Messiah in Chanukkah Chapter 12
- From heaven to earth
- Tselem Elohim is God’s final solution for sin
- Pay close attention
- The rebirth is post-Mosaic
- It was Chanukkah!
- He gave up the glory of Heaven to come to earth
- The perfect subjection of Messiah to God the Father
- Only a minority of ethnic Jews are followers of rabbinic Judaism
- The Problem: Loving the traditions of men more than the Word of God
- Not all persons of Jewish ancestry follow the traditions of men
- The perfect submission of Messiah to the Righteous Father
- The glorified Servant King
From heaven to earth:
.והוא צלם של האלוהים הבלתי ניראה, בכור כל בריאה
And he is the image of the invisible God (Tselem Elohim), the firstborn of all creation.
Listen to the last thoughts of the *Spirit of the Messiah just before He left heaven’s glory and created for Himself a body in the womb of the Jewess Mary (Psalm 40:6-8):
*Also referred to as HaDavar, Memra, and the Logos.
זבח ומנחה ׀ לא־חפצת אזנים כרית לי עולה וחטאה לא שאלת׃ אז אמרתי הנה־באתי במגלת־ספר כתוב עלי׃ לעשות־רצונך אלהי חפצתי ותורתך בתוך מעי׃
זֶ֤בַח וּמִנְחָ֨ה ׀ לֹֽא־חָפַ֗צְתָּ אָ֭זְנַיִם כָּרִ֣יתָ לִּ֑י עֹולָ֥ה וַ֝חֲטָאָ֗ה לֹ֣א שָׁאָֽלְתָּ׃ אָ֣ז אָ֭מַרְתִּי הִנֵּה־בָ֑אתִי בִּמְגִלַּת־סֵ֝֗פֶר כָּת֥וּב עָלָֽי׃ לַֽעֲשֹֽׂות־רְצֹונְךָ֣ אֱלֹהַ֣י חָפָ֑צְתִּי וְ֝תֹ֥ורָתְךָ֗ בְּתֹ֣וךְ מֵעָֽי׃
Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
.גוף כוננת לי
“A body You made for Me.”
לכן בהכנסו אל העולם הוא אומר: “זבח ומנחה לא-חפצת, גוף כוננת לי; עולה וחטאה לא שאלת. אז אמרתי: הנה-באתי – במגלת-ספר כתוב עלי – לעשות-רצונך, אלהי.”פ
לָכֵן בְּהִכָּנְסוֹ אֶל הָעוֹלָם הוּא אוֹמֵר: “זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה לֹא־חָפַצְתָּ, גּוּף כּוֹנַנְתָּ לִי; עוֹלָה וַחֲטָאָה לֹא שָׁאָלְתָּ. אָז אָמַרְתִּי: הִנֵּה־בָאתִי ־ בִּמְגִלַּת־סֵפֶר כָּתוּב עָלַי ־ לַעֲשׂוֹת־רְצוֹנְךָ, אֱלֹהַי.”פ
Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, *“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But **a body You have prepared for Me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – in the scroll of the book it is written about me, ‘To do Your will, my God.’”
*At conception: This when the Spirit of the Holy One came upon the Jewess Miryam, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. For it is written:
**Read the Septuagint translation of the Tanakh to understand the selected interpreted meanings of the Hebrew words translated in parenthesis above. The Septuagint is a Greek translation made in the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE of the Hebrew Scriptures that was in popular use in Egypt and Israel. The Masoretic Text (MT) above was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of men known as the Masoretes hundreds of years later than the Septuagint, between the 7th and 10th centuries CE.
השיב המלאך ואמר: “רוח הקודש תבוא עליך וגבורת עליון תצל עליך. לכן קדוש יקרא הילוד, בן־אלוהים.” פ
And the angel answered and said to her, “Ruach HaQodesh, the Spirit of the Holy One, will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, also the new-born holy one will be called Ben Elohim, Son of God.”
God wants man to be perfect as He is perfect:
“After saying above, ‘Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, ‘Behold I have come to do your will.'” Our heavenly Father does not want an eternal state in Man of continual sin. He wants a permanent-end to sin. Continual sacrifice for sin means that sin is continual. Adonai is “wearied’ (the meaning of Leah’s name) by our sin. Regarding what the Holy One desires cf. chapter six in our document, the “Messiah in Rosh Hashanah & Yom Teruah;” specifically look for the paragraphs that contain a Midrash on the Joseph narrative in Genesis related to the two Hebrew verbs “to see,” and “to hear.”
Tselem Elohim is God’s final solution for sin:
Messiah has come to provide a final solution to sin.
The final solution is first a cleansing for all sin and second the provision of a gift of righteousness that will remove for all time our yetzer ha-ra (evil nature), and set us free to only experience yetzer ha-tov (יצר הטוב)—the good nature. Messiah’s once-in-eternity sacrifice cleanses us of our sins in this mortal life; and the gift of the Spirit once-and-for-all takes care of replacing the old sin nature (inclination) with God our Father’s good nature (perfection).
Pay close attention:
So the gift of the Holy Spirit takes care of our replacing the old sin nature with God our Father’s good nature. Then we will be whole. We will only be good and do good all of the time. Therefore on the day of our resurrection only the righteous (good) works of the Holy Spirit will remain in our new perfect resurrected form and consciousness. However, meanwhile we are challenged to not waste this (partially) good mortal life. Multiples of times we are told in the Tanakh and HaBrit HaChadashah that the sole purpose why Messiah came into the world was:
“To do the will of God.”
The rebirth is post-Mosaic:
It is important to note that the festival of Chanukkah is post-Mosaic. The winter festival of Chanukkah is not a part of the old Mosaic order; the seven festivals of Moses. Chanukkah speaks of a new world order. This means that the Holy One:
“Cancels the first covenant in order to establish the *second.”
*The Spirit of Messiah reveals through the Grace of God in this declaration, “Behold, I am making everything new.” In this new creation order God through His Servant the Messiah will manifest to us a:
All things new #1. New song (Psalm 33:3; 144:9),
All things new #2. New name (Isaiah 62:2),
All things new #3. New earth and new heavens (Isaiah 66:22),
All things new #4. New covenant (Jeremiah 31:31),
All things new #5. New heart (Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26),
All things new #6. New spirit (Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26),
All things new #7. New strength (Isaiah 40:31; 41:1).
This truth regarding the old covenant passing away and everything becoming new underscores the fact that the liberating new rebirth we seek for ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our world is not the work of humanity at all but it is completely the work of the Spirit of God. We seek His perfect works of grace; not our imperfect works.
It was Chanukkah!
אוֹתָהּ עֵת חָגְגוּ בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם אֶת חַג הַחֲנֻכָּה. חֺרֶף הָיָה. כַּאֲשֶׁר הִתְהַלֵּךְ יֵשׁוּעַ בְּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ בְּאוּלָם שְׁלֹמֺה, הִקִּיפוּהוּ וְאָמְרוּ לוֹ: “עַד מָתַי תַּחֲזִיק אֶת נַפְשֵׁנוּ בְּמֶתַח? אִם אַתָּה הַמָּשִׁיחַ, אֱמֺר לָנוּ בְּבֵרוּר.” הֵשִׁיב לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: “אָמַרְתִּי לָכֶם וְאֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִים. הַמַּעֲשִׂים שֶׁאֲנִי עוֹשֶׂה בְּשֵׁם אָבִי – אֵלֶּה מְעִידִים עָלַי, אַךְ אַתֶּם אֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִים מִשּׁוּם שֶׁאֵינְכֶם מִצֺּאנִי. צֺאנִי שׁוֹמְעוֹת אֶת קוֹלִי וַאֲנִי מַכִּיר אוֹתָן; הֵן הוֹלְכוֹת אַחֲרַי וַאֲנִי נוֹתֵן לָהֶן חַיֵּי עוֹלָם; וְלֹא תֺּאבַדְנָה לְעוֹלָם, אַף לֹא יַחֲטֺף אוֹתָן אִישׁ מִיָּדִי. אָבִי שֶׁנָּתַן אוֹתָן לִי גָּדוֹל מִכֺּל וְאֵין אִישׁ יָכוֹל לַחֲטֺף אוֹתָן מִיָּד הָאָב. אֲנִי וְהָאָב אֶחָד אֲנַחְנוּ.” פ
At that time they celebrated Chanukkah in Jerusalem. It was winter. When *Yeshua was walking in the temple in the Hall of Solomon (Stoa of Shlomoh), they surrounded him and said to him: “How long will you keep our souls in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us clearly.” Yeshua answered them: “I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of my Father – these testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not from me. My sheep hear my voice and I know them; they follow me and I give them eternal life; And they will not perish for eternity, and no one will snatch them away from my hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all and no one can steal them away from the hand of the Father. I and the Father are one.”
!על כן הגביהו אולהים מואד ונתן לו את השם הנעלה על כל שם
Therefore God lifted him up and gave him the name that is superior to every name!
*Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) is a sacred name given to the Messiah by GOD. His name should never be profaned. His name LITERALLY means the “Salvation of ADONAI” (יְהוֹשׁוּעַ); from YHWH and Yasha (יָשַׁע).
שׁוּב הֵרִימוּ אֲבָנִים כְּדֵי לִרְגֺּם אוֹתוֹ. הֵשִׁיב לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: “מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים רַבִּים הֶרְאֵיתִי לָכֶם מֵאֵת הָאָב; עַל אֵיזֶה מַעֲשֶׂה מֵהֶם תִּרְגְּמוּנִי?” עָנוּ לוֹ: “לֹא עַל מַעֲשֶׂה טוֹב נִרְגֺּם אוֹתְךָ, אֶלָּא עַל חִלּוּל שֵׁם שָׁמַיִם וְעַל שֶׁבִּהְיוֹתְךָ אָדָם אַתָּה עוֹשֶׂה אֶת עַצְמְךָ אֱלֹהִים.” הֵשִׁיב לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ: “כְּלוּם לֹא כָּתוּב בְּתוֹרַתְכֶם, ‘אֲנִי־אָמַרְתִּי אֱלֹהִים אַתֶּם’? אִם הוּא אָמַר ‘אֱלֹהִים’ לְאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר דְּבַר אֱלֹהִים הָיָה אֲלֵיהֶם – וְאֶת הַכָּתוּב אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהָפֵר – הַאִם תֺּאמְרוּ אַתֶּם לָזֶה אֲשֶׁר הָאָב קִדְּשׁוֹ וְשָׁלַח אוֹתוֹ אֶל הָעוֹלָם, ‘מְגַדֵּף אַתָּה’, מִשּׁוּם שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי ‘בֶּן־אֱלֹהִים אֲנִי’? אִם אֵינֶנִּי עוֹשֶׂה אֶת מַעֲשֵׂי אָבִי, אַל תַּאֲמִינוּ לִי. אֲבָל אִם אֲנִי עוֹשֶׂה, אַף אִם אֵינְכֶם מַאֲמִינִים לִי, הַאֲמִינוּ לַמַּעֲשִׂים, לְמַעַן תַּכִּירוּ וְתֵדְעוּ שֶׁהָאָב בִּי וַאֲנִי בָּאָב.” אָז נִסּוּ שׁוּב לִתְפֺּס אוֹתוֹ וְהוּא חָמַק מִיָּדָם. הוּא הָלַךְ וְשָׁב אֶל עֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן, אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר שָׁם הִטְבִּיל יוֹחָנָן בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה, וְנִשְׁאַר שָׁם. רַבִּים בָּאוּ אֵלָיו. אָמְרוּ: “יוֹחָנָן לֹא עָשָׂה שׁוּם נֵס, אַךְ כָּל מַה שֶּׁאָמַר יוֹחָנָן עַל הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה הָיָה אֱמֶת.” וְרַבִּים הֶאֱמִינוּ בּוֹ שָׁם. פ
Again they picked up stones to stone him. Yeshua answered them: “Many good deeds have I shown you from the Father; for which work will you stone me?” They answered him: “We cursed you not for a good deed, but for defiling the name of heaven and for being a man, you make yourself God.” Jesus answered them: “Isn’t it written in your Torah, ‘I said, you are Elohim’ (אֱלֹהִים-God) ?” If he said ‘God’ to those to whom the word of God was spoken – and the scripture is not allowed to be violated – Will you say to him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming’, because I said ‘I am the Ben-Elohim, Son of God’? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I am doing so, even if you do not believe me, believe my works, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I am the Father.” So they tried to catch him again and he got away from them (their hand). He went and returned to the other side of the Jordan, to the place where *Yochanan originally immersed him, and stayed there. Many came to him. They said: “Yochanan did not perform any miracle, but everything that Yochanan said about this man is true.” And many believed in him there.
*Yochanan ben Zecharyah (יוחנן בן זכריה).
Only a minority of ethnic Jews are followers of rabbinic Judaism:
What does the term Yehudim mean in the narrative testimony just presented?
The term Yehudim (Jews) is differentiated from the term Hebrews. The term “Hebrew” was employed by those living in the ancient Middle East to identify the blood descendants who actually possessed the *DNA of Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel (and other women) and our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Much later (cf. the Book of Esther) the term Yehudi, “Jew,” became the popular way to identify those whose physical ancestry was believed to be related to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
*A Hebrew from the (original) Hebrews (עברי מן העיברים).
HUNDREDS OF YEARS later in the first century (BCE) the term Yehudi was not primarily an ethnic identity (עברי מן העיברים) but had become a religious identity. Therefore, according to the hyper-orthodox Prushim rabbis:
A Jew was one who followed the Oral Law (religion) of rabbinic Judaism.
In the above case the schism of what a Jew is became an issue when the Prushim rabbis identified belief in their oral law and its traditions defining who a Jew was. When the oral law of the Prushim became more important than the written Law of Moses and the prophets then a division occurred. The Messiah Yeshua and his followers were all ethnic Jews who only trusted in the Torah of Moses and the writings of the prophets.
Messiah severely criticized the Oral Law of the Prushim.
Messiah and his ethnic Jewish followers rejected the hyper-orthodox religion of the Prushim. In response the Messiah and all persons of Jewish ancestry who opposed the authority of the Prushim rabbinate were treated as if they were no longer Jews. The birthright of the nonconforming ethnic Jews was deemed no longer a birthright. The ethnic Jews (Hebrews from Hebrews) had to submit to the Prushim Bramble Bush King or be thrown out of the community. This conflict leads us to the question:
How does the Oral Law of the Prushim and their successors run counter to the Torah of the Word of God?
The Talmud is the most complete compilation of the Oral Law. In its many volumes, the rabbis engage in two types of discussions, halakha, legal matters and aggadata, ethical speculations. A third type of rabbinic literature is midrash, of which there are two types, midrash aggada, which involves the derivation of the meanings and implications of a biblical text, and midrash halakha, wherein laws are derved from the scriptural texts.
The Talmud wrongfully defines who is a Jew and who is not a Jew.
It is also the Talmud that declares that Yeshua is not the Messiah. Horribly so the Messiah’s wonderful good works and sacrificial life that glorifies the Holy One are re-consigned as works of the evil one; works of witchcraft and sorcery. In stark contrast we believe the writings of Moses and the prophets bear witness that Yeshua is the Salvation of Adonai! The Talmud is not the real Oral Torah:
The Spirit of the Living God is the real *Living Torah!
*New heart and Spirit (Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26).
We believe there are over three hundred passages in the Tanakh that bear witness to the truth that Rabbeinu Yeshua is the Messiah ben Yosef (Suffering Messiah), and four hundred passages of Scripture that bear witness that Rabbeinu Yeshua is also the Messiah ben David (Conquering Messiah); who soon shall return to Israel to permanently establish the rule of God here on earth.
The Problem: Loving the traditions of men more than the Word of God:
So who is a true Jew (Hebrew) and where do we go from here?
This great love of the traditions of men more than the Word of God has led the *ethnic Jewish people into a world of trouble. Not all Jews are “Jews” in the religious sense that the rabbis claim in their extra-biblical teachings.
*Ethnic Jews (Hebrews) have mitochondrial DNA that goes back to Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, and other women who were originally from the Levant region in Asia.
הביטו אל־אברהם אביכם ואל־שרה תחוללכם׃
Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
Some ethnic Jews believe in no deity at all; some are agnostics; some believe only in the literal Hebrew Scriptures (Karaites); and some Jews believe that the Messiah has already come as the Messiah ben Yosef, the Suffering Messiah and that he will return again soon as the Messiah ben David, the Conquering Messiah. When he returns Yeshua ben David will finally establish the kingdom of God here on earth. His capital city will be Jerusalem and adjacent to the city will be a sacred District of Jerusalem that will include the Temple envisioned by the prophet Ezekiel.
Yet, in spite of this obvious pluralism of belief among the ethnic Jewish race—Hebrews from Hebrews—the term “Jew” until modern times has mainly indicated one who professes allegiance to the religion and culture that is prescribed in the oral law of the rabbis.
So to the rabbis you are a Jew if they say so; and if they don’t say so, you are not!
It is in the first to twentieth century (CE) wholesale persecution and rejection of the ethnic Jewish followers of Rabbeinu Yeshua by the Prushim rabbis and their successors that all kinds of trouble has occurred. The ethnic Jews who believe that our Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef ben David is the true Messiah are rejected for we believe like the Karaites only in the authority of the Scriptures; and unlike the Karaites, additionally we believe the teachings of Rabbi Yeshua and his chosen Jewish emissaries are likewise the inspired word of God (Tanakh, *HaBrit HaChadashah).
*HaBrit HaChadashah – The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31),
We have been persecuted by the hyper-orthodox rabbis for our honest belief that the Messiah ben Yosef ben David has already come to redeem Israel and that he will soon (return) to restore Israel to all of the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Tanakh and HaBrit HaChadashah.
Nevertheless, gladly this religious alienation has been weakened since the twentieth century establishment of the secular nation of Israel; when the new secular laws of the State brought to an end the old structure of law which was enshrined in a Talmudic religious definition of who was a Jew!
Not all persons of Jewish ancestry follow the traditions of men:
We believe that much of the extra-scriptural writings of the hyper-orthodox rabbis but not all are the invalid, burdensome – sometimes ridiculous – *traditions of men and as such they are not authoritative.
*The Bramble Bush King.
Most of the writings of these men are invalid because they are not properly grounded in the infallible D’var HaElohim, Word of God—the Torah and the prophets—and the sacred words of the Messiah and his emissaries through the inspiration of the the Spirit of the Holy One.
He gave up the glory of Heaven to come to earth:
What the Messiah gave up to come to Israel is beyond our ability to grasp.
From a position of reigning in glory with the Father, where he received continuous praise from attending angels, HaDavar, the Memra, the Logos descended to earth and took on the form of a Jewish child in the of womb of Miryam. Then as a child and later as a young man he experienced the humiliation of anonymity, servitude, suffering and even death on the accursed tree. The Spirit of the Messiah emptied Himself, “taking on the form of a bond-servant being made in human likeness.”
The perfect submission of Messiah to God the Father:
The subjection of Messiah to the will to the will of God the Father meant that His omniscience (knowing all things) that He possessed in His own right was not fully exercised in His conscious human form, or His omnipotence completely exercised over the evil one; see the narrative of the wilderness temptation. Instead as Eved HaKadosh, the Holy Servant, the Holy One of God – Kedosh Ha-Elohim humbly chose as a *perfect human to remain in a continuous state of obedient submission to His Father in heaven.
*One who always hears, understands and obeys the LORD our God.
The glorified Servant King:
“But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
This Divine restraint—when the Son was restrained in his knowledge of the future—was not present after his resurrection. After his resurrection Hatekumah v’haChayim, the Resurrection and Life, was exercising all of the Divine faculties entrusted to him by his Father and God and our Father and God. Soon we believe *Habekhor hakam min-hametim (הבכור הקם מן המתים), the Firstborn of the Dead, will appear on earth again a second and final time. For it is written:
“So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, ‘Master is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom of Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive *power when the Spirit of the Holy One has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. All things that the Father has are Mine.”
*The gift of Living Torah that was given to the people of Israel on Shavuot.
It is obvious in Messiah’s post-resurrection statement that he no longer shares his disciples limitation of perception regarding “the times or epochs which the Father has fixed.” Therefore, after fulfilling his mission on earth, thoroughly demonstrating what the Perfect Man is, Ben Ha’Av is once again seen exercising unrestricted use of all of the Divine attributes given to him by the Father. A full demonstration of Tselem Elohim’s unlimited power and authority will be clearly displayed when the Messiah soon gloriously returns to Israel a second time in his present glorified form as Melekh HaKavod (מלך הכבוד), the King of Glory!