Holy Scriptures and Israel

Narrator: 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 6. And it cast them to this earth, and the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered for to devour the child as soon as he was born.

Now, this is in the middle of tribulation where Satan is going to be cast to this earth and he will seek to devour the woman, namely Israel, who gave birth to the Messiah, through whom the Messiah came to this world.

Satan. Notice it said in verse 4, with his tail he drew a third part of the stars of heaven. That has to do with the angels that God had created for his own pleasure that ended up to follow after Satan and to become those what we read here in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12, the principalities, the powers, the ruler of darkness of this world, this spiritual wickedness.

No wonder that when Yeshua the Messiah was born into this world, we have read from the four Gospels how much angelic work has happened at that time? How many demonic activities have been shown to us in the Gospels when Yeshua entered into this world?

What's going to happen in the tribulation period after the church is gone and the tribulation has begun, the demonic activity on the face of this world will increase. As the end of the days are coming for Satan and his angels. But in the meanwhile, in this present day dispensation, for us who are already believers in Yeshua the Messiah, during the church age, we also have to realize, though we are not necessarily aware of it, that really our warfare or our wrestling is really not only against flesh and blood. But it is against principalities, princes of the spiritual world that are against the people of God.

They are powers, they are rulers of darkness of this world, they are wicked leaders of the spiritual world behind the scene, which you and I don't even see. You remember we read Daniel chapter 10. And when Daniel prayed for the restoration of our own nation Israel, he longed for the restoration of Israel, and he was waiting for an answer. And it seems to be that it doesn't come.

And when the angel came to him, he had to say to Daniel in verse 12 of Daniel 10. He said unto me, Fear not, Daniel. For from the first day that you did set your heart to understand and chasten yourself before thy God, thy words were heard and I am coming to give you, or I am coming to answer your words, verse 12.

But then he said, but, on the way when the angel was coming to give an answer to Daniel for his prayer, he says in verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for 21 days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

In other words, what he's really saying, Daniel, behind the scene, while you were praying and desiring to understand the purposes of God for the people of Israel, I was coming, but I was withstood by the Prince of Persia. This is a demonic, fallen angel that fought the angels of God who came to answer Daniel's prayer.

Sometimes we are praying ourselves and we ask, Lord, help me in this situation. And Lord, I've entered into a problem in my life, whether it is my job, or my family, or my children, or my wife, or my husband, or my friends, or my brothers and sisters, the friction that occurs in our life, and we are wondering, why is it happening, Lord? Answer my prayer. But we don't realize that we really wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against, as it said here, against principalities, against power, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the high places.

The wicked one is shooting darts at each and every one of us, seeking to see us not living and not walking a victorious Christian walk here in this world. That is exactly what happened. And no wonder, brothers and sisters, we find ourselves often allowing him to shoot those darts at us, and we often find ourselves not living a victorious, believing life, defeated because we have not put upon ourselves the whole armor that God intended for us to put on.

And so we have to realize that we not only have the flesh as our enemy, we not only have the world as our enemy, but we also have Satan and the principalities and power that are against the people of God. And how he must feel so happy when he causes us to stumble and to fall. Any sin that comes into our lives comes either because of the flesh that allowed the world to influence us, because Satan has tempted us and caused us to fall into sin. And we cannot blame God, we only can blame ourselves because we did not submit to the word of God.

And Paul says, finally, my brethren, listen, don't be strong in your own strength. Don't think that you can do on your own to walk the life of the believer, but be strong in the Lord and in his power so you will be able to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Don't forget, Paul is saying to them in verse 11 and 12, you have enemies.

And the arch enemy is Satan himself. He's called the devil because he's an accuser. He's called Satan because he's our adversary. He's called a serpent because he's a liar. He's called a lion because he's vicious. And he seeks to cause the people of God to be defeated. The only one that he could not defeat is our Lord Yeshua. He says, the prince of this world came against me and he found nothing in me. Because Yeshua, our Lord, the Messiah, was that perfect man who totally submitted himself to his father. The prince of the world came against him and he found nothing. Yeshua has defeated him in his life here in this world.

In John chapter 8 and verse 44, we have an interesting verse. When Yeshua himself says about Satan, speaking about the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning. He is a liar and the father of liars. He's lying and cheating and causing the people of God, causing you and I to stumble when he attracts us and causing us to fall into his own hands. Brothers and sisters, this is reality. And that is why Paul is appealing to the brothers and sisters in Ephesus and saying, brethren, don't be strong in yourself, be strong in the Lord, recognize that you have an enemy and his followers, his servants, Satan's servants, and their job is to try to seek to cause the people of God to stumble.

Let me remind you one more time. Satan can never take us outside of our eternal relationship with the Lord. That has been done once and for all. My sheep hear my voice, Yeshua said, and I know them and they follow me and I'll give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. John chapter 10. But what he can do, Satan, is cause us to stumble and often time trick us like the Gibeonim have done to our people of Israel some 3500 years ago when they tricked him into alliance with them.

Now he is continuing. In verses 13 to 17, Paul is pointing to the armor of God which will enable us to stand in an evil day. And look at the list. There is a list of six things that he's pointing in verse 13 to 17 and adding number seven in verses 18 to 20. It's very interesting. He's culminating with number seven which speaks of completeness. And so he began, first of all, and you notice in verse 13, all of God's armor must be put on in order for us to be able to withstand Satan and his wiles attack.

And I began to read, of course, verse 13, he's repeating what he said in verse 11. Wherefore? What wherefore? In light of the enemy that you have? Because of the fact that you have this enemy called Satan and those angelic realms that follow after him, take unto you the whole armor of God. Again, I want you to notice, he doesn't say take unto you some of the armor of God, twice he's emphasizing the whole armor that belongs to God.

And notice how he's saying in verse 13. Why do we need to take the whole armor of God, verse 13 B, that he may be able to withstand in an evil day and having done all to stand. Notice how interesting. He used the word to stand. He doesn't say now in order to go and march or fight, but to stand. We have a word in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. When he said stand still, the Hebrew word 'Hityatsvu' mean focus and stand, position yourself and not move. Don't be movable.

Stand. I don't know about you, but I feel about myself many times, we are not standing still. We often we are not quite sure, we go there, we try this preacher, if it doesn't work, we are going to try this preacher. And we are going to try this leader, if it doesn't work, we are going to try this leader. We try to go to this friend. We are not standing firm and still and carrying on like a pillar, immovable. And that's the problem with us. We are so shaky because all the things that are going around, we are swayed by every wind of doctrine. As if we don't have the Bible in our hands. This is the problem that exists throughout this church age. New teacher comes, new message comes, and we immediately been swayed by that. And all sorts of things, we are allowing ourselves to be swayed. That's why the Apostle Paul said in chapter 4 that the gifts were given for the benefit of the people of God that we will be no more tossed with every wind of doctrine.

In first Corinthians chapter 15, he says, be strong, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. First Corinthians chapter 15. But we are not where we should be, and that's why we need this so much in our own life. He's saying to them, listen, in verse 13 B, put on the whole armor of God, why? That you may be able to withstand. To withstand when in an evil day. And having done all to stand.

To position ourselves, to be firm in what we believe, in what we do, to be firm, steady, standing firm. It is hard for us because there's so much influence around us. Think of the young people going to school. And they're coming from a Christian home, from a believing home that their parents taught them that Yeshua is the Messiah and the best thing is to follow Yeshua the Messiah, but the professor said, what do you need him? The friend says, well, after all, you don't need to follow after him. And then we are swayed so quickly.

I was just watching a video called God is not dead. Very interesting. This young man came to the university and his professor said the first thing if you want to be in our class, you have to deny the fact that there is a God. And this young man says, no. And the professor challenged him, he says, you prove that there is a God. And I am going to give you three sessions to talk to the whole class to prove that there is a God. All the philosophers say, there is no God. And this young man, he lost his girlfriend, who wanted him to say, why do you have to say that there is a God? Don't worry about it. And he says, no, I need to prove, I need to show to this professor and to the classmate that there is a living God. And he studied and gave them a presentation. And the whole class eventually, according to the movie, it's only a movie, but I trust that the Lord can use this in reality in our life, he proved that simply in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There is a living God, and the Messiah has come, and Yeshua is the Messiah. And the world around us cannot sway us and draw us away from him. That's the beautiful thing that Apostle Paul is trying to challenge the Ephesians brethren, he said, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God because you have an enemy that seeking to destroy your testimony here in this world.

And then he began to give them. He says, if you are going to stand, to put yourself firm on that ground and just stand, even though difficulties are coming into your life, here is the way in which you are able to do so. And here he gives them a list of six things plus one, seven, in order to be able to withstand in an evil day.

And he began, and I want you just to notice that I will list them from verse 14 to verse 17, there are six parts of the armor of God which the believer needs in order to be able to stand in an evil day. And you notice, he's talking about belt of truth. He's talking about breastplate of righteousness. He's talking about shoes of the Gospel. He's talking about shield of faith. He's talking about helmet of salvation. And he's talking about the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. He gives them a list of those six parts of the armor of God, in which it is necessary for the believer to be able to stand in an evil day.

And so notice that I'll just want to highlight those things as he began with verse 14, the first part. He used the word stand. Four times he used the word stand. Again, verse 11, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Verse 13, wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that he may be able to withstand in an evil day. Then the third time, he said, and having done all, stand in verse 13 at the end. And then verse 14 A, stand. Four times he used the word to stand.

If I will read it in Hebrew, he says 'Hityatsvu', position yourself firm in what you believe, in what you trust and in whom you trust and carry on as you walk in this world when the enemy is seeking to attack every one of us. And so he began now with the list and the first one in verse 14 A is the belt of truth. Stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth. The word truth is very important. How many times Paul said to the believers at Ephesus, speak the truth. How easy it is for us to lie. You see what he's saying, the first thing is that the loins to gird around our stomach, to gird about, put this belt on, the belt of truth. John 8:44, he said about Satan, he's a liar from the beginning. And how important it is for us to walk in truth. Truth doctrinally, truth practically. How important it is for the believers to speak the truth in love. He already mentioned that in earlier part of this chapter, of this book in Ephesians chapter 4. He said to them in verse 25, and I'm reading, wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor. How important it is to speak with each other the word of God and to speak the truth with each other. How important it is to gird about ourselves in truth. Often times, it's so easy for us not to speak the truth. And that's why he's saying, listen, put around you this belt of truth because Satan is a liar and he's influencing us to lie and not to speak the truth, not to believe the truth, not to walk in truth.

Then notice in verse 14 B, not only that we are to put the belt of truth around us, but also before us, this breastplate of righteousness. And I'm reading verse 14 B, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Positionally, we have the righteousness of the Messiah. But practically, we are to work in a righteous way, in a way that it is pleasing to the Lord. This is very important. Again, go back to chapter 4 of Ephesians and verse 24. And Paul is saying there, and that you put on the new man which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. See, why sometimes we are being defeated because this part of the armor of God of righteous living is not upon us. We don't put it upon us. And Satan finds a way in which he can get us and defeat us, just the same like when we don't speak the truth and live the truth, we end up to be defeated by Satan because he is able to shoot a dart into the very area where we are not covered and protected.

Thirdly, he's talking about the shoes that we put on our feet in sharing the message of the Gospel. And he says in verse 15, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In other words, we are to wear these shoes in which we share the Gospel of shalom, the Gospel, the great news of the Gospel of peace, the Gospel of shalom. You remember what we read in chapter 52, Isaiah said, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring the Gospel of the glad tidings of good news. Our feet are to wear these shoes, these boots that will carry us in sharing the simple message of the Gospel of shalom, the Gospel that give peace with God to a world that is defeated. And we are to wear this because we are to share the message of the Gospel. Just recently, some of us talked about some who do not believe that we should share the Gospel with our Jewish people. We should help them, we should love them, but not share the Gospel. Now, how can you love our own Jewish people to such an extent that you don't tell them that the Messiah is Yeshua and the way of salvation is through the blood that was shed by the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah? You might love them temporarily, but if they don't know the Messiah, how will they ever go into the presence of God and be forgiven? And so we are to put upon ourselves these shoes of the sharing of the message of the peace, of the shalom, the message of the Gospel. We have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, Roman chapter 5 and verse 1.

So this is to be put on, not only the belt of truth, not only the breastplate of righteousness, but also these shoes that we put upon our feet as we walk here in this world, letting others know what the Gospel is, the glad tidings, the good news of Yeshua coming to this world to redeem us and to pay the price for our salvation. This is also, beloved brothers and sisters, very, very important. Isaiah 52:7 points to the beautiful feet of them that bring the glad tidings of good news.

Then fourthly, notice the next thing that we need, is a shield of faith. Notice again, verse 16. Above all, in other words, above all what you already talked about, the belt, the breastplate, the shoes, above all, he said, taking the shield of faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is, but in addition to that, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6. If we want to please the Lord and be able to withstand the wiles of the devil who shoot those darts against us, we need to believe and trust God. Now, it's easy to say. It's easy to challenge, it's another thing. Every one of us have things in our lives that we somehow don't trust God for. There was one man who said many years ago, he says, we trust God for our soul, our eternal soul, but we don't trust God for a piece of bread. Isn't it amazing? We all can say it, Lord, we are like the men who came to Yeshua, says, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

And you remember what the Proverbs, King Solomon, Shlomo HaMelech said to our people of all Israel? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. Proverbs chapter 3. Trust in the Lord, believe in the Lord. We believed on him for salvation, but we also now we are to have faith on him in our day-by-day life. It's not easy, brothers and sisters, again, as I mentioned, the Lord deals with each one of us. But what I'm saying, what Paul is saying, what the Spirit of God is saying to us, he says, if you want to be able to stand, you have to believe. If you want to be able to stand in an evil day, you will have to trust God. He knows better than you and I know. He knows why he allows us to be where we are today. We are going and you and I might go through problems right now in your own life, in my life, and we don't understand, Lord, why is it that you allow me to go through this problem? He knows, but he says, trust me. Believe that I will carry you through. For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. He has a purpose in our lives.

And he wants us to trust him. He wants us to believe on him. And that's like a shield. You notice it says in verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith, why? Because with the shield of faith, you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Here's another name for Satan, not only accuser, Satan, the devil, not only Satan, not only the serpent and lion, he's called here wicked. He is a wicked one and he's shooting those darts. And every time he's pointing to an area where we are not covered. Whether it is with truth, whether it is with righteousness, whether it is the feet of Gospel of peace, or whether it is lack of trust in God, lack of faith. And that's why we need to pray, Lord, we believe, but help our unbelief.

Then fifthly, you notice the fifth part of this armor is the helmet of salvation. And it is amazing what you cover. Notice I'm reading verse 17 A, and take the helmet of salvation. Now, what does he mean? The helmet.

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Narrator: You have been listening to the 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, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at HolyScripturesandIsrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM, and Saturdays at 1:00 PM 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.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.

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