“I am HaDerekh, and HaEmet, and HaKhayim; no man comes to Avi [My Father] except by me.” ~ Yokhanan 14:6
People are turning away from the truth. They are indeed lining up teachers for themselves who scratch their itching ears, which quite obviously is a metaphor for ‘tell me what I want to hear.’
I have asserted in times past that Yeshua, in saying what He said in the titular verse, was equating Himself with The Torah, which is the Word of God. One cannot get to The Father, the Creator of the Universe, except by going through the Word of God. The Word of God is the expression of the will of God the Father. That is why Yeshua followed the bold statement with these words: “If you had known me, you would have known Avi also; from henceforth you know Him, and you have seen Him.”
The identity of Yeshua is the most contested doctrine in the realm of faith, and the most critical. I have had many conversations over the last few weeks that have reminded me of how hotly contested “who He is” really is. The importance of Yeshua to one who would believe in God can not be overly tested. Just a few chapters earlier, Yeshua had said this: “I am the light of the world.” Yeshua is the only one who can give light by which to understand His Word, the Word of God. And as simple as that sounds, there are so many warnings of false teachers, false spirits, foul doctrines, and demonic belief systems tied to His Word, yet so many people disregard those warnings.
I have endeavored to teach people not to follow me, but to follow His Word, always trusting in Yeshua, and viewing Him as the standard of interpretation. Since then, in spite of my sacrificial efforts, and suffering at the hands of disobedient and even false believers who are of perverse minds, adulterous, judgmental, and self righteous, so many people have yet turned, even if only slightly, away from יהוה נסי , The Standard, Yeshua the Messiah.
I started believing in The Son of God at age 10, and I served Him to the best of my ability, as best a child could, until we moved away from the congregation where I began to believe, when I was 14. Then, at 22 years old, after having joined the Navy and being deployed on a submarine after nearly three years of highly technical training, and of debauched behavior, though not near to the degree of my naval peers, I turned back to Him. I picked up the Scriptures, and read in Matthew 5-7, and knew that I was not living the life I was called to live, when He revealed His Son to me and cleansed me of my sins at 10 years old. I began to devour the scriptures. He began to do miracles for me immediately, some of which I have shared on this blog in the past. He favored every area of my life, in spite of my insecurity, and sometimes instability. But, through every single storm, the Rock of My Salvation has been Yeshua, the Son of God. No one can tell me that there is any other way to Shalom, to Forgiveness, to Salvation itself. I trust in יהוה Yeshua HaMashi’akh.
It grieves my heart that so many people do not understand who Yeshua is, and how very critical He, the SON of God is, to actual Salvation. Yeshua, the Light of the World, is Salvation. He called Himself so many things while He was here, and He did so to explain the depth of His Ministry in saving human beings from SIN.
“I am the Bread of Life.”
“I am the Light of the World”.
“I am The Way, and The Truth, and The Life….”
“I am The Good Shepherd”.
“I am The Messiah, the Blessed Son”.
“I am the Bread which came down from Heaven.”
“I am He.”
“I am the Gate of the Sheep.”
“I am The Son of God.”
“I am in My Father.”
“I am The Resurrection and The Life.”
“I am the Vine of Truth.”
All but one of those “I am” statements are in the book of Yokhanan/John. The other three gospels had already long been written, and Yokhanan, the man closest to Yeshua while He was on earth, was the last remaining Talmid at the end of his life. He was compelled to write his account of Yeshua’s life very late. And He focused very much on the identity of Yeshua in regard to SALVATION. He starts his gospel by identifying Yeshua as “The Word.” We recently did a study on the Malakh יהוה who revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and then Moshe. Even our Jewish people understood that this “Messenger” or ‘angel’ was the perfect emanation/representation of the Creator:
“There is a man who is angel and Metatron. He is a man in the image of the Holy One, blessed be He. And He is the emanation from Him, for He is יהוה , and about Him [ Malakh יהוה ] it cannot be said that He was created, formed, or made, but that He emanated from God.” [Tikunei haZohar, 67, p. 130]
This messenger was the one talking with Moshe. This messenger represented all the ‘words’ that יהוה had given to Moshe, who encoded them into what we know as “Torah.” After The Torah was given, and Israel became a nation in the Land of Israel, this ‘messenger’ then appeared to the first “Prophet/Navi” of the age of the Prophets, Samuel. And this same messenger appeared to him ” AS D’var יהוה “, The Word. And this is how this ‘man’ showed Himself as the image of the Holy One to all the prophets after Samuel, over, and over, and over again, from Isaiah to Malachi. And then, Yokhanan presents the Son of God as “HaDavar”, the Word, in a human body.
God was still on His throne. Yeshua, a man, appeared to the whole nation of Israel. He told them to repent, and to be washed of their sins, forgiven, because God, the Creator, had sent Him as the ONLY MEANS to achieve that. Anyone who says they believe in Yeshua and does not see that He is the way of SALVATION, the only way to have sins remitted, is following a false ‘light.’
“10As the truth of Mashi’akh is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting …. 11Why? Because I do not love you? Elohim knows I do love you. 12But what I do, I will continue to do, so as to give no occasion to those who seek an occasion; and that, in whatever they boast, they may not be found equal to us; 13for they are false shlikhim and deceitful workers, posing as shlikhim of Mashi’akh [sent ones of the Messiah]. 14There is no marvel in this; for if HaSatan disguises himself as the messenger of light, 15it is no great thing if his [Satan’s] ministers also pose as the ministers of tzedaka, whose end shall be according to their works. ~ Paul, 2 Cor 11
Just because someone is a religious figurehead, leader, teacher, internet presence, and has a convincing aura about them, does not mean they are actually sent by HIM! Even if that person is very dear to us. People lie! And sometimes, they themselves do not even know that they lie, because they have followed someone else who has lied. “Our fathers inherited LIES.”
This is why Sha’ul wrote the verse, “But as for me, I have nothing on which to boast except the staking [execution] of Adoneinu Yeshua HaMashi’akh, by whom the world is executed to me and I am executed to the world.” ~ Sha’ul Gal 6:14
Paul was a Pharisee, a Rabbi, trained by the best, by some of the most ‘famous’ people of his day, namely Gamli’el, who is cited in the Mishnah of Judaism, and revered by Jews still. Never once, however, did Sha’ul cave to prideful religious leaders who wanted to make every gentile a ‘Jew’ according to their standard. He writes, “to those false brothers we did not submit, not even for an hour, that the truth of HaB’sorah [Gospel of Yeshua] might remain with you.” Neither did the rest of the believing community. In fact, Sha’ul insisted that gentiles who came to faith apart from circumcision remain uncircumcised, for the very purpose of making sure their hope rested on Yeshua alone to save them. He says to those who turn away from trust in Yeshua alone, that they have ‘fallen’: “You have ceased to adhere to Mashi’akh, who seek justification by the Torah; you are fallen from grace.”
Justification is forgiveness of sins. Our Jewish people reject the idea that sins must be forgiven through the blood of Yeshua alone. They seek forgiveness by their prayers, by their works, and by virtue of their Jewishness. They do not seek the Father’s mercy and compassion by the blood of Yeshua, the Beloved Son, whom He sent into the world. Israel rejected Him when The Father sent Him as “The Word of יהוה ” to all the prophets, and they rejected Him when He sent Him in flesh.
Paul asked this crowd that was turning to earthly Judaism, “who has bewitched [false light] you from your Emunah [firm trust, in Yeshua], after Yeshua HaMashi’akh, executed on the stake, has been shown before your eyes?” After explaining these things, he asserts, “that the blessing of Avraham might come on the nations through Yeshua HaMashi’akh, that we might receive the promise of HaRu’akh through absolute trust.” He later had to write this crowd, asking “Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”
The fact that Yeshua is the only way to God the Father is offensive. To the trinitarian crowd, who believe “Jesus is God,” they have NO Father, because they reject the Creator, and the fact that His Son is beside Him, and has given all authority to the Son; they reject that Yeshua came OUT of His Father. They reject that The Son came in Flesh, and REMAINS in a human body TO THIS DAY, standing BESIDE God His Father. The Jewish people reject the Son as the very IMAGE of God, saying Israel, the Jewish people, are the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, where Yeshua, the Lamb of God, is executed for the remission of sins. There is no other way to enter into His Kingdom, except through humbling oneself and submitting to Yeshua, His Son, and trusting that His blood that was shed on the tree is the ONLY way to have sins forgiven.
Sin hardens the heart. Religious sin hardens the heart more than any other. Religious pride emerges when one finds a doctrine that satisfies his flesh. Hell will be full of religious people, and sadly, more and more, full of people who have tasted of His Truth, and turned away from trusting in the very source of LIFE, Yeshua, the Son of God, the SAVIOR of all mankind.
Our Jewish people today, who do not know Yeshua, are LOST. The Talmud of Israel was written not only by lost souls, but by men who SAW the TRUTH of Yeshua and REJECTED HIM. They, to this day, set out to teach Jews that He is NOT The Way! They operate in Ru’akh Mitnaged Mashi’akh. “For many deceivers have appeared in the world, who do not acknowledge that Yeshua HaMashi’akh has come in the flesh. Such a person is a deceiver and opposer of Mashi’akh. Look to yourselves, that you lose not those things which you have accomplished, but that you receive a full reward.”
One of the things that shows me how very dangerously close we are to the end is that so many people are following so many false spirits. I have known people who knew Yeshua, who knew that He is their salvation, who experienced HIM, who were healed by Him, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially, and who yet turned away from Him. That is a dangerous, dangerous place to be.
“But this is impossible for those who have once been immersed, and have tasted the gift from heaven, and have received The Ru’akh HaKodesh, and have tasted the good D’var [Word/Yeshua] from Elohim and the powers of the world to come, for them to sin again and be renewed again by repentance, for they execute Ben HaElohim [The Son of God] a second time and put Him to open shame.”
“And let us consider one another, to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves [Believers in Messiah!] together, as is customary for some; but exhorting one another, and so much the more when you see that Day approaching. For if any man sins willfully after he has received the knowledge of the truth, then there is no more sacrifice to be offered for sins, but only impending fearful judgment, and the fiery indignation which shall consume the adversaries. He who transgressed the Torah of Moshe, on the word of two or three witnesses he died without mercy: how much more punishment do you think he will receive who has trodden underfoot Ben HaElohim [The Son of God], and has considered the blood of His Brit, through which he had been consecrated, as ordinary blood, and has blasphemed the Ru’akh of Compassion?”
Our Jewish people were cut off! The olive tree of Israel only exists through trust in Yeshua. The grafting into that Olive Tree is done by TRUST ALONE, in the Son of God, who honors His Father in all things. Trust in the Name and Work of Yeshua ALONE is SALVATION. Any other teaching is human comfort, fodder for the flesh, and it runs rampant today, worse than junk food is making obesity a plague.
You need to make certain you understand who Yeshua is, and what He has done for you, and how vast is your own NEED of Him. Forever.
D'var יהוה , The Word of יהוה 