Resistance!

Paul wrote of two people who resisted Moses. Who are Yanis and Yambris?

The general consensus is that they were two leading sorcerers who were among those who threw down their staffs that turned into serpents, just like Moshe’s did. Of course, Moshe’s serpent consumed theirs.

In 2 Timothy 3:8, Paul compares people in the last days to these two sorcerers. It is likely them that Paul had in mind when he called these two names, because that was the prevailing thought in Judaism in his day.

Who was he comparing to the two men he named? Believers! False believers, of course, but they masquerade as believers, and of course, think that they are believers.

He first describes them very generally, saying of these ‘last days’ people:

²And men shall be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, proud, conceited, blasphemers, disobedient to their own people, ungrateful, wicked, ³false accusers, addicts to lust, brutal, haters of good things, ⁴traitors, hasty, boasters, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of Elohim; ⁵having a shade of the fear of Elohim, but far from the power of Elohim; from such turn away.

This passage seems to be speaking only of worldly people in general at first; but, secular people and ‘atheists’ do not have a ‘shade’ of the fear of God. They’re quite content to say they do not fear God, and to demonstrate that. This is people who claim to have a fear of God, and yet do things that are quite contrary to the Torah: self-love, avarice, pride and conceit, blasphemy, rebellion, false accusers, traitors, all of these things are spoken against in the Torah of Moses. Paul next describes them this way:

⁶For of this sort are those who creep into houses and captivate women sunken in sin, led away with diverse lusts, ⁷ever striving to learn, and never able to come to the knowledge of HaEmet.  ⁸Now just as Yanis and Yambris stood up against Moshe, so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds and far off from HaEmunah [The Faith].

They are ‘ever striving to learn’; in other words ‘studying’, but never knowing The Truth. One could translate that this way: Always TEACHING, but never knowing the truth”. It is interesting to me that God calls His Torah, “The Way, The Truth, and The Life” in the psalms and proverbs, and that these studiers today never see that. And immediately, Paul turns around and equates these studiers/teachers to two sorcerers, who could do the SAME MIRACLES as the Torah Giver, but would not surrender to the will of יהוה , the God of that Torah Teacher. That seems to be the case today as well. Plenty of people who purport to teach the scriptures back their teaching up with miracles [many of which are contrived], but they do not transform the minds and hearts of those they teach to trust in and obey the Creator out of love and fear of Him.

Miracles do not make a prophet. In fact, the last and quintessential false prophet, “Mashi’akh HaSheker”, the False Messiah, will do many miracles, and will deceive many who call themselves people of faith in Messiah. Many who would read this would immediately scoff and say they would never believe in the false Messiah, but they already do! They believe that their Messiah hates the Jews; they believe that they replaced Israel; they believe that God does not still honor His perpetual Sabbath; they believe that there are three gods; they believe that mixing religions is a perfectly acceptable and approved way to bring people to their Messiah. That is a false Messiah. That Messiah is not Jewish, and thus, is not King of the Jews.

One does not have to be Jewish to be saved. One does not keep the Torah to be saved. But, one who wants Salvation must believe in the Son of God, who is expressed perfectly in His Word as a Jew, a son of David twice over, a son of Israel, Isaac, and Abraham; a Sabbath keeper and Torah teacher from Nazareth, Israel. If one is Jewish, that believer is then grafted back into the Olive Tree of Israel; if one is not Jewish, that believer is grafted for the first time into the Olive Tree of Israel. They have come to a Jewish faith and practice. Just as Paul taught:

¹¹Therefore, remember that you were Goyim [gentiles] in the flesh from the beginning, and you were called Uncircumcision, differing from that which is called Circumcision, which is the work of the hands in the flesh.  ¹²At that time [beginning] you were without Mashi’akh, being aliens to the customs of Yisra’el, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without Elohim in the world.  ¹³But now, through Yeshua HaMashi’akh, you who at one time were far off are brought near [to the customs of Yisra’el, and the covenants of the promise] by the blood of Mashi’akh. [Ephesians 2]

That is Paul being more specific about what one who is a Gentile is grafted into. Formerly he had said, ²⁴For if you [gentiles] who have been cut from the wild olive tree [gentile nations], which is natural to you, and grafted contrary to your nature into a good olive tree [Israel], how much more fruitful would they [Jews] be, if they were grafted into their own natural olive tree? [Messiah Yeshua, the ROOT of David]. [Rom 11]

Is it any wonder that serpents were used by Yanis and Yambris? The serpent is the first one to TWIST the word of God and justify sin, and try to DEFEAT it. But, the Word of God ALWAYS defeats the serpent.

Do not resist Moshe. He’s still a friend of Yeshua.