2023 Gospel and Acts Commentary

Matthew 1, Matthew 2, Matthew 3, Matthew 4

In Matthew 1, I have found it powerful to consider the four women mentioned in Yeshua’s genealogy, for they, like David also, represent the redeemed and humble who devoted their whole hearts to following after God. God came to tabernacle among men in the flesh of a man so that He could truly experience the life of one of the creatures He made in His own image, and yet walk without sin. His birth likely took place during the Feast of Tabernacles, on the first day, for this day celebrates God coming to dwell among His people (among other reasons that Luke more specifically explains). For Joseph, a righteous and humble man, to turn toward obeying God in staying with Mary and becoming Yeshua’s step-father, the dream that Joseph had must have been quite powerful. He would have had no doubt who Mary was carrying after this experience. God picked the right pair through whom to come into the world, and we too ought to emulate their humility, repentance and obedience.

In Matthew 2, we see that magi came from the east. The word is mágos (plural, magi) – properly, belonging to "the Magoi, a Median tribe (so Herodotus); a Magian, one of a sacred caste, originally Median. Tradition and extra-Biblical writing holds that these magi in particular were disciples of the Prophet Daniel, who had reached the highest level of service to the king in the Babylonian and Media-Persian empires. The thought is that Daniel had left a last will and testament to his followers, and instructed them to bring an inheritance of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Messiah when He was born. Daniel had prophesied the exact year of the Messiah’s birth, and so his followers would have known when to look for his star, and the trip would have taken some time to embark upon from Persia to Bethlehem, meaning that Yeshua would have been a toddler by the time they arrived. Their gifts helped to anoint the King of the Universe as they worshipped Him as the prophesied Messiah and Lord as well as fund the journey to Egypt so that he would not be destroyed by Herod, who represents Satan’s efforts to stop the Messiah’s advent. The remaining facts simply show how Yeshua’s advent fulfilled prophesy.

In Matthew 3, the spiritual Elijah, John the Baptist, born around Passover as expected by the Jews, came to prepare the way of the Lord, preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The Kingdom of Heaven must have a king, and Yeshua was about to reveal Himself as such. So long as the King was in their presence, the Kingdom of Heaven was indeed at hand. As we must all do before we accept Yeshua as Lord (Yahweh) and Savior (Messiah), John preached repentance, for we cannot continue to walk according to the ways of the world or the flesh if we expect salvation through Yeshua. Yeshua also came to call sinners to repentance and save us from our sins, but He will still come a second time to bring His winnowing fork, and He will separate the wheat from the chaff. He baptizes with fire that consumes all unrighteousness and leaves behind the purity of faithfulness by which a person may pursue God with all of His or her heart. He is the Son of God, a term that means Messiah, and God in the flesh, and He lived fully as a Man, but without sin, so that God could impart the punishment for sin upon Him.

In Matthew 4, Yeshua was Himself tempted by Satan, and in this passage we see the spiritual warfare that will come upon us all as we follow Yeshua through the conscious sacrament of Baptism and decide to give our lives to Him. The enemy is coming to steal, kill and destroy every one that He can following this redemption, because he does not want to let a single prisoner go from his bondage. But Yeshua has shown us how to overcome the Devil, and using the Word of God with full faith and obedience we now have the power of God behind us, and His light always overcomes the darkness of this world. We must repent and hear the good news of Yeshua, if we hope to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Yeshua called His first disciples, who became the Apostles, and these show us the heart we must possess if we truly want to follow the Lord.  He said to them, “follow Me.” They truly dropped everything they were doing in the world and pursued Yeshua instead. They put Him first. “Immediately they left their nets … their boat and their father … and followed Him.” Let us go and do likewise.

Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 7

As Christians, we must be humble, contrite, righteous, pure, peaceful, and persecuted, while looking to our Heavenly Father for everything we need. We must shine the light of Christ before men in public, not shying away from this because we might offend someone, but specifically exhibiting what the Lord commanded us in everything we think, say and do so that people can see our good works. This doesn’t mean we flaunt charity, it means that we practice the law of God with humble joy. Our Lord came to fulfill the law, as in, complete our understanding of it and clarify what He meant when He gave it to Moses, and then He told us to follow His example and do likewise. The Scribes and Pharisees had invented their own law, which was not from God but from their tradition, while Yeshua redirected His followers to the Torah and Prophets, to follow what God had said to do. To be least in the Kingdom of Heaven, where only God and angels now dwell, is to be slated for destruction, but to be considered great in God’s realm is the precursor of hearing Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant…” We must keep the commandments, for they persist into eternity.

Not only must we keep God’s commandments; we must keep them in our hearts and not just by blind obedience. It’s not enough to refrain from murder, but we must not even have anger toward another person. To insult someone or to judge them for eternal destruction can bring judgment back on us; rather Yeshua instructs us to love our enemies. Likewise, we cannot look at a woman (or man) with lust in our hearts, lest we commit adultery without lifting a finger. Those caught up watching pornography or gazing at scantily clad women/men with lust must recognize they are guilty and repent, which means to go and sin no more. God hates divorce, as He said in Malachi, and the only Godly reason for it is adultery, which is betrayal of the highest order. But adultery itself is a sin that leads to death, so we must beware and repent, and walk righteously from our repentance. If even our eye or hand causes us to sin, it is better for us to disable ourselves than to continue in sin. This may be hyperbole on its face, but in truth it really isn’t. Yeshua is serious. We cannot expect to go to Heaven if we continue in sin, so whatever we have to do to escape it is worth it. Thank God He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us, for it is impossible without God.

When we pray, the Lord taught us to give glory to God and gratitude, to ask for forgiveness of sins, for protection from the enemy, and for daily provision, with gratitude. Forgiveness is essential for us, and if we harbor any resentment, we must let it go or we will not be forgiven ourselves. Our religious practices should be done with full heartfelt intent for God, and not to hold up to others to see. We obey for God, because we love Him, not to show how “holy” we are. We must give freely, again, so only the Father can see and not so others can see. Our reward for generosity only comes when it is done secretly. We must not worry about our own provisioning, but rather worry about what we must do to make it into Heaven. There is no more important achievement in this life than to be accepted into God’s Kingdom by the grace He offers through His death on the cross, the promises He offers us through His resurrection, and the obedience He calls us to in faith. The Kingdom must come first in our lives before all else, or we won’t make it there.

Matthew 7, Matthew 8

Yeshua finishes off his sermon with several warnings. First, we are not to judge the eternal disposition of a person’s soul, for we ourselves will stand before the Judgment Seat. However, in this text we also see that if we judge, we ought to judge rightly: “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!” This is not an eternal judgment, but rather a judgement for correction in righteousness—an exhortation—a call to repentance. First we must repent ourselves. Paul explains in 1 Corinth. 5 that we ought to judge those inside the church, but leave those who refuse for God to judge, potentially to their destruction. He wants us to pursue them, for He instructs us to call sinners to repentance. First we must examine ourselves to remove sin and repent before we can possibly look to judge the sins of others. David did this in Psalm 51. David asked God to give Him a clean heart, a steadfast spirit, a restored salvation and an anointing by God’s Holy Spirit so that he could teach transgressors the ways of God and convert sinners through repentance. This is one reason we gather each Shabbat, for it is worship of God to exhort toward righteousness (see Hebrews 10:24-25).

As we go out to teach sinners the way to repentance, the Lord says not to cast pearls before swine. For those who are unclean and unwilling to change, we waste our breath and valuable time trying to convince them of the coming Kingdom and the coming destruction of all that is impure. We cannot share holy things with dogs, a term for male prostitutes or “players,” so to speak, who go about watching pornography, going to nude bars or cheating on their wives. The Lord is not going to save sinners when He comes again. He came to do that the first time, to call sinners away from such lawlessness, and now is the time for repentance. But that time is growing short. For those who refuse, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5, we cast them out of the church to be tormented by Satan, which we can hope will drive them back toward repentance. We cannot abide with them, or they may in fact tear apart those who are fully devoted to Messiah. It is very sad to consider those who blindly walk about in ignorance. Their end is sealed in death, unless they turn, and repeated words of wisdom from Scripture will not turn them, because they are dull of hearing and blind so they cannot see on account of their sin.

However, we must pray for these ones, for the Lord said, “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will opened to you.” We pray for these sinners, whom we love, for the Lord can reach them, and we can be a part of the process by being in prayer for them according to God’s will. But we must know God’s will. We must pray according to the law and the prophets, that these sinners walk away from sin and enter the knowledge of the Truth. Likewise, we ought to pray for the Lord’s will in our own lives, that He helps us, as He promised, to walk according to the commandments of God with His Holy Spirit. When we seek God with all of our hearts, mind and strength, He can be found. When we ask God to show us more about who He is and what He desires from us, when we are faithful and obedient to Him, He will open the door and show us more about who He is. It is in such faithful obedience to God through Messiah that we can come to know Him and deepen our relationship with Him. The Lord will give good things to all who ask Him, but we must get ourselves right with Him first by obeying His commandments. Read John 14:15-18. There is an if-then relationship here. We must first seek to obey, and then He will help us.

The narrow gate is Yeshua, and we can enter through Him into Heaven by obeying His Word with love, not adding to it and not taking away from it. On the left of the narrow path is lawlessness, which leads to death, and on the right hand of the narrow path is legalism, which leads to death. Lawlessness is sin, and legalism is inventing our own path that God has not commanded, such as the Scribes and Pharisees had done. We can’t look back, for that is our former life of world-mindedness when the cares of the flesh were more important to us than God. We may stumble, but we must look ahead only at the narrow gate, for it is by this Way alone that we can enter Heaven. There will not be many who find the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, “Many” who were baptized believing Christians will be cast off in to Hell because they “practice lawlessness.” Consider the law in Exodus 20:1-17 and ask God as David did to provide a clean heart, for we who are being saved are all crying out, “Have mercy on me, a sinner!” And yet, in this state we seek the righteousness of Messiah, which is the law of God. To enter Heaven, the Saints endure in faithfulness by keeping the commandments of God and following Yeshua.

“MANY” Christians will go to Hell because of false teachers. The worst of them, like Marcion of old or Calvin and his disciples, believe that grace through faith is some ethereal exercise that we have no control of. It is true that God’s calling is divine, and His gift of salvation is free through Yeshua, but only we can accept that calling and follow Him by “walking the way He walked.” In other words, we must keep the commandments of God. We have a free will that He gave us to choose to walk His path or not. We must choose it. We have to look at the teachers and see whether their teaching bears good fruit in their own lives or bad fruit in their own lives. Are they hypocrites, who teach the Word but fail to keep it, or are they keeping the commandments of God? Do they desire God more than anything else? Thorns and thistles are people who are influenced by spiritual darkness, and they cannot produce good fruit. But grapes and figs are led by the Word of God, and even if their lives are crushed into wine, you can taste the delicious fruit that comes out from them. We must set up our lives on the rock, which is Messiah, for in Him alone we have any hope. Any other way will wash away in the storms that life is sure to bring.

When Yeshua went out, He healed those with faith, those who truly believed who He was and what He taught. Lepers are those who have spiritual darkness manifesting in the flesh in some form, while the demon possessed are walking in darkness and deceived from even recognizing the Truth. These things are real, and we face them in the people we interact with daily. How many people who refuse Christ have a deceiving spirit, or even a drowsy spirit that makes it nearly impossible for them to see or hear the Truth? These demons must be cast off; these illnesses must be healed, and only when we trust Yeshua and faithfully follow Him can we have any impact against these threats. Even then, we must be cautious, because the will of the oppressed person must be involved; they have to desire freedom from their bondage. They have to desire the things of God in their innermost being, and only then do we have authority to heal them, as Yeshua told us we would. This is a delicate walk that requires much faith, patience and prayer. God alone is doing the work, and He said we would do greater works than He. When we get ourselves right with God and wait on Him to act, He can use us to calm the stormy seas and cast out evil spirits into the abyss.

Matthew 9, Matthew 10

Yeshua, looking to identify Himself as God Himself to the men of Galilee, forgave the sins of a paralytic. Only God can forgive sins: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more,” we read in Isaiah 43:25, and “Israel, put your hope in Yahweh, … He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins,” we read in Psalm 130:7-8. A man cannot forgive another man’s sins. Even David recognized, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah, that he had sinned against God alone, and God forgave Him. In Psalm 51:4, he wrote repentantly, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight…” God replied through Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:13: “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” When the Scribes and Pharisees heard Yeshua forgive sins, they called it blasphemy, because they did not believe that Yeshua is God, but Yeshua proved His divinity here: “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

The Gospel’s writer included his own conversion in the story, noting that he was a tax collector who gave up his career to follow Yeshua when Yeshua called. The apostle takes this further, indicating that we must be willing to sacrifice mother, father, son, daughter, wife, husband or even our very own lives if we want to truly follow Yeshua. This is NOT a quaint saying relegated to Biblical hyperbole, and Christians ought to beware. To truly follow Yeshua, to keep the commandments of God as He did, is going to radically change your life; your life will no longer look like the world. You will give up Saturday family events, such as weddings or funerals, give up paying work, maybe a career, maybe a marriage, maybe even life itself, to keep the Sabbath Holy as the Lord commanded and confirmed by His living example to us. He didn’t tell us to “remember” the Sabbath for nothing. Looking away from attractive women, not desiring what we don’t have; giving up pagan traditions that have been in the family for generations; these are equally difficult commandments to keep, but equally essential for life in God’s Kingdom. Obeying God brings greater joy than anything else in life, but one has to literally do this before understanding.

When we choose to follow Yeshua, we will do greater miracles than Him. He said this, and I believe it. The time is coming for this to happen in our lives. We will heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy & cast out demons. I’ve personally experienced God use me to cast out demons and heal disease, and there is more to come. To rise up and stand against the enemy like this is going to attract a lot of attention, and the attention will not be good. Persecution necessarily follows, but like Paul, we must count it all joy, for to do the work of our Father in Heaven is the purpose of this life and any life that persists. There is no other purpose. Why focus on the things that are perishing when we know that life everlasting awaits with our Creator. He’s not just going to let anyone in His Kingdom. We cannot be afraid of anyone or anything in this world, but rather we ought to fear God in Heaven who loves those who love Him. We must confess Yeshua before men, and not fear them, and then He will confess us in Heaven. We cannot for a moment believe we will make it into God’s Kingdom if we are not willing to witness for Him here on Earth & say the Truth that needs to be said. He will deny those who deny Him here on Earth.

Matthew 11 and Matthew 12

When Yeshua is confronted with John’s disciples, they ask, as we see in the NASB [NKJV] translation, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for someone else [another]?” In the Greek, the question reads: “Are you the coming or a second are we to look for?” It is key to understand that when the pregnant Miriam visited her cousin Elishabet, Yochanan the Immerser “leaped” in her uterus. Miriam, Elishabet, and all who were involved from the beginning knew that Yeshua was the Messiah, for Elohim had said this to them, and prophesy revealed it. Yochanan the Immerser assuredly grew up knowing his cousin Yeshua is the Messiah. The context of this verse shows us the meaning. Yeshua answered the question by explaining prophesy regarding the first coming of Messiah; namely Messiah ben Yosef: the blind receive sight, the limp walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the humble hear the Gospel. This comes from Isaiah 61:1-2a, and is a prophesy of the First Coming of Messiah. The question Yochanan’s disciples asked is whether they should expect fulfillment of Messiah ben Yosef or Messiah ben David, and Yeshua answered this: Messiah ben Yosef; just read the rest of Isaiah 62 to see Messiah ben David.

This interchange is extremely relevant, particularly to the Jewish audience Yeshua preached to, and particularly for Yochanan, who was in prison and may have been hoping for a more immediate, temporal deliverance by King Messiah. They were pining for Messiah ben David, the Messiah who would conquer Israel’s enemies and restore the Kingdom and rule for a Millennium, but that is not the coming they received. This is why so many Jews rejected Him, because he wasn’t the conquering King they desired or expected. They were too proud to admit their failures as a people, as leaders, as prophets, and they did not want to accept an ethereal kingdom of Elohim we must work toward with faithfulness. Keep this pride in mind, for it is a sin most Christians suffer from today, modeling the Jewish leaders of Yeshua’s day. These want instant healing and deliverance without having to step out of their own understanding and walk in faith by following Yeshua. But Yeshua didn’t come to save sinners who won’t repent; rather, He came to save sinners who would change their ways and “go and sin no more.” He would not be available for those who took offense from Him or who refused to turn away from their own ways to follow Him in His ways. The lawless and rebellious against the ways of our Father would be cast into darkness.

Yochanan’s disciples were beginning to walk away with this knowledge, a knowledge they would have understood and accepted, when Yeshua began lauding Yochanan himself as the greatest man to ever live before Him. The Immerser not only cleared the way for Yeshua’s ministry, so Yeshua would not be immediately dismissed, but He also pointed to the Messiah, saying ‘this is He… this is the one whose sandals I am unfit to untie.’ Yochanan now understood the ministry of Yeshua completely, from a Jewish perspective, and would likely resolve Himself to obedience to Elohim in prison, much like we see Cephas and Shaul later do. Several of Yochanan’s disciples later followed Yeshua, even late into the First Century. We see Apollos, a disciple of Yochanan in Acts 18, corrected by Priscilla and Aquila and taught the ways of Yahweh more accurately, so He could spread the baptism of Yeshua for salvation from sins. Apollos then became a powerful teacher for Yeshua, following after Yeshua on account of those who redirected him toward the Truth. Yochanan acted in the spirit of Eliyahu, making the path straight for Yeshua, and this spirit of Eliyahu will also come in the End, before Messiah ben David, who is the return of Yeshua HaMashiach. This is a spirit that cries out, “repent, for the Kingdom of Elohim is near.” To repent is to walk away from sin, which is lawlessness, and walk instead in the Torah of Elohim.

Our Father’s mercy extends to those who repent and follow after Him, but He does not offer salvation to those who rebel against Him and walk about in pride. We cannot pursue our “own righteousness,” but must rather humble ourselves to walk in the righteousness that Yeshua taught us and lived by example, and this righteousness is Torah. He gave Himself as our sacrifice, so there is no sacrifice needed for the forgiveness of sins. But kindness is only offered to those who hear and obey the Word of God, and such kindness is further offered to those who love Him, and thereby keep His commandments on account of this love. Yeshua did not say: if you love me, you will be freed to live however you want and pursue the matters of your own desire. He said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. We must beware. Shaul (Paul) reminded us in Galatians: “You will reap what you sow.” Isaiah wrote, “woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” And this leads into an understanding of the difference between love and sacrifice. Love is what God said it is. Love is not what we believe it is. Love is keeping God’s commandments, and as John wrote, these are not burdensome.

It’s important for us to take a step back and consider some poignant questions that might arise from today’s reading. When we read in Matityahu (Matthew) 12:18: “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul delights; I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles,” and Matityahu indicates this prophesy is about Yeshua, is the prophetic interpretation true? If we say we follow Yeshua, we must have faith in this interpretation. Matityahu’s quotation comes from Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 42:1. The next question follows: Is Yeshayahu (Isaiah) a prophet of Yahweh or has he spoken presumptuously, so that we ought to discard his writing? If we believe Yeshua is the Messiah, Yeshayahu’s writing would be a significant justification for this. A few examples are Yeshayahu 42:1, as cited, as well as Yeshayahu 53, where he prophesied the “man of sorrows,” and Yeshayahu 56, where God said, “My Yeshua (salvation) is about to come…,” among so many other places in His writing.

Here’s a logical and scriptural necessity that follows: If Yeshayahu (Isaiah) was a prophet prophesying Yeshua, then He was a prophet in all of his writing, or He wasn’t a prophet at all. Among other places, Yahweh said in Deut. 18:22, “when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” From this, and other similar Truths spoken by Elohim, we must conclude that Yeshayahu was a prophet in all of his writing, and not just the parts that we desire to understand. This is why we must also believe Yeshayahu when He says in Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 56, “Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord Speak, saying, “The Lord has utterly separated me from His people…” Why then did the foreigners separate from the Jews when Yeshua preached that “the middle wall of separation” would be destroyed, and Paul confirmed this in Ephesians 2 as well as in Romans 11, among other places?

Indeed, we might look on to Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 58, where the Lord says, “If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Elohim, through His prophet, pleads with us, saying that the Sabbath is His Day—the Lord’s Day—the Holy Day of the Lord. And Yeshua is Lord of the Sabbath, because the Sabbath is His Day, in which He calls us to come to rest in Him. It is a kindness for us to find rest in Yeshua on the Sabbath! There is no sacrifice involved in desiring to be with the Lord; or is there? Your answer to this question reflects directly where YOUR heart for the Lord happens to be. Do you Love Him? He said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” John said these commandments are “not burdensome.” Yeshua said, come to me, all you who LABOR, and I will give you rest.”

When we rest on the Sabbath, as Elohim commanded, we come to Jesus, to Yeshua, and we rest in Him. The day is dedicated to spending time with Him, rather than pursuing our own worldly concerns or desires. This is a blessing, not a curse, and He said so Himself in His beautiful words recorded by Matityahu: “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.” Not only do we know that Yeshua wants us to rest on the seventh day, His day, but He also wants us to come to a place where we can learn from Him. This is what we do on Shabbat, and it is what we have been doing since our forefathers were in the Garden, for it was on the seventh day of creation that Elohim rested and sanctified it. As we see in the beginning, in Genesis 3, Elohim cursed Adam with toil. Work, you see, is the curse. Work is the sacrifice we make, and it was something we were commanded to do on account of the curse of our father Adam. We are cursed when we work.

Elohim has said that for six days we are commanded to work, but the seventh day is the Lord’s Day, a day to rest in Him. This is the day He has given us to both remember what life in the Garden of Eden was like, but also to look forward to His Kingdom in Heaven, when we will have eternal rest. This day of rest is NOT the first day of the week, but the seventh day. Any “prophet” who spoke presumptuously against the Word of Yahweh to change this to Sunday or any other day ought to be forgotten, and according to the Word, he will be. Whom are we to believe? The Word Himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, or are we to believe the traditions of the elders? Our Father leaves this to each of us to decide for ourselves, but He will also judge those who know what is good, but do not do it. Yochanan the Apostle said to those who know what is good, but fail to do it, it is sin, and sin is lawlessness. The lawless ones will not inherit heaven. The Lord offers mercy to those who were ignorant, but the time of ignorance is over, and the righteousness of God is known to all men, for His Word is plain to read in our language and available in many different translations. Each command a seventh-day Sabbath. Do not allow the tradition of the elders to rob you of God’s most precious gift to man, which is the Lord’s Holy Day.

You might wonder: “Why then, did Yeshua violate the Sabbath, if this is true?” To this a study of Scripture replies: “Because He didn’t violate the Sabbath—not once—not ever.” Yeshua was without sin. Yeshua could not have possibly been without sin if He had violated the Sabbath or allowed His disciples to do so. Rather, He would have been a heretic worthy of death and He definitely would not have been the Messiah. In Nehemiah 13:17, we read the teacher ask, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?” To knowingly violate the Sabbath is EVIL, according to the Word, which is “useful for doctrine” and “instruction in righteousness.” Yahweh does not hide this from us. It is among the most prominent teachings in all of Scripture. He has given us this day as a free gift, a day of rest, a day of peace, and a day of healing. It is a feast day, a Holy Convocation and a time to enjoy the good gifts that the Lord has given us so that we can give Him the glory and build a deeper relationship with Him. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And this gets to the crux of the issue here in Matthew 12. The day is not meant for man to stipulate rules and regulations, but for the Lord of the Sabbath alone to explain. He has said: Do not work, rest, and give the day to Me. Is this so painful, or is it a light yoke indeed, one filled with joy?

When the disciples picked the heads of grain from a field, they were accused of working on the Sabbath, but according to the Torah, this is not work. The Oral Tradition of the Jews considered it work, but the Torah given by Yahweh did not. Which do we obey, the tradition of the elders or the commandments of Elohim? We’ll read about the answer in a few days in Matityahu 15. The LORD says in Deut. 23:25: “When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.” To glean the heads with your hand is not work, but to use a sickle is both work and stealing. The disciples were gleaning—not work. They were enjoying a walk in nature after visiting synagogue, and they were foraging along the way, enjoying the creation that Elohim had made for them and giving thanks to the Creator while He walked in their presence.

In terms of Yeshua healing on the Sabbath, consider Exodus 15:26, where Yahweh said: “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your Elohim, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.” The Sabbath is the Fourth Commandment of Elohim. When we keep the commandment to sanctify the Sabbath, Yeshua is our healer and He will heal us. Rest, of course, is another term for healing. We rest to rejuvenate our minds, bodies and souls for the six days of work ahead. We enjoy the pleasure of being in God’s presence so that He can fill us up to go out and do His work and spread His Word to others on the other six days. We hear the words, Shabbat Shalom associated with the Lord’s Day. Shalom is a word associated with peace, but it is also associated with completeness, and to be complete is to be healthy. Healing is one of the primary reasons for Shabbat, and it is one that we ought to take to heart, for without healing of our emotional and spiritual illnesses, brought about by the enemy, how can we come to know our Creator who frees us from the bondage of sin and death?

Matthew 13

I want to hone in today in this: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field.” The Kingdom of Heaven is found in Yeshua, the Word who became flesh, as well as the written Word that He gave to Moses and the Prophets. The treasure of the Word and of the Holy Spirit is hidden. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 1, when He said that the wise in the world think it’s foolish, but the ones considered foolish believe that it is life. We take this further by reading, absorbing and then becoming the Word, as we die to ourselves and become more like Messiah. The Lord said “You will seek Me and you will find me when you seek Me with all of your heart.” This is that hidden treasure. We must sell everything we have to obtain it; meaning that there is nothing in this world that we can possibly love more than Yeshua and the Way He has shown us, or we will miss it. We have to be the good soil in which the Word is planted to produce fruit, and to be good soil we cannot view this Word as secondary, we can’t allow the cares of the world to choke out the Truth, nor only develop a shallow knowledge without action.

We must be wheat, producing the Fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Just looking at the First Fruits, we know that love suffers long, is kind, has joy in the Truth, which is the Word of Elohim, bears all things, believes all things Elohim said, hopes in all things that Elohim promised and endures all trials and tribulations in this world, without losing hope in Yeshua. Love doesn’t envy; parade itself, but rather lauds Elohim; is not puffed up in itself, but rather praises Elohim; is not rude, but teaches with gentleness; is not selfish, but looks to the needs of others; is not provoked, but faithfully preaches the Word; does not think evil, but rather renews the spirit of the mind and considers what is True, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy, which comes from Elohim through Yeshua; has no joy in sin, but rather loves the Torah of Yahweh; and never fails in anything that comes from the Father. Let us purchase this precious pearl and spread the Truth like leaven in bread that never ceases to multiply. Only in this can we expect to enter into the rest of our Father’s Kingdom, for everything else will be burned up.

Matthew 14, Matthew 15, Matthew 16

“You give them something to eat,” He told His disciples. What would it take for these men to take everything they had to eat and give it to the people who had gathered to hear from Yeshua? Faith. And in faith, they were able to feed 5,000 here, and 4,000 a second time. But they still wondered where they would get bread when the Bread of Life was sitting in their midst. This is the leaven of the Pharisees, who were always seeking knowledge of the Truth but never obtaining it; they never could get to a point where they could put what they learned into practice. Rather than cherish the fellowship and love of the Messiah from God, they looked for things to criticize: “Why do your disciples eat bread with unwashed hands?,” they asked. God never commanded the washing of hands, but He did command that we speak from a purity of heart, loving Him and His commandments first, and from the application of this love of God, love of their fellow man would follow. We must be like Peter who got out of the boat and walked on water toward the Lord, the only man besides Messiah who did this. We have to be willing to cry out, “Lord help,” when our faith weakens and we sink into the depths of our problems.

Yeshua will come to those who call out to Him in faith. The condemned peoples around Israel would be healed by Him on account of their faith. But we must come before Him in humility, trusting in His ways rather than our own understanding. Peter exhibited this trust by walking out to the Lord on water and he later confessed his faith publicly, saying, “you are the Messiah.” This faithful and true declaration became the foundation on which the Church was built, and no evil force can prevail against our Lord, who is victorious. But not long after Peter went the way of the Pharisees and presumed the mission of Yeshua would bring about His glorious Messianic Reign, which is still coming. We have to be careful that we don’t miss the mark by presuming we know the plan. Rather, we must just step out of the boat and walk toward the Lord, trusting Him fully for our deliverance and safety. “If anyone wants to [go] after [Yeshua], he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow [Him]. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” We must put our foot out on the water, knowing that we are upheld by Messiah Yeshua, and take that first step before the Lord, and He will lift us up.

Matthew 17, Matthew 18, Matthew 19

In isolation at the end of an artificial “chapter,” Matthew 16:28 is hard to understand: “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” However, when you read that six days later Peter, James and John literally saw the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom in His glorified state, the verse makes total sense. Elohim said to them from Heaven, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” We certainly ought to both hear and obey the Word of the Lord.

The boy caught in seizures was demonically possessed, and it is troubling that so many people ignore these sections of Scripture as if they are folklore. Demonic possession is a real thing that I have witnessed and am now witnessing in several different people I know (one has been cleaned). The evil spirits have a hierarchy, mimicking God’s Heaven and His angels. This kind requires prayer and fasting, as we see Yeshua say regarding this incident in Mark 9:29. It’s critical for us to see this, for in our Spiritual life, demonic forces will influence us toward destruction, and we must have the faith as well as the authority from God to do His will in driving these forces out. Life free from this oppression, as the Lord intends, requires constant vigilance.

The Lord says twice that we are to be like little children, in that little children who are well disciplined will gleefully and hopefully obey their father, knowing that he loves them. Their fears and doubts are easily removed through faith, and their hopefulness and trust remains their most prominent mindset. God willing, they are also innocent, in that they do not sin against God. We must be like this to enter Heaven. To emphasize the importance of this metaphor, the Lord then turns to the adults who create stumbling blocks for themselves and others. Anything that causes us to sin must be removed from our lives, because it is through sin that the enemy comes in and begins to steal, kill and destroy. And sin is lawlessness. Thus, whatever we have to do to walk according to God’s commandments given to Moses and exemplified by Yeshua is what we must do, even if it means cutting off our hand to prevent us from stealing or gouging out our eyes to prevent us from coveting. The hyperbole may be more literal than we’d like to consider, for we are talking about life and death. The Lord reassures us that He will go after those who love Him and desire to be with Him, even when he goes astray like a lost sheep. The sheep metaphor explains the status of the lost one’s heart. We must be willing to forgive, as our Father does, if we want forgiveness ourselves.

As Matthew continues, the Lord continues to teach from Torah, explaining that marriage is meant for one man and one woman, divorce is unacceptable unless there is a violation of covenant. Hardness of heart leads to the caveats in God’s law, but God’s will is that we don’t violate the law in the first place so caveats are not needed. The Lord is clear, when asked, about what is good. He says, “if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” He then proceeds to list some, but not all, of the ten commandments. This is a Jewish way of teaching. By listing some, He refers to them all, including the fourth commandment to “remember to keep the Sabbath Day Holy.” The man indicates that He is keeping the commandments, but asks, “What am I lacking?” The Lord, knowing he heart, explains that the man has made his wealth into a god, violating the first commandment, and if he is not willing to walk away from it to follow Yeshua, He cannot inherit eternal life. We must put Yeshua first in all things, lest we create an idol that takes our heart away from the Father. We must be willing to lay aside everything in this life to do His will. The apostles showed us that it is possible, and for this, they will rule over the 12 tribes of Israel forever. I pray we are able to follow Yeshua as they did, for there is an inheritance in Yeshua’s Kingdom for those of us who do.

Matthew 20, Matthew 21

To be last in the Kingdom is to be excluded, and in the case of the vinyard parable in Matthew 20, the early laborers are excluded on account of covetousness. It ought to be enough to be rewarded with what the Lord promises. Why should we, with an evil eye, begrudge those who are given the goodness of God’s promise with more ease than us? Rather, we ought to celebrate with the Lord for His generosity and His mercy, which is new every morning. To begrudge the Lord’s mercy is a sin worthy of death. The wife of Zebedee risked this same fate when asking the Lord for her sons to inherit the highest seats of honor in Heaven, but Yeshua soundly rebuked her and used the opportunity to bring all of His lessons on covetousness together. The greatest in the Kingdom of God are the ones who are humble, who repent of their sins often, who do not look at themselves as having any significance in themselves, and who look to serve others rather than to be served. We are not working for honor, but to honor the One True God who has given us everything we have, even the breath in our lungs by which we ought to cry out Yahweh! Abba! Father! And praise be to the name of Yeshua! Let His will be done.

The Lord fulfilled prophesy, and the Jews were ready to receive Him as their Messiah—and many of them did. Within 63 days, 3,000 would receive the Holy Spirit and start working the vinyard in place of those who had used their God-given authority to lord over others and destroy those who were sent to correct them. Believers would not replace the Jews as a new Israel, but rather believers would be grafted-in to Israel, which is the vinyard, and those who abused the grace given to them would be cast out of the vinyard, or cut-off the Olive Tree of Israel. As Yeshua talks with the proud in this chapter, you can see Him working them with His gentle touch, pleading with them to repent and humble themselves before God, but their positions of prominence had replaced Yahweh as their god, and they weren’t willing to give it up. Yeshua had acted similarly to Phinehas in the wilderness and removed sin from the Tabernacle of the Lord and now He was facing those who had allowed the sin in. Those who say they will obey God but do not do it will not make it to Heaven, whether they fall off the narrow path toward lawlessness and disobey the commands or fall off toward legalism and add “heavy burdens” that are not Biblical. Those who turn from wickedness and obey will abide with God forever.

Matthew 22, Matthew 23

I love the book of Matthew so much; it literally makes me want to cry. It’s so rich of wisdom from Torah explained directly from the mouth of God in the flesh.

The Wedding Feast parable is about Sabbath. The Lord of the Sabbath calls us to come each Seventh Day to celebrate the promised marriage feast of Messiah and Israel (those who believe in Messiah and keep the commandments of God). So many people reject it, even though God commanded us to remember and keep it. Yeshua explains the reasons why people forget the Sabbath: 1) They are unwilling to keep it, 2) they have work on the farm or at the business to take care of, 3) they hate the idea of resting in the Lord and make martyrs of the messengers who called them to keep the feast; whether physically or psychologically. On account of this, the Lord has called His people out of all the nations, including the scattered children of Israel, whether sinners or not, to come to the feast. To attend, the guests must wear a wedding garment. This means to set aside sin in repentance, and turn toward the righteousness of Christ by following His example. We can’t come into the Feast, which is foretold by each Sabbath, without faith in the Bridegroom and His righteousness clothing our nakedness. If we reject this commandment, the Lord considers it lawlessness. He has called violation of the Sabbath “evil,” and Yeshua has declared the law eternal.

We are to give God what is God’s and Caesar what is Caesar’s. What image is on you? God said He made man in His image, both male and female. We must give God everything, and discard any idols which have the images of false gods on them, such as Caesar.

When we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, we will be as angels, neither marrying nor giving in marriage. He will raise us up on the Last Day and we who trust in Yeshua and obey God’s commandments will live right along Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the courts of our Lord forever.

The greatest commandment is to love God. We can’t love at all if we don’t love God first. And God said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). The second greatest commandment is to love one another. We cannot love one another if we don’t love God, because love toward others proceeds from loving God first. The law and the prophets hang on these commands, meaning that the key to understanding Torah and the Prophets is this love of God and love toward one another. These things work in an infinite parallel and one cannot be accomplished without the other, and neither can be accomplished without the grace given by God.

Read Matthew 23 with a critical eye, and you will see that Yeshua is rebuking man-made laws and He is upholding God-given commandments. This is a partner chapter to Matthew 15 and they must be read together. When Yeshua spoke against the Scribes and Pharisees, He rebuked them for their oral tradition, which later became the Jewish Mishnah and Talmud, and developed into “Rabbinical Judaism.” This false tradition, branching off from the righteous Maccabean Revolt, countered the “Nazarene Judaism” of Yeshua, Peter and Paul that focused on the Torah, the Prophets and the Gospel of Messiah. The Lord rebuked man-made laws, man-made traditions, and man-made rules, and these people He rebukes are akin to the Christian leaders of today who hold up traditions such as the Catholic Catechism, the Protestant Commentaries, or the man-inspired teachings of false prophets like Marcion of Sinope, Constantine “the Great,” or John Calvin. Anyone who claims the law of God or the commandments of God are subservient to the traditions of men or the elders is a false teacher, and Yeshua makes this abundantly clear. He even likens them to Satan himself, who is the father of lies. God’s law is paramount, His commandments are what He desires from us, and those who do them shall live by them. Pharisees today stand behind pulpits and deny God and the commandments that He gave us to live by, holding up traditions above the Word of God.

The Jews of Israel who are suffering today may be headed to “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” Yeshua said they would not see Him again until they cry out “Baruch Hashem Yeshua,” which is “Blessed be the name of Yeshua,” or as Matthew writes: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh.” That day is coming. We must know that we ourselves will not see Yeshua come to make all things right until Israel calls out for Him to come by His name. This makes our mission to reach the Jews with faith in Yeshua extremely urgent. What’s important to recognize is that no Messiah of Yahweh would ever disregard the commandments, and our Messiah Yeshua did no such thing. Satan has tricked many Christians to believe this is true, which has deceived many Jews and Gentiles alike. We must bring the authentic Messiah Yeshua to the Jews. This is the One who said, “not one jot or tittle of the law will be nullified;” “heaven and earth may pass away, but my Word will never pass away;” and “If you love me, Keep my commandments,” and the greatest commandment of all is to “Love God.” In order to see Messiah return, we must love Him and call for Israel to love Him. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and Jacob calls out in suffering, it’s time.

Matthew 24, Matthew 25

In Matthew 24, the disciples asked two questions: 1) When will the Temple be destroyed? and 2) when will the end of the age come and the Messiah’s return? Yeshua answered both questions. Reading through the text, we see the signs for the Temple’s destruction in 70 AD and Jerusalem’s destruction during the reign of the first major false Messiah, Simon Bar Kopkha in 132-135 AD. We saw Christians betray one another and hate one another in the ages of Nero and etc. Many fell away. Then false prophets came in and misled many people, from Marcion, to Constantine (and later Calvin and even Luther, who gave Hitler everything he needed to murder the Jews). Many true followers were murdered because of these men. Constantine murdered Sabbath-keeping Christians, Calvin led to the spiritual murder of Christians who don’t know their left from their right, and Luther literally wrote the instructions that Hitler followed and Hitler took out many Messianic Jews. The Lord says, the end would not be yet. Even the abomination of desolation would be set up on the Temple Mount, the Islamic memorial that literally says on its walls, “God has no son.” But we know that Yeshua is the Son of God, and one in being with the Father, and He said this would happen.

As things move on in Yeshua’s description, He makes a very important warning that we need to heed today. He said “lawlessness is increased, and most people’s love will become cold.” This is a love toward God and His law that would grow cold, for He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” We must love the Lord and His Torah more than anything else, for the Saints who endure until the end will keep the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua (Revelation 14:12). The Lord says that we ought to PRAY that the destruction that would come does not come on a Sabbath, establishing very clearly that the Sabbath would be kept by those who faithfully follow Him. To this He refers to the time of the end, when the great tribulation will arrive. The Saints of Yeshua will live through this time, as Yeshua makes very clear in His own words, and it will be a time worse than there ever has been or ever will be. I believe that time is near. When this occurs, we must understand the Lord’s warning that every eye in the whole world will see Him in the Heavens (and not on TV or on the Internet) all at once. And Yeshua tells us directly when we will see His return.

He says, “Immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days, there will be darkness and the sun and moon will be darkened and there will be no stars in the sky and the Heavens will be rolled back like a curtain. We will then see the Son of Man in the Heavens all together in a way that will be unmistakable. Those who belong to Him must endure to the end to be saved. He will send His angels at the Trumpet Blast to gather His elect, both dead and alive, from the entire world, and the great multitude will stand before Him and praise Him at that time, after the Great Tribulation. He tells us that we ought to “WATCH” for we are to know the season of this time, just as we know that summer is near by a fig tree unfurling its leaves. The generation that begins to see the tribulation occur will not pass away before all things occur. And Heaven and Earth will pass away, because we are expecting a New Heaven and a New Earth after this time, but Yeshua is very clear: “My Words will never pass away.” The Torah of God and the Torah made flesh will endure forever, and all who love Him and keep His commandments will celebrate with Him in His Kingdom after these days. We must be alert. We must be found doing what the Master instructed, to give “food at the proper time.” We must gather on the Sabbath to eat the bread of life, which is the Word of God. We cannot be found sinners, for the lawless ones will not make it, even if they say “Lord, Lord.”

The parable of the Ten Virgins refers to those who follow Yeshua in this age and is analogous to the warning in Matthew 7. Notice, the foolish virgins say “Lord, Lord,” but He said, “I do not know you.” And so we must ask, how do we as Christians become the wise virgins who are prepared for the Lord’s coming in the midst of darkness, when all are asleep? We must purchase enough oil. We must do the works of the Spirit. We must bear the fruit, but also endure through the tribulations of this life, for the olive fruit that is pressed becomes fine oil to burn in our lamps. The Lord has said that He chastens the one He loves, and if we are without chastening, how can we say that we are the sons or daughters of God? Keeping the commandments of God out of desire to please the Father brings this chastening like nothing else does. The fruit of love, of faithfulness, of goodness, of self control is borne through obedience to the Torah, in following the example of Yeshua who kept it flawlessly. We must also take the talents He has given us, the Word of God as it has been sown into our hearts, and share it to multiply the Body of believers. If we are not sharing the Gospel with everyone we interact with and living it out as faithful followers, we are burying our talent in the ground.

The Lord is giving warning to His people here, for He does not want us to be hearers only of His Word, but also doers who feed those who are hungry for Truth with the Word of God, give drink to those who thirst for the living waters of God, clothe those with the righteousness of Messiah Yeshua when they appear naked without His covering, and visit those who are unhealthy in their faith or still living in the bondage of sin by showing them they can achieve both health and freedom through repentance that leads to a life in Messiah Yeshua. When we follow Him in all His ways, we cast off the sicknesses and bondages of sin and death and walk in freedom in Christ. Do we also visit with strangers to the faith and invite them in to share in the goodness that God desires them to have? This is what the Lord has asked us to do. Do we do it? To make it into the Lord’s kingdom, we cannot just believe what He said, but we must also act it out in our lives every single day in every single way. Our armor needs to be iron clad, lest the enemy find a kink in the armor and work his way in. The day is coming quickly, thus we must watch so we are ready when He comes.

Matthew 26

God does everything by His appointed time. It is no surprise that the long-prophesied Passover Seder had come. This was the night Moses instructed Israel to slay a lamb and paint its blood on their doorposts so the angel of death would pass over them and they could be free. Now Yeshua would become the Passover Lamb and His blood would be shed on the doorpost between Heaven and Earth, and the angel of the second death would passover any who put their faith in His sacrifice and turn to walk in His ways of liberty. The Master said, “I am keeping the Passover at your house with My disciples.” He took the third cup of salvation and offered it as a Marriage Covenant with any who would drink, saying His blood would be shed for all who choose this covenant with Him. He also said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until … My Father’s kingdom.” The fourth cup of the Seder is the cup of the kingdom, and so this saying is meant to firmly establish what the Lord was accomplishing with His death on the cross as the Unleavened Bread of Life, the only sinless one, while explaining that more work was yet to be done. We must also eat of the Unleavened Bread and clean out the sin from our house so that we can be a part of Him.

In the garden, the Lord established that His overwhelming love for His people gave Him strength to endure this torture, and that He was obedient to His Father’s will from creation. He had made man in His image, with a free will to obey Him or not, because He wanted His People to choose Him rather than to praise Him by fixed programming. Did He not say that He could command the rocks to worship Him if it was His will (Luke 19:40)? Because He gave us free will, He would have to come Himself to die for us as a matter of accountability. He was accountable to the creation He had made with a free will to NOT choose Him. The punishment of death for making one error of judgment was too harsh, and we have a great and merciful God. Yet, our God is just and holy. He could not even dwell in the presence of a being that sinned against Him. This is why He had to come. He would cover us with His own grace and mercy. He would take the form of His creation and live the perfect life He had envisioned for us all and then sacrifice Himself on our behalf so we could be covered by His blood. Now we can choose to be with Him when we accept His covering, and when we do this, He also helps us to keep His will so that we can “go and sin no more.”

When His disciples sleep, He wakes them saying: “Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He also says in similar context, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.” We are not to fight spiritual or even real geopolitical battles with the sword, but rather we must fight with faithful awareness with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Our job is to watch (testify) and pray. While our flesh may be weak to fully serve Him, thank God that we have the help of the Holy Spirit when we humble ourselves before Him and wait for Him to lead us according to God’s will. Even the five wise virgins who make it into the Kingdom fall asleep in Matthew 25 along with the foolish virgins, for there is a time when we come to the end of our ability to fight and we let go. Whether this is the end of a day or the end of our lives, the question remains: Did we buy enough oil for our lamps? Only if we sell everything we have and follow Yeshua, trusting in His Body and Blood, and following Him in all of His ways. He will help those whose heart is right with Him; a heart deeply desiring to obey Him in all things.

Matthew 27, Matthew 28

Yeshua was crucified on Passover, which was also Preparation Day for the weekly Sabbath. Additional evidence is seen right at the top; that the governor was accustomed to releasing a prisoner on Passover. The Seder had been Thursday evening, the Passover was Friday and the Sabbath followed on Saturday, meaning that Sunday was First Fruits, and the full fulfillment of this mysterious Holy Day mentioned in Leviticus 23:9-14 would be realized in AD 30: Yeshua became the First Fruits of the Resurrection from the Dead, and He would be waved before the Father as a First Fruits offering. The Scribes and Pharisees had so many unBiblical rules for the Sabbath, but they weren’t afraid to go to Pilate on the Sabbath and ask for the Romans to station soldiers outside His tomb, and this was the High Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Here they were doing one thing the Lord commands right within the Fourth Commandment that is prohibited: even the stranger within your gates must rest on the Sabbath Day, and yet these Pharisees were OK causing a stranger to work. Yeshua spoke often about this type of hypocrisy, and here they were exhibiting it on the Sabbath Day that our Lord was at rest from His work, sleeping in His grave.

We see that AFTER the Sabbath, the first day of the week began to dawn when they found the tomb empty. In other words, the sun was rising on the First Day of the week. Yeshua had risen earlier, sometime after sunset on the Sabbath, which begins the First Day of the Week. This also began the day of First Fruits. This day was never meant to be a Holy Convocation, but it is a day of remembrance. The entire death and resurrection of our Lord for the atonement of our sins ought to celebrated the way the Lord commanded, for He said, “do this in remembrance of Me.” When He said this, He was at a Passover Seder, and the Seder is the “this” that He asked us to do in remembrance of Him. When we pick up the third cup and break the Afikomen, this is when we remember what our Lord did for us on the cross and partake in His body and blood. It’s the one thing that Yeshua directly commanded us to do. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 30, explains that this is why many early Christians were losing the power of the Holy Spirit and were becoming sick, because they took the body and blood in an unworthy matter, as just another meal, but Yeshua commanded us to keep this remembrance, just as the Lord commanded Moses. The importance of this cannot be understated.

When the Lord rose from the dead—Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!—He added some very important last words for us before He ascended to sit on the right hand of the Father. He said, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” While Satan is still the king of this world, he no longer has authority. Those of us who are in Messiah Yeshua have authority over him. We have to believe this and trust in Him that He can overcome any darkness in our lives. However, and this is a big one: the authority belongs to Yeshua, so anything we do in this life MUST be according to His will, or the enemy can come in and wreak havok over us. We know what His will is, because He has told us from the beginning: “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” We are not only to believe in the death and resurrection of our Lord to salvation, but then we are to become His disciples by leaving everything in our former lives behind so that we can make disciples for Yeshua. He instructed all of us who follow Him to baptize new disciples in the name of the Father (Yahweh), the Son (Yeshua) and the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh), and to teach these disciples “to follow ALL that I commanded you.” He is with us by His Spirit when we do, but our hearts must be willing and we must take action to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, being deceived. The Saints endure by keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua (Revelation 14:12).

Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3

Yeshua, the Son of God, taught in the synagogues on the Sabbath. He healed on the Sabbath and forgave sins on the Sabbath, for shalom and joy are what the Sabbath is all about. This is still what He does on this day, for Yeshua is the Lord of the Sabbath, and the Lord’s Day is the Sabbath and the Sabbath is the Lord’s Day, the seventh day of the week.

The unclean spirits knew who He was, and He had command over them. He also gave His 12 called ones command over them, but later said, “Blessed be that your names are written in the book of life.” He would multiply His ministry by sending these men out to teach His Word also, and we know Him today because of them. Let us also go out and do His will, so we can be called His mother and His brothers. The family members of Yeshua are those who do the will of the Father

Mark 4, Mark 5

The Word of God is sown into those who hear it, whether from a preacher, an evangelist or through curiosity; perhaps a person picks up a Bible themselves. It does no good if it isn’t received in faith. Some hear the Word and reject it immediately, perhaps never giving it another thought. Others do not have deep roots in their understanding and conviction, so persecution, whether psychological or physical, causes them to compromise their faith or walk away from it all together. Some look around at the things of this world, the foods they enjoy, their habits, their traditions, their hobbies, their careers, even their home or families, and these things are more important to them then what their faith is convicting them to change in their lives and the call that God has put there to follow Him, and thus they fall away because they have elevated something else above God and don’t actually have faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, but faith without works is dead. We must be doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving ourselves that faith is only some ethereal thing. Thus, those who hear the word and do it are the ones who produce fruit at varying levels of production. The only thing I ask of God is that He uses me to produce fruit for His kingdom that I can share with Him for eternity, and there is nothing else that matters more to me.

We cannot have the light of God through faith and keep it hidden for ourselves, but rather we put it on the lampstand. Our whole lives ought to reflect the Word of God, which comes from knowledge first, but that knowledge must then be applied. If we aren’t doing what the Word of God says, do we have faith at all? Do we do some of it? Yeshua said He will spit the lukewarm out of His mouth. We must do ALL of the Word, and not just what is convenient or agreeable to us, and then the Lord will use His light in our lives and the living waters He sends through His Holy Spirit to produce the fruit from the Word He has planted. While the mystery of how the seed grows into fruit is beyond our understanding, our job is to grow into a plant that produces fruit and not remain stagnant or die off, or become diseased, or to grow barren as a tare. Will there be fruit to harvest when the Kingdom comes? And is it fruit by God’s definition or by man’s? The fruit of man is thorns and thistles, while God’s fruit is wheat used for making the Bread of Life, which is part of the Body of Yeshua. The Lord doesn’t start out expecting us to thrive from day one, but starts small with a mustard seed of faith. Yet that faith must grow into the largest plant in the garden if we are truly obeying the Lord. There can be nothing else more important than what it produces in our lives. Even when the storms of life come—and they will—we have to maintain faith first above all else, and faith is doing the Word.

It is not a mistake in the text that Yeshua shows no regard for a herd of pigs in Gerasenes, but this section shows that the Lord was looking to completely cleanse the land of the Gentiles from any unclean spirits and unclean practices. This man possessed by legion walks in the streets where you and I live today, and the pagan practices and traditions around him that he has embraced has allowed him to fall into this state. In Acts 17:30-31, Paul said to the Gentiles: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” This Man whom we know as the Son of God Yeshua wants to cast out demons and unclean practices from the lives of all believers, but especially the Gentiles who were worshipping these demons and participating in these unclean practices. The Word of God has now been heard by almost every ear in the world, but only those who come into their right mind and sit at the feet of Yeshua to learn from Him and follow Him in ALL of His ways will be ready when He comes. The rest will join the herdsmen of the pigs who tell the real Yeshua from Scripture to depart from them. Maybe they’ll create another Jesus that suits them, but on that Day they will not be welcome in His Kingdom.

The synagogue official and the unclean woman both possessed faith, but their faith caused them to act. Jairus sought out the Lord and asked Him to come, and He didn’t stop when the people without faith around him told him that he was crazy. Yes, Yeshua encouraged Jairus with His word, saying, “Do not be afraid, only believe,” but that belief is what caused Jairus to open the doors to his own house and let Yeshua in to wake his daughter up. It was his heart condition of total faith in Yeshua that allowed him to act, but it was his action that brought about the change he wanted to see—the fruit that was borne for the Kingdom of God. The woman reached out to touch the fringes of Jesus’s garment. It’s so important to see this, because these fringes, according to Numbers 15:37-41, were worn to remind us to keep the commandments of God. In Hebrews 12:14, we read “pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Don’t gloss over the holiness part. In Romans 7:12, Paul writes, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.” Without the commandments—all of them, and not just those that suit us—we cannot see the Lord. This woman reached out to Yeshua and His commandments, and both are needed to be healed, to be saved, and to enter eternal life.

Mark 6, Mark 7

If Peter’s notes truly were the source for John-Mark’s Gospel, we have a look at the humility of Peter (Cephas) here, which is notable. Peter had such faith as to walk out to Yeshua on the water, and yet there is no mention of it here. It’s all about Yeshua. This ought to be a lesson to us on who ought to get the credit for anything we do. Yeshua said, according to John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” This is the mindset of Peter and ought to be ours also. Only by Yeshua’s authority and by His power can we do anything, and anything we accomplish is for His glory alone!

How many miracles do we see in our lives and still doubt God’s favor upon us? The apostles saw five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 men, and yet they still doubted Yeshua’s identity as God in the flesh. Do many still doubt this story today? Is it fantasy? Is it a moral tale? Another parable? Far from it. This actually happened, because Yeshua is Yahweh and while He certainly limited His power when He came in the flesh, He used to show us His identity. Our God provides for us even when it seems impossible, and all we need to do is trust Him and be thankful.

He taught on the Sabbath, as we ought to do, and He taught us the commandments of God. A fantastic illustration of this appears in Mark 7, where the Pharisees and Scribes were accusing Yeshua’s disciples of eating bread with unwashed hands, a violation of the Oral “Tradition of the Elders.” This oral tradition has been recorded into the Mishnah and the Talmuds, which the Rabbinical Orthodox Jews still keep today. These laws, commandments and ordinances of the elders were NOT given by God; rather, they were so-called “fence laws” that the post-Maccabean leaders created so that the Jews could not even get close to breaking the commandments. The trouble is, they violated the commandment by doing this. Proverbs 30:6 says, “Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” Deuteronomy 12:32 says, “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” Revelation 22:18-19 says, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

Thus, Yeshua rebukes them, just as it says in Proverbs 30:6: “‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘And in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” It is very straightforward that Yeshua is explaining these Pharisees and Scribes are hypocrites because by holding the tradition of the elders above the commandments of God they actually violate the commandments of God. There is no such law in Torah that we cannot eat with unwashed hands. The only law regarding handwashing is regarding priests who make sacrifices in the Tabernacle. The Pharisees had extended this law to apply to everyone, but God did not command this, and the fact that they were enforcing this man-made religious law made them enemies of God. We must be very careful here, because there are many Christians, fueled by the dogma of the Roman Church, that say men can create laws that supersede the commandments of God. Scripture could not be more clear that this is a great evil, and Yeshua Himself says so right here.

As we read in many of Paul’s writing, we should not judge people in matters of food or drink or in keeping a festival, and this truth that Yeshua taught right here is what he’s referring to. He’s saying, when you keep the Sabbath, and when you keep the Holy Days, because God has commanded these things, and when you bring certain CLEAN foods to share with others, do not judge people according to their tradition by which they keep these feasts and eat these foods. If someone has a Passover Lamb at Passover, for instance, don’t judge them. If someone chooses not to have a Lamb, because the Lamb of God is Risen or there is no Temple by which to make sacrifices, do not judge them. If someone eats bread with unwashed hands, so be it. If someone honors the Sabbath Day by breaking bread and having a communion ceremony each week, or if someone only breaks the unleavened bread at Passover, what does it matter to you? As long as they are honoring God and keeping His commandments, then we ought to celebrate right along side our brothers and sisters and not create controversy. But as Yeshua makes very clear here, the commandments of God are what matters. We ought to be keeping the Sabbath and the feasts and eating only clean foods.

And that brings me to the final point of controversy in this passage, which unfortunately people have twisted into something it’s not. I mourn for people whose “god is their belly” (Philippians 3:19), and cannot give up the foods that God said not to eat in Leviticus 11. People have so adamantly desired to flesh of swine and other unclean foods that they literally mistranslated Mark 7:19. But even if you are to accept the parenthetical interpolation that was added by translators, “(Thereby He declared all foods clean),” this still doesn’t contradict Leviticus 11, because the word “foods” refers to the clean foods that God has declared good to eat, and excludes the flesh of animals that God has called unclean, which is not “food.” The American Standard Bible uses the word “meats” here, which is nothing short of evil. The word in Greek is “bróma” (βρῶμα) and the translation is “food.” Here’s how the direct translation of the verse reads: “because not it enters of him into the heart but into the belly and into the sewer goes out purifying all the food.” In other words, when we eat bread with unwashed hands, the context of this discussion, it does not defile a man because it is eliminated the same way as any other clean food.

What matters is the heart condition, and this is life vs. death. Is our heart to serve God and do as He commanded because we love Him and desire Him more than anything else, or is our desire to fill our mouth and belly with things that please us and it doesn’t matter what God says in His Word? We will not be covered by God’s grace when we willfully sin, and violating God’s commandments, as Yeshua makes very clear in this passage, is willful sin. What do we love more? Is our god our belly, or is our God Yahweh, who came in the flesh as Yeshua and said, “If you love me, keep my commandments?” We don’t obey God because we fear Hell. If this is our heart, we will not make it to the Kingdom. We obey God because we desire nothing other than God and love Him most of all, more than anything else in our lives. This is what Jesus asked of us, He said we must do this in order to make it into His kingdom. He only wants to dwell ETERNALLY with people who desire to dwell with Him. And just as you prefer things to be done your way in your house, God also desires His Bride, which is Israel, which are those who call upon the name of Yeshua and obey His commandments because they deeply desire Him in every way, and He will not welcome anyone else.

Mark 8, Mark 9

We need to look back on the miracles God had done in our lives as reminders when new trials come our way. God gives us miracles, such as feeding the thousands twice, so that when we are out of bread ourselves, we can look back and remember that He provides. If our Lord wills it and specifically asks us to do so, we can bring vision to the blind and heal the epileptic, but we must wait on Him, because we can do nothing without His authority. He is the vine, we are the branches. He calls us to engage in prayer and fasting in the meantime while we wait.

Peter declared that Yeshua is the Messiah, but He wanted Yeshua to be the conquering king, and rebuked our Lord when He said He was going to suffer and die. This is a lesson for us, for we do not want to be an adversary to the Lord. Far from it! We must rather wait on His plan and celebrate His plan, even if it’s not what we expect. Our reward is not in this life, and if we’re expecting it here and now, we will be disappointed. The Lord asks us to be willing to give up everything here to follow Him. Only a few will be able to do this. The rest will simply not make it.

We have to be humble servants for the Lord, not looking to rule, but looking to serve. We are to have open arms welcoming people in to the faith, but once they have been trained they must walk in the maturity of the faith. If sin is a problem for a believer, they must be willing to give up all else to eliminate it in their lives. If they don’t eliminate it, then they themselves must be cast out so as not to harm the body. We must both have salt, the taste that comes from obedience to God, and peace toward one another, but if we say peace when there is no peace, but rather sin, then we ourselves will be found sinners. There can be peace only in the midst of obedience and faith, otherwise our Lord has provided the sword to separate what is clean from what is unclean, believing from unbelieving, faithful from lawless.

Mark 10, Mark 11

The Lord teaches us. Do we desire to learn? The student asked, what must we do to inherit eternal life? The teacher answered: keep the commandments of God, listing some of them, but referring to all of them. The man then asked God what he lacked, and the Lord responded that he was treating his wealth like an idol. It was more important to him than God. But God designed these commandments for our good. It is good to remain married to a godly spouse, and to build one another up. It is good to keep the sabbath and rest as the Lord commanded. It is good to approach the Lord like a child, desiring to be obedient and honoring our father with not just our words but also our deeds. We must put Him first in our hearts, but we must be careful not to lie to ourselves, for the heart is deceitfully wicked. We must not just hold Him first in our hearts, but act in a way that proves this and do what He has commanded, for this is how we inherit eternal life, according to Jesus. “There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age… along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Our goal should not be eternal life for the sake of avoiding pain, for the Lord’s language is clear there will be more pain here on account of our walk toward His kingdom. Rather, our desire ought to be to be with God, to serve Him, to love Him, to spend time with Him. He ought to be our main focus and interest, and in this desire, He will open His gates to us. The Lord is zealous for our purity, for we are His Temple, the place where He has chosen to send His Spirit to dwell. Just as He cleansed the Temple of its selfishness, deceit and graft, He needs us to cleanse our own temple of these and other sins. We ought to be focused on prayer, which is an open conversation with Him, each and every day so we can come to know Him better. It is this desire to serve Him first that we ought to press upon others. They ought to be able to see our love for Him by our example, and in this example we also ought to love our neighbors and our enemies in the way God has instructed.

Mark 12, Mark 13

Scholars have pondered the fig tree incident in Mark 11:12-14, 20-26 for ages. Why did Yeshua smite the tree, especially since figs weren’t in season? When Peter later pointed out the withered tree, He answered: Have faith in God, and forgive others so God can forgive you. In Mark 13, Yeshua foretold the Temple’s destruction in AD 70 (Jerusalem AD 135), and the End of Days, which still comes. We read: “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. So you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” He concludes with: “Watch out, stay alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is.” In other words, by smiting the fig tree, Yeshua explained what God would do with the Earth when He comes in judgment for the Tribulation. In the same way that Yeshua publicly taught the parable of the sower, but privately interpreted it for His disciples, He is interpreting this parable. Following the birth pangs and in the tribulation itself, we as Christians must maintain our faith, and continue to repent of our own sin, forgive others, and watch, which means to keep the commandments of God with endurance.

The Lord has sent the prophets and His beloved son, and the very people who were given the vinyard killed Him, and now the Master of the vinyard will come again to destroy all who oppose Him. Those who inherit the vinyard will be those who are faithful to the Master, no matter what heritage on Earth may have.

Elohim created humanity in His image, and thus in Yeshua’s tax parable Yeshua asks us rightfully to give what belongs to God to God, which is everything, while forsaking graven images and any other thing that we believe has value.

When we inherit the Kingdom, we will not be in our earthly bodies any longer nor will we care about earthly things, but rather we will be like the angels in Heaven. We will have a fuller sense of what life actually is, and it will be without end. As Yeshua concludes His lesson, He makes an important point for all who might celebrate this evil season that is upon us: “Elohim is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” As obedient followers of our Lord, we must worship Him alone, for to pray to Saints, including Mary, is to pray to the dead, and to pray for our dead loved ones is no different. To participate in Halloween in any sense worships the dead, which is the realm of Satan. Our God is the God of the living, and it is Him alone whom we should praise.

When Yeshua explains the greatest and second greatest commandments, I find it notable that most Christians join the Jewish Rabbis by overemphasizing the second greatest while underemphasizing the greatest. “The foremost,” “greatest” or “first” commandment of all is to Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and Yeshua said, “If you love ME, keep my commandments.” It is in obeying Torah that we love God. To love our neighbor is second because we cannot possibly know how to love our neighbor without knowing how God defines love, and it is His law that defines love. Remember: the human heart is “desperately wicked” and we cannot even know it ourselves, and this is why the Lord commanded daily study of Scripture. Torah is useful for “teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; … so the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” It is not love to tolerate sin or remain silent while we watch those in our charge fall. Love, according to God, means to correct the sinner, per Matthew 18, but if they do not repent, we must “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ep 5:11).

And so to round out Mark 12-13, Yeshua explained all the birth pangs that would take place from the time of His death and resurrection to the time of the End, which He said would be a definitive time that we could not mistake. We will see false Messiahs and false teachers such as Simon Bar Kochba, Maimonides, Constantine the Great, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, we will see ethnic groups fighting, nations at war, earthquakes, famines, and persecution against those who truly follow Yeshua. We would see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, and I think the desolate Temple Mount that bears a blasphemous mosque that reads on its wall, “god has no son,” speaks to this prophesy. When Rome marched on Jerusalem in 135, other parts of this prophesy were fulfilled, but the End would not be yet. It would come much later. Today in particular, we see Fathers and Mothers against sons and daughters, or sons and daughters against parents, persecuting them for their faith in Yeshua. Around this time, the greatest tribulation ever would begin, and every one of the elect would be killed during this time unless the time is cut short.

Yeshua makes it clear that deceivers will resurface, pointing to the coming of Messiah, maybe even performing great signs and wonders, and many will be deceived. Will there be a false rapture and reports to all the Christians that they missed it? Will there be “aliens,” who are really demons, who come and take dominion of the Earth? Who knows. We’re warned in Matthew that many Christians would be deceived, but “the elect” will not be. The elect know the Word of God, and within the Word Yeshua said that the sun would be darkened, the moon would not give light and the stars would fall from heaven. Combine this prophesy with other sections of Scripture, we know that the Heavens will be rolled up like a curtain. In other words, the “restrainer” of 2 Thessalonians 2:7 will be removed. Many believe this is the Holy Spirit, but I don’t think so. I believe this restrainer is the veil that covers our eyes from being able to see into the Spiritual realm. At this point, we will see God sitting on His throne in the Heavens, and at this time Yeshua will come on the clouds with great power and glory. This is when the so-called “rapture” will occur, when “He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.” There will be no mistaking this time, and it will come “after the Great Tribulation of those days,” according to our Lord Yeshua. Learn the parable of the fig tree: Stay alert!

Mark 14

Paul says: “keep the feast … with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Yeshua said, “do this in memory of me.” When we drink the wine during the Passover Seder, the first day of Unleavened Bread that begins at sundown, we remember the blood that Yeshua shed for the forgiveness of sins and we accept the New Covenant that He has made with those who call upon the name of Yeshua (Jesus) and keep His commandments. When we eat unleavened bread on Passover, we remember that His perfect, sinless body was broken and destroyed on our behalf, and no other sacrifice was sufficient for the forgiveness of sins, but then He was raised up again, conquering sin and death for those of us who confess with our mouths that Yeshua is Yahweh, and believe in our hearts that Elohim has raised Him from the dead. Because of this faith, we then walk in the freedom by which He has made us free, not as sinners, but as sons and daughters who obey their Father. We are all fully incapable of this on our own, but He has promised us the Helper, the Holy Spirit of Truth, and He will help us when our hearts are aligned with our Most High King of the Heavens and the Earth and everything in them. Let us walk in grace AND truth and be free indeed!

Mark 15, Mark 16

John-Mark makes a point of explaining the chronology of the resurrection: “When evening had already come, since it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came,…and asked for the body of Jesus. … Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb which had been cut out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. … When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.“ Yeshua died on the First Day of Unleavened Bread, during daylight after the Passover Seder, which was also preparation day for the Weekly Sabbath. At his death there was darkness, but not from the sun setting. As the Sabbath was rolling in, Joseph secured Yeshua’s body and buried Him in his tomb. The women didn’t buy spices until the wee hours of the first day of the week, following the evening on the Sabbath, which abides in Sabbath law. When they went to the tomb, the sun was rising on the already progressing First Day, and He had already risen before the sun, sometime after the evening that ended the Sabbath. He Himself rested on the Sabbath in the grave before He would do a new work, one that saves souls.

The crowds of Jewish leaders asked for Yeshua Barabbas, or Yah Saves, son of the Father, the one who was “imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the revolt.” They rejected Yeshua of Nazareth, the Son of Yahweh, the one who sacrificed Himself for the sins of many. There’s much to say about this dichotomy and how it relates to Yom Kippur, but Yeshua is actually both the sacrificial goat that was killed for the sins of Israel and the scape goat who rose from the dead and freed all souls to follow Him into eternal life. The interesting piece is the story reveals the hearts of the Jews: they were looking for a rebel who would take back Jerusalem for the Jews from the Romans, a conquering king, and they would mistakenly call on this false Messiah time and time again until Jerusalem was destroyed following the revolt of Simon Bar Kopkha in 132-135 AD. Those who worship the true Messiah, the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world, the true King of the Jews, these would walk in the newness of life with an eternal covering for their sins, and His Kingdom, when it comes, will have no end. As Paul explains in Acts 15, Yeshua was the First Fruits of salvation, having risen from the dead on First Fruits, and those who follow Him will be the later harvest on the Last Day before the grapes of wrath are tread.

Reading the additions in Mark 16 make with brackets around them in the NASB2020 this year, it’s clear that the writer is not the same. The style of writing is completely different. The Gospel is fine without these additions, for very clearly Yeshua has risen from the dead, and other Gospels explain more detail. John-Mark leaves it up to us to decide on our own; to answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?” He is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God Most High, one in being with the Father, and through Him all things were made. One day He will come again to raise the living and the dead to everlasting life with Him, and His kingdom will have no end.

John 1, John 2

I wrote a sermon about the beginning for 10/14/2023 and it speaks much about John's opening lines. You may check out the video here: https://youtu.be/gJt-iyTW0sc?si=mLeWsW05WlUtoRrs. For the presentation transcript, download the PDF here: https://tinyurl.com/4kvb2uru.

In John 1:17, we read: “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Messiah Yeshua.” He is the Word of God, when "God said let there be light," this was not part of creation. He was the Word that emanated forth light. God smiled, so to speak. He is light. He is life. He is Truth. His is Grace. These are things He said to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, "“The Lord, the Lord God, MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS, longsuffering, and abounding in GOODNESS AND TRUTH, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” And we know, Yeshua HaMashiach is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). This statement in John 1:17 is not a contrast, as many read it; rather, it is a fulfillment of who Yeshua is. He is full of grace and truth. He is merciful and gracious and abounding in goodness and truth. This is who our Creator is, the Father of all, the Son who came in the flesh and tabernacled among us. We know that the law is Truth, and the way Yeshua taught us about it and showed it to us is Truth. But without His grace, we cannot stand before Him. His grace washes away our sins and accepts us in the flesh, calling us to walk in the light from that point forward.

John 3, John 4

To be born again is to be embodied by the Holy Spirit, which helps us to believe, convict of us of sin,  repent, interpret the Word of God, and apply the Word to our lives. Most important of all, we are born again into a direct relationship with our Messiah in which we literally go to Him to renew our thoughts, to guard our tongues and our typing hands, and to permit our actions. We ought to be forming a deeper relationship with Him daily by seeking Him with all of our heart, abandoning the fleshly things that He has said separate us from Him, and taking on the Spiritual things because He is now our Master, our Teacher and our First Love. A life in Messiah is not like a life in the business world of the flesh, for we cannot know where the Spirit is coming from, and He comes suddenly, and we don't know where He's taking us, but when He says go, we must obey, and the ride is awesome! The one who believes the Son had eternal life, but to believe is to act on that belief, for we read next, "the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on Him." It is the "one who practices the Truth" that "comes to the light," and "his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God." We must walk in the light, which is to be obedient to God's law, covered by the grace of Messiah, following the Spirit wherever He leads us.

The living water springing up to eternal life is Yeshua's Spirit that He gives to us, for He satiates us in the midst of the desert, which is the World all around us. He has called us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, no longer in Jerusalem or the high places of Israel, though we will worship Him there, too. To worship in the Spirit is to have an ongoing relationship with Him, to go to Him not just daily but every moment of every day and ask Him what's next, to read His Word so we can hear His voice, to ask Him how to apply it to our lives and have Him show us, and to worship in Truth is to do the things that He commands us according to the example He lived in the flesh as well as the Scripture when applied according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This relationship is what we must seek with all of our hearts if we expect to truly know Him, and if we want Him to know us and write our names in His book. It's time for us to get to work, for He has called us to this. The field is ripe for harvest, but the workers are few. The workers are those who put Yeshua first by cultivating this relationship with Him, and do what He says each and every moment of every day in their lives. To inherit eternal life, we must accept His grace and live according to His Truth, with the Spirit guiding our every step.

John 5, John 6

When we read: Yeshua was "breaking the Sabbath," the word for "breaking" is "(ἔλυεν) elyen," from "(λύω) luó," and while breaking is a possible translation, the more likely meaning is to "release what has been held back (like Yeshua "releasing" the seven seals in the scroll in Revelation)." By this time, the Pharisees had developed an oral tradition that governed what constituted "work," and their tradition made almost anything at all into work, which they said violated the Sabbath. But God hadn't done this with His commandment to refrain from work on the Sabbath, and nor did Moses. In his story, Yeshua healed a sick man and told him to pick up his mat and go home. This is not work. On the Sabbath, we say, "shabbat shalom!" Shalom means "wholeness" or "completeness," or even more powerfully, "complete peace." To heal is to bring completeness to someone, and to satisfyingly pick up a mat one has been in bondage to and carry it home is complete peace, a type of freedom. By healing on the Sabbath, Yeshua was releasing the bondage that the Pharisees had placed on the Sabbath and freeing His followers to walk in the newness of life, the complete peace that comes from simply refraining from work and coming near to be with the Father.

When Yeshua says, "the Son can do nothing for Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way," He is modeling how we ought to fully rely on Him when we do anything in our lives. It is the Father's will that we ought to do, and the Father has explained His will to us in His Word. Next He says: "not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." Here Yeshua firmly establishes His divinity, indicating He is One with the Father, and the Father One with Him. This is confirmed here: "the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." He will raise us up on the Last Day when we confess that Yeshua is Yahweh to the glory of Elohim; when we confess with our mouths that Yeshua is LORD, and believe in our hearts that the Father raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. The Scriptures testify about Yeshua, Moses wrote about Yeshua, but if you don't believe Moses, how can you believe Yeshua?

Yeshua, testing His followers at this point, fed 5,000 people with a small number of fish and loaves of bread, and many of these people followed Him on account of this miracle. Then He said to them, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life ... believe in Him whom He has sent." He continues, "I am the bread of life; the one who COMES to Me will never be hungry, and the one who BELIEVES in me will never be thirsty." He then gives a parable that is hard to understand: "The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink." It's critical that we grasp this. He says those who COME to Him will never be hungry, for to follow Yeshua's ways, to follow the commandments the way He did, this is to eat His flesh, for He is the Word that became flesh. He said those who BELIEVE in Him will never be thirsty, for to believe that He gave His blood to cover our sins is to accept the grace that saves us for eternal life.

This is the testimony of a Saint, who endures by keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12). To be certain this interpretation is correct, consider Yeshua's own interpretation He gave to His disciples concerning what it means to eat His flesh and drink His blood; He said: “Is this offensive to you? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are Spirit, and are Life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” We are not working for food that perishes, for physical items that magically become flesh and blood; we are working for the food that lasts for eternal life, which is to believe in Yeshua, whom the Father sent to die for our sins, and to follow Him in all of His ways, because we desire Him most. We want to be with Him. We want Him to be a part of who we are. We seek Him with all of our hearts. He is the Holy One of the Father. But not all would believe, even some of those whose heart He knocks upon. We must actually step out in our faith and do the things He did if we are going to take His body into ourselves and take part in it. We must do the Word, and not just hear it.

John 7, John 8

He asks us today, "Who do you say that I AM?" He is One in being with the Most High Creator, and through Him all things were made. He is the One who gave the Torah to Moses, the One who spoke to the Prophets, and the One whose Word describes that which pleases the Father. He is the One who became flesh, to dwell among us and show us by example how to please the Father, by keeping the Word without sin. He died therefore for our sins, for He is sinless and He is One in being with the Father, who is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. He rose from the dead because death could not hold Him. Now He sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for those of us who follow Him by abiding in His law, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and trusting in Him. There are not two thrones in Heaven, but one throne, and on that throne He sits. He is the active manifestation of the Father's power, He is the one who says and does on behalf of the Father's will. He says to us: "do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." This judgment is only righteous if it comes from the Word that Yahweh gave to Moses and Yeshua lived out in the flesh.

On the Eighth Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jews had a custom to pour water out on the altar in the temple as a symbol of Father outpouring His Holy Spirit, and this is what Yeshua referred to when He said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ... From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." He said we are to receive the Holy Spirit by coming to Him, by following Him, by trusting in Him, and by loving Him, which is to follow His commandments.

In the same boldness that Yeshua taught, even with His life on the line, we ought to teach boldly even when it is prohibited, even when there is a threat of job loss or even something worse. The LORD will not let us be harmed until our hour comes, just like the LORD, and when that hour comes, what manner of persons ought we to be other than those who are doing the will of the Father.

John 9, John 10

This man was blind, not on account of sin, but so that Yeshua Himself could be glorified. Are there situations in our lives like this? I have to think so, but we ought to go to Yeshua Himself in our prayers and wait on His answer before we can assert this. Many issues are the result of sin. In either case, "we must carry out the works of Him who sent [us] as long as it is day; night is coming, when no one can work." Yeshua sent us (read Mt. 28:18-20), and night is coming. We ought to follow the Lord and listen to Him for our instruction in each situation that comes up, and do everything for the glory of Yeshua alone. Like David, who in Psalm 51 writes, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you," this once blind man can now see, and is now instructing transgressors in the Way of the Father. He taught the sinners: "We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to Him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." Only the Messiah Himself was expected to open the eyes of the blind, according to much prophesy. We must trust Yeshua and do the will of the Father, and then He will hear and use us to do His will.

To assert His identity as the Messiah, Yeshua said over and over again that the Father testified about Him through the works that He was doing. Bringing sight to the blind is among those works, prophesied in Isaiah 61 and other places. The Pharisees and Scribes believed He was a sinner, because He violated their oral tradition regarding the Sabbath and in other ways, i.e., eating bread with unwashed hands (Mt. 15, Mk. 7). However, doing these things did not violate the commandments of God. Yeshua made mud to heal the man's eyes on the Sabbath to the glory of God, and this healing is certainly what the Sabbath represents. Note that some men argued He wasn't from God because He violated their tradition, but others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" They saw that He fulfilled the prophesy of the Messiah, and they believed in Him. And with their statement, they are essentially declaring that Messiah was without sin; that violating the oral tradition did not constitute sin. This is important to grasp. The blind man's testimony, "I was blind but now I see" indicates His full trust in the Messiah and in His authority. The Lord came to judge the world, so that those who do not see will see, and those who see will be blinded. My response is humility standing before the LORD, for He alone allows us to see.

Yeshua's sheep hear His voice, and listen to Him. They follow Him. There is no other way into the Kingdom—into the sheepfold. He calls His sheep by name and leads them out. If our names are truly written in the Lamb's Book of Life, we ought to be waiting on Him before we do anything. When He says "go" we should go, and when He says "wait" we should wait. Everything we do is in His hands, for He alone is our shepherd and there is no replacement for Him. We ought to put these concepts together with the Greatest Commandment, to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and Yeshua Himself defines what it means to love God: "If you love me, obey my commandments," He said (John 14:15). If we truly hear His voice, then we ought to obey the doctrine of Scripture, and any other voice we hear had better align with it, for we are to "test the Spirits." Yeshua is the door we have to enter if we want to make it into the Kingdom, and the Saints are those who endure in their trust and their obedience to the LORD.

Toward the end of John 10, Yeshua references Psalm 82 with some rather cryptic language, stating, "Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified), are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” First off, note that "Scripture cannot be nullified." This is akin to what Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17-20. Secondly, note that Yeshua is literally saying here that He is Yahweh Tzavaot—He is the LORD of the council of divine beings. In Psalm 82, Yeshua met with all of the divine beings He had created and said they would "die like men" because they rebelled against the Most High and led mankind astray; they even demanded worship for themselves instead of point the Nations (Goyim) back toward the Father. Yeshua was judging and condemning Satan and his rebellious followers there. Thus, in this statement, Yeshua is warning the Pharisees and Scribes that they are the ones blaspheming against the Holy One of Israel, and they too will be judged for His works themselves testified to who He is, which is One in Being with the Father, and they of all people should have known this.

John 11, John 12

Martha shows that she learned well from her Master Yeshua when she said, “I know that [Lazarus] will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” This is the teaching of all of Scripture. We are appointed to die once, and afterward the judgment. Scripture has a few exceptions to this rule, and Lazarus is one of them that the LORD selected to show His glory so that His disciples would believe. In Lazarus’s case, he died again and now waits for the resurrection on the last day. It’s akin to someone who is resuscitated today, though Lazarus’s resuscitation came four days later, and by a miracle of Yeshua to show His glory. Yeshua is “the resurrection and the life, and He who believes in Him will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Him will never die.” Yes, I believe this. I also know that my Lord said, “If anyone hears My teachings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects Me and does not accept My teachings has one who judges him: the word which I spoke.” On the Last Day, the LORD will judge the living and the dead, and only those who have believed in His name and kept His commandments will rise up to live with Him forever.

What a remarkable man Lazarus must have been in his faith for Yeshua to do this act for him. Yeshua wept. Our Creator did not create death He hates death. He wants no part in it. He grieves to see His friends, those who have built a true relationship with Him, die on account of sin. Thanks be to God that He has risen from the dead, so that sin and death are no more of a threat to those of us who follows Him by believing in Him and keeping His commandments. He said, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” To serve the LORD is to do what He did, to follow Him as He walked, to obey Father as Yeshua did, and we have His promise of help. When we believe in Yeshua, we believe in the Father and all that He has accomplished and promised. “The one who believes in Me, does not believe only in Me, but also in Him who sent Me. And the one who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that no one who believes in Me will remain in darkness.” We must become “sons of Light” when we believe, because by building a relationship with Yeshua through this faith, we come to know the Father.

John 13, John 14, John 15

While there's a lot to write about in today's reading, I want to share some thoughts on the feet-washing parable that perhaps you haven't heard before. The inspiration for this interpretation came from my wife Jen, and then I ran with it. Here goes:

First, Peter did not want His Lord to wash his feet, for such a job was usually reserved for the lowest of servants and Peter revered His Master. This of course is the given and surface-level interpretation, especially when paired up with the ending; specifically, that Messiah Yeshua was humbling Himself to the level of a lowly servant. Isn’t that the theme we read in Philippians 2, that being equal with God, He humbled Himself into the fleshly body of a man and even unto physical death? This is true. If the Messiah could wash the feet of His disciples, surely the disciples could wash one another’s feet, symbolic for works of service and charity, and they could even serve people considered more lowly than them. This is how, like their Master, they would be exalted in the Resurrection. And, as we focus on this first level interpretation, it is certainly correct to give a nod to Kelsey Grammer’s Pastor Chuck Smith in the recent “Jesus Revolution” film. Likewise, Deuteronomy 27:19 reads, “Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ Surely, the people of God ought to care for the strangers, the fatherless and the widows who are truly in need, for this is the will of God. While critically important to understanding the Christian walk, this interpretation is just scratching the surface of God’s goodness and what He’s trying to communicate here. It’s a “Yes, and…” situation.

To peel back another layer, it’s important to pick up on some additional pieces of the dialogue. Right after Peter said, “You shall never wash my feet!” Yeshua replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Hold onto this verse for a moment. Peter replied, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head,” to which Yeshua replied, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean.” Yeshua then proceeded to wash Peter’s feet, as well as the feet of all the other disciples. Now, why was Peter clean and without need of having his hands and head washed? More importantly, why would he have no part in the salvation of Yeshua without being treated to a pedicure? Consider from a Hebraic understanding that the hands and head represent the beginning of a man, while the feet represent the end of a man. From Peter’s perspective, He was looking for another mikveh, a baptism of sorts, to cleanse him from his sins, but Peter had already been baptized into the ministry through faith in Yeshua as the Messiah. Recall that Peter had confessed earlier, when He said to Yeshua, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” according to Matthew 16:16. This was the foundation on which Yeshua said He would build together the people of God into One Body. Like David the King and Isaiah the Prophet, among so many other Old Testament saints, Peter was saved by acknowledging His faith in the Messiah who was to come to die on the cross and rise from the grave. Yeshua hadn’t done this yet. Regardless, Peter was cleansed of His sins through faith in Yeshua, as we are also, and it was not necessary for Him to be further cleansed from his former lawlessness. He did not need another mikveh to be cleansed, for He was already cleansed through faith. Once baptized as believers in Yeshua, we too do not need another mikveh.

To understand why Peter must allow Yeshua to wash his feet, then, we have to briefly consider another key verse from Matthew 7:21-23. There, Yeshua explained that “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” but only the ones who do the will of the Father. He takes this to another level when explaining that He would ask those who “practice lawlessness” to “depart” from Him. As He also explains elsewhere, to depart from Yeshua, who is the light, means going into the “outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” As Christians, if we pick up the filth of sin from the world as we are going about our daily business, we must turn to Yeshua to wash these sins away, for “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” when we are willing to humble ourselves and confess these sins with repentant hearts. If we do not seek His forgiveness regularly, we risk becoming stained by the world to the point that we begin practicing lawlessness. And Scripture is clear that if we continually sin without repentance, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God when Yeshua returns to bring His people home.

The last layer of meaning comes from Yeshua’s command to follow His example by washing one another’s feet. He says, “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” and “blessed are you if you do.” As I alluded to above, James explained this concept when he wrote, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” And this ties everything together that I’ve brought to the table so far. If there is any sin in us that we are aware of, we ought to confess it immediately and repent before the Lord. He is faithful and just to forgive us. But what if we aren’t aware of our sin? Leviticus 4 explains that we ought to repent of unintentional sin, and we know as Christians that the blood of Yeshua heals us from this. We ought to humble ourselves before the Lord and pray, “Lord, if there is anything not pleasing to you in me, bring it to light. Let your light cast out any darkness in me." This type of humility is necessary, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26). Likewise, James 4:17 reads, “for whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Have you ever been in a situation where you kind of know that something you’re doing is sin, and you feel a little bit guilty for a while, but then you try to rationalize the feeling away in your heart? We know that our hearts are desperately wicked, right? Does the nagging feeling of guilt eventually fade away? You bet it does, but the sin remains. In Leviticus 5:17, we read, “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity.” We will be held accountable for any unrepentant sin, and we had better not allow it to fester until it grows into a type of spiritual gangrene or cancer that eats us up into nothingness. Rather, we ought to pray, as David in Psalm 19:12-14, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” The Lord answers prayers like this, because it is His desire that we all turn toward Him and live (Ezekiel 18), but He often uses our brothers and sisters in the Lord to bring these hidden faults to our attention. Once aware of our sins, it is then up to us to repent, for to continue in sin is death. It is because of this dynamic that Yeshua told Peter he would have no part in the Kingdom if he refused to allow his feet to be washed. It is also on account of this dynamic that each of us ought to not only allow but encourage our brothers and sisters in Yeshua to spiritually wash our feet. If we do not do this figuratively with one another, we have no part in the Body of Christ. Often, we lack the discernment to see our own errors or we are too proud to consider that we might be falling short. This is why we must allow our brothers and sisters to examine us, to heal us, to pray for us, and to exhort us to do good works.

We come together once a week for this purpose—to wash one another’s feet. Perhaps for some people this is enough, but brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you that I look to my brothers and sisters in the Lord to wash my feet every day, and sometimes that isn’t even enough to help me walk rightly, but Christ is sufficient where I am weak, and Messiah provides me with the brothers and sisters I need to help me. We all need help in this way, and the Lord provides, blessed be His Most Holy Name.

John 16, John 17, John 18

Everything the LORD said to us when He came in the flesh was meant to keep us from sin, He said, and “sin is lawlessness,” according to the same author of this Gospel. We can expect that living righteously following Messiah Yeshua will bring persecution of the highest order. Yet, the Holy Spirit will be with us to explain all of the Word of Scripture to us, to remind us when we need it and help us keep it. While Yeshua was speaking to His disciples about His pending death, He also speaks to us now when we face grief in this world. Our suffering is temporary, like a woman in labor, but when the Earth gives birth to her dead, we will rejoice like a woman who has given birth and forget all about the labor pains. We must ask for the LORD’s will to be done in our lives, and when we do He will reveal it to us and show us what He wants us to do. When we do this, we will be blessed.

Yeshua prayed for us specifically in John 17, and this we ought to take to heart: “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.” This is the relationship He desires with us.

John 19, John 20, John 21

There on the cross, written by a Roman governor in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, the three official languages of the First Century, was the Truth: “YESHUA THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” He indeed is king of the Jews, but also the King of the Universe, the one who has all power, authority and dominion. He is the Creator and the Redeemer, and it is He alone whom we ought to serve. The Jewish leaders identified that they served the World and the Flesh, rather than the One who ruled over all things, by saying that Caesar was their king. Pilate, who served this king, even trembled at the King of the Heavens and the Earth standing before him, understanding His poignant words, “You would have no authority over Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above.” The Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests egged him on, saying, “If you release this Man, you are no a friend of Caesar.” As Yeshua had said earlier: “Give to Caesar what is Caesars and give to God what is God’s.” Whose image is on you today, whose is on me? Do we serve the LORD who created the Heavens and the Earth, or do we serve those people who He has granted authority to, or both? If both, then who first? The answer to this question helps to determine the Kingdom we belong to.

Can we say, as Thomas did, “My LORD and my God,” when asked the question by Yeshua, “Who do you say that I AM?” Blessed are those who do not see, and yet still believe that Yeshua is Yahweh, One in Being with the Father. The next step is to find out whether we “philio” the LORD or whether we “agape” the LORD, for this is the matter before Peter. The LORD had given him three opportunities to reaffirm his sacrificial love for Him following his three denials prior to the crucifixion. Here, the LORD explained redemption from sin. In the same way, Yeshua is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sins, repent and “sin no more.” Next, the LORD asked Peter to “tend,” “shepherd” and “feed” the sheep that belong to Him. He instructed Peter to “follow” Him, even up to and including stretching out his arms, just as his LORD had done. While not everyone is called to lead a congregation, we are all called to make disciples, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teach all of the commandments of God, while of course practicing ourselves, so as not to be hypocrites. As we do this, we are called to follow Yeshua in every way and keep our eyes focused on Him.

Luke 1

Luke writes to "Theophilus," who may have been an actual Christian man, but I believe the word was used to indicate the Apostle's purpose in writing to all those who love the Father who would read his account. His account is meticulous, and his attention to detail is profound. If there was no other purpose for Luke's account it was for accuracy of the historical reality of Yeshua's life and ministry.

The timeframe established by Luke regarding Zechariah and his priestly division of Abijah places Yeshua's birth at or around the First Day of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, meaning that our LORD may have literally been circumcised on the Eighth Day. Here's a great article that details the likely scenario as well as the popular, but unlikely, alternative: https://hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Winter_Holidays/Christmas/christmas.html#loaded

Miriam was pure in heart, and humble in her relationship with the LORD, and her betrothed Yosef was a blameless man. The LORD picked people willing to serve the LORD without any regard for societal norms or their own life expectations. As Miriam said, “Behold, the Lord’s bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your Word," so must be our heart for our LORD. How could we desire anything else than to do the LORD's will for our lives? After all, He is good, and everything He created was good, and He certainly knows the good things He has prepared for us better than we do. Let all of our attitudes toward the LORD be as this blessed woman's attitude. I look forward to meeting her on the Last Day, when all who have died will rise at once, and those still living will join them in the air, and we will all worship our King Yeshua together.

Luke 2, Luke 3

Even though the angel had told both Miriam and Yosef whom Yeshua would be, they were still amazed to hear prophesies about Him being the one who would bring glory to Israel and a light and revelation to the Gentiles, to cause the high and mighty ones to fall and those who are humble and obedient to God to rise. How could He be anywhere else but in His Father's house, about His Father's business? He was announced by One Crying Out in the Wilderness, the one who will burn with unquenchable fire at the End of Days any who are considered chaff, the lawless ones, the disobedient, the unloving, while collecting His wheat into His barn as part of the great harvest at the end. The beloved Son, with whom the Father was well pleased, was about to start His ministry at 30, a ministry for the forgiveness of sins. We had better not neglect so powerful a salvation as this while it is still day, because the night is coming and judgment follows. Do we obey the One who saved us?

Luke 4, Luke 5

Yeshua asked Simon-Peter to put out his boat for the LORD to teach from, so His voice would carry, after a long night of fishing with no fish. If Simon's heart was not right with the LORD, he would have said 'no, I'm going home,' but his heart was willing to hear the Word of the LORD. After teaching the crowds from the boat, He rewarded the man, provided that he would have faith and obey. Put your recently cleaned net down for a catch, he said. Peter, expressing exasperation at just having fished all night with no luck and knowing that fish do not bite during the warm daytime hours, obeyed the LORD regardless. What had he heard during the LORD's teaching that convinced him to obey? "I will do as You say and let down the nets," Simon-Peter said. Is this our heart when we hear the Word of the LORD, to obey the LORD even when we don't understand the reasons why He asks for certain things? The result was a net full of fish, so abundantly full that the excess fish were breaking through. They filled two boats with fish, and they almost sank.

Peter knew He was in the presence of the LORD, and he feared for his life: "Get away from me, LORD, for I am a sinful man." This humility is exactly what the LORD desires from each of us. The LORD's response to Simon-Peter is the same response He gives to each of us who approach Him similarly: "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching people." In other words, your sins are forgiven you on account of faith, now come and follow me and sin no more. This can be deduced from the LORD's words spoken to other sinners whom He healed as well as the synoptic Gospel accounts of this same story. We can also see this truth expressed in Simon-Peter's response, which ought to be our own response: "When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him." What about those two boats full of fish? Were they not grateful for the gift the LORD had given them? Did they just waste this haul? No! They wanted the one who brought them life to abundance and they were willing to leave absolutely everything to have Him instead of some temporary satisfaction. We must do likewise. The LORD rewards us with much abundance, but we must be willing to sacrifice all of it to follow Him and do His will. This relationship with our Creator and Redeemer is the most important thing we could possibly pursue, just like Simon-Peter.

Yeshua taught on the Sabbath with authority, rather than read from commentaries or repeat the oral tradition of the sages. This tells us two things: 1) We ought to be in the meeting place with other believers on the Sabbath, just as Yeshua was, for this is what it means to follow Him. 2) We ought to look to Yeshua's Word as the authority in how we understand all of Scripture, for His teachings, and the teachings of the Apostles He appointed directly, are the only commentary on Torah we need. No other commentary that varies from these teachings ought to be considered—not the commentary of the Jewish sages, and not the commentary of the Catholics or Calvanists, et.al., that have been developed since. It is Messiah Yeshua alone who has authority, and it is His Word that we ought to follow. He says: we do not live on bread (or fish) alone, but on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. (Simon-Peter knew this). He says: "You shall worship the LORD and serve Him only." He says: "You shall not put the LORD to the test." One way we might put the LORD to the test is to disobey His commandments and seek our own righteousness. We must follow Him and seek His righteousness by walking in the same way that He walked.

When Yeshua ate with tax collectors and sinners, He was not doing this on the Sabbath. There are six days for which we can do our work, but the Sabbath is the LORD's Day, the day we ought enjoy Him, hear His Word, learn His teachings, abide in His peace and love. Surely, if there is trouble on the way to the meeting place, we ought to assist if it is within our power at the leading of the LORD, but the commandment is simple: go to be with the LORD. When the LORD went to eat with tax collectors and sinners, it was about building a relationship, but He didn't tolerate these people's sin. In Matthew 18, He said the member of your congregation who will not repent ought to be thrown out, and to you he will be as a tax collector or sinner. The whole of Scripture makes it clear, we eat with tax collectors and sinners to call them to repentance—perhaps not directly, but certainly through the love that we show them and the way that we live and teach them. We ought not to mirror and match them, but they ought to be encouraged to mirror and match us, provided we are following Messiah Yeshua. Those who are sick need a physician, but the physician is there to heal them, not to allow them to continue in their illness nor to join them in sickness.

Luke 6, Luke 7

A hard-hearted person looks to condemn every sin without consideration of his own need to repent. Assuming they are righteous, they look to condemn any person who doesn't measure up according to their own standard of righteousness. Sometimes, their own standard of righteousness exceeds God's standards, as it is in the case of the accusers on the sabbath. Other times, they look to hold someone's prior sins over their head forever, as in the case of the woman who was previously an adulteress. These accusers look to the specks on others' eyes without considering the beam in their own eye. The LORD, through many examples, show us that we are to forgive the one seeking forgiveness and let their sins be carried as far as the East is from the West, because the one who repents no longer has any sin in the eyes of God, so long as they go on walking according to the righteousness of the LORD. The key to properly understanding these stories is that the sinners Yeshua was forgiving were seeking forgiveness and acting in a way that showed their repentant, loving heart. Those he was chastising were showing unrepentant, proud hearts. The LORD truly desires that we approach Him at all times with humble and contrite hearts.

That being said, we cannot call Yeshua "Lord, Lord," and not do what He says. When we turn toward Him and follow Him, we build our house on a sound foundation and can withstand the many storms of life.

Luke 8, Luke 9

It may sound obscure for the LORD to say "My mother and My brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it" as his actual mother and brothers sought his attention, but I know people who have literally put family members before their faith; they walked away from the LORD because of their daughters' disbelief. They have walked away because they prefer certain foods or certain activities more than they love Yeshua. The LORD is clear: “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” If there is anyone in our lives who stands in the way of us and our relationship with the LORD, and we allow them to steal our attention, we will not make it into His kingdom. To follow Yeshua is to believe in His accomplishments and promises, and to then abide in the will of the Father, which He explained to us in His Word, and to do this without compromise. When we set out, we ought to go wherever the Spirit leads us, for as long as He leads, for the LORD is faithful to those who are faithful to Him.

When Yeshua sends the 12 out in Luke 9, this story's parallel is in Matthew 10 and describes quite eloquently what spiritual warfare ought to look like. It is the LORD who gives us power and authority to cast out demons and heal diseases, and without His direct guidance, we ought not act. Our goal ought not to be to earn a living, but to do the work of the LORD. Our task is to find a supporter and work with them until the LORD moves us on to the next place. If anyone opposes us, we ought to shake off the dust as a testimony against them. This will not bode well for them in the day of judgment.

When Yeshua transfigured into His glorious state, God showed Peter, James and John a vision of Moses and Elijah next to Yeshua, who represent the Torah and the Prophets. Yeshua Himself is the very subject of those writings, and so their disappearance revealed that Yeshua is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one gets to the Father but through Him. While it's interesting to consider that Moses and Elijah actually appeared, I've been leaning toward this experience being a vision much like Peter's vision later on of all the animals caught up in a canvas from Acts 10 and 11. In this vision, we are meant to understand that our salvation comes from the grace of our LORD, and in the later vision we are meant to understand that Gentiles can now be saved along with Jews.

Luke 10, Luke 11

Continuing from yesterday's theme, a woman proclaims: “Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!” Is there not a prayer that some Christians pray with these words? Yeshua rebukes it: He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it.” Thank God for her, Miriam heard the word of God and followed it, which is why she was chosen as the mother of Yeshua. However, those who look to her as some higher level being and pray to her or other saints commit the sin of idolatry and blaspheme God. The LORD is not seeking us to praise other men or women, but all praise and honor is due to Him alone. Everything we think, say or do ought to be aligned to Him and everything we accomplish ought to be given in praise and thanksgiving to Him, for He is the author and finisher of all faith. We don't need to rebuke those who are setting up idols in their faith, for the LORD has done this for us. All we need to do is point it out to them, and all praise, glory and honor are due to His name alone.

Yeshua said, "Behold, I have given you authority to walk on snakes and scorpions, and authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” It is in this saying that we must recognize that our authority over unclean spirits comes from the LORD, and we are dependent upon Him for all things. Likewise, we ought to concentrate on the end, which is the Kingdom of Heaven, for when our names are written in the Book of Life, Yeshua is preparing a place for us there. But the LORD has said, "Whoever sins against me, I will blot his name out of my book." This was as true when He said this to Moses as it is when He said it to us, for those who say "Lord, Lord!," but practice lawlessness, will be told to depart. Our duty is to trust in the LORD's grace and obey Him. He has called us to testify to His Gospel of peace, one that seeks to save sinners when they humble themselves before Him and repent from their sin. Those who refuse will have the dust of the earth to testify against them, just as Nachach in the garden was cursed to crawl amidst the dust of the earth. This is not a place we wish to be.

When we go out to testify the Gospel of Peace and expel evil spirits per the command of the LORD, but we must not leave those people orphans. The LORD has warned: “When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.” Not just one but many evil spirits will return to a saved person if this person does not accept the Holy Spirit of Yeshua. A person must confess with their mouth that Yeshua is Yahweh and believe in their heart that Elohim has raised Him from the dead for salvation, but from that salvation comes the need to love the Savior, and He has said, "If you love me, obey my commandments." At this point, He will send His helper to dwell within us, to protect us, to guide us, to convict us, to instruct us, and to lead us, to remind us of all the things which He said. This testimony of two is essential for anyone made clean, or they will become worse than they were at first.

We know the greatest commandment is to love the LORD our God, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we do this, we will live. To love the LORD, we must obey His commandments. The concepts of loving God and loving our neighbor are explained in detail in Torah, so that we will not misconstrue the meaning of love and assign human ideas on what is a godly concept. And while it is indeed love of God to remember and keep His Sabbath Day holy, it is also love of God to help a neighbor along the way to church in need, if that is something that God puts in our tracks. How can we go to the altar and worship if we have left a brother to wallow in a ditch? We cannot be so focused on serving other people, though, that we forget to hear from God. This is the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so intent on loving others she forgot to love God. And what is the love of God but to hear from Him, to learn from Him and to speak about how these lessons we find in the Word of God apply to our lives. Mary chose the better thing. Christians can become so overburdened by the works of serving other people that they forget the love of God comes first. Both are needed, but God is always first.

Luke 12, Luke 13

The leaven of the Pharisees was their teaching that man's traditions take precedence over the commandments of God. This is articulated in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 explicitly, but it is here in the text for gleaning also. Hypocrisy is the sum of this teaching. The Pharisees sit in Moses's seat, but won't lift a finger to follow the commandments on their own. They hold up their own tradition as far more important than what the Scripture says. This is also the case for ALL of Rabbinical Judaism today, but also for MOST of Christianity, from Catholicism to Calvinism and everything in between. Whenever anyone holds up tradition above the commandments of God, these are taking upon themselves the leaven of the Pharisees. We are to fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person into hell! In other words, we must fear God and Him alone we should serve. We are valuable to Him, and so we ought not fear the men with robes who create their own commandments or rules for us to follow, or even hold up man-made traditions and neglect the things of God. We ought to confess Yeshua and live out the life that Yeshua showed us by example, which was fully obedient to the commandments of God.

We will have to stand witness to the Truth, and as the acceptable faith of society becomes more and more absolute, we will be dragged before the magistrates once more if we are truly living out our faith. I know people who already have been, including my wife, over vaccination policies that violate the commandments of God. The Holy Spirit will always be there to teach us what we need to say.

As we face trials and tribulations in this life for our faith, our thoughts ought not be on self preservation, but on the LORD and His will for the situation. Ultimately, we will answer to Him, and He will care for our every need, even into eternity when we do. We must be prepared, to keep our lamps lit, to wait for our master and live according to His will while we wait, for we will be blessed if He finds us doing His will upon His return. We must put Yeshua first before everything, for the LORD's Word will divide families. We must side with the LORD over all.

Ultimately, the number of people who will be saved will not be as large as modern Christians teach. In fact, many will strive to enter the narrow door, but they will not be able to enter. The way is narrow into the Kingdom, and the LORD will not allow "evildoers" to enter. We must keep His commandments, or there will be eternal separation from God. A fire that burns greater and hotter than any other is a desire to be with God without any way to get there. The warning is for us today, so that we do not fall away or treat our faith as a secondary thing. There is nothing more important than doing the will of the Father.

Luke 14, Luke 15, Luke 16

The parables of Yeshua are eternal wisdom, and each requires much study. One day I’ll focus on each one of them, one at a time. Generally, the big dinner parable ties in all of the previous verses. Our heart ought to be one that seeks the LORD on the Sabbath, and not one that seeks our own way. The LORD heals, He forgives the repentant, He teaches and He celebrates on the Sabbath. We must count the cost of our faith. Is anything in this world worth giving up eternal life for? I say no. Yeshua must come first before all else. He seeks the sinners for repentance, and He favors the one whose heart is gracious, who welcomes sinners back who repent rather than gloats in their righteousness. It is only by following Yeshua that we can become righteous. It is by His grace that any of our shortcomings are covered so that we can walk righteously. How could we boast, when we deserve death? The Judgment is coming and the law is eternal. We will be held accountable to it, and if we do not come in repentance before the LORD and plead for His mercy, walking righteously from that point forward, we cannot enter into life. Once we die, there are no more chances. The time is now to humble ourselves before the LORD.

Luke 17, Luke 18

We must be like the unworthy slaves in Yeshua's parable, not expecting anything for obedience, because we simply do what we ought by obeying Yahweh's commands. It is His grace that saves us from sin and allows us to dine at His table. How unworthy would the slaves be if they did not do what was commanded? They would be cast out, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. As unworthy slaves, do we praise our Master when He heals us of our leprous sin, or keep on walking as if we are entitled to His grace? We cannot be like the Pharisee who shouts grace, grace, and look at me and how great a Christian I am, but we must be like the Tax Collector, who pleads for the LORD's mercy in all humility, knowing that He has every reason to destroy us. His grace alone saves us. A day will come when His Kingdom will become reality here on Earth. It will be just like when Noah entered the Ark and the whole world washed away beneath Him. When He reemerged into the same world, He had a new opportunity to walk righteously with God. The next time, fire will burn up all unrighteousness, even within ourselves. We must ensure Yeshua sits on the throne of our heart so that we may remain in Him and walk out into the Kingdom of our inheritance.

As we wait, our prayer life should be constant and consistent, always relying on God and giving Him thanks and praise. "Will God not bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night?" What does it mean, "when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Remember Noah was one of eight people who got onto the Ark and was saved. Will there be eight left to be "raptured" when Yeshua returns, or will we all be martyred by then? My guess is the latter, particularly on account of Revelation 13, which makes clear that the enemy will have full authority to destroy the saints. There will be a great resurrection from the dead, and those who remain will be caught up in the clouds also. There won't be many. Are you prepared to die for the LORD? This is why Paul writes, "I die daily," and Yeshua exhorts our attitude to be: "Have mercy upon me, a sinner." We must receive the Kingdom as a child, totally dependent on our Father, totally obedient to His commands, totally in awe of Him and all of His ways, excited just to be in His presence. If we want to enter life, "you know the commandments..." We must keep them, and while this may seem impossible, nothing is impossible with God. He sends us His Holy Spirit to help us.

Luke 19, Luke 20

Addressing antisemitism: Yeshua was a Jew, His 12 apostles were Jews, and the first 3000 men saved on the day of Pentecost were Jews, not counting their families. The priests whom Yeshua had called to lead His people in righteousness from the days of Moses are the ones who rejected Him—the ruling class. The Jewish people for 100 years loved Him, believed in Him, followed Him and became the first Christians. Gentiles didn't become Christians in any number until later. Cornelius was one of few. Yeshua came to the Jews first, and then Gentiles. There is a lot of antisemitism mixed in with Christian orthodoxy, and I will write again on this matter. Consider all of Romans 11, but especially verses 19-20: "You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. DO NOT BE HAUGHTY, BUT FEAR. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness." The ones who rejected Yeshua were Scribes and Pharisees—rulers! Our LORD calls for humility and love; He will never forget His people Israel who call upon His Name.

The story of Zaccheus is incredible to me because of all stories it shows that the LORD is merciful per Ezekiel 18 and 33, and ready to forgive all who come to Him with humility and repentance. This “chief tax collector,” an enemy of God and His people, earnestly sought after the LORD and went out of His way just to see Him. He joyfully accepted the LORD’s request to stay at his house. And he was also quick to humble himself, saying, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I am giving to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I am giving back four times as much.” If you read Leviticus 6:1-7, this man was truly going the extra mile. His obligation may only have been to restore the full value to the neighbors he extorted and then 1/5th more. His heart was on fire for the LORD to the point that He simply didn’t see any value in what once was more valuable than life to him. Once He met the Creator of all life, none of this mattered to him anymore and all he wanted was Yeshua. This is why Yeshua wanted to dine with Zaccheus. This is the heart we ought to have if we want the LORD to dine with us.

Yeshua’s parable of the nobleman’s slaves is important, for it explains who exactly He will save and destroy upon His return. The three slaves believe in the nobleman and they accept Him as the ruler of the Kingdom to come, but only two of them are given an inheritance in the kingdom, which is delayed in its actualization. The ones who take the gifts given by the LORD—salvation by grace as well as the Holy Spirit to help them obey the LORD’s commandments and produce fruit—these are the ones given an inheritance. The one who receives the gift but does nothing with it is cast out and any gift he was given is handed over to those who actually did the work the LORD called them to do, which is obedience to His commands. In other words, this one loses his salvation and becomes like one of the rebels. The LORD will also utterly destroy, with the sword (the Word of God), every single person, whether Jew or Gentile, who rebelled against His rule. Revelation 14:20 explains that the blood will be so high in this slaughter on the Last Day that it will flow as high as the bridles on the horses. The LORD’s age of grace is coming to an end; we must repent and walk humbly before our God, doing the will of the Father and teaching others the same.

The vine-growers are the Jewish leaders who rejected the King, and these were the people shouting crucify Him in the courtyard. These were not the same people who were saying Hosanna when He walked into Jerusalem. His disciples scattered, but only one of them was lost, Judas, according to Yeshua Himself in His own prayer. John 17:12 reads, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Not one of the people who followed Yeshua was lost. They ran away afraid and hid, but never did they turn against Him and say “crucify Him.” There is no Biblical evidence of this. The vine-growers who crucified the LORD were rulers over the Jews, and they couldn’t stand to lose their own power, not even to God Himself. They themselves taught their own authority exceeded the very Word of God in Scripture, just like many church leaders do today. To me, this is a very sure sign of who is following Yeshua and who is not. The one who follows Him will be doing the will of the Father, which is spelled out in His Word. The one who rebels against Him stands proudly against His Word. Yeshua will judge at the End.

The LORD teaches us that when we who trust in Him and follow Him are resurrected on the LAST Day, we will be like the angels, the sons of God, and we “cannot even die anymore.” The angels, if you recall from Genesis 6:1-4, sinned an unforgivable sin by taking human wives and having children with them. When we are in Heaven, this fleshly desire will no longer be a part of our reality. Life will be eternal, so there will be no need to produce offspring. The LORD will have His people to help Him rule for all eternity, and He Himself will sit on the throne in our midst. This is why it is so very important for us to give to God what is God’s, which is absolutely everything that we have, including our very own lives, because He is worthy of it all. Caesar can have his blasphemous coins back with their graven images, but even the metal belongs to God and will be reclaimed in the fire of judgment when the images are melted off and the earth is refreshed with the purity that God Himself designed from the beginning. In light of this promise, we must be humble before our LORD and never think of ourselves as more highly than we ought. We must exclaim, have mercy on me, a sinner! Without His mercy, not a single soul will live in the fire.

Luke 21, Luke 22

In Luke's Gospel, we know that the factual chronology was of utmost importance to him in his writing, and that is why these three verses stick out to me today: 1) "Now the first day of Unleavened Bread came, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And so Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.” > The Last Supper was a Passover Seder. 2) "He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” > The Passover Supper will be celebrated from that moment in memory of Yeshua all the way into His Kingdom, and it will be celebrated in eternity also. This tells us the Passover was not ended by the LORD's coming, but rather given its full understanding. 3) “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.” > This verse shows that the Hebraic understanding of the day is upheld in Yeshua's ministry. He was eating the Passover Seder on Thursday night (that year AD 30), and sundown is the beginning of the day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread. The day would not end until sundown on Friday, and Yeshua would be buried before the day was over, before the High Sabbath during the week of Passover/Unleavened Bread would begin at sundown on Friday.

Reading Luke 21 in the NASB 2020 this year was very clarifying. The LORD speaks clearly about three events: the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 135, and the coming of the End of the World and the Last Day TBD, but coming soon. He gave us good advise for the various times of tribulation that would come: Do not look for false Messiahs, for the one true Messiah's arrival would be unmistakable. The heavens as we know them will literally disappear and we will see into the Spiritual realm, God sitting on His throne above us, and this is when Yeshua will come. When the sun and the moon and stars are gone entirely and the veil over the Spiritual reality is uncovered, this is when He will come. How terrifying will this be for unbelievers, and how wonderful for believers who follow Yeshua's will! In the meantime, we must not be alarmed by darkness in the world, we must understand that we will see terrible things, we must understand that persecution is coming. The LORD will provide us with everything we need to endure, but it is up to us to endure, to keep our faith, to overcome deception and to walk in righteousness despite every attempt of the enemy to sift us as wheat. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but the WORD will not pass away. The law is eternal, and our King is eternal. Our endurance ensures we will be with Him.

Luke 23, Luke 24

On the Road to Emmaus, the LORD unveiled the Scriptures that taught about Him to the two men, something He still does today for each of us as we read His Word and rely on HIs Spirit to help us understand it. The LORD uses the Word to exhort, to convict, to correct, to teach, and to guide His people toward His Kingdom. He is the First Fruits of Salvation, and rose with a physical body that could be touched, but also one that could move through walls and appear and disappear. When the Resurrection of the Dead occurs, we will follow Him into His kingdom and be so adorned with a similar Body, now eternally alive in Messiah. They broke bread with Him on the third day of Unleavened Bread, for each day of the Feast we are to break unleavened bread in memory of the Lord, who gave His sinless flesh so that we might have life. Now in Messiah Yeshua, we acknowledge His sacrifice offered through the bread of remembrance and we renew our covenant with Him through the cup of His blood. Torah and the Psalms and the Prophets are now filled up by Him, and in Him alone we have great joy and ought to praise God for our salvation.

Acts 1, Acts 2, Acts 3

When Yeshua says, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” Is He talking to the people in front of Him or to all of us, too? We know for sure that the Apostles would not see the End of Days, but Yeshua did command His followers to watch. He said we would know the End by the parable of the fig tree; when it comes forth and bears leaves we know that summer is near, but it is not yet the season for fruit when the LORD will destroy the tree and curse it so no fruit ever grows on it again. Thus, we should know that there will be signs of life after a winter of darkness (the tribulation), but it will not yet have fully blossomed into fruit (a revival) when Israel calls out, Baruch Hashem Yeshua, and He will return. We don't know the day or the hour of His return, but we do know He will return in the same manner in which He left, riding on the clouds. What a magnificent sight it will be.

I wonder about Justus. What would it have been like to have been put forward as a man who could sit among the 12, whose task it was to preserve and promulgate the Gospel of Yeshua HaMashiach to all of the world, and then have God Himself reject you. Sometimes God says "no." There is some tradition that Justus went on to become Bishop of Eleutheropolis, and if so, at least he didn't leave the faith after this rejection. But still, what would that have been like? I think it's important to consider, for when we doubt our own standing with God, how must have Justus felt? The devil sure had a field to work with there. Whenever we find ourselves in a situation like this, when we feel like God is saying "No," we have to be still and know that God has a plan. We don't know what happened to Justus for sure, but we know that God uses all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Matthias had a more difficult role. He would have to go out and teach the Gospel to a generation completely enthralled with demon worship and rejection of God. His task required courage and faith, and God knew what He was doing picking Matthias. Not all can be apostles, but each of us have a role in the Body of Yeshua.

When Shavuot (Pentecost) arrived, Jews were in Jerusalem from all over the ancient world to celebrate this Holy Convocation. The apostles received the Holy Spirit in an experience very similar to what happened in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai. There, the Holy Spirit wrote the commandments on tablets of Sapphire stone and the people rejected the Spirit, asking Moses to intercede for them with God. Now, the people were receiving the Spirit, just as the LORD had promised. When the Prophet like unto Moses came in the flesh, died for our sins and rose from the dead, Yeshua became the new Mediator between the Most High and Man, and He enabled us to receive His Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of Yahweh, so that each of us could have a similar relationship with the Father as Moses had at Sinai. Now, we would have the law written on our hearts, and the Spirit of God would convict us of sin, lead us to repentance, and help us walk by the righteousness. It was indeed a dark generation, but light came upon 3000 men that day who were saved from their perverse generation. As we go out today with the Gospel, do we speak with the same boldness as Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, ready to save souls? He saved 3,000 all at once. What an amazing day!

Peter went on in this boldness to teach right within the same Temple where Yeshua had taught just two months prior. At this time, they sought to put Him to death and they succeeded, but not for long. Our Lord rose from the dead and imparted His Holy Spirit on His followers. It was by the name of Yeshua that a crippled man was healed so that he could walk, and Peter was very clear about this as the onlookers hoped to follow him as a new worker of wonders. "Why are you amazed at this .. as though by our own power or godliness we have made him walk? ... On the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Yeshua that has strengthened this man ... and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health." This miracle was given by God as a testimony to call the onlookers to repentance, and Peter does not let the opportunity go by. He said: "repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." The time for salvation was at hand, and through Peter's testimony, many more came to follow after Yeshua, the seed by whom all of the nations of the earth would be blessed.

Acts 4, Acts, 5, Acts 6

The 12 said: “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables," and they appointed people to do so. If the Word of God must be preached, even with prison or death confronting us, as it did Peter and the 11 in the Temple, and the Word of God must be preached when they were freely going about serving now 8,000 Jewish men and their families who believed, then it is safe to deduce that there is nothing more important than preaching the Word. Our own physical well being and service of others are both subordinate to the Word of God. This is consistent with the Greatest and Second Greatest Commandments. The most important thing is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and that means, as Yeshua said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." The Torah, the Prophets and the Life of Yeshua are the commandments, their meaning and our example of how to follow them. The Holy Spirit gives us utterance as each situation warrants. This comes first before anything else. The second greatest is to love one another, and clearly this must come second. So long as we know that the Word of God must come first, and ensure that it does, service is an essential second part of the faith. Pastors take note.

While Scripture is clear that we must obey the governing authorities because they are given their authority from God, Scripture is also clear that when this authority conflicts with the Word of God, we must obey God and not man. Even Yeshua subjected Himself to the governing authorities and allowed Himself to be crucified under their unjust abuse of power, but that did not stop Him from rising from the dead and upending their whole power structure. It didn't stop Him from allowing the Romans to come in and destroy their Temple in AD 70 and then their city in AD 135. It didn't stop Him from sending His Spirit to overcome 8,000 Jews, who spoke about His life, death and resurrection with everyone who had ears to hear. The governing authorities did not have any power over the works of God, and they don't now, either. When the Holy Spirit opened the prison doors, Peter stepped out, but he didn't run. He continued doing the work the Holy Spirit put on his heart, right in the same place he was arrested. And 5,000 people, adding to the 3,000 from before, came to know the LORD. This ministry is epic, and it is the same purpose given to each of us.

Acts 7, Acts 8

Stephen provided interesting commentary on Torah, which we should take to heart. Recorded in Scripture now, he adds details to the story of Abraham and the other Patriarchs that help us more fully understand the history and the spiritual reality of the Fathers. The leaders of the people continuously sought their own way, rather than turn their hearts toward God's correction, and this routinely led them to attack the messengers of God rather than repent. Their self centeredness was not lost but enhanced when Yeshua came and they rejected Him. These same leaders, wolves in sheep's clothing, now do the same thing in the Christian Church. They literally stop up their ears and say "la, la, la, la" as loud as they can so they cannot hear correction from righteous messengers of God. Who are you to correct me; I have a doctorate in divinity and you haven't even attended seminary, they say. This story is not exclusive to the Jewish leaders, but any religious leader, and we must watch ourselves to make sure that we do not fall into this same trap. An overseer of the LORD speaks the LORD's Word and teaches how it all speaks Truth, and not one jot or tittle of it is lost. A wolf in sheep's clothing runs circles around the Word and invents their own way or subtracts from Torah, and this leads them any anyone who follows them to destruction. Stephen, for his part, is waiting for his crown among the martyrs as he rests in his grave for the resurrection on the Last Day.

I find it interesting that the LORD scattered the Apostles and Nazarene believers via persecution, in much the same way that He did at the Tower of Babel, and when Israel had entered the land. He had to bring discomfort upon them in order to get them to actually obey His command to "go forth and multiply," or to "go and preach the Gospel and baptize." We see it's related, for Philip baptized the Eunuch and then was translated like Enoch and Elijah to another place to continue spreading the Gospel. This Eunuch was reading Isaiah 56, which had given him great faith that he as a eunuch would be included in the Kingdom, but he didn't understand Isaiah 53 and Philip helped him identify Yeshua as the one who fulfilled both prophesies, giving them their full meaning. From the story of Peter and Simon the warlock, we learn key tools for the art of Spiritual Warfare: Simon came into the faith desiring power, which is freely given by God, but for his own ends, which is a perversion. Peter said: repent from this wickedness and pray that the LORD will remove the "gall of bitterness" and "the bondage of unrighteousness." A man who is in spiritual bondage from the enemy needs release through Messiah Yeshua, and this takes actual verbal prayer and visible repentance, to cast off the enemy and claim spiritual freedom. It seems from the story that Simon desired this.

Acts 9, Acts 10

Rav Shaul, known to us in English as Paul, saw a vision of the risen LORD, which changed his murderous heart to one of repentance, humility and obedience to Yeshua. "He is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel," the LORD said to Ananias. Saul doesn't waste any time. His zeal to destroy Christians was transformed to a zeal to convert as many as he could into followers of Yeshua. Only the LORD can bring such transformation to a person who desires life through Him, and in Saul's case, the LORD called him to life directly. He said yes through his baptism. His journey to convert sinners to saved believers would be wildly successful, but not without hardship. The LORD said, "I will show him how much he must suffer on behalf of My name." The hardened of heart were already seeking to kill him for his testimony, just in year one, but he would make it many years by obeying the LORD's command to "go forth and multiply." Due to his Torah knowledge, he was able to prove that Yeshua is the Messiah, which confounded the hardened of heart. How could God have chosen a better person than Paul to teach the Torah to Gentiles and even some of the more recalcitrant sons of Israel. Next Tarsus.

Peter's vision is often confused as some green light to eat all kinds of animals, but it by no means has that meaning and requires intellectually dishonest mental gymnastics to get there. Acts 10-11 is a fulfillment of Isaiah 43:20-28 and is directly related to Paul's conversion also. The LORD is ready to do this new thing that He said He would do through His prophet. When the LORD said, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat," to a VISION of Peter seeing "four-footed animals, crawling creatures and birds," Peter replied "By no means, LORD, for I have never eaten anything unholy or unclean." This vision did not change that for Peter or any follower of the LORD. The LORD replied, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." The exact context of this vision's meaning, which happened three times, fully establishing it, comes next. We read: "while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius ... appeared at the gate .. they were asking whether ... Peter was staying there." These men had been directed by Cornelius's vision to Peter, and Peter was prepared by his vision for them. Notice: When Peter goes with them and enters Cornelius's home, he says this, interpreting the entire section: “You yourselves know that it is forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner; and yet GOD HAS SHOWN ME THAT I AM NOT TO CALL ANY PERSON UNHOLY OR UNCLEAN. That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for." This is what the vision means, and Peter interprets it right within the context. The vision is not about eating unclean animals, something that God forbids by His law, the vision is about welcoming Gentiles into the faith, something God Himself prophesied would happen at the appointed time. After Cornelius, a Roman centurion and god-fearer (an uncircumcised worshipper of Yahweh), told Peter about his vision, Peter said this: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him." Peter's vision was about this very thing. After they hear the Gospel and receive the Holy Spirit, it is Peter who welcomes these first Gentiles into the faith. Peter said: “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” Now that the LORD used prophesy through Peter to make the way for Gentiles to come into the faith, Paul could go out, starting in Tarsus and Antioch, to preach to the Gentiles. His ministry would literally welcome the nations back to worship Yahweh through Yeshua for the first time since God had disowned the nations at the Tower of Babel. This was a new thing indeed, but it was prophesied in the Old Testament and is therefore verified.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 reads: "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance." Through Yeshua and Peter's vision, Yahweh was now bringing the nations back and allowing members to become His people. There's so much more to write on this, but this is the meaning of Peter's vision prophesied in Isaiah 43:20-28, among other places.

Acts 11, Acts 12

A passage in Acts 11 verifies what I've been teaching the last several days to the glory of God. It says: "So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, SPEAKING THE WORD TO NO ONE EXCEPT TO JEWS ALONE." Salvation through Yeshua was only among the Jews at first, and the 8,000 men spoken about saved in the early days of the Gospel were all Jews, as were their wives and children. The early church was made up of Jews alone, and Israel had already included some Gentiles who had converted to Judaism, such as the Eunuch. Peter's vision, therefore, is very clearly that turning point that led the early followers of Yeshua, the Nazarenes, to start spreading the Gospel to Gentiles. As Peter returned to the brethren, it's clear that they were not pleased he had baptized a Gentile Roman Centurion. We read: "the Jewish believers took issue with him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” He then explained his vision in the same detail that we read about in Acts 10. This explanation, including their receipt of the Holy Spirit, which would be poured out on all flesh, would lead to their change of heart.

Acts 11 makes the meaning of Peter's Vision even more clear, considering that this interpretation is now repeated twice in Scripture, establishing it as Truth. We read, "When they heard this [Peter's story], they quieted down and glorified God, saying, 'Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.'” This is an ancient prophesy fulfilled, and an ancient disownment of Yahweh toward the 70 nations (Gentiles) that has now been undone. Yahweh is welcoming back the 70 Gentile nations as a whole to worship Him as God, leaving behind their idols. Clearly, there were a handful of Gentiles along the way who turned to Yahweh on their own, but now all of them could return, if they so chose, until "the fullness of the Gentiles had come in" (Romans 11:25). This time of fullness is fast approaching, if it is not already here, and now Israel's hardness of heart is being undone, a sign of the soon return of our Messiah, while Gentiles are falling away en masse, a sign of the End. But in the first century, we can see that Peter's vision stimulated the early church's mission to Antioch, where the first Gentile church was established and both Barnabas and Paul would first go to work on an official mission.

The church was under heavy persecution by the leaders of Judea at this time, because the work of Yeshua's Holy Spirit was upending their authority and uniting groups of people who were previously separate from one another, and this caused the church to multiply. This uniting of disparate peoples is what caused the most consternation among those who did not know the LORD, for they prefer their separate paths. Through the work of the devil, they would work to reclaim this idea, even within the Church. We ought to look to Romans 11 and Ephesians 2 to discredit any false doctrine of separation, for Yeshua was clearly working to unite all under His name, just as prophesied. Herod, who was half Jew and half Edomite, sought to solidify the earlier hegemony by locking up Peter, but this was not yet Peter's appointed time to be stretched out, and the LORD's angel came to release him from bondage,  a testimony further solidifying the church. Meanwhile, Herod's rule and the spiritual hosts of wickedness who enabled his power would be coming to an end. As Herod stood up to speak, attempting to solidify a new alliance, he addressed the men of Tyre and Sidon and accepted praise. Because of this, God brought an abrupt death to him in judgment.

Acts 13, Acts 14, Acts 15

The Antioch mentioned in Acts 13-15 was in Galatia, a part of what is Turkey today, and thus the letter to the Galatians can be understood as the second letter to the Galatians, and the first letter to the Galatians can be read in Acts 15 today. The controversy discussed throughout these chapters was that we must circumcise our foreskin as men to be saved, and become immediately obedient to the whole law of Moses. In Acts 15, James, the head of the Messianic Sanhedrin, makes it very clear this is not the case. He said we must follow the food laws and  keep free from sexual immorality upon becoming Christians, for blood, strangling and sacrificing food to idols were the three things specified by Torah that made clean food unclean, and sexual immorality was a whole territory of Torah law on its own. Understood in this exhortation was the idea that Gentiles would no longer eat unclean food, for to the Apostles, swine, mice, and other flesh was not even considered food or meat, and would have been understood as forbidden. The rules given to the early Gentile Christians were that they could eat Levitically clean meat that had been made unclean by the three things mentioned.

Subsequent to Gentile conversion, and salvation by grace alone, James further instructed: "For from ancient generations Moses has those who preach him in every city, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” Within our reading in Acts 13-15, we can see that Paul, Barnabas and the other Church leaders were going into the synagogues on the Sabbath, and that is where Gentiles came to hear the Gospel and that is also where they heard the law of Moses. Upon cleansing their temples, for the body is now the Temple of God that received the Holy Spirit of God, the people could listen to the law of Moses and allow the Spirit to convict them as they grew in their faith to follow after God according to the Word God had laid out. These Gentile Christians did not have to immediately follow all the law to be saved, for salvation is by grace alone, and not even the Jews kept the law perfectly and also needed this same grace for their salvation. However, as the preponderance of Scripture makes clear, once saved by this grace we are to walk in the way that Messiah Yeshua walked, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and that meant following the law of Moses as the Spirit led them.

The Book of Galatians, which is the Second letter to the Galatians following Acts 15, simply explained that circumcision was a sign of the old covenant, and now the receipt of the Holy Spirit would be a sign of the new covenant. There is no law for a convert to be circumcised in the flesh, and Paul makes that abundantly clear in his letter. The Jews from Judea were trying to make an argument for a fleshly circumcision for all converts, because this was the law that the Maccabees had put in place following their reclamation of Jerusalem from Antiochus Epiphanies IV that we read about in Maccabees 1 and 2. The Maccabees created a new order for Jews in the Diaspora that included circumcision as a requirement to be counted as a Jew, which is why we read about "god-fearers" and "proselytes" in our reading. God-fearers were Gentile followers of Yahweh who did not become circumcised, and proselytes were Gentiles followers of Yahweh who had become fully Jewish by circumcising their foreskin. Paul, James, Peter and the whole counsel are making it clear in our reading that these rules of men do not apply any longer, and that no circumcision of the flesh would be needed to become a follower of Yeshua. Only the circumcision made without hands, the receipt of the Holy Spirit, would be needed, and then this same Spirit would lead them in obedience as they continued to be sanctified in their walk with Messiah.

Acts 16, Acts 17

I saw an interesting verse in Acts 16: "They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; and passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas." I think it's important for modern Christians to grasp this. Sometimes the LORD says no to spreading the Word in a particular area or in a certain context. There is no doubt whatsoever that Yeshua has all power and all authority, and through Him He has given this authority to us, but we must remember that He is the vine, and we are the branches and apart from Him we can do nothing. We ought to rely on the LORD's voice for everything we do and turn to prayer to help guide us. Following this redirection, which could have been very discouraging, the LORD sent encouragement by way of a vision; a Macedonian man pleaded for their help. This is where they met Lydia, who became a Christian, a wealthy supporter of the ministry and a hostess for church services. We have to follow the leading of the LORD at all times, for His plans are to prosper us, to give us a future and a hope, even when we don't know where we're going or what's in store.

Paul's impatience landed Silas and him in prison, but the LORD used the opportunity to bring the jailer and his whole household to the faith. Paul expressed such love for his fellow man, for his enemy, that this person wanted the hope that was in him. This is the type of witness we must give. When the authorities attempted to release him quietly, upon learning about his Roman citizenship, Paul insisted on the authorities to come and do it themselves. I can't imagine Paul didn't use the opportunity to preach to them, which is probably why they asked him to leave the city. While one hardened man's heart was softened, the others would not receive the same call on their lives. We must learn from Paul and Silas to go from house to house, from person to person, being ready to preach and teach those who are willing, but to walk away from those who are not. Yeshua never forced anyone to believe in Him, and neither should we. Paul's example here solidifies these ideas.

In Athens, Paul was deeply troubled by the idolatry he witnessed. I don't even want to start to describe it, but it's bad—really bad. Despite this darkness all around him, Paul found an opportunity to preach about the LORD and His resurrection. Most dismissed his ideas, but we learn that a handful believed, "among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” We're not going for large crowds of believers, but one or two or maybe a handful of thoughtful men and women who are willing to give their lives to Yeshua. These are the men we ought to cultivate through discipleship, because their hearts are willing. Without willing hearts, the exercise of evangelism is fruitless, and so is pastoring a church. The church would be as good as dead without desire to love the LORD. As we go out, we're looking for that passionate few we can work with to exhort, rebuke and train in righteousness; who are willing to wash one another's feet and encourage one another for the good works that lead to eternal life.

Acts 18, Acts 19, Acts 20

I see Paul and his disciples wandering around the Mediterranean, shrewd like serpents and harmless like doves. He preached publicly when he could, hoping to reach the lost, but he focused his attention on those who were hungry for the Word and willing and able to learn and grow in their faith to become his fellow workers. He trained up Pricilla and Aquila for this purpose, a couple my wife Jen and I look to as a model. They were tent makers, like Paul; they earned their own living and did not survive on the proceeds from tithing. I see myself as a "financial tent" maker, of sorts, as a financial advisor, but the financial house of this world can never be anything more than a temporary dwelling, and the Kingdom of God is a much better house to prepare for. Aquila and Pricilla, for their part, took aside Apollos, who did not know the baptism of Yeshua, and taught him the Way more accurately. Perhaps he wasn't teaching the whole counsel of God, but now he would understand it. Apollos and his followers went through a second baptism in Messiah Yeshua, by their own choice, because their first baptism in John was not sufficient in the faith. I did such a second baptism by choice myself with Jen, for one must freely choose to be baptized in Messiah Yeshua; this is not a salvation that others can choose for you.

We see a warning against proudly using the name of Yeshua to cast out demons. Without the LORD's direct involvement in such an endeavor, and significant faith, we should not just go and start casting out demons. Evil spirits are powerful, and if the LORD is not with you in the endeavor, the experience can leave you wounded and naked. We cannot just use His name and go about wherever we wish, but we must be fully grafted-in to Yeshua and rely on Him to lead us where we should go. If Yeshua is in control of a situation like this, and we hear His instruction directly, then we can get involved. We also see the reality of people who profit off of their pagan religious traditions getting sorely offended by the introduction of Yeshua into their communities. A true follower of Yeshua doesn't need religious relics or rosaries or statues or images to worship Him, they only need the Holy Spirit of God, and this gift is given freely to those earnestly seeking Yeshua with all of their hearts. Obviously, the proprietors of religious relics, like Demetrius, are going to make trouble for those trying to free others from bondage. Sometimes it's enough to plant some seeds and let the LORD do the rest, and this is what Paul and his disciples are doing here. They laid low while deliberations took place, and the matter blowed over on its own. This is wisdom.

We see Paul in Troas meeting with the brothers and then settling in for some food after the sun had gone down on the Sabbath. They stayed together into the wee hours of the First Day of the Week, hanging on Paul's every word, and the opportunity arose for a miracle. A man fell asleep and fell out the window, dying, but Paul through faith revived him. He left the next day, Sunday morning, earnestly desiring to be in Jerusalem for Shavuot (Pentecost). Many use this story to say the disciples met on Sundays, but a Hebraic understanding of Scripture makes this deduction impossible. The First Day of the Week began at sundown on Saturday, and thus their meal was at dinner time as the sun went down, and this meeting was a continuation of their Sabbath celebration. It wasn't mentioned as such because a Sabbath celebration was to be expected. The unusual piece is that they stayed together so long that their meeting carried on through the night. This occurred because they were seeing Paul off. We've had Sabbath celebrations like this that carry on very late into the First Day of the Week. It's a blessing indeed when the occasion warrants it, especially when we are with brothers and sisters we don't often see.

Acts 21, Acts 22, Acts 23

The Jews of Jerusalem were angry that Paul had seemingly established a new method to convert Gentiles to Judaism. The "official" manner in which to convert was well established, having been derived following the Maccabean revolt in the intertestamental period. Paul's teaching was through faith in Yeshua and receipt of the Holy Spirit one would be considered a grafted-in child of Israel, who would be led by the Spirit to understand Torah. To an orthodox "rabbinical" Jew, this was heresy and it was causing a major cultural clash. This is why they listened to Paul's conversion story peacefully—Christianity was well established in Judaism as the Nazarene sect by this point, but when he mentioned Yeshua's command—"Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles'"—an uproar ensued. We read: ”They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, 'Away with such a man from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!'” This pinpoints the issue, and it remains an issue to this day, now on both sides of the divide, which grieves me. Read Ephesians 2:11-22, and you will see that Paul was teaching Gentiles they are members of Israel through Messiah—the Truth. Let's move now to unite as one Body in Messiah.

Acts 24, Acts 25, Acts 26

In this wonderful account of Paul's Messianic testimony before rulers and authorities, Tertullus, the Jewish attorney prosecuting Paul, called Christians "the sect of the Nazarenes." Contemplate this: Christianity had grown so much among the Jews that it was literally considered a Jewish sect. Again, their concern wasn't with Christianity at this point, but with bringing Gentiles in. Paul, however, corrected Tertullus and called Christianity "the Way," which it is, indicating that it is not just one way of doing things but the only Way of obtaining peace with God. He said, "I confess this to you, that in accordance with the Way, which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the Prophets; having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." The manner in which we ought to walk as Christians is identified as "the Way" right here. As followers of Yeshua, we ought to serve/worship the Father, believing in and abiding in Torah and the Prophets, hoping in the salvation we have through Yeshua, so that when He returns we may be resurrected unto New Life with Him.

Paul discussed "righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come" with Felix and Drusilla his wife, a model of how we ought to convict others toward faith. The Law defines righteousness, and while we are made righteous by the blood of Messiah, we ought to follow Yeshua in righteousness by abiding in the Law so that when He comes in judgment we may enter into life with Him. The Way, in other words, is "to do the will of the Father" while accepting the saving grace of Yeshua. For his part, Felix had an opportunity for salvation, but rejected it with worldly sorrow—he "became frightened," sending Paul away, never calling him back. Paul's next opportunity was with Agrippa and Festus, with whom he made clear: "I have done nothing wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar," a model for us. At his next opportunity, he explained his testimony of conversion and noted "that we are to repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance." Agrippa said, “In a short time you are going to persuade me to make a Christian of myself.” The answer is "yes," and again this is our model. Next, Paul would appeal to Caesar, not for his own life, but for all to come to faith in Messiah Yeshua.

Acts 27, Acts 28

In the narrative about Paul's sea voyage, we read: "When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul started admonishing them..." The "fast," which was the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, takes place in late September, early October, and would have been a dangerous time to navigate the Mediterranean Sea. This highlights the Hebraic understanding of Paul's Christianity, which we ought to model. God's Biblical Holy Days were always a part of life for Paul, the Apostles and the early Christians, and to truly follow Yeshua, we ought to be keeping them, too. We see in the midst of trouble, shipwreck and snakebites, Paul's attention was on the people around him; on preaching the Word of God. Even when he arrived in Rome, His primary focus was to teach the Gospel to all who would hear, whether Jews, Greeks or Romans. If the Jews wouldn't listen, he'd preach to the Gentiles. If the Gentiles wouldn't listen, he'd move on to the next group, but for two full years he preached the Kingdom of God to all who would listen, and he taught things about the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach with all openness. The LORD will allow this for us, also, until the appointed time. On Paul's last day, he would be decapitated, but as a martyr of the LORD, he will receive a special crown on the Day of Resurrection when we will all stand together who have followed after the LORD.