Κατὰ Ματθαῖον 13:54-58

Okay, I've now been hammering away at New Testament Greek for six weeks and I must say, my comprehension has come on by leaps and bounds! It is amazing how much you can accomplish when you're fully committed, eh?

If anyone reading this has ever thought they'd like to read the words of the Apostles as they were originally penned, but thought it might be a bit too difficult to learn how, let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth! As long as you're extremely keen and willing to put in the required time, you will be rewarded very quickly. Remember, you're not learning a language to converse or compose in; you're simply learing enough of it to decode a completed, finite text--the meaning of which you are already familiar with.

As well, if you decide to do it, you will discover a staggering number of online programs and resources to help you, from entire downloadable Greek Bibles to YouTube tutorials; they're all just a click away. My next blogpost will detail how to begin teaching yourself Koine Greek. I'll outline what you'll need, tell you what you can expect in terms of difficulties, as well as give you the links to all the helpful beginner sites that I used.

Right.

Now, allow me end this post with this encouraging note. In only 6 weeks, I've managed to go from complete ignorance, to about 97% comprehension of the following passage of the Gospel of Matthew found on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website:




Yeah, that's worth it!


ὁ ἀδελφος ὑμων ἐν Χριστῳ Ἰησου,
jskern

It's All Greek to Me

For the last fortnight I've been teaching myself New Testament Greek (Ελληνιστική Κοινή)--my new Aspie Special Interest. I've always been interested in language & languages, but there's something uniquely thrilling about reading the Word as it was originally written!

I'll update this post later with more details, but I just wanted to get some Greek up on my blog a.s.a.p to see how it looks...

John 1:1:

ἐν ἀρχῃ ἦν ὁ λογος, και ὁ λογος ἦν προς τον θεον, και θεος ἦν ὁ λογος.


Cool or what?

Shalom in Yeshua,
jsk

The Messianic Miracles (Part 3 of 3)

This is the third and final part of a lesson adapted from a Bible Study called The Three Messianic Miracles by Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries. Part one can be seen here.

If you enjoy this lesson, please visit Ariel Ministries and discover more of Dr Fruchtenbaum’s wisdom through his marvelous Bible studies. They are all there and can be downloaded as pdf files for a small charge ($3.00 US).

The third messianic miracle: Giving sight to a man born blind

As with the healing of a Jewish leper, prior to the First Advent, there had never been an instance of someone who was blind from birth being healed. People who had been struck blind had been healed, but never anyone born blind. Hence, it was taught that this miracle too was a sign of the Messiah.

The details of this messianic miracle of Jesus are recorded in Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel.

Above, we noted that, from the moment of the Unpardonable Sin, the purpose for Jesus’ miracles changed from confirming His Messiahship to the Jewish leadership and masses, to instructing His disciples. This is why, in the case of this third messianic miracle, the account begins with the Lord pointing out the man who was “blind from his birth”. Go to John 9:

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

The Lord is clearly using this man’s blindness to instruct the Disciples. But what is He teaching them? Well, two things primarily.

The first thing Jesus does is correct the Pharisaic fallacy that the disciples had regarding the nature of sin. Notice that they not only believed that this birth defect was the result of sin, but also that the blind man could have sinned and caused his own blindness!

It was taught in Pharisaic Judaism that birth defects were due to a specific sin committed either by a parent or the individual himself. They believed that at the point of conception the fetus had two opposite inclinations: Yetzer hara, the inclination to evil; and yetzer hatov, the inclination to good. Throughout the 9 months gestation these two inclinations battled for ascendancy. If at some point the evil inclination wrested control, the fetus might have kicked the mother out of animosity or anger—a sinful act—and was then punished by being born with a defect—such as blindness.

Jesus dispels both of these fallacies. No one is born blind because of a specific sinful act; and a baby in the womb doesn’t sin. (If this doesn’t seem like the Lord’s condemning the whole belief, remember that theological concepts were inflexible—if even one case did not follow the rule; the rule was wrong in every case. And, as we know, Jesus did this with many of the “laws of men” the Pharisees taught).

Okay, let’s look at the miracle itself and the immediate reaction it caused [Verses 6-12]:

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

So, let’s set the scene....

The Pool of Siloam was down a steep hill, coming from the main part of Jerusalem, so it would’ve been difficult for the blind man to get there. As well, this was the week of the Feast of Tabernacles and a special ritual called “the outpouring of water” would be taking place. In this ritual, the priests filled jugs of water from the Pool of Siloam and marched them back up to the Temple Mount to pour them on the Laver within the Temple compound. So the Lord ensured that the greatest number of people possible would be there—including Temple priests—to witness the miracle.

Imagine the scene! This blind man, with mud on his eyes weaves his way excitedly through the thick, festival crowd—annoying everyone, of course, being a sinner, a beggar and rushing as fast as possible—and he finally gets to the pool and probably charged right in and popped up just as fast…and must’ve yelled out the loudest hallelujah in history! I CAN SEE!

Well, I think pandemonium probably comes close to describing the uproar. Some people recognize him; some don’t—they say it’s just someone that looks like him. And the man’s saying, “It is me! It is me!” And then they ask how did this happen. He replies, “A man named Jesus did it.” So they ask, “Where is he?” They’re probably wondering if this is the same Jesus who’s done all the other miracles—He had become well-known by this time. And of course, the man doesn’t know what Jesus looks like, so he says, “I dunno!” So, verse 13:

They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

Well, with such a large festival crowd going crazy—another messianic miracle being reported in connection with a man named “Jesus”—the Pharisees would have to make a very public investigation if they hoped to quell the riot. Let’s continue from verse 14:

And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

Right. So, some of the Pharisees resort to the bog-standard catch-all denunciation: It’s the Sabbath! This man worked on the Sabbath (made clay & healed); ergo, nothing to see here, folks, just a sinner, move along.

But another group of Pharisees, a slightly less condescending group—or maybe just a more worried group—realizes what everyone else realizes: How can this man be a sinner AND perform messianic miracles. And note the typical understated prose of the Bible: “And there was a division among them.” Indeed there was...I imagine this “division” was a lot like the pandemonium displayed by the bystanders.

Anyway, they finally compose themselves enough to take charge and get back to business and investigate this messianic claim in a more professional manner. From verse 17:

They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

Even although this was a lesser status that Messiah, the Pharisees couldn’t accept it, because a) Messianic miracles are the prerogative of the Messiah, not a mere prophet; and b) This was a different messianic miracle to the last one and had to be thoroughly investigated; and, most importantly of all to them, c) Jesus had to be completely discredited. They’d already pronounced Him to be possessed by Satan. Let’s look [John 9:18-23]:

But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.

And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?

His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

So before interrogating the blind man’s parents, the Pharisees announced that anyone who said Jesus was Messiah would be excommunicated. This was a good way to ensure you get the answers you want.

Now, Pharisaic Judaism had three specific types of excommunication. In order of ascending severity these are:

1. Hezipah: a simple, disciplinary rebuke that lasted from seven to thirty days. (see 1 Timothy 5:1)
2. Niddui: this means, “to cast out”; it would last a minimum of thirty days. This had to be pronounced by ten rabbis. (see 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 & Titus 3:10)
3. Cherem: this means “unsynagogued”—“to be put out of the synagogue and separated from the Jewish community”. Anyone under the cherem was considered dead by the community and couldn’t be communicated with anymore (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-7 & Matthew 18:15-20).

We see that the parents of the blind man were afraid of this final excommunication. They confirm that the blind man is there son and that he’s been blind from birth, but they evade entirely the question of how or by whom he was cured. I’m sure secretly they’d already come to their own conclusions about the Messiahship of Jesus. (By the way, to this day all Messianic Jews—including Fruchtenbaum—are under cherem).

Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

So, the interview of the parents proved to be another inconclusive interrogation; back to the blind man again:

Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

The Pharisees try putting words into the man’s mouth, but he’s adamant and puts it as simply and plainly and as incontrovertibly as possible. They ask him what happened again; getting more exasperated:

Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.

The man has had enough of these phonies now. He’s made his own mind up and, with the boldness that comes from knowing who Jesus really is, he begins to toy with them. They are enraged:

We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.

Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

The man has learned his lessons well and flings the Pharisees' own teaching back at them. For his impudent insistence on believing what they taught, he’s excommunicated:They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.But the Lord’s not finished His lesson. He now finds the man and spiritually heals him by confirming that He is indeed the Messiah and is to be worshipped—having just gotten himself thrown out of a Spiritless Church, the Lord welcomes the man into His Church. Jesus completes the lesson to his disciples by judging the blind man spiritually sighted and the Pharisees spiritual blind:

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

So, the result of the first messianic miracle was the investigation of Jesus’ claim of Messiahship. The result of the second was to reject the claim on the basis of Jesus’ being possessed by the Devil (thus committing the Unpardonable Sin). The response to the third messianic miracle was to excommunicate any Jew who confessed Jesus as the Messiah.

The forth messianic miracle: Raising Lazarus from the dead

Raising someone from the dead wasn’t technically a messianic miracle; it wasn’t a sign that people were expecting to prove who the Messiah was. But there was an aspect to the way Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead that only the Messiah could’ve accomplished. As He said Himself, when speaking of Lazarus in John 11:1-14:

This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.

So the raising of Lazarus was to ensure the glorification of Jesus. And how was Jesus glorified? By His death on the Cross! Let’s trace the link between Lazarus getting sick to the Lord’s crucifixion.

Jesus had already proven by three messianic miracles that He was the Messiah. He’d claimed as much many times (remember he claimed to forgive sins above?)—and several of those in front of the Sanhedrin investigators. His claim had been rejected and He’d been classified a blasphemer and a demon possessed sinner. But He still hasn’t been officially condemned to die; He hadn’t yet proven to be that dangerous to the Sanhedrin. He needed to do one more miracle, one more unmistakable act to provoke the Sanhedrin into wanting Him killed. Ergo: the resurrection of Lazarus.

Now, the Pharisees believed that the spirit of a dead man hovered over the corpse for three days after death and, on the fourth day, the spirit descended to Sheol. For those first three days, a man could be resuscitated, but once in Sheol, the spirit was out of the body for good; which is why Jesus waited until the fourth day to resurrect Lazarus. A fourth-day resurrection simply could not be explained away as anything but a miracle from God Himself.

And we all know what happened then. Unable to discredit this final messianic miracle, and fearing the loss of their authority and wealth, the Sanhedrin finally sentenced Jesus to death. The mapping of the bloody route to Calvary was completed.

In closing, I’d like to mention an interesting occurrence that happened right after the Sanhedrin sentenced Jesus to die. Fruchtenbaum suggests that the Lord was exercising His sense of humor; I think he might be right. In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus heals not one, but nine Jewish lepers (and 1 Samaritan; who returns to worship Him—another indication of the Messiah being accepted by Gentiles rather than Jews) and sends them to the priests.

Nine times over the ones who rejected Him had to perform all those rituals and sacrifices in Leviticus. Nine times over, they had to investigate the miracles and the man who performed them. Nine times over they had to decree that these Jewish lepers had been healed. Nine times over they had to conclude that Jesus performed the cleansings. And nine times over they had to disavow the very theology they themselves had taught for centuries and reject Jesus as the Messiah.

To this day, they are still rejecting Him and still require a sign, as Paul would say [1 Cor 1:22]; and are still paying the very heavy price for their rejection and unbelief. Of course, the story has a good ending, as we are told in the Book of Romans, they’ll finally see a sign they can believe in: The Lord Himself coming from Mount Zion to save them all [11:26-27]:

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Wonderful! So let’s end this lesson with the same words Paul uses to end that Chapter:

For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory forever. Amen.

Shalom in Yeshua,
jsk

The Messianic Miracles (Part 2 of 3)

This is the second part of a lesson adapted from a Bible Study called The Three Messianic Miracles by Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries. Part one can be seen here.

If you enjoy this lesson, please visit Ariel Ministries and discover more of Dr Fruchtenbaum’s wisdom through his marvelous Bible studies. They are all there and can be downloaded as pdf files for a small charge ($3.00 US).


The second messianic miracle: Casting a demon from a mute


To understand the reason why casting out a demon from a mute was considered a messianic miracle, we need to look at how exorcisms were conducted by the Jews in the days prior to the Lord’s advent.

Casting out demons was not a particularly unusual or rare ability to the Jews of that day. Pharisees, rabbis and their followers all had the ability to do it. However, in Pharisaic Judaism there was—not surprisingly—a specific ritual to follow. This ritual had three stages:

1. The exorcist had to establish communication with the demon.
2. The exorcist had to ask the demons name.
3. The exorcist would cast the demon out using the demons name.

If you ever wondered why Jesus asks the demoniac his name in Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30; now you know; He was just using the common method of the day.

So, we can see right away why a demon who is either in a mute, or causes the person he is in to be mute, presented an insoluble problem for the exorcists of that day—there was no way to get the demons name, so no way to get the demon out. For this reason, the rabbis had always taught that only the Messiah could cast out demons from a mute; that this type of exorcism would be a messianic miracle.


Let’s look at Matthew 12:22:

Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?

Here we see that all the people who saw the miracle were amazed—because they recognized it as a messianic miracle—and immediately asked, “Is not this the son of David?” In other words, “Wow, he just did a messianic miracle; doesn’t that make him the Messiah?”

Okay, at this point we need to understand that, as Fruchtenbaum puts it, “the Jewish masses have always tended to labor under what is called the leadership complex. Whichever way the leaders went, the people were sure to follow.” And he goes on to explain that this herd instinct is seen throughout the Old Testament—whether good or bad, the people followed the leader of the day.

Interestingly, Fruchtenbaum also notes that when Jewish believers witness to Jews today, more often than not, they hear a variation of this question: “If Jesus really is the Messiah, then why is it that our rabbis don’t believe in Him?”

So, the people were willing to ask, “Is this the Messiah”, but they weren’t willing to decide the answer for themselves. And, in this instance, who were they asking? The next verse, Matthew 12:24, tells us it was the Pharisees. And what was their reply? In the same verse:

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

Ah, right, Jesus didn’t just perform a messianic miracle right in front of you; Satan did! And who you gonna believe, us or your lying eyes?

So, the Sanhedrin’s response to the first messianic miracle was to begin the investigation into Jesus’ claim of Messiahship as per the process that they designed. Their response to the second messianic miracle was to publicly reject this claim on the grounds that Jesus Himself was demonized by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Instead of declaring Him filled with the Holy Spirit as His actions proved, the Pharisees lead all the people to believe that He was filled with the unholiest spirit of them all. This was the Unpardonable Sin; and, as Fruchtenbaum puts it, “This action by the leadership of Israel set the stage for Jewish history for the next two thousand years.”

In reply to their blasphemy Jesus does two things: Dispels the lie with four rebuttals; and condemns that entire generation of unbelieving and blasphemous Jews. Let’s read Matthew 12:25-32:

And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

We’re all familiar with the four rebuttals, so let’s only have a brief look at them:

1. If Satan casts out demons, his house is divided and it wouldn’t stand; it’s ridiculous to say he casts out demons.
2. Even they know that exorcism is a gift of the Spirit, because they and their followers do it (though not mute demons).
3. This miracle proved He was the Messiah.
4. Jesus is stronger than Satan; He bound the “strong man”.

The Unpardonable Sin—blaspheming against the Holy Spirit by declaring Him unholy—is then described. After that, the condemnation upon that particular generation of Jews follows in verses 34-45:

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Their accusation was a very “idle word”.

Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

Now they’re asking for another sign! But of course it’s too late:

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The only sign he’ll give them now is the sign of resurrection:

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Here Jesus gives two examples from Scripture of Gentiles believing, in order to further underscore the blasphemy and unbelief of “this generation” of so-called “God’s People”.

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

This parable describes the spiritual state of the house of Israel under the stewardship of this generation: With the Lord’s coming, the demon left it of his own accord, assuming it would eventually be cast out. But once clean, the house was not occupied by the Holy Spirit, because He was rejected, so the same demon that left came back and then seven others even more wicked; “and the last state was worse than the first”. And, as history shows, in 70AD—within a generation— forty years after these words were spoken by the Lord, the legions of Rome invaded and inflicted a terrible vengeance on Israel: They ransacked and looted Jerusalem, killed over a million people and destroyed the Temple; tearing it down until not one stone stood upon another. The last state of that generation was indeed worse than the first!

From the moment the Unpardonable Sin was committed, there was a radical change in the Ministry of Jesus and a concomitant change in the purpose for his miracles:

1. His miracles were no longer for a sign to Israel that their Messiah was here, but to train the twelve Disciples instead [Matthew 13:11-12].
2. His miracles were now for the benefit of individuals with faith. Before the Unpardonable Sin, He performed miracles for the benefit of the masses regardless of their faith. As well, prior to this, He would tell people He healed to proclaim what great things God had done for them; from then on, He told those healed to tell no one.
3. He now commanded His disciples to no longer proclaim His Messiahship. [Matthew 16:20;17:9]
4. He only spoke to the masses in parables [In Matthew 13:10-11;34]. Until then He'd been teaching them clearly [cf Matthew Chapters 5-7].

So, the Jewish leadership had rejected the Messiah and cursed themselves and their entire generation by committing the Unpardonable Sin. Now the Lord concentrated His Ministry on training His disciples for the work they would have to carry out after His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.


(Part 3 of this 3 part lesson will be posted in a few days time. jsk)

Jack Tracts

Ah, the warm glow of nostalgia!

I remember Chick Publications' cartoon tracts from years ago! Recently a pastor friend asked about getting a supply of them, which made me google the company. I discovered them here. And not only are they going strong, they let you embed the tracts onto your website, too! Naturally, I just had to give it a go.

Here's an embed of one I happened to come across in our church library last Easter. I took about five of them, thinking to leave them lying around town. One ended up lying in the men’s room at my work—and it lay there a week before it disappeared:




How cool is that, eh?

Btw, in a few hours, I'll be adding pix to the previous post, Messianic Miracles Part 1, to make it more interesting visually. Part 2 should be up tonight or tomorrow.

Shalom in Yeshua,
jsk

The Messianic Miracles (Part I of 3)

The following lesson was adapted from a Bible Study called The Three Messianic Miracles by Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries. Dr Fruchtenbaum is a Messianic Jew, a Bible Scholar, an author and a world renowned speaker. He is credited with creating a category of study which unfortunately is not yet included with those that constitute the field of Christian Systematic Theology: Israelology—the study of Israel in the Bible.

I find that Jewish Believers in general and Fruchtenbaum in particular always offer insights into the Bible that never fail to open up the Word in amazing ways. When hearing these Messianic Jewish insights, I’m always reminded of the Apostle Paul’s declaration, “[H]ow much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!”

If you enjoy this lesson, please visit Ariel Ministries and discover more of Dr Fruchtenbaum’s wisdom through his marvelous Bible studies. They are all there and can be downloaded as pdf files for a small charge ($3.00 US).


Did you ever wonder…

Why some miracles performed by Jesus caused a greater stir than others did?
Why Jesus orders people He just healed not to tell anyone about it?
Why Jewish leaders remained quiet at some miracles, but became loudly interrogative at others?
What the Unpardonable Sin was?
Why Jesus waited four days to raise Lazarus from the dead?
Why the Disciples asked if it was a person’s own fault that he were born blind?

It’s hoped that by the end of this lesson these questions (and many more) will be answered.


Two types of miracles: General & Messianic


While in prison, John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was “he that should come, or do we look for another?” John was expressing the expectation of every Jew in Israel—they were all waiting for the Messiah. So even though, just prior to the Lord’s baptism, the Holy Spirit had revealed to John that Jesus was the “Lamb of God”, he still had doubts; doubts that most Jews also had. Jesus answered John’s disciples in a way that completely dispelled these doubts. He said, “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” [Matt 11:4-6]

Notice that Jesus does not refer to any biographical information about Himself, or any great teaching He's given, but rather, He refers to the miracles that He's performed—the signs that all the Jews were expecting to see the Messiah display (we’ll get to the wicked part of seeking after a sign below).

Now, as that list shows, Jesus performed many types of miracles. It was expected that the Messiah would be able to do all of these, certainly, but there were a couple of them that held a special significance; these were the messianic miracles.
Some time before Jesus’ First Advent, the Rabbi’s had divided miracles into two distinct categories. One category was general miracles; those that any devout priest or rabbi could perform. The other category was those that only the Messiah could do; the messianic miracles. These were:

1. Healing a Jewish leper
2. Casting out a mute demon
3. Giving sight to a man born blind

This is what the religious leaders themselves taught. Only Messiah would be able to do these things; which is why, when Jesus performed one of these messianic miracles, not only the religious leaders reacted differently, but the people who witnessed them did, too.

With me so far? Right, then let’s take a look at the first messianic miracle of Jesus.


The first messianic miracle: Healing a Jewish leper


Leprosy was, for Jews, a particularly significant illness. Under Mosaic Law, the only live person who could cause defilement if touched was a leper. Touching a corpse would cause someone to be defiled; touching an unclean animal, such as a pig, would cause someone to be defiled; but the only living people who could cause a Jew to be defiled were lepers. This is why lepers were ordered by law to call attention to themselves whenever they were out in public—to yell “unclean”, etc—to warn everyone that they were there, so no one would accidentally touch them; or even their shadows! (cf Peter’s shadow Acts 5:15 ). There was no rabbinic cure for leprosy.

Now, from the time the Mosaic Law was given until the time of Jesus, no Jewish leper had ever been healed (remember that Miriam was healed before the entire Law was given [Num 12] & Naman was a Syrian Gentile [2 Kings 5]).

By the way, the Lord, when announcing Himself as One “greater than Elija”, makes reference to this in Luke 4:27:

And many lepers were in Israel in the times of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Also, in two chapters of Leviticus (13 & 14), we see detailed instructions concerning the diagnosing of leprosy, as well as a long list of rituals to go through, and sacrifices to offer, whenever someone was healed of it. Because these instructions about what to do if someone was healed of leprosy were so detailed and yet had never been needed from the time they were given, the rabbis believed, declared and taught that only the Messiah would be able to heal a Jewish leper.

Let’s turn to Luke 5:12-14 and read about the first messianic miracle of Jesus:

And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Okay, so we see here a man “full of leprosy”—completely covered and very probably close to being killed by it—who saw Jesus and “fell on his face”—a sign of veneration and worship—and called him “Lord” and said, “If you want, you can cure me”.

This man’s actions and words demonstrate that a) he was a Jew; and b) he accepted Jesus as the Messiah. The man called Jesus “Lord” and worshipped Him, then was told to do “as Moses commanded” as per Leviticus 13-14; which would be irrelevant were the man not Jewish. Clearly the man was aware of the messianic promise regarding leprosy, that only the Messiah could cure it.

Well, Jesus certainly wanted to, for, as He said, “a testimony unto them”. He wanted the man to go straight to the priests—ordering him not to tell anyone and possibly get distracted—because the Lord knew that a healed Jewish leper showing up at the Temple and demanding the Levitical ordinances was the same thing as announcing that the Messiah had arrived!

Now Luke writes next that the Lord’s fame spread and lots of people came to hear Him and be healed; no surprises there, because this was possibly no longer just a great healer walking around but the Messiah Himself! But note that Luke doesn’t say Jesus actually healed or taught any of them, instead he says the Lord “withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” The NIV says, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

This, I believe, was to give the Jewish leaders time to investigate the case of the cured leper exclusively. After all, there were all those rituals to perform and offerings to give, and if Jesus started curing every leper in the country the priests and Sanhedrin would be too exhausted to carry out the next stage of their duty: to investigate Jesus.

Fruchtenbaum, in his Bible Study, tells us:

According to Sanhedrin law, if there was any kind of messianic movement, the Sanhedrin were to investigate the situation in two stages: The first stage was called the "stage of observation." A delegation was formed to investigate only by way of observation. This delegation was to observe what was being said, what was being done, and what was being taught. They were not permitted to ask any question or raise any objections. After a period of observation, they were then to return to Jerusalem, report to the Sanhedrin and give a verdict: was the movement significant, or was the movement insignificant? If the movement was decreed to be insignificant, the matter would be dropped. But if the movement was declared to be significant, there would, then, be a second stage of investigation called the "stage of interrogation." In this stage, they would interrogate the individual or members of the movement. This time, they would ask questions and raise objections to discover whether the claims should be accepted or rejected.

Jesus knew that the leper showing up cured would trigger the Sanhedrin’s investigation. This is why, right after the Lord goes into the wilderness to pray, we see what we do in Luke 5:17-26 [cf Mark 2]:

And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.

And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

Notice that there were “Pharisees and doctors of the law” who had come from “every town of Galilee and Judea” and Jerusalem (from the Temple)! Basically, every council and synagogue had a representative there to carry out the “observation stage” of the investigation. In fact, there were so many of them there, that the men who brought the palsied man couldn’t even get up to the door, but had to lower him through the roof.

Next we see that Jesus doesn’t heal the man right away, instead He makes a dramatic claim; He forgives the palsied man’s sins! And the scribes and Pharisees are shocked at this “blasphemy”—shocked silently, “in their hearts”; they’re still only observing.

Jesus of course, knows what they’re thinking—he perceived their thoughts and then demonstrates, in front of all these official observers, that not only can he talk the talk, but he can walk the walk too; and make others walk it who couldn’t walk just by talking the talk!

What’s easier to say, this or that? Sins forgiven or rise and walk? Well He said both and the visible one of them was done, in order to prove that the invisible one was done, too. He had claimed to be able to forgive sins and demonstrated that He did—this was indeed blasphemy if Jesus was not the Messiah (remember this for later; it’s significant).

And “they were ALL amazed”; they all “glorified God”; all were “filled with fear”—awestruck. The man who healed the leper, thus claiming to be the Messiah, just forgave a man’s sins and, by nothing more than words, healed and strengthened a palsied man!

I’d say that claim of Messiahship was definitely significant. And we see that the Sanhedrin did too. The second stage of the investigation, the “interrogation stage”, was begun in earnest from that time on. Wherever Jesus goes from now on, there’s a Pharisee waiting to challenge His messianic claim. Of course, since everything Jesus did increasingly showed His contempt for Pharisaic authority and legalism, they became more and more desperate to find evidence to reject the claim regardless of how obviously valid it turned out to be....

(Part 2 of this 3 part lesson will be posted in a few days time. jsk)

Discerning the Signs of the Times

O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
—Matthew 16:3

I came across a little Free Speech contretemps in Gainesville, Florida following a link (since removed) on WorldNetDaily. The good people at Dove World Outreach Center decided to engage their community by putting their collective opinion of Islam on a sign and erecting it on the Church’s front lawn. The sentiment expressed has caused a bit of a stir in the neighbourhood. Funny how that seems to happen whenever the unvarnished truth of a matter is clearly and boldly proclaimed.

Why would the Church put up such a sign?
To expose Islam for what it is. It is a violent and oppressive religion that is trying to mascarade itself as a religion of peace, seeking to deceive our society.
—FAQ page at Dove World Outreach Center

I also noticed in the same edition that Joseph Farah, the editor of WorldNetDaily, has written his Between the Lines column on Rick Warren’s missed opportunity at the ISNA, I Agree with Rick Warren:

Rick Warren told the Islamic Society of North America last week that he is not interested in interfaith dialogue; he's only interested in interfaith projects.

I agree with Rick Warren.

So let's get started. I have a project to suggest. It's very simple. It's very straightforward. I think it's a great starting point for Christian-Muslim action.

Let's get Muslims to stop killing and oppressing Christians and Jews around the world.

Sounds good to me, Joseph. Maybe a good way to kick the project off would be to hire a bus and drive every member of the ISNA past the Dove World Outreach Center a few times?


Shalom in Yeshua,
jsk