Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom everyone. We want to continue in our ministry meeting, the study of the book of Ephesians. So, we will turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and we will continue today in the fourth chapter with verse 11 all the way to verse 16. Very short portion. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 to 16, and I'm reading.

And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statues of the fullness of Christ.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplied, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. I'm going to stop here.

Really, brothers and sisters, verses 11 to 16 are very much connected with the previous verses that we have looked over together in our previous meeting. Ephesians 4, verses 1 to 10 had to do with the Messiah Yeshua, who came down from heaven, went all the way to the cross, to the tree where he was judged, and then he died, and he was buried, and he rose again. And after his resurrection, he was ascended into the presence of the Father.

He received gifts, as we have read in the book of Psalms, 68. And he gave gifts to men. And these individuals to whom he gave gifts are those that belong to the body of the Messiah, the body of Christ. And you remember what we read in verses 8 where he says, He saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men.

I love this expression, the one to whom we have been captive to, Satan, Yeshua defeated him at the cross. And he made him now a captive when Yeshua finished the work on the cross. And therefore, you and I are no longer under the authority of Satan. We are now under the authority of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Satan is really bound by Yeshua the Messiah and he cannot do anymore what he was able to do prior to the finished work of Yeshua the Messiah. He led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men.

So now, the portion that we have read today, Ephesians 4, verses 11 to 16, we see now the gifts that he had given and the purpose for the gifts. Now, before I'm going to go to those gifts, I would like us to understand something that is very interesting in connection with the body, the church, the body of Christ. In many ways, the Bible present before us the body of Christ, the church.

At time, it is called the church, the ecclesia. Other times, the people of God called the body of Messiah. Other times, the illustration of the church is illustrated by the physical temple. It is being built. And every one of us are members of this temple, we are part of this temple. And every one of us is a living stone in this temple that is being built. Every true believer in Yeshua the Messiah is part of this temple.

The same thing when it's come to the body of Christ. Every believer in the whole universe is part of this body called the body of Messiah. Every one of us is a member of this body. Men, women, boy, and girl, every true believer in Yeshua the Messiah are members of that one body. The head is in heaven, namely Yeshua the Messiah. The body is here on earth, and every member, just the same like we have this human body, hands and feet, and eyes and ears, and all those internal members, external members are part of this great body that is called the body of Messiah.

If you just go back to chapter 2 for a moment, notice what it says in verse 19, now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Notice this expression, the household of God. And you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus the Messiah, himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, grow unto a holy temple in the Lord.

You notice that in chapter 2, the Apostle Paul, Shaul gave the illustration of the church as a building that is built together. As it says here at the end of verse 21, growing into a holy temple in the Lord. But in chapter 4 where we are right now, the Apostle Paul present the church, the ecclesia, not so much as a building, as a temple, but as a body that have many members, like the human body have many, many, many members, including the head.

The head gives instruction to the body, just the same like the mystical body of Messiah, the head Yeshua Jesus is in heaven, the body receive instruction from the head and functioning here in this world. Very interesting how God uses all sort of earthly things that you and I are involved with, we are informed about. He using this to illustrate the body of Messiah, the people of God.

And so in our chapter, of course, we in chapter 4, you remember what we did say in our previous meeting, that chapter 4, 5, and 6 deals now not so much with doctrine, but with practice. One thing to know doctrine in my head, it's another thing to practice day by day the life of the people of God. So, in chapter 4, he began with giving us this instruction of the importance of walking in a way that it is pleasing to the Lord, walking worthy of the vocation where with we have been called. Chapter 4 and verse 1.

So now as we heard that Yeshua is ascended, he is now seated at the right hand of the Father. He now gave gifts to men. Now the Apostle present before us the gifts that have been given to the body, to the people of God. Now, in the Bible, in the New Testament, there are four chapters which deal with the gifts that God had given to the body of Christ. In Romans chapter 12, in 1st Corinthians chapter 12, in Ephesians chapter 4, and in 1st Peter chapter 4. Very easy to remember.

Two times 12, two times 4. Those are the four chapters that dealt with the gifts that God through Yeshua the Messiah have given to his people. Now, in every passage of those four places in the New Testament where we talking about the gifts, in every portion there is a different emphasis in connection with the gifts. In fact, in Ephesians chapter 4, the emphasis is not so much about the gifts, but about gifted men, or gifted individuals that have been given to the body of Messiah.

And so in our chapter, we are going to divide it from verse 11 to 16 in two ways. Number one, the gifted men that Yeshua gave to the body of Messiah, to the assembly in verse 11. And in verses 12 to 16, the purpose for which the gifts were given to the body of Messiah. Why did God, why did the Lord Jesus gave gifts to his own people? So, let's look for a moment first of all into verse 11 and look at this gifted men that Yeshua gave to the assembly.

Look at it, it says here in verse 11, and I'm reading, And he gave. What did he give? Some apostles, in Hebrew, shlichim, some prophets, in Hebrew, nevi'im, some evangelists, in Hebrew, mevassrim, and some pastors and teachers, in Hebrew, ro'im and melamdim. You know, those are very important words in Israel when we are sharing the word in the Hebrew language. The brethren would want to know what does he mean. What are those persons that God had given to the body of Messiah? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

Now, some Bible teachers do not distinguish the fourth group here, pastors and teachers. Why? Because it doesn't say some pastors and some teachers. No, it says pastors and teachers. So, really, what we can say, beloved brothers and sisters, that in this text, Ephesians 4:11, we have four gifted men, plural, that have been given to the early church. And we might say some of them even existing today in the present time in which we live in, the last days of the church age.

But some of them were really the foundation of the ecclesia, of the church. Look at this, it began with the word apostles. If you turn with me for a moment to Matthew chapter 10, our Lord Jesus the Messiah selected 12 apostles. It says in verse 1, And when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now, the names of the 12 apostles are these. The first, Shimon, who is called Peter, and then Andrew his brother, James, Yaakov, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, Yochanan. Philip and Bar-Talmai, Thomas and Matthew, or Mattityahu, the publican, James, here is another Yaakov, the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname is Thaddaeus. Simon, here is another Shimon, in verse 4, the Canaanite, and Judah, Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These 12 Yeshua sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go.

Here we have Yeshua himself selecting for himself 12 apostles. You notice that in verse 1 of Matthew chapter 10, they are called 12 disciples. In verse 2 of Matthew chapter 10, immediately he called them 12 apostles. 12 disciples, 12 talmidim, 12 apostles, 12 shlichim. Those that have been sent by the Lord. Now, this is important for us to understand. Many times, and I mentioned this before, today, in the year in which we live in, there are various groups that have what you call apostles, they called the apostolic church. People who claim to be an apostles.

But I would like to suggest, beloved brothers and sisters, that the scripture teaches us there were only those 12 apostles, and those apostles were the foundation of the church, of the ecclesia. It says in scripture that the Lord have chosen those specific 12, including Judas in this case, in the context of Matthew chapter 10. And he sent them away. The word apostles simply mean sent out ones with a message.

Now, of course, we know what happened to Judas or Judah. You remember that he was actually the one that betrayed Yeshua the Messiah, sold him for 30 pieces of silver. Then he went and he hung himself because he knew what he had done. And Yeshua said to him if you remember in the upper room, What you have to do, go do now. And he went and it was night. And Judas, in Hebrew, Yehudah, betrayed the Messiah. Though he was called to be part of those 12 chosen men to be an apostle, Yeshua knew very well whom he had chosen. He knew that one, my own familiar friend, with whom I sat down to eat bread, have turned out against me, fulfilling the prophecy from the book of Psalms.

And so we know that Judas had to be replaced. And in order for Judas to be replaced as an apostle, the qualification, according to Acts chapter 1, was a person that have seen the resurrected Messiah. If you read Acts chapter 1, verses 15 to 22, you will notice that in order to be called an apostle, a shaliach, an apostolos, one must see the resurrected Messiah.

And therefore we know for a fact that today we do not have apostles anymore, but we had apostles in the foundation of the church, in the early days of the church. And we had only 12 apostles. Judas was replaced by Mattityahu, Matthias, plus we have one more apostle by the name of Paul, Shaul, who was the unique apostle who saw the glorified Messiah. First of all, he heard his name, he heard his voice on the way to Damascus in chapter 9 of the book of Acts. But he himself proclaimed the fact that he is an apostle when he wrote about himself in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 1, he says, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus the Messiah, our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? He proclaimed to be a shaliach, an apostle, like the others, because he have seen the glorified Messiah.

Now, what was the purpose of the apostles? They were gifted men that were given to the body of Messiah for the purpose of establishing the truth of this present day dispensation of what we know, the ecclesia, the church age. They were the foundation. They were the one that we read in Matthew chapter 10 that were sent initially to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but ultimately they were the one that were the foundation of the body of Messiah. And from Israel on, from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of this earth, these early servants of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah formed what we know to be that early church ecclesia.

Established the believers, share the message of the gospel both in the land of Israel and ultimately all over the world. They were the foundation of the church. They were the one that witnessed to the truth of the person of the Messiah. They had gifts that were incredibly unique. You read it in the book of Hebrews, the gifts of an apostle was something unique for early church age. If today someone claim to be an apostle, he become automatically a suspect because one cannot claim to see the resurrected Messiah as those 12 have seen and this one person by the name of Shaul, Paul, whom Yeshua said to him, Shaul, Shaul, why do you persecute me?

So, the apostles were this foundation of the church. I want you to go back for a moment to chapter 2 again where I just read earlier. And I want you to notice it says in verse 19 and 20 again, and I'm rereading this. It says, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and you are built upon the foundation. What is the foundation? Of the apostles and the prophets. Yeshua the Messiah himself being the chief corner stone.

When you build a house, you don't put the foundation twice. You put the foundation in the beginning of the house, and then you build the house upon the foundation. The apostles, the shlichim, the messengers, those that were sent by the Lord himself had been the one that had been the foundation of the body of Messiah. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, every time we read the Brit Hadasha, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatian, Ephesians, Philippian, Colossian, 1st and 2nd Thessalonian, what we have in our hands is the writings of the apostles of the early foundation of the body of Messiah which gives us instruction.

They were guided by the Spirit of God. They were the one that formed for us the teaching that we have today in our hands in the present day period of time of the church age. But of course, it was not their own thoughts, they were guided by Ruach Hakodesh, by the Holy Spirit of God. So, Yeshua gave gifts. Paul is writing to the Ephesians in verse 11, Yeshua gave. Notice, some, not everybody is an apostle, some apostles. They were the foundation. They were the one that gave to us what we have in our hands, the scriptures. They have seen the glorified, resurrected Messiah.

Then it says next, the second gifted men that were given to the church, to the assembly, are the prophets. Now, we must distinguish between Old Testament prophets and New Testament prophets. Old Testament prophets, meaning the Hebrew, Israeli, Jewish prophets of all, gave our nation Israel of all, the instruction that they have received from God concerning the nation of Israel. And we have already established in chapter 3 of the book of Ephesians, that this was not revealed, the truth of the body of Messiah to the Old Testament saints. You remember what we read in our previous chapter, and I'll just want to read this to you.

It says in verse 4 of chapter 3, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of the Messiah, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Those prophets that we are reading about now in verse 11, those are what you call Brit Hadasha prophets. They were spokesmen. They were the one that proclaimed God's word in light of the present day dispensation of the church age.

They were the one that preached the word of God. Spoke forth what God have said unto them and minister to the people of God concerning the present day dispensation. Let me show you a verse in Acts chapter 11. Here is a New Testament prophet. Look at this. It says here in Acts chapter 11 and verse 27 about prophets. In these days came prophets from Yerushalayim, Jerusalem. And they went to Antioch. Antioch was in Syria, the central assembly or church that was formed in Syria. And so, we find out that those prophets came from Jerusalem, they went unto Antioch, and look what it says that here's a man by the name of Agabus, who was a prophet.

What we call New Testament, Brit Hadasha prophet. It says in verse 28, There stood up one of them by the name of Agabus, and he signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Here is a prophet. What we call him a new era prophet, a prophet of the present day dispensation by the name of Agabus. He spoke in the power of the Spirit of God. He proclaimed the word of God that there will be a dearth throughout the whole world, and it surely came to pass.

And so, it says that the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea. Because of what he spoke, here there was a respond of the people at their time. Now, who do we call a prophet today? Now, remember, these were early foundational prophets. They were the one that were uniquely given to the body of Messiah for the early foundation of the church, as we read it in chapter 2 and verse 20. But even today, when one is prophesying or speaking forth the word of God, whether it is in a personal context, or whether it is this brother specifically speak publicly, he would speak forth the existing word of God, that which is already in our hands. He will take the word of God, and he will present before the local church the word of God.

He is not so much speaking about the future, but he is speaking forth what we have already written down in the scripture, in the Bible, what we have before us today. So, those early prophets were speaking the future, what's going to happen in the future. But today, for you and I, a prophet is a person who speaks forth that which we already have in our hands today. So, we have to realize that really the prophets and the apostles were more or less foundational gifted men that God had given to the church in the early days.

In chapter 3 of Ephesians where we are, in verse 5, it says, again, Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. We distinguish the New Testament prophets from an Old Testament prophets. Here, we are talking about prophets that have been given for the edification of the body of the Messiah in the present day dispensation.

Thirdly, you notice the third group that we have here in verse 11. He's talking about evangelists. Notice that? And some evangelists. Now, evangelists have been always with us and are still with us even today as we are living closer to the end of the church age. What is the ministry of the evangelist? The evangelist is the one that is bearing the gospel message and sharing this with the world around. Now, remember, this is a gift of evangelist. This is not only evangelism which we are all responsible to do, but these are gifted men that the Lord Jesus the Messiah gave them the gift of evangelists. Not all of us are able to do evangelization, or to be able to capture the hearts of individuals through the preaching of the message of the gospel.