Bible Quiz

Bible Quiz Question #6

How many years was the ministry of the Messiah? Support your answer with as many names of the church fathers that support your view.

If you said three and one half years and Eusebius[i],[ii], you would be wrong but correct in the sense that he promoted the idea and that it has been widely repeated as true over the centuries. In fact, Eusebius, who was the apologist of Constantine[iii], came up with this number of years in trying to reconcile Messiah’s ministry to Daniel chapter 9 vs. 27[iv]. But he missed the mark.

The time of Eusebius in the 4^th century is far removed from the Messiah’s 1^st century ministry. By then it was an acceptable practice in the Alexandrian school of Theology to use allegory, or simply put, to just make it up[v].

Other so called church fathers said Messiah’s public ministry was about a year. They are, Clement of Alexandria[vi], Origen[vii],[viii], Julius Africanus[ix], Philatrius[x], Hilarion[xi] and Tertullian[xii] among others basing their view on Isaiah 61:2:

To proclaim the year of יְהֹוָה‘s[xiii] good pleasure, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:2 JPS)

Two events are mentioned here. The Messiah’s ministry or יְהֹוָה YeHoVaH’s “good pleasure” and the second coming right after the day of יְהֹוָה YeHoVaH’s wrath. And in the words of the Messiah Himself in Luke 4:19:

“THE SPIRIT OF יְהֹוָה IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED; TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF יְהֹוָה.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. (Luke 4:18-20 NKJV)

 Please notice that the Messiah stopped reading before He got to “the day of vengeance…” indicating a partial fulfillment of YeHoVaH’s pleasure at that time and a second fulfillment or coming of Wrath. Two separate days, in other words.

The Passover lamb was a symbol of the Lamb of God, our Messiah’s sacrifice:

 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats; (Exodus 12:5 JPS)

 Again, 1 year.

If you calculate the time between His baptism by John the Baptist to the Day of Pentecost or a/k/a the Feast of Shavuot where the Spirit was given as promised, His ministry is exactly 70 weeks[xiv] fulfilling Gabriel’s prophecy to Daniel in Daniel 9 in a sub context and in a different way than what was understood and taught by Eusebius. These church fathers already had created the doctrine of Amillennialism meaning that Y’shua’s second coming had already taken place in a secret coming into the believer’s heart.

A controversy over whether the Apostle John actually wrote John 6:4 where a third Passover that the Messiah attended has been refuted by Bible Chronologist, Michael Rood. This is either an error or an insertion into the original text[xv] and it has made it difficult to restore chronology to the Gospels until now. Textual differences are not uncommon in the Greek fragments.

The correct answer is 70 weeks.

[i] Eusebius Bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine, the “Father of Church History” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia; b. about 260; d. before 341. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05617b.htm, accessed 6/24/2016.

[ii] Eusebius was for a 3 and one half year public ministry of Jesus and was influenced by Origen’s later views. But he did write, “And this indeed is true. For it is evident that the three evangelists recorded only the deeds done by the Saviour for one year after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and indicated this in the beginning of their account.” Church History, Book III, chapter 24:8, Eusebius Pamphilus, via the Catholic encyclopedia; http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm; Accessed 6/24/2016.

[iii] The Life of Constantine, Books I, II, III, IV; Eusebius Pamphilus.

[iv] “The beginnings of this “sacred cow” go back to Origen in the third century, and it was popularized by Eusebius in the fourth century. The authenticity of the three-year ministry is seldom questioned. [so] It must be true. Origen and Eusebius related Jesus’ ministry to Gabriel’s prophecy to Daniel about the Seventy Weeks (Dan. 9:24-27). Half the final week was three and a half years. Since Jesus must be the fulfillment of that prophecy, His ministry lasted three and a half years.” Kenneth Frank Doig, http://www.nowoezone.com/NTC16.htm; accessed 6-24-2016. [Sarcasm from the source].

[v] Ante-Nicene Fathers (Volume 9), 9.13.01, Commentaries of Origen – Introduction. eSword version.

[vi] Clement of Alexandria, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Volume 3), 2.05.47 Clement – Stromata, Book 7 –Ch 15 –End. Footnote 119. eSword version.

[vii] Origen originally believed that Messiah’s ministry was about a year. Ante-Nicene Fathers (Volume 4), 4.04.24 Origen – Against Celsus; Book 2 – Ch 1 – 20. Footnote 18. eSword version;

[viii] Origen, later in his life changed his view to a three and one half year period. “The first one to mention a three-year ministry might have been Origen (changing his mind!) in ‘Commentary on Matthew’ (Book XXIV), written late in his life, but Eusebius (early 4th cent.) was the first to argue for it.” Bernard D. Muller, http://historical-jesus.info/appb.html, accessed 6/24/2016.

[ix] Julius Africanus, Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08377a.htm, accessed 6/24/2016. According to this source, Julius Africanus “is the father of Christian chronography.” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08565a.htm, accessed 6/24/2016.

[x] Philatrius, Bishop of Brescia, died before 397. Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11797a.htm. Accessed 6/24/2016.

[xi] Hilarion; Born in Israel (Palestine) in 291. Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07347a.htm, accessed 6/24/2016.

[xii] “Other early Christians believing an one-year ministry include the followers of (gnostic) Basilides (active 120-140) (according to Clement’s ‘Stromata’, I, 21, 146) and the ones of (gnostic) Valentinus (active 120-160) (according to Irenaeus ‘Against Heresies’, I, 3, 3), Origen (185-254) (De Principiis, IV, 1, 5 “[Christ] taught about a year and a few months“), Tertullian (160-220?), Lactantius (late 3rd to early 4th cent.), St Gaudentius (died c. 410), Evagrius (4th cent.), Orosius (375?-418?) and St Ephraem (306?-373).” Bernard D. Muller, http://historical-jesus.info/appb.html, accessed 6/24/2016.

[xiii] The true name of God. Not deflections like Ha Shem or Adonai to the Jews or Lord to the Christians. Y^ehovah to those of us who respect His name. Sometimes written as YeHoVaH.

[xiv] According to “The Chronological Gospels, The Life and Seventy Week Ministry of the Messiah”, Introduction, “Daniel’s Seventy Sevens Messianic Prophecy, Page 15-16; Michael Rood; http://www.aroodawakening.com.

[xv] John 6:4, ibid. Rood asserts that the context of this passage is against an actual Passover at this time and the verse is a forgery to sustain the views of Replacement Theology; “The Chronological Gospels, The Life and Seventy Week Ministry of the Messiah”, Introduction, Page 5; http://www.aroodawakening.com.

Unpacking the Destruction of Babylon Prophecy, part 2

Jeremiah 50:2     

Declare ye among the nations and announce, and set up a standard; announce, and conceal not; say: ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.’

We have to realize that the conquering of Babylon by the Medo-Persians was from the East and not the North. Cyrus, when he attacked, didn’t destroy the city or the land so that no one could live in it. Several times Jeremiah repeated that the land would be uninhabited and laid to waste.[i] Babylon, Iraq slowly depopulated into a very small heap. To this day this prophecy is unfulfilled.

It is fair to say that the declaration of this prophecy that has not been fulfilled is to also include the nations that had not yet been born. According to Daniel’s prophecy of the nations, our age, consisting of Rome and its 2 “legs” had not yet been brought forth.[ii] So, somewhere in the future in reference to the time of Jeremiah, the time of Cyrus’ capture of Babylon unto today, we’re still waiting for the “taking” of Babylon.

Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream emphasized that all empires will be destroyed by the ROCK of our salvation in due time. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next year and maybe in 20 years. Babylon first and then the rest of you!

Taken with this Babylon is her gods, images and idols. Merodach, a Babylonian sun god, is still the major component of the major Christian religions. Bel is Baal, the Phoenician Lord or sun god. This Babylonian system of worship has not been captured or destroyed but spread about the globe by missionaries promoting sun day worship and christmas and easter. This points to a future destruction event. But where? What epicenter?

The most important part of vs. 2 is the command to publish this prophecy. Thank you for reading this. Now, spread the word if you would, please.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

[i] The Bible Knowledge Commentary. An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty Based on the New International Version by John F. Walvoord Roy B. Zuck. Cook Communications Ministries.

[ii] Daniel 2:40-41.

Two Laws

I am sure that I have offended you by lumping all of christianity under the banner of a catholic church. You are welcome. Now, I am going to wade into even murkier waters and take a look at the Pharisees and their modern day equivalent, Orthodox Rabbinic Judaism.

One of my first questions as a newbie Christian was, “How were the Jews saved?” Considering that the world had been in existence for 4028 years[1] before Jesus saved the world by dying on the stake[2]. The pastor I asked, a sports chaplain, had nothing to say on the subject. I later found the simple answer in Habakkuk 2:4,

“Behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”

Hmmm… very interesting. That’s the way I was taught to enter into a relationship with YehoVAH, the Almighty Elohim. It is how Abraham, Moses, David and many other pre-Messiah saints were saved. I say this to point out just one of hundreds of instances of blindness that has fallen on the church when they are considering the Jew’s role in YehoVAH’s kingdom.

Now let’s delve into our subject at hand regarding the two laws. Moses was given the 10 commandments[3] in the wilderness at Mt Sinai. It was written down beginning with the finger of YehoVAH on stone and then on scrolls of lambskins as Elohim further instructed Moses. It was copied by scribes using an incredible system of checksums for lines, columns and pages which was created to help the scribe to faithfully reproduce an exact copy of the text over many generations with precision. Today we have two great witnesses of this in the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex.

Somewhere along the line in Jewish history, verbal interpretations of the written word of YehoVAH became commonplace among a group of men known as the Prushim or in English, the Pharisees. This amounts to adding to the word of YehoVAH and it has continued to this day and it is known as the “oral” law[4]. The oral law has since been written down in the Talmud in the third and sixth centuries CE[5] and it is the basis of Orthodox Rabbinic Judaism today and what was called traditional Judaism in the time of the Messiah. The shocking fact is that the Oral law is considered higher than Mosaic law and even higher then direct revelation from Elohim.

In the 1^st century, Yeshua the Messiah when confronted with the Pharisaic oral law or tradition of the elders as they called it, He responded to this group with words like “hypocrite”[6], “white washed tombs”[7] and “brood of vipers”[8]. The Pharisees had pushed the Levites out of the temple for the most part and assumed control of all religious law matters in Roman occupied Israel. Something was certainly amiss in Jerusalem.

They failed to acknowledge that Yeshua was the Messiah and instead said of Him that he was in cahoots with the devil! They called Him “Lord of the flies.”[9]

There was no excuse for this. Gabriel’s prophecy to Daniel specified to the day when the Messiah would declare himself in Jerusalem[10] and the Magi from the East knew His birthday and traveled to Jerusalem with confidence[11]. Simeon[12] and Anna[13] both recognized the infant Yeshua as the Messiah. The Pharisees saw Yeshua as coming to spoil their party time of ruling over a hostage people with their man made doctrine. The lying and corrupt Pharisees would have nothing to do with this man called Yeshua or salvation[14] because when Elohim spoke, according to their oral tradition, they weren’t required to listen.

This is so like what has happened to the Christian church which added their own man made pagan religious ideas and other non-biblical interpretations of scripture over time. What started out as a true revealing of the Word of Elohim to Moses and a true restating of the true Word of Elohim by Yeshua the Messiah devolved into systems of religious worship not specified in scripture and certainly not recognized by our Father in Heaven, YehoVAH.

What should you and I do? Tear the walls down? Paint signs and protest? No, repent! Seek the Hebrew Messiah and not the Greek Jesus and learn of Him in the context of the times in which he ministered. Forsake the traditions of the Orthodox and seek the Messiah as your Jewish King. In these last days, many are being called out of religion into a relationship with the one true Elohim. I pray that is you.

I have been helped by a number of 1^st century roots believers and teachers in books and on the web. You truly can’t go wrong by starting with any of the hundreds of Michael Rood’s “A Rood Awakening” YouTube videos. Start there, my friend, and we’ll see you when the Mount of Olives splits.

 

[1] Rood, Michael, “The Chronological Gospels” pg 249, incident 211. Available from Aviv Moon Publishing, http://www.thechronologicalgospels.com

[2] Strong’s G4716 is Stauros and it means stake or pole. Somehow the Roman Catholics changed that in their version of the Bible to the Babylonian symbol of Tammuz, the cross. Clearly the Messiah died on a stake with His hands nailed above His head..

[3] Often referred to as the 10 words by Jews.

[4] It is claimed that Elohim actually delivered two laws to Moses, one that was written of which we have copies and know about and one that was verbal and apparently was allowed to evolve before it was written down in the 3^rd and 6^th centuries.

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud, retrieved 05-17-2014.

[6] Matthew 23:13, KJV

[7] Matthew 23:27, KJV

[8] Matthew 3:7, KJV

[9] Rood, Michael, ibid pg 116, incident 80. Beelzebub.

[10] Daniel 9:21-27

[11] Daniel was head of the Magi a/k/a as astronomers in Babylon.

[12] Luke 2:25, KJV

[13] Luke 2:36-38, KJV

[14] Hebrew translation of the name Yeshua is salvation.