Festival of Tabernacles Heart of David Ministries Gold Coast 2010 Approaching Midnight for the...

The Times of YeshuaFestival of Tabernacles

Heart of David MinistriesGold Coast 2010

Approaching Midnight for the Church

The Times of Yeshua - Presented by Paul Herring

The TaNaK (OT) – by inference – historical foundations/reasons Jewish apocalyptic literature from 200 BCE – 100 CE – books such as 1 Enoch,

Testaments of the 12 patriarchs, and the Psalms of Solomon The Dead Sea Scrolls – The Manual of Discipline, The War of the Sons of Light

against the Sons of Darkness and the Temple Scroll having particular significance,

The Apocrypha – 1 & 2 Maccabees (esp. regarding Hanukah), & Sirach, The Targums – Aramiaic paraphrases of books or passages of the TaNaK (300

BCE – 300 CE), The Works of Josephus, Talmud – Mishnah (Oral Law) – 200 CE and Gemara – commentary on Mishnah

from around 500 CE plus midrash (commentary) on TaNaK passed orally until recorded around 100-300 CE.

And of course the Messianic Writings, the B’rit Hadashah or New Testament!

Major sources of information about first century Israel:


Our Father Abraham by Marvin Wilson; Yeshua – A guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church by Dr Ron

Moseley, A HISTORY of THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST By Prof.

EMIL SCHÜRER, Christianity and Judiasm – Two Covenants by YEHEZKEL KAUFMANN, JUDAISM AND THE ORIGINS Of CHRISTIANITY by DAVID FLUSSER, JEWS, JUDAISM AND THE CLASSICAL WORLD by Prof David Flusser, Studies in Jewish History in the Times of the Second Temple and Talmud

Translated from the Hebrew by ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, JESUS OF NAZARETH HIS LIFE, TIMES, AND TEACHING by JOSEPH

KLAUSNER, The Sages—Their Concepts and Beliefs by Prof. Ephraim E. Urbach, NAZARENE JEWISH CHRISTIANITY From the End of the New Testament

Period Until Its Disappearance in the Fourth Century by Ray A. Pritz, JEWS, PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS IN CONFLICT by DAVID ROKEAH Jesus by Prof. David Flusser

Some books that have been helpful:


Flusser:“In the fullness of time the Christian religion sprang out of Judaism; as a fact, indeed, of divine revelation, ... No incident in the gospel story, no word in the preaching of Jesus Christ, is intelligible apart from its setting in Jewish history, and without a clear understanding of that world of thought …

Thus … is it not enough to know simply that older literature which has been collected together in the … Old Testament.

On the contrary, the gospel of Jesus Christ is much more closely connected with its immediately contemporary surroundings, and the tendencies of thought prevailing in that particular age.”


Hebrew was the primary spoken and written medium of the majority of the Jews in Israel during the time of Jesus;

Jesus therefore did most, if not all, of his teaching in Hebrew (not Greek or Aramaic).


the original accounts of Jesus' life were composed in Hebrew (as one might conclude anyway from early church history) – have mentioned this in previous talks;

the Greek gospels which have come down to us represent a third or fourth stage in the written transmission of accounts of the life of Jesus;

Luke was the first gospel written, not Mark;

Flusser argues that:


Much of the day-to-day Second Temple literature discovered at Qumran and Massada is in Hebrew.

Whenever we can be sure that there is a Hebrew phrase behind the Greek text of the Gospels, we translate that, and not the literal Greek.

Fact


Flusser was able to translate the synoptic gospels from the earliest Greek versions back into Hebrew.

Given how frequent and widespread the Hebraisms appear within them, Flusser has been able to show which portions read very well in Hebrew, ◦ which seems to indicate that they were originally penned in

Hebrew and which portions appear very awkward and

unsatisfactory ◦ which suggests later redaction (editing)

Prof Flusser’s re-translation approach:


The followers of Yeshua were initially totally Jewish – 90%+ Hebrew in first 10-15 years i.e to 45 AD.

As can be seen in Matt 10:16-18 they

originally attended the synagogue.


“For the gentile converts to try to take on the Jewish lifestyle without the godly and disciplined background (upbringing), would have placed a burden that was neither necessary nor desirable.


For Flusser, Jesus was not a critic of Judaism, not even a reformer, but the embodiment of what Flusser calls the moral essence of ancient Judaism.

Overall, Flusser sees in Jesus a moral exemplar for

the modern world, for Jews as well as Christians.

Like the Pharisees, Jesus held himself apart from non-Jews, referring to them variously as swine or dogs.

His manner of dress was consistent with that of the Pharisees, as was his way of calling disciples


His devotion to the Torah exhibits a knowledge of both Written and Oral Torah (a basic definition of Pharisaism as opposed to Sadducism and Essenism), and

he repeatedly affirmed the Pharisaic doctrine of the resurrection of the body and the eternal life of the soul.

Above all, we find normative Pharisaic teachings

echoed again and again in his words: ◦ Phrases such as "No one can serve two masters," ◦ "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s," and ◦ "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" ◦ are all directly traceable to Pharisaism in the Second Temple

period.


The Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer exhibit a typically Pharisaic theology.

For these and many other reasons, it would seem not unreasonable to think of Jesus as a Pharisee calling for the renewal of that movement which was itself already a movement of renewal within Judaism.

Thus, Flusser argues very powerfully that Jesus had little conflict with the Pharisees of his day.

However, we need to understand the mode and tenor and passion of intra-Pharisaic debate, to better appreciate the community in which Jesus operated.


Flusser in “Jesus” p36

“In the Pharisees, Jesus saw the contemporary heirs of Moses, and said that men should model their lives upon their teaching.

This makes sense, for although Jesus was apparently indirectly influenced by Essenism, he was basically rooted in universal non-sectarian Judaism.

The philosophy and practice of this Judaism was that of the Pharisees.

It would not be wrong to describe Jesus as a Pharisee in the broad sense.”


Matt 5:17-18, "Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets;

I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

For verily I say to you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Torah till all be fulfilled,”.

One example may help to at least open this question to debate and reflection:


Never imagine for a moment that I intend to abrogate the Torah by misinterpreting it.

My intent is not to weaken or negate Torah, but by properly interpreting God's Written Word I aim to establish it, that is, make it even more lasting.

I would never invalidate the Torah by effectively removing something from it through interpretation. Heaven and earth would sooner disappear than something from the divine instructions of God (Torah). Not the smallest letter in the alphabet, the yod nor even its decorative spur, will ever disappear from the Torah"

Paraphrasing Yeshua


Gal 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the Torah of Christ.

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Torah.


In the early Rabbinic sources, until the end of the second century, nothing is said against the person of Jesus or against the faith he had elicited.

The lack of any criticism of the faith of Jesus and of the principles of Christian religion in rabbinic literature prior to the end of the second century cannot be easily explained.

Christians are as strongly rejected as other heretics, but no specific arguments are adduced against them in that period, while at the same time other, unknown groups are designated heretical on the ground of false doctrines of theirs which are specifically mentioned.

This may mean that the rabbis rejected Jewish Christians, not because of the special content of their faith but perhaps because of their issues with the Temple or their belief in the resurrection?


One of the surprising findings of Flusser’s research is that those texts in the Gospels expressing opposition to the Synagogue or to Jews, or accusing the Jews of having caused Jesus' death, or even those passages which express enmity towards "normative” Judaism, cannot be retranslated literally into Hebrew or Aramaic: they are styled in Greek.

This means that enmity of Palestinian Jewish Christians against otherJews, while it may have existed, cannot be proven, and that those passages were written by Gentiles or, so to speak, by Jewish "Gentile" (i.e. Hellenistic) Christians.

We must conclude that the opposition to Jews and to Judaism isprimarily, or even exclusively, a function of the emergence of GentileChristianity,

and that this tension, or even abhorrence, was a factor which fostered the birth of Christianity as an independent Gentile religion.


‟…it was in the days of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, that there emerged in Israel a set of renegades who led many people astray. “Come,” they said, “let us reach an understanding with the pagans surrounding us, for since we separated ourselves from them many misfortunes have overtaken us…”

- 1Maccabees 1:12

Hanukah – John 10:22At that time Hanukah took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

Hellenism


175 BCE - a Jewish scribe bearing the Greek name Antigonos of Socho said, "Be not like slaves who serve their master for the sake of reward, but like slaves who serve their master with no eye on any reward; and may the fear of heaven be among you.”

Yeshua came to give: ◦ a the radical interpretation of the commandment

of mutual love, ◦ a call for a new morality, and◦ To promote the idea of the kingdom of God

Luke 4:43; Mark 1:38, 1 John 3:8

The mission of Yeshua:


Rabbi (20 BCE): "On three pillars the world stands—on the Torah, on the Temple service, and on acts of loving-kindness."

The spiritual pillars of Yeshua were:◦ Righteousness, ◦ Prayer, ◦ Repentance.

The Three Pillars of Yeshua


Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach (165 BCE)

Wrath and anger are loathsome things which the sinful person has for his own.

The vengeful will suffer the Lord's vengeance, for He remembers their sins in detail.

Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then, when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Should a person nourish anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord?

Should a person refuse mercy to a man like himself, yet seek pardon for his own sins?

If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?

Remember your last day, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin!

Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; of the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.


And what did Yeshua say: "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not

be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:37-38).

The Golden Rule: Jesus: "Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do so to

them, for this is the law and the prophets" (Matt. 7:12).

Among the Jews, even before the time of Jesus, it was regarded as the summation of the entire Torah.

Hillel had said, "What is distasteful to yourself, do not do to your neighbor; that is the whole Torah, the rest is but deduction.”

Both Jesus and Hillel before him saw the Golden Rule as a summary of the Torah of Moses. This becomes intelligible when we consider that the biblical saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," (Lev. 19:18) was esteemed by Jesus and by the Jews in general as a chief commandment of the law.


“From ancient Jewish writings we could easily construct a whole Gospel without using a single word that originated with Jesus.” There was a saying, "Flee from what is evil and from what resembles evil." If we apply this concept to the commandments, we discover that the lesser commandments are as serious as the greater. This implies a tightening up of the Torah, not regarding ritual, but in respect to the relationships between people.

This attitude was also present in Judaism at that time, as the following saying exemplifies: "Everyone who publicly shames his neighbor sheds his blood.”


For both the Essenes and Yeshua, ◦ poverty, ◦ humility, ◦ purity, and ◦ unsophisticated simplicity of heart were the essential religious virtues.

According to Jesus, possessions are an obstacle to virtue. "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" ◦ Mark 10:24-25


He is the only Jew of ancient times known to us who preached not only that people were on the threshold of the end of time, but that the new age of salvation had already begun…for Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is not only the eschatological rule of God that has dawned already, but a divinely willed movement that spreads among people throughout the earth.

Conversation with wealthy young man?◦ Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23

The Kingdom of God


The kingdom of heaven is not simply a matter of God's kingship, but also the domain of his rule, an expanding realm embracing ever more and more people, a realm into which one may enter and find one's inheritance, a realm where there are both great and small.

Jesus didn’t want to found a church or even a single community, but he wanted to start a movement.

It is in the message of the kingdom that God's unconditional

love for all becomes visible, and the barriers between sinner and righteous are shattered.

The poor, the hungry, the meek, the mourners, and the persecuted inherit the kingdom of heaven.


“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you" (Matt. 21:31-32).

Jesus found resonance among the social outcasts and the despised, just as John the Baptist had done before him.

Even the non-eschatological ethical teaching of Jesus can presumably be oriented towards his message of the kingdom. Because Satan and his powers will be overthrown (1 Jn 3:8) and the present world-order shattered, it is to be regarded almost with indifference, and ought not to be strengthened by opposition.

Therefore, one should not resist evildoers; one should love one's enemy and not provoke the Roman empire to attack. For when the Kingdom of God is fully realized, all this will vanish.


A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him some of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

And he sent another servant; him also they beat and treated shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. . . .

Then the owner of the vineyard said, "What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it may be they will respect him." But when the tenants saw him they said to themselves, "This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.". . .

What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others.

Parable of the Vineyard


It is, of course, questionable whether this parable is original to Jesus at all: it has been preached for so long as a story condemning the Jews for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah that the possibility that Luke had an anti-Jewish intent must be conceded.

The standard Christian interpretation has been that the owner of the vineyard is God, the vineyard is the world, the tenants are the Jews, the various messengers are the prophets preaching the shortcomings of Judaism, and the beloved son is Jesus.

In retribution for his murder by the wicked Jewish tenants, God takes the world away from the Jews and gives it into the hands of the Christians.


But would Jesus’ Jewish listeners have heard the parable that way? The answer is clearly negative. There is no precedent anywhere in Judaism for the prediction that God would replace Jew with Gentile; even all of Jeremiah’s new covenant prophecies must be interpreted as affecting Jews only.

More important is the interpretation of the vineyard symbol. Hosea 9:10 states, "Like grapes in the wilderness, I found

Israel;’’

Isaiah 5:7 reads. "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting.”


Because Jesus’ listeners would have been familiar with the vineyard as a symbol for the people Israel, not for creation, they would have given an altogether different meaning to the story than the one traditionally preached by Christians.

They might instead have heard it this way:

God chose Israel as the vineyard and entrusted it to various tenants: Babylonians, Persians, Greeks. From time to time God would send someone to collect the fruits of Israel’s faithfulness -- that is, God would inspire some sort of covenant renewal with Israel -- but each time, the overlords’ oppression became stronger; they beat and treated shamefully those in covenant relationship with God.


Finally God inspired the long-expected new covenant, an incredible vitality in Judaism that produced the Pharisees’ wisdom and charity, the Sadducees’ liturgical enthusiasm, the Zealots’ deep commitment to social action and the Essenes’ mystical purity.

And of course, this age brought the Messiah, the Son of God, who lived the ultimate life of devotion; a life without sin; a life in which he declared and demonstrated the greatest love, in that he lay down his life for his friends, his brothers and sisters. He paid the ultimate price and was lifted to the ultimate place!


But this charismatic renewal was treated most harshly of all, for the Roman overlords at the time of Jesus persecuted Judaism with vehemence, putting to death anyone who challenged the state’s control over Jewish expression.

In the face of this horrible Roman oppression, Jesus held out and still holds out a message of hope to his people Israel:

God will liberate Israel from oppression, placing the vineyard into the hands of tenants who know how to care for it lovingly, and who will enable it to fulfill its mission; only non-Jews who are willing to protect Israel and encourage it to bear fruit will be given any control over it.


Approaching Midnight for the Church ◦ what is our response to a better understanding of

Yeshua? Seek to know the real Yeshua; our Mediator who said ‘my

brothers and sisters are those who do the will of my Father’

Appreciate that he called for a greater devotion; a greater holiness before God

He called for a circumcised heart

he called for faithfulness; just as he was faithful; just as Abraham was faithful


We need stand up for Israel against the lies of the enemy; "Everyone who publicly shames his neighbor sheds his blood.”

We need to seek Righteousness, Repentance and Prayer;

We need to act with humility, live with purity, and seek to love God and our neighbour with the unsophisticated simplicity of the heart;

We need to promote the Kingdom of God, both by living in it now and by setting our heart and focus on the glory of it’s inauguration and reign. AMEN!

Approaching Midnight for the Church ◦ what is our response to a better understanding of Yeshua?


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