Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Female): 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 Ephesians chapter 3. Many people shall go and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Well you cannot say that it happened today. You cannot go now to Jerusalem and say wow, the vast majority of our people do not submit to the authority of the Word of God today.

In Israel today it is so unfortunate and I was born there, I raised there, I know it by myself, we did not follow the instruction that the Lord had given to us. The religious community is a minority among the rest of our people Israel. It's not happening today but it will happen. There will be a time coming where all the people will say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. That's future. It's not today unfortunately. I wish it would have been today but it's not.

So we cannot make salad and mix what applies to Israel the nation, what apply to the present-day dispensation of the church age. Paul, a theologian, presenting to the brothers and sisters at Ephesus the truth concerning the mystery which was hid in God but now revealed as he says in verse 5 to his holy apostles and the prophets by the Holy Spirit of God. Now what are those Hebrew apostles? Yeshua chosen 12 apostles. He set them apart.

He had given them the truth concerning the church age. They had a hard time to understand it themselves because they wanted so much to restore the people of Israel and yet the Lord said to them it's not for you to know the time and the season but you will receive power. Acts 1:8, and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of this earth and the church age began after the Spirit of God came and the Gospel was preached to all the nations of the world.

This is important to understand to rightly divide the word of truth and not to mix it. I don't know how to explain it except read the text and apply it to myself and we all need to understand it and apply it to ourselves. If we know better than Paul, that's fine. Or if we know better than Yeshua, that's fine if you think you know, if we think we know. But let's read the text. Let's be like the Berean who received the word of God, studied it to see if those things were so.

And so Paul in the first five verses says listen, the mystery of the church in relationship to me, I receive a specific revelation so I'm now declaring this unto you brothers and sisters at Ephesus and I want you to grasp it as he says to them, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God. So now that he said this to them, now in verses 6, 7, and 8, he's now saying this mystery of the church in relationship to the goyim, to the Gentiles.

Look how in those three verses he's pointing out what is the blessings that came to the non-Jewish people together with Jewish believers. So verse 6, the mystery is the church, a union of Jew and Gentile in one body. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promises in the Messiah by the gospel. Now notice there are three things that he says here. Number one, the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. You know what is an heir?

An heir is a person who receive that which was left for him. He's an heir. Somebody can be an heir to become a king, somebody can be an heir to inherit many blessings. Now the Gentiles, the goyim believers, they become notice fellow heirs. That means there are others from among Israel, from among the Hebrews, the Jewish people, who are also heirs, who are also believers in Yeshua. So now together they are fellow heirs of that which the Lord had for them.

Secondly in verse 6, they are of the same body. See there are not two bodies, one body for the Jews and one body for the Gentiles. There's not two bodies, it's only one body. That one body, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, is a composition of Jew and Gentile. We cannot have the church for the Jews and the church for the Gentiles. The assembly for the goyim and the assembly for the Yehudim. We cannot have, there's no such a thing in the Bible.

So we are part of the same body. The body is the guf hamashiach, the body of the Messiah. The Messiah is the head and we are the body. And I think we are here a measure of testimony to the truth that there is only one body. There are not two bodies. Let me read you a verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32. Paul said to the Corinthian, give none offense neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the church of God. You notice that?

Don't offend the Jewish people. Don't offend the Gentiles. Don't offend the body of Messiah, the church. Who are the church? Well it is some from among our Jewish people, some from among the goyim, the Gentiles, united together in one body. There are not two bodies beloved brothers and sisters. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. This mystery is really the body, the church, the assembly, the congregation.

And then he says that you are been fellow heirs, the same body then thirdly he says and partakers of his promise. Now that is interesting because partakers does not mean overtakers or takers over. Now what does that mean? God has promises for Israel. He's going to fulfill all the promises that he promised to the nation of Israel. But the Gentiles believers became partakers not takers overs, but partakers of the promises in the Messiah but it is by the gospel.

So there are three things that we have here in verse 6. The Gentiles became fellow heirs. The Gentiles became of the same body. The Gentiles are enjoying partaking of the promises that God has in the Messiah by the gospel. And I'm emphasizing again the word they are not takers overs because God has many many promises that he promised to our nation Israel and he is surely going to fulfill them to the letter in the coming days. The Gentiles became partakers, not takers overs as it is also mentioned in Romans 11 and verse 7.

So the mystery is the union of Jew and Gentile in that present-day dispensation. Now verse 7. Yeshua is now enabled the Apostle Paul to serve by the power that he had given unto him because he says in verse 7, I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Where do you think Paul had the ability to do what he did? Can you imagine suffering after suffering after suffering?

You would think that the light that he had would be quenched and they will put him away completely and he will not be able to continue to do what he did. But Paul says you know what? I became a servant to the Gentiles to hear the message of the gospel not because of my strength but it is by the effectual working of his power. He gave me the dynamite, that power to do that service. I could not do it on my own.

You know sometimes we wonder where there is a persecution of a country of believers in a certain country. We wonder how they continue on. How those people in the former Soviet Union or in China or in North Korea or in Islamic country, how they continue on in the things of the Lord? How is it? Because they were trying to quench them, to destroy the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah. And yet we find out that they continue on.

Somebody said that the seed of the growth of the church is the persecution and suffering that believers experience. But when we don't suffer and you know how it is, we have an easy time. We as believers we can lay down and have good time. We don't have to exercise in sharing the gospel in speaking about Yeshua the Messiah. We are saved. Our tickets have been paid. We going to heaven but no power.

One had said today we preach 3,000 sermons and maybe one person is being saved. In Acts chapter 2 in the beginning of the church Peter preached one sermon and 3,000 souls got saved. Why we are not in that same condition here in this country in which we live in which we thank the Lord for the liberty that we have? But why there is no power? Why no power? Because we are not in tune with the plan and the purposes of God and that's why there is no power.

No power to walk for the Lord to walk with the Lord. That's why Paul says listen, I don't do it. I became a servant. Notice I was made a servant a minister according to the gift God gave me the gift of grace and he given unto me effectual working. In other words that for word for working is energeia in a Greek is energy. He gave the energy that was by his power the dynamite. It was his power that enabled me to continue to do it. I couldn't do it on my own.

You see and now he continue here in verse 8 and Paul presented to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Messiah. He says unto me in verse 8 who am the less of the least of all the saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. You know Paul was a humble man. He never sought glory for himself yet he was always under persecution. People accuse him, find fault in him.

And I'm sure they could find a lot of fault in Paul but nevertheless he had opposition from without, opposition from within but he according to what we read about him in the scripture he was a man that never sought any position, any glory for himself. He said I don't understand how is it that I receive that gift from the Lord the gift of grace from God. To me he says verse 8 who am less than the least of the saints of all the saints.

Now you and I are saints. If Shaul Paul would have been with us today he would say you know what, I am less than the least of the saints. I don't know how God gave me this gift but God chosen me as a vessel as a diakonos as a minister and he empowered me by the Spirit of God to share what I'm sharing with you. He revealed to me this mystery by revelation this mystery of the church and the Messiah Christ and his own.

And I'm simply presenting this to you and I was enabled to do so not by my power by the power that the Lord have empower me to do so. So at the end of verse 8 he says this grace was given to me that I should preach among the Gentiles and look at this expression, the unsearchable riches of the Messiah. What does that mean unsearchable? You know when you search for something you want to find more.

If you find gold somewhere you search you're going to find some more. You dig deeper. You try to find more, deeper and deeper. Let's see how much more I can find. You know what Paul is saying? You can dig and dig and try to find the wealth that is found in the Messiah, you will never be able to get to the bottom because there is so much more to learn about the glorious person of Yeshua the Messiah.

The more we hear about him the more we want to hear more about him. The more we are in relationship with him the more we want to know more about Yeshua because he is such a wealth that is found in the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. The unsearchable riches of the Messiah verse 8. And this is very beautiful. I have two verses that I must make a reference to the wealth that is found in the Messiah.

Colossians chapter 2. Just turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 verses 1, 2, and 3. Paul is writing to the Colossian for I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of the Messiah.

And look at this what he says in verse 3. In the Messiah in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You want to know the wisdom of God? It is found in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. You want to know about the knowledge of God? It is found in the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. The unsearchable riches of the Messiah. You know brothers and sisters when we going to get to heaven and we going to surround Yeshua in glory as we have in Revelation 5 where we going to fall and prostrate before him and say thou art worthy.

Throughout eternity we will never be able to fathom the greatness of the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He is the eternal son of God who became the son of man, Ben Adam, who suffered on the tree for our sins and redeemed us to be a people for himself. You cannot fathom the greatness of the person of our Lord. The more we will learn from him the more we'll find out that we know just a little bit about the greatness of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

And everyone will realize this in glory and that's why we are amazed why people reject him, why we rejected him in the beginning before we have accepted him as our Messiah. So verses 6 to 8 the mystery of the church in relationship to the Gentile. Now let's move on quickly. Verses 9 and 10 Paul is saying now here is the mystery of the church in relationship to the angels, to the angelic beings. You see that?

Look at this. What we find out in verses 9 and 10 it says and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God who created all things by Jesus the Messiah to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenlies or in heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Now notice in verses 9 and 10 he is saying that even the angelic beings they are going to learn an amazing truth when they see the believers Jew and Gentile united together in the body of Messiah.

All men ultimately will see what is the fellowship that we have together with the Messiah but beyond us even the angels. Look at this again I'm reading verse 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities, those principalities are angelic beings, and powers these are also angelic beings. They are called principalities and powers and where they are they are in heavenly places. They're in the heavenlies.

That they might know by the church the wisdom of God. You know angels are learning from us. When angels are seeing Jew and Gentile goy and Ivri united together they are learning the wisdom of God. How is it possible? How is it amazing to see in one body Jew and Gentile who had an animosity before. They were at a distance before. Now they are united together with the head the Messiah in glory and now they learn through us the manifold wisdom of God.

You know the angels look at us. They see how we behave. They see how we conduct ourselves. They learning. They're in a school you might say through the believers. It's not the first time we find out about angels learning from the believers. We have the famous verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 about even the head covering for the sister. You remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 10?

It says for this cause a woman ought to have power covering over her head because of the angels. Well angels looking at us and when a sister cover her head symbolically having a sign of submissiveness to headship and when an angel seen there they say ah here is a lesson that we learned right here. At the place of order in the local assembly in the local church there is an order here. Angels look at this and they see the order among the people of God.

The angels are seeing, they observe. You know we always think of angels that the demons affect us and how demons have entered into all sort of people in the time when the Messiah was and influenced them and so on. Angels cannot enter into believers but they look upon believers and they observe the believers and through the church they learn certain things that they have never known before.

I think I'm going to read one more verse in connection with the angels. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 12. It says here unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them which preach the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into. Notice that? Angels wants to know how things are going among the people of God.

Now it is amazing. They desire to look into. 1 Peter 1 verse 12. So angels are being affected by what's going on in the church of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So in Ephesians 3 verse 10 angels are being affected and they learn through the church the manifold wisdom of Christ or God as it says here in verse 10 of our chapter Ephesians chapter 3. So verses 1 to 5 the mystery of the church in relationship to Paul.

Verses 6, 7, and 8 the mystery of the church in relationship to the nations, the Gentiles. Verses 9 and 10 the mystery of the church in relationship to angels. And let me zoom in and now close with the last three verses 11, 12, and 13. The mystery of the church in relationship to you and I to believers today. Not only to Paul, not only to the Gentiles as some time ago 2,000 years ago but also for you and I today.

How is that the mystery of the church in relationship to us? And so look at this. Verse 11 it says that God have a purpose for the church in the Messiah. Notice what he says in verse 11, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in the Messiah Jesus our Lord. In other words God has a purpose for the ekklēsia, for the body of Messiah. He has a plan. He have a purpose for you individually, for me individually.

He have a purpose for our local church groups but he also have a purpose for the whole church at large, the body of Messiah. It is in Christ in the Mashiach as it says in verse 11. In verse 12 every believer now can have the boldness to share this message with others. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Now we as believers we have the boldness.

Why do we share the truth concerning the body of Messiah with the head in heaven today, the church, the ekklēsia? We have that boldness that had been given unto us by the Lord to enable us to do so. Maybe we have different level of boldness. Some more, some less, but Paul says we have boldness and we have access. Boldness to share with others, access to come to approach the throne of grace to receive strength to be able to continue on in sharing the message of the word of God with others concerning the church the body of Christ and the head in heaven.

And finally verse 13 the Ephesians and us are exhorted not to faint, to continue on. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you which is your glory. Paul said don't get tired. Don't get discouraged because when they look at Paul and they saw that he is in prison they could get very much discouraged and says why in the world Paul is in prison? If he has such a ministry to do why he is in prison?

But Paul says don't faint. Just carry on. Continue on. Be a testimony to the Lord share the truth concerning the body of Messiah. Don't be discouraged because there is things that the Lord would encourage you to carry on to do that which the Lord have intend for you to do. And so he says to Timothy, 1 Timothy 6 fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold of eternal life whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

I give you charge Paul said to Timothy in verse 13 of 1 Timothy 6 in the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Jesus the Messiah who before Pontius Pilate witness a good confession that you should keep this commandment without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Timothy don't get discouraged. Don't faint. Carry on. Share the truth concerning the mystery of the church the Messiah and his own people of the present day dispensation that was hid in God and was revealed to the apostles and to you and I in these days of grace.

So now when Paul finish these verses now he is ready to burst into a time of prayer after the spirit of God carried him and gave him the ability to share concerning the mystery and this present-day dispensation in which we living in.

Guest (Female): You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's Word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, P.O. Box 1411 Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.org. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.org. God bless you. Shalom shalom.