Messianic Viewpoint

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Some thought that God reduced the life of time to men to 120 years, but it doesn't work because Abraham lived 175 years, Isaac 180 years, Jacob 147. These 120 years is another extension, another period of testing. God will always give the benefit of the doubt.

Guest (Female): God gave man 120 years to repent, 120 years to look at themselves and see that they would be better to enter the ark if they wanted salvation. But how sad this demonstrates for us that no matter how long God gives man, many will not come into the ark.

But there are some beautiful analogies that we will see today concerning that number 120 and its relationship to testing and trials, in particular for Yeshua and for Moses. But the rabbis have written something very interesting as well.

They write that while the number 120 represents testing and trials of our life, when multiplied by 50, which is the year of Jubilee, we get the number 6,000. For them, the number 6,000 represents the whole history of man, which is finally crowned by the Messianic times.

So for us, let us consider that for all the temptations that we face, it will all culminate one day in our rejoicing with the Lord in those Messianic times. We are now in training for the triumph that is yet to be. Thank you, Lord, for your patience and that you endure with us and you carry us through this life until we finally come home.

Welcome to Shalom Ariel, welcome to our continuing study in the book of Genesis with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. Be blessed as you listen and Shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Let us not water down what God calls sin in the scriptures. I believe that Jesus was speaking in both cases of legal and accepted marriages, which are corrupt in nature.

The institution of marriage is so precious to God all along the Bible as he speaks of no other types of marriages but the one he designed himself between a man and a woman. To us, the other marriages are signs that he's coming soon. This is what it says.

To us, this predicts an imminent end and a fast one, because this is what triggered the immediate judgment before that. Because it is these things that brought God to bring a fast judgment on humanity.

And the reason God gives for removing his spirit in verse three, it says because he is also flesh. But what else can he be? I think it has to do with what else man thinks he is. Being flesh, he thinks he is God. That's a problem, a problem that you find in the scriptures as well.

When man is deep into sin, he thinks he is God himself like a drunkard who thinks he is invincible and thinks he can beat up anyone because he doesn't feel the pain anymore. But at the end, he is a mere man.

This is the argument of Psalm 82, speaking to false teachers whom are the counterpart of the modern-day Nephilim. They thought they were gods and God comes to them and tells them, "I said you were gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but you shall die like mere men and fall like all the princes," right?

These people thought they were so good, so perfect because they were very good at what they were doing. And God comes and says, "You know what? You're not really gods."

Yeshua brought the same argument in the gospel against the established religious system. They accused him of being God, and he says to them, "Is it... well, hold on a minute, I remember, isn't it you who think you are God?" and he quotes that verse.

And we noticed before how Jude makes a direct correlation between the Nephilim and the false teachers today. That's important. Modern-day Nephilim, according to the Bible, are those false teachers. This was Jude's argument in verse four.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out of this condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Right? They deny the divinity of the Messiah. You heard this one, right? It's rampant.

And as he speaks of their judgment, he compares it to the fallen angels in Genesis 6 when he says in verse six again, "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, he has reserved for their lasting chains." He compares them together. See the relation?

So when you see a false teacher, think of a Nephilim, because this is who he is. Because ultimately, this is who the Bible says they are. And by the way, they're teaching what Paul calls the doctrines of demons. This is what Paul calls false teaching.

They have their own well-designed agenda and system. They have their own gospel, their own Jesus, their own spirit, their own ministers. Second Corinthians 11, we heard this. These ministers are usually loners because they cannot submit to any authority, just like these demons, the Nephilim. They couldn't even submit to Satan.

How could they if they believe they are gods, right? At the end, that is the end. We'll reveal that their god, Satan, has a throne. Remember in Revelation 13:2? He has a throne and he has his own worshiper. It's heading this way.

Remember, evil has no originality. It comes from what is good and must always draw from what is good. That is, these false teachers have nothing to teach us that the Lord cannot teach us. So let us abide by his word.

I think we're too used to this title, false teacher. With time, it loses its strength. So let's call them by who they are: the Nephilim.

And our God is so patient. He has such a high degree of tolerance. We learn in verse three that he gives them an extension of 120 years to repent. After all this, after everything, he still actually gives an extension.

Some thought that God reduced the life of time to men to 120 years, but it doesn't work because Abraham lived 175 years, Isaac 180 years, Jacob 147. These 120 years is another extension, another period of testing. God will always give the benefit of the doubt.

Him who knows all things is teaching us to be very patient and to be very perseverant. And there's a significance behind the number 120. 120 is made up of three times 40. 40 is the period of testing: 40 years in the desert for Israel, 40 days of the temptation for Yeshua, 40 days Jesus stayed with his disciples in between the resurrection and the ascension.

Here in Genesis, it's three times 40. Three is the number of divine perfection. Three times 40, the perfect complete waiting period. God waited as long as he could, since the outcome actually was quite radical: the flood.

We see this number in other parts of the scriptures. How long did Moses live, by the way? How old was he when he died? 120 years. And his life actually you can divide in three sections of 40 years.

You know, at around 40, after being trained in the ways of the Egyptians, he felt the call of God. But in his zeal, he killed the Egyptian. Because of this action, he waited another 40 years working as a shepherd. He needed this type of training since he was to be a shepherd to Israel. And then he led the Israelites for another 40 years.

For the rabbis, this is a significant number. They say that when you multiply this testing period of 120 years by the year of Jubilee, 120 times 50, you get 6,000 years. This is the history, a whole history which is a time of testing before we get to heaven.

Let us now go back to Genesis 6 and see verse four. There's one more information that is given to us about the evil ministry of the Nephilim. It says they were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward. Afterward when? This is after the flood.

These demons actually came back and did cause much havoc in the history of Israel, but not for long. God allowed them to come back because he needed to test Israel.

The word Nephilim is used twice, here in Genesis and also in Numbers 13:33. And this is Numbers 13:33. This is when the Jews came to the land as they came out of Egypt. And there they saw the Nephilim. The descendant of Anak came from the Nephilim, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Here they are.

What are they doing in the book of Numbers? The same thing they tried to do in Genesis. They tried to stop the progression of the seed of the woman. This time they focus on Israel. It was the first time the Israel reached the land, but they were there to scare them off.

And they got scared, and they lost 40 years in the desert. And before we go on, we ask ourselves, why didn't God make it easy for them? You would have thought that after a long journey in the desert, they would have had some rest. The answer can be found in that the heart of the people when they came out of Egypt and when they reached the land was the same, and God cannot bless. God cannot bless. He had to test them.

And while two to three million people did not enter the land, not even Moses, only two of this generation did: Caleb and Joshua. And they will tell us how they got there. We'll see the courage of these men.

But before, let us see how these Nephilim further marked the history of Israel. They are mentioned also in the book of Deuteronomy. Not the name Nephilim, but their descendant. They are there through different names.

In Deuteronomy chapter two, they are called the Anakim, which means the long-necked people. In the same chapter, we're told that the Moabites called them Emim, which means terror. We also see that the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, which means the plotters, perhaps the plotters of evil. These were all descendants of the Nephilim.

And one of them, Og, king of Bashan, takes so much space in the Deuteronomy. He was in fact right at the entrance of the Promised Land, and he's repeated so many times in the book of Deuteronomy. The whole chapter three of Deuteronomy is based on him.

Why? Because the Jews, when they came back, when they entered the land, they had to beat this person. They had to beat this giant, and they did and they came in. And so Moses brings back the memory of Og, and he says, "Remember Og? You killed him. He was a giant and you were strong about it."

By the way, the Bible tells us how tall he was. You know how tall these guys were? Deuteronomy 3:11 says, "For only Og, king of Bashan, remained in the remnant of the giant. Indeed, his bed was nine cubits in length and four cubits in width." That is 13 and a half feet by six feet. Imagine. I don't know how tall this ceiling is, but if he comes in, he's going to have to put his head down. Type of guy you don't want to mess with, right?

And Og was so important that the whole again chapter three speaks about him. But Og wasn't the last one. If we go further in the history of Israel, these giants were there even after the Israelites conquered the land, until even the time of David. Remember that giant, Goliath? He was a little smaller. He was only nine feet tall. He also you do not want to mess with, right?

He was a problem for Israel and he defied the Lord and his people. And it's significant that actually it's the young David who killed him and put an end to the giant dynasty of the land. We also learn in Second Samuel that actually Goliath had four brothers and David killed these four brothers through his generals. That explains why, by the way, David took five smooth stones, right? He knew one was enough in case the brothers would appear, right? He had four other stones for them, one for each.

You know what is significant in the history of these giants is that the end of the Nephilim was done by David, the ancestor of the Messiah. They came to stop the line of the Messiah, but the ancestor of the Messiah put them down. This is what we learn, that God will always be victorious.

Guest (Female): Don't go away. We'll be right back with the second half of our program coming up just after this message.

As we wind up for the second part of our program today, we would like to remind our listeners how blessed and privileged we feel to be part of your radio day. We pray that the messages you hear will instruct you, edify you, and encourage you to love the Lord more and follow him into obedience in even greater ways.

We are all changed by the challenges and transformed by the triumphs of life, and as we walk them together, we keep looking up to him who is mighty to break down the walls of Jericho that stand before us and to hand over to us the spiritual victories in life.

Yeshua has broken down the greatest barrier, the greatest wall that has separated us from God the Father. Thank you, listeners, for joining us in prayer and in financial support for this ministry. If you have it on your heart to give to this ministry, then you can by logging on to our congregation website at BethAriel.ca. That's B-E-T-H-A-R-I-E-L.ca. And if God leads you to contribute from the treasures that God has blessed you with for the continuation of this radio ministry, Shalom, Shalom as we begin part two of today's program.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Joshua and Caleb's argument is that as God provided the manna all these years, he will provide a way of entry into the land. Sure, we cannot fight these titans. You are right, they're too big for us. But if God rises with us, right? They will melt at his appearance. And this is true.

Guest (Female): We can often be very discouraged by circumstances and giants in our lives. Do you remember the movie The Wizard of Oz? Dorothy faced her own giant in this movie. It was the Wicked Witch of the East. That witch was after Dorothy, her dog Toto, and she was in the way of Dorothy's return home.

But as we come close to the final part of the movie, the witch dies a drippy death. In fact, she melts before our very eyes. Dorothy's giant becomes a safe pool of black tar. Her enemy melts right before her. In the very same way, Caleb and Joshua said that their enemy, the giants in the land, should be considered as bread.

How do we understand this? Well, the fact is that the bread that these Israelites were eating at the time was the manna. And the peculiarity of the manna is that it had to be picked up before sunrise, otherwise it would melt.

Their faith was not based on their own strength, but on the power of God, and this is what faith is. So then, before the Lord, let our own hearts melt as we recognize our limitations. Let's not let our heart melt before the enemy in fear, but before God, for he is the only one that we should be fearing.

As the sun melts the ice, let the Lord melt away anything in our hearts that keeps us from fearing him first and foremost. And then, let the word of God melt in our mouths and be a sweet delight to us.

Welcome to Shalom Ariel, welcome to our continuing study in the book of Genesis with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. Be blessed as you listen and Shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: And what happened to the Nephilim in the heavens? Heaven also got rid of them. It is written again in Jude verse six. By the way, this is the third time or fourth time we read this verse because the word is infinite. Let me read it to you again. He says, "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day."

They are nowhere to be found since they are in chains until the White Throne Judgment. And where is this place, actually, that they are chained? Second Peter tells us. Verse four, it says, "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell..."

The word hell, by the way, in our English translation is more specific. The Greek is more specific. It's Tartarus. Hell, by the way, is a big place and has many compartments. And Tartarus is that one place there where these particularly rebellious fallen angels, the Nephilim, are confined until the end of the Millennium, the White Throne Judgment, and then thrown into the Lake of Fire. So don't worry about it. They will not come back. They're locked completely.

Why do I say this? Because one thing we know, I went to the internet and I typed the word Nephilim on Earth today and I got 739,000 hits. Many of them speak of proofs of the Nephilim and encounter with them. And then you go on images with the same title of the Nephilim and you get dozens of strange pictures of UFOs, vampires.

One of them was a poor wrestler. I don't know what he was doing there. I remember when I was young, they had that this wrestler Andre the Giant. I don't know, do you remember Andre the Giant? Seven feet, two. And when he would appear, his opponents would run away, so he would never fight, really. But he was not a Nephilim. He was a gentle giant in comparison.

One last word about these things. The rabbis, while they recognize these sons of God to be angels, they refuse to say that the angels could enter marriage with women. In the Targum of Neofiti, they write, "And the sons of the judges saw that the daughters of the sons of men were beautiful," and so on. They say it doesn't mean this and they even forbade their people to believe that angels could marry women.

One of them, Shimon bar Yochai, pronounced a curse on anyone teaching the idea that angels can marry women. Why do they deny this and go at length and forbid their students to venture into these things? I tell you the reason.

The reason is that they're very practical. This is such a slippery road and can bring a person deep into esotericism. This is why they simply do not argue and they say just don't read it. I don't agree with this, by the way, but you can see how practical they are.

In fact, at the time, many were going into these things. One person called Ishmael wrote the Pirke Hekhalot, which is believed to be the Book of Enoch. A book which goes deep into the demonic world. This book was forbidden by the mainstream rabbinical Judaism, and for good reasons. For instance, this book teaches that Enoch went down into hell to minister to demons. That's crazy, when the Bible clearly teaches that they are locked up until the White Throne Judgment.

But what the Nephilim are gone, their memory or maybe their spirit, so to speak, are still with us. Have you heard of the expression, the land of the giant? Sometimes used figuratively to refer to areas of great opportunity that contains apparently formidable difficulties.

This is taken from Numbers chapter 13, when the Israelites were at the door of the Promised Land, but fear gripped them and they could not possess their possession. But how to fight these giants that could come with their army of despair to try to paralyze us? How can we do this?

Now remember, two people entered the land out of the one or three million Jews actually that tried to enter the land. Did you ever wonder how they fought themselves, these giants? Listen to the first the argument that the people who entered or didn't want to enter the land actually brought.

It says in Deuteronomy 1:28, "Where can we go up? Our brothers have discouraged our heart saying this people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven, moreover we have seen the sons of Anakim there."

The word used for discouragement actually in the Hebrew is the word for melt. They were melting out of fear. But the two individuals, Joshua and Caleb, cleverly use this thought to counter their argument, and see what they said in Numbers 14:9. We've seen this before. Try to figure it out again.

He says, "Only do not rebel against Jehovah, nor fear the people of the land, for they are bread to us. Their protection has departed from them and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them."

What did Joshua mean when he says they are bread to us? Their bread at that time was the manna. And the peculiarity of the manna is that it had to be picked up before the sunrise because when the sun rose, it melted. Joshua and Caleb's argument is that as God provided the manna all these years, he will provide a way of entry into the land. Sure, we cannot fight these titans. You are right, they're too big for us. But if God rises with us, right? They will melt at his appearance. And this is true.

The young shepherd, David, understood this and he killed this warrior that actually other soldiers were afraid to confront. His faith was not based on his strength but on the power of God, and this is what faith is. They were the men of faith who found the rest in God.

But read in Genesis 6, out of the chaotic presence of these Nephilim comes out a person, a light. His name is Noah. Even before the mention of these monsters, we see Noah emerging as a promise. The last verse of verse five, just before the Nephilim are there. The last verse 5:32 says, "And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth."

Noah means comfort, it means rest, and in Noah's faith, God found rest. In Noah's faith and prayers. One man out of perhaps one to three billion others who perished in the flood was enough to bring comfort to God.

And we are told in this verse that Noah waited 500 years before he saw the first child of promise. Do you remember the chart last week? How patient these men were. But Noah surpasses them all. He waited more than any other. He waited 500 years. Perhaps he had other sons and daughters, but those of the promise, Shem, Ham, Japheth, was to be only much later.

But I would like to conclude by attracting your attention to the number of times God pronounces the name of Noah. Really, I think this name was such a comfort to him. From this point on, every time it has to do with Noah, his name is mentioned more times than necessary. Because when you love someone, you repeat his name, right?

Just in verse 32, it says, "And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begat Shem." But he could have said and he begat Shem. No, he pronounces his name again. But this comes out stronger when you read verses eight to nine of chapter six. Five times his name is pronounced in just three verses. Let me read that for you.

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God, and Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth."

And if you count the number of times his name is pronounced between chapter five to nine, you will count 33 times. God loves someone who has faith. In fact, when you look at the gospel, what did impress Jesus the most? Faith. How could this man have faith and all Israel doesn't have faith, right? A little bit of it. And you know what? The good thing about it is that he gives you that faith.

Does God rejoice in pronouncing our name today? Some people leave their mark on history and their names become entries into encyclopedia. A select few leave their mark on our language and their names become entries in cultural dictionary. To be an Einstein today is to be a genius. To be a Rockefeller is to be a rich man. A Houdini, one who makes amazing escapes and disappearance.

And there are other names that have become symbols of shame and evil like Adolf Hitler. Imagine the difficulty for members of his family or even people who are not related but have the same last name. Though they may not have done anything wrong, they carry a name that actually means traitor and that evokes suspicions, anger, and hatred.

Adolf Hitler had a half-brother, Alois, who moved to England before the First World War. Alois's son, William, eventually came the United States where he denounced the Führer and lately served in the US Army. William Hitler had three sons. Each of them changed his last name. They resided in New York, Long Island, where they kept their infamous ancestry a family secret.

A name is something very precious, especially if you are a Christian. If you have accepted the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach as your personal savior, because we carry the name of God with us.

Romans 8:14, as we spoke about the sons of God. Who are the sons of God today? The real sons of God, and those that have a sonship-father relationship, are the believers.

Why are we called sons of God suddenly? Because we're sons of man. It's because at the time when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, the Holy Spirit comes into you and recreates that new nature, right? And that makes you a son of God because now you are a new nature.

And Paul says, "For as many are led by the spirit of God, these are the son of God, these are the true sons of God." We are the sons of God who will spend eternity with our Heavenly Father. This is one of the greatest promises that we have in the scriptures. Let us bow our head in prayer.

Again Heavenly Father, your word is so deep. There is so much Lord every time we read it, we find more things. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the information about these giants. What we learn Lord is not to be scared. What we're learning Lord is to stay close to you.

What we've learned today is that we are the sons of God. We are the ones you are protecting. We are the ones you've gone to heaven to prepare a place for us and Lord, thank you Lord for what you've done for us. For your patience, for your devotion, and for your son who came to die for us. In his name we pray, Amen. May the Lord bless you.

Guest (Female): Shalom Ariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will he renege any of the promises he has made to her.

Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel congregation right here in Montreal. If you've been encouraged by the messages, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 1-888-685-5902 or you may write us at info@bethariel.ca, that's B-E-T-H-A-R-I-E-L all one word, .ca.

You are also welcome to join us for our Saturday morning services. We are located at 6297 Monkland Boulevard, corner of Madison in NDG. The message is given in English but we do offer simultaneous translation into French and Russian. Services begin at 11:00 AM. We have Shabbat school for children of all ages up to and including teens.

You may also download audio messages from our website at bethariel.ca and enjoy other in-depth teaching from Jacques Isaac. If you would like to sign up for informative newsletters, log onto our website and add your name to our email list. Shalom Ariel is a listener-supported program. If you have it on your heart to donate, it will be a great blessing for the continuing ministry and outreach of Beth Ariel. Thank you and Shalom, Shalom.