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 Nehemiah, chapter 3. And you didn't take part. It was maybe too much for you. Well, brothers and sisters, there is a reward for serving the Lord in a Messianic Kingdom. The Lord is going to reward His own who serve Him. Notice that it says here that the Tekoites did work. I took a note of it in my preparation for that, that the Tekoites are mentioned twice. They are also mentioned in verse 27.

Verse 27: "After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel." Why do you think the Tekoites' name is mentioned twice? Well, it is interesting because they had to do twice the work because the nobles, they put not their necks into the work of the Lord. They were not willing to take part in the work of the Lord. The responsibility was falling upon someone else to do twice the job because another doesn't take his or her responsibility in the building of the body of Messiah. We all have responsibilities. We all have privilege, but we also have a responsibility to build.

They built the Sheep Gate, representing the cross of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah whereby we were saved. They also built the Fish Gate, which represents the need of sharing the gospel, of telling others what God have done for us through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Now let's go down in those gates and let's go now to the next gate in verses 6 to verse 12. We have the third gate, and it is called the Old Gate, Sha’ar HaYeshanah or HaSha’ar HaYeshan, the Old Gate.

We read in verse 6: "Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, unto the throne of the governor on this side the river. Next unto them repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto them also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall."

Verse 9: "And next unto him repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem. And next unto him repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabneiah. And Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces. And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters."

The third gate is called the Old Gate. In Hebrew we call it Sha'ar HaYeshanah or HaSha'ar HaYeshan, the old gate. There's something also that is very important for us to learn from this third gate. I would like to suggest that this gate represents before us that all the people of God are responsible to follow the Lord in the ancient path. We live in a time where there are so many new views about so many new things. Every time you open the TV or you open the radio or you read some magazine, or even new books that people are writing, from generation to generation, everybody come up with a new thing, new teachings, and there are new views.

We are so quickly adrift to a new thing that someone teaches us. How important, beloved brothers and sisters, for us as believers to learn to stick to the ancient truth of the word of God. The teaching that our forefathers had given us, whether it is the people of Israel, the prophets of Israel, or whether it is the early disciples that had given to us the truths of the present day dispensation. Let me read you a verse in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42. The early believers stuck to the apostles' doctrine. They didn't run around after every new form of doctrine, but they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching.

Verse 42: "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common." That's how the church began. Today, you and I live on the other side of the church age. The things are no longer the same. Here you notice it says they all were together in one accord in verse 44, and they had all things common. Everything began very well. But look at the condition today in the body of Messiah.

In the history of our people, everything began very well in the beginning. The men of Israel and women of Israel came out of Egypt and everything began well. But time passes by and new things have been introduced. Why were they in Babylon? Because a few years earlier, instead of worshiping the true and living God, they have allowed themselves to worship idols and all the things that the nations around introduced among our people Israel. That's why they were taken to Babylon for 70 years.

The walls of Jerusalem were broken down. That's why the gates were burned with fire. They should have been in Jerusalem all along, but they thought that the new thing will be the great thing for them. So they end up taking the new things and they have been drifted away and ended up to be further and further and further until God had to come in judgment and scatter them and bring Nebuchadnezzar to take them away to Babylon. The appeal was to remain in the old path, in simple ways that God have established in His word.

Jeremiah was one of those that were carried captive also, and he suffered because the nation did not submit to the word of God. Look what he said to his own brethren in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 16. "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." But look at the answer: "But they said, We will not walk therein." Jeremiah was warning our people of old, the people of Israel.

Jeremiah said, Judah, you stand in the way, look for the old path. We always seem to want to have something new, as if we are going to renovate the Bible. As if God's word is going to change because you come or I come with a new idea. Beloved brothers and sisters, let me tell you, if this is the word of the Lord, it is the word of the Lord. We can't add anything to it. We can't subtract anything from it. It will never change. The enemy will try to change things, but we cannot change God. God want to change us to be conformed to His image.

Religions cannot change the word of God. He is the creator of the universe. He is the sustainer of the universe. He is the redeemer of mankind. He is the word of God and remains true to itself. Jeremiah said to our people, and look how sad it is. He says: "Israel, ask for the old path, where it is a good way. Walk in this good way, Israel. You're going to find rest for your souls. Just do it." But the answer was: "We will not walk therein." God says, you are not going to walk therein. I'll bring Nebuchadnezzar and you're going to see where you're going to be.

Later on, when they were in Babylon, they were singing this song, Psalm 137: "O Jerusalem, if I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I will not place Jerusalem above my chiefest joys." But it was too late because they were by the rivers of Babylon and they were weeping when they remembered Jerusalem, the good old days. Do you think you and I are different? It is the same thing with us today with the body of Messiah. Somebody always comes to us with a new thing, and they think that we all should follow this new thing.

The Bible tells us to stick to the ancient things, the things that God had given to us. Nehemiah in his third chapter lists before us the Old Gate. Don't let anything new draw you away from the Lord. If it is really from the Lord, it would be an old thing that was already given to us in God's word. There is nothing new under the sun. God's word remains the same and we are encouraged to follow Him and to submit to Him and not to allow the world to affect us and to change us.

Let me read one more verse in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. The apostle is telling the brothers and sisters of Rome: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." There is no difference between Old Testament saints and New Testament saints. All of them were raised by God to lead God's people closer to God and closer to Yeshua the Messiah.

Beloved brothers and sisters, you and I are encouraged as well today to go and follow that old path, the path that was given to us in the scripture. I'm so thankful for some of the brethren that I have been exposed to who are firmly carrying on to walk with the Lord, steady, continuing on, not one day this way and another day this way, like moving by the wind of men's opinion. They read their Bible, they read the scripture, they see what the Bible says, they submit to it, and they became pillars in the assemblies.

Pillars that you and I need so much, like Nehemiah, a pillar who stood for the things of God in the midst of opposition all around him. We fail so much. We are like shifting by the winds of human opinion and shifting by the winds of men's thought and all kind of ideas of people. God's word will never change and we need the grace of God to remain steady close to Him. He is able to help us. When we fail, and sin does so easily beset us, the right thing to do is to repent before the Lord and to turn back to Him so He can put us back on that ancient path, on the old way that is given to us in His word.

Look at the people who participated in the buildings of the walls and the gates. First of all, you notice in verse 8, you have the goldsmiths. These are people who are working with gold. In Hebrew we call it tzor'fim. If your necklace broke or your chain broke, you go to them and they melt the gold together and put it together. They could say, come on, I'm sitting in my office working with gold, I don't have the strength to go and build these walls of Jerusalem. I'm not going to build this. But look, they were not qualified carpenters. They were not qualified builders.

They were willing to put the energy into building the walls of the city of Jerusalem. According to verse 8, they were goldsmiths, but they were willing to serve among the people of Israel and to get up from the chair and put hard work into the things of the Lord in building the walls. Look at another group here that are called here apothecaries, but in Hebrew is the word rakach'im. Rakach'im are simply pharmacists. They are working also and they putting medicine together. In Hebrew, roke'ach means a pharmacist, rakach'im means pharmacists in plural.

They put pills together and give you the medicine so you can get those medicines to help you with your problem. They got up from that work and they went forward for this hard labor, to put stone upon stone in order to build this wall that will protect them and the people of Israel from their enemies. To mention, you have the Gibeonites. You remember who were the Gibeonites? The Gibeonites were those who actually lied to the people of Israel in Joshua chapter 9, and they were not actually Jewish, they were no part of the people of Israel.

In other words, you find out that they were influenced by the rest of the nation to build the walls of the city of Jerusalem. They didn't want Israel to destroy them and so they said that they came from a far country. But actually they were near there. And yet you see the Gibeonites, they also took part. Fourthly, I want to mention in verse 10, someone was building against his house. You notice that in verse 10: "And next unto him repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house."

Building against the house reveals a responsibility for us to protect our own families. The enemy comes into the lives of the family and destroys households. Marriages are broken. Relationships between parents and children are broken. Children with their own brothers and sisters are broken. Many believers, their children do not follow the Lord anymore because the enemy have attacked them in such a way. Some husbands don't believe, some wives don't believe, the chaos that could exist.

Havoc is caused among the homes of believers. When they build against the house, they were wise. They were saying, listen, I want to take care of my wife, I want to take care of my husband, I want to take care of my parents, I want to take care of my children. I'm building the wall because my house will be protected. We worked and we build and we took care of our house and still the enemy attacked us. But nevertheless, they were wise to take care of the building of the wall that was against their house. This is the Old Gate.

Verse 13, we have the fourth gate, called the Valley Gate. It says here: "The valley gate," call it Sha'ar HaGay in Hebrew, "repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto the dung gate." Notice that these people have repaired the Valley Gate, but yet another thousand cubits of the wall. They must have worked hard to build much of the wall. What does the Valley Gate or Sha'ar HaGay represent?

The Sheep Gate represents Yeshua's death for us on the tree, and if the Fish Gate represent the importance of sharing the word of God, the gospel with others around us, and if the Old Gate represent the necessity of walking in the old path in the way that the Bible, the word of God give us, well, the Valley Gate represent the importance of humility. Of going down to the valley and not priding ourselves and exalting ourselves and thinking that we are superior than somebody else. God have always taught our forefathers to remove pride from them.

Pride is the last thing that dies in us. We are often such a proud people. There's a pride of race. There is a pride of face. There's a pride of place. There is even pride of faith. We think that our faith, we are the most spiritual people around the world. God want to teach us the importance of humility. Brothers and sisters, we will never be able to build a right together the body of Messiah if we have this arrogance and pride in our lives.

It is essential for us to be a humble people, a people that are humbled before the Lord. Turn to Proverbs chapter 16 and verses 18 and 19. We read: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." Notice James chapter 4 and verse 6, Ya'akov, James has spoken to these early Jewish believers to whom he wrote and he said to them: "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."

It is so important, beloved brothers and sisters, that the Lord will help us to develop humility in our life. In 1 Peter 5 it says: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." I also would like to suggest that the Valley Gate will also represent not only humility but also the fact that in our lives as believers, we will experience trials and tribulation. Remember what Psalm 23 says? "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Gate number five, and this is very important as well. I'm reading verse 14: "But the dung gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof." This is gate number five, and this is called the Dung Gate. Those of you that have been with me in Israel just recently, we just crossed through this Dung Gate.

The Dung Gate represents all the garbage, the dung, that was in the city of Jerusalem. It went out through the Dung Gate and had been cast into the valley there. This is very important as well for us today, beloved brothers and sisters. You and I that are so much exposed to everything around us, in order for us to be spiritually growing and be a blessing and building the body of Messiah, there is a lot of garbage that has to be removed out of our hearts and out of our lives.

Sometimes we know very well how much dung exists in our own lives. The Lord look at our life and sometimes we know very well how much dirt, how much dung is existing in my own life, in our own life. Do you think the Lord will bless us and use us among the people of God when that dung is part of our own life? There is no way that the Lord can participate in this. All of us are responsible like our people of old, the people of Israel, to take all the dung out of our lives, of course with the help of the Lord, and to throw it outside of our lives so it will not affect us and draw us away from the things of the Lord.

Constant bombardment with garbage occurs from the world, whether it is our own flesh, whether it is Satan himself, whether it is the world itself. We are constantly bombarded with all sort of garbage that attacks us and draw us away from the Lord. Therefore I'm going to read the last verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 for this ministry meeting in connection with the Dung Gate. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 1. Sha'ul, Paul told the Corinthians these words: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Removing what is not pleasing to God in the life of the people of God was represented by the Dung Gate. We too know how much garbage is often time coming into our lives, coming into our homes, coming into our families, coming into all what we involve in, and we need the Lord to help us to remove garbage, dung outside. Not only in our own home and our own life, even in our own circle. We don't want anything that is not pleasing to the Lord. May the Lord just help us with this. May the Lord just lead us on and make us useful for His honor and for His glory so we will build the body of Messiah for the glory of His name.

Guest (Male): 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, 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.