Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Female): Shalom and welcome to Shalom Ariel and to today, our 22nd sermon in the book of Mark with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. In our last message, we learned about the man with the withered hand and how on the Shabbat, Yeshua chose to heal him. Not only did that become another Sabbath controversy, but what is equally impressive is the manner in which Yeshua healed the man.

Consider the fact that his hand was withered, dry, parched, and lifeless. Yet how was this man with the handicap able to stretch it forward? One would have needed the faith, the hope, or the belief that he could even raise that hand and extend it to the Master. What this handicapped man demonstrated for us is that though we might consider a situation hopeless, and while we might render ourselves incompetent or too weak to accomplish something, success will come when we recognize that once He, Yeshua, gives a command, we just need to follow and He will then enable us even to carry out those first baby steps so that the fuller request can be accomplished.

Perhaps that man thought, "Well, it's only once I get healed, then I'll be able to raise my hand." How could Yeshua be asking such an out-of-time sequence request? Yet He does. And He asks us to do things first, perhaps to test our faith and to help us see that many times, the Lord moves not in the realm of the logical, but in the realm of the supernatural.

"Stretch forth your hand" can also be understood as you need to go beyond your words to actual action in order to prove your intentions. I can say all I want and how much I believe something. Words are great, but action will speak louder than words and prove that we do stand behind what we say. So be blessed as you listen in to today's program, and Shalom, Shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: One more point on this subject. Today, there are many who are under the impression that if all the Jewish people recognized Jesus, He would not have had to die, but instead, we would all be heading to heaven. And so it is the fault of the Jews if we are suffering. I hear this all the time. Do you remember the term "deicide"? Jewish deicide is the belief that the Jews as a people will always be collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus.

And that was a constant accusation against the Jews throughout the last 2,000 years. But it's time that they wake up and smell the hummus. They forget that Jesus came to die no matter what. And thank God for this. Otherwise, we would all be heading for hell. In fact, the Bible tells us who killed Jesus. Do you remember that passage of Acts 4:27?

For truly it says in this city there were gathered against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. So we have here Herod, Pontius Pilate, also the Gentiles, and last, Israel. All these are responsible for His death. It says Gentiles, that is the people, the nations of the world. It doesn't specify any sense; all men were involved in His rejection.

It was not only one nation, but the whole world who stood against the Messiah. In short, every human being is responsible for the death of Jesus. If one human being never sinned, then Jesus would not have had to come. And thank God that He gave His life for us. We can say because He died, I'm going to heaven. And as the song says, because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all our fears are gone. Amen!

Now see what happens when Yeshua withdrew. Here we see a last testimony of His powerful presence. While some were seeking to kill Him, others and a great mass of people were seeking Him for blessing, healing, and deliverance. Verses 7 and 8, I'll read it for you. So Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples, and a great multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. And a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.

This must have been the pinnacle of His fame. They came from everywhere: east, west, north, south. No one could just lightly dismiss this great testimony, only the hardened heart. They came from Galilee and from Judea, covering the territory of Judah and that of Ephraim and other northern tribes, including Jerusalem, which is located in the tribe of Benjamin. And I want to tell you, there's great symbolism just in the mention of these first places.

King David was the only king who could gather the south and the north together, the people from Judah and Ephraim into one nation. The next one to do this is Yeshua, right here. And he will do even more when he comes back. They also came from Idumaea, that is Southern Israel, including the rest of Judah and also the tribe of Simeon.

They came from beyond the Jordan, that is on the other side of the Jordan, called Perea at that time, where we find the tribe of Gad, the tribe of Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh. They came from Tyre and Sidon. Why mention these areas when we know that at first, Jesus came to the lost sheep of the tribes of Israel? These two cities are in the original territories of the tribe of Asher and in the west of the tribe of Naphtali.

Here then, Yeshua covered the whole land, the same that the Israelites came to conquer after the Exodus. Israel was ready. And so there were so many that Jesus and His disciples had to move into a boat away from the shore so that they would not be actually squeezed, because that is the word used in verse 9. But see verse 10. For He had healed many, and the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him.

Here again, I want to tell you, we are surprised by one word which brings Yeshua's healing beyond the limits of physical restoration. Look at the word "affliction." This one is strong. It is used to describe flogging, scourging, tormenting, and diseases. And most interestingly is that in secular Greek, they use this word to describe the whip they use for driving horses.

The image is powerful. Here there was a flock of people who have been led with whips like a herd of horses, coming to Yeshua for deliverance. And they knew that just by touching Him, they would be healed. Such is a great testimony from the people of Israel. And the people wanted so much to have Yeshua as their Messiah. And if today they knew who He is, I believe they would want to go to Him. But they need to hear it. They need to be told.

We need to tell them and to give them, actually, the word. There is one other word that comes to us out of nowhere in this text. It's actually a name. It's in verse 6. I don't know if you realized, where we read of the Pharisees and the Herodians. Do you know who the Herodians are? Actually, the Bible doesn't say. They're mentioned three times in the New Testament: once in Matthew, twice in Mark.

But who could they be? Today many commentators see the Herodians as a political party. Some understood that this party wanted to keep a status quo in Northern Israel under the rule of Herods instead of the Roman rule. At the time, Judah was under the Roman rule with Pontius Pilate, and in the Northern Israel, you had the sons of Herod. But Josephus has a story for us that may give us the answer about the Herodians, and this may help to resolve a main problem in history.

You see, there were three main religious groups in Israel at that time: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. Right? How come the Bible never speaks about the Essenes? Could the Essenes be the Herodians? Let me tell you the story, Josephus' story. By the way, it's very interesting. So he says one day, when Herod, Herod the Great, was a young boy going to school, this Herod, by the way, is the father of the other Herods, the one who wanted to kill Yeshua when He was just a baby.

So as he was going to school, there was a rabbi named Menahem. He saw him and he saluted him and he says, "Oh, King of Israel." He was surely making fun of him, for he knew that Herod was not of the tribe of Judah and that he was from Edomite origin, that is from Esau, and that would make him very far from being considered King of Israel. However, as history testifies, Herod became King. He was crowned King of the Jews by the Romans.

And when he was at the height of his dominion, like Josephus says, he remembered Rabbi Menahem and so he said, "I want to speak to this man." And so he ordered that they find him. They did find him and they brought him to him. This is when he asked the Rabbi Menahem the question: "How long will I reign? Ten years or not?" So Menahem said to him, answered and he said, "Yes, 20. No, no, no, 30 years." He didn't know, by the way, he just guessed.

And so when Herod heard this, Josephus tells us, and I quote, "Herod was satisfied with this reply and gave Menahem his hand and dismissed him. And from that time, he continued to honor all the Essenes." And so by the time of the first century, the joke continues. It is very possible that the Essenes are called the Herodians. So now we know. So it could be either a political party or a religious party.

So after the great testimony of the great mass of people which followed Yeshua, we read in the last two verses of this section, verse 11 and 12. It says whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!" And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was. Even the demons knew who Yeshua is, the Son of God. You know how interesting that they would call Him the Son of God?

When this was what the devil was trying to disprove at the temptation. When Yeshua was at His weakest point as a human, the tempter told Yeshua, "If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread," Matthew 4:3. And again he tempted Him in His faith when he took Him into the holy city, in the pinnacle of the temple and said, "If You're the Son of God, throw Yourself down and You'll be carried, as it is written in Psalm 91."

But there's a sense that even the demonic world, and in front of the great power of the Messiah, they already and surely unwittingly conceded victory to God and called Yeshua the Son of God. Now to conclude, as we consider the healing of the man with the withered hand and how Jesus gave him back life and fellowship with God, and how happy and joyful he must have been to be restored, let us remember the word "withering."

What it means: it means dry, parched, lifeless. And how his restoration was produced in giving life to his hands. And so life, communion, restoration with God is often accompanied with water, which is a symbol of life. And this reminds us of a moment in the history of Israel when the Israelites were at a very critical point. The Philistines were at the door of Jerusalem or at least of Israel, where they were ready to attack and disseminate many of the Jews.

This is when the Lord acted to save them. But see how the Jews thanked the Lord after the deliverance. This is what Samuel asked them to do, 1 Samuel 7:5-6. It says, "Then Samuel said, 'Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.' They gathered at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day and said there, 'We have sinned against the Lord.' And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah."

This was a great time of communion with God. They fasted, they confessed, and see what Samuel asked them to do. They were to draw water and pour it out before the Lord. What does that mean? Rabbinical commentators overflow with ideas on this passage. One has said that they poured out their heart and soul to God. Another thought that they confessed all their sins. Another said that the water symbolizes the prayer poured to God.

The Talmud here compares the water to the word of God. And so the people returned to God just like this withered man whose fellowship with God was restored. Again, the idea then is that this pouring out of water is an expression of a symbol and of the depth of their surrender to God. They poured themselves to Him, an action necessary not only for a new person to come to God for the first time, but for every believer to do that is regularly, daily, to be filled by the Spirit.

And so let's bow our head in prayer. I will pray part of an ancient prayer. Let us give praise to God on high. He is blessed and He is to be blessed, for no one is like You, Lord. For You are great in holiness and doing wonderful things. Blessed are You, O Lord our God, the God who is great, powerful, and revered, the Most High, the Lord of heaven and earth, our shield and the shield of our father, the God who increases our faithfulness.

Blessed are You, O Lord. You are the shield of Abraham. And You are our shield. And You are the shield of everyone who humbly comes to You with a repentant heart in order to treat You as holy and to glorify You to the people, as You spoke to Moses. And Lord, bless each and every one present here and each and every one who is listening to this prayer. Put Your healing hand upon those who are sick and who are looking to You for healing.

Rest Your spirit on those who are hurting, who are going through a difficult time. Give them hope and joy. Rest Your salvation on those who desire it, who are not yet saved. Let them come and see You. And to the congregation, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen and amen.

Guest (Male): Join us now for this part of our program, the Q&A section. In our biblical study of eschatology, we have the teaching concerning what comes after the millennium, namely the eternal order. There are some remarkable characteristics of this eternal state, such as no more tears, no pain, no sorrow, no death or mourning. What was done in the Garden of Eden will have been reversed, and the New Jerusalem will descend from God to the New Earth.

Something we also need to consider in this eternal order is that there will be nations. And since Israel was the chosen nation, why would she suddenly not be represented in the eternal order? So in our Q&A today, someone addressed this particular question asking whether Israel will be there or not in the eternal order. Let's tune in and find out the answer. Be blessed.

Guest (Male): Will at any time in the future Israel cease to exist? I ask this question because just recently I attended a teaching where the lecturer presented his point of view that in the eternal state, Israel will cease to exist as a nation. The argument is based on what is written in Jeremiah 31: that so long as the moon and the sun and the stars last, Israel's existence as a nation is secured.

But then the argument continues that since in the eternal state there will not be any moon or sun, therefore her nationhood, her existence as an entity will also disappear. Should we depend on this kind of reasoning? What do the scriptures say? And thank you.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: That's quite a statement to say that Israel will cease to exist based on this prophecy in Jeremiah that is reversing exactly what Jeremiah means to convey. For those who are not familiar with this prophecy, it says in Jeremiah 31 verses 35 to 36: "Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night... If this fixed order departs from before Me," declares the Lord, "then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever."

From this point, those who say that Israel will cease to exist go to Revelation 21:23, which brings us to heaven in the eternal state, and they quote this verse which says: "And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it," the city being heaven. And it says: "For the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb." So the conclusion is, since the city which is heaven has no need of the moon and sun, then Israel will cease to exist.

At the core of this reasoning is a continuation of the replacement theology thinking, which believes from the very beginning of the church birth in the first history, Israel as a people ceased to exist in any role or function and was replaced by the church. This theory brought great persecution and antisemitism to the Jewish people during the last 2,000 years. Now we have a teaching which extends this false concept on into eternity.

Yet it is really not difficult to see the fallacy behind this conclusion. To begin with, here in Jeremiah 31, the Lord uses a hyperbole to show that at no time would Israel as a chosen people be annihilated. There are many such hyperboles in the scriptures, just as in our own language. A hyperbole is a claim that is not to be taken literally. In everyday language, it is like saying that that plane ride took forever or saying, "My feet are killing me."

And there are many such figures of speech in the Bible itself. Like for instance in Genesis 42:28, when it says that their hearts went out or their hearts sank. We understand that they were affected by the situation. Or Deuteronomy 1:28, when it says that the cities are great and walled up to heaven. This hyperbole expresses the walls' great height. So concerning figures of speech, there are at least 1,500 of them in the Bible, and when one begins to take them literally, the scriptures become a nest of false teaching.

But again, it is not difficult to see that this particular case in Jeremiah 31, its conclusion does not lead us to Israel's end in the eternal state, even when we take it literally. For instance, and to begin with, the Bible clearly attests that nations of the world will exist during the eternal state. So why would other nations be there but not Israel as a Jewish nation? Looking at two verses in Revelation: speaking of the light that the Messiah will emanate, we read in Revelation 21:24 that the nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

Here we see the distinctions between different nations. And then in Revelation 22:2, we are told that these nations will come every month to the tree of life. It says in the midst of its street, one on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. If the nations are going to fellowship together, it already indicates a diversity of nations coming together in the eternal state.

Why then would Israel be singled out so as not to exist among these nations? Furthermore, all around heaven, there will be signs of Israel's existence as a nation. We read that the twelve gates which surround the New Jerusalem, that is heaven, will carry one of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, Revelation 21:12. Why would these biblical historical names even be mentioned if it were not to point to faithfulness of God and His covenant-keeping promise to this nation?

Furthermore, the name of heaven for eternity is actually the New Jerusalem. Jerusalem itself was always the capital city and heartbeat of the nation of Israel. Furthermore, interpreting Jeremiah 31 to say that the nation of Israel will cease to exist clearly belittles the nation of God. There the Lord says that if these things happen, that the sun, the moon disappear, and one could measure the depth of the earth, then He says, "I will also cast off the offspring of Israel," verse 37.

The word "cast off," ma'as, means to reject with contempt, to despise. This implies that Israel would not only cease to exist, that it will become a source of contempt, of scorn and disdain to God and for eternity, since the sun and the moon are not there anymore. Also, we should not lose sight of what is mentioned in Revelation 22:2, that the trees will yield its fruits when? Every month.

We know that the moon and sun were given as markers of time and particularly the moon, which divided time into periods of 28 days, which we call months. Why would we assume that the moon will no longer be there to continue as the earth's measurement of time when it clearly says that the fruit yielding for the purpose of communion occurred monthly? We will surely not need the moon for light, but they'll still be there for a marker of months.

But so far, these are only surface arguments, because if Israel will exist for eternity, it is mainly because of the unconditional covenant that God made with this nation and particularly the Davidic covenant, which states that there will be an eternal dynasty with a king whose descendancy is from Judah. And this king is the King of kings, Yeshua Himself, as we see it in 2 Samuel 7:11-16 and 1 Chronicles 17:10.

The Lord told David in 2 Samuel 7:16, He says: "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever." Twice the word "forever," le'olam, is mentioned in this verse. One for the kingdom of David, a kingdom designating the nation of Israel, and one for the throne of David, which will be placed on the New Jerusalem, on the New Earth that will be created for the eternal state.

Now, what is forever for the Lord is for eternity without end. And so Israel's presence will never be extinguished. In eternity, Israel will then function as the priestly nation to all other nations of the world, and its capital city will be the New Jerusalem, which will also be God's eternal abode. And all of this will be done in peace, and I can't wait to be there.

Guest (Male): 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, 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.

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