first month of Nissan. 

Fulfillment: On the 10th day of Nissan, Yeshua rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey and was hailed as the King of the Jews.

2.    The lamb was to be inspected for four days until the 14th day of the month for any spot or blemish that might disqualify it as the sacrificial lamb.

Fulfillment: Yeshua openly taught in the Holy Temple and synagogues until the 14th day of the month and no fault could be found in Him.

3.    At the appointed time, the Passover lambs were slain by the whole congregation of Israel.

Fulfillment: Yeshua, Lamb of God, was delivered and publicly killed on a Roman execution stake as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.

A central lesson of the Passover lamb is that its shed blood caused the wrath of God to “pass over” those who applied it to their homes.

Only the blood of the Passover Lamb can save us!

We have all been offered the free gift of being “passed over”—salvation.  That gift is by faith in the shed blood of Yeshua who is our Passover Lamb.  

We cannot receive salvation by faith in our own works or perceived goodness.

While many people consider themselves good people worthy of going to Heaven by their own merit, the Word of God says that our righteousness is not clean by God’s holy standards:  

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”  (Isaiah 64:6)

A Jewish father reads a Hebrew Haggadah with his son during the
Passover Seder.

Passover is an illustration of God’s redemptive plan for all humanity.  Just as the Israelites were in bondage to slavery in Egypt, without God's intervention we are all under spiritual bondage of sin:

“Every one of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that does good, no, not one.”  (Psalm 53:3)

The good news is that the promise of Passover is still for today—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.  Yeshua gave Himself up as a Lamb to the slaughter so we could have freedom from sin and death.

“The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.”  (Isaiah 53:6–7)

Although machine-made matzah is square, handmade matzah is round.
The matzah that Yeshua broke at His final Seder with His talmidim
(disciples) was likely similar in appearance.

Yeshua and the Middle Matzah

Tonight as the Passover Seder is celebrated, a three-sectioned pouch called the matzah tosh will hold three whole pieces of matzah (unleavened bread).

At one point in the Seder, the middle matzah will be taken out, broken, wrapped in a white linen cloth and hidden away until the children are sent to search for it later in the Seder.  Once found, that broken and wrapped piece, called the afikomen, will be brought back to the leader of the Seder to be redeemed.

It will then be distributed among the guests and family members around the table.

"And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'"  (Luke 22:19)

Most Messianic Believers understand that this broken middle piece represents Yeshua, whose body was broken for us, and who died and was wrapped in white burial linens, hidden away in a tomb for three days and nights, and then later resurrected to life!  Halleluyah!

The origin of the three matzot in the matzah tosh and the afikomen
remains shrouded in mystery.  While its Messianic symbolism seems
to have always been evident, its meaning is not discussed during the
traditional Seder.

May these words of the ancient Hebrew prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah) reach the hearts and minds of the Jewish people at Passover today:

“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  (Isaiah 53:5–6)

Although some look at the Passover narrative of Yeshua’s death and resurrection as a reason to accuse the Jews of being “Christ killers,” He plainly stated that no one took His life from Him; He willingly gave it for our redemption.  (John 10:17–18)

“This is how we know what real love is: Yeshua gave His life for us.  So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters."  (1 John 3:16)

A Jewish man reads from the Haggadah during the Passover Seder.

It was not simply chance or coincidence that Yeshua chose to give His life for us on the very day Passover lambs were being slaughtered.

He was clearly demonstrating that He is the fulfillment of the Passover for all of eternity.

The apostle Paul emphasized the connection between Yeshua and the Feast of Passover (Pesach) and encourages us all, whether native-born Israelites or those who have joined us through the New Covenant in Yeshua’s blood, to celebrate the feast!

“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened.  For Messiah our Passover also has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us celebrate the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  (1 Corinthians 5:7–8)

Christine, please pray that the veil will be lifted and that the Jewish People will see Yeshua as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb at this festival time.

Though we were dead in our trespasses and sin and so undeserving of being called His friends, in the immensity of His love, He reached out to us and offered us eternal life.

On this first day of Passover, may we once again be overcome with gratitude for all that Yeshua suffered for on our behalf.

"Let the message about Messiah, in all its richness, fill your lives.  Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives.  Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."  (Colossians 3:16)

The Deity of Jesus, Part 2

The Arguments for why Jesus is not God

Before discussing whether or not Jesus could have been God, we need to look first briefly at the reasons why some deny that He was or is. These points will not be discussed in this post; that will come later. For the moment, I will simply present the case against Jesus being God in the flesh. Also, do not assume from the lack of comments at this stage that I either agree or disagree with these statements. I am merely presenting the case, nothing more.

1.    Jesus is not all-knowing (omniscient). The proof text for this claim is Matthew 24v36 where Jesus says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (ESV).

2.    Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly said such things as ‘I am the Lord your God’, but not once did Jesus make such a direct claim.

3.    In Psalm 146v3, we are warned “Put not your trust in princes, in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (KJV). Jesus however repeatedly talked of Himself as ‘the Son of Man’. We are exhorted to trust God, but not to put our trust in the ‘son of man’, therefore, it is claimed, Jesus cannot be God.

4.    Jesus was ‘given’ His authority; He did not possess it of Himself. The proof for this is given as Matthew 28v18, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Also, Jesus did nothing of Himself, but only what He was told by the Father, John 12v49, “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” therefore He did not have authority to act by Himself.

5.    We know that God is ‘good’; Jesus however denied being ‘good’ in the sense that God is good: “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19v16-17)

6.    Jesus’s followers (the wider group than just the twelve), did not believe Him to be God: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16v13-14)

7.    When Jesus further pressed the twelve who were with Him, they did not say they believed He was God, but merely ‘the Son of God’. Therefore, if no-one said they believed He was God, then He obviously was not God.

8.    During His life on earth, Jesus frequently went apart by Himself to pray. To whom was He praying? Those who deny that He was God say He could not have been praying to Himself, therefore, He and the father are two separate beings; Jesus is the Son and the Father is God.

9.    In addition, Jesus referred to God the Father as ‘your God and mine’ (John 20v16-18). If Jesus Himself had a God, then He was not God Himself.

10. The will of the Son was subordinate to the will of the Father. Mark 26v39 says, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will”.

11. Jesus remains subordinate to the Father. After Jesus returned to heaven, God put ‘all things under His feet’ but God Himself was not put under His feet and Jesus Himself is subject to God the father: For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15v27-28)

12. Jesus was granted life rather than possessing it in and of Himself. John 5v26 says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself”. ‘Life’ is something owned by God who grants life to whom He will; if Jesus was granted life, it follows that He is not God.

13. Jesus did nothing by Himself; He only did the will of the Father: “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5v30) and “Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me” (John 7v16).

14. “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise”. If Jesus could do nothing of His own accord, then clearly He was not to be considered God.

15. Jesus made no secret of the fact that His Father was greater than He: “If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I” (John 14v28). If the Father and Jesus were both God, then surely it follows that they are equal and not one greater than the other?

16. When Jesus prayed, He spoke to His ‘Father in heaven’ (Matthew 6v9). If Jesus were God, then why and how could His Father (also God) be in heaven? Why did Jesus not say something like ‘My Father who is standing right here’ (referring to Himself)?

17. On the cross, Jesus cried aloud, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ How can God forsake Himself? If God could forsake Jesus, then Jesus could not be God.

18. Jesus is described as ‘the express image’ or ‘the exact representation’ of God; therefore, He is not God, but just God’s representative. If I sned my representative, it is someone other than myself, so Jesus, being God’s representative, is therefore not God.

19. In the letter of James, we read that God cannot be tempted (James 1v13), yet we read elsewhere that Jesus was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.

20. Jesus lived a life of faith and obedience: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5v9)

21. Jesus was no more than a Prophet like Moses, raised up from among men: “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you” (Acts 3v22).

22. If Jesus is God, then so is Jerusalem. This is taken from the name ‘The Lord our Righteousness’. In Jeremiah 23v6, the term is applied to the Messiah; in Jeremiah 33v16, the same term is applied to Jerusalem.

23. The most famous prayer of the Old Testament is the ‘shema’, the first part of which is seen in Deuteronomy 6v4: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”. If God is ‘one’, then He cannot be two, or three. Therefore Jesus is not God, because that would make God more than one.

24. Jesus claimed that He and the Father were one. If this makes Him God incarnate, then the disciples are also God, for Jesus prays that “they may be one as we are one” (John 17v22, compare John 10v30)

25. Jesus is described as being “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1v15) and “the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1v3). But Adam was also described as being made in the image of God: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1v26, 27). So the expression ‘in the image of God’ therefore cannot mean that Jesus was God, otherwise Adam was also God.

26. Jesus walked the earth and was seen by many; even after His resurrection, He was seen by above 500 at one time as well as individuals and smaller groups. However, John 5v37, Jesus says “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape” and this is supported by 1 John 4v12, “No one has ever seen God”. Therefore, Jesus cannot be God because He was seen and heard.

Well, that sets out the arguments that are used to claim that Jesus was not God. In future posts, we will see whether these arguments hold water or not and also whether Jesus claimed to be God, whether His disciples actually believed He was God, whether His enemies thought He was claiming to be God and whether the prophesied Messiah was epxetced to be God Himself.

The Deity of Jesus, Part 1

The Deity of the Messiah, Part 1

Introduction

Today, there is a movement within Christianity to find the ‘historical Jesus’ and to return to ‘historical Christianity’. Within that is a sub-set, if you like, of those who recognise that historically, Christianity was essentially Jewish and that Jesus and the Apostles were Jews. These groups are broadly termed ‘Messianics’, but as with any movement, there are various groups within it, all of which have their differences. In this particular case, you will find such names as:

Jews for Jesus

Messianic Judaism

Messianic Christians

Hebrew Roots Movement (HRM)

Hebraic Roots (yes, they are different!)

Jewish Roots

Sacred Names

Two House

…and so on.

The common denominator of all these groups is that they recognise Jesus (Hebrew name: Yeshua – or variations thereof) as the Messiah of Israel, as prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures (the TaNaKh) and as described in the New Testament. They are all distinctly Jewish in one form or another (even the predominantly Gentile groups within the movement), in that they keep the seventh day Sabbath and the appointed feast days of the Lord, described in Leviticus 23. Most of them eat more or less ‘kosher’ and are known as ‘Torah observant’, that is, they believe and live by the regulations and instructions (‘Torah’) as given in the Books of Moses (Genesis – Deuteronomy), claiming these rules or laws have never been rescinded.

Recently I came across a large discussion group on Facebook. I love a good discussion, so signed up to the group. It quickly became apparent that these were mainly Hebrew Roots adherents and one of their most distinguishing features was that while they believe Jesus (Yeshua) was the promised Messiah, He was not God. He was an ordinary man that God endowed with extra-ordinary powers, through the Holy Spirit.

After a short while, I was invited to a ‘conference’ (Facebook messenger) with the Admin team of this site. They wanted me to join their team as a moderator, but first they needed to check my theology. I was asked directly who I thought Jesus was. My reply: “I believe He is the eternal Son of God, that He pre-existed before His incarnation, that He created the world, and that He is God incarnate.” Needless to say, I was not accepted as a moderator.

However, I was challenged a few days later in a discussion with one of the other moderators, to study this whole issue again. I do not believe I have merely swallowed what I have been taught, without thinking about it, but it is always a good thing to re-evaluate our doctrines, whether they are merely ‘church teaching’ or whether the Bible actually teaches what we think it does. After all, if Jesus is not actually God, it would mean I am worshipping another God or that I believe in polytheism! Many years ago, I had had some dealings with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They too deny the deity of Jesus. So at that time, I had studied the matter in detail. However, which of us has not read a verse or passage in the Bible and declared ‘I never noticed that before’ or understood a part we hadn't really grasped before? But as I said, it is always good to re-evaluate our position in light of further truth we have discovered and our greater maturity.  So I took it upon myself to do just that. This series of blog posts then is the result of several days of intensive study on the subject of the deity of Jesus.

Index to this Study:

1.    Introduction

2.    The Arguments for why Jesus is not God.

3.    Does the Old Testament predict that Messiah would be God?

4.    The Gospels

a.    Did Jesus ever claim to be God, directly or indirectly?

b.    Did the Gospel writers/disciples consider Jesus to be God?

c.    Did the Pharisees believe He was at least claiming to be God?

5.    The Acts of the Apostles, the letters and Revelation

6.    Did the early church ‘fathers’ consider Jesus to be God? Or was the deity of Jesus a man made doctrine invented in the fourth century, as some claim?

7.    Objections answered

a.    God is One: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one’

b.    God incarnate, or ‘Son of’ God?

c.    Was the Apostle John influenced by the Targums?

d.    Why did Jesus call God ‘my God’?

e.    Why did Jesus say, ‘My Father is greater than I’?

f.     When Jesus prayed to the Father, was He praying to Himself?

g.    If being one with God made Jesus God, then being one with Jesus would make the Apostles Gods as well

h.    Immanuel, means ‘God with us’; if that means Jesus is God, then all names containing the name of God (such as ELiYAH, JeremiYAH, like ImmanuEL) would mean they are God too.

[This Index is a work in progress and might be changed or expanded as the posts are written].

References:

In completing this study, I have of course looked at the Bible – in several translations, better to understand the meaning, but mainly I have used the KJV, NKJV (a modern English rendering of the KJV), ESV, CJB (to understand the scriptures from a Jewish perspective – it was created by a Messianic Jewish Christian) and Young’s Literal Translation. I also looked at an interlinear Bible, with the original Hebrew or Greek with the English written underneath, showing which words were translated as what. In addition, I looked up the references in the Peshitta, which is the Aramaic version of the Bible, used by the Eastern Churches and claimed to be the original writings of the Apostles which were later translated into  the Greek from which most western translations have come.

My Greek is very limited (I studied some about forty years ago and have forgotten most of what I learned, which wasn’t much to start with!). My Hebrew is even more limited – maybe a few transliterated words, but no more. And my Aramaic is non-existent. So I relied heavily on Strong’s Analytical concordance and the website BibleHub. I did read some commentaries, but more to understand the context, or the nuances of a particular word, rather than to get a man made perspective on the subject. Finally, but not least, I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to guide my studies, for He is the one who will ‘guide (us) into all truth’ (John 16v13). 

A Journey

A Journey

Life is a journey. It is not static. Things change. People change, their understanding of the world changes, they mature, they see new things in the old, or see them from a different perspective. This is also true of the Christian walk. We see things differently; we see new truths we hadn’t noticed before; we mature in the faith and gain deeper insights.

At the beginning of 2016, I started to read my New Testament in chronological order by event. I looked out a ‘harmony of the Gospels’ which listed all the events of the New Testament in historical order, with the references from the Gospels next to each event. It meant a lot of flicking from one part of the Gospels to another, but it was worth the effort and I enjoyed reading how it all happened. I was struck by just how Jewish it all was!

At the end of that, I wanted to find a Bible or a book that wrote the life of Jesus, using the information from all the Gospels in chronological order, and set within the cultural and historical timeframe of first century Israel and the surrounding nations. I found one that had been written in 1867 or thereabouts; it was a struggle to read it and was very wordy – a common method of writing in those days. But I was hard pressed to find another, more up to date version. So, because I enjoy writing, I set about researching the details and writing one of my own (it is still to be finished – watch this space!) Again, because the life of Jesus did not happen in a vacuum, it became apparent how much a man of His time and culture Jesus actually was.

Finally, I also read a book, ‘The Master’ by John Pollock, which is a life of Jesus, based on the Gospel of John. My first surprise was in his opening sentences. He referred to John as a cousin of Jesus. I presumed he was writing about John the Baptist. But then he mentioned John’s parents – Zebedee and Salome. I thought, ‘Hang on! We know John’s parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth. Where do you get Zebedee and Salome from?’ That sent me scurrying for my books and the computer to discover that yes indeed, John and James were probably cousins of Jesus; their father was Zebedee and their mother was Salome, who was probably the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. I began to realise how many hints we are given throughout the four Gospels of when and how events took place and who was involved. I had ‘matured’ in my way of approaching the Bible – check the details was my new watchword and also, check the accounts as given in all the Gospels, not just one at a time.

Thus my studies had led me to understand just how Jewish the whole New Testament really was. I had long thought (and frequently said in the past) that Christianity is much more Jewish than we in the west give it credit for, but I had never really studied that. As far as I was concerned, it didn’t actually much matter. I am a 21^st Century Christian, living in the western hemisphere – why did the fact that Jesus and the Apostles were Jewish actually matter. The answer is: Context is everything! Understanding the New Testament hinges on understanding the culture and history, the politics and religion at the time the words were spoken. Knowing Hebrew idiom helps us understand what Jesus was actually saying. I used to think that putting the Bible into its first century context was a pretext for saying it doesn’t apply to us today. For instance, the issue of women’s head coverings for prayer is often said to have been something cultural for that day, time and place – therefore we today do not need to comply. For that reason, I had been hesitant to accept anything that called for cultural context, in case the next step meant we were going to be told to abandon whatever teaching it was. I now understand clearly that context really is everything! Looking at the Gospels in their proper cultural setting does not mean we must abandon the teachings contained therein; rather it enhances our understanding. For instance, Jesus said ‘I have not come to destroy the law…I have come to fulfil it’. That is Hebrew idiom (did you know? I certainly didn’t!) To destroy the law means to teach against it; to fulfil the law means to teach its proper observance – which makes perfect sense when we know that on the end of that particular bit of teaching, Jesus added ‘Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5v19). And this reflects the Old Testament teaching (and remember, Jesus and the Apostles didn’t have the New Testament!) in Deuteronomy 27v26:

Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. 

See how knowing the cultural, religious and historical context actually aids our understanding?

My final ‘revelation’ this year was to realise (and finally fully understand) that the Lord and the Apostles really didn’t have a New Testament! That might seem obvious, but it came as a ‘revelation’ in that we always interpret the teachings of Christ in the light of what is written in the New Testament – the writings of Paul and Peter, the Gospels and so on. But Jesus and the Apostles actually only had the Old Testament – which meant that all the teachings of the New Testament can be found and understood with only an Old Testament in our possession! Wow! That was a real eye opener!

So my journey started along the path to understanding the Hebrew origins, the Jewish origins, of our Christian faith. And the journey continues….

Hand-washing

[Image from www.sciencebuzz.org]

Mark 7:1-23

Hand-washing. We take it for granted that we wash our hands numerous times a day. Probably our parents taught us to wash our hands before each meal and after using the bathroom. But did you know that the Jews of Jesus' day and Jesus Himself had something to say about it too? 

In Vienna in the 19th Century, many newborn babies and mothers were dying while they were still in the hospital. One doctor realised that doctors who were looking after these new babies were coming from another patient who was either very ill, or had even died, and were examining the mothers and babies without washing their hands. He started asking the doctors to wash their hands between seeing one patient and the next - and the death rate amongst newborns and their mothers dropped dramatically. [George A. Bender: Great Moments in Medicine, 1965]. Today, we take it for granted that doctors should wash their hands between patients as we are aware that germs spread from one person to another if they do not.

During the years of the plague in Europe during the Middle Ages, the Jewish communities were relatively free from the disease. Their neighbours began to think the Jews must be bewitched, as few if any of them died; and rather than discover the reason, they began to persecute them. What was the reason? The Jews held to a strict regime of hygiene and hand-washing. 

Getting back to the passage under consideration, a group of Pharisees and Scribes - the strictest and most religious people of the day - noticed that Jesus and His disciples were eating bread, but they had not washed their hands beforehand. The subject of hand-washing had taken on ritualistic proportions and the Jews had created many rules about how and when hands were to be washed. Eating with unwashed hands meant the food could be contaminated and thus rendered unfit for human consumption - it was 'common' or 'unclean'. Eating such foods (those that were common or unclean) then rendered the person who ate them unclean also. These rules, created by men, had become as significant (or in some cases even more significant) than the law of God itself (see vv 10-13). And they were numerous - they did not stop at the washing of hands, but included the washing of pots, cups and other receptacles (v 4). So when this group of religious leaders saw Jesus and His disciples eating without having washed their hands, they were indignant. Jesus was making Himself unclean! Jesus was breaking 'the law' - except this particular 'law' is nowhere found in the Law of God as given to Moses; it was a man made law. The Pharisees admitted as much:

"Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands" (v 5)

Being aware of their heart attitude, Jesus was quick to point out that these 'traditions of the elders' were not for the good of man, but in order that they might be seen to be 'holy' - they were holy outwardly, but their heart was not right with God. They were proud of their religious observance. He called them hypocrites (v 6) and condemned them for teaching man's traditions as if they were the oracles of God (v 7). In fact, the Jews had even come to believe that God had given these traditions to Moses on Mount Sinai, along with the Law, but Moses had not been instructed to write them down! Jesus then went on to say that while they do all this ceremonial washing, they have in fact rejected the commandments of God, in favour of the traditions (v 9).

By way of explanation, Jesus then gathered the people round Him and said:

"Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without (outside) a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile a man" (v 14-15)

The disciples must have been a bit slow, because they still did not understand what He was talking about, so they asked Him for further explanation, which He duly gave:

"Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him: because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?...

That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (vv 18-23)

Jesus was proclaiming that true religion is a matter of the heart, not keeping the rules and traditions of men. If a person washes his hands and his pots and cups, he will still be defiled if he has evil thoughts like those mentioned. Washing the outward is not going to make the inward clean.

In the Old Testament, God had declared that certain things were not to be eaten - such as pork or shellfish, and there was a manner in which they were not to be eaten - such as if they had died naturally, or been torn by other animals, or if the blood had not been drained. These animals were declared 'unclean'. Any 'clean' foods that had come into contact with something 'unclean' was also not fit to be eaten and was 'common'. Many have taken these words of Jesus to say that Jesus thereby declared all foods clean. Even some translators have rendered the words ''purging all meats' as 'thus He declared all foods clean'. So let's look at that a little more closely.

Jesus was speaking to the most religious people of His day. If He had meant that they could now eat pork and shellfish, the Pharisees would have stoned Him. While Jesus was not slow to condemn man made rules and regulations, nowhere did He ever contradict God's law. So I suggest that this is not the meaning of this passage at all.

Neither did the disciples understand Him to have been saying that all meat was now fit to be eaten - they were still puzzled, even after Jesus had explained it to the people.

Furthermore, the subject of the passage is not about what could or could not be eaten, but is about whether or not it was wrong to eat without washing your hands beforehand.

Finally, looking at the words carefully, it does not actually say that meats were declared clean - it says that if you eat food with unwashed hands, it goes into your stomach, passes through the digestive system, and out into the toilet (the 'draught'). The digestive system is what 'purges' the food, not Jesus' declaration.

How do I know that this is true? Well, one rule of Biblical interpretation is that we should allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. So is there another passage we can look at that will shed any light on this? Yes, there is - Matthew 15:1-20 is a parallel passage. It gives the same account, with added detail. Having given the list of things that come from the heart and defile a person, Jesus concludes:

"These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands, defileth not a man" (Matthew 15:20)

So you can clearly see that Jesus is not speaking about the types of foods that can be eaten, He is not giving a blanket approval for His followers to eat pork and shellfish, but is actually speaking about the manner in which the eating is done - namely, whether or not it is absolutely necessary to wash your hands before you eat your food. And the spiritual significance of the passage is that man made laws are not equal to or greater than the law of God.

Whatever you think of Christians following the food laws of the Old Testament (and I am not making any judgment about that here), the passage in Mark 7 cannot be used to support the view that Christians (whether Jew or Gentile) can now eat anything we want to.

There is a new discussion group page on Facebook for 'Radical Discipleship': https://www.facebook.com/groups/888893724571959/

A Starting Point

We all have to start somewhere and when we do, we start on the basis of some presuppositions. This blog is no different. It starts from the presupposition that the Bible is the Word of God and, as such, is true and contains everything we need for life, faith and practice.

1. Why start here?

The Bible claims to be ‘pure’ (Psalm 12v6; Proverbs 30v5), ‘perfect’ (Psalm 19v7), true (John 17v17), and ‘God-breathed’ (2 Timothy 3v16). If those claims are to be true, then the Bible must be a reliable document; if it is not reliable, then those claims are not true and if they are not true, then it is unreliable – a catch 22 situation. But what of those who think the Bible is partly reliable and partly not; that it contains errors, falsehoods and inaccuracies? If it is not reliable in its entirety, then that reflects on the Author Himself. A person who habitually writes documents that are full of errors soon won’t be believed no matter what he writes, even when what he writes is actually true. If the Bible is full of errors as some would claim (even among those who say they are Christians) then God cannot be trusted. Which bits of the Bible are error and which are true? Who should decide? No, the whole Bible either stands or falls as a whole. It is not a hotchpotch of bits and pieces, some reliable, some not, from which individuals can pick and choose what to believe and what to reject. If any part of it is unreliable, then the whole is going to be considered unreliable and we have no way of knowing what is true and what isn't. If the Bible contains errors, then God is not true (because He says the Bible is true – an error is not true); if God is not true, then He ceases to be God and ceases to be good.

The Bible is our only guide for faith and practice. If it is not true, then our whole foundation crumbles. We need to be able to trust God; He asks that of us. If He is untrue, then how can we trust Him? If we doubt His word, then we doubt Him; our faith is not on a secure foundation. If we cannot trust Him when He says His word is pure, then we cannot trust anything He says. So if we are going to consider the subject of Radical Discipleship, we need to be sure we are standing on a firm foundation.

2. Is there any evidence for the truth of the Bible?

I am not going to go into depth in answering this question. There is plenty of information available for those who wish to look into it further. My intention is simply to mention the types of evidence available and give some examples and a few links for further study.

a.       Manuscript evidence – there are more than 5000 documents relating to the Bible. Not all the documents contain the whole Bible, but there are several copies of each part – and the miracle is, they all in the main agree with one another. Where there are discrepancies, they are of minor or grammatical points. There is more consistency between the various texts of the Bible than there is between the various texts of Plato, or Socrates, or Aristotle, for example. You can read more of this in the book, ‘New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? By F. F. Bruce.

For further information see: http://carm.org/manuscript-evidencehttp://carm.org/manuscript-evidence

b.      Archaeological evidence

A few examples:

Genesis 10v10-12 lists several cities, the first cities mentioned in the Bible. Archaeologists discovered these cities over a century ago and have positively identified them, thus providing evidence for an historical basis of the accounts of Abraham’s journeys.

Many of the Israelite kings have been attested to in inscriptions and carvings, such as Omri, Jehu, David, and Jeroboam, to mention a few.

A stone discovered in 1868, known as the ‘Moabite Stone’ describes a battle between Mesha King of Moab and Ahab, son of Omri. The latter two were kings of Israel; you can read about them and the battle in 2 Kings 3v4-5.

Dr. Nelson Glueck, probably the greatest modern authority on Israeli archaeology, has said:

"No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries."

You can read more about how archaeological discoveries support the Bible here and here.

c.       Eye witness accounts

The New Testament was written by people who either witnessed first hand the events of which they wrote, or were companions of those who had witnessed the events. Many of them were put to death for their beliefs. Had those beliefs been a lie, then surely they would have changed their stories to save themselves from being used as sport in the arena, eaten alive by wild animals, or burned alive? It beggars belief that anyone would cling to a falsehood, knowing it was false, in the face of such opposition. While there could have been some deluded souls who might do so, there are far too many accounts of Christians being martyred for their faith to make it credible that they would have died for a lie.

http://www.tektonics.org/guest/truthfulness.htmhttp://www.tektonics.org/guest/truthfulness.htm

d.      Fulfilled prophecy

There are more than 300 prophecies in the Old Testament pertaining to the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ. The Bible was written by around 40 authors (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), over some 1600 years, yet many of the books have prophecies about One who was to come – and these prophecies were fulfilled in Christ.

One of the most remarkable is Psalm 22, which clearly describes the crucifixion, but written hundreds of years before the Romans invented crucifixion as a method of execution.

To read other fulfilled prophecies, please look here: 

e.      Scientific evidence

People will tell you that science has ‘disproved the Bible’ long ago and only brainwashed, unintelligent people could possibly believe it. We are considered deluded, gullible, and are the subject of ridicule and derision. They tell us that evolution is a fact and therefore the creation story is a myth, or a fairytale. However, science looks at the facts and then interprets those facts. An apple falling to the ground is a fact; gravity is a theory. Geological layers and fossils are facts; evolution is a theory. The self same facts are available to Christians too, but they interpret them differently. Starting from the basis that the word of God is true, Christians look at the facts as presented and formulate a theory or a hypothesis that fits both the facts and the Biblical account. The interpretation is not the facts, it is a conclusion drawn from those facts. Some scientists have concluded that God cannot exist; others have used the same facts to indicate that God is powerful and creation is wonderful (full of wonder).

Please see: 

http://www.inplainsite.org/html/scientific_facts_in_the_bible.html 

and http://www.pb.org/pbdocs/bibleac.html

This list is not exhaustive, nor is it meant to be. It simply gives a brief taster of the reasons for why the Bible is reliable. Does it matter whether the Bible is true or not? For the reasons given above, yes, I believe it does matter. If the Bible is not reliable, or contains errors, then God cannot be trusted. If God cannot be trusted, then why believe anything He says?  Which parts of the Bible can we simply throw away as unreliable? Why live our lives as Christians at all? What becomes of the hope of heaven that Christians speak of? But if God is true as He claims, and His word is true as He claims, then we can trust Him and trust His word. As more evidence comes to light, scientific, newly discovered manuscripts, or archaeological discoveries, there is nothing that contradicts the Bible, but these discoveries actually support the Biblical account.