1. Part 12: Yeshua the Bread of Life
2. The meaning of the feeding of the five thousand
3. The Synagogue of Heaven that has come to earth
4. “Amen, amen I say to you”
5. Expend your efforts on what will last forever!
6. Trust in the Messiah whom the heavenly Father has sent
7. Believe and See! Instead of see and believe
8. Avinu Shebashamayim gives you the true Bread out of Heaven
9. Adonai is the Source and the Sustainer of all life
10. Then they said to him, “Master, always give us this bread!”
11. Eternal versus temporal satisfaction
12. The 1st century (CE) Yehudim were rebuked for their lack of faith
13. Call of the Spirit
14. The Messiah repeats his claim of Heavenly origin
15. The promise of a new Heart that will never fail and eternal life
16. The Messiah came out of eternity into creation
17. Messiah is the The Word of God
18. The Spirit will guide Israel into all truth
19. The Spirit bears witness to the Messiah of Israel
20. The Conquering Messiah ben David
21. One who eats of the Bread of Heaven will never die
22. What went wrong with the non-Jewish followers of the Messiah?
23. Ingesting the Bread of Messiah is a Hebrew ‘figure of speech’
24. Messiah’s words are sourced in the writings of the Jewish prophets
25. Study the prophets and you will understand the words of Messiah
26. Feed on the Living Word of Adonai and drink in all the fullness of His Redeeming Love!
27. Receiving the Teaching of Messiah is receiving the Word of the Living Father
28. He who eats the Bread of Heaven (the Word of Messiah) will live forever!
29. Words to His Talmidim
30. In reference to the Shema
31. The love of Adonai was not in the hearts of the people
32. The Bread that we eat is every word that Adonai has spoken to us through His Messiah
33. The Cup of Redemption we drink is our daily witness to the sacrificed life of Messiah
34. A New Life of another kind…
35. Special direct revelation from God is required for people to exercise faith in the Messiah
36. Following the one instead of the many
37. The confession of Shim’on Keifa (Peter)
38. The ominous meaning of the given name of Yehudah ben Shim’on Ish-Keriyot
39. The beautiful meaning of the given name of Shim’on bar Yonas
40. Messiah is the Temple where God and man dwell together in perfect unity

Yeshua the Bread of Life:

כַּאֲשֶׁר מָצְאוּ אוֹתוֹ מֵעֵבֶר לַיָּם, שָׁאֲלוּ אוֹתוֹ: רַבִּי, מָתַי בָּאתָ לְכָאן? עָנָה לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ וְאָמַר: אָמֵן אָמֵן אֲנִי אוֹמֵר לָכֶם, אַתֶּם מְחַפְּשִׂים אוֹתִי, לֹא מִשּׁוּם שֶׁרְאִיתֶם אוֹתוֹת, אֶלָּא מִשּׁוּם שֶׁאֲכַלְתֶּם מִכִּכְּרוֹת הַלֶּחֶם וּשְׂבַעְתֶּם. אַל תַּעַמְלוּ בְּעַד הָאֹכֶל הַכָּלֶה וְאוֹבֵד, אֶלָּא בְּעַד הָאֹכֶל הַקַּיָּם לְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר בֶּן־הָאָדָם יִתְּנֵהוּ לָכֶם, כִּי אוֹתוֹ חָתַם הָאֱלֹהִים הָאָב בְּחוֹתָמוֹ. שָׁאֲלוּ אוֹתוֹ: “מֶה עָלֵינוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּדֵי שֶׁנִּפְעַל אֶת פָּעֳלֵי אֱלֹהִים? פ

כאשר מצאו אותו מעבר לים, שאלו אותו: רבי, מתי באת לכאן? ענה להם ישוע ואמר: אמן אמן אני אומר לכם, אתם מחפשים אותי, לא משום שראיתם אותות, אלא משום שאכלתם מככרות הלחם ושבעתם. אל תעמלו בעד האכל הכלה ואובד, אלא בעד האכל הקים לחיי עולם, אשר בן-האדם יתנהו לכם, כי אותו חתם האלוהים האב בחותמו. שאלו אותו: מה עלינו לעשות כדי שנפעל את פעלי אלהים? פ

[Yochanan 6:25-28] When they found him on the other side of the Sea (of Galil, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Yeshua answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which Ben Ha’adam will give to you, for on him the Father, God, has set His seal.” Therefore they said to him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

הֵשִׁיב יֵשׁוּעַ וְאָמַר לָהֶם: זֶהוּ פֹּעַל הָאֱלֹהִים־שֶׁתַּאֲמִינוּ בָּזֶה אֲשֶׁר הוּא שָׁלַח.פ

השיב ישוע ואמר להם: זהו פעל האלוהים־שתאמינו בזה אשר הוא שלח.פ

[6:29]  Yeshua answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He has sent.”

אָמְרוּ לוֹ: אִם כֵּן, מָה הָאוֹת שֶׁאַתָּה עוֹשֶׂה לְמַעַן נִרְאֶה וְנַאֲמִין בְּךָ? מָה אַתָּה פּוֹעֵל? אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אָכְלוּ אֶת הַמָּן בַּמִּדְבָּר, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: לֶחֶם מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם נָתַן לָמוֹ לֶאֱכֹל. הֵשִׁיב לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: “אָמֵן אָמֵן אֲנִי אוֹמֵר לָכֶם, לֹא מֹשֶׁה נָתַן לָכֶם אֶת הַלֶּחֶם מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶלָּא אָבִי נוֹתֵן לָכֶם אֶת הַלֶּחֶם הָאֲמִתִּי מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם. פ

אמרו לו: אם כן, מה האות שאתה עושה למען נראה ונאמין בך? מה אתה פועל? אבותינו אכלו את המן במדבר, כמו שכתוב: לחם מן השמים נתן למו לאכל. השיב להם ישוע: אמן אמן אני אומר לכם, לא משה נתן לכם את הלחם מן השמים אלא אבי נותן לכם את הלחם האמתי מן השמים. פ

[6:30-32]  So they said to him, “What then do you do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Yeshua then said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it is not Mosheh who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.”

כִּי לֶחֶם הָאֱלֹהִים הוּא הַיּוֹרֵד מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וְנוֹתֵן חַיִּים לָעוֹלָם.פ

כי לחם האלוהים הוא היורד מן השמים ונותן חיים לעולם.פ

[6:33]  “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

אָמְרוּ אֵלָיו: אָדוֹן, תֵּן נָא לָנוּ תָּמִיד אֶת הַלֶּחֶם הַזֶּה. אָמַר לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: אֲנִי הוּא לֶחֶם הַחַיִּים. כָּל הַבָּא אֵלַי לֹא יִרְעַב, וְהַמַּאֲמִין בִּי לֹא יִצְמָא עוֹד. אֲבָל אָמַרְתִּי לָכֶם כִּי רְאִיתֶם אוֹתִי וּבְכָל זֹאת אֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִים. כָּל מִי שֶׁהָאָב נוֹתֵן אוֹתוֹ לִי יָבוֹא אֵלַי, וְאֶת הַבָּא אֵלַי לֹא אַשְׁלִיךְ הַחוּצָה, כִּי יָרַדְתִּי מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם לֹא לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת רְצוֹנִי שֶׁלִּי אֶלָּא אֶת רְצוֹן שׁוֹלְחִי. וְזֶה רְצוֹן שׁוֹלְחִי: שֶׁלֹּא יֹאבַד לִי אִישׁ מִכָּל אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לִי, אֶלָּא שֶׁאָקִים אוֹתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֲרוֹן. הֵן זֶהוּ רְצוֹן אָבִי: שֶׁכָּל הָרוֹאֶה אֶת הַבֵּן וּמַאֲמִין בּוֹ יִהְיוּ לוֹ חַיֵּי עוֹלָם וַאֲנִי אָקִים אוֹתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֲרוֹן. פ

אמרו אליו: אדון, תן נא לנו תמיד את הלחם הזה. אמר להם ישוע: אני הוא לחם החיים. כל הבא אלי לא ירעב, והמאמין בי לא יצמא עוד. אבל אמרתי לכם כי ראיתם אותי ובכל זאת אינכם מאמינים. כל מי שהאב נותן אותו לי יבוא אלי, ואת הבא אלי לא אשליך החוצה, כי ירדתי מן השמים לא לעשות את רצוני שלי אלא את רצון שולחי. וזה רצון שולחי: שלא יאבד לי איש מכל אשר נתן לי, אלא שאקים אותו ביום האחרון. הן זהו רצון אבי: שכל הרואה את הבן ומאמין בו יהיו לו חיי עולם ואני אקים אותו ביום האחרון. פ

[6:34-40]  Then they said to him, “Master, always give us this bread.” Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.”

הָיוּ שֶׁרָטְנוּ עָלָיו מִשּׁוּם שֶׁאָמַר אֲנִי הַלֶּחֶם הַיּוֹרֵד מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאָמְרוּ: הֲלֹא זֶהוּ יֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר אֲנַחְנוּ מַכִּירִים אֶת אָבִיו וְאֶת אִמּוֹ! אֵיךְ כָּעֵת הוּא אוֹמֵר מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם יָרַדְתִּי? הֵשִׁיב יֵשׁוּעַ וְאָמַר לָהֶם: אַל תִּרְטְנוּ בֵּינֵיכֶם. אֵין אִישׁ יָכוֹל לָבוֹא אֵלַי אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן יִמְשֹׁךְ אוֹתוֹ הָאָב אֲשֶׁר שְׁלָחַנִי, וַאֲנִי אָקִים אוֹתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֲרוֹן. פ

היו שרטנו עליו משום שאמר אני הלחם היורד מן השמים, ואמרו: הלא זהו ישוע בן יוסף אשר אנחנו מכירים את אביו ואת אמו! איך כעת הוא אומר מן השמים ירדתי? השיב ישוע ואמר להם: אל תרטנו ביניכם. אין איש יכול לבוא אלי אלא אם כן ימשך אותו האב אשר שלחני, ואני אקים אותו ביום האחרון. פ

[6:41-44]  They were grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Yeshua, the son of Yosef, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” Yeshua answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

הֵן כָּתוּב בַּנְּבִיאִים, וְכָל־בָּנַיִךְ לִמּוּדֵי ה’. כָּל הַשּׁוֹמֵעַ מִן הָאָב וְלוֹמֵד יָבוֹא אֵלַי.פ

הן כתוב בנביאים, וכל-בניך למודי ה’. כל השומע מן האב ולומד יבוא אלי.פ

[6:45] “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by Adonai.’ Anyone who hears from the Father and learns will come to me.”

לֹא שֶׁאֵיזֶה אִישׁ רָאָה אֶת הָאָב, כִּי אִם זֶה שֶׁהוּא מֵאֵת הָאֱלֹהִים־הוּא רָאָה אֶת הָאָב. אָמֵן אָמֵן אֲנִי אוֹמֵר לָכֶם, הַמַּאֲמִין יֵשׁ לוֹ חַיֵּי עוֹלָם. אֲנִי הוּא לֶחֶם הַחַיִּים. אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם אָכְלוּ אֶת הַמָּן בַּמִּדְבָּר וָמֵתוּ. זֶה הוּא הַלֶּחֶם הַיּוֹרֵד מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם כְּדֵי שֶׁיֹּאכְלוּ מִמֶּנּוּ וְלֹא יָמוּתוּ. אֲנִי הַלֶּחֶם הַחַי הַיּוֹרֵד מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם. אִם יֹאכַל אִישׁ מִן הַלֶּחֶם הַזֶּה יִחְיֶה לְעוֹלָם. וְהַלֶּחֶם אֲשֶׁר אֶתֵּן הֲרֵיהוּ בְּשָׂרִי בְּעַד חַיָּיו שֶׁל הָעוֹלָם. הִתְוַכְּחוּ הַשּׁוֹמְעִים זֶה עִם זֶה וְאָמְרוּ: אֵיךְ יָכוֹל זֶה לָתֵת לָנוּ אֶת בְּשָׂרוֹ לֶאֱכֹל? אָמַר לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: “אָמֵן אָמֵן אֲנִי אוֹמֵר לָכֶם, אִם לֹא תֹּאכְלוּ אֶת בְּשַׂר בֶּן־הָאָדָם וְלֹא תִּשְׁתּוּ אֶת דָּמוֹ, אֵין לָכֶם חַיִּים בְּקִרְבְּכֶם. הָאוֹכֵל אֶת בְּשָׂרִי וְשׁוֹתֶה אֶת דָּמִי יֵשׁ לוֹ חַיֵּי עוֹלָם וַאֲנִי אָקִים אוֹתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֲרוֹן, כִּי בְּשָׂרִי הוּא מַאֲכָל אֲמִתִּי וְדָמִי הוּא מַשְׁקֶה אֲמִתִּי. הָאוֹכֵל אֶת בְּשָׂרִי וְשׁוֹתֶה אֶת דָּמִי שׁוֹכֵן בִּי וַאֲנִי בּוֹ. כְּמוֹ שֶׁהָאָב הַחַי שָׁלַח אוֹתִי וַאֲנִי חַי בִּגְלַל הָאָב, גַּם הָאוֹכֵל אוֹתִי אַף הוּא יִחְיֶה בִּגְלָלִי. פ

לא שאיזה איש ראה את האב, כי אם זה שהוא מאת האלוהים-הוא ראה את האב. אמן אמן אני אומר לכם, המאמין יש לו חיי עולם. אני הוא לחם החיים. אבותיכם אכלו את המן במדבר ומתו. זה הוא הלחם היורד מן השמים כדי שיאכלו ממנו ולא ימותו. אני הלחם החי היורד מן השמים. אם יאכל איש מן הלחם הזה יחיה לעולם. והלחם אשר אתן הריהו בשרי בעד חייו של העולם. התוכחו השומעים זה עם זה ואמרו: איך יכול זה לתת לנו את בשרו לאכל? אמר להם ישוע: אמן אמן אני אומר לכם, אם לא תאכלו את בשר בן-האדם ולא תשתו את דמו, אין לכם חיים בקרבכם. האוכל את בשרי ושותה את דמי יש לו חיי עולם ואני אקים אותו ביום האחרון, כי בשרי הוא מאכל אמתי ודמי הוא משקה אמתי. האוכל את בשרי ושותה את דמי שוכן בי ואני בו. כמו שהאב החי שלח אותי ואני חי בגלל האב, גם האוכל אותי אף הוא יחיה בגללי. פ

[6:46-57]  “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Then thye began to argue with each other, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the ben Ha’adam and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood [life] is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks Mm blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who ingests me [my life], he also will live because of me.”

זֶהוּ הַלֶּחֶם אֲשֶׁר יָרַד מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם: לֹא כְּמוֹ שֶׁאָכְלוּ הָאָבוֹת וָמֵתוּ. הָאוֹכֵל אֶת הַלֶּחֶם הַזֶּה יִחְיֶה לְעוֹלָם.פ

זהו הלחם אשר ירד מן השמים: לא כמו שאכלו האבות ומתו. האוכל את הלחם הזה יחיה לעולם.פ

[6:58]  “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אָמַר בְּבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת כַּאֲשֶׁר לִמֵּד בִּכְפַר נַחוּם. רַבִּים מִתַּלְמִידָיו שֶׁשָּׁמְעוּ זֹאת אָמְרוּ: “קָשֶׁה הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה; מִי יָכוֹל לִשְׁמֹעַ אוֹתוֹ? יֵשׁוּעַ יָדַע בְּלִבּוֹ שֶׁתַּלְמִידָיו רוֹטְנִים עַל זֹאת וּלְפִיכָךְ אָמַר לָהֶם: הַאִם זֶה מַכְשִׁיל אֶתְכֶם? וּמָה אִם תִּרְאוּ אֶת בֶּן־הָאָדָם עוֹלֶה אֶל אֲשֶׁר הָיָה שָׁם בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה? פ

את הדברים האלה אמר בבית הכנסת כאשר למד בכפר נחום. רבים מתלמידיו ששמעו זאת אמרו: קשה הדבר הזה; מי יכול לשמע אותו? ישוע ידע בלבו שתלמידיו רוטנים על זאת ולפיכך אמר להם: האם זה מכשיל אתכם? ומה אם תראו את בן-האדם עולה אל אשר היה שם בראשונה? פ

[6:59-62] “These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Kefar Nachum. Therefore many of his talmidiv when they heard this said, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” Yeshua knew in himself that his talmidiv murmured at it: and he said to them, “Does this offend you? And what if you should see ben Ha’adam ascend to where he was before?”

הָרוּחַ הִיא הַמְחַיָּה; הַבָּשָׂר אֵינוֹ מוֹעִיל כְּלוּם. הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁדִּבַּרְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶם רוּחַ הֵם וְחַיִּים.פ

הרוח היא המחיה; הבשר אינו מועיל כלום. הדברים שדברתי אליכם רוח הם וחיים.פ

[6:63]  “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

אַךְ יֵשׁ אֲנָשִׁים מִכֶּם שֶׁאֵינָם מַאֲמִינִים; שֶׁכֵּן יֵשׁוּעַ יָדַע מֵרֹאשׁ מִי הֵם שֶׁאֵינָם מַאֲמִינִים וּמִי יַסְגִּיר אוֹתוֹ. הוֹסִיף וְאָמַר: עַל־כֵּן אָמַרְתִּי לָכֶם שֶׁאֵין אִישׁ יָכוֹל לָבוֹא אֵלַי אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן נִתַּן לוֹ מֵאֵת הָאָב. פ

אך יש אנשים מכם שאינם מאמינים; שכן ישוע ידע מראש מי הם שאינם מאמינים ומי יסגיר אותו. הוסיף ואמר: על-כן אמרתי לכם שאין איש יכול לבוא אלי אלא אם כן נתן לו מאת האב. פ

[6:64-65]  “But there are some of you [among my own followers] who do not believe.” For Yeshua knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

בְּשֶׁל הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה נָסוֹגוּ רַבִּים מִתַּלְמִידָיו וְלֹא הוֹסִיפוּ לְהִתְהַלֵּך אִתּוֹ.פ

בשל הדבר הזה נסוגו רבים מתלמידיו ולא הוסיפו להתהלך אתו.פ

[6:66]  Because of this, many of his talmidiv turned back and no longer walked with him.

אָמַר יֵשׁוּעַ אֶל הַשְּׁנֵים־עָשָׂר: שֶׁמָּא גַּם אַתֶּם רוֹצִים לָלֶכֶת? הֵשִׁיב לוֹ שִׁמְעוֹן כֵּיפָא: אֲדוֹנֵנוּ, אֶל מִי נֵלֵךְ? דִּבְרֵי חַיֵּי עוֹלָם עִמְּךָ. וַאֲנַחְנוּ הֶאֱמַנּוּ וְיָדַעְנוּ שֶׁאַתָּה קְדוֹשׁ הָאֱלֹהִים. אָמַר לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: הֲרֵי אֲנִי בָּחַרְתִּי אֶתְכֶם, הַשְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר, וְאֶחָד מִכֶּם שָׂטָן. יֵשׁוּעַ דִּבֵּר עַל יְהוּדָה בֶּן שִׁמְעוֹן אִישׁ קְרִיּוֹת, כִּי הוּא הָיָה עָתִיד לְהַסְגִּיר אוֹתוֹ וְהוּא אֶחָד מִן הַשְּׁנֵים־עָשָׂר. פ

אמר ישוע אל השנים-עשר: שמא גם אתם רוצים ללכת? השיב לו שמעון כיפא: אדוננו, אל מי נלך? דברי חיי עולם עמך. ואנחנו האמנו וידענו שאתה קדוש האלוהים. אמר להם ישוע: הרי אני בחרתי אתכם, השנים-עשר, ואחד מכם שטן. ישוע דבר על יהודה בן שמעון איש קריות, כי הוא היה עתיד להסגיר אותו והוא אחד מן השנים-עשר. פ

[6:67-71]  So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Shim’on Keifa answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Yeshua answered them, “Did I myself not choose you, the Twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now he meant Yehudah ben Shim’on Ish keriot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

The meaning of the feeding of the five thousand:

More than mere rabbinical doctrine is communicated here; eternal life is being communicated!

In Messiah’s teaching on the 5 loaves (body of grace) and 2 fishes (witness of the soul) we see a kind of Grand Central Station where all of the combined truth of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings intersect to provide us with one unified nexus of the existence of everything. The Messiah himself is the visible expression of the invisible God. Messiah is the Temple of the Eternal One. He is the tent (the place) where the way, truth and life of the Living God dwells.

He precedes all, and all exists in Him..

  .הוּא קוֹדֵם לַכֺּל וְהַכֺּל קַיָּם בּוֹ

The Synagogue of Heaven that has come to earth:

We are to assemble at the Synagogue of heaven to receive the Living Torah of our Messiah—the Rabbi of heaven and earth.

It is at the Synagogue of heaven and earth that we receive the Living Torah of our heavenly Father who has so graciously sent His Image, His Son, His Voice, His Messiah to us. In these last days the Messiah is the Voice of the LORD. He is the living Word of God come down from heaven. His words are Divinely sourced and they are timeless, eternal truth and life-giving.

So now we are called to the Village of Comfort and Consolation to the heavenly Synagogue of God to hear, partake, ingest, consume the words (manna) of the living Word of God himself; who is the fulfillment of all the written Torah and Living Oral Torah of Abba Avinu. God our Father’s d’varim distributed to us through M’shicho (His annointed) is food that endures to eternal life.

His words will never decay or spoil but will only nourish us with his perfect virtue and His eternal life.

In the teaching of the 5 loaves and 2 fishes Messiah repeats the same lessons he has taught us before only now he is increasing the resolution, and clarity of God’s teaching by using a more expansive use more of sacred Torah symbols that are employed in the Tanakh (wine, bread, numerology, etc.). For instance look back at what he taught us previously in his narrative encounter with the Samaritan woman regarding the spiritual water that comes from El-Shaddai—the All-Sufficient One (cf. Messiah in Rosh Hashanah & Yom Teruah, Chapters 32, 33, 34).

His Living Water is the saving-perfecting works of the Spirit of Life that is freely given to all.

Our God has promised us through His Messiah:  “Indeed, the water I give a person will become in that person a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Therefore we must ask ourselves what do we really hunger and thirst for? Do we long for the goodness, righteousness and truth of the Ruach Elohim Chayim? If we do hunger and thirst for the Spirit of the Living God then we will receive not only His Living Water but also His Bread of Heaven and His Wine.

“Amen, amen I say to you:”

“Amen, amen I say to you.”

Yeshua began with the solemn words, “Amen, amen I say to you.” The Messiah spoke these words four times in the discourse (1, 2, 3, 4). This drew attention to the importance of what he was about to teach. He rebuked his fellow Yehudim (Jews) for their materialistic motivation and their lack of spiritual perception. The people of Israel saw miraculous signs, but to our ancestors it was only an easy meal. Our religious leaders led our people astray because they too failed to see what each sign spiritually signified.

Expend your efforts on what will last forever!

“Do not work for the food which perishes.”

“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on him the Father has set His seal.”

When the Messiah said, “Do not work for the food which perishes,” he was not condoning laziness. Rather he was saying that people should expend their efforts for what will last forever. Physical food is short lived in its nourishment but spiritual food leads to eternal life:

“Man does not live by bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

The Son of Man who has access to heaven will give the people this spiritual food, which ultimately is the Messiah himself; especially his mind. The Mind of Messiah, his conscious life, is supernaturally communicated to us through the Power and Presence of the Spirit of Holiness. The LORD our God Himself authenticates His Messiah’s claim that he is truly heavenly food by his sending his own Holy Spirit to lead *us and guide us into all truth.

*This truth applies both individually and corporately. We are individuals and we are all members of one body. Every talmid (student, disciple) of Messiah is a member of the greater eternal corporate union that exists within the life of God. For we all exist together as one person (one body) and that one person is the eternal body of God—the living temple of the Spirit of the Holy One.

.כַאֲשֶׁר הַכֺּל יוּשַׁת תַּחְתָּיו, אָז גַּם הַבֵּן עַצְמוֹ יִהְיֶה כָּפוּף לְמִי שֶׁשָּׁת תַּחְתָּיו אֶת הַכֺּל, לְמַעַן יִהְיֶה הָאֱלֹהִים הַכֺּל בַּכֺּל

When all things are placed under him, then the Son himself will also be subject to the One who placed all things under him, so that God may be all in all.

Each and every one of us from father Abraham and our mother Sara on throughout all human history are members of the body of God. In eternity we are His temple and His bride. As for now the proxy Bridegroom who is acting on behalf of God is His Son, our Great High Priest. This means the eternal Head of Messiah and all of us is our heavenly Father El-Elyon, God Most High (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן).

The Root Meaning: The word Elyon derives from the Hebrew root ‘ālāh (עלה), which means “to ascend” or “to go up”. The term occurs 28 times in the Hebrew Bible, most notably in the book of Psalms.

The Book of Psalms: It frequently appears in poetic passages (e.g., Psalm 7:17, Psalm 57:2, and Psalm 91) to invoke God’s absolute protection and unmatched power.

Genesis 14 (The Story of Malki-Tzedek): The first and most famous biblical use occurs when Malki-Tzedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק) the mysterious king of Salem, meets Abraham. Malki-Tzedek is described as a “priest of God Most High” (El Elyon). He blesses Abraham, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.”

וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֨דֶק֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ שָׁלֵ֔ם הוֹצִ֖יא לֶ֣חֶם וָיָ֑יִן וְה֥וּא כֹהֵ֖ן לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֽוֹן׃ וַֽיְבָרְכֵ֖הוּ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר בָּר֤וּךְ אַבְרָם֙ לְאֵ֣ל עֶלְי֔וֹן קֹנֵ֖ה שָׁמַ֥יִם וָאָֽרֶץ׃ וּבָרוּךְ֙ אֵ֣ל עֶלְי֔וֹן אֲשֶׁר־מִגֵּ֥ן צָרֶ֖יךָ בְּיָדֶ֑ךָ וַיִּתֶּן־ל֥וֹ מַעֲשֵׂ֖ר מִכֹּֽל׃

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tenth of everything.

Deuteronomy 32:8: The text states, “When the Most High (Elyon) gave the nations their inheritance…”, showcasing His authority over global boundaries and history.

Trust in the Messiah whom the heavenly Father has sent:

[FIRST QUESTION]  “Therefore they said to him, ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’”

The common people realized that Rabbeinu Yeshua was saying that our Father and our God had a requirement for us (Israel). They (our ancestors) would do the requirement if Adonai Eloheinu would inform them (us) what it was. The people believed that they could please God and thus obtain eternal life by doing good works. Yeshua answered and said to them:

“This is the work of God that you believe in him whom He has sent.”

The Messiah’s response to our ancestor’s question was a flat contradiction to their thinking. Our Messiah was saying that the people (Israel) could not please God by doing ‘their’ good works. There is only one work of God that He requires of us (Israel) and that is to believe in him “whom He has sent.” Our people are required to put our trust in the one that our heavenly Father has sent to us (Israel). Because of our personal and national sins our people cannot please Adonai Avinu by doing our own (tainted) good works for salvation. God requires that we the people confess our sin and therefore, our inability to save ourselves by our works. However, the good that we are able to do is to confess the good works of God that He has accomplished through His righteous one our Messiah Yeshua.  So it is a true saying:

“This is the work of God that you believe in him whom He has sent.”

Believe and See! Instead of see and believe:

[SECOND QUESTION]  “So they said to him, ‘What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” (Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalm 78:24, 25). In response the people demanded a miraculous sign:

The people thought God’s order is see and believe; instead of believe and see.

The people did not have faith or spiritual perception. However, they did understand that the Messiah was proclaiming something new and different from what the Perushim rabbis had been teaching. The coming of the Messiah who was ‘like Moses’ was seen as an advance over Moses. They reasoned, “If you are more than Moses, do more than Moses did.” The crowd that asked for a sign from the Messiah must have felt that the feeding of the 5,000 (approximately 10,000 counting the women and children) did not compare with Moses’ gift of manna from heaven (Exodus 16; Numbers 11:7). They believed Messiah’s feeding of them was less significant because Moses fed the whole nation for 40 years.

Avinu Shebashamayim gives you the true Bread out of Heaven:

“Yeshua then said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father [Avi Shebashamayim] who gives you the true bread out of heaven.’”

In a solemn revelation the *Salvation of Adonai corrected the misperceptions of our people (Israel) in three ways: first, God gave the manna from heaven, not Moses; second, our Father in heaven was still giving manna to His people, not just in the past but even now in the present (modern Israel); third, the true Bread out of Heaven nourishes for an eternity, not just 40 years.

*Yeshua

This is the real, eternal Bread out of Heaven: the spiritual manna of Messiah; not the physical manna which was only a temporal symbol of the eternal manna to come. Therefore, the supposed superiority of Moses and his sign vanishes before the actual Presence of our Father and our God that is cloaked in the humble form of His Messiah.

The first symbolic manna was food for the body.

The first physical manna was useful. However, the Messiah is the real eternal manna. He is God’s full provision for the body, soul and Spirit of our people (Israel) both now in our eternal existence. Five times–the symbolic number of God’s grace (chen, chesed)—our heavenly Father reveals in this discourse that He is the One who through His servant the Messiah came down “out of heaven” (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Adonai is the Source and the Sustainer of all life:

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven (He who comes out of heaven), and gives life to the world.”

The heavenly Father is the Source and Sustainer of all life; including the life of His Servant, the Messiah The Messiah has come in the Name of Adonai to give His people real and lasting life. The Spirit of the Father is our Life and apart from His Life we die spiritually and physically. The Spirit of the Holy One “came down out of heaven” to give His life to the world. The Messiah is His genuine Bread of Heaven who gives God’s eternal life to all who believe in him.

Then they said to him, “Master, always give us this bread!”

“Always give us this bread!”

As yet the crowd did not perceive that the Salvation of Adonai (Yeshua) is the eternal Bread of Heaven which he had been describing. Like the woman at the well (cf. Messiah in Rosh HaShanah & Yom Teruah, Chapter 33): The people asked for this better physical food and they wanted it continually (always). They wanted the physical manna that would be provided to them forever and not just forty years.

The problem: Messiah was talking about spiritual food and the people were thinking physical food.

Eternal versus temporal satisfaction:

“Yeshua said to them, *I AM the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.’” “I AM the Bread of Life.”  This declaration by the Messiah corrected two more errors in the people’s thinking: first, the food of which the Messiah spoke refers to a person, not a commodity; second, once the people were in right relationship to the Messiah then they would find spiritual satisfaction that is everlasting, not temporal.

*Remember this: When you see the Messiah saying I AM statements it is the Spirit of Adonai speaking through the Messiah. The Messiah Yeshua is not bearing witness to himself. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is speaking to us directly through His Servant. God is bearing witness to Himself here.

.כִּי לֹא מֵעַצְמִי דִּבַּרְתִּי, אֶלָּא הָאָב אֲשֶׁר שְׁלָחַנִי הוּא צִוַּנִי מָה שֶׁאֺמַר וּמָה שֶׁאֲדַבֵּר

Yochanan 12:49. “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but [God] the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and what to speak.”

.הֵשִׁיב לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ וְאָמַר: “תּוֹרָתִי אֵינָהּ שֶׁלִּי כִּי אִם שֶׁל שׁוֹלְחִי

Yochanan 7:16. Yeshua answered them and said: “my teaching is not mine, but His who sent me.”

.הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר מִקֶּדֶם פְּעָמִים רַבּוֹת וּבִדְרָכִים רַבּוֹת אֶל הָאָבוֹת בְּיַד הַנְּבִיאִים, 2דִּבֵּר אֵלֵינוּ בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה בְּיַד הַבֵּן אֲשֶׁר שָׂם לְיוֹרֵשׁ כֺּל

Hebrews 1:1-2a. God, who spoke in times past many times and in many ways to the forefathers through the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days through the Son, whom He appointed heir of all things.

The “I AM” statement spoken above by the Spirit of the Holy One through the Messiah Yeshua is the first in a series of momentous I AM revelations (Ten references: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). “Bread of Life” means bread which provides life. The words of God spoken by the Messiah is our essential staple. It is Israel’s necessary food. Messiah is the Bread of Life. God our Father promises us that if we come to Messiah in faith believing in His Word we will never be spiritually hungry or thirsty again.

The 1st century (CE) Yehudim were rebuked for their lack of faith:

“But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe.”

The Messiah rebuked the crowd for their lack of faith. The 1st century people of Israel (our wayward ancestors) experienced the great privilege of physically hearing and seeing the Messiah and yet they “did not believe.” Physical hearing and believing does not necessarily lead to spiritual hearing and believing. Spiritual receptivity requires the help of our Father of Spirits (Avi HaRuchot). Each one of us must first be receptive to our Father and our God at the core of our being—in our spirit—before any of us can understand anything in our conscious awareness; our mind.

It is the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaEmet) who reveals the Messiah to each one of us.

In truth our heavenly Father gives us to the care of both His Spirit and His Messiah, the head over all His household. Of this truth the Messiah says: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.”

Call of the Spirit:

God is the Sovereign ruler of both His Individual Son, the Messiah and of His National Son, the people of Israel. His Individual Son the Messiah has no concern that His work will be ineffective. By virtue of his perfect obedience the Messiah is the Head of the entire Assembly of Israel (Rosh Ha’edah). God our Father enables us the people of Israel to come to His Messiah through the call of His Spirit. The problem between the Individual Son and the National Son has not been that the Messiah has rejected his people. The problem is:

The people of Israel have so far disobeyed God’s sovereign call to follow His Messiah.

El Yisrael is still waiting for the Assembly of Israel to be reunited with Him through His Messiah, who He has assigned as the Head of All things (Rosh l’khol-ha’edah). At the moment the people of Israel receive (believe in) His Messiah, the God of Israel will of a certainty welcome all of us back into a right relationship with Him. Our Father and our God will never “cast out” any child of Israel who returns to Him by exercising faith in the the call of His Spirit to believe in His Messiah.

The Messiah repeats his claim of Heavenly origin:

.כִּי יָרַדְתִּי מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם לֹא לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת רְצוֹנִי שֶׁלִּי אֶלָּא אֶת רְצוֹן שׁוֹלְחִי. וְזֶה רְצוֹן שׁוֹלְחִי: שֶׁלֹּא יֺאבַד לִי אִישׁ מִכָּל אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לִי, אֶלָּא שֶׁאָקִים אוֹתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֲרוֹן

Yochanan 6:38-39. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me: that I should lose none of all those He has given me, but raise them up on the last day.

Our Rabbi Yeshua repeats his claim about his heavenly origin. The only reason he “came down from heaven” was to do the will of the Father who sent him. Abba Avinu’s will is that those who He gives to the care of His Messiah will not suffer any loss of their salvation but by His grace will be raised up to eternal life on the day of resurrection. Therefore, it is a true saying: our (Israel’s) eternal security is not based on our own fallible works but on the unfailing, perfect works of our Father in heaven.

Avinu Shebashamayim is the One who has sent His Messiah to redeem us from our sins and infuse us with the Gift of His righteousness. The Gift of the Righteous Father is the eternal Indwelling Presence of the Spirit of Holiness. He is the Holy One who is responsible for changing us from the inside-out. This transformation by the Spirit will be made complete (perfect) on the day of our resurrection.

The promise of a new Heart that will never fail and eternal life:

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.”

This statement repeats and reinforces all of the previous teaching of the Messiah. The one who hears, understands, and obeys the Messiah already possesses eternal life because the one who receives him has received eternal life already. We have received the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. Ruach Elohim Chayim is our eternal life.

The Spirit of the Living God is our eternal life.

The Spirit of Promise (בְּרוּחַ הַהַבְטָחָה), the Holy Spirit (רוּחַ הַקֺּדֶשׁ) is the One who guarantees us that we will be raised-up to eternal life on the day of our resurrection.

Torah of Adonai. Part I.  Under the covenant of the convicting Torah of God administered by Moses every Jewish man, woman and child is assured that the Presence of the Spirit of God will be “with” us from the moment of our conception to the end of our mortal life.

Torah of Adonai. Part II.  However, only under the covenant of the delivering grace (chen, chesed) of God administered by the Messiah are we assured that the Presence of the Spirit of God will dwell with and within us beyond the end of our mortal life. The Brit HaChadashah of Jeremiah and Ezekiel speaks of this when the prophets say (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27):

“Behold, days are coming,” declares God, “when I will make a Brit Chadashah (בְּרִ֥ית חֲדָשָֽׁה-new covenant) with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their (our) fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares God.  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days”:

“I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

“Moreover, I will give you a new Heart (לֵ֣ב חָדָ֔שׁ) and put a new Spirit (ר֥וּחַ חֲדָשָׁ֖ה) within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you.”

It is for the implementation of this new covenant of the Spirit, wherein the Spirit Of God is actually made to live “within” us forever that the Messiah came down from heaven. The New Covenant administered through the Spirit of Holiness is the necessary means by which the Messiah is able to promise us that we will one day be raised up to eternal life; a life of a new kindon the day of resurrection.

The Messiah came out of eternity into creation:

“Yeshua answered and said to them, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.’”

The Perushim trained Yehudim were ignorant of the true origin and nature of the the Messiah that he is the wisdom and salvation of God personified. The Messiah is the only one among all humankind who has been born out of eternity into creation. In truth:

The Jewish Memrah and Greek Logos came from heaven to earth in human form as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world.

Messiah is the The Word of God:

בראשית היה הדבר, והדבר היה עם האלהים, ואלהים היה הדבר. הוא היה בראשית עם האלהים. הכל נהיה על-ידיו, ומבלעדיו לא נהיה כל אשר נהיה. בו היו חיים והחיים היו האור לבני האדם. והאור מאיר בחשך והחשך לא השיגו. איש היה שלוח מאת אלהים ושמו יוחנן. הוא בא לעדות, להעיד על האור כדי שעל-פיו יאמינו הכל.  הוא לא היה האור; הוא בא להעיד על האור. האור האמתי, המאיר לכל אדם, בא אל העולם. בעולם היה ועל-ידיו נהיה העולם, והעולם לא הכירו. הוא בא אל שלו ואלה אשר לו לא קבלו אותו. אבל לאלה אשר קבלו אותו, המאמינים בשמו, נתן תקף להיות בנים לאלהים. לא מדם ולא מחפץ הבשר נולדו, אף לא מחפץ גבר, כי אם מאלהים. הדבר נהיה בשר ושכן בתוכנו; ואנחנו ראינו את כבודו, כבוד בן יחיד מלפני אביו, מלא חסד ואמת. יוחנן העיד עליו וקרא באמרו: “זה הוא שאמרתי עליו, ‘הבא אחרי הוא כבר לפני, כי קדם לי היה’.” הן ממלואו כלנו קבלנו, וחסד על חסד; כי התורה נתנה על-ידי משה, והחסד והאמת באו דרך ישוע המשיח. את האלהים לא ראה איש מעולם; הבן היחיד, הנמצא בחיק האב, הוא אשר הודיעו.פ

“In the beginning was The Word…”

בְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַדָּבָר, וְהַדָּבָר הָיָה עִם הָאֱלֹהִים, וֵאלֹהִים הָיָה הַדָּבָר. הוּא הָיָה בְּרֵאשִׁית עִם הָאֱלֹהִים. הַכֹּל נִהְיָה עַל־יָדָיו, וּמִבַּלְעָדָיו לֹא נִהְיָה כָּל אֲשֶׁר נִהְיָה. בּוֹ הָיוּ חַיִּים וְהַחַיִּים הָיוּ הָאוֹר לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם. וְהָאוֹר מֵאִיר בַּחֹשֶׁךְ וְהַחֹשֶׁךְ לֹא הִשִֹיגוֹ.פ

Yochanan 1. In the beginning was The Word (הַדָּבָר), and The Word was with Ha-Elohim, and The Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Ha-Elohim. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life (חַיִּים), and the life (הַחַיִּים) was the Light of men. The Light (הָאוֹר) shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

In the Targumim the sacred term that is akin to the expression of HaDavar is the Hebrew word Ma’amar (מאמר), from to think, answer, “speak.” The words Ma’amar (Hebrew), Memra (Aramaic), and Logos (Greek) do not refer to the permanent manifestation of God or to the manifest Presence of God. It conveys the meaning of HaShem revealing Himself.

The Aramaic term Memra is applied to HaShem 599 times in the Targum Onkelos, Jerusalem Targum, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. In a majority of these references 366 times the term Memra is not only distinguished from HaShem, it refers to HaShem revealing Himself.

Similarly, the famous Jewish philosopher Philo (פילון) uses the Greek term Logos (λόγος) to discuss the Memra as a manifestation of God–Tselem HaElohim. For Philo the manifestation (revelation) of the Holy One is principally a philosophical experience. For him the Logos is the very impersonal pre-existent, timeless, eternal Tselem (צֶלֶם), Eikon (εἰκών) “image” upon which Adam was made.

The Word is the ideal instrument through whom God created all things.

On the one hand Philo believed The Word (Ha-Davar) is an intermediary thought construction between God and the world. The Word announces and interprets to man the will and Mind of God. The Word conceptually acts as one mediator (melitz echad) between God and Man. For Philo the Memra, the Logos, is the real High-Priest. The Word is a kind of personified wisdom that when heard, understood, and obeyed brings Divine Reality to our souls.

Melitz echad – we have an advocate before Avinu Shebashamayim.

On the other hand the Elijah to come, the prophet Yochanan ben Zebedyah, declares that HaDavar is “more” than a theoretical ideal about God. Similarly the beloved talmid of Rabbi Yeshua testifies in his Besorah of Yochanan that in actuality what the Targumim and philosopher Philo envisioned philosophically actually is a Divine Reality. The Word did become flesh and dwelt, tented, lodged among us.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Messiah is the revelation of the invisible God. He is the visible manifestation of the power (gevurah) and the wisdom  (chokmah) of God. He is the Image of the God not seen.

.הַמָשִׁיחַ, שֶׁהוּא גְּבוּרַת אֱלֹהִים וְחָכְמַת אֱלֹהִים

Ha-Mashiach, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

הַדָּבָר נִהְיָה בָּשָׂר וְשָׁכַן בְּתוֹכֵנוּ; וַאֲנַחְנוּ רָאִינוּ אֶת כְּבוֹדוֹ, כְּבוֹד בֵּן יָחִיד מִלִּפְנֵי אָבִיו, מָלֵא חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת. יוֹחָנָן הֵעִיד עָלָיו וְקָרָא בְּאָמְרוֹ: “זֶה הוּא שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי עָלָיו, ‘הַבָּא אַחֲרַי הוּא כְּבָר לְפָנַי, כִּי קֺדֶם לִי הָיָה”.’ הֵן מִמְּלוֹאוֹ כֻּלָּנוּ קִבַּלְנוּ, וְחֶסֶד עַל חֶסֶד; כִּי הַתּוֹרָה נִתְּנָה עַל־יְדֵי מֺשֶׁה, וְהַחֶסֶד וְהָאֱמֶת בָּאוּ דֶּרֶךְ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ. אֶת אֱלֹהִים לֹא רָאָה אִישׁ מֵעוֹלָם; הָאֵל הַיָּחִיד, הַנִּמְצָא בְּחֵיק הָאָב, הוּא אֲשֶׁר הוֹדִיעַ עָלָיו.פ

Yochanan 1:14-18. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness to him and cried out, saying: “This is he of whom I spoke: ‘He who comes after me is already ahead of me, because he existed before me.'” Indeed, from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace; for the Torah was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father—he has made Him known.

The prophet Yochanan ben Zecharyah ben Aaron bears witness to the pre-existence of the Messiah.

The Messiah alone exists in the bosom of the Father (בְּחֵיק הָאָב). He is the one who makes God known. Moses along with Elijah (1, 2) and all of the prophets of Israel testify that the Messiah is the Bread of Heaven. 

The Spirit will guide Israel into all truth:

“It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me.” In support of this truth that the Salvation of God comes to us solely by the unmerited endowment of God’s grace alone, the Messiah references the writings of the two prophets Isaiah (54:13 and Jeremiah (31:34):

וְכָל־בָּנַ֖יִךְ לִמּוּדֵ֣י ה’ וְרַ֖ב שְׁלֹ֥ום בָּנָֽיִךְ׃

וכל־בניך למודי ה’ ורב שלום בניך׃

“And all your children shall be taught of the LORD and great shall be the shalom of your sons.”

וְלֹ֧א יְלַמְּד֣וּ עֹ֗וד אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵ֜הוּ וְאִ֤ישׁ אֶת־אָחִיו֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר דְּע֖וּ אֶת־ה’ כִּֽי־כוּלָּם֩ יֵדְע֨וּ אֹותִ֜י לְמִקְטַנָּ֤ם וְעַד־גְּדֹולָם֙ נְאֻם־ה’ כִּ֤י אֶסְלַח֙ לַֽעֲוֹנָ֔ם וּלְחַטָּאתָ֖ם לֹ֥א אֶזְכָּר־עֹֽוד׃

ולא ילמדו עוד איש את־רעהו ואיש את־אחיו לאמר דעו את־ה’ כי־כולם ידעו אותי למקטנם ועד־גדולם נאם־ה’ כי אסלח לעונם ולחטאתם לא אזכר־עוד׃

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Adonai,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

These two Divine disclosures “teach” us about God our Father’s inner work that disposes us to accept the truth about His Messiah and to positively respond to him. Due to this inner working of the calling of God:

“Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to the Messiah.”

The Spirit bears witness to the Messiah of Israel:

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.” This secret teaching (sod) of God the Father regarding the Messiah is not a natural knowledge, conveyed only through human logic but a supernatural knowledge conveyed directly by the Spirit alone (Yochanan 6:46).

The Spirit of the Holy One bears witness to the Messiah.

The Spirit does not bear witness to the Bramble Bush rabbis who have tragically supplanted the writings of the prophets and rebelled against the commandments of Messiah. The Bramble Bush rabbis (פרושים) have substituted the words of the prophets of Israel, the commandments of the Messiah of Israel, and the actual Presence of the Holy One with their own clever mental inventions. These mental inventions are its useless volumes of unending words that possess no real supernatural power to accomplish anything. For nearly two millennia the Bramble Bush (king) has made itself the ruler over all of the institutions (trees) of Israel.

The Spirit bears witness to the sinless life of the Messiah. The Messiah is the only human being who all the time has done only what God desires (1, 2). The Messiah is the only man in whom all of the Spirit of God dwells. The Salvation of Adonai is the Rabbi of Heaven. He is the only one born out of eternity into creation. He pre-exists creation. Messiah our Tzaddik (Righteous One) knows all things. He alone has seen the Father. He alone intimately and completely knows the Father. He presently sits at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. There he remains until the day when our heavenly Father sends him back to earth (Israel) to make all of the nations of the world become as his footstool (cf. Psalm 2).

One who eats of the Bread of Heaven will never die:

The eternal substance of the Bread of Adonai is the Indwelling Presence of His Holy Spirit. In contrast to the physical manna, the Messiah is the spiritual Manna sent from God our Father. He is the Bread of a different kind. He is the Bread “which comes down out of heaven.” One who eats of this Bread “may eat of it and not die.” The Bread of Heaven is not composed of just temporal physical human form but of eternal spiritual substance. Without the life of the Spirit of God living within us we are spiritually dead. The virtuous life-sustaining conscious Presence of the Holy One is what sustains, nourishes, and preserves us alive forever.

Not the physical bread but the spiritual bread of God our Father is in view here. It is ridiculous beyond belief that anyone (Christian or Jew) would actually think these words of the Jewish Messiah refer to his previous individual mortal physical body—that has ceased to exist since his resurrection! After the Messiah died and was resurrected his new immortal body was of a different kind. The Messiah’s new immortal body possesses only the life of the Eternal Spirit (רוּחַ עוֹלָמִים-Ruach Olamim). Therefore, it is a true saying:

After the Messiah died and was resurrected his new immortal body was of a different kind.

The new life-blood in the body of the resurrected-glorified-immortal Messiah is the life-giving Presence of the Spirit. This means that now and forever the immortal Messiah’s new eternal body possesses no physical blood at all! Nor will our resurrected bodies possess any physical  blood. Our new life is supplied by the indwelling Presence of the Spirit of the Living God. For it is written regarding the present resurrected body of Messiah and our future resurrected bodies:

אִם יֵשׁ גּוּף נַפְשִׁי יֵשׁ גַּם גּוּף רוּחָנִי. וְכֵן כָּתוּב עַל אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן: “וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה,” אֲבָל אָדָם הָאַחֲרוֹן – לְרוּחַ מְחַיָּה.פֶ

“If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. And so it is written regarding the first Adam: “The man became a living soul,” but the *last Adam—[the Messiah] a life-giving spirit.”

*Adam HaAcharon (אדם האחרון).

This means those of us who follow the Messiah do not literally or figuratively ingest and or drink in the mortal body and blood of Messiah. We do drink in and ingest his life-giving Spirit. The Spirit of the Holy One. So we do accept the atoning physical Pesach sacrifice of our Messiah. Yeshua ben Yosef ben David is our Korban Pesach. This acceptance of his sacrifice cleanses us from sin. However, it is not the gift of eternal life. For after we are cleansed of sin:

The gift of eternal life is the Spirit of God our Father living within us forever.

The Messiah Yeshua was absolutely clear about his and our eternal life solely being sourced and sustained by the Spirit when he said at his synagogue at Kefar-Nachum:

.הָרוּחַ הִיא הַמְחַיָּה; הַבָּשָׂר אֵינוֹ מוֹעִיל כְּלוּם. הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁדִּבַּרְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶם רוּחַ הֵם וְחַיִּים

“It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Yochanan 6:63.

How much more clear could the Messiah be? “The flesh profits nothing.”

More important, therefore, than our being cleansed of our sins is our ultimate need to permanently become the righteousness of God. For after we  are cleansed of our sin by believing in the atoning sacrifice of our Messiah we may receive into our bodies, souls, and spirits our heavenly Father’s gift of the Indwelling Presence of His Spirit. He came to put a permanent end to sin and the sacrifices for sin that goes with it. The only reason the Messiah came to earth was so that once cleansed of our sins we might receive the Gift of the Father: the permanent Indwelling Presence of His Spirit of Holiness. He came to put an end to sin and the sacrifices for sin that goes with it. He came that we might finally be restored to a right relationship with God our Father; then the blessing of living an eternally righteous life would be restored to His redeemed humankind (1, 2, 3).

What went wrong with the non-Jewish followers of the Messiah?

Apparently, when the ignorant gentiles first got a hold of the Jewish messianic teaching that was passed on to them by the Jewish shlichim (emissaries, sent ones) of the Messiah their appointed religious leaders altered much of the spiritual meaning of Messiah’s own words.

The elite gentile priests grossly altered the teaching of Messiah so that it would correspond to their pagan beliefs.

Sadly these false beliefs of the gentile priests like the false beliefs of the Jewish rabbis – the Bramble Bush King – have yet again become another means of the evil one to “supplant” the saving truth of Messiah, the Jewish prophets, and the Jewish emissaries. It has been another way in which the return of the Messiah and of the coming of the kingdom of God on earth has been delayed. This clearly means the mortal physical body of Rabbeinu Yeshua, no matter how precious, is not what anyone should be worshiping.

We do not worship the body of a man – Beit-El (בֵּֽית־אֵ֑ל). This is Idolatry. We do not worship the Temple of God. We worship the One true God who indwells the Temple HaEL-Beit-El (הָאֵל֙ בֵּֽית־אֵ֔ל).. God is not a man. YHWH is “Spirit”. Messiah is the firstfruits of the new Adam that God dwells in bodily—forever. If you do not believe us then listen to what Rabbeinu Yeshua has said in his own words:

האלוהים הוא רוח, והעובדים אותו צריכים לעבדו ברוח ובאמת.פ

   God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and truth.

Therefore, we worship only the LORD our God. He is Spirit. Not a man. He is our (eternal) Father and our God. Therefore, forty days before ascending (cf. Enoch and Elijah) into heaven the Messiah Yeshua said:

לכי אל אחי (יהודים) והגידי להם: אני עולה אל אבי ואביכם, אל אלוהי ואלוהיכם.פ

“Go to my [Jewish] brothers and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

We believe that the Messiah Yeshua ben Yosef ben David is a man who worships only Adonai Avinu (ה’ אבינו). Yeshua does not worship himself or anyone else. He worships Adonai his Father and our Father, His God and our God. We believe that we Jews together with you Gentiles who reverence (יִרְאֵ֣י -fear ה’) and love God are the *house of God (בֵּית־אֵל-Beit-El). We are the *house. We are not the one true “God of the house” (הָאֵל֙ בֵּֽית־אֵ֔ל-HaEl Beit-El). God is greater than the house that He Indwells. We are the house (בית המקדש-the Temple) where the Spirit of God dwells. We worship only Adonai our Father. Not ourselves or anything or anyone else. So like our resurrected-glorified Jewish brother the Messiah Yeshua – a humble man, a perfect man we worship only Adonai Eloheinu!

“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

*Redeemed humanity is the permanent Temple of God that He dwells in forever (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). He does not dwell in temples that are made with human hands (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

?הַאִם אֵינְכֶם יוֹדְעִים כִּי הֵיכַל אֱלֹהִים אַתֶּם וְכִי רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים שׁוֹכֶנֶת בְּקִרְבְּכֶם

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God dwells within you?

We know without any doubt that Yeshua is the Messiah, our Savior, our Rabbi, King and that we could be of immense help to the Gentiles if only we would listen to him and be what the Spirit of the Holy One has tasked Israel to be—a Light to the Gentiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). We praise God our Father that our delay and hindrance to His will soon shall come to a swift end. So we say now to our glorified Messiah return now:

.’בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם ה’; בֵּרַכְנוּכֶם מִבֵּית ה

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai; we bless you from the house of Adonai.”

Ingesting the Bread of Messiah is a Hebrew ‘figure of speech’:

“This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”

What does it mean to ingest the bread which comes down from heaven? Ingesting the Messiah is a figure of speech. Messiah is the perfect man who always obeys our Father in heaven. Therefore he is the perfectly obedient son in whom all of the deity of Adonai is pleased to always dwell.

In receiving the Messiah as our Tzaddik we ingest the perfect character of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, into our being. The life of the Spirit indwelling our present imperfect physical form is what shall sustain us in death and resurrect us into a new life on the day of our resurrection.

The spiritual body of the immortal Messiah is a body of a new kind.

On the day of our resurrection we will receive the same resurrected immortal body as the Messiah. Like our Messiah we must first die to this imperfect mortal body so that on the day of our resurrection we might receive the immortal and invincible, spiritually incorruptible body that God our Father has prepared for us—those who love Him.

Messiah’s words are sourced in the writings of the Jewish prophets:

“If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

What is the immortal body of the Messiah like? His immortal body and mind are a work of perfect service to the Holy One. All of both the Messiah’s mortal and immortal humanity has been and will continue to be dedicated forever to the Joyful task of loving our Father in heaven with all of His Heart, all of His Soul, all of His Strength, and all of His Mind.

What is the joyous task of the Messiah that forever pleases our Father in heaven? The most Joyful task of the Messiah is to secure for us forgiveness of sin and to reconcile us to our Loving Father who dwells in heaven. The temple sacrifices bear witness to the outcome of the Messiah’s once-in-eternity sacrifice. Through the sacrifice of the perfect one, the Lamb of God (Korban Pesach), our sins are forever removed – erased – from the sight of our Righteous Father. Furthermore, it is most important to affirm:

Through the gift of Father in heaven we are able to be raised up to eternal life.

Like the Messiah we too can be indwelt by the Spirit of the Holy One. This means that one day there shall be many sons and daughters of glory. We will become as the Messiah now is: immortal, invincible, incorruptible and perfectly attuned to the wants and wishes of our Righteous Father.

Then will the Shema unity prayer be fulfilled!

As one one perfected body composed of many members we shall be forever united to the Spirit of God as His body. The perfect unity (echad) of God to redeemed humankind is fulfilled in the Shema prayer in seven ways. These are:

#1. One body;
#2. One Spirit;
#3. One hope of our calling;
#4. One master;
#5. One faith;
#6. One mikveh,
#7. One God and Father of All (Avi-khol), who is over All and through All and in All.

Study the prophets and you will understand the words of Messiah:

 “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

As has often happened the Messiah’s words were misunderstood. An argument started in the Jewish crowd regarding what he meant. Most of the people’s perception remained at a materialistic level. They took the Messiah’s sayings too concretely, wondering, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So our Rabbi Yeshua said to them:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

This revelation by Rabbeinu Yeshua is marked out as important by the Messiah’s fourth use of the Double Amen (אָמֵן אָמֵן) when he says, “I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.” Again it must be repeatedly said that these words are to be taken figuratively. These words of Messiah objectively are directly referring to his redemptive ministry and subjectively these words are a reference to our ingesting and drinking in the Spiritual life of the D’var HaShem. The fact of the matter is:

Any Jew knows that the pagan practice of drinking blood was something the Messiah would never do!

Any believing Jew knows for a certainty that our Rabbi Yeshua was blameless in all the Torah of God. There is absolutely no way the Messiah would ever have violated the Torah prohibition against eating fat and drinking blood. For it is written (Leviticus 3:17):

חֻקַּ֤ת עֹולָם֙ לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם בְּכֹ֖ל מֹֽושְׁבֹתֵיכֶ֑ם כָּל־חֵ֥לֶב וְכָל־דָּ֖ם לֹ֥א תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃

חקת עולם לדרתיכם בכל מושבתיכם כל־חלב וכל־דם לא תאכלו׃

“It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood.”

This strict Torah prohibition continued to be honored by the Messiah’s own Jewish disciples long after his physical death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. For it was the Messiah’s own (half) brother Rabbi Ya’akov ben Yosef who said (cf. Brit Chadashah, Acts of the Shlicihim):

עַל כֵּן אֲנִי פּוֹסֵק שֶׁלֹּא לְהַקְשׁוֹת עַל אוֹתָם אֲנָשִׁים מִן הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר שָּׁבִים אֶל אֱלֹוהִים, אֶלָּא לִכְתֹּב אֲלֵיהֶם לְהִמָּנַע מִטֻּמְאוֹת אֱלִילִים וּמִזְּנוּת, מִבְּשַׂר הַנֶּחֱנָק וּמִן הַדָּם. פ

על כן אני פוסק שלא להקשות על אותם אנשים מן הגוים אשר שבים אל אלוהים, אלא לכתב אליהם להמנע מטמאות אלילים ומזנות, מבשר הנחנק ומן הדם. פ

“Therefore, I rule that we should not place obstacles in the way of those among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but rather write to them, instructing them to abstain from things defiled by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.”

Feed on the Living Word of Adonai and drink in all the fullness of His redeeming love!

“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh [the Living Word of God] and drinks my blood [accepts the atonement and redemption made available through the once-in-eternity sacrifice of Messiah] abides in me, and I in him.”

So it is the spiritual virtue of the Messiah that we are literally ingesting and consuming. Not His physical body. This we do through the Presence, leadership, and guidance of the Spirit of the Holy One –  who is given from the Father to the Messiah and from the Messiah to us. This reception of the heavenly gift of the Spirit is only possible because of the Messiah’s sacrifice of his life on the accursed tree.

On the one hand, we find it abhorrent to believe in the literal ingesting of the blood of the Messiah, as some Gentiles claim they do through their practice of their sacramental faith in the magical transformation of the bread and wine into his body and blood.

On the other hand, we certainly do believe in and revere the great sacrifice of the Messiah’s mortal physical life on our behalf. We understand through the sacrificial system God revealed to us through Moses that the physical body of our Messiah had to be sacrificed, suffer and die; as a universal atonement for our sin and the sin of the world. For according to the Torah of Moses it is the blood sacrifice that makes atonement for our souls (Leviticus 17:10-14):

“And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens (Gentiles) who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and: “I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls;”

“For it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”

“Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’ So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’”

The necessary sacrifice (offering) of the physical and spiritual life of the Messiah Yeshua remains an offense to many. No matter. God required a sacrifice: Without the sacrifice of His Messiah none of us would ever receive forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life.

The Messiah our righteous one voluntarily sacrificed his perfect moral and spiritual life so that we who have sinned might be cleansed of our sin and receive in exchange his righteous life: his life of the eternal Indwelling Presence of the Spirit of the Holy One. For it is written:

.אֶת זֶה אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַע חַטָּאת עָשָׂה לְחַטָּאת בַּעֲדֵנוּ, כְּדֵי שֶׁאָנוּ נִהְיֶה הַצְּדָקָה שֶׁל אֱלֹהִים בּו

“He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”

This means: the Messiah who knew no sin became sin (our sin) in his physical body and not in his perfect soul or Spirit, so that we might become the righteousness of God our Father in him. The joy of it all is: The physical body of the Messiah died but his righteous soul did not die; nor did his eternal Spirit. For the Spirit of the Holy One lives in our Messiah forever and if we believe He shall live in us forever too. In the same way our physical bodies will die but the Divine Presence that is given to us as a gift by our heavenly Father through our faith in His Messiah – He will never die.

Therefore, in Messiah’s resurrection we are provided the promise of receiving a new immortal-spiritual body that will never die. This new immortal body will exclusively be supported by the incorruptible life of the Spirit of God. It is the life of the Spirit that gives us victory over death (1, 2, 3, 4).

In this way the eternal life of the Spirit of the Holy One will forever sustain us.

Like the resurrected-immortal body of Messiah: our future immortal-glorified bodies will not possess any physical blood (life) whatsoever; only the invincible, incorruptible, immortal life of the Eternal One’s own Spirit!

Receiving the Teaching of Messiah is receiving the Word of the Living Father:

“As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who ingests me [the living Word of the Spirit of God], he will live because of me.”

In receiving the Messiah we are receiving the redemption of our souls through his sacrifice on the accursed tree; and as well we are receiving the eternal life of the Holy Spirit Who Indwells the Messiah and ourselves forever.

It was the life of the Holy Spirit that preserved the Messiah in death so that his physical body did not experience decay. It is the life of the Spirit that transformed the Messiah’s lifeless body into an immortal body of another kind. Therefore:

To identify with the Messiah is to die to sin and inherit a new life of another kind.

In this new life after our resurrection we will leave behind our present condition of living in a physical body that decays and dies and we will receive a new body of another kind. This body of another kind like our Messiah is immortal, invincible and incorruptible. The eternal life of this new indestructible body will not at all rely on the existence of mortal blood. The life of our new bodies will be solely sourced in the life of the Spirit. The eternal indwelling Presence of the Spirit will sustain our new immortal bodies with a new life-force that unlike blood will never decay or need replenishment.

He who eats the Bread of Heaven (the Word of Messiah) will live forever:

He who eats this bread will live forever.

The mystery of Messiah’s words are unlocked when we understand that he is speaking of his making atonement for the sin of Israel and for the sins of every person Jew and Gentile who believes in him. Faith in Messiah’s atoning death brings the remission of sin. The remission of sin allows us to be reconciled to God. Our reconciliation to God our Father allows us to receive the gift of His life-regenerating Spirit.

The gift of the Holy Spirit assures us that we have inherited the gift of eternal life.

Receiving the gift of the Spirit now means we will be raised to a new and perfect life of a new kind on the day of our resurrection. Just as good food and drink sustain physical life so the Messiah through the Spirit of the Holy One sustains our spiritual life. Therefore, one who partakes of Messiah enjoys a mutual abiding relationship with God the Father. We remain in God and God remains in us. In this manner of life the Messiah is a bridge of perfect unity between redeemed humankind and the Holy One. Therefore, the Father lives in the Messiah and if we remain in the Messiah our Redeemer and Savior, then the Father lives in us, forever.

כֵּן גַּם תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים: מָה שֶּׁנִּזְרַע בְּמַצָּב שֶׁל כִּלָּיוֹן יָקוּם בְּאִי כִּלָּיוֹן; נִזְרַע בְּקָלוֹן וְיָקוּם בְּכָבוֹד; נִזְרַע בְּחֻלְשָׁה וְיָקוּם בִּגְבוּרָה; נִזְרַע גּוּף נַפְשִׁי וְיָקוּם גּוּף רוּחָנִי. אִם יֵשׁ גּוּף נַפְשִׁי יֵשׁ גַּם גּוּף רוּחָנִי.פ

“So too is the resurrection of the dead: what is sown in a state of decay will rise in a state of incorruptibility; sown in dishonor, it will rise in glory; sown in weakness, it will rise in power; sown a natural body, it will rise a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

Words to His Talmidin:

“The flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Kefar Nachum. Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Yeshua, conscious that his talmidin grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Yeshua knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he was saying:

“No one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

In reference to the Shema:

אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אָמַר בְּבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת כַּאֲשֶׁר לִמֵּד בִּכְפַר נַחוּם.רַבִּים מִתַּלְמִידָיו שֶׁשָּׁמְעוּ זֹאת אָמְרוּ: קָשֶׁה הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה; מִי יָכוֹל לִשְׁמֹעַ אוֹתוֹ? פ

“These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Kefar Nachum. Therefore many of his talmidiv, when they heard this said, ‘This is a difficult word (קָשֶׁה הַדָּבָר-a grievous, hard, troublesome word-davar); who can hear, understand, and obey it? (lishmo’a–לִשְׁמֺעַ, to listen and obey, from hear intelligently, shama–שָׁמַע).”

The verb lishmo’a (לִשְׁמֺעַ) means to hear, understand and respond appropriately in thought, feeling, will, and behavior; that is relationship. Shema is a key word that is found most prominently in the book of Deuteronomy. This word in various forms appears ninety-two times in Deuteronomy. Shema (from shama) is a sensory term that conveys five basic core meanings.

Core Meaning #1. Listen. Focus all of your attention on what is being said. “Be silent, O Israel, and listen (וּשְׁמַע֙-u-shema).”

Core Meaning #2. Hear. Actively listen to what is being communicated verbally and non-verbally. “I heard (שָׁמַ֖עְתִּי-shamati) Your voice in the garden and I was afraid.”

Core Meaning #3. Understand. Comprehend both the cognitive (thinking) and affective (feeling) meaning of what is being said to you. “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand (יִשְׁמְע֔וּ-yishme’u) each other.”

Core Meaning #4. Internalize. Take to heart, give weighty mental and emotional consideration to what is said; what you have heard and understood. “And as for Ishmael I have heard (שְׁמַעְתִּיךָ֒-sh’maati’cha) you.”

Core Meaning #5. Respond Appropriately/Obey. Obedience is a child’s love language to his or her parents. Humankind’s love language to our Father in heaven is obedience. This kind of love is a reciprocal love. So the ultimate relational response of shema is to respond in reciprocal love—echad, oneness. This of course requires a high sense of respect and trust between the two parties. “Abraham did ( וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע-vayishma) what Sarah said” This last sense of reciprocal love is born out of confidant trust and not fear. Love (chesed, ahavah) is the fulfillment of all that the sacred term shema aspires to be. Therefore, in reference to the Shema and love of Adonai Eloheinu we read:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ ה’ אֶחָֽד׃ וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיֹּום עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃

“Hear (שְׁמַע-Shema), O Israel! Adonai is our God, Adonai is one! (אֶחָֽד-echad, unity) You shall love Adonai Eloheikha with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

How do we hear, understand and obey this very vexing, difficult saying?

The Salvation of Adonai (Yeshua) gave his final discourse on the Bread of Life in Kefar Nachum. The meaning of the name of the city suits the purpose of this discourse. Kefar Nachum (כְפַר נַחוּם) means the Village of Consolation and Comfort. How ironic. Only after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Messiah did even his closest followers begin to understand the wonderful truths that he was speaking.

Instead of understanding nearly all of his followers were in a state of turmoil and anxiety over the words they had just heard. In their ignorance even the Messiah’s chosen talmidim misunderstood his words and were offended. It would not be until ten days after his ascension into heaven, on the day of Shavuot, when his talmidim received the gift of the Spirit, then their minds were opened and they could finally understand all of the very difficult statements that they had heard from the Messiah.

Rabbeinu Yeshua conscious that all of his talmidim grumbled at his words, said to them, ‘Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?’”

The spiritual meanings and complexities of the Messiah’s words and intents were too much for most of the people to bear. Our first century Jewish ancestors wanted immediate freedom from the bondage of Rome and they wanted material prosperity. The Messiah would give his people both but only if they accepted his demands for changed hearts and lives. Unfortunately, the people of Israel at that time believed material prosperity to be their first priority. Wealth and power must come first, then spiritual prosperity could follow. This change from the Outside-in was not acceptable to God. In contrast to his fellow Rabbis the Messiah demanded that spiritual prosperity be the first priority. Spiritual prosperity being rich in Adonai must come first. Then wealth and power could follow. God wanted our being changed from the Inside-out!

When most of the people of Israel began to understand that Rabbi Yeshua was not going to bring them the political power and material prosperity they wanted they stopped following him.

The love of Adonai was not in the hearts of the people:

Money and power was in their hearts.

The Messiah knew his audience. He was aware that his fellow Jews did not want the spiritual life of God in their hearts. The people of Israel wanted wealth and power. This was especially true of Israel’s leading priests and rabbis. Money and power was in their hearts. The religious leaders of the Yehudim wanted what the Gentiles wanted: material wealth and freedom—freedom to rule over others—like the Romans. As the prophet Isaiah declared:

The lips of the people were close to God but their hearts were far from Him.

The hearts of the leaders and the people were filled with a passionate desire for material wealth, power, and prosperity. The love of Adonai was not in their hearts. The love of the world was in their hearts. Therefore, the our Father in heaven let the Perushim rabbinate and the people continue in their spiritual ignorance. The restoration of Israel would have to be delayed until a new generation of Yehudim would arise who would be rich in Adonai.  So the God of Israel gave His people up to their preferred worldly vain philosophies and empty deceits.

The Bread that we eat is every word that Adonai has spoken to us through His Messiah:

“The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.”

Here is the simple truth spoken in plain and simple words, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is the bread that Messiah is offering. Messiah is the living, personified D’var HaShem. To ingest his words of Spirit and life into one’s inner being is what the Messiah was referencing when he said, “Eat my flesh.” The flesh of Messiah is God’s Word. He is the Living Word come down from heaven.

The Cup of Redemption we drink is our daily witness to the sacrificed life of Messiah:

The gracious works of the Spirit of the Holy One is the cup of wine that we drink, the cup of redemption. The spiritual work of redemption and the New Wine of the transforming-perfecting Indwelling Presence of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh (רוח הקודש) is what the Messiah in the Hebrew *idiom is referring when he says, “Drink My Blood.”

*An idiom is a term or phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.

Notice the clear disclaimer of the Messiah, “The flesh profits nothing!”

The Messiah no doubt was prophetically anticipating all of the pagan influences that would later contaminate his teaching in the future. The flesh profits nothing is a clear rejection of the later entirely gentile notion that the Messiah was talking about the primacy of his physical being.

Messiah’s declaration that the flesh profits nothing is a complete rejection of the false teaching that there must be a (mystical) physical transformation of the bread and wine back into the actual mortal flesh and blood of the Messiah.

A New Life of another kind…

“The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.”

The new life the Messiah came to impart to us is the eternal-immortal life of the Spirit of the Holy One. What the Messiah is disclosing to us is that the new substance of our being must be the spiritual life of Adonai Avinu. In the life to come the eternal nonperishable-spiritual life of the Messiah of God will become our life.

In this new life of another kind our body, soul and spirit will be loomed and weaved out of the indestructible, immortal, invincible and incorruptible life of the Spirit of the Holy One. Our new immortal bodies will not be made out of our present physical being that must inevitably decay and die. The Messiah is only speaking here of the new life of a different kind that is the Life of the Spirit.

Approximately one year and fifty-eight days after Yeshua delivered this teaching, ten days after his ascension into heaven, the Messiah passed on to us from God the Father the gift of the Spirit of the Holy One. On that day of Shavuot almost two thousand years ago a remnant of one hundred and twenty Jewish men and an unknown number of women received the gift of the Spirit in Jerusalem, Israel.

The Spirit of the Holy One, thereafter, has continued to be poured out upon a remnant of Israel to this very day.

The Spirit of the Holy One is He who gives eternal life to the world. Without the indwelling Presence of the Spirit we are all (Jew and Gentile) utterly unable to understand the Messiah in both his words and his works. What our Jewish ancestors mislabeled as “hard words” were, in fact, the words of Elohim Chayim (Living God) that He spoke through Eved HaKadosh (the Holy Servant), His Messiah.

Special direct revelation from God is required for people to exercise faith in the Messiah:

“But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Yeshua knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.”

The eternal life of the Spirit of our Father and our God that the Messiah gives must be received by faith. Confession that is heartfelt is valid. Confession that is insincere is not valid. At all times the Messiah knew which of his followers truly believed in him and which ones did not believe in him:

“And he was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father.’”

The Messiah taught that supernatural support from the heavenly Father was needed for the people of Israel to come to real faith in him. The heavenly Father is the One who by His invisible Spirit, His Hand secretly guides us to full faith in His Messiah.

On account of this word–see previous chapter 9–many of his talmidin withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So Yeshua said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Shim’on Keifa answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of Adonai.” Yeshua answered them, “Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now he meant Yehuda ben Shim’on Ish keriot for he knew he was going to betray him.

Seeing what was in their hearts at the time the Messiah refused to let the people of Israel make him their political king. The Messiah’s requirement was that there first must be a change in the people’s hearts before he would restore Israel to its promised political and material glory. This spiritual requirement led the people of Israel to reject Yeshua as their Messiah. At the time our Jewish ancestors were only interested in a change of their material circumstances and not of their hearts. So tragically “many were not walking with him anymore.”

Following the one instead of the many:

So Yeshua said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”

The Salvation of Adonai framed this question the way he did to encourage the weak faith of his closest talmidim. The faith of the closest followers of the Messiah was weakened by the falling away of the many. The Messiah used this occasion to refine the faith of his twelve chosen talmidim. As yet these twelve men did not understand his words and they would remain ignorant of the true meanings of Messiah’s teaching until after his death and resurrection (cf. Messiah in HaBikkurim).

The confession of Shim’on Keifa (Peter):

Then Shim’on Keifa under the invisible presence and inspiration of the heavenly Father gave his confession of faith in the Messiah. He said:

אֲדוֹנֵנוּ, אֶל מִי נֵלֵךְ? דִּבְרֵי חַיֵּי עוֹלָם עִמְּךָ. וַאֲנַחְנוּ הֶאֱמַנּוּ וְיָדַעְנוּ שֶׁאַתָּה קְדוֹשׁ הָאֱלֹהִים.פ

“Our master, to whom will we walk near to? (who else could be our Rabbi?) The words of eternal life are with you. We ourselves have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (קְדוֹשׁ הָאֱלֹהִים).

The path may be difficult and hard to understand at the first but Shim’on Keifa ben Yochanan was convinced that Yeshua was the Messiah, and that believing in his word would lead to eternal life. Shim’on Keifa only knew this by a special supernatural work of the heavenly Father.

The ominous meaning of the given name of Yehudah ben Shim’on Ish-Keriyot:

“Yeshua answered them, ‘Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?’ Now he meant Yehuda (Judas) the son of for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.” The Messiah then asked:

“Did I myself not choose you?”

This was not Messiah’s call to election but his call to the Twelve for them to serve him in a special way. Yet, he said one among them was a devil. The Messiah’s knowledge that Yehuda who was called Yehudah ben Shim’on Ish keriot because his father was from Ish keriot would betray him is yet another example of the Messiah’s supernatural knowledge of others. Later the Messiah called Judas “the Traitor.” The full given name of Judas is an ominous name in its literal meaning:

Yehudah ben Shim’on Ish-Keriyot (יְהוּדָה בֶּן שִׁמְעוֹן אִישׁ קְרִיּוֹת)

1. Yehuda=Praise
2. Ben (Hebrew)=Son
3. Shim’on=One who Hears, Understands, and Obeys
4. Ish=Man
5. Keriyot=Village
6. Son who praises, hears, understands, and obeys the Village of Man.

Judas represents a life lived for the praise of the village of man and not for the praise of God our Father. Judas was a tragic figure but so are all who pretend to be devoted selflessly to the Holy One, while all the while seeking to use their fake allegiance as a means to receive glory, praise and power for themselves. It is a true saying: our Father in heaven gives abundant grace to the humble but He opposes the proud.

The beautiful meaning of the given name of Shim’on bar Yonas:

Compare the ominous evil meaning of the betrayer Judas’ full name with the beautiful meaning of Shim’on’s given name (below):

1. Shim’on=One who hears, understands, and obeys
2. Bar (Aramaic)=Son
3. Yonas (Aramaic)=Yochanan (Hebrew)=Grace of Adonai
4. Yonas (Spoken in Aramaic)=Yona (Heard in Hebrew)=the Dove=the Holy Spirit
5. Son of the Grace of God who hears, understands, and obeys the Holy Spirit

Messiah is the Temple where God and man dwell together in perfect unity:

This teaching took place openly in the synagogue of Kefar Nachum, the synagogue of Compassion, Consolation, Comfort and the giving of Rest. In the synagogue of Kefar Nachum at this particular time (Nisan 1-7)—in the time of being cleansed, just before Pesach—the eternal Word, who is the fulfillment of all the Torah of God was giving forth the manna from heaven to his people, the people of Israel. The manna from heaven is a food that endures to eternal life.

This spiritual food does not decay and spoil but instead nourishes real life, eternal life, life that endures forever. This leads to our closing question:

What do you really hunger and thirst for?

Do you hunger and thirst for the cleansing goodness, righteousness and eternal life of the Spirit of God? Or, do you hunger only for the perishing things of this world? More than mere imagery is present here. Eternal life is present. The Divine and human realms both meet together in the person of the Messiah of Israel who is forever indwelt with the Spirit of our heavenly Father.

Messiah is the material and spiritual point of contact between our present physical reality and God’s eternal spiritual reality. The Messiah’s own body is the meeting place of both these realms. He is the place where God and humankind meet. Therefore God is the EL Beit-El (אל בית־אל). Messiah is the Beit-El and he is the ladder, the staircase of heaven. Our Messiah is the only Place (Ha-Makom) where our physical being can commune with the eternal spiritual being of Elah Shemaiya—The God of Heaven.

NEXT, MESSIAH WALKS ON WATER AND SAVES TWELVE MEN…

Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 95 >>