(96) Two Meals

Genesis 3:1-6

• 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
• 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
• 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 
• 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
• 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
• 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

The woman, being Eve, saw that the tree was good for food and she ate from it.  After she was deceived by the serpent (satan) she took the fruit of the tree and ate it.  He added doubt to what God had said.  He did not tell the full story.  And because she fell into desire and disobeyed God and listened to satan instead of the word of God, sin entered this world.  Death came.  Disease took hold.  Hair started to fall out.  Skin could now be blemished.  Desires became evil.  Eyesight and hearing became impaired.  Hate entered.  Relying upon our own decisions over God's plan was now impacting all historical events.  When they took this meal the human race died.  All flesh was ruined.

The human race lost its path to God.  Reconciliation was now needed.  People like Noah, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob had faith and God kept them safe in His arms.  But the rest of the human race became slaves to our desires and each generation died more (if possible) than the generation before.  Even God's people, the chosen ones of Israel, eventually succumbed to the evil desires of this world and become slaves to Egypt.  God heard their cries but reconciliation was still needed.  God gave them the Law but they still could not bring the reconciliation by these works.  The human race was still dead.

All because of one meal.

Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-23 (combined)

• While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”
• And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “Take this and share it among yourselves. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins;
• do this in remembrance of Me.
• Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in My Father’s kingdom.”

Almost 4000 years after Adam and Eve ate from the tree, Jesus Christ came and gave up His life.  His life will be the reconciliation that the human race needed.  His life will give us life renewed.  To undo the damage that Adam did, Jesus came.

To reverse the curse, Jesus added a blessing.  To heal the ruined flesh of the human race Jesus offered His flesh.  To bring back life, Jesus offered His blood.  Because of Jesus the human race is alive again.  The pathway back to God was complete.  The truth by the word of God was given back to man and turned back the deception of the word of the serpent.

All because of another meal.

This meal is communion.  Take and remember His sacrifice.  This Resurrection Sunday remember all that He did for us.

(92) When is the end of the world?

First and foremost, no one knows when the end of the world is.  Jesus said no one knows the hour nor the day.  As a small joke though, it does not say no one knows the year.  The only thing we can do in this case is make our best educated guess.  Even then there can be so much confusion it may not be worth worrying about.  As long as people live the best way that they can and accept the fact that God came down as a man to live in our world and died so that we may have ever lasting life, then it doesn't matter when the world will end.  Stay clear of people who claim to know when the end will come and who stand by their predictions wholeheartedly even after they were wrong.  Even the prophets who were told straight from God about the coming of the Messiah were not told when it would happen but what to look for.

With that said, can there be educated guesses that will be pretty near correct?  Sure.  This will attempt to be one of those.  This is not to proclaim that this is 100% correct.  Sure does work though.

How do we begin?  Oddly enough, we start finding the end at the very beginning.  In Genesis chapter one we are given the basis for mankind, even its term of existence.  God created all things in 6 days and then rested.  So in essence all of creation was done in 7 days, hence this is why we use 7 days in a week.  Why is this important?  It sets up all we need to know for this topic.

There is an idea of how numbers mean something.  Some call it numerology.  In the Hebrew language every mark, every letter, and every number have symbols and meanings.  Such as the letter "aleph" (Greek=alpha or our letter "a") stands for ox, strength, and the number 1,  All the other letters do the same thing.  The second letter "bet" is also the number 2.  The fifth letter is "hey", or the letter "h".  It can mean to reveal.  "Hey" also stands for the number five.  As a number, 5 stands for grace.  This is just to show you how things work.  Let's look at the numbers 6 and 7.  The number 6 is known as the number of man.  The number 7 is known as the number of God.  Notice on the 6th day, man was created and on the 7th day God rested and that day was supposed to be given to God, known as the Sabbath.

Now let's take another piece of scripture, 2 Peter 3:3-8 says:

• First, understand this: during the Last Days, scoffers will come, following their own desires and asking, “Where is this promised ‘coming’ of his?  For our fathers have died, and everything goes on just as it has since the beginning of creation.”  But, wanting so much to be right about this, they overlook the fact that it was by God’s Word that long ago there were heavens, and there was land which arose out of water and existed between the waters, and that by means of these things the world of that time was flooded with water and destroyed.  It is by that same Word that the present heavens and earth, having been preserved, are being kept for fire until the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.  Moreover, dear friends, do not ignore this: with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

Peter is telling us about the last days.  Many during this time will make fun of Christians who believe in the return of Jesus.  They will not use scripture to understand the universe.  They will deny that there will be a day of judgement in the end.  Peter gives us insight to when that time is.  One day is LIKE a thousand years. He is telling us that the days are symbols of years since he uses the word "like".  He is quoting Psalms 90:4 to show his point.

Now let's start putting it together.  There are 6 days for man, 1 for God.  Or in other words, 6000 years of man. God will have 1000 years and will cause rest for the earth, based on Genesis, Psalms, and Peter.  There will be 7000 years of existence for the earth.  If we looked at genealogy of man, reconciling the written secular history of man and what the Bible states by giving genealogies, the creation of man happened somewhere around 3930 BC.  Doing the math, 6000 - 3930 = 2070.  By this calculation the return of Jesus that sets up the 1000 years of rest would be around 2070 AD.

As of this writing that means Jesus came somewhere between 2016 and 2020 years ago.  His death would be somewhere around 30 AD or so.  Jesus said He would be in the tomb for 2 days and on the 3rd day rise again.  Using the number equivalency that Peter gave us that means 2000 years will go by symbolically and on the third day (one day after the 2000 years is over starts the next thousand years, hence the 3rd day).  Sometime 2000 years after Jesus dies the next thousand years starts.  But when is that?

Another prophecy states that the end cannot happen until Israel is in the hands of the Jews, Luke 21:24 says:

• Some will fall by the edge of the sword, others will be carried into all the countries of the Goyim, and Yerushalayim will be trampled down by the Goyim until the age of the Goyim has run its course.

The Goyim is "gentile" in Hebrew.  Gentiles (non-Jews) will take over Jerusalem and will have a given time period to do so.  Once the gentiles are out of the land then the end is near.  Who are the gentiles?  Rome had taken over the Palestine area many years before Jesus but allowed the area to be ruled locally with some autonomy.  Herod was allowed to be king of the Jews.  The Jews were allowed their own courts and so forth.  But in 70 AD Rome destroyed Jerusalem.  This ushers in the time of the gentiles.  This is after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Doing the math, 2000+70= 2070.

For historical purposes here is a list of the "time of the gentiles":

1. Rome 70-380 AD or so, depending on which history book
2. Byzantine 380-630 AD
3. Caliphates 630-1099 AD
4. Crusaders of Europe 1099-1187 AD
5. Caliphates 1187-1486
6. Ottoman Empire 1486-1917
7. British Mandate 1917-1948

Things really started to change in 1917.  In 1917, WWI ended and Britain gained control over the land through a League of Nations mandate.  A British Jew named Arthur Balfour, with the help of Walter Rothschild, came up with a plan to rebuild a homeland for the Jews in a movement called Zionism.  The plan was not implemented right away.  In 1948, after WWII had ended the Balfour Declaration, sanctioned by the new UN, created the state of Israel.  But Jews were highly outnumbered by Palestinians at first.  In 1950, Jewish Parliament passed the The Law of Return, officially calling all Jews back to Israel, setting up prophetically the end of the time of the gentiles.  Jesus said His return will be like the times of Noah.  Using the language that God gave Noah, man's days were numbered; 120 years until the promised destruction of the earth.  Noah had 120 years to preach about the end  and prepare for the day (Genesis 6).  After the official call for the return of Jewish people from around the world,  Jews have 120 years to return to Israel before the great destruction like Noah, this time by fire.  Doing the math again, 1950+120= 2070.

For the end to come though, the Jews have to be in control of their land.  This is why satan has twice caused the Jews to be dispersed into the world.  Once through the Babylonian Captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome.  Three times they have called the land "home".  The first time they were led out of Egypt into the land.  The second time Nebuchadnezzar let them come home. and the third time is the charm, after Hitler and the Holocaust.  After each disaster and captivity, the Jews have always returned by the grace of God.  Twice the Temple has been built and twice it has been destroyed.  Prophecy says the Jews will build a 3rd Temple; third time is the charm.  But to do that they have to be in control over their land.  They couldn't do that until recent history.  It will happen now.  When will this happen?  The best guess is 2063 AD.  Daniel says there will be 490 years of prophecy. 

• Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and for your holy city for putting an end to the transgression, for making an end of sin, for forgiving iniquity, for bringing in everlasting justice, for setting the seal on vision and prophet, and for anointing the Especially Holy Place. Know, therefore, and discern that seven weeks [of years] will elapse between the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until an anointed prince comes. It will remain built for sixty-two weeks [of years], with open spaces and moats; but these will be troubled times. Then, after the sixty-two weeks, Mashiach will be cut off and have nothing. The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, but his end will come with a flood, and desolations are decreed until the war is over. He will make a strong covenant with leaders for one week [of years]. For half of the week he will put a stop to the sacrifice and the grain offering. On the wing of detestable things the desolator will come and continue until the already decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.

Weeks here is symbolic of the amount of years.  He said there will be 70 weeks left to end sin. The Messiah will bring in peace and forgiveness. 70 weeks of years means 490 years total. The second temple would take 49 years (7 weeks of years) to build. Then Jesus will come 434 years later (62 weeks of years). These two timed events equal 69 weeks of years (483 years).  Daniel then says the Messiah will be cut off and all the world has to go through its turmoil and destructive nature.  Then the last week of years will happen.  That means 483 years will be used to prophecy the coming of the Christ, then He will come and then will have nothing to do with Messianic prophecy until the end. The last 7 years of Daniel's prophecy is added for the end of times.  This is what many will say when the rapture and the 3rd Temple will happen.  The Christians will be taken out of the way.  In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the man who leads people away from the truth (the anti-Christ) will get power but only when that "which is standing in his way" is removed.  What stands in his way?  The Holy Spirit.  That means the Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth and the only way to do that is when the Christians who are filled with the Spirit have been removed, hence the so-called rapture. The anti-Christ will have those 7 years to wreck havoc upon the earth while portraying to be a man of peace.  After that day of the rapture the 7 years of prophecy that are left will start.

Jesus one day went into the Temple and read from Isaiah 61 which says:

• The Spirit of Adonai Elohim is upon me, because Adonai has anointed me to announce good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to proclaim freedom to the captives, to let out into light those bound in the dark; to proclaim the year of the favor of Adonai and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

But Jesus did not read this whole passage.  He stopped at "to proclaim the year of the favor of Adonai"- Luke 4: 18-19.  He stopped because He knew the day of vengeance was still yet to come. He said He fulfilled that passage.  But He only fulfilled part of it because the rest was yet to come.

As of this writing it is 2016.  An educated guess means there are only 47 more years until we see the greatest destruction of all.  Until then there will be wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, and other disasters and they will get worse and worse.  Christians will be saved from the wrath of God just as in the days of Noah.

Remember you heard it here first.

(86) It's Chanukah Time

From Jonathan Bernis, JVMI

• Then came Chanukah (the feast of dedication); it was winter in Jerusalem. Yeshua (Jesus) was walking in the Temple around Solomon’s Colonnade.” — John 10:22-23 

There is a hidden truth inside the celebration of Chanukah and the progressive lighting of the special “Chanukiah,” the eight-branched menorah.  It’s a truth that can be a powerful help to you in these chaotic, volatile days in which we’re living. I write today to share that truth with you, and tell you about two very exciting new Messianic resources we have developed just in time for the holidays. 

So please take a few moments right now and get ready to receive something important! In a season in which darkness seems to be spreading across the world, we need the light of Chanukah’s hidden truth more than ever before!

The origins of Chanukah date back to the conquest of Judah by the Greeks — specifically, the demands by the Greek ruler Antiochus IV that all Jews be “Hellenized” — that is, absorbed into Greek culture. That meant forcing the Jews to abandon many of the practices and prohibitions that made them a distinct people. Of course, the most devoted among the Jewish People refused.  The final straw for the resisting Jews came around the year 165 B.C. when Antiochus erected an image of Zeus in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  He then demanded that a Jewish priest sacrifice pigs on the altar in the Holy of Holies, and that all the priests bow down to the idol.  Most of the priests refused, saying they’d rather die than desecrate the altar with pig blood. Among those stubborn priests was a man named Mattathias; his son, Judah; along with four other sons.

Judah and his brothers ultimately led a successful military uprising that drove the Greeks out of Jerusalem. The Temple was reclaimed and cleansed. And an eight-day festival of celebration and consecration was declared.

It became the annual observance we know as Chanukah, also called the “Feast of Dedication” because it marked the rededicating of the Temple and restoration of sacrifices there. 

As you may know, that first eight-day celebration was marked by a miracle of provision. The Greeks contaminated nearly all of the Temple lamp oil and only a one-day supply of oil for the Temple’s menorah remained. Yet the lamp continued to burn throughout the entire event.

A key lesson of Chanukah is the assurance that God can, and does, offer miraculous provision to His people as they carry out His redemptive plans and purposes in the Earth.

It’s just as true for you and me today. But this is not the only important truth we find in this event. 

The Jewish People’s stubborn resistance to assimilation is one of the key reasons they have survived as a distinct people through the millennia. 

One of the overlooked lessons of Chanukah is that, in the days in which we live, we all need this kind of stubbornness — a supernatural resolve to say no to the encroaching forces of darkness all around us. 

In describing the coming of Yeshua, the Gospel of John declares:

• The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it (John 1:5).

Throughout John’s Gospel, Yeshua speaks of light and the Believer’s victorious battle over darkness. For example, in John 8:12 He declares:

• I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will no longer walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

The Apostle Paul had this same truth in mind when he wrote:

• But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5).

The “day” Paul refers to in this passage is the “Day of the Lord.” He makes that clear in verse one of that same chapter.

The signs indicate that day is rapidly approaching. And as it does, both Jews and Believers in Yeshua find themselves in need of that stubborn resistance to assimilation that we celebrate at Chanukah.

Yes the days are dark. Which means it’s our time to shine. And we shine brighter and more powerfully together. 

Right now, Jewish Voice is pushing back against the gathering darkness in so many different ways. 

That means your support has never been more needed.

Because time is short, we must . . .

• Expand the frequency and reach of the Jewish Voice broadcast. It is reaching households all over the world with the Good News of Yeshua while combatting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate.
• Continue to minister physically and spiritually to the poorest and most oppressed among “the outcasts of Israel” (see Isaiah 56:8).
• Intensify our efforts to bring Jewish People into an eye-opening encounter with Yeshua. Hearts are softening. We must move now!
• Increase our compassionate outreaches to the poorest among Israel’s fragile Holocaust survivors.

And as with the miracle of Chanukah, we too are seeing miracles happen.

Thank you Jonathan.

(80) YHWH, What's in a name?

The first name in the Bible that is used to describe God is Elohim, the arm of God, the Creator and that is in Genesis 1:1.  There are many other names/titles/roles, what have you, that we use to describe God or use to talk to Him.  But Moses perhaps is the first person that got to actually hear the name of God or maybe just something close to a personal name for the name of God was unpronounceable to mankind.  The passage below is from the CJB to show how complicated the sound of His name can be from Exodus 3:13-15.  Try other versions and it will all still mean the same.

• Moshe said to God, “Look, when I appear before the people of Isra’el and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
• God said to Moshe, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh [I am/will be what I am/will be],” and added, “Here is what to say to the people of Isra’el: ‘Ehyeh [I Am or I Will Be] has sent me to you.’”
• God said further to Moshe, “Say this to the people of Isra’el: ‘Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Adonai], the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation".

The name that God gave Moses to tell His people who sent him to save them all in the closest English translation was I AM.  This means in essence that God aways has been and always will be.  From Him all was made.  Then God goes on and adds more to His name and sounds it out so it seems for Moses; Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh.  These are letters in the Hebrew alphabet and each has a story with them.  Jewish people use the name Adonai when referring to the name of God, which is also translated as LORD.  But here we see what is also called a tetragrammaton at work.  Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh can be written also as YHVH or YHVH, hence Yahweh with the added vowel sounds.  In Latin and English it has been translated as to what we know as Jehovah.  Through Moses God would save His people from the hands of the Egyptians, a foreshadow of something greater of what was to come.  Below is how it would look in Hebrew writing.

Each letter though has its own purpose.  Hebrew writing is read from right to left.  What you see here is the tertagrammaton Y-H-V-H.  In Hebrew schools children are taught that each letter not only has a sound but also has a meaning and a symbol with it.  Such as in English we would say A is for Apple although in English there really is no such thing.   But A does not have any meaning to it.  In Hebrew each letter has three purposes for the language.  This is probably what Jesus was doing in the Temple when He was 12 and lost and found by His parents.  He was teaching the elders and scribes what the letters really meant.  This is also what makes Matthew 5:18 all the more important when Jesus said not the least stroke of the pen would disappear from the Law until all is fulfilled.  Below you can see a chart that gives examples of what each letter's symbol and meanings are.  If you look the tetragrammaton for Y-H-V-H actually is I-E-U-E on the chart because of the sound the letter makes and not the order of the letters.  When put together the letters make a different sound and that is how we get the name we know as Yahweh.  The letter Y or Yud's translation is symbolically an arm or open hand and means to work or worship.  The H or Heh's translation is symbolically man with arms raised and has a meaning of breath or to reveal.   And the V or Vav's symbolically is a tent peg and means to add, secure or hook.  You can see where this is going.  We worship a God whose hand was pierced with a tent peg and whose arms were raised and when this happens He will be revealed to the world who He is.  There is undoubtedly more to this translation.  But He who is revealed is Jesus.

When Jesus was crucified the Pharisees were upset with the sign that Pilate hung above His head.  He wrote a sign in three languages (Latin, Greek, and Aramaic/Hebrew) that said Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.  The Pharisees told Pilate to take down the sign because they did not want people to think they said what was written but that Jesus claimed the charge against Him.  But a closer look and we see that the Pharisees were not angry about the sign itself but about what they saw in the sign.  In Hebrew the sign read Yeshua HaNazarei V'Melech HaYehudim.  Did you see it?  Notice the first letter in each word that Pilate wrote.  Y-H-V-H.  Jesus was revealed as God when He was crucified and saved His people.  Just as God's people were saved from the hand of the Egyptians, a symbol of oppression or sin, Jesus came and saved God's people from all sin.

A sign of God's ultimate story of grace and connection with His people.