Tag: isaiah

Resurrection part 1: What Yeshua taught

According to Yeshua, the resurrection is eternal life. This is both the present state and the living hope of every believer.

Core of the Bible podcast #121 – Resurrection part 1: What Yeshua taught

Today we are starting a new, four-part series on the topic of resurrection. When believers today consider the topic of resurrection, they will typically be focusing on the resurrection of Messiah, and they would be right to do so. The resurrection of Messiah has immense significance, and because of this, we will be concluding this series with a whole episode on its ramifications.

However, if most Bible believers today are discussing personal or general resurrection, they will usually point to the lengthy passage on resurrection penned by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.  In fact, the apostle Paul explains how the concept of resurrection is an essential doctrine for those who believe in Messiah.

1 Corinthians 15:12-14 – Now if Messiah is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Messiah has been raised; and if Messiah has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

Paul’s logic is simple and bold: if there is no such thing as resurrection, then Messiah has not been raised, and therefore the faith stemming from Messiah’s teachings is pointless and of no value. This is because one of the key things Messiah taught was that not only was resurrection was a reality, it was that he himself was the embodiment of resurrection and life. Therefore, personal resurrection is an integral hope of every believer in Messiah.

Like every other grand doctrine in the Bible, the topic of resurrection is not without its own complexity. I have found that resurrection is a wide-ranging topic in the Bible. Within its pages there are mentions of many individual resurrections, but there are also indications of collective types of resurrection, as well. Additionally, in a prophetic sense, resurrection is tied together with aspects of judgment which helps to illustrate the national arc of ancient Israel. All of this is combined with the use of ancient metaphorical and literary word pictures which can further distance us from the culture in which these concepts are presented.

The complexity of this concept is evident even among the Jews in the time of Yeshua, as there was sharp disagreement between the Pharisees and Sadducees on the nature and reality of resurrection, a topic we will touch on in today’s episode as we explore Yeshua’s teachings on this subject.

Because of this complexity, I am going to be spending the next several episodes reviewing resurrection from several different perspectives, grouped into four broad categories:

  1. Instances of individual resurrections, and also how Yeshua taught about resurrection
  2. Prophetic indications of collective resurrection and judgment
  3. The resurrection at the last day
  4. The implications of the resurrection of Messiah

So, to begin with, let’s start our journey by looking at some of the original language definitions of what resurrection actually means. In the Hebrew of the Tanakh several different words describe resurrection: chaya meaning to live or be revived, quts meaning to awaken (as from sleep or death), and qum meaning to arise or stand up. As we move into the Greek of the New Testament writings, the terms which include resurrection, or being raised, combine to form one of the most pervasive topics in the New Testament as a whole, occurring in all four gospels and over one hundred times total in the Greek. In the Greek, resurrection is based primarily on the Greek word anistemi which means to arise or stand up, very closely aligned with the Hebrew qum. It is used in the sense of arising as from a seated or lying position to standing, to raise up (either from the dead, or as an instance of causing to be born), or to rise up against an enemy.

Now that we have some basic definitions in place, we can begin reviewing a biblical record of resurrections in the Bible. Did you know that there were at least 8 different individuals listed in the Bible as being resurrected from the dead besides Messiah? In each of these instances, based on the original language definitions we have just reviewed, the individual was described as being revived, awakened, and then they rose up.

  1. Resurrection of the widow’s son in Zarephath through the prophet Elijah (1 Kgs 17:17–22)
  2. Resurrection of the Shunammite’s son through the prophet Elisha (2 Kgs 4:18–37)
  3. Resurrection of the man thrown into Elisha’s grave (2 Kgs 13:20)
  4. Resurrection of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:41)
  5. Resurrection of the young man at Nain (Luke 7:14)
  6. Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:38–44)
  7. Resurrection of Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36–42)
  8. Resurrection of Eutychus (Acts 20:7–12)

So, what is it that we can discern from reviewing all of these instances of physical, individual resurrections throughout the Bible?

First of all, I think it’s worth noting that there are quite a few; eight individuals who were raised from the dead! Interestingly, if you have listened to the previous study on the biblical holiday of Yom HaShemini, the Eighth Day, you may recall how the number eight is typically used throughout the biblical narrative in the context of new beginnings and new life, and here we see eight individual raised to life!

Additionally, if you take the time to read each of these accounts, you may find some striking similarities between these events.

  • An individual has died but then is brought back to physical life through the actions or the presence of a prophet or man of God.
  • God is glorified
  • The ministry of the prophet is validated

And while we don’t have scriptural records to indicate this, there is no reason to think that any of these individuals were raised to physical eternal existence; it is assumed that they once again died ordinary deaths at some point after having been raised.

For now, we can see how resurrection is simply an accepted reality throughout the entire Bible to demonstrate the power of God and to validate the teachings of his prophets. God repeatedly used these individual resurrection events to encourage his people that his power extends beyond death, and how this physical life is only one part of our conscious existence. What these accounts do for us is to set a baseline understanding that something is going on with the conscious existence of those whom God loves: they appear to continue to exist as individuals beyond their physical life, and are somehow “brought back” to live out the remainder of their physical lives.

For each of these individuals, their bodies were dormant and cold, and yet through the process of resurrection, their life returned, their bodies grew warm, and they opened their eyes and began to move again, as if simply being awakened from sleep. So, one of the primary metaphors used for death is this idea of sleep. Yeshua used this term in speaking of his friend Lazarus.

John 11:11-13  – He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.”  Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”  Yeshua, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep.

The apostle Paul also used this metaphor of sleep for death.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14  – We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, in the same way, through Yeshua, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

So, here’s something a little off the beaten path to consider: because of this symbolic relationship of death with sleep, what if the natural process of sleep and awaking from sleep is simply a daily illustration that God has given us of the very real hope of life after death? Just as we all sleep, we all are subject to death. But as we all awake, we are all subject to the power of God in maintaining our essence, our spiritual existence, beyond this physical life.

While this may be an interesting rabbit hole to go down, for now, we must keep the biblical passages in their context and what these events accomplished. Through each of the individual resurrections, God was glorified through his servant, and the authority of his prophets and disciples in conveying the truth of God was confirmed. This is a powerful testimony to the work of God in establishing the principles of his Kingdom in this world, and providing hope to his people that some form of conscious existence continues beyond this physical lifetime.

Now, let’s turn to the teaching of Messiah on this subject. As I have said many times before, Yeshua did not arrive on the scene in first century Israel and just invent a bunch of new ideas, including the idea of resurrection. What he taught about it builds on examples and representations, sparse as they may be, that come from the Tanakh, or Old Testament. These expectations would have been the ones he was building on as he explained the true meaning of resurrection as it is intended for those in the Kingdom. Besides the references to individual resurrections in the Tanakh that we just reviewed, there are really only three main passages which discuss a larger, corporate resurrection of some kind:

  • Isaiah 26:19  – Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.
  • Ezekiel 37:12  – “Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, my people, and lead you into the land of Israel.
  • Daniel 12:2  – Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.

So, while I mentioned resurrection is only briefly described in these few passages of the Tanakh (each of which we will review in more detail next time), there is an understanding that of the two ruling religious groups in Israel at the time of Yeshua, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, only the Pharisees believed in a collective resurrection. The Sadducees were not fully accepting of the prophetic writings outside the core books of Moses, and therefore would not typically give much credence these passages we just reviewed. So, in order to justify their own position and to possibly discredit Yeshua, they planned to confront him and test him to see what his doctrine was on the topic of resurrection. To do so, we can see how the Sadducees posed a “thought experiment” that was designed to force Yeshua to choose sides on the resurrection question, and potentially disqualify him as the Messiah.

Matthew 22:23-28  – That same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to him and questioned him: “Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second also, and the third, and so on to all seven. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”

We know they didn’t really believe in the resurrection, so they just took the concept and mockingly strung together a logical conclusion based on the Mosaic rules of Levirate marriage, or the familial responsibility for close relatives to maintain the family name. However, rather than take the bait of their straw man argument, Yeshua decides to take a different tack, and in so doing, he reveals for us an aspect of resurrection that many to this day may not have seen.

—

So, after hearing the carefully staged question of the Sadducees regarding how the rules of marriage could possibly apply in the resurrection, Yeshua provides a direct response:

Matthew 22:29 – Yeshua answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.”

Right to the point, Yeshua immediately recognizes their attempt at creating conflict with an absurdly speculative scenario on a point of Mosaic law. He simply shrugs it off by saying, “You’re wrong.” He then implies their non-acceptance of the prophetic writings is also incorrect by saying, “you don’t know the Scriptures.” And finally, he states their ignorance of the truth demonstrates they don’t really understand “the power of God.”

Then he directly answered their thought experiment: “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven,” (Matthew 22:30). Yeshua states there is no marriage in the resurrection state, therefore the Levirate rules of marriage would no longer apply. But he decided to take this opportunity to push their thinking on the topic a little further and in the process provides insight on what true resurrection looks like:

Matthew 22:31-32 – “Now concerning the resurrection of the dead [that is, since you brought it up], haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

By redirecting their focus to the story of the burning bush in Exodus, he now confronts them squarely on their own turf, as they would be forced to agree with a concept directly taught from one of the books of Moses. He basically pulled a checkmate on their little thought experiment, and then redirected them to a passage they would have to agree was Scripture, and he confounded them in the process.

So what exactly was Yeshua driving at by bringing up this statement of Yahweh at the burning bush? This same passage is related by Matthew, Mark and Luke, so it obviously carried some heavy weight with the early believers. By saying that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” Yeshua appears to be teaching that at least the righteous dead (exemplified by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) were to be considered alive to God, and therefore, already in a resurrection state. While the Sadducees were talking of a general resurrection in a future tense (who’s wife will she be?), Yeshua speaks about it in the present tense (they do not marry and are like angels in heaven). This implied that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of whom had lived physical lives fifteen hundred to two thousand years prior to the time of Yeshua, by the power of God had been retaining their identities and were to be considered already living in the resurrection state.

Luke’s account adds even a few additional snippets of information in Yeshua’s response to the Sadducees.

Luke 20:34-36 – Yeshua told them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. “But those who are counted worthy to take part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are children of God, since they are sons of the resurrection.”

In this telling, Luke emphasizes a new facet of this confrontation: that Yeshua contrasts what he calls “this age” (marrying and giving in marriage) with “the resurrection from the dead” (where no marriage takes place). But he distinguishes a conditional participation in this resurrection (those who have been deemed deserving).

Just like the other passages, he also focuses on the (then) present nature of that resurrection age by saying that the dead are raised, and God is not the God of the dead, and that all (who are worthy) live to (or in) him. All of these points would have been revolutionary considerations for the Sadducees who were confronting him. This is why the passage concludes:

Matthew 22:33  – And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Yeshua would have made his point clearly that the Sadducees not only did not understand the true nature of Scripture but also the power of God to provide life after physical death for the faithful. In these passages Yeshua seems to me to be implying that the righteous dead are already living in a resurrected state of some sort. For us, this broadens the meaning of the resurrection to become illustrative of the reality of life after physical death for believers.

To illustrate this further, in other instances Yeshua also teaches that those who could kill the body are unable to kill the true living essence of the individual; however, God has the ability to do so.

  • Matthew 10:28-31 – “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in [Gehenna]. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
  • Luke 12:4-7 – “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into [Gehenna]; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

In these passages, Yeshua appears to be making a distinction between the body and the soul (life). One (the body) is able to be killed by men, but the other (soul/life) is not. However, God has the ability to destroy both body and soul/life of those who do not fear him, represented by the fires of the Gehenna trash dump. This is also brought out in another famous passage:

Matthew 25:41, 46  – “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! … “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Now, to be fair, none of these statements made by Yeshua were provided in the context of a teaching on the reality of some sort of conscious existence beyond this life, but instead these ideas are intermixed with teachings of the coming judgment upon that generation. However, this aspect of God as the life-giver and life-taker is a corroboration with the rest of Scripture that all life is in God’s hands; he provides life, and he can also cause those who remain rebellious to perish.

Job 33:4 – The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Even in one of the most famous passages of the Bible, Yeshua is quoted as speaking of belief in him as the Messiah is an indication of an eternal life that will never perish.

John 3:14-16  – “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Now, to also carry the idea of “sons of the resurrection” forward that Luke had mentioned previously, I am reminded of Yeshua’s discussion with Nicodemus earlier on in this same passage.

John 3:3-7 – Yeshua replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  “How can anyone be born when he is old? ” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born? ”  Yeshua answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.”

Yeshua seems to be teaching that being born again or born from above is a spiritual reality that doesn’t have to wait for some future resurrection, but is something that can begin to be experienced in this life. This is also what he appears to have been discussing with Martha at the tomb of Lazarus before Lazarus was raised from the dead.

John 11:23-26  – “Your brother will rise again,” Yeshua told her.  Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

This seems to indicate to me that this resurrection life, exhibited by faith in Messiah, overlaps and is contemporaneous with this physical life. Here is another indication within John’s gospel:

John 5:21, 24 – “For just as the Father raises [present tense] the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives [present tense] life to whom He wishes…Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

Again, Yeshua seems to be teaching that eternal life was something that was being bestowed within the physical lifetime of the believer, where a future judgment was already bypassed due to the possession of this life by being faithful to God’s word in believing in his Messiah. However, he was also clear that this was not to forego the coming judgment upon those who refused to believe.

John 5:25-29 – Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth;those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

In this passage Yeshua appears to be teaching of a (then) present reality of passing from death to life, but also an event which was yet to happen in which the prior dead would come forth to a resurrection of judgment, both good and bad. In reality, he is drawing on the prophetic imagery of a collective resurrection and judgment which we encountered earlier from Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. This theme of collective resurrection and judgment in the prophets has a unique and significant meaning. Because it is so critical to our understanding of resurrection, these passages will be the subject of our next couple of visits to the resurrection topic.

From our brief introduction to the concept of resurrection today, we can summarize some of the main ideas of what we have examined in the following statements:

  • Individual resurrections hinted that conscious existence for the faithful is maintained beyond this lifetime.
  • The individual resurrections glorified the power of God, and validated the ministries of those who participated in them.
  • In the New Testament writings, Yeshua seems to be redefining resurrection with the Sadducees to mean something more than just a future, collective event. It was instead a present and active activity of the Father with the righteous dead who still consciously lived, since “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
  • Resurrection as defined by Yeshua also seems to have been connected as a continuance of conscious existence for the righteous who have been “born again” and who believed in him as Messiah, since “he who believes in me will never die.”

Yeshua had modeled in prayer for his disciples what eternal life was.

John 17:3 – And this is [present tense] eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Yeshua Messiah whom you have sent.

The disciples would then carry this message forward to the scattered Israelites among the nations.

1 Thessalonians 5:8-10: “But let us, since we belong to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Yeshua Messiah, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.“

According to Yeshua, the Old Testament saints experienced a resurrection state since he taught that they “all are alive to God.” In his view, it seems eternal life was a by-product of a life lived by simple faith in Yahweh. It was not necessarily an end to be sought in and of itself,  but it was a consequence or result of being a faithful believer in Yahweh, just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. And, in New Testament times, if one truly believed in Yahweh, then it follows they would believe in the testimony he provided about his son, Messiah Yeshua.

According to Yeshua, the resurrection is eternal life. This is both the present state and the living hope of every believer. I believe it is in this sense that Yeshua truly conquered death and provided life eternal in the Kingdom for those who were to believe in him.

Next time, in the second installment of this study, we will explore the prophetic teachings of a collective future resurrection and how that concept squares with these ideas of eternal life.

Well, it’s my sincere hope that this introduction to the topic of resurrection has brought you some concepts and ideas to meditate on and to study out further on your own. But remember, if you have thoughts or comments that you would like to explore further with me, feel free to email me at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

The eternal Torah of the whole Bible

It is when we act reflexively with the spirit and intent of torah that we know life has actually come into being and changed us.

Core of the Bible podcast #105 – The eternal Torah of the whole Bible

Typically in these articles, we review the core bible principles of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom, integrity, vigilance, holiness, trust, forgiveness and compassion. But if you’re a regular listener you may remember that I’ve begun a year long journey of exploring some of the bigger doctrines in the Bible, and how those core principles apply to the larger biblical worldview.

As we go through these doctrinal statements in the coming weeks and months, I think you’ll find I typically do not hold to traditional perspectives on many of these topics, which is one of the reasons I am very excited to share them with you and possibly help you explore concepts and ideas that you may not have previously considered. 

In today’s episode, we will be talking about and defining what torah is, what its purpose is, and how it is relevant for believers today.

So let’s begin with: what is torah? Torah is instruction. Torah is also known as the law of God. Anytime God commands or gives direction to something or someone, torah exists. I believe torah is through every fiber of the Bible, from the first page of Genesis all the way through the Revelation; yes, even into the New Testament.

Of course, this goes against the common understanding of the Torah being relegated only to the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. This is even how Jews view their own holy writings, as we discussed in our last lesson. Their holy writings, what most Christians call the Old Testament, are made up of the Torah (law), the Nevi’im (prophets) and the Ketuvim (writings); the Tanakh.

However, regardless of this tradition the word torah itself simply means instruction or direction. It comes from a Hebrew root word, yara, meaning to throw or shoot, as in shooting an arrow toward a target. This is what torah’s purpose is, what it is designed to do; to point us to the target, or goal, that God would have us accomplish. This is why I believe that torah is all through the Bible: the whole collection of these writings is designed to point us toward the goal God has for every one of us: Messiah-like obedience as God’s children in the Kingdom of God. One of the primary reasons that I believe torah is eternal and not just from Sinai forward is because both Noah and Abraham are said to have kept God’s torah.

Many people don’t realize that Noah was given direction as to the making of a distinction between clean and unclean animals.

Genesis 7:2-3, 5 – “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.” … And Noah did according to all that Yahweh commanded him.

How is it that Noah knew about clean and unclean animals when he lived over thousand years earlier than Moses receiving the commandments at Sinai? This implies that God’s torah was revealed previously, even if only in oral form at that point.

With Abraham also, even though he lived about five hundred years earlier than Moses, the Bible tells us that he followed God’s torah. In the book of Genesis when God was reinforcing the promises to Isaac that he had promised his father Abraham, God recounted to him how Abraham had and kept his commands and statutes.

Genesis 26:4-5 [God speaking to Isaac] “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws [torah].”

If God is here explaining how Abraham kept torah five hundred years prior to Moses and Sinai, and we’ve seen how Noah was diligent to maintain torah over a thousand years earlier than that, it should come as no surprise, then, how the whole Bible is is based on torah, or instruction, from God. And if this is true, then it becomes obvious why I believe torah is relevant for believers today, since it is essentially God’s eternal word that he always expects his people to abide by.

We have an understanding of torah first and foremost from the books of Moses, whose narrative describes the back-story and beginnings of the nation of Israel through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then to Joseph and Moses, preparing them as a people to enter the land of Canaan. Those principles established in that root story are repeated and expanded through the Prophets and the Writings of the Tenakh (OT), along with the writings of the Messianic Believers (NT). 

The regulating principle of God’s torah

Now here is something interesting about torah. The torah or instruction of God has a simple, self-regulating principle: anything that claims to be instruction from God but is not conforming with the revelation provided through the books of Moses (that is, Genesis-Deuteronomy) is not considered a valid teaching from God. These five books are the baseline recorded narrative of God’s interactions with men since the beginning, which is why they have collectively come to be primarily known as THE Torah. And this conformity to the revelation provided to Moses isn’t just my opinion, let’s see what the Bible says about it.

Deuteronomy 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I also know that whatever God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it. God has made it this way, so that men will fear him.

Therefore, if some new doctrine or teaching comes along that does not fit the principles, patterns, and standards of torah as previously revealed, then it cannot be considered a legitimate spiritual teaching from God, and should not be heeded.

As the biblical books and writings of the prophets were being written and added to the body of the Tanakh or Old Testament writings, they were being judged as to whether they were aligning with the revelation provided to Moses in those earlier books. For believers in Messiah, they also were also faced with ensuring the apostolic teachings were also in alignment with the principles, patterns, and standards of torah as revealed to Moses. We see that the New Testament writings are based on the teachings and revelation of Yeshua as the Messiah. So, for believers, we see Yeshua as the “prophet who was to come” whom Moses spoke of.

Deuteronomy 18:15 – “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. You shall listen to him…”

The coming of this Prophet was the ultimate goal and expectation of the revelation to Moses, along with all of the rest of the Tanakh, so much so that Jews today are still waiting for a Messiah since they don’t believe in Yeshua.

Since Yeshua did not add or take away from God’s torah, but simply clarified and fulfilled it, we must take care that we don’t add to or take away from what he taught, as well. Taking away something that has been previously revealed is equally as destructive as adding something that does not belong. Yeshua was careful to demonstrate he was not advocating taking anything away from God’s torah.

Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law [torah] or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law [torah] until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

This idea of adding or taking away from torah is essentially a principle of testing. Moses warned about false prophets:

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’ “When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Yeshua also warned about testing false prophets in a similar way. Just as Moses instructed that the results of a prophet’s prediction will prove him right or wrong, Yeshua explained the same principle using the fruits that are produced by those who have false teachings as an indicator of their falsehood.

Matthew 7:15-17, 20 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. … So then, you will know them by their fruits.”

In this way, Yeshua demonstrated that his teaching on the testing of prophets was established upon the same principles of God’s torah as revealed to Moses. 

The early believers in Messiah were also commanded to carry on this same practice of testing false teachers.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [of the teachers] to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;

How would they know what was “good” and what was false? Since they didn’t have a “New Testament” to go by, they were instructed to examine everything in light of the only torah that was already established, the Tanakh, which includes the torah originally related by God to Moses, to ensure they would not be led astray. In the process of following the Tanakh by believing in its fulfillment in Messiah, some of them then created the letters and epistles that have become the New Testament writings of today.

Fulfillment of Torah

True torah cannot be added to or diminished, but according to Yeshua, it can be fulfilled or brought to fruition. Yeshua fulfilled the ultimate purpose of torah, but that does not mean there is no longer a need to follow the principles of torah. He is our example of how to be obedient to the Father. He did not come to destroy torah, but to fulfill it. If he fulfilled it, so should we.

1 John 2:3-6 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

As we fulfill God’s torah by following its direction, then it accomplishes the intent that God had for it in the first place. This in itself is a principle of torah that the prophet Isaiah spoke of.

Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

According to the apostle John, the very definition of sin is exemplified as not abiding by torah. 

1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness [literally: torah-lessness].

Therefore, the opposite must also be true: obedience to torah leads to non-sinfulness, that is, to righteous and holy actions. 

Romans 7:12 So then, the Law [torah] is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

However, we must remember that torah obedience on its own does not totally accomplish freedom from sin. This is because even though we may become aware of God’s righteous commands, we many times still desire our own ways.

In a moment, we will dive a little further into why this is so important when it comes to keeping the torah of God.

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So, while we may understand with our minds the importance of keeping God’s word according to his instruction or his torah, many times we still struggle, desiring our own ways. This is primarily due to the fact that, even though we may know what the right thing is to do, our hearts are still not right and we can’t find the strength necessary to be obedient.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, Yahweh, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

Zechariah 7:8-12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah saying, “Thus has Yahweh of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts [like] flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which Yahweh of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.”

Torah can tell us the right things to do, but it can’t make us do the right things with the right attitude and for the right reason. 

Yeshua accused the Jewish leaders of this very thing. They tried to follow the letter of the Torah in scrutinizing detail, even adding their own man-made traditions in an effort to ensure the Torah commands themselves would not be violated. However, they missed the intended goal of torah because their hearts were not right before God.

Matthew 15:7-11 “You hypocrites [the Jewish leaders], rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hear is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines [of God] the precepts of men.'” 

Matthew 23:23, 27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. … “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness [torah-lessness].

The Jewish leaders were guilty of what the apostle Paul calls following “the letter of the law”, but not the spirit of it, and it resulted in hypocrisy which led them further from torah. Following the spirit of the law, and not just the letter of it, is what brings life. 

2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as [coming] from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Jewish leaders were trying so hard to follow all of the rules that they missed the intent or spirit of the rules in the first place. This can be likened to a person at a busy traffic intersection who wants to cross the street. However, they are focusing so hard on staying within the lines of a crosswalk that they forget to check for traffic.

The letter of torah alone can be deadly if misapplied with the wrong spirit or intent. This is why acting on Bible verses taken out of context is so dangerous. For example I’ve heard people who claim to be believers justify retribution against others by saying, “the Bible says, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'” Yes, it’s true the Bible does say that, but the context is ancient Israelite civil law, not current day individual morality. Yeshua made it clear we are to love our enemies and do good to others as a way of demonstrating the love of God to them.

In a similar way, even though the Bible tells us the right things to do, it cannot bring life on its own.

Galatians 3:21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

The righteousness that Paul is speaking of here is the type that says we have right-standing in God’s eyes because we are doing what’s right. Paul is saying it takes more than just following a set of rules to be exhibiting true faith in God. Faith that honors God is simply believing what God said is true, and then being obedient to it; not the other way around.

God continues to teach people about his ways and lead people to Messiah through the symbols and object lessons of all of his torah. But just like graduating from one grade to another does not make all of what you previously learned vanish, it simply indicates that you have now earned a basic understanding of the rudiments of that grade level, and can now apply and follow those things that you have learned as you continue to grow. 

Galatians 3:23-26 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Messiah, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua.

This passage is famous for causing confusion, as most Christians take away from it that if Paul is saying believers are no longer under the tutor of the Torah, then it must be done away with. Since we have already seen that we cannot take away from God’s torah without violating it, we should understand that Paul must be trying to teach something else here.

Here’s an analogy that may help: Once you graduate from school, the lessons you have learned don’t disappear as if they no longer apply. You are now able to take what you have learned and use it in practical ways all the time, even though you are not in school anymore. Therefore, you no longer require the tutor or the teacher, because what the teacher taught you is now ingrained in you, and you now do textbook things naturally without always needing to reference the textbooks. Therefore, you are no longer “under” the tutor, who would need to constantly go over the basics with you. The textbooks are still valuable and still true, and you will still abide by the principles in the textbooks, you just don’t need to reference them because you are already understanding and practicing what they teach.

Remember what the apostle John wrote to the early Messianic believers:

1 John 2:4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him…

1 John 5:2-3 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

His commandments are his torah, his instruction, his direction. If we are not abiding by the principles of torah, then that is evidence that we haven’t had our hearts truly changed. This is why believers should still follow the principles of God’s torah, even though we technically no longer need it as a tutor. It is being fulfilled in us as we live it out in sincerity and truth. 

It is true that torah can give us indications of the right actions to do that lead to life. But it is when we act reflexively with the spirit and intent of torah that we know life has actually come into being and changed us.

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

Romans 8:1-2 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will put My law [torah] within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 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 and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

So, my question to those who would maintain that torah has been done away in Messiah is this: If God always intended to put his torah in the heart of his people, why would torah be done away with? It’s the very thing that he wants to reside in our hearts!

This is what Paul was trying to show in relation to God’s torah; it hadn’t passed away, but those in Messiah were to consider themselves as passed away, jointly dead with Messiah. He wanted believers to consider themselves as dead to the letter of the law (i.e., from trying to earn their favor with God through it) so they could instead obey the spirit of it from the heart. This is because they had simply believed God, just like Abraham, and become risen as new creations in Messiah!

Just as Yeshua was risen from the dead, believers were to consider themselves as also alive from the dead; the dead obedience of rote tradition to the letter of the law. The torah was never meant to be done away, but it was meant to be fulfilled; fulfilled in God’s children as they obey it from the heart! It was to serve as an ongoing foundation for the believers heart-service to God which has only become possible based on the new life of faith in Messiah.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

So, as long as there are people who don’t know the God of the Bible, these principles, patterns, and standards of God’s torah will continue to lead people to the truth of his Messiah. This is how and why torah must be eternal. It is through the torah of God that they can become born from above, renewed in heart as new creatures in Messiah. Therefore, God’s torah is ultimately still a tutor for all among the nations, so that people will continue to learn and practice his ways and be led to new life in the Messiah where they can then obey it from the heart. As they come to believe in and follow his Messiah, the torah of God will then reside in their hearts and bear fruit among all men.

Psalm 119:142, 144, 152 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law [torah] is truth. … Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. … Of old I have known from Your testimonies that You have founded them forever.

Micah 4:2 Many nations will come and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh And to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For from Zion will go forth the law [torah], Even the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

Zion is the New Jerusalem, the residence of believers everywhere.

Hebrews 12:22-24 – But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the gathered throngs and assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Yeshua the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

It is from Zion, this place of believing heart-obedience, that God’s eternal torah goes forth into all the world. This is how God’s kingdom is, and will continue to be, established on the earth.

Alright, so let’s quickly review some of the key points we covered today:

  • I believe torah is not just limited to the first five books of the Bible. Torah is instruction or direction from God that is throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis through Revelation.
  • Torah has a self-regulating principle. For something to be considered torah or instruction from God, it must be in agreement with the patterns, principles and standards that were revealed within the books of Moses. This applies to the teachings of Yeshua and the apostles, as well, since Yeshua clearly taught that he had no intent on abolishing torah, and in fact, upheld and fulfilled it.
  • The purpose of torah is that we also would fulfill it, not by simply following the letter of the law, but by fulfilling it in spirit from the heart, as new creations in Messiah. This is the intent that the prophets looked forward to in the New Covenant in Messiah.
  • Torah continues to instruct people and direct them to Messiah; that is its eternal purpose. We who are inheritors of the Kingdom of God shine forth from the prophetic city of Zion, the New Jerusalem, for the rest of the nations to be healed and brought into fellowship with their Creator.

Ultimately, I believe the core principles of the Bible, the basics of the eternal torah of God, were revealed through the Ten Commandments revealed to Moses and substantiated through the principles of the Sermon on the Mount taught by Yeshua. They can be summarized as follows:

  • Separate yourself to seek first the Kingdom with vigilance.
  • Love God with all of your heart, mind, and strength, trusting him for everything.
  • And love others as yourself with integrity, forgiveness, and compassion.

Next time, we will look at the doctrine of there being only One True God. This was the fierce monotheism of the ancient Hebrew people. I hope you can join us.

Remember, there is a Core of the Bible virtual study group that is hosted through the Marco Polo video chat app. It is designed to discuss the topics that we cover each week and to help people with responses to questions that may come up. If you are interested in joining the discussion, simply download the free Marco Polo app and email me a request to join the group at coreofthebible@gmail.com. I will be happy to send you a link to join the virtual Bible study group. And if you’re not sure about joining the group, you can always just email any questions you may have, as well.

God dwells among his separated people

Paul’s admonition is for believers to cleanse themselves from everything that can defile body and spirit.

Core of the Bible podcast #89 – God dwells among his separated people

Today we will be looking at the topic of holiness or separation from uncleanness, and how Paul reminded the early believers how they were not to join in any effort or activity where the Name or character of God would be maligned or disdained. In doing so, God promised to dwell among his own sons and daughters.

  • 2 Corinthians 7:1 – Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

Paul’s admonition here is for believers to cleanse themselves from everything that can defile body and spirit. This, he says, is working toward complete holiness; that is, with holiness as the fulfillment or the end goal of this cleansing.

However, the motivation for this goal comes from some promises he has just mentioned. Since this is the first verse of chapter seven in our Bibles, this must mean he mentioned some promises at the end of chapter six. What promises is he referring to?

  • 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 – And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.  Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says Yahweh; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you. And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says Yahweh Almighty.

These are, indeed, amazing promises:

  • that God would dwell among them
  • that he would be their God, and they his people
  • that he would welcome them
  • that he would be a Father to them, and they would be as sons and daughters

But all of these wonderful promises are contingent on this cleansing of defilement of body and spirit, involving a setting apart of some sort. Let’s review the passage in full to see the context:

  • 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 – Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says Yahweh. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says Yahweh Almighty.”

So we can see the promises that God would dwell among them and they would be sons and daughters hinges on the condition that they separate themselves from all uncleanness of the idolatry of those who do not believe.

I know this passage has classically been used for the purpose of warning believers to not marry non-believers, and while that is certainly a valid recommendation, that is not the context of this passage; marriage is nowhere in Paul’s sights here.

The real message is that separation from non-believers is required in any type of joint-effort where a compromise of God’s principles would become involved. Believers are not to join in any effort or activity where the Name or character of God would be maligned or disdained.

Two of the primary challenges believers faced in Paul’s day included the practice of eating food in a temple of a local deity, and by eating food purchased in the marketplace that had been previously offered to an idol. In that time, a fellowship meal in an idol’s temple was the ancient approximation of what we might today consider going out to eat in a restaurant. It was also a challenge for Jews to purchase meat in the market, not knowing if the food had already been in an idol’s temple prior to being offered for sale in the local market. These were such serious issues that Paul devotes a whole chapter (chapter 8) in his first letter to the Corinthians to these practices.

Paul devotes so much focus on these topics because it was a primary social practice that was a restriction for the new believers in Messiah, as well. Avoiding idolatrous food was one of the main points that had come out of the first Jerusalem Council decision. You may recall how in Acts 15, a convening of various sects of Messiah believers was called to establish consistency on how the Torah was to be applied among the believing congregations. And out of that discussion and debate came the following summarized conclusions:

  • Acts 15:20 – Instead, we should write and tell them [that is, new believers in Messiah] to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

This instruction from the Jerusalem Council highlights how Torah was still the guiding principle of the early believing communities. All of these restrictions that were reported out to the fledgling congregations of Messiah are based in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

  • Leviticus 19:4 – Do not turn to idols or make cast images of gods for yourselves; I am Yahweh your God.
  • Deuteronomy 6:14 – Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you…
  • Leviticus 18:26 – But you are to keep my statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable [sexually immoral] acts ​– ​not the native or the alien who resides among you.
  • Leviticus 17:12 – Therefore I say to the Israelites: None of you and no alien who resides among you may eat blood.

The council had rightfully deferred to God’s Word to establish fellowship guidelines of the mixed congregations who had participants from varied traditions and backgrounds. These were necessary as part of the practices to allow for shared meals; they had to all be on the same page as far as acceptable meats and personal sanctification in relationships.

So, while the conclusions of the council were designed to allow for fellowship and create unity among believers, it also delineated the separation that was necessary for the promises of God to be fulfilled among them. They would need to be diligent in separating themselves from the accepted social norms in order to be united together in solidarity as God’s people.

In a moment, we will return to the instruction of Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians explaining the importance of why believers should not be unequally yoked with non-believers. In doing so, I am hopeful we can learn some principles for application within our own lives and social situations in our current generation.

As Paul writes to the congregation in Corinth, he apparently feels compelled to provide a stark contrast between believers and non-believers as a way of shaking them out of a sense of complacency that they may have lapsed into regarding idolatry. Of course, ancient Greece was awash with all forms of varied idolatry, testified to this day by the literature of the time and the surviving architecture. To remind the believers of the severity of this command against idolatry, Paul, as he is known to do, quotes from several selections of Torah, or God’s instruction, to make his point:

2 Corinthians 6:16 – And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

  • Leviticus 26:11-12 – I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.
  • Ezekiel 37:27 – I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

2 Corinthians 6:17 – Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says Yahweh; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.

  • Leviticus 7:21 – If you touch anything that is unclean (whether it is human defilement or an unclean animal or any other unclean, detestable thing) and then eat meat from a peace offering presented to Yahweh, you will be cut off from the community.
  • Isaiah 52:10-11 – Yahweh has displayed his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.  Leave, leave, go out from there! Do not touch anything unclean; go out from her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of Yahweh.

2 Corinthians 6:18 – And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says Yahweh Almighty.

  • Isaiah 43:5-6 – “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west.  “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up! ‘ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back! ‘ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth…
  • Hosea 1:10 – Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.

Paul pulls together principles rooted in the holiness of God. Avoiding ceremonial uncleanness is the model, the example, of how believers were to ensure they were continuing to pattern their lives after Messiah within their assemblies, and to demonstrate how they had become God’s sons and daughters. If they did so, God would be among them and he would regather them to himself.

Uncleanness practices outlined in Torah went beyond just what types of animals one was permitted to eat to other sanitary practices among the people of God, from bodily fluids to accidentally touching dead bodies. But the overarching principle of all of these commands was the same: separating oneself from these things was an act of holiness, which by its very definition means to be set apart.

Paul is using that same established Torah logic among the believers in Corinth to remind them of their unique position among their generation, and that they should not forfeit their standing with God on the accepted conventions and customs of the day. According to Yeshua’s admonition of Matthew 5:8, believers were to have a pure and blameless heart at all times.

  • Matthew 5:8 – Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Separation from all unclean practices was necessary to achieve this.

You may have noticed that none of the passages that Paul references in his instruction are direct quotes, but they have a common theme of the restoration of God’s people to himself. Isaiah 43 and Hosea 1 are great and pivotal prophecies describing the long-awaited migration of God’s people returning back to Jerusalem from among the nations.

As such, we can gain an even greater understanding of the separateness that Paul is speaking to. As these believers had been scattered throughout the nations in the past, they had become susceptible to the idolatrous practices of their various cultures. Paul is using these passages as a way of weaning them off of their cultural traditions and practices that were hindering their walk with Yahweh through their new-found faith in Messiah Yeshua. He is using these texts to remind them of their true purpose as God’s people, and God’s care and concern for them as his own children. If they were to forsake their idolatry, God would indeed live among them and be a Father to them.

But if this is how Paul is applying these texts, then we can also begin to see how these wonderful prophetic indicators were not necessarily meant to be about a literal migration back to Israel, but a spiritual one. God was indeed calling his people back to himself from among the nations, but they were not necessarily returning to physical Jerusalem, but instead to the prophetic Zion, the New Jerusalem.

If this was the principle in Paul’s day, then how much more does that same principle apply in our day? How can we apply this same principle of separation? What types of accepted conventions in social discourse today compromise the principles of God and his character according to his Word, his Torah? What activities demean and denigrate God’s glory, yet are considered “ok” by the rest of our society?

These are questions that we need to be able to answer within the context of our own social environments wherever we are. When we can take a serious look at how we are potentially compromising our faith within our social arenas, we can then open the door to further obedience to God’s Word.

With our eyes open and our hearts guided by the eternal Torah of God, we can begin to understand the types of things we are to avoid being “yoked” together (i.e., going along with) non-believers for the sake of fellowship. We cannot be united with non-believers in those things because they compromise God’s integrity and honor, and violate the sanctity not only of his Word, but of our united fellowship together as God’s people.

Paul’s admonition is that when we do actively separate ourselves, when we cleanse ourselves from these things, then we are truly behaving like God’s sons and daughters, and only then will he be present among us. This is the fulfillment of those ancient promises that generations have looked forward to. When we take decisive actions to maintain our holiness out of godly respect and honoring of him, we demonstrate the validity of God’s Word and the kingdom of God becomes visible to others in our actions.

If you enjoy these daily articles, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

The simplicity of compassion

God is not seeking our religiosity, but our practical, personal sacrifices on behalf of others.

God is not seeking our religiosity, but our practical, personal sacrifices on behalf of others.

  • Matthew 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Yeshua encourages believers to demonstrate compassion to others, to assist those who do not have the ability to help themselves. In so doing, he affirms, a universal principle of recompense is enacted and put into play. In the process of being helpful to others by sacrificing of your own time and resources, the blessing of Yahweh becomes evident in your life.

One of my favorite passages that is meant to illustrate the true meaning of something that had been reduced to a religious rite is contained in the prophecy of Isaiah. The Israelites had become so enamored with their own traditions that they had lost sight of the bigger picture of God’s purpose. They had adopted various forms and repetitions of fasting in order to appear penitent before God when in fact, they had merely been demonstrating a hypocritical display of false piety.

Isaiah, therefore, speaking for Yahweh, calls them out for it and in the process demonstrates the real types of sacrifice that Yahweh is looking for to be exhibited among his people.

  • Isaiah 58:5-8 – “Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to Yahweh? Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood? Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.”

We see in this passage two primary objectives: to show the Israelites the true type of sacrificial mercy that God desires, and the resulting blessing that stems from actions that are sincerely based on the welfare of others.

Yeshua boiled all of this down to the simple admonition: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” When we enact his simple counsel, we live out God’s purpose and are then privileged to live within his blessing.

If you enjoy these daily articles, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

Biblical teaching that carries depth and eternal purpose

The purpose of God is fulfilled when we give proper honor to his Word.

The purpose of God is fulfilled when we give proper honor to his Word.

Titus 2:7-8 – “Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching. Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.”

As Paul is writing to Titus regarding how he should be a godly leader, he mentions that his works and his teaching should be supportive of each other. He shouldn’t just teach about the right things but he should practice doing good, as well.

In regard to the nature of Titus’ teaching, Paul uses two terms that I believe are lacking among many modern Bible teachers, and these terms are typically translated as integrity and dignity. Looking a little deeper into these terms we might learn a little more about how unique these characteristics are.

By looking at the second word first, the word usually translated as dignity, we can see an important aspect represented here. The Helps Word Studies reference provides an interesting expanded definition for us.

“[this word] reflects what has been transformed by God and exhibits “moral and spiritual gravity (gravitas)” – like what attends a deep, godly character. This sense of dignity also invites reverence from others, who should likewise exalt what is noble (morally-elevated).”

I think that this is a significant characteristic that is lacking in much of modern Bible teaching today. Many, if not most of those espousing biblical concepts will do so in a way that panders to their audience, usually using many informal colloquialisms to try to make the message more palatable for their tastes.

A Christian writer by the name of Alec Satin writes about the continual increasing informality of worship today in his article, What is irreverent worship?

“Reverence to the Lord is sober. It’s attentive, quiet and alert. It’s inconceivable that you would simultaneously check your email on your phone while you’re having an audience with the Queen of England. So how in the world could it possibly be okay for you to check Facebook while you’re supposedly worshipping the King of all creation?”

This indication of the informality of the congregation leads back to the informality of the leadership and the type of teaching going on in congregations today.

Returning to Paul’s admonition to Titus, the first word describing the type of teaching Paul recommends is usually translated as integrity or purity. It is unique in that this form of the word is used nowhere else in the Greek New Testament. Because of its uniqueness, it can be helpful to get to its root word to see what it is derived from that can perhaps broaden our understanding of its use.

The underlying Greek root is a word that is typically translated as immortality or incorruptibility. Here are some examples:

  • Romans 2:7 – eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality;
  • 1 Corinthians 15:53 – For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.
  • 2 Timothy 1:10 – This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Messiah Yeshua, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Once again, an expanded definition from the Helps Word Studies provides an explanation of the term:

“properly, [it means] no-corruption (unable to experience deterioration); incorruptibility (not perishable), i.e. lacking the very capacity to decay or constitutionally break down.”

This idea of teaching that lacks the capacity for decay means that, by default, it must be based on the most foundational aspects of the gospel message, not what is considered the most culturally acceptable aspects of that message. When all we take away from the Bible is a paradigm of social acceptability and fodder for a cause du jour, we rob the Word of its power and we defame God’s honor. We should not be using the Word to serve our purposes, but instead we should be submitting our purposes, goals, and aspirations to the Word.

We read in the Bible how the Word of God is eternal and unchanging.

1 Peter 1:22-25 – Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, because you have been born again ​– ​not of perishable seed but of imperishable ​– ​through the living and enduring word of God. For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.

Peter, quoting from Isaiah, mentions not only how the Word of God endures forever, but is the imperishable seed that causes people to become born again, or born from above. When that message is compromised by becoming culturally issue-oriented, it robs God’s Word of its power, and reduces the majesty of God to the image of man.

It is up to us to ensure our message remains focused on the eternal and imperishable gospel of the Kingdom, and thereby any opponents will not be able to say anything bad about us or our teaching. In this way, the honor and glory of our God will remain intact and visible for all to see, and those seeking the immortal Word of life can be satisfied.

If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

Striving after the passionate faithfulness of past generations

A constant pursuit of righteousness provides a context for our own personal and collective spiritual exodus.

Core of the Bible podcast #73 – Striving after the faithfulness of past generations

Today we will be looking at the topic of integrity, and how the passionate faithfulness of past generations during their exodus experiences can lead us to a life of integrity.  Striving after their constant pursuit of righteousness provides a context for our own personal and collective spiritual exodus in our generation.

Psalm 86:11 – Teach me your way, O Yahweh, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Psalm 143:10 – Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

The person of integrity is one who intently seeks to know the truth of God. They desire to walk in that way, to conform their lives to what God desires of them. They have made seeking God the passion of their life, hungering to know him more and to know the correct way. They will not rest until they have heard a word from God, until he has shown them the next steps on their path.

Yeshua taught:

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

In one sense, this teaching of Yeshua is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah.

Isaiah 49:8-12 – Thus says Yahweh: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.”

It is also a reference to the wanderings in the wilderness which Israel experienced, and how God provided for them. They neither hungered nor thirsted, they were protected from the scorching sun by the cloud that covered them, and he had pity on them and led them by springs of water. In a physical way, they were experiencing what would ultimately be fulfilled within the spiritual kingdom of God, when believers would “come from afar,” as Isaiah predicts, even “from the north and from the west.”

This is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, a theme of exodus. While we may recognize the word exodus as the name of the second book of Moses, the word itself was attached to the book as a descriptor of the main topic of the book.

Now, in the original Hebrew, the name of the book is not Exodus but Shemot, meaning “names.” The Hebrew convention of book naming was through using the first words of a book as its title, and the book of Exodus begins with a list of the names of the tribal leaders, the sons of Jacob, who went to Egypt.

Exodus 1:1 – “These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household…”

But the name Exodus was assigned to the book in later years when the Greek and Latin manuscripts were produced. Exodus comes from a combination of the Greek prefix exo, meaning “out of,” and hodos, meaning “way;” it literally means “the way out.” While the names of the books are not necessarily inspired text, this is an apt description of the main topic of the book, the exodus of the people of Israel out of Egyptian slavery and through the wilderness to the land that God promised them. This event is the pivotal event in the history of Israel and is recounted and referenced time and time again.

It is the very beginning of the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:2 – “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exod 20:2)

Other references include:

Numbers 20:14-16 – Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. And when we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.

Joshua 24:17 – for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

Psalm 78:13-16  – He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Micah 6:3-4  – “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

As Stephen was making his defense before the Sanhedrin, he also provides a detailed retelling of these events to bolster his position of how God was the architect and overseer of the Exodus event:

Acts 7:35-36 – “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’–this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

The apostle Paul also connects with Exodus imagery:

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 – For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Messiah.

This exodus event is when God proved himself as a protector and provider of his people. This is how the Israelites could be assured that Yahweh is the one true God. This is the essence of Hebraic thought, woven into all of their storytelling and tradition. It is the theme of the Passover recounted in the Haggadah, or the “Telling” of this story, to each generation, year after year. They have done this for thousands of years since the original events took place, because the story is so powerful and pervasive as a main theme in the Bible. If you’ve ever seen the movie, “The Prince of Egypt,” you have experienced the power of this Exodus narrative.

In a moment, we will take a look at how some of the New Testament writers drew from this well of the exodus story to illustrate the power of the gospel of the Kingdom and how a life of integrity is illustrated by the desire to come out of slavery and darkness into freedom and light.

Based on this consistent theme of the exodus story, we can see how the biblical writers drew from this resource time and again to provide spiritual application of the exodus story in other contexts. In these passages, this theme of providing a way out is constantly recycled; an exodus from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom.

John 8:34, 36 – Yeshua answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. … So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Titus 3:3-6  – For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Yeshua Messiah our Savior…

Isaiah 9:2  –  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Isaiah 42:16  – And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

Ephesians 5:8  – for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

1 Peter 2:9  – But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

This exodus theme is representative of how God calls a person or people to himself, they seek him out and desire to follow him through wilderness experiences, and he provides for them along the way. In this way, the way out, it is represented as a life of integrity, of seeking after the one true God. As we have just seen, it is demonstrated over and over to teach us how to apply these simple principles in our own lives.

Unfortunately, we tend to complicate this powerful theme by over-religiousizing the Exodus text, to coin a phrase. We try so hard to discern the micro-application of tiny details and rules and regulations that were given to the Israelites during their wilderness journeys that we lose sight of the bigger picture of what God was doing with them holistically, as a people called out for his purpose. This is not in any way to diminish those rules or Torah of God, but to say that to truly understand how they should be applied, we need to see and understand the larger context of the biblical theme.

Additionally, throughout the biblical narrative, the ancestors or fathers are referenced as having experienced the intimacy with God through their own exodus journeys, an intimacy that was to be further carried on by each successive generation.

Genesis 48:15-16  – And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

1 Kings 3:14  – And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

Even Paul refers to his faithful forbears:

Acts 24:14  – But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets…

This desire to do what is right and to follow the right paths that God has laid out are exemplified in the deepest expressions of the people of God. The Psalms are especially filled with this type of pleading to God for guidance, for pouring out praise to God and outwardly declaring a desire for righteousness in speech and in actions.

Psalm 5:1-3, 7-8 – Give ear to my words, O Yahweh; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Yahweh, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. … But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Yahweh, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 12 – Make me to know your ways, O Yahweh; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. … Good and upright is Yahweh; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of Yahweh are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. … Who is the man who fears Yahweh? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

Psalm 51:6, 10-12 – Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. … Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 119:24, 27-29 – Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors. … Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

As believers, we identify with the passionate expression of these principles of our faithful spiritual ancestors because we are ignited with the same Spirit. We desire to share in the exodus experience that they have given voice to over the centuries and millennia as these words were collected and compiled into our Bibles. The kindred longings and desires of our hearts beat in unison with those faithful who have gone before and expressed their deepest secrets which are immortalized among the pages of Scripture. The integrity that lived and breathed in them inspires us to learn of their ways and mimic their faithfulness.

Like the writer of Hebrews, we have the privileged opportunity to step back and view the entirety of the faithful ancestors who followed God and learn to copy their exemplary lives:

Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

Humility before God is where the path begins

Recognizing our inability to be righteous on our own.

Isaiah 66:1-2 – “Yahweh says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest? For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,’ says Yahweh: ‘but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.'”

Everything in the life of a believer begins with humility of reference: the one who is of a contrite spirit. The Hebrew word Isaiah uses here for “contrite” means “stricken,” and is also translated in other passages as “crippled or lame; not having the ability to walk on one’s own.” To my way of thinking, that is a powerful metaphor for the believing life.

These are two of the biggest hurdles for those who do not believe; to recognize that God is the all-powerful Creator and that his Word is supreme. There is a pride that will not yield to God’s authority, as one prefers to chart their own way through this life.

One of my favorite sayings of the ancients that is attributed to Solomon comes from the Septuagint version of the Bible where it reads, “Unwearied endurance in seeking Yahweh is better than a masterless charioteer of one’s own life,” (Sirach 20:32). The masterless charioteer may have the freedom to choose their own way, but in doing so they must recognize that their way is fraught with unnecessary strife and adversity.

A few examples from the other writings of Solomon in the book of Proverbs can illustrate this:

Proverbs 11:5 – The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
Proverbs 12:15 – The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel.
Proverbs 19:3 – The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh.
Proverbs 21:2 – Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts.

By contrast, one needs only to look at how Solomon also depicted the path of the righteous:

Proverbs 3:33 – Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.
Proverbs 10:2 – Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.
Proverbs 11:6 – The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires.

There are over 80 references to the positive attributes of the righteous in the Proverbs alone; this is no small indication of God’s desire for all people. Solomon’s conclusion even at the end of Ecclesiastes is also a famous verse, noted for its simplicity and universality for all people:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”

Yeshua begins the most significant teaching in the New Testament writings, the Sermon on the Mount, with the assertion that every principle he was about to teach on begins with simple humility before God.

Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

There is no need to go further into the Sermon on the Mount if one has not begun with the humility of heart that Yeshua honors. Recognizing that one is not able to walk the path of this life on one’s own is a true demonstration of the contrite spirit, and one that Isaiah assures believers will provide an ongoing rejuvenating experience.

Isaiah 57:15 – “For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'”

If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

Teaching the Word to instill trust and faith in God

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Proverbs 22:17-19 – Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge. For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips. I have instructed you today ​– ​even you — so that your confidence may be in Yahweh.

Solomon’s goal in providing the written instruction within the proverbs he was writing had the primary purpose of instilling confidence in Yahweh to the hearer or reader. The wisdom that God had provided a great measure of wisdom to Solomon and demonstrated that teaching in this manner is the basis of faith and confidence in God.

When God revealed himself on Sinai, it was with the purpose and intent that this event would be taught to successive generations so that they would learn to fear him and follow his ways. Moses explained this to the people before they crossed the Jordan.

Deuteronomy 4:7-10 – “For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today? Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. The day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, Yahweh said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’

God’s method of creating faith and trust in his people is through the recounting of these stories through his Word. This is why teaching is such a great responsibility, to ensure one is not leading others astray.

James 3:1 – Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

This is also why the apostle Paul encourages Timothy ensure that those to whom he is committing his message are faithful men.

2 Timothy 2:2 – What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

All of this Bible teaching and recounting of the glories of the past events and workings of Yahweh is for the purpose of instilling faith and trust in people of all nations. This is the ongoing fulfillment of prophetic Zion, the New Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:2-3 – “In the last days the mountain of Yahweh’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, and many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.” For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.”

As we faithfully recount God’s Word in each generation, we are instilling faith in those whom God is calling to participate in his kingdom. The stories of Israel, the house of Jacob, are designed to give glory to God, so that all people may “walk in [God’s] paths.”

If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.