Y’shua did not blind himself to Israel

When Israel was blind to Y’shua, Y’shua did not blind himself to Israel, we can be assured that he continued to make his ruach/spirit available to all Israel, to all who hope in him as their ancestors hoped in him (Jn. 8:56), and that his ruach/spirit is not available only to that remnant which recognized or recognizes him.

If we believe that Yehoshua is the Master (Adon) and Messiah of Israel, we can be assured that he is present corporately with Israel in every generation by his ruach/spirit, even though Israel does not recognize him. When G-d called Abraham it was in a context where G-d’s only promise to the world was death and the only certainty was G-d’s curse, with only a hint of hope. The promise of the seed of the woman was not given to Adam and Eve but to the serpent as a promise against the serpent, so what did it mean to Adam and Eve?

When Adam and Eve were allowed to overhear the promise made by G-d against the serpent, it was made certain for them that they would not die without the serpent who deceived them also ending in death. And in this there was even the hint of hope for redemption. The promise of the rainbow to Noah was only the promise that G-d would not destroy the world by water, which told Noah that G-d was still thinking about ways to destroy the world. There was still only death. G-d’s word to Humanity was still only the curse of poverty and pain, the things that would lead to death. Then suddenly G-d gave a promise of blessing to Abraham. In this context where there the only word from G-d was death and a curse, G-d promised to bless Abraham and his offspring and to bless all the nations, all of Creation, through Abraham. This was good news! Soon after, G-d gave his mitzvoth of life to all Israel. This was good news! Every Jew is born and grows up in this good news as a promise.

The covenant of G-d with Abraham is certainly good news! The sign of that covenant, circumcision, is the sign of that good news! There was only the certainty of death, the anger and curse of the Creator, now there is the covenant of the promise of blessing and life given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for all! This is the incredible good news of the grace of G-d! There was only ignorance and darkness and provoking the wrath of G-d more and more, so that G-d was sorry that He had made Adam, now there was the way of life laid out through Moses line upon line, precept upon precept, for Israel. This was the awesome good news of the mercy and kindness of G-d! It is by this good news that every Jew is called by birth to become an eternal Jew, called to life, called to be redeemed and become a vessel of redemption for the nations, for all Creation, a vessel of the spreading of the good news of G-d’s promise to Abraham.

This is why when Israel heard the message about Yehoshua their were Jews who recognized that this was good news. It was the good news that they had always heard, heard by virtue of being Jews, heard by virtue of having the Torah as their gift from G-d. The message of Yehoshua to those who had ears to hear it was the good news that the blessing of Abraham that had been flowing in partial measure was now flowing in the form of a great river that would one day become a great flood! Good News, indeed!

Honor your parents

The first sin in the Garden of Eden was the first act of idolatry, the conception of all subsequent pantheism, 'We shall be as God..."

The cure for this was to place Israel under the commandment of the Torah, repositioning Humanity to fear God not its own power of choice.  This established Israel on two levels.  On the first level Israel is established as a family offshoot of the first Adam, and on the second level Israel is established as defined by God's word as a promise of blessing - that must and will overcome God's word as a curse of poverty and death upon all Humanity, including Israel.

Rabbi Nachman teaches that the Holy Language cannot be perfected without the Targum.  This means that the aspect of Israel that is defined by the election of God does not replace the aspect of Israel that is goyish and defined by its identity in the first Adam but rather elevates that original nature.

Adam's sin was the origin of the concept of replacement theology, 'We will be the decision makers for the world instead of God'.  But when God turned the relationship of parent/child on its head because of this, so that it became the seed, the offspring, of the woman which God said would crush the serpent and the parents then could only hope as two individuals in this promise made against the serpent, then the natural adamic mind began to elevate itself in the position of child against parent, desiring to be the replacement for the head of Humanity.

Destruction of Kingdom of Edom Leading To Rejoincing of the Nations With Israel

Image via Wikipedia

<< Isaiah 34:9 >>

And the streams of Edom'shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof
into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
American Standard Version

Obadiah 1 English Revised Version

---

1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord GOD says concerning Edom: We haveheard tidings from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise! Let us rise up against her in battle.

2 Consider how I have made you small among the nations: you are greatly despised.

3 The pride of your heart has deceived thee, You that dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that says in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from there, says the LORD.

5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (consider how your are cut off!) would they not steal until they had  enough? if grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden treasures sought for!

7 All the people of your confederacy have brought you on your way, even to the border: the people that were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you; they that your bread lay a snare under you: there is no understanding in him.

8 Shall I not in that day, says the LORD, destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.

10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and you shall be cut off for ever.

11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, you, even you were as one of them.

12 But do not look on the day of your brother in the day of his disaster, and do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress.

13 Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yes, do not look upon their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay your hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.

14 And stand not at the crossroad, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress.

15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations: as you have done, it shall be done unto you; your dealings shall return upon your own head.

16 For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually, yes, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.

17 But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them: and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for
the LORD has spoken it.

19 And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the lowland the Philistines and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, which are among the Canaanites, shall possess even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.

21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.
  

The Biblical Concept of Corporate Adam / Israel part 1

Abraham Plus Sarah

When the God of Abraham promised Abraham that He would make him a blessing, He spoke in terms of families. He spoke of Abraham in corporate terms.

Why did Abraham's relationship with Hagar, resulting in the birth of Ishmael, not work toward bringing about the fulfillment of the promise of Abraham becoming a channel of blessing for the world? Because it was not Abraham in his individual capacity that was chosen but Abraham in his corporate capacity that was chosen to overcome the Creator's curse with the Creator's blessing.

When the God of Abraham said to Abraham, "I will make you a blessing," He was not speaking (in the first place) of Abraham's accomplishments as an individual; He was speaking of Abraham corporately as a father, as one part, the male part, of the source of a family. This means that essentially it was Abraham's marriage to Sarah that was chosen. It was Abraham plus Sarah. Only Abraham with Sarah was corporate Abraham as chosen by the Creator of Adam, the man and the woman. Thus it could not be that Abraham and Hagar could work toward the fulfillment of the promise, for this relationship with Hagar represented and understanding of Abraham as an individual, apart from the corporate aspect of Adam.

Thus, it was when Abraham personally believed in the promise as given to him in his corporate aspect, given to him together with Sarah as a corporate source of the branch of Adam chosen for the redemption of the world, to Abraham and his seed, that it was "counted to Abraham for righteousness." And thus it is that if any form of replacement theology denies the present and future corporate redemption of Israel the same theology denies the very promise of corporate redemption for Adam that Abraham believed in in order to be justified by his faith. This presents us with the question, how do we develop our understanding through the grace of the God of Israel from an individual centered hope and theology to the corporate hope that was given to Abraham and in which he believed in order to be justified by faith?

On Matthew 10:23 +

This posting is in dialogue with a posting on Matthew 10:23 +
That posting can be found at:

http://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/eschatology/matt_2nd_com-02.htm

Setting The Mood: The Gospel Records as a Dialogue of Jews with Jews

Matthew 3:7 (NKJV) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

MY NOTE: Is this to say that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees who John saw coming to him were recognized by him to be a "brood of vipers" but perhaps many were not! Or are we to automatically read it to say that John saw Pharisees and Sadducees to be characteristically a "brood of vipers," and so would have described any Pharisee or Sadducee whatsoever with this characterization? In either case, what does this term mean in the mouth of a prophet of Israel? Does this word from this prophet contradict or support the idea that some of the pharisees, at least, were as righteous as any of the greatest Israelites had ever been but were still falling short of the glory of God and their failure was that they were not confessing this at the time when the The King Messiah was in their midst?

On Matthew 10:23+

• QUOTE from link provided above: Matthew 10:23 makes it clear that Jesus is talking about His Second Coming as the Son of Man: "When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. The phrase, "Son of Man," comes from Daniel 7:13 and refers to the Son of Man being presented before the Ancient of Days. Jesus is saying to his twelve disciples that they will not have fled through all the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. They will keep running through the cities, fleeing from their persecutors. When He says that they will not have time to have fled through all the cities, it indicates that they will not have fled to all the cities until the Son of Man comes, a promised deliverance for them - the twelve!

MY NOTE: Is the text saying that the twelve disciples themselves would not finish going through the cities of Israel... but rather the Lord would have to come as the Son of Adam, as the Davidic King and be received as who he was and is before the work could be finished? Does this mean, "There will be no peace until he returns." And is this what the Berean Church commentator is saying here? It seems rather by what follows that the commentator sees the notion of the beginning of The Eternal World to be under discussion by other commentators here and this commentator is intending to correct what he regards as the mistaken notion that this is what Yehoshua was teaching about here.

But if to the disciples Yehoshua's words would have meant that they would not finish going through all the cities of Israel until his arrival in majesty like King David in their own time, to Yehoshua himself his words would have meant his second coming in glory in the end of days, even though he did not know the day nor the hour. And thus it would seem, to my understanding, that he was indicating that their work in Israel would never be complete without his being received by Jerusalem and by the nation as one.

There is really only one alternative to this understanding and it is not, as the author here points out, that Matthew 10:23 points to the Transfiguration. {This is not for the reason that the author gives. Matthew 16:28 does find a degree of fulfillment in the Transfiguration. See notes on this below.} There is really only one alternative to the view that Yehoshua knew what the disciples did not know, that he would be killed, would be resurrected would be taken to heaven to actively await the time - work to bring about the time - when he would be received by Jerusalem (although only the Father knew when that time would be). The alternative is the view that the author puts forward here of a fully developed form of replacement theology. In my concluding notes below I point to the window of revelation that is found in understanding that Yehoshua was teaching his students the way of divine failure in this situation.


Matthew 16:27-28 (NKJV) "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

• QUOTE from link provided above: If you believe the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant Word of the Living God, then this passage gives a clear either/or, when determining its fulfillment. Either Christ has fulfilled this passage, and His Coming has occurred, or else some of that initial audience is still alive. There is no escaping this in the language used. Anybody familiar with logic knows that when an "if statement" is encountered, it indicates a split passageway, in which one and only one of the results can be followed. In this case if Christ has not come, then some of the audience must still be alive physically. And conversely if the entire audience has physically died, then Christ has to have fulfilled this verse and come in glory! If Christ was true to His word, there is no other alternative here! There can be no splitting of the pieces and parts of the fulfillment. It is all or nothing.

MY NOTE: The author here [see full text] has virtually equated Matthew 10:23 and 16:28, but they are not equivalent. In fact, Matthew 16:28 can first be associated to John 8:24 on the one hand and John 21:23 on the other hand. Do to these associations we must ask what exactly this idiomatic expression, to "taste of death," actually meant to the Jewish mind of the day. In light of the passages mentioned, we cannot assume that it simply or only meant to physically die. We should also look at the similar expression and its use in Hebrews 2:9. It is even possible to understand the expression to mean that some there would not become regenerate until they witnessed the Transfiguration - they would not die spiritually until they would at the same time and by the same power be made alive spiritually - as a visible testimony of how salvation works for all, though it is never so visible. But while such an idea might be derived from the words, is this the simple meaning of the words?

The author of the quoted text, the Berean church commentator, equates Yehoshua's enthronement in heaven and the subsequent judgment upon Jerusalem within the apostle's life time with his second coming. Is it because of having difficulty with these questions that there is only limited teaching in historic Christianity about the enthronement of Yehoshua in heaven? In order not to come to such anti-Semitic conclusions of replacement theology, is it necessary to avoid all deep discussion and study of the great event of the enthronement of Yehoshua in heaven? But if Yehoshua were making reference to his actual enthronement in heaven in Matthew 16:28, how would he have been saying that any of his disciples were going to witness this?

The giving of the Holy Spirit and the judgment upon Jerusalem could not be said, (as this author tries to do), to be the event itself, but only results of the event. Thus there is no need to draw lines of polar opposition between the idea of the preservation of Israel and the enthronement of Yehoshua as Mashiach in heaven. Judgment had always been corrective chastisement for Jerusalem and for Israel. Why would it now have to be termination for them rather than a part of salvation? Replacement theology wants to see Yehoshua's enthronement as his vindication, his victory over "the Jews." Such enmity is a projection of the replacement theologian's own envy and misunderstanding upon God and upon His Messiah.

But what, then, is this mystery of Yehoshua's enthronement in heaven and not (yet) on earth? Is this mystery not the soil in which all the weeds of replacement theology now grow, in fact is this mystery not the soil in which the weeds of replacement theology have always grown? Consider how the Lord's prayer changed in context before and after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord! "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"

Did he not have this (vision of his throne in heaven) in mind when he taught the prayer to his students? We can let Matthew 10:23 inform Matthew 16:28 in the following way. The students looked for the glorification of Mashiach in this world in their own generation. What did they think would be the nature of his kingdom? Success. Yehoshua taught them to fail. Matthew 10:23. He taught them then to foresee the glory that would come by grace through the glorification of the divine failure. Matthew 16:28ff.

The Lord's anointing in the heavenly realms is not the anointing of worldly success but of worldly failure. The failure of God is greater than the success of Adam. God rules by His failure over all the successes, all the empires great and small of this world. What is God's failure? It is His failure to have Israel crown Yehoshua in Jerusalem when he came to them. It is by this very failure that God rules over all things. For it is this failure that God turns into Israel's salvation and it is Israel's salvation through this failure of God - wherein He failed in order to give the gift of absolute grace to Israel - that He saves even the Gentiles, even the angels, even the days, even the nights, as well as all creatures great and small on earth, under the earth, in the seas, in the skies, even to the end of the stars, redeeming all things with the blood that Yehoshua shed for Israel, until all Creation is able to keep the Sabbath of God with Israel.

Topics In Acts 15 #1

Hebrew Roots Pastor Ariel Ehrmantrout [http://www.torah4christians.com/Judaizers.html writes:

Acts 15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."

"The Key to understanding what the “Judaizers” were doing is found in this one verse. They were Patrician Pharisee’s from Jerusalem; and they were constantly worrying about “Ritual Purity” as defined within the Levitical System during the 2nd Temple period. They were saying to former Gentiles—that without the “sign of the covenant in your flesh” YOU CANNOT BE SAVED.

"They were teaching a traditional Jewish thought that unless you have both B’rit Millah (Circumcision in the foreskin) then your conversion is not complete. And undoubtedly, Rabbi Sha’uls converts were getting very upset about this. But why would it matter? Because without this sign in your flesh—you could not ENTER THE H-LY TEMPLE and SACRIFICE TO OBTAIN RITUAL PURITY. They were telling them that they would not be allowed into the Temple and thus they were not “fully converted to Judaism!” Rabbi Sha’ul knows that ritual purity is not found in the blood of bulls and Sheep—but in the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Rabbi Yeshua. Ritual Purity is only found in Messiah! So in review—a Judaizer is someone who tells you that the sign of the Mosaic covenant MUST BE in your FLESH for you to be considered “pure” before God." [End quote.]

We might better begin by asking if this term, "Judaizer," is a useful term in the first place. It certainly sounds like a term harboring the kind of "closet antisemitism" that Ariel Ehrmantrout condemns on his website. Perhaps neither Paul nor Luke were so much against Gentiles, who so desired, continuing to convert to Judaism - so long as they understood fully what they were doing, as they were against confusion of the two phases of Messiah's coming. For until the Kingdom is "handed back" to the Father by the Messiah a certain distinction in the world of Adam between Jew and Gentile must be sustained for the sake of witness to the one true God . Rather than demonizing anyone as a "Judaizer" we might better begin by asking why this dispute about circumcision was even taking place in the first place.

Ariel Ehrmantrout points out that without the sign of circumcision in the flesh a possible proselyte could not enter the Temple to offer a sacrifice. A problem would also arise when it came time to partake of the Passover. Problems with marriage would arise. In short, without circumcision in the flesh, a proselyte could not be considered by the Jewish people to be a full convert to Judaism or member of the nation of Israel. Now if James and the apostles had the very same idea of Christians and Christianity as is held by most Church leaders today why would of this even been an issue? Clearly they had no thoughts of a different religion that would be called Christianity and would make the possible circumcision of Gentile followers of Yehoshua a non-issue. Does it not seem clear that, to the contrary, the open question for the apostles was how the Gentiles were to be included in the blessings of the nation of Israel?

Only if this is the question under consideration does it make any sense that there were some voices that were saying that Gentiles who were drawn to the faith and religion of the Jews because they believed that Yehoshua was the Messiah should all take the final step of being circumcised - just like converts always had. Not only will facing this completely change the context in which we must carry out any discussion of the concept of "Judaizers," it will also place upon us the necessity of clarifying our understanding what the apostles would have understood the blessing of the nation of Israel to be - that Christian Gentiles were to partake of either without being circumcised or through being circumcised. For clearly, they would have understood this blessing of Israel to be that blessing that was to come to Israel through the promised Messiah.

So then, we should not talk about "Judaizers" or the conversion of Christian Gentiles to Judaism, or circumcision for Gentiles, or Torah for Gentiles, or any such thing, unless we are first completely clear on that very thing which the apostles had to become clear on - Peter, James, Paul and all the apostles. What was the relationship of Messiah to the nations? And therefore what was the relationship of the Gentiles to Messiah? It is time that this question were completely reconsidered in a context that is completely free of replacement theology, a theology that entirely obscures any truth concerning this question.

YECHEZKEL - EZEKIEL - CHAPTER 20 AND THE CORPORATE NATURE OF ISRAEL

Certain elders came to Yechezkel - Ezekiel - and sought to receive a message from God through him.  The response to these elders from the God of Israel was that he would not respond to their questions.  They were then told that the only reason that God had preserved Israel even from the time of Israel's captivity in Egypt was for the sake of his own name.  In other words, God has attached his name to the nation of Israel and this gives the nation of Israel its one unchangeable definition.  It is for this reason and no other that Mashiach died, was buried and was raised again from the dead.  And it is for this reason that Israel is preserved.  This is the true corporate nature of Israel and all nations shall rejoice with Israel because of it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Immersed In Israel's Good News

To believe that Yehoshua (Jesus) is the Messiah of Israel is to believe in the corporate redemption of the nation of Israel, whether or not the one who believes realizes and understands this. But it is far better to realize and understand this than not to. Realizing and understanding this is the beginning of the end of all confusion about the relationship of the grace of God and the Torah of God, and of all Antisemitism and of many other problems and evils.

Israel's Good News is that a belief that Yehoshua (Jesus) is the Messiah of Israel is itself a belief in the corporate redemption of Israel. How has this realization and understanding been blocked historically in the Gentile Christian believer? It has been blocked by the natural reasoning that since the faith of the majority of a nation constitutes the faith of the nation, if the majority of the people of Israel rejected Yehoshua (Jesus), then there was no redemption of the nation of Israel. The Good News, however, Israel's Good News, is that in the case of Israel it is not the majority of the people who determine the corporate identity of the nation but God who determines the corporate identity of the nation.

The corporate identity of Israel is written by God in the covenant of God made with Abraham, and God has made Yehoshua (Jesus), the same man who was crucified, to be Lord and Messiah of every Jew who does not reject the covenant of God and every Gentile who believes in the covenant of God. This is the Good News of Israel. Every soul that is immersed in the hope of God's covenant is immersed in Israel's Good News, whether or not they realize and understand this. But it is far better to realize and understand this than not to.

Read more on this subject.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Here is some correspondence between my brother and me about Israel's Gospel:

Israel's Good News

There are some other posts about Israel's Gospel at this site as well.

Also here is

The Justification of Life

The Justification of Life

[Photo]
Introduction
My purpose here is to study the full nature of the Gospel. I have titled this site, The Good News of Israel and Her Messiah, because it is this good news that fully reveals the justification of life, spoken of by Paul in Romans 5.

The justification for Israel's life is the justification for Adam's life. It is a justification through judgement and that judgment fell upon Israel's Messiah and the sacrifice of his adamic soul. In the first act of adamic justification no individual was or could be justified except Yehoshua (Jesus) himself, but he was justified for life not only according to who he was but also according to what he was, human, a Jew, the son of Adam.

In being justified for life in who he was he was alone, but in being justified for life in what he was the humanity from which he came and for which he gave himself up as a sacrifice was also justified for life. This was the humanity of Adam, not as represented by the individual, Adam, the first human being, but as represented by Yehoshua, the one chosen of God to be the anointed King of Israel. And this humanity, Yehoshua's humanity, was the humanity of Adam as represented by corporate Israel the family branch of Adam that was selected by God for no purpose but that ultimate glorious purpose of showing that God's salvation comes through grace, unmerited favor. Therefore, every time God saves an individual Gentile by grace he is giving testimony to his unmerited selection of Israel for the sake of the corporate redemption of Adam.

This family branch, selected by God, is Israel, not as represented in the first place by Abaraham, Isaac or Jacob, but as represented in the first place by Yehoshua and defined by God through Yehoshua as being bounded by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God determined that these would be the fathers of Yehoshua's humanity, which would be justified for life. Life was not justified in or through them, but in and through him for them.

Thus it was necessary that in order to be justified for life in who they were as individuals, as well as in their roles of fathers for God's chosen humanity, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had to believe God personally, that he would justify life for them in the Seed of Abraham, whom he promised to them. This is the beginning of the understanding of the Good News of Israel and her Messiah.