Messiah's Bible

"God's Word is absolute. He keeps His Word through eternity. For I [am] the LORD, I change not..."      Malachi 3:6

God does not change, God is One. If we do not believe this, if we do not trust this, we can not understand God's living message to us - His Word. So we must look more closely at this truth if we are to understand and have faith in the inspired writings we know today as the Bible. It is worth pointing out that every single person that wrote anything in the Bible endeavored to follow and teach every word written in it as the unchanging truth.

That is pretty different from how it is taught today. If one understand that simple truth then there is great cause for alarm and reexamination of our beliefs and doctrines. The key to understanding Messiah's Bible is to understand God gives us His teaching and instruction for living because He loves us and He never changes His mind. He teaches us some very simple guidelines about how we are to live. It's the original message of the Deceiver to fall for the idea that God does not mean what He says or that He changes His mind. Don't listen to that message any longer.

Consider this - interestingly, the man that we know as the apostle Paul admonished his understudy Timothy:

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned {them,} and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yeshua. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2Timothy 3:14-16

We also know that the Bereans heard the preaching of Paul but they searched the Scriptures to see if his message, his words were true. They did not just accept what he had to say or what he wrote about in his letters, they went to the Scriptures as the witness. They read the books of the Bible.

Strong's concordance tells us that in Hebrew the word "book" (#5612) appears 184 times, it is the word sefer "cepher" סֵפֶר and it is the origin of our English word "cipher". We must consider the meaning of cipher because it mandates that we study the Hebrew word. According to the Dictionary, when using a cipher the original information is known as plain text, and the encrypted form as cipher text. The rule is that the cipher text message contains all the information of the plain text message, but is not in a format readily readable without the proper mechanism to decrypt it; and it resembles random gibberish to those not intended to understand it. That is what Yeshua-Jesus referred to when He told the disciples:

"He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Matthew 13:11-13

To understand the Word, we need to be like a Berean and decipher. We can't just read the plain text, we have to dig in and examine it:

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

Think about this for a moment, it very important... What "Scriptures", what "sacred writings" did the Bereans read? What about Paul's understudy Timothy, what Scriptures did he read since childhood for "wisdom and faith"? The same Scriptures the Bereans examined for truth.

From my Scripture studies, it suddenly dawned on me as it has others that the New Testament wasn't even compiled when Timothy received this letter of admonition from Paul nor when the Bereans eagerly received the message of the Kingdom from the Apostle Paul.

It can be sobering if we don't study and search the beginning of the Bible but as Mr. Ripley would say believe it or not Jesus never read or studied the New Testament. Have you ever thought about that and what it means to you? The conclusion I came to when I realized this is that we must read, study and follow all God's unchanging, living word.

If we only study and teach from the wonderful New Testament we ignore its very foundation, Messiah’s Bible.

We need to open our eyes and understand that Messiah's Bible is the voice of God. Consider for a moment where His word was kept. After God dictated the scrolls of Genesis to Deuteronomy to Moses they were kept in "The Holy of Holies" the most set apart place", behind the curtain, under none other than the Mercy Seat, the earthly throne of The Almighty unchanging Creator, YHVH Elohim.

This was by God's own design His holy place and no man could enter God's throne room on earth except on one day each year, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. If we consider the meaning and implication of this, the unchanging word of God would never be touched or changed by man.

In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he touches on this although many may miss it if the text is read too quickly. There Paul talks about two men, Jannes and Jambres. He says that they were "always learning" and never able to come to the knowledge of "the truth".

What truth? Paul defines that:

"Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all..." 2Timothy 3:8-9 (NASB)

Perhaps Jannes and Jambres thought the teaching of Moses was done away with. Paul slams them here comparing them to the depraved and rejected in regard to "the faith". They will always be struck in the folly of learning mode never able to come to the knowledge of "the truth" because they reject the words from Moses. That is a difficult message if we slow down and consider it.

The prophet Malachi also clearly understood that God does not change, yesterday, today or tomorrow which is why he records this very powerful message given to Him by The Creator:

For I [am] the LORD {YHVH}, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6

King David also knew His word is to stand forever:

"The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Psalms 33:11

So, the truth we have been given from the Proverb writer is as certain for us today as it was yesterday:

"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Proverbs 30:6

Ignoring the instruction and teaching of God, His Torah is the "falling away" that we were warned about and many of us have fallen but there is time to get up, to repent of the lies and return to His word, the tree of life. It is how we demonstrate our love for our Creator:

"O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and [things] wherein [there is] no profit." Jeremiah 16:19

Many of us get confused thinking the Torah is the Law. Even PBS knows that is inaccurate:

"The English word "Bible" is from the Greek phrase ta biblia, "the books," an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books several centuries before the time of Jesus. Christians adopted the phrase "Old Testament" to refer to these sacred books they shared with Jews.

Jews called the same books Miqra, "Scripture," or the Tanakh, an acronym for the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible: Torah ("instructions" or less accurately "the law"), Neviim ("prophets"), and Kethuvim ("writings," including Psalms, Proverbs, and several other books). Modern scholars often use the term "Hebrew Bible" to avoid the confessional terms Old Testament and Tanakh.

As for the New Testament, its current twenty-seven book form derives from the fourth century CE, even though the constituent parts come from the first century. Christians did not agree on the exact extent of the New Testament for several centuries."

Like I did, many today misunderstood Paul's teaching about the "sacred writings". Once you realize that the "New Testament" wasn't even compiled when Paul wrote these words to Timothy, the whole word of God comes alive. Like Jesus, Paul always taught from the sacred writings, the Hebrew scrolls of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. Today these are called the "TaNak" which is an acronym used for the Hebrew Bible: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Kethubim or the "writings". To get a better idea just look at this list of 175 quotes from Paul's letters . This gives you a good feel for some the extensive reference Paul made as he quoted from the TaNak in Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians as well as 1 & 2 Timothy.

Hum... as we call it today, only the "Old" Testament, the Hebrew scrolls of the TaNak existed in Timothy's day!

As a matter of fact it might amaze you to know some facts about a Torah scroll. After all wisdom is hidden. Unless you pursue ti you will not find it: so first of all, there are just 22 letters in the Hebrew aleph-bet that comprise every word of Scripture and there are 22 amino acids and 22 chromosomes in your body. There are five scrolls of Torah just as there were five loaves of bread that "fed" the multitudes, five kinds of sacrifices and five fingers on your hand for doing God's work.

Believe it or not, Jesus never once read from the King James Bible or the New Testament.

If you want to teach and witness to others like Paul of Tarsus, you need to study the Bible he read, the Bible Jesus read. Today, many call this the "Old Testament". But you need to ask yourself this, is "old" the proper description of the books and sacred writings that Messiah taught from? Would He call them old? These are the Hebrew Scriptures we must know and use as the foundation of understanding God's message to us, they are the root, the foundation to all of the New Testament. They give us a great advantage and allow us to actually see the complete picture of the unchanging Word of God.

Just look at the words of our Savior:

"He said to them, "This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:44-48

These men that Messiah taught had known of Him for quite some time, they followed Him, yet they did not understand until it was clearly shown to them that the Torah - the writings of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms, the scrolls that were the "Messiah's Bible" were all written about Him. Prepare yourself, put on your "whole" priestly armor, read The Messiah's Bible, after all - its about Him. The Messiah is hidden within the Old Testament stories with amazing prophetic detail and significance. This is what Paul spoke of when he wrote these words:

“Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

The Torah, God's instruction, His principles for righteous living were never designed for salvation per se. Instead, the Torah is designed to show one the need for salvation and how to live the life of a people set apart in obedience to God's principles and how to walk in a redeemed lifestyle under His personal instruction that is set apart from the ways of man and the world. By walking in the ancient paths of Torah, the "leaves" of life, we can demonstrate our love and worship through obedience to God's instruction and teaching.

“If you love me, keep my commandments” John. 14:15

Did you see that? He said His commandments... that would mean He not only read from and taught the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings, He is the very "One" that was speaking to those that wrote and recorded His words. Jesus tells us, He and the Father are One and John calls Jesus "The Word" doesn't he?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
John 1:1-5

To better understand this, we have to look at His creation. To consider just "who" He really is - requires that we put these thoughts into simpler terms to understand them. The easiest way for me is to consider water which is a molecule comprised of the combination of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. Water has several states or forms of existence depending on temperature and they can include: gas, liquid and solid. Why do I like this comparison, well after all the Bible is full of comparisons to water. Interestingly, the key Biblical number of seven (7) is represented by water. There are two hydrogen atoms and one oyxgen atom in a water molecule. A hydrogen atom has an electron and a proton but no neutron, so it has two particles, two hydrogen atoms therefore have four parts. An oxygen atom has three parts, an electron, a proton and a neutron. Combined, the life giving water molecule H2O is a unit of seven parts.

As an analogy, in the natural world, which was complete in seven days, God created water vapor in the form of a cloud and we receive the blessing of rain! There is running water in a mountain stream or a great river, and there's standing water in a lake or pond. There is frozen water in a glacier of ice or on a snow capped mountain. Yet they are all water, yet water appears in three different life giving physical states and forms. And while in each form, they each have different "names" to describe their physical state of being.

So, if you really slow down and think about it for a moment - isn't this much like the manner in which God presents Himself to us? Look to the heavenly sky surround our earth and you see the clouds much as God is Spirit.

I can get comfortable with this comparison and I think that may be one of the key reasons Jesus, the living word, referred to Himself as water when he spoke to the woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria (John 4). Messiah came to give us pure living water. His message was that we should to refresh our minds and learn from the original themes and word meanings as to what God is saying in His Word. That is why it is called the living Word. Like water His word gives life.

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:24-27

John tells us Jesus is the word of God, by this he is telling us that the one we know by name as Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah [or in His Hebrew language: Yeshua HaMashiach] is the physical and human expression of the invisible spiritual Creator, "The" One God and King of the Universe. He is indeed God, yet He lived and died (for three days) as a man out of His love for us.

He came into our earthly realm and was born of a virgin mother and He lived a perfectly Biblical [Torah] observant and sinless life. Indeed, just as John said He is the living Word, His Word - The Torah.

He lived out the Torah's sacrificial system as he suffered as Messiah ben Joseph and He died as the Passover lamb of God so that He could redeem mankind from sin and its death penalty with His blood which is Life. God established sin’s penalty in Eden so He had to be the One to overcome it. Yet He lives. His body, His flesh remained in the grave three days as the fulfillment of Torah's instruction. We can see this with the Feast of Unleavened Bread and when He arose in resurrection from the dead three days after His crucifixion He fulfilled the Feast of FirstFruits. Forty days later, He ascended into an invisible dimension that He created, another dimension it seems that none of us understand, but we call it “heaven”.

The good news is, at a future time... He will come back into the physical realm of the time and space we know on earth to fulfill His instructions on the Fall Feasts and regather His lost sheep, His people Israel. See the blog The Lost Sheep Scriptures.

Eventually, He will restore all the earth to the original perfect physical state it was in prior to Adam's invoking the law of sin and death, the law of physics we know as the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Jesus will return not as the “suffering servant” but as reigning King, “Messiah ben David” and He will restore His people to the Kingdom that was originally established in Eden. See my blog The Three Fall Feast of The Lord.

I know, that to participate in this restoration, to enter into this "heavenly" Kingdom of God, we must receive God's salvation by grace, the free gift of God apart from good deeds and works because Salvation is through personal faith in the "sent" one [Jesus] Yeshua HaMashiach, the one who was, who is and who is to come. YHVH declared Himself to be the "I AM" to Moses, Yeshua is the same "I AM". Please open your Bible today and read His "I AM" statements.

Exodus 3:13-15, Matthew 16:16, John 10:9, John 14:6, John 10:14, John 10:7, John 8:12, John 10:11, John 10:36, John 15:1, John 6:51, John 6:41 and Revelation 1:18.

Today, we must understand that Yeshua is one with God, the "I AM" of God, which is why John calls Him the Creator, the word. He is the Torah giver, the voice on the mountain, the angel seen of Abraham, the voice that saved Isaac and the angel wrestling Jacob.

If you wonder how can the "sent one" be One with God, just read Exodus 3 very carefully and you will see that He says He is "sent" to Moses. Even then as He spoke from the fire of the burning bush to Moses:

"God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation." Exodus 3:15

When we realize who Jesus really is we can begin to understand many mysteries. Have you ever wondered how people that lived and died prior to Christ could be saved if they did not know of His atoning death and resurrection? Perhaps we need to actually reconsider exactly what "He" said.

Before He ever hung on the cross, before he ever told anyone about His plan to offer Himself as the Passover lamb, before He died and resurrected from the dead, He said this:

“… Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3

He also said:

“… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” John 14:6-7

With my limited understanding of the mysteries of God, I believe that those people that looked forward but died on earth before His Passover crucifixion, those that followed, believed and knew Him by the heavenly name “YHVH” are indeed “saved”. I also believe that those that look back and have known and follow Him as Jesus (in Hebrew "Yeshua") the "Passover lamb" are also redeemed and saved by His atonement and offering on the cross.

A lot of questions can be answered when we know that He is the "sent one" the great "I AM" in the burning bush. "The Word" that spoke creation into existence and the word who thunderously spoke from the fiery mountain top at Sinai as “YHVH” are One. I know it seems radical but a great mystery that we all need to grasp is that Jesus is the "law" giver. The word is actually Torah, it means teaching and instruction. When we realize that, it may cause quite a problem for those that believe the "law", the teaching and instruction of God was “hung on the cross”.

Indeed Jesus' words are easier to understand when we know Him as the Torah-Giver, the one who personally taught and instructed Moses. He is the one who led Israel from within the cloud of Shekinah glory over the Tabernacle. He used his pre-incarnate finger to write the 10 commands into stone! He walked in the Garden of Eden and breathed life into Adam. He taught Noah how to build a ship and He gave His promises of descendants of nations and land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the one who comforted Hagar and Ishmael out in the desert. He even appeared in the furnace in Babylon and He was seen by Daniel and the prophets.

As the son of Man, He walked the earth as a man, the anointed one, Yeshua of Nazareth. This is why John said He is "The Word". That is why our Messiah said "I and the Father are One." (John 10:30) The concept of the "son of God" is in my view very misunderstood. Indeed I believe “the Son of God is a physical state of God’s presence. He is the light of the world and in the analogy of the states of water, I like to also think of His presence in different dimensions in terms of “light”. Just consider a fiber optic cable. With just one single light source at the end, there can be dozens of separate stands that all show their light individually from hundreds of miles away. You may want to check out my study on The Spectrum of Light.

The apostle Peter confirms the gospel comes from His Word:

"For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1Peter 1:24-25

Through His Word - His Torah, He gives us the story of Israel and our instruction for living. He gives us His instruction manual for worshiping Him, His manual for righteous living. Jesus - Yeshua tells us, if we love Him we must follow Him - His teaching and instruction, His Word, ALL of it! For more "thought" on this you might also enjoy my study Old and New.

The English Standard Translation of the Bible records these words from Jude... that Jesus saved those coming out of Egypt:

"Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day" Jude 1:5-6

Jude goes on to state:

"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:24-25

Throughout the “English” translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, God’s name “YHVH” (Yod Hey Vav Hey) is transliterated as “The Lord”. Not only do people today not know Him, we who do not know His name. When Yeshua spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus He spoke in the Hebrew language. Perhaps if we only consider the transliteration of His name as "The Lord" which appears nearly 7,000 times in Scripture is actually YHVH, then we might be able to possibly consider what Paul may have really meant penned when he wrote to the Romans in chapter 10:1-16:

"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

Paul is teaching that Messiah is the purpose of the Torah (teaching and instruction) for righteousness to everyone who believes! Paul is not tossing it away, "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law (Torah), but under grace? God forbid." Romans 6:15

Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the Torah of God, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Messiah down) or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead).

But what does it mean?

"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is YHVH {The Lord} and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

For the Scripture says, [Isaiah 28:16; 49:23] "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same to YHVH collectively, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of YHVH {The Lord} will be saved." But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”

Hey everyone, it is critical to understand some things from another perspective, otherwise our orientation will only confuse the truth.

Read the Bible Jesus read, read the instruction and teaching He gave.

Remember, the world is not flat, the sun does not orbit the earth and twilight of evening is the beginning of the day, not the end!

Jesus - Yeshua had more to say in Revelation. Did you know the Greek word “kai” καί is translated as: “and” in Revelation 14...
But did they (the translators) perhaps just miss something in the meaning of this word? It also means “indeed”...

“Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, [indeed] the faith of Yeshua.” Revelation 14:2

Indeed we are to walk like Yeshua, like Jesus walked.

My prayer is that we can leave behind our preconceived ideas and search out what the whole Bible actually tells us:

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2Timothy 4:2-4

What does this all mean?

It means that it is now time for you to repent and return to God's covenant, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. God is a sovereign God. He is a loving God and He has provided a way to offer you His salvation. You can accept His gift of life. Consider carefully what your life consists of, look at it and repent of your sin, ask His forgiveness and accept His gift of love through Messiah Yeshua. Do it now!

And I would like to recommend a book to you: They Loved the Torah: What Yeshua's First Followers Really Thought About the Law.

Update May 16, 2011: I also think you might find this teaching: "Hebrew Mysteries Revealed" from Larry Ollison Ministries worthwhile. He does a great job of introducing the pure Hebrew language God chose to speak to us in Messiah's Bible.