Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. Now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: The study of Acts chapter 9. Someone will come and tell you what you need to do. In verses 4, 5, and 6, we see the salvation and conversion of Sha’ul, the acceptance of Yeshua the Messiah. It was an experiential salvation; he experienced something unique on the way to Damascus.

Look at that. In verses 7, 8, and 9, Sha’ul was without sight for three days. We find him trembling and astonished. In verse 6 and then in verse 7, the men which journeyed with him stood speechless. They heard a voice, but they didn't see any man. Sha’ul arose from the earth and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. They led him by the hand and they brought him to Damascus. There he was three days without sight, and neither did he eat or drink. Notice the difference that happened to him here.

Just before he accepted Yeshua, he was so strong and trusted in himself and in his own righteousness. He had the letters from the rabbi and from the priest to go and take the believers from the synagogues to bring them to Jerusalem. Right now, he was no longer able to do this on his own. He became helpless and dependent totally upon others. He became blind, as it says here in verse 8. He saw no man. He had to be led by others and be brought unto Damascus.

He was completely dependent now upon others, blinded, unable to see, and unable to do anything anymore. Something happened to this man by the name of Sha’ul. He became a child of God and a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. This is wonderful, brothers and sisters, when there is a change in the life of a person coming to acknowledge the Messiahship of Yeshua.

Let's move on into the next verses, verses 10 to 19. We see now Sha’ul and Hananyah, the disciple in Damascus. In verses 10, 11, and 12, Hananyah is called by the Lord. It says there was a certain disciple at Damascus by the name of Ananias; in Hebrew, it is Hananyah. To him said the Lord in a vision, "Hananyah," and he said, "Behold, I am here, Lord."

The Lord said unto him, "Arise and go into the street which is called Straight and inquire in the house of Judah the one by the name of Sha’ul of Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth." It says in verse 12, "And he hath seen in a vision a man by the name of Hananyah coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight."

It is wonderful to see how the Lord is working. He works on one hand on the way to Damascus in the heart of Sha’ul, and on the other hand, he is working in the heart and calling another man by the name of Hananyah. These are two different locations, two different individuals, and two different timings. Sometimes we ask ourselves how somebody will get to hear the gospel. People are able to hear the gospel because the same Lord who is working in the heart of a person to seek to preach the message to others is the same Lord who works in the heart of a person to prepare him to receive the message of the gospel. That is what happened here.

Here is the disciple by the name of Hananyah. By the way, the title disciple in Hebrew is Talmid. That word Talmid is mentioned a few times in the book of Acts. The actual titles that are given to the believers in the present day in which we live, according to the epistles, is not so much disciple but the name Saints. In the epistles, you hear the word Saints, while in the book of Acts, you hear a lot of the words disciples or followers of Yeshua the Messiah. As you study the epistles, it changes more from disciple into Saints. I'll show you this in a moment.

It says in verse 10 that he was a disciple living in Damascus, and he also had seen a vision from the Lord calling him Hananyah. You notice he calls him Lord also; he says, "Here am I, Lord." The Lord is speaking to Hananyah and telling him what he should do. He was telling him about the man by the name of Sha’ul who is from Tarsus and is praying. He's now in the house of a man by the name of Judah. Go to his house and do what I am going to tell you to this man. He is praying and waiting for a man to come to lay his hand on him that he might receive his sight.

Hananyah responded to the Lord. He must have heard so much about this man by the name of Sha’ul. Others already have gone ahead and told the brethren in Damascus that Sha’ul is coming with letters. He is going to persecute the believers and take them to Jerusalem. Hananyah must have heard of the coming persecution to the city of Damascus.

He said to the Lord in verse 13, "I have heard of this man and how much evil he have done." Notice he used the word Saints in verse 13. "How much evil he have done unto the Saints which were in Jerusalem." The expression Saint is also very important to understand. You read the epistles and almost every epistle is written to the Saints which are at Rome, to the Saints which are at Corinth, to the Saints which are at Ephesus and Galatia, and so on.

The believers are set apart for God. They are sanctified positionally and they belong to God, and they are called Saints. They may not behave like Saints, but they are Saints positionally, even though practically they don't behave like Saints. You and I, brethren, whether you like it or not, are Saints. I know we don't behave like Saints much of the time, but positionally, according to the Bible, we are set apart. We are Saints.

Hananyah was really concerned. He is saying to the Lord, "This man have done so much evil. I've heard about him." It says in verse 14, "He even have an authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on your name." He was worried and concerned. Can you imagine him having this discussion with the Lord and saying, "Lord, listen, I heard about this man. You want me to go to him? I know what he have done. I heard about this man."

The Lord had to quiet him down. Look what the Lord told him about Sha’ul; I think it's very precious. The Lord said unto him in verses 15 and 16, "You go your way, Hananyah, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles, the kings, and the children of Israel. And I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake."

Sha’ul was elected by God, by the Lord Jesus, by Yeshua the Messiah. He was elected as the Bible tells us; he's a chosen vessel unto Yeshua. He said "unto me" to bear my name before the Gentiles, before kings, but also before the children of Israel. As you read the epistles of Paul, he never forgets the fact that he was chosen by God. He always looks back in his presentation as he's talking to his own brethren to whom he wrote letters. He always goes back and remembers the fact that he was elected by the Lord, even in spite of the fact that he had persecuted the believers. It haunted him all his life. He remembered what he had done to the believers.

It always spoke to his own heart, but he remembered the fact that he was chosen and elected by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Please turn with me to the epistle to Timothy for a moment. I want to read the verses in 1 Timothy chapter 1. He was writing to this younger believer whom he sent to establish assemblies all around. He sent him to minister to the believers. He was writing to this young man by the name of Timothy and he was saying to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12:

"I thank the Messiah Yeshua our Lord who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry, who was before," look at this, he looks at the past, "who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and an injurious." He's looking back and he says, "Look, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor." Then he continues and says, "I was an injurious, but I have obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief."

"And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which was and which is in Yeshua the Messiah." Then look at this in verse 15: "This is a faithful saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation that the Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners." Then he adds, "of whom I am chief." It haunted him all his life.

I can just imagine when he recognized that he had persecuted the believers, his own brethren in the flesh who were believers in Yeshua the Messiah. He always remembered that in spite of the fact that he persecuted his brethren, the church, the believers, he was chosen and elected by the Lord. It is amazing. When the Lord has chosen somebody to serve him, it is his choosing and his election. He is the one who has chosen this man. Paul calls himself the chief of sinners and says he was chosen for such a ministry.

Yeshua said to Hananyah, "Hananyah, listen. You might not understand what's happening here. You have heard about what this man is going to do when he came with letters to Damascus ready to persecute the brethren, but I want to tell you, Hananyah, that Sha’ul is a chosen vessel for me. I have chosen him to bear my name before the Gentiles." Notice the three groups that he is going to bear the name before.

Number one is the Gentiles. Do you know, brothers and sisters, that the Apostle Paul was the apostle to the uncircumcision? He was called to be, as a Hebrew Jew, the apostle to the Gentile world. But not only to a Gentile world, also before kings. He had an opportunity in the palaces to preach the message of the gospel before kings.

The Lord doesn't stop. He adds, "and also unto the children of Israel." Even though he was an apostle to the Gentiles, wherever he had gone, he always went to the Jew first. Remember that? Romans 1 verse 16 says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe," and he added, "to the Jew first and also to the Greek, also to the Gentile."

You can see what a chosen vessel he was. I want to add one more thing. When Sha’ul was chosen by God, he became a pattern of how the nation of Israel as a nation will acknowledge finally one day Yeshua the Messiah. He himself said that his redemption and salvation served to be like a pattern for the future of those who are going to come, and he meant the nation of Israel.

This is exactly why he said that his redemption became a pattern for the future that will come for those who will follow after him. It says in verse 16 of 1 Timothy chapter 1, "However for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus the Messiah might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern unto them that should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life." In other words, Sha’ul's salvation became a pattern for future salvation, and specifically, I would like to make this application to the future when Israel as a nation will finally recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah.

As Zechariah said in chapter 12 and verse 10 of his prophecy, "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced." As Isaiah and others said in other passages concerning the people of Israel in the future, and how in the future Israel as a nation will see the Messiah coming in glory, "they shall see his face." We read that in the book of Revelation.

We can see that this is really a pattern for the future redemption of the nation of Israel where they ultimately will recognize the Messiahship of Yeshua. Here we see that the Apostle Paul became a pattern for the redemption of the nation of Israel. He was a chosen vessel. He was going to present the message to the Gentile world, to the kings, and also to the nation of Israel.

But also, brothers and sisters, he was chosen for another reason. He was chosen to suffer for the name of the Lord, like no one ever suffered like this man. Look at verse 16 of our chapter: "For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." The Lord used the Apostle Paul to be an example of those who experience so much suffering. If you read the history of this man, you see how much suffering he had to go through. You and I think of some suffering that we find ourselves going through, some things that we experience, and we feel pain and sorrow and trial, but no one ever experienced what Sha’ul experienced except our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

The book of Corinthians describes the sufferings of the Apostle Paul that he suffered on every hand in his life for the name of Yeshua the Messiah. I'm going to read just a couple of verses in 2 Corinthians 11:22:

"Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they of the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of the Messiah? I speak as a fool, I am more. In labor more in abundance, in stripes above measure, in prison more frequent, in death often. Of the Jews five times received I 40 stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in a deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and in thirst, in fasting often, in cold and in nakedness. And beside all these things, those that are without, that which cometh upon me the daily care of all the assemblies, all the churches."

The experiences that this man has gone through are unbelievable. The Lord Jesus said, "I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake." As he suffered, he must have looked back at the suffering that he caused many of the Hebrew believers in the first century. He must have looked back at the stoning of Stephen without a reason. He looked back and saw the kind of things that he had imposed on early believers.

The Lord said to Hananyah, "Hananyah, I'm telling you I have chosen him a vessel to me to bear my name before the Gentiles, before kings, before the children of Israel. And I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Sure enough, beloved brothers and sisters, as we study the book of Acts, you will see the sufferings that the Apostle Paul had to go through.

In verses 17, 18, and 19, we see the obedience of Hananyah. There was no delay when Hananyah heard the voice of the Lord. He rose up, went on his way, and entered into the house. He put his hands on him and he called him brother. Notice that now he calls him brother. Earlier, he couldn't call him brother though he was his brother in the flesh, but now he was a brother in Messiah.

He called him brother and said, "Brother Sha’ul, the Lord Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou came has sent me that thou might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Hananyah is telling Sha’ul and calling him brother, and you notice he's clearly saying to him, "I know you have seen the Lord Jesus." Because he said to him, "The Lord, even Yeshua, that appeared unto thee."

Sha’ul literally saw the Lord. Now, you and I did not hear this earlier. We just saw the Shekinah glory, and there was light that came from heaven. Apparently, he must have seen the Lord, as he said himself in 1 Corinthians 15, and also in chapter 9, verse 1. He saw him here on the way to Damascus. Hananyah says, "He has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."