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. And now, teaching God's Word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: The study of Acts chapter 9. Where did Apostle Paul get this information? He went to the synagogue and was telling to these Jewish brothers in the synagogue that Yeshua the Messiah, who was going to come, is the Son of God.

There are many other passages, even before the New Testament were written, in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament, where God described the coming Messiah as the Son. For example, if we read Psalm 2, the Psalmist speaks and the Father is speaking about the Son, he says, "Kiss the Son."

Psalm 2:12 says, "Lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way." This is the voice of the Holy Spirit who is speaking concerning the Messiah and giving a warning to the world, saying, "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way."

If you go back in Psalm 2:7, Yeshua the Messiah is prophetically speaking where he says, "I will declare a decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance."

The truth concerning Yeshua the promised Messiah being the Son of God is not only a New Testament teaching. Sha'ul did not have the New Testament when he went to the synagogues in Damascus. He just got saved and accepted the Messiah, but he taught them that the Messiah is the Son of God.

We can go on to other verses, for example, Proverbs 30:4: "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath created all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?"

In the book of Proverbs chapter 30 we read that, even prior to what Solomon said, God promised David that there would be coming a day when a descendant of David is going to sit on the throne of David. God says, "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son."

There is plenty of information in the Old Testament, in the Tanakh, concerning the Messiah of Israel who is also the Son of God. You remember what Isaiah said? "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." As a child in his humanity, he was born. As the Son of God in eternity past, he was given. We see his divine nature and his human nature united in this passage that Isaiah spoke about.

Sha'ul is going to the synagogue, and in verse 20, he is telling them that the Mashiach is the Son of God. Now, when they heard that, verse 21 describes the amazement of those who heard what Sha'ul was saying. "But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?"

What would you do if you had someone who came into our midst here and sought to destroy and kill believers from this little local fellowship, and sought ultimately to destroy those who believe in Yeshua the Messiah? What would you do if there was all of a sudden a change in this person, and instead of coming to take us away, he came to sit in our midst, listening to the word and sharing his experience of how he became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah?

We would be amazed. We might not even trust that person. How can we have confidence? Yesterday you sought to destroy us; today you are coming to our synagogues and telling us that Yeshua is the Messiah and that Messiah is the Son of God?

They were amazed and said, "How is it possible?" When he was in Jerusalem with the Sanhedrin, and when Stephen was stoned by the leadership at that time, Sha'ul was right there. He was consenting to the death of Stephen. It was there that the Sanhedrin said to Peter and to the others, "We do not want you to preach in this name." And that was the name of Yeshua.

Brothers and sisters, it is not only 2,000 years ago. Up until today, every time you share with others the name of Yeshua, the opposition is still the same. And yet God says that in the name of Yeshua every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Man by nature does not want to hear about the name of Yeshua. And what a lovely name he has. Matthew 1:21 says, "And you shall call his name Yeshua, for he will save his people from their sins." Verse 21 shows the amazement at the change in the life of Sha'ul.

In the next verse, we see the growth of Sha'ul. Verse 22 says, "And Sha'ul have increased the more in strength." This is not physical strength; this is spiritual strength. Physical strength requires going to the exercise room, but here it is a spiritual strength.

How do we know when a brother or a sister is growing spiritually and becoming strong in the Lord? When a person is growing, you can say this person spent time with the Lord. This individual is really learning from Yeshua. He is spending time, growing, and developing spiritually.

That is what happened to Sha'ul. He grew, increased more in strength, and he confounded the Jewish people who dwelt in Damascus, proving to them that this is the very Messiah. That is the thing that we have to do today with our own Jewish brethren: just prove to them from the word of God, with the help of the Spirit of God, that the one we are speaking about is the very Messiah.

Israel as a nation has been waiting for the Messiah for years. You will hear these words about the Mashiach: "When the Messiah comes, we will be rejoicing, we will have shalom, we will have peace." But for years they have been waiting on the Messiah, and he hasn't come, according to our nation.

But Sha'ul is telling them in the synagogue, "Listen, this is the one whose name you do not want to hear. He is the very promised Mashiach of Israel. He is the Messiah. Accept him!" He continually confounded the Jewish people in Damascus, proving this to them. In order to prove it, you have to take your Bible and open it. It is the scripture that proves that Yeshua is the Messiah.

We do not read it in this passage, and for some reason Luke the physician who wrote the book of Acts did not mention it, but between verse 22 and verse 23 something happened. Apostle Paul himself later wrote to the Galatians and mentioned certain things that happened between verse 22 and 23.

Verse 23 says, "After many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him." What were those many days? Please turn to the book of Galatians. Open your Bible to Galatians chapter 1. It's nice to see how we can connect the book of Acts with Galatians 1:10. Look at what Sha'ul is writing to the believers at Galatia:

"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Messiah. But I clarify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For neither received it I from man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation from Yeshua the Messiah. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jewish religion, how that I beyond measure have persecuted the church of God and wasted it. And profited in the Jewish religion above many of my equals in mine own town and mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my fathers.

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and he called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them of the apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and I returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him for fifteen days."

In Acts chapter 9, the many days of verse 23 refers to the period in which Sha'ul went to Arabia and remained in Damascus. In other words, between the time he accepted the Messiah and when he preached in the synagogues of Damascus, God removed Sha'ul and took him to Arabia.

He spent some time in Arabia. According to Galatians 1, he went to Arabia and returned to Damascus and was in those areas for about three years. Why do you think he went to Arabia? I am confident that God wanted to teach Sha'ul some lessons. God wanted Sha'ul to spend some time alone away from the public and to be there alone with Him to learn concerning the Messiah.

It is so important. This is a principle in the scripture: if we are to serve the Lord in public, we need to take some time and be in the presence of the Lord in private. Even Moses was 40 years in the wilderness before he went to take our own people Israel outside of the land of Egypt. There is a time of separation from the public so God can minister and teach.

You can just imagine what it must have been like when he was in Arabia, all alone with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. The Lord must have taught him certain things concerning the ministry he was going to perform. He was going to minister before the Gentiles and the kings, but also before the children of Israel. He must have spent time with the Lord opening the scripture. The Lord ministered to him and gave him the grace and wisdom he needed to be the apostle to the uncircumcision in the world today.

Sha'ul spent the time between verse 22 and 23 of Acts chapter 9 with the Lord between Damascus and Arabia. Galatians says, "Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were of the apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and I returned again unto Damascus." Then after three years, he went to see Peter for fifteen days.

It is very precious to see this. I think it will also help us in our spiritual life to take some time alone with the Lord. Many of us can confess that we often have a problem being in private alone with the Lord. We say, "I can pass the time to pray; I'll pray tomorrow. I don't need to read the Bible today; I'll read it later on next week or next month." We have a problem taking the time to spend alone with the Lord so he will refresh and encourage our hearts. God wants his people to spend some time alone with him so they can be used when the opportunity arises in ministry.

After Sha'ul accepted Yeshua the Messiah, he went to preach in the many synagogues in Damascus. All were amazed at the change that happened in his life. He was increased in spiritual strength. He confounded the Jewish people in Damascus, proving that Yeshua was the Messiah. During those three years, he went from Damascus to Arabia and spent time as the Lord ministered to him.

Now notice that verse 23 says they took counsel to kill him. The very Jewish community in Damascus to whom he was sent by the community in Jerusalem now turned against him because he became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. Instead of him seeking to kill someone, the others sought to kill Sha'ul.

The next two verses show they were lying in wait for Sha'ul. They watched the gates night and day in order to kill him. At night they were watching to see if he would pass by so they could grab him and kill him. But by the grace of God, the disciples in verse 25 took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket.

What a humiliating experience it must have been for this Pharisee of Pharisees, who had authority and power earlier, to now be hiding and let down with a basket by the wall at night so that nobody could see him as he fled from those who sought to kill him. The Apostle himself must have felt it was a significant memory in his life because he mentioned it in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33.

There, he says, "In Damascus the governor under King Aretas, the king kept the city of Damascus with garrisons, desirous to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and I escaped his hands." Apparently, there was a connection between the king and the community. In Acts it was the Jewish people; in 2 Corinthians it says King Aretas and the garrisons were desirous to kill him.

He must have felt it was very humiliating to be let down by the window and flee away from the same city which he had entered with strength and authority from the leaders in Jerusalem. There are three experiences in the Bible that we read about involving those who had been taken down by the window. We are studying the book of Joshua, and in chapter 2, the spies went to Rahab. She hid them because the king of Jericho wanted to kill them. Rahab helped them go down by the window to flee away. There's another experience that we have in scripture.

Guest (Male): Holy Scriptures and Israel is a faith ministry. For more information, please visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.org.