Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Male): Shalom and welcome to Shalom Ariel and to this our 61st sermon from the Gospel of Mark with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. When we consider great men of humility, we marvel at their obedience to serve, to love, and to consider others before their own needs. Humility shows itself in other ways as well. Consider when someone who perhaps does not like you, does things differently than you do, wears another color shirt than you do, and they preach the gospel in a different way than you do. Are we allowed to be exclusive in our deciding or our judging whether that person is worthy enough to hold the same platform as us?

When Israel was in the wilderness, we hear of two men, Eldad and Medad, who prophesied, but they did it away from the other elders. When it became known that they were not with the others, Joshua told Moses that he should stop them from continuing. But Moses said this, "I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His spirit on them." Moses wasn't seeking control or leadership when it came to the outpouring of God's spirit. Moses's concern was for God's glory to be made visibly known. If God chose to pour out His spirit on these two men while they were not with the others, so be it for the glory of God.

What a contrast to what John suggested, as we're going to hear in our message today. John is here condemning a man for casting out demons just because the man was not part of their group. But here Yeshua gives an answer very similar to what we heard from Moses. He said, "Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in My name that can lightly speak evil of Me." And there was yet another time when John and his brother James were ready to ask Yeshua if they could call down fire from heaven to kill the enemies of Samaria.

But what a great contrast we see in John from his attitude of exclusivity and condemnation to one of love. What amazing work the Holy Spirit did. You know, one would think that 1 Corinthians 13 was the chapter on love, but that word love and all its derivatives is used by John in 1 John 4 a total of 27 times. And the word love in its different forms is used 56 times throughout the entire Gospel of John. He was a changed man. He was humbled. In our assessment of people and their cultural styles or different traditions, can we stand with Paul who said that while some preach Messiah out of envy and rivalry, others do so out of goodwill? Some do it out of love and some do it to stir up trouble even for Paul. Yet he concludes, "But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Messiah is preached. And because of this," Paul says, "I rejoice." What a great lesson and challenge we have from that bold statement. Be blessed as you listen into today's message and shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: And to enhance this message, see what Yeshua says in verse 36-37. Taking a child, He set him before them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." Notice the last words. Whoever receives Me receives Him, the Father. So it is from the Father, to the Messiah, to us, to others. This is the path of love.

Notice that He took a child. Why a child? Because in children, we find the antithesis of what it all boils down to: the sin of pride. This is the first sin. This is where Satan fell. A child symbolizes what is humble, what is lowly, modest, and meek—things that are essential for a believer in order for him to produce fruit. Being like a child applies the principles of love found in 1 Corinthians 13, that is to see the best of each one. As Yeshua did to all the 12 disciples, even Judas Iscariot.

The principle here proclaimed that love believes all, love hopes all things, love endures all things. That doesn't mean that the believer is gullible or childish, but that he or she is called to be like Jesus, like Yeshua, in making the other person's situation our priority. This point is over-emphasized in the epistles: let's live for the other. One highlight when I'm in Israel will be my first sighting of the Dead Sea. You know, as soon as you leave Jerusalem, there it is. So beautiful, so majestic. Yet it is dead.

One reason why it's called dead, as modern Israel is calling it the Sea of Death, is because of its high salt content, which does not allow any aquatic organism such as fish or plants to survive, even though there are some minuscule quantities of bacteria present. But I want to tell you another reason why it is called dead. It is because it receives water but does not give back any. It takes from the Jordan River but keeps it, transforms it for itself, so it is dead even though it is of great beauty from the outside.

Similar are those who receive and are not giving or sharing or serving. We want our service to be filled with living fruits, which nourishes and encourages others. That's why we're here. And one more thing about the child that Yeshua received to Himself. One question we often ask is what language did Jesus speak at the time? Probably Aramaic, which was the common language at the time. However, some argue that it's Hebrew and others say it's Greek or maybe the three of them.

In the illustration involving the child, whichever language one chooses, the message is the same. In Aramaic, the word for child is talya, which means a servant. Child-servant was the same word. And if He spoke Hebrew, the child is yeled, for the word for servant is yalad. It's spelled the same way. And if He spoke Greek, the word for child is paidon, which is also the word for servant. So whichever you look at it, the attitude of childlike humility is the best way to serve.

Now this was a great lesson of love concerning those close to us, those in our immediate group. But what about the others who are outside our circle? The next event also comes abruptly, but it follows the trail of love and teaches us something very important. See what happens next and suddenly. Verse 38-39. John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not hinder him, for there's no one who will perform a miracle in My name and be able soon after to speak evil of Me."

Here is one person unknown to the disciples who was casting out demons in the name of Yeshua, and he seems to be very successful. Who was this man? And how come he was not part of Jesus's inner circle? The Messiah's answer is an eye-opener. He knew this person and He tells His disciples, "Don't hinder him." The Messiah's answer is to the point. This showed them and shows us that the Lord's hand cannot be confined to just one group of people, to just one congregation or church or one denomination.

From this verse, no organization has the right to call itself Catholic, meaning universal, and claim exclusivity. For the Spirit works in many different ways and through other men and women of God around, given that they all have the scriptures as their foundation. This instance must have been instrumental for the disciples when they were soon to face with a decision as to one person who was coming, a very influential person. Who was it? Rabbi Shaul, Paul. You know that Paul came, it seems, out of nowhere, even from the enemy camp and he began to teach the word of God.

No man had taught him about the new faith but the Spirit only, as he said in Galatians chapter 1. He was three years in Arabia. And when he started to influence the believers everywhere, the disciples in Jerusalem had to make a decision concerning his attachment to this newfound organization, the body of the Messiah. Surely they investigated. They determined that Paul was a man of God. Even Peter says that his words are inspired by God, are scriptures. This is what we see in Acts chapter 15 and 21, the Jerusalem councils. In both of them, people are complaining about him, but they supported him.

And there was a similar incident with Moses and his disciples in Numbers 11 with Eldad and Medad. They were proclaiming the word through the camp of Israel, but they were unknown to the leadership. So one day a young man ran and told Moses and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses's assistant, one of the choice men, answered and said, "Moses, my lord, you have to forbid him." Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His spirit upon them."

Can you see how that story reflects what is going on here in Mark? No one from Moses's circle knew Eldad and Medad. They were unknown to man, but they were known to God. That tells us that there are many out there who we do not know who are fighting the good fight. Do you know what the names Eldad and Medad mean? Actually, they mean the same thing. Eldad means God loves and Medad means beloved of God. Whichever you prefer, God loves them. That's the message.

This part tells us that God's arm is not short when He reaches everywhere and that is a great blessing knowing that God works with other people as well. It relieves us some more responsibilities. But this doesn't mean that we have to accept everyone and everything with eyes closed. True love demands that we weigh out everything to see if the person is really from God. See the powerful statement Yeshua gives next. Notice, not an easy one. Verse 40. "For he who is not against us is for us."

There's something very exclusive, very cutting about this declaration. It goes from teaching us not to think of ourselves as exclusive to being exclusive regarding Yeshua and His teaching. First, see that these words do not allow any middle point. One is either with or against Jesus. As He Himself told Paul on the road to Damascus, "Go and bring the people from darkness to light, from Satan to God." No middle point. We may often tend to think of unbelievers as so nice that we're almost embarrassed to speak to them about sin. But where are they going to spend eternity? That's the question. In heaven or in Gehenna?

That is the question which should motivate us to begin to pray for them and seek an open door to proclaim the Gospel. Gehenna, that is the word for hell, and this is the very word that Jesus is about to use in the next verses, not once but three times because He wants to awaken us up of the things of the people outside. As He now switches our attention from the believing realm to the world outside and our responsibility towards it. This continues that great trail of love that started several verses earlier.

With Gehenna, He also uses the word like fire that is not quenched to describe what we commonly call hell. It is a difficult subject to deal with with many unanswered questions, but one thing is clear in this passage: no one wants to go there. No one wishes or would want to wish that anyone should go there. It is at this point that the text changes, the mood switches, for the subject is very important. In opening this subject, Yeshua has a warning against those who made it their mission to bash and persecute the believers.

But see how He does it. Look at verse 42. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." This is the equivalent of the Abrahamic covenant for the believers today. God said of Israel, "The one who curses you I will curse." For the believer in Yeshua, we read this frightening warning here. For the millstone in Greek is mulos onikos, literally meaning millstone of a donkey. That is very heavy, as seen put around the neck as a collar.

And then in the next verses, to enhance the warning three times, Yeshua repeats the same warning once concerning the hand, once concerning the feet, once concerning the eye. He says that if one of these things causes you to stumble, cut it off, for it is better for you to enter life crippled than having two hands or so to go into hell, that is Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. These are very strong words. The hand speaks of the action itself. The foot speaks of the means to get into the action to be carried out.

The eye is from where sin may enter. But why this stern warning to the 12 disciples? To 11 of them, He was stressing the need, the necessity to proclaim the good news to the world. For there's a sense in which these words were especially addressed also to the 12th disciple, that is Judas Iscariot, who must have begun the procedures of betrayal. Yeshua is here giving him a grave warning. And all these three warnings are also for all those who will follow Judas Iscariot's footsteps.

Why spend so much space in the Gospel knowing that the Bible is a very small book repeating things three times? Because God cares for every single soul. See how Yeshua describes hell three times. He quotes the last words of the book of Isaiah. Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. This is the description of hell, of Gehenna, and this is how the rabbis understood it as well. Before the first century, the name Gehenna had become synonymous with hell, the place of eternal punishment.

Jesus spoke so much about it. He refers to it over 17 times in the Gospels because He doesn't want anyone to end up there. This is why His name is Yeshua, meaning salvation, because He came to save men from this very place. People ask, "How could a gracious God allow some to suffer for eternity?" And so they devised theories like the purgatory, which says that it's only for a certain time and then they are carried to heaven. This is a Jewish thought that was carried by the Catholics.

Or the theory of annihilation, which says that punishment may only last for a certain time and then the person disappears. Instead of arguing these things, listen to what Jesus is saying: make sure you don't go there. Hell is described as eternal fire, as a fire that is never quenched. It's called darkness. It's called blackness of darkness, the outer darkness. How could fire be darkness at the same time? There are many things we don't understand and instead of arguing and discussing these things, again listen to what He says: don't go there. Accept Him as your personal Savior.

It was C.S. Lewis who said something like this: "The one who goes to heaven says to God, 'Thy will be done.' And to the others, God says, 'Thy will be done.'" Because I want to tell you, no one goes to hell by accident. It's a choice. Let God's will be done who wants everyone to come to a saving knowledge of Yeshua. To encourage everyone to make this crucial decision about heaven, Yeshua spoke His last words in verses 49 to 50. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.

Just before Yeshua spoke of the worm that never dies to illustrate the never-ending state of hell, but now He mentions the remedy, that is salt, that will prevent a person to get in there. What is the relation between the two, salt and the worm? Did you know that in nature salt kills a worm? If one sprinkles salt on a worm, the salt will absorb all the water from the worm which will become dehydrated and finally die. The process is called osmosis. What then is this salt, which is the remedy against that worm?

Salt is a preservative. It's a protection against what? Decay. From ancient times, it was used for the preservation of food and here Yeshua uses it as a symbol of the preservation of our soul and against hell. This is why salt is good, of course. And everyone will be salted with fire. We can think of the concept of common grace where everyone will be given a chance to attain salvation. Everyone will be salted with fire of cleansing and given the ability to make a decision. But again, this offer is not forever. This is why there's always an urgency in the scriptures when it speaks about salvation.

Yeshua adds, "If the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?" Salt in its natural state never decays, like the word of God. It is what is mixed with it that corrupts it and makes it unsalty. Reading all these powerful illustrations, we can see how the Lord wants so much everyone to come to a saving knowledge. Let's close with this point about the salt. You know, in the Hebrew Scriptures we read of the salt of the covenant of God. This is what opens the book of Leviticus. The salt of the covenant of God. What is it?

It is through this covenant where we can really understand the fact that we are the salt of the earth, meaning that we are to proclaim the word. There are two passages in the scriptures which explain the nature of God's promises through salt. One has to do with the priestly covenant and the other with the Davidic covenant. Both speak of surety of the coming of Yeshua as a priest and as a king. This is where it meets us with our proclamation of the good news. The first is found in Numbers 18:19. It speaks of the priesthood in Israel and their duty as position in the nation. It is our duty as well.

And so it says, "All the offerings of the holy gifts," God says, "which the sons of Israel shall offer the Lord, it is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your descendants." This was God's promise to the priesthood will never end, for we always need a mediator between God and man. The eternal priesthood order is called by David and the authors, the priesthood according to Melchizedek. This is what Yeshua is today. He is our priest sitting at the right hand of God.

The other place of the covenant of salt is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 13:5 where we read, "Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave to rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?" The Davidic covenant and the promise of an eternal king descending from David was understood as the covenant of salt, an eternal covenant according to God's promise which would be fulfilled when Jesus comes back. He will come back as King of kings and will be the king not only of Israel, but of the whole world. Now knowing all these things, the conclusion now is be at peace with one another. These are Jesus's last words of this chapter. Let's bow our head in prayer.

Let us pray an ancient prayer. May His name be magnified and sanctified in the world which He created according to His will. May His kingdom rule and redemption take seed. May He lead the Messiah into our path. May His name be blessed, praised, made known, exalted, elevated, and honored and may it be above all blessings and hymns, praises, and consolation that are given in the world. And may our prayer be accepted as our petition and our petition be efficient joined to the prayer of the whole body of the Messiah before our Father in heaven. All this we pray in Yeshua's name. 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. May the Lord bless you all.

Guest (Male): Welcome to this portion of our program where we have a Q&A with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. Today's question deals with the spiritual blessings found in the olive tree. Exactly what does it mean that Gentile believers in Yeshua are grafted into the cultivated olive tree of Israel? Does this simply refer to the fact that salvation is of the Jews who, as a nation, were prepared by God to recognize and receive the Messiah and that the new covenant was made with them? In other words, because we Gentiles have accepted Jesus as our Savior, we get the benefit of the salvation that was first offered to Israel. Second, do any of the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament apply to believing Gentiles or is that not the case? If some do, as in some promises do and some promises don't, how can we tell the difference?

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Well, thank you for this great question. You know, the olive tree mentioned in Romans 11 is the place where both the remnant of Israel and the remnant of the nations meet. The olive tree is not Israel nor is it the church, but it is the place of spiritual blessings for both groups. This is a missing link in church history and current theology. The scripture says that Israel, who is often estranged from the tree, is actually the owner or the keeper of the tree for they are the priestly nation from where the word and the Messiah came to us.

Consider first the passage of Romans 11:24 where Paul stressed this fact for it did not take long after the ascension of Yeshua for the Jews to really be pushed out of this tree. He says, "For if you," speaking to the nations, "were cut out from what is by nature a wild tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these," that is Israel, "who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?" So when a Gentile comes to believe, he's invited to join the olive tree whose natural branches are the Jewish believers.

Or as Paul said again in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12, speaking to Gentiles, he says, "Remember that you were at that time separated from the Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers of the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." This is before the church was formed. Much of the problem in grasping Paul's argument is that we often forget that the church was originally composed of Jews and later with believers from other nations who joined in. These Gentile believers came in to be grafted into the Jewish-owned tree, so to speak.

Today we're under the impression that biblical Christianity belongs to the nations and Israel has lost her place. As a consequence, when a Jew enters the church, he's often asked to forget or forsake his pedigree, his ancestry. At least this is what the post-millennialists and amillennialists who constitute the majority of Christianity and often also many pre-millennialists as they are redefining their position teach, often subtly, for they find no place for Israel here in the present or in later prophecies. This is why Paul is being very bold in his treatment of this subject, for this problem is 2,000 years old.

As for your second question, except for the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic covenant, which promises a land and a king in Israel forever, all other blessings could be applicable to all believers. As we have seen in 1 Corinthians 10:11, which says that Israel's history is written as an example for every other believer for we have the same God, of course. So these were very good questions and I encourage you to listen to the first studies on Israel: Past, Present, and Future, there on YouTube. Or if you desire, I would send you the notes.

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.ca. That's 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 a.m. 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 on to 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.