Messianic Perspectives

Liz Ayello: There are many contrasts between the old and new covenants. One concept that is unique to the new covenant is that of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Join us as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses the subject "Christ in Us" today, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Ayello. Our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick, and his subject today is "Christ in Us." I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now, with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you and welcome, listening friend, to our studios here in San Antonio, Texas. It's good to have you with us today as we continue this series of studies on the subject "Christ in Us." Today we come to the book of Joshua, where Joshua typifies God by a man. It's interesting that the name of the book, Joshua, in Hebrew is Yehoshua, or its abbreviated form, Yeshua, the Hebrew name of Jesus, the Messiah.

The root of the name is the verb yasha, which means salvation. Yehoshua means "the Lord saves." Yeshava, or Yeshua, literally means "to cry out to Yahweh," that is, to cry out to the Lord for deliverance. And the "ah" at the end, yashava or Yeshua, gives it a sense of urgency, a sense of immediacy: salvation now, save us now!

Now, what all this means is that at the end of the tribulation, when the armies of the world converge on Israel for the Battle of Armageddon and the Jewish people are under siege in Jerusalem and they cry out to God for deliverance, they'll actually be calling on the name of Yeshua. Salvation now, deliverance now! It's a cry of desperation.

It's the same Hebrew word that's used in Exodus 14:30 to refer to God's deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian Pharaoh: "So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians," it says. Same word: "The Lord saved Israel that day." So when the nation of Israel cries out for the Messiah at the end of the tribulation period, they'll actually be doing what? Calling on the name of Yeshua.

And that's what He's been waiting for, because that's when He comes in the clouds of the Shekinah glory. Revelation 19:11 says, "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself."

In other words, they will be calling on His name, Yehoshua, without even knowing it. And it's not just a name, but a name written, it says. The name has already been written in the scriptures. It is written: Joshua, Yehoshua. But none of them knew it. Here at Armageddon, it says no man knew the name but He Himself. He knows the name and He responds, even though they didn't know it was His name. He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself.

So in the book of Joshua, we have some amazing types and symbols of the coming Messiah. And the book of Joshua begins in the aftermath of the death of Moses. Before Moses died, at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, God ordained Joshua to be the one who would lead the children of Israel into the promised land. So here in Joshua chapter one, verse two, the Lord speaks to Joshua.

And this is what He says: "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel." Verse three: "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast."

From north to south and from east to west, God has given them the full extent of the promised land. Now, the Jewish nation has never possessed all that was promised to her. Certainly not in the time of Joshua, and not even later in the time of David and Solomon. They have never possessed the full extent of the land from north to south and from east to west. Yet over and over again through the prophets, God promised it to them. He said, "It's yours."

Then look what God says to Joshua in verse five. He says, "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life." Why? "Because as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." What a wonderful promise. Now, you might say, "Gary, why do you characterize this period of the conquest by saying it was God standing by a man?" Well, let me show you why.

It's in Joshua chapter five, beginning in verse 13. This is just before the Battle of Jericho. Like any good military commander, Joshua is out doing some reconnoitering, checking out Jericho. Verse 13 says, "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?"

Joshua saw this man and wanted to know whose side he was on. Verse 14: "And the man said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?" This man identifies himself as captain of the Lord's host, in Hebrew, Sar Tzaba Yahweh.

Now, do you recognize that word sar, as in Sar Shalom, Prince of Peace? It's one of Messiah's titles. Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born"—you've heard it many times—"unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace," the Sar Shalom. Only here the title is Sar Tzaba Yahweh, Prince of the Lord's Army.

Now you might say, "Gary, the word sar, or prince, doesn't always refer to the Messiah in the Bible." And you're right, it doesn't—not always. But if you have any question as to the identity of this captain of the Lord's host in Joshua chapter five, just look at Joshua's reaction. He says he fell on his face to the earth and did what? Worship.

Now, think about that. One of the fundamental tenets of the Jewish faith is that you worship only God. Exodus 34:14: "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous"—in Hebrew, whose name is Qanna, whose name is Jealous—"is a jealous God." That's one of the divine names, Jehovah Qanna. He's a jealous God. He doesn't want His people worshipping anyone else but Him.

Even the angels won't accept worship. In the book of Revelation, when the angel was showing John those visions, John says in verse 10, "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10.

And again, at the very end of the book of Revelation, chapter 22, verse 8, he says, "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things." Now watch this, verse 9: "Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God."

There it is again: worship God and God alone. It's a fundamental tenet of Judaism. And again, this is a good example of how the church, in those critical early centuries of its development, suffered because the Jewish Christians had been alienated, had been put out, at the councils of Constantinople and Nicaea. Within just a couple of hundred years, we had a Gentile church with little or no Jewish influence.

And what happened at that point? You have the church going off into the worship of Mary, and the saints, and angels, and graven images of Jesus and Mary and the saints being set up in the churches. Total paganism! That was Roman Catholicism in its embryonic form. That's when we needed Jewish believers to step in and say, "Wait a minute, you guys! We worship only God. No one else."

And no graven images, either. The second commandment says we're not to make any graven image of anything that is in heaven, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, according to Exodus chapter 20, verse 4. You see, we worship God and God alone. So the fact that Joshua fell on his face and worshipped this captain of the Lord's host shows that Joshua recognized Him as a God-man.

And notice, this man didn't rebuke Joshua for worshipping Him. What does he say? "Get up, Joshua, don't worship me"? No, he didn't say that. It says in verse 15: "And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." This was, in fact, what we call a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach.

That's why we say the life of Joshua in the conquest period typifies God being by a man. But again, it's not God in a man, like in the New Covenant. So here's what we've got so far: during the creation period, God was around a man, as exemplified in the life of Adam. During the patriarchal period, God was over a man, as exemplified in the life of Abraham.

During the period of the Exodus, God was with a man, as exemplified in the life of Moses. During the conquest period, God was by a man, as exemplified in the life of Joshua. And if we had time, we could talk about the period of the judges when God was upon a man, as exemplified in the life of Samson. And in the days of the prophets, God spoke through a man, as exemplified in the lives of Isaiah and Jeremiah and other prophets.

But on the next program, we're going to see that the New Testament presents a totally different concept. It's God in a man. Until then, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you, take care, bye-bye.

Liz Ayello: Thank you, Gary, and thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you'll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on compact disc. The title is "Christ in Us" by our Bible teacher, Dr. Gary Hedrick. It's available for your gift of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program here on your station.

Just visit our secure online store at MessianicSpecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397.

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I'm Liz Ayello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on "Christ in Us" right here on Messianic Perspectives.