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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Death, Resurrection, Repentance, and Remission of Sins - In the "O.T."

Luke 24:45-49 -

"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."






These words of Yeshua were spoken by Him to His disciples when He finally made an appearance to them all at once. Previously, He had been seen by a few of the woman that had followed Him, including His Mother, as well as some of His disciples. Now He is showing Himself to the group as a whole, as He is preparing to depart from their sight into the heavens, which, as Peter put it in Acts 3 "...must receive [Him] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

What is intriguing is how He rebuked them, in a sense, for not believing that He should have died and rose again from the grave, because, as He said, these things were spoken of by Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. In other words, the picture was painted in the scriptures, so why were they so unbelieving when reports of His resurrection came in?

It is also interesting to note that "Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms" are what make up what is today referred to by Jews as the "Tenakh" (an acronym for "Torah", "Nevi'im", and "Kethuvim" - ie, the Law [Moses], the Prophets, and the Writings [Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ruth, etc.]).

Many Christians will point out this verse and share while witnessing that Yeshua's death, burial, and resurrection are described in the (what they call) the Old Testament, and will often point to Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 as the main texts to speak of these things. And in this, they are correct. Furthermore, modern Judaism rejects these passages as speaking of the Messiah (probably because Christianity points to them as being fulfilled by 'Jesus', whom Judaism for the most part rejects as being the Messiah), but the ancients definitely point to these passages as speaking of the Messiah (cf. the Targums, the Midrash Rabbah, the Dead Sea scrolls, et al, for example). In fact, the Talmud states that "All the prophets prophesied not but of the days of the Messiah" - (Sanhedrin 99a). If "all the prophets" spoke of "nothing" but of the "days of Messiah", then that would include Isaiah, who was a prophet, and of whom Is. 53 was written, and it would include David, who made many prophetic utterances in the Psalms that he wrote.

While Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 certainly have been pointed to by both Christians, and more anciently, Jews as speaking of the Messiah, Yeshua said that Moses also spoke of "these things." Furthermore, Yeshua said that not only was His death and resurrection spoken of by Moses and the prophets, and the writings, but that the message of repentance, and the remission of sins were also spoken of by Moses and the prophets, and the writings. But that's not all. Look at Luke 24:49 - apparently there was/is a "promise of [His] Father, that, in the context of verses 45-49, are also spoken of in the Tenakh! And what was/is that promise? It is the promise of the outpouring of His Spirit upon His people!

Now, here is the million dollar question: Where, in Moses (the Torah, or, "Law") specifically, but also in the prophets and the writings is it spoken of that the Messiah would die, then resurrect; that repentance and remission of sins would be preached unto the Gentiles (Nations), and that the Father would pour out His Spirit upon His people? (BTW, if you are wondering why I am saying that the "promise of [His] Father" is the pouring out of His Spirit, it is because Yeshua told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the promise was given. The book of Acts, which was written by Luke as well, picks up where he left off in His gospel narration - and in Acts chapter two, the disciples were waiting in Jerusalem, specifically in the Temple, at the festival of Shavuot, or "Pentacost", when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them in power. Peter then told the crowds that what they were witnessing was a fulfillment of that promise).

I have made the study and understanding of these things a big priority in my life, and have learned many wonderful things that I never learned, saw, nor understood before. I hope to provoke you to seek out these things as well. The purpose of this blog in the beginning was to provoke God's people to "prove ('test') all things", and to "hold fast that which is good." It is to sound a wake up call to His people, and to the world to WAKE UP, open up their (our) eyes, and repent (return to the LORD).

Study the word of God, for there are many wonderful truths within it, truths which we have not known. Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 are not the ONLY places where Yeshua is "spoken" of. And there are MANY, things spoken about concerning the place of the Gentiles within God's work with and among Israel. If you are  Gentile who believes in the Messiah of Israel, you may want to search and see what Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings have to say about you!

Be blessed in Yeshua the Messiah.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Don Ross and Andy McKee

Not an extremely spiritual post this time - I hope to have a REAL post soon (been very, very busy these last 6 months) - but I thought I would share a couple of YouTubes that I enjoy very much.