El Shaddai Ministries

Pastor Mark Biltz: Now, we're going to go into the next session called digging deeper into the Gospels. And we're going to go real deep here. Let's start with Matthew chapter one, verse one. It says, “This is the book of the generations of Yeshua HaMashiach, the son of who?”

Guest (Male): David.

Pastor Mark Biltz: Is it that interesting? It didn't say the son of Adam, it doesn't say the son of Noah, it doesn't say the son of Abraham or the son of Joseph, but the son of David. What he's trying to say is this is the Messiah. That's the reason why they say David. He's the son of Abraham.

Now, here's the thing. Matthew was written after Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Okay? It's been several hundred years since all of that happened. Now, God a thousand years earlier had made a promise to David that there would be a Davidic king on the throne, but at this time, there hasn't been a Davidic king for almost 400 years. Well, now, it's been 2400 years. Okay?

So what's going on here? Well, we're going to take a look at that. Here's a picture of an ancient olive tree. I think it's 3,000 years old, is how old this olive tree is. And it's got some new shoots, or new branches coming out all over it. Well, look at Isaiah 11, verse 1 and 2. It says, “There will come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and what else? A branch.”

“Shall grow out of his roots.” Now, here's what's important about that when you read that. It talks about the stump of Jesse. It's like a tree stump. Well, if a branch is coming out of a stump, that means the tree's been cut down. So this is prophesying that the Davidic rulership is going to be cut down. But then, a branch is going to come out of that. Okay?

And now, you got to remember, Isaiah prophesied before the destruction. Okay, the destruction was like 200 years after Isaiah. So he's prophesying that this long before the temple was destroyed, that it would end up being destroyed. And then he says, “The spirit of the Lord is going to rest upon this branch.” The spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Okay? Well, let's go to Zechariah chapter 3, verse 8. It says, “Hear me, oh Joshua, the high priest, you and your fellows that sit before you, for they are men wondered at, for behold, I will bring forth my servant.” And what's his name? The branch. And then Zechariah 6, 12 and 13 is a very heavy verse. It says, “Speak unto him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold the man whose name is the branch. He will grow up out of his place, he will build the temple of the Lord. Even he will build the temple of the Lord. He will bear the glory and sit and rule upon his throne, and he will be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between the both.’”

Okay. God had divided the priesthood and the kingship. The priesthood was Levi and the kingship was David. But here this is talking about a priest who's sitting on the throne. And so, they see this as messianic, who's going to, you know, bring everybody together again, because it's a priest who's sitting on the throne. Well, guess what? The Maccabees were priests and they thought they were the ones. So the Levitical Maccabees were priests and they decided to sit on the throne for a couple hundred years. And so, what do we see here? And if you remember, even Herod claimed to be the king. Okay? So, kingship had no meaning because no one was from the tribe of David.

But look at Psalm 89. This is verse 3 and 4. God says, “I made a covenant with my chosen,” who is that? David. He says, “I swore to David my servant that your seed will I establish forever and build up your throne to all generations.” Okay, well that seed refers to is Messiah, the son of David.

Now, look what it goes on to say in Psalm 89, verse 34 and 37. God says, “My covenant will I not break, I won't alter what's gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It will be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.”

Okay, God always wants the mouth of two or three witnesses. So that's why he's always called upon heaven and earth. Okay? You've got the sun and the moon as witnesses. He calls them in a court reference where he's talking about the heavenly court, and he calls the sun to hear and the moon to hear. They're his two witnesses. We can't destroy the sun. We can't destroy the moon. It is beyond our abilities.

Now, here's the thing. Here are the phases of the moon. Okay? And how many moons are in one row? In this row, how many moons are in this row, going across? Seven. And what's 7 times 4? And the moon is a lunar length of like 28.5 days. So I want you to think, because it's the new moon is the first day. Okay? And the waxing moon is the last day of the month. You following me? Let me help you.

Here is a calendar. This is the month of Tevet, and I have Tevet 1 at the top. And here's Tevet 29, and here's the next month, Shevat. So, how do you know when the first day of a month is?

Guest (Male): The new moon.

Pastor Mark Biltz: The new moon. There it is. You can see the new moon with a light crescent right there. That is the new moon. How do you know when the middle of a biblical month is?

Guest (Male): Full moon.

Pastor Mark Biltz: Boom! There's the middle of the month on the 15th, right? And then the waxing moon is toward the end of the month, and the light is on this side. Sometimes people give send me this picture, and they tell me, "Here's a picture of the new moon." Sorry, light's on the wrong side. The light's got to be on that side. That is the new moon. When the light's on that side, it's fading out. It's the waxing or waning moon.

Okay. Now, here's what is amazing about this. Let's go to this next verse. Matthew 1:17. So, all the generations from Abraham to David, are how many generations? 14. And from David to the carrying away of Babylon, are how many? 14. And from the carrying away of Babylon to Messiah, are how many? 14. So, I want you to think of every day as a generation.

And 14 days, Abraham is like the light of the new moon, the light of Israel's beginning. And now all the way to David is 14. Solomon would be the 15th, and the 15th is the full moon, where the light of Israel is at its biggest. And then what happens? Then it says, “And from David to the destruction of the temple, is 14 generations.” And 15 and 14 is 29 generations. And it's 29 days in a month. And so, what happens? This is beginning to glory, in its glory. And then all of a sudden, Israel, horrible things happened to Israel. Well, then what happens? Well, then from the destruction of the temple to Messiah is another 14 generations. This is Messiah bright shining as he's back again. So the lives of Israel, the generations of the Messiah are likened to the days of the month. Isn't that cool? Isn't that cool? I mean, this is telling us the generations, each day is a generation going from disaster to Israel to a great time, to disaster in Israel to a great time. They're parallel.

Okay. Let's go to Matthew 1, 21 and 23. Do you remember I was talking earlier in the first half about God wanting to save the fish, so he had to get them out of the ocean, so it's represent the nations? Okay. Well, let's look at the pattern. Look at Matthew 1, 21 through 23. This virgin is going to bring forth a son, and you will call his name Yeshua, which means salvation, for he will save his people. What?

Guest (Male): From their sins.

Pastor Mark Biltz: Oh, but guess what? It doesn't say he will save them in their sins. No one wants to be saved from their sins, they love it too much. Just save me from the consequence. Let me stay in my sins and you save me from the consequence, but don't save me from my sin. I love it.

God wants to save us from our sins, so he wants to get us out of them. Just like the fish out of the water to be holy to be separate, we're not holy and separate if we're still in our sins, wanting to be saved in our sins. But the problem we have today, most pastors want to be life coaches and massage you. And guess what? Every sermon is about you. It's not about him. They want to focus on you. Oh, you know, God will save you while you're in your sins. Sin all you want. I'm going to here to tell you that as long as you've said the magic words, spun around three times, and fell on the floor, you're good. Now, you can be saved in your sins. So I'm going to be your life coach, and I'm going to focus on making you happy. I'm not going to focus on making God happy. I want to focus on making you happy. I want to glorify you. I don't want to glorify him. This is the difference in what's happening in the church today.

Isaiah 7, 13 and 14. And he said, “Hear now, oh house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.” A sign. What kind of a sign? He says, “A virgin will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel.” Which means what?

Guest (Male): God with us.

Pastor Mark Biltz: What a concept. I wonder if Yeshua was divine. Okay. Look at Matthew 2, 1 and 2. “Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born the King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east. We've come to worship him.'” Okay, they're looking up, and they see the star, and they are coming to worship him, because God says there will be signs in the heavens. And he's also uses eclipses.

Okay. Genesis 1:14. God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs.” Okay. Can you have an eclipse with the sun and no moon? Can you have an eclipse with the moon and no sun? That's why he said, “Let them be for signs,” and then when it says, “seasons, days, and years,” it's referring to the holy days, the shmita years, the jubilee years, not our calendar, not winter, spring, summer, or fall. The problem is, our calendar is based only on the sun. It's a perfect calendar mathematically for the sun only. Islamic calendar is based on the moon only. And it's a very scientific, mathematically correct calendar for the moon only. But God said, “Let them.”

Did you know China uses a lunar solar calendar like the Bible? They got it halfway right. The problem is, all their holidays are based on paganism, not on the biblical holidays. But the thing is this, you cannot use the Gregorian calendar as the standard and try to make the biblical calendar fit into it. The biblical calendar becomes the standard because it's plumb. The Gregorian calendar isn't plumb, it's not biblical. So the dates of that have to match into this calendar.

Now, let me give you a good example. And actually, I'm going to have this in my book coming out because I'm going to destroy the Gregorian calendar. Not even me. When do historians say, what year was the temple destroyed?

Guest (Male): 586.

Pastor Mark Biltz: The first temple, Solomon's temple.

Guest (Male): 589 BC.

Pastor Mark Biltz: It was they they say like 587, 586, 587 BC. Didn't happen. Did not happen then at all. Okay? When you read your Bible, and I have all the verses, from Adam to the destruction of the temple, is 3,361 years. And I can prove it biblically. Okay? If you take 5784 today, okay, which is 1923, 1924, and you go backwards to 3361 AM, okay? It was destroyed in 400 BC, not 587. They're off 187 years. But the math proves it. The math the Bible proves the temple was destroyed in 3361. This is 5784. If you go back to 3361 with a parallel Gregoriun calendar, it was destroyed in the year 400. And so, you don't make our calendar try to fit 587. You have to take the Gregorian calendar that's missing all these years, and adding all these years and looking at the biblical calendar, when it happened.

Okay. Now, here's the thing. In the book of Daniel, there's a very significant prophecy that proves there's going to be two comings of the Messiah. See, the Jews believe two Messiahs, one coming. We believe one Messiah, two comings. Daniel proves the fact that there is one Messiah and two comings. And I will show it to you. Everyone's familiar with this verse, but we're going to explain it. It says in Daniel 9, 24 through 26, “that 70 weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in an everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and discern, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, to the Messiah,” that's anointed one, that's Moshiach in Hebrew, which we get Messiah from. “The prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks, and then it will be built again with the street and the moat, even in troubled times. And then after the 62 weeks, the Moshiach will be what? Cut off.”

“And there'll be nothing left, and the people of the prince who will come, will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Wow, that means there's a Messiah who has to die before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. So, it was destroyed in 70 AD. And so, here we see a Messiah has to come and be killed before the destruction of the temple. So, who would the Jews think would be the Messiah that came before the destruction of the temple? Okay, they avoid this chapter.

Okay. The other thing I wanted to touch on is could Yeshua be divine or God? That's a big question. A lot of the messy, and I call it messianics, they'll, you know, believe that Jesus may be the Messiah, but he wasn't divine. And they'll go to the normative Judaism. But I want you to follow this. This makes all the difference in the world. I totally disagree that a man can become God, but I believe that God could become a man if he wants. Two different things. The thing that is interesting is why would the God of the universe, who created everything, humble himself to become one of us? That's what's mind-blowing.

But listen, in Genesis 18:1 is where the Lord appears to Abraham at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Okay? And what does Abraham say? “My YHWH Lord, if I found favor in your sight, don't go away. Let me your servant give you a little water and get wash your feet and rush yourself here under the tree.” So for Abraham to speak to him face to face, he obviously had to take on the expression of a human. And then in verse 22, the other people with the Lord leave, and it says Abraham stood yet before the YHWH and continues the conversation. So, God does manifest his presence through physicality on Earth whenever he wants to. As a matter of fact, he did for Moses at the burning bush with a fire. He came as a fire. Okay? It came to Israel as the Shekinah, the cloud of glory, and the fire, and the cloud that moved. He, the Bible also says that Moses spoke to the Lord face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Well, if I'm speaking face to face as a friend, that means he spoke to the Lord face to face. Okay? So yes, God can have the appearance of a man. As a matter of fact, in Judges 13, at the birth of Samson, Manoah, you know, and his wife both see a manifestation of the Lord.

Now, I don't think this verse is on your notes, but it's one of my favorite verses that prove this. You can reference it and I'll read it. It's in Joshua, chapter 5, verse 13 and 15, when Joshua is about to attack Jericho. Look at this. He lifts up his eyes, looked, and behold a man was standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. This has to be something physical to see someone with a sword in his hand. And Joshua comes up to him, "Are you for us or against us?" He's going to kill this guy with the sword. And the guy says, "No, you don't understand. I'm the commander of the Lord's army." And so what is he do? He falls on his face and it says, "He worships him."

Now, Revelation, when they go to worship the angel, he says, "Get up, get up, get up. I'm not God. You only worship God." And the Jews believe you only worship God. Well here Joshua's falling on his face before a man and worshiping him and it's accepted. And he said, "What does my Lord say to your servant?" And the commander of the Lord's army says to Joshua, "Take off your shoes, for you're standing on holy ground."

Guest (Male): He is right there.

Pastor Mark Biltz: Hello! Hello! Okay. Now, and Joshua did what he said. Okay, but now there's a bigger question. While the Lord may be manifest, uh, may be able to manifest himself as a man, would he ever want to become one? Okay? Well, again, let's look at the virgin birth. Many of you are familiar with Isaiah 7:14, that's where it says, "How the Lord himself will give a sign, and a virgin will conceive." That's what we just read.

Here is the problem, though, that's English. What does the Hebrew say? In the Hebrew, it's the word `almah`. Okay? Well, there's another Hebrew word for virgin and it's called `betulah`. And they say this says `almah`, therefore in the Jewish translations, it says a young woman will conceive, not a virgin will conceive. So that's how they translate it into English, and they say, "No, you know, your verse in Matthew about a virgin will conceive, if you compare it to the Hebrew, it means a young girl." Okay? That's how they discount the virgin birth by the Hebrew.

So, um, but here's the thing. The other word `betulah` is used when it speaks of Rebecca being chosen for Isaac. And `betulah` there means a little virgin. Like they said. Here it is, Genesis 24:16. It speaks of Rebecca, saying, "She was very fair to look upon. She was a virgin. Neither had any man known her." And she went down to the well and filled her pitcher. Well, here the word virgin is `betulah`. So the Jews say, "See, Rebecca was a `betulah`, but this word in Isaiah says `almah`." Well, guess what? They don't tell you something else. How many of you know people like to tell half the truth? Not the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

Well, get a load of this. In Genesis 24:23, which is just seven verses later talking about Rebecca, Eliezer is praying that he finds the right lady for Isaac, and he says, "Behold, I'm going to stand by a fountain of water, and let it come to pass, that the maiden that comes forth to draw, to her, whomever I say, 'Give me, I pray you, water to pitcher from your drinker or from the water, a pitcher to drink.' Then she would be the one." Well, guess what? Here, the word for maiden is `almah`. Well, wait a minute, here we see an `almah` is a `betulah`. So `almah` can mean virgin. And `betulah`, which they say means virgin only, can also not be true, it could mean an `almah`.

Let me give you the next example. This is in the book of Joel 1, verse 8. It says, “Lament like a virgin.” That's the word `betulah`. But then it says, “Girdle with sackcloth because she lost the husband of her youth.” Well, no, wait a minute. She's had a husband, she can't be a `betulah`. You following me? So, `almah` and `betulah` can both be used both ways. They both can mean young girl, they both can mean virgin. But most Jews who argue this won't tell you that it can be used both ways. They just show you the ones that apply to their side, their situation.

Now, the way you want to find out what the true meaning was is find out what the Jews thought about that word 200 years before Messiah even came. Now they're not biased, right? There would be no bias. There are no Christians 200 years beforehand. Just like there weren't any Palestinians either.

Now, how many of you ever heard of the Septuagint? What is the Septuagint? The Greek translation. When was it written? About 200 BC. Okay? It was written about 200 BC. The Septuagint was, and they translated the Hebrew into Greek. So when it came to that verse, what Greek word did they choose? They chose the Greek word `parthenos`, which literally only can mean virgin. And that's what they put in the translation of Isaiah 14, that a `parthenos` would conceive. So that tells you, they thought it would literally be a virgin. And there's no bias now, because it was written 200 years before.

Now, here's the other thing. A little baby. There is a verse in the Bible you're all familiar with. It's Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. And this is where it says that a child will be born, whose name will be wonderful, counselor, you know, the mighty God. And then it says, "And the increase of his government and peace there will be no end." Okay. I probably should have changed this from the first service, but you guys can see pretty good. Here's the thing. This is Lamarbeh, and you can see the L-A-M-R-B-H. Does everyone see that? Lamarbeh. Now, you notice the mem is open. If you know anything about the letter mem, just like we have a capital B and a small B, the letter mem has two different shapes, depending if it's in the middle of the word or if it's at the end of the word. If it's at the end of the word, it's a box. It's completely closed. Okay? And the mem, mayim, is water. When they see the word mem, and they see a closed mem, they say the difference between an open mem and a closed mem is someone who can get pregnant and someone who's barren. Because mem is water. The open mem implies the water breaks and out comes the baby. The closed mem means she can't get pregnant.

Well, guess what? In Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, where it talks about his name, where it says, "The increase of his government," it is Lamarbeh. And I did it in blue. I probably shouldn't have, I should have done red. But the mem is closed, and it's at the beginning of a Hebrew word. That is unheard of. This is the only place in the Bible that the mem is closed and it's not at the end of the word. So, what did the sages say about that?

Well, here's what, uh, let me see, here's what they said. As you know, like I said, it means water. The sages said that an open mem versus a closed mem also referred to an open womb versus a closed womb as the water breaks forth when a child is born. And a closed mem represents barrenness. So, here's what the rabbis taught 200 years before Messiah was born. They said when it was time for the redemption, the closed mem of Isaiah's Lamarbeh will open for the coming of the Messiah. There is no doubt the Jewish leaders looked at this passage as a messianic passage with the expectation of some type of supernatural birth. Here we have the closed mem of the closed womb of the Virgin Mary being opened at the time of redemption. In case anyone wants to double-check me, it's in Redak Isaiah 9:6, is where it talks about it.

And so, here's the other thing. In like Isaiah 57, or Isaiah 53. Everyone knows the suffering servant of Isaiah 53? The Jews all say that refers to the nation of Israel. They're the suffering servant, as they have suffered. But a suffering servant Israel can't redeem a sinful Israel. It has to take someone outside of Israel. Just like Israel in the Exodus couldn't free themselves from slavery. It took an outside force to be able to redeem them. Just like us getting saved from our sins, without an outside force helping us, we never could. Okay?

Well, get a load of this. Concerning Isaiah 7:14, a virgin will conceive, and Isaiah 9:6 and 7, talking about that, they say that referred to Hezekiah. Okay, about a virgin will conceive and bear a son. They said it was a young woman. And they say that the one that was born that filled this verse was Hezekiah. Well, there's a lot of problems with that. Um, but let me give you one good example.

In a section of the Talmud, known as Sanhedrin 94, the question was asked why is the mem closed? And it states in that section that the Holy One wished to appoint Hezekiah as the Messiah, but the attribute of justice said, "No way." Because if you did not make King David the Messiah, who was his father, who sang so many hymns and songs before you, and then you point Hezekiah as the Messiah, who didn't write one psalm in spite of all the miracles you did for him? So they claim it could not have been referring to Hezekiah. So some say it did refer to Hezekiah. Some say, "No, it couldn't have referred to Hezekiah." All right? Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember, Hezekiah is the guy who asked for the shadow to turn back 13 degrees, or so, he wanted more time to live. Do you want to know why God allowed him more time to live?

Guest (Male): He had no son.

Pastor Mark Biltz: What?

Guest (Male): He had no heirs.

Pastor Mark Biltz: The fact that he didn't have a kid yet. There would be no king reigning on Judah's throne. For a king to be born, Hezekiah had to be married, and he wasn't married and he didn't have any kids. And so, God said for us to have a king of Judah sitting on the throne, "You need to have a kid, buddy." So, what does he do? He marries some lady. And who was the lady he married? Isaiah's daughter.

Hezekiah and Isaiah's daughter have a kid, and what's his name? Manasseh, who was the worst king in all of Israel when it comes to idolatry. He offered his children to Molech. He killed his own kids. He was horrible. As a matter of fact, in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, it talks about the people of faith. And if you remember, one of them had been sawn in half. Guess what? Manasseh sawn grandpa Isaiah in half. That's how Isaiah died, his grandson sawn him in half. Now, can you imagine his mother, Isaiah's daughter, how she felt about that? But this is what happened. There's no way Hezekiah could be the Messiah. Okay.

Now, in, not only that, you know what Hezekiah's attitude was? Talk about his attitude. He's the one that had all the Babylonians come and see everything in the temple. And then they went back and and Isaiah was so mad at him for letting the Babylonians see which was in the temple. And Isaiah warned him that the Babylonians are going to come and destroy everything. And Hezekiah's answer was, "Well, great, it's not in my day, it's in my kids'." His attitude was, "Who cares? It's not going to happen to me." Now, that doesn't sound like a Messiah to me at all. Okay.

So now we go to Matthew 2, 13 through 15. Oh, no, uh, I'm sorry. I'm jumping way ahead. So Matthew 2, 1 and 2. “Now when Yeshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there comes wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born the King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east. We've come to worship him.'” So again, God uses signs in the heavens. And then in Matthew 2, 5 and 6, they said to him, “In Bethlehem, of Judea, for it is written by the prophet, ‘In Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of you will come a governor that will rule my people Israel.’” So they say Bethlehem, that's where it's supposed to be. And we see that in Micah chapter 5, verse 2, where it says, “But you Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you will come forth to me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth has been from old, from where? Everlasting.” In other words, he's eternal.

Now, look at Matthew 2, the next verse is in 13 and 15. “When they departed, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and he said, 'Arise, take your young child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and be there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to kill him.'” And so, when he rose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, “And was there till the death of Herod, then might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son.’” And that's found in Hosea 11:1. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Okay?

So some when they were arguing about who was the Messiah, some said, “Oh, he's got to come out of Egypt.” Others says, “No, no, he's got to be born in Bethlehem.” And someone else says, “No, no, I got a verse that says he's called a Nazarene.” Little did they know, they were all right. Instead of arguing over things in the Bible, realize everyone could be right. We just need to have humble ourselves to look at things from another perspective. It goes back to the 70 souls in the Old Testament, and the 75 souls in the New Testament. Well, you have to look at it from another perspective. You got to get out of the box to see these things. All right? With that said, let's stand.