My
last email introduced many readers to the complexity of the Judaisms
that existed in Judea and Galilee at the time of Jesus – Zadokite Judaism, Samaritans,
Enochic Judaism, Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Hasidim, Prophetic Messianic Movements,
Zealots and the Sicarii. Each group viewed its vision for the future of Israel
as “God’s vision.” Their visions were the product of their
interpretations of the sacred texts of the Jewish people, which
included the books Christians call “The Old Testament.”
The
two groups below represent the extreme views held by the above groups.
●
The Essenes told people to separate themselves from the Temple and other
Jews.
●
The Sicarii told people to attack the Romans and force them into a war.
Based
on the words of Jesus, former members from both of those groups were among his
followers, along with former members of other “Judaisms” too. His
group also had its own vision, which was based on his interpretations of the
same sacred texts. So, what attracted members of the other Judaisms to
his group?
When
Jesus announced that he was the “Anointed One,” he read the
following from the scroll of Isaiah (61:1-2) -- “The Spirit of Yahweh is upon me, because He has
anointed me . . . to proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh.” He stopped reading at that spot, sending a message to his
Jewish audience that Gentiles fail to see. What he did not read was this – “and the day of vengeance of our God.
“The Day of Vengeance of
Our God” will come
at the end of “The Year
of Favor of Yahweh.”
What
will “The Day of Vengeance of Our God” be like? Two prophesies were
well-known by the Jewish people during the time of Jesus. The first is in the
scroll of Isaiah that Jesus read from above. It is recorded in Isaiah 66:15-16;
22-24 in the Bible.
_______________________________
See,
Yahweh is coming with fire, and His chariots are like a whirlwind; He
will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For
with fire and with his sword Yahweh will execute judgment on all people, and
many will be those slain by Yahweh . . . “As the new heavens and the new earth
that I make will endure before me,” declares Yahweh, “so will your name and
descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Shabbat to
another, all mankind will come and bow down before Me,” says Yahweh. “And they
will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against Me;
the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be
quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
_______________________________
The
second is found in Malachi 4:1 -- “For behold, the day is
coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do
wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
says Yahweh of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch.”
When
Jesus began proclaiming “The Year of Favor of Yahweh” has
begun, the Jewish audience understood that with the dawn of each new day, they
were one day closer to “The Day of Vengeance of Our God.”
The clock was running! Jesus had their attention and what he taught was based
on one of the most well-known stories in the Jewish Scriptures – The Story
of Noah and the Great Flood. When a rainbow was seen, everyone remembered
the words of Genesis 9:12-16.
_______________________________
And God said: “This is the sign of the
covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with
you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and
it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It
shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen
in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and
every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a
flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will
look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
_______________________________
God
promised never to use water again to punish humans, but He made it clear through
the prophesies above that if the wickedness of a future generation increased to
a certain point – He will punish the wicked with fire! Everyone
that heard his “Kingdom of God” message understood exactly
what it meant:
God has called me “to
build an ark!”
That ark is the “Kingdom
of God.”
Repent! The
Kingdom of God is here now!
The
simplicity of that message penetrated “the belief barriers of all
Judaisms” and “delivered a message they all already knew and understood.”
Shalom,
Jim
Myers
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