Category: Red Letter Words

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 9

Yeshua Meets the Women at the Well ~ Part 2

We continue our story of Yeshua’s ministry in Shomron as He Meets the Women at the Well.

15 “Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to Him, “so that I won’t have to be thirsty and keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 She answered, “I don’t have a husband.” Yeshua said to her, “You’re right; you don’t have a husband! 18 You’ve had five husbands in the past, and you’re not married to the man you’re living with now! You’ve spoken the truth!”

If the woman had five previous husbands who either died or divorced her, she would have exceeded the traditional limit of three husbands in Jewish law.

19 “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet,” the woman replied.

I can see that you are a prophet because you supernaturally knew about my sin. The Tanakh prophets spoke forth God’sWord concerning the sins of Isra’el and other nations; the prophecy was a secondary aspect of their ministry.

20 “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim.”

This mountain refers to Mount Gerizim, the holy mountain for the Samaritan community. The mountain was visible from the well where Yeshua and the woman were speaking.

21 Yeshua said, “Lady, believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim. 22 You people don’t know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know because salvation comes from the Jews.

Yeshua does not take up the debate over legitimate holy places. Instead, He points to a future time of salvation when worship will not be limited to any local sacred site, neither Mount Gerizim nor Jerusalem. How one worships is more important than where one worships.

Salvation comes from the Jews. Messianic Believers should acknowledge the Jewish roots of their faith and present close involvement with the Jewish people (Ephesians 2:13). Jews should acknowledge more specifically that only through Yeshua comes yeshu’ah, “salvation.”

 23 But the time is coming – indeed, it’s here now – when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping Him. 24 God is spirit, and worshippers must worship Him spiritually and truly.”

Verse 24 is sometimes misappropriated to support the mistaken idea that the Torah is inferior or is no longer in force, having been replaced by worship “in spirit and in truth” (the literal rendering of spiritually and truly). But spiritual and genuine worship is not to be set alongside or compared with the Torah. Instead, authentic, spiritual worship is God’s universal standard, which He also commands in the Torah itself. The Torah opposes legalism and the mere performance of acts and routines without genuine, spiritual involvement.

25 The woman replied, “I know that Mashiach (Messiah) is coming” (that is, “the one who has been anointed”). “When he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Yeshua said to her, “I, the person speaking to you, am He.”  ~ Yochanan 4:15-25

I, the person speaking to you, am He, literally, “I am, the one speaking to you.” Thus, He answers everyone who questions whether Yeshua proclaimed his own Messiahship. The declaration, “I am,” echoes Adonai’s self-revelation, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). Yeshua says this “I am” nine times in Yochanan’s Gospel (here; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:9; 18:5, 6, 8), implying a claim even more significant than being the Messiah.

Our next post will continue to examine that YeshuaMeets the Women at the Well ~ Part 3.

Click here for the PDF version.

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 8

Yeshua Meets the Women at the Well ~ Part 1

We pick up our story of Yeshua’s ministry in Shomron as He Meets the Women at the Well. As this a familiar story to most. It covers some thirty-two verses, so I decided to go short to provide the background and Yeshua’s response.

5 He came to a town in Shomron called Sh’khem, near the field Ya’akov had given to his son Yosef. 6 Ya’akov’s Well was there; so Yeshua, exhausted from His travel, sat down by the well; it was about noon.

Tel-Sh’khem (the archeological site of Sh’khem) is just outside modern Nablus in Shomron, and Ya‛akov’s Well, not far away, is a tourist site to this day.

As a human being, He experienced human exhaustion; as Son of God, He worked continuously (5:17); compare Hebrews 4:15.

7 A woman from Shomron came to draw some water, and Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.”

The standard time to draw water was morning or evening during the cooler hours of the day. This woman is coming to draw water at a time when no one else would usually be at the well.

8 (His talmidim had gone into town to buy food.) 9 The woman from Shomron said to Him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for water from me, a woman of Shomron?” (For Jews don’t associate with people from Shomron.) 10 Yeshua answered her, “If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water.”

Yeshua had a way of masterfully reaching the people with whom He shared. To the woman at the well, He spoke of living water. To aging Nicodemus, He talked about being born again. To the blind man, He identified Himself as the Light of the world (Yochanan 9:5). To sisters grieving the death of their brother, He was the Resurrection and the Life (Yochanan 11:25). To fishermen, He invited them to become fishers of men (Mattityahu 4:19). [1]

11 She said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep; so where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Ya’akov, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it, and so did his sons and his cattle.”

You don’t have a bucket. The woman misunderstands Yeshua as speaking of literal water; this is reasonable based on the use of living water as an idiom for spring water. The woman’s identification of Ya’akov as her ancestor shows the Samaritans believed themselves to be the rightful descendants of Ya’akov and true Israeli.

13 Yeshua answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!”  ~ Yochanan 4:5-14

In Hebrew, Mayim chayyim (literally, living water) means running water from a stream or spring, contrasting with water stored in a cistern. Figuratively, with Yeshua, it means spiritual life; see Yochanan 7:37–39.

Our next post will continue to examine that YeshuaMeets the Women at the Well ~ Part 2.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] Courson, J. (2003). Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (p. 466).

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 7

Yeshua Leaves for Galilee

We pick up our story of Yeshua’s ministry in Yochanan 4:1-4. 1 When Yeshua learned that the P’rushim had heard he was making and immersing more talmidim than Yochanan 2 (although it was not Yeshua himself who immersed but His talmidim), 3 Yeshua left Y’hudah and set out again for the Galil (Galilee). 4 This meant that he had to pass through Shomron (Samaria).

As you can see on the map below, the shortest distance to the Galil from Judea was to go directly thru Shomron.

There had historically been animosity since the exile of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, which continued in Yeshua’s day. Both groups excluded the other from their respective cultic centers, the Jerusalem Temple and the Samaritan Temple on Mt Gerizim. The Samaritans, for example, were forbidden access to the inner courts of the Temple, and any offering they might give was considered as if it were from a Gentile. Thus, although probably more accurately defined as “dissidents,” it appears Samaritans were in practice treated as Gentiles. Therefore, all marriage between the groups was forbidden, and social relations were greatly restricted (Yochanan 4:9). With such criminal separation, it is not surprising that any interaction between the two groups was strained. The mere term Samaritan was one of contempt on the lips of Jews (Yochanan 8:48), and among some scribes, it possibly would not even be uttered. [1]

Well, the best-laid plans don’t always work. I thought it would be wise to lay the background out that Yeshua was challenging conventional wisdom.

Our next post will examine that Yeshua Meets the Women at the Well.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible Dictionary. (p. 1154)​

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 6

For God So Loved the World

This, perhaps the most famous and most quoted of verses in the Brit Hadashah, epitomizes the truth of God that has come to Jews and Gentiles alike in Yeshua the Messiah. It teaches that:

  • God loves His creation, the world.
  • To love is to give, to love much is to give much, and God loves the world so much that He gave what is most precious to Him.
  • Yeshua was fully aware in advance that He would die as God’s own sacrifice.
  • Yeshua knew that he was uniquely God’s Son.
  • The destiny of man when he relies on himself and does not trust in Yeshua is total destruction – not the cessation of conscious existence, but the eternal suffering that is the inevitable consequence of sin.
  • The destiny of an individual who trusts in Yeshua is everlasting life – not only in the future but right now – not just survival beyond the grave, but positive life “in” Yeshua (1:4, 11:25–26).

Trusting in Yeshua is not mere intellectual acknowledgment but adherence to, commitment to, trust in, faith in, reliance upon Yeshua as fully human, wholly identified with us, and at the same time fully divine, completely identified with God.

16“For God so loved the world that he gave His only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in Him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.

This is the very first verse I memorized (in the KJV) when my mother took me to a Baptist VBS about seventy years ago.

17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.

The world is subject to condemnation and, in the end, will have its sinfulness condemned. But Yeshua’s first coming was not for that purpose. In the Day of Judgment, He will be the Judge who condemns the world (5:27).

18 Those who trust in Hm are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the One who is God’s only and unique Son.

Those who do not trust… Clearly, those who, upon hearing the Good News and understanding it, nevertheless refuse to trust are judged already. But what about those who have never heard of Yeshua? or who have heard but not understood? See Ro 2:14–16 and Lk 12:8–10.

19 “Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. 20 For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it so that his actions won’t be exposed. 21 But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that His actions are accomplished through God.” ~ Yochanan 3:16-21

This passage echoes Isaiah 59:2, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear.”

Click here for the PDF version.

Our next post will examine: Yeshua Leaves for Galilee and Meets the Women at the Well.

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 5

Yeshua’s Driving Merchants from the Temple

13 It was almost time for the festival of Pesach in Y’hudah, so Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. 14 In the Temple grounds, He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons and others who were sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 He made a whip from cords and drove them all out of the Temple grounds, the sheep, and cattle as well. He knocked over the moneychangers’ tables, scattering their coins; 16 and to the pigeon-sellers, he said, “Get these things out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?” 17 (His talmidim later recalled that the Tanakh says, “Zeal for your house will devour me.” [1]) 18 So the Judeans confronted him by asking him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?” 19 Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up again.” 20 The Judeans said, “It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the “temple” He had spoken of was His body.

But the “Temple” He had spoken of was His body.Yeshua often spoke obliquely to those He knew lacked faith (for another example, see v. 25 below). At Mattityahu 13:10–17, He answered at length the question of His talmidim, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” Like Nechemyah, he did not waste time in futile conversations with closed-minded people (Nehemiah 2:19–20, 6:2–3).

22 Therefore, when He was raised from the dead, His talmidim remembered that He had said this, and they trusted in the Tanakh and in what Yeshua had said.

At the end of Yeshua’s ministry, when He overturned the moneychangers’ tables a second time (Mattityahu 21:12), the talmidim recalled Yeshua’s quoting Psalm 69, “Zeal for your house will devour me” (above, v. 17). This shows that Yochanan’s Gospel attributes to the later overturning of tables in the Temple a significant immediate-causative role in Yeshua’s being brought to trial and death.

23 Now, while Yeshua was in Yerushalayim at the Pesach festival, there were many people who “believed in His name” when they saw the miracles He performed.

There were many people who “believed in his name” but not in Him (vv. 24–25). His miracles excited them, but they were not ready to acknowledge their sin and repent. In contrast, Nakdimon (3:1ff.) was a sincere seeker, and eventually, he came to genuine faith.

24 But He did not commit Himself to them, for He knew what people are like – 25 that is, He didn’t need anyone to inform Him about a person because He knew what was in the person’s heart. ~ Yochanan 2:13-25

He Has an Encounter with Nakdimon

1 There was a man among the P’rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans. 2 This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him.” 3 “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Yeshua neither criticizes Nakdimon for fearing to seek Him openly nor praises his insight in perceiving that Yeshua has come from God. Instead, He deals with him at his point of need, which is to be born again from above.

4 Nakdimon said to Him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

Born from water and the Spirit. Water immersion is connected with a ritual cleansing of the body (see above, 1:26–34, and Matt. 3:1–17). The Ruach gives power for turning from sin and living a holy life; both suggest aspects of purification. This is why born from water does not mean ordinary human birth; moreover, since everyone is “born from water” in that sense, it would be silly for Yeshua to make a condition out of it with the word unless.

 6 What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. 7 Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.”

The wind blows. There is a wordplay here since both the Greek word “pneuma” and the Hebrew word “ruach” may mean either “wind” or “spirit,” depending on context.

 9 Nakdimon replied, “How can this happen?” 10 Yeshua answered him, “You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, and you don’t know this?

You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, literally, “You are the teacher of Isra’el.” The use of the definite article implies that Nakdimon’s position was uniquely important, although it is difficult to reconstruct precisely what it was.

11 Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know, and what we give evidence of, we have seen, but you people don’t accept our evidence! 12 If you people don’t believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? 13 No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

It is sometimes asserted that Yeshua never claimed to be more than an ordinary human being. But here, He affirms His heavenly origin, and indeed, throughout Yochanan’s Gospel, He presents Himself as divine as well as human, both in function and in essence. We speak … we give evidence. Yeshua is associating Himself with other witnesses: Yochanan the Immerser (1:7, 32–34), Yesha’yahu (12:41), Avraham (8:56), Moshe (5:46), and the writers and subjects of the Tanakh (5:39).

14 Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life. ~ Yochanan 3:1-15

Just as the Isra’eli were saved from the plague of serpents when they gazed on the brass serpent raised by Moshe (Numbers 21:6–9), so all people are saved from eternal death, torment, and separation from God by gazing with spiritual eyes on the person of the Messiah Yeshua lifted up in death on the execution-stake.

Our next post will examine For God So Loved the World.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] Psalm 69:10(9).

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 4

Yeshua Calls His First Talmidim

The early ministry of Yeshua is reported solely by the Apostle Yochanan. His account shows the Yeshua’s teaching quickly appeals to ordinary people and results in many faithful talmidim.

35 The next day, [1] Yochanan (the Immerser) was again standing with two of his talmidim. 36 On seeing Yeshua walking by, he said, “Look! God’s lamb!” 37 His two talmidim heard Him speaking, and they followed Yeshua. 38 Yeshua turned and saw them following Him, and He asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi!” (which means “Teacher!”) “Where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” So, they went and saw where He was staying and remained with Him the rest of the day – it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who had heard Yochanan and had followed Yeshua was Andrew, the brother of Shim’on Kefa. 41 The first thing he did was to find his brother Shim’on and tell him, “We’ve found the Mashiach!”(The word means “one who has been anointed.”)

Mashiach …. The word means “one who has been anointed. This is one of the two places in the Brit Hadashah where the Hebrew word for Messiah is transliterated into Greek as Messias (the other is at 4:25). It shows that the author wanted to reflect the Jewish or Hebraic character of the speaker’s words. [2]

42 He took him to Yeshua. Looking at him, Yeshua said, “You are Shimon Bar-Yochanan; you will be known as Kefa.” (The name means “rock.”)

43 The next day, having decided to leave for the Galil, Yeshua found Philip and said, “Follow Me!” 44 Philip was from Beit-Tzaidah, the town where Andrew and Kefa lived. 45 Philip found Natan’el and told him, “We’ve found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets – it’s Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!”

The one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah. See Deuteronomy 18:15–18 and Acts 3:22, which quotes this passage. Yeshua fulfills Moshe’s prophecy. Also the Prophets wrote about Yeshua.

It has always amazed me that all Yeshua had to say to Philip was Follow Me! He said the same thing to Mattityahu. In both narratives, there is no indication that Yeshua had any prior exposure to these two talmidim. According to my Logos software, thirty-nine times Follow Me is used by Yeshua in the Gospel’s.

Natan’el is not mentioned as one of the Twelve in the Synoptic Gospels but is usually identified with Bartholomew (whom Yochanan never mentions by name). Natan’el means “God has given.”

46 Natan’el answered him, “Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?” “Come and see,” Philip said to him. 47 Yeshua saw Natan’el coming toward him and remarked about him, “Here’s a true son of Isra’el – nothing false in him!” 48 Natan’el said to him, “How do you know me?” Yeshua answered him, “Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Natan’el said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra’el!” 50 Yeshua answered him, “you believe all this just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that!” 51 Then He said to him, “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man!”  ~ ~ Yochanan 1:35-51

Yeshua Performs His First Miracle

In chapter 2, Yochanan (the Apostle) presents a series of signs or miracles designed to prove Yeshua’s identity as the Messiah and Son of God. In this first sign, Yeshua turns water into wine at a wedding in Kanah attended by His family and talmidim.

1 On Tuesday, there was a wedding at Kanah in the Galil; and the mother of Yeshua was there. 2 Yeshua too was invited to the wedding, along with His talmidim. 3 The wine ran out, and Yeshua’s mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.” 4 Yeshua replied, “Mother, why should that concern me? – or you? My time hasn’t come yet.”

My time (literally, “my hour”) hasn’t come yet. Yochanan’s Gospel often has Yeshua speaking about His time (7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1), and each occasion has a reason. Here the reason is that Yeshua’s mother had been informed, even before He was born, that He was meant for greatness (Luke 1:35, 43); she had heard others prophesy about Him (Luke 2:25–38); she had observed His development (Luke 2:40, 51), although not always with understanding (Luke 2:41–50); and she had known that future generations would bless her (Luke 1:48). Yeshua’s comment is meant to aid her in the transition from seeing Him as her child to seeing Him as her Lord, to keep her from undue pride, and to indicate that He as Lord sovereignly determines when He will intervene in human affairs. He does not perform miracles on demand merely to impress His friends. [3]

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

From Miryam’s response, Do whatever he tells you, it is evident that she was neither dissatisfied nor put off by her son but received his communication in the right spirit.

6 Now, six stone water jars were standing there for the Jewish ceremonial washings, each with a capacity of twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Yeshua told them, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8 He said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the man in charge of the banquet,” and they took it. 9 The man in charge tasted the water; it had now turned into wine! He did not know where it had come from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. So, he called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone else serves the good wine first and the poorer wine after people have drunk freely. But you have kept the good wine until now!” 11 This, the first of Yeshua’s miraculous signs, (emphasis added) He did at Kanah in the Galil; He manifested His glory, and His talmidim came to trust in Him.

This verse states the purpose of Yeshua’s miracle: to anchor the trust of His new talmidim in the glory of God as manifested through Him.

12 Afterwards, He, His mother and brothers, and His talmidim went down to K’far-Nachum and stayed there a few days. ~ Yochanan 2:1-12

Our next post will examine Yeshua’s Driving Merchants for the Temple, and He Has an Encounter with Nicodemus.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] The day after His Baptism.

[2] Stern, D. H. (1996). Jewish New Testament Commentary.

[3] Ibid.

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 3

Yeshua’s Baptism

13 Then Yeshua came from the Galil to the Yarden to be immersed by Yochanan. 14 But Yochanan tried to stop him. “You are coming to me? I ought to be immersed by you!”

I ought to be immersed by you! This is the first recorded public encounter between Yochanan the Immerser and Yeshua. Yochanan – recognizing the more powerful one – attempts to dissuade Yeshua from being baptized.

15 However, Yeshua answered him, “Let it be this way now because we should do everything righteousness requires.” Then Yochanan let him.

We should do everything righteousness requires. Yeshua Himself did not have to be immersed for His sins because He committed none (Messianic Jews 4:15). Some have suggested He was fully identifying with sinful humanity, who did need purification (Romans 8:3, Philippians 2:6–8). On what it is that God’s righteousness requires, turn to Romans 3:24–26.

16 As soon as Yeshua had been immersed, he came up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, He saw the Ruach of God coming down upon Him like a dove,

Many believed that the Ruach was no longer available in their time; others believed that the Ruach simply did not work as forcefully as in the prophets’ days until the time of the end. That the Ruach comes on Yeshua indicates the inauguration of the Messianic Era and marks Yeshua out as the Ruach-bearer and hence Messiah (3:11).

17 and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with him.” [1] ~ Mattityahu 3:13-17

The Temptation of Yeshua

1 Then the Spirit led Yeshua up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Adversary. [2] 2 After Yeshua had fasted forty days and nights, He was hungry. 3 The Tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, order these stones to become bread.” 4 But He answered, “The Tanakh [3] says,

‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of Adonai'” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

5 Then the Adversary took Him to the holy city and set Him on the highest point of the Temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “jump! For the Tanakh says,

He will order his angels to be responsible for you.…
They will support you with their hands
so that you will not hurt your feet on the stones.'” (Psalm 91:11-12)

7 Yeshua replied to him, “But it also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.'” (Deuteronomy 6:16)

8 Once more, the Adversary took Him up to the summit of a very high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, 9 and said to Him, “All this I will give you if you bow down and worship me.”

10 “Away with you, Satan!” Yeshua told him, “For the Tanakh says, ‘Worship Adonai your God and serve only him.'” (Deuteronomy 6:13-14)

11 Then the Adversary let him alone, and angels came and took care of him. ~ Mattityahu 4:1-11 (see also Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13)

Oh, that we can be as prepared as Yeshua was to cite Scripture back to HaSatan as Yeshua was able. One of many reasons why we need the Ruach in our daily lives.

In our next post, we will examine Yeshua Calls His First Talmid and Performs His First Miracles.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] Where appropriate, I will highlight the Father’s Words in Purple.

[2] The Adversary. Greek diabolos (usually transliterated “devil”) translates Hebrew satan, “adversary, opponent, rebel.” In Isaiah 14:11–15, between the lines of a taunt against the king of Babylon, can be read the downfall of a creature who was once both powerful and beautiful but who in pride rebelled against God and came to oppose him; Ezekiel 28:11–19 is similar. (JNTC)

[3] The Tanakh, the Old Testament – rendered “Scripture” or “it is written” in most translations. The Hebrew word Tanakh is an acronym formed from the first letters of the three parts of the Hebrew Bible:

  • Torah (“Teaching”) – the Five Books of Moshe or Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
  • N’vi’im (“Prophets”) – the historical books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), the three Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), and the twelve Minor Prophets.
  • K’tuvim(“Writings”) – Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the “five scrolls” (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther), Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles.
Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 2

Rather than just copying what He says, I want to set the stage when He does speak.

The Young Yeshua at the Temple

41 Every year Yeshua’s parents went to Yerushalayim for the festival of Pesach (Passover). 42 When He was twelve years old, they went up for the festival, as custom required. 43 But after the festival was over when His parents returned, Yeshua remained in Yerushalayim. [Think back when you were twelve. Would you have been that brave?] They didn’t realize this; 44 supposing that He was somewhere in the caravan, they spent a whole day on the road before they began searching for Him among their relatives and friends. 45 Failing to find Him, they returned to Yerushalayim to look for Him. 46 On the third day they found Him – He was sitting in the Temple court among the rabbis, not only listening to them but questioning what they said; 47 and everyone who heard Him was astonished at His insight and His responses. 48 When his parents saw Him, they were shocked; and His mother said to him, “Son! Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you!” 49 He said to them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be concerning myself with my Father’s affairs?”50 But they didn’t understand what He meant. 51 So He went with them to Natzeret and was obedient to them. But his mother stored up all these things in her heart. 52 And Yeshua grew both in wisdom and in stature, gaining favor both with other people and with God. ~ Luke 2:41-52

This single incident from Yeshua’s“silent years” (see Matt. 2:16 & Luke 3:23) took place near the age at which a Jewish boy today undergoes his bar-mitzvah ceremony and becomes a “son of the commandment,” personally responsible for keeping the Torah given by God to Moshe on Mount Sinai. At this time, he dons t’fillin [1] for the first time officially, and for the first time, he is given an aliyah (call-up) to come to the bimah (lectern) and read from the Sefer-Torah (Torah scroll) in a synagogue service. Verses 46–47 suggest a comparable “coming out” for Yeshua, but there the parallel ends. Bar-mitzvah did not start to become a major ceremonial event in the Jewish life-cycle until the Middle Ages, and only in modern times has it become the focus of grandiose celebrations. Moreover, the age for bar-mitzvah is not twelve but thirteen. [2]

According to John MacArthur: Yeshua’s reply was in no sense insolent but reveals a genuine amazement that they did not know where to look for Him. This also reveals that even at so young an age, He had a clear consciousness of His identity and mission.[3]

In our next post, we will examine Yeshua’s Baptism and The Temptation of Yeshua.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] T’fillin are small leather boxes containing parchment scrolls on which are written excerpts from the Tanakh (specifically, Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–20, Exodus 13:1–16).

[2] Stern, D. H. (1996). Jewish New Testament Commentary.

[3] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur Study Bible: NASB.

Posted on

The Red-Letter Words of Yeshua ~ Part 1

Introduction to the Series

In this series, we will be focusing on the words that Yeshua spoke while He was with us and after His Ascension. We will be looking at His words as best we can in chronological order using “The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order” by F. LaGard Smith. [1] While going through the Synoptic Gospels, I will focus more on Mattityhu’s version with appropriate references to Mark and Luke. As usual, I will be using the “Complete Jewish Bible” by David Stern for the actual quotes, unless otherwise noted. Please permit me to set the stage.

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water. ~ B’resheet 1:1-2

The Hebrew phrase translated unformed and void connotes a desolate, uninhabitable place. Why would the author describe God’s new universe like this? Some believe God intended to show us His progressive approach through creation. The following verses certainly do show God using a process.

But it seems that something else has happened between verses 1 and 2 because disorder and darkness do not reflect the character of God. Someone else arrived on the scene, and his name is HaSatan. We get few details of HaSatan in this chapter (Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah 14:12ff, and Revelation provide more), but it appears that his rebellion plunged the earth into darkness (see Luke 10:18). Fortunately for humanity, even when HaSatan is active, God has a plan to save. The Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water, ready to bring order out of chaos.

1 In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things came to be through him, and without him, nothing made had being. 4  In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it. ~ Yochanan 1:1-5

I confess that I get chills every time I read these verses. In his prologue to the Good News, Yochanan sets forth both the Messiah’s divine and human origin and nature. Contrary to modern Jewish opinion, which holds that the Messiah is to be human only, numerous Jewish sources speak of the supernatural features of the Messiah. The Messiah existed before all creation (compare Yochanan 17:5). In fact, He was involved in creation (Colossians 1:15-17, Messianic Jews 1:2-3). The Talmud also teaches the Messiah’s preexistence.

The beginning of the Good News of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of God. ~ Mark1:1

Rather than emphasizing the events leading up to Yeshua’s public ministry in terms of genealogy and family roots (as so Mattityahu and Luke) or in terms of its theological foundation (as does Yochanan), Mark focuses on its actual beginning. The good news is the gospel of the fulfillment of God’s promises. In the Tanakh (Isaiah 40:9, 52:7; and Nahum 1:15), the good news is connected with the saving intervention of God to help His people. Yeshua HaMashiach proclaims the gospel, but the good news is the report about Yeshua in a secondary sense. Mark communicates both at the beginning and the end of his Gospel (Mark:1-2 and 15:39) that Yeshua is the Son of God.

In our next post, we will start our journey by examining the actual Red-Letter Words of Yeshua.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] Copyright 1984 by Harvest House Publishers. I highly recommend this edition as it tells the story of all 66-books of the Bible in the order they were written. It’s like reading a non-fiction novel from beginning to end. Citations are placed in the margins so as not to disrupt your reading.

%d bloggers like this: