Come to Understanding

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding,

and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. — Isaiah 29:24

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense,

and caused them to understand the reading. — Nehemiah 8:8

January 1, 2012

Volume 11 Number 1

I Send the Promise

Just before His ascension, the resurrected Yahshua (Jesus) explained that the Scriptures (the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms) had already told them about Him:

44 And he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. -Luke 24

However, even though they had read the Scriptures, as Isaiah had prophesied, their understanding had been closed:

10 For Yahweh has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered.

11 And the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I am not learned. -Isaiah 29

Consequently, they relied on the "precept" of men instead of upon the Word of God:

13 Therefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: -Isaiah 29

The word "precept" is translated from the Hebrew hwum (mitzvah), which also means "commandment." The people obediently kept the commandment that their spiritual leaders taught, with very little understanding of the greatness of Yahweh and the meaning of His promises. Therefore, they vainly tried to worship Him through their outward motions, as they blindly recited the words their leaders had taught them to say, while their hearts were far away from Him.

The understanding of the people of Judah remained darkened, until Yahshua finally opened it up for them:

45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, -Luke 24

He revealed to them that, even though He had suffered and died for their sins, He rose from the dead on the third day. Therefore, He still lives!

46 And said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: -Luke 24

Yahweh had shown the miraculous survival of the prophet Jonah after spending three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish:

17 Now Yahweh had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. -Jonah 1

That miracle was a sign that foretold the resurrection of the Messiah after three days and three nights in the tomb:

29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.

30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. -Luke 11

Furthermore, the Scriptures continually taught the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins:

47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 And you are witnesses of these things. -Luke 24

King David showed his need to humbly repent of his sins and to ask Yahweh to forgive him:

9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. -Psalms 51

Even the great prophet Daniel humbled himself and asked to be forgiven. The evil of the Babylonians had been brought upon his people because, not understanding the truth, they had failed to repent of their sins and obey Yahweh:

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before Yahweh our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand your truth.

14 Therefore has Yahweh watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does: for we obeyed not his voice. -Daniel 9

It was a great failure of the people of Israel when they refused to believe that Yahweh alone is God and that He is also the only Savior. Therefore, they opened their hearts to the great sin of worshipping images and idols:

2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

3 Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

4 Yet I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me: for there is no savior besides me. -Hosea 13

Those that kept the Passover knew that Yahweh had saved them from death in the land of Egypt. In addition, perhaps without even comprehending it, they were also illustrating the saving work of Yahweh, when He would come in the flesh as Yahshua to offer the final sacrifice for sins:

11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; -Hebrews 10

The blood of Yahshua (Yah is Salvation) was the full payment for the sins that we have committed:

25 Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; -Romans 3

Once we have been forgiven for our past sins, how can we keep ourselves from further sin? If such great men of God as David and Daniel had failed to obey the voice of Yahweh and keep from sin, how can we have any hope of continuing in His will? Yahshua the Messiah gave His disciples the answer to that question:

49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high. -Luke 24

The Messiah Himself was the promise that Yahweh had made to Abraham:

16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is the Messiah. -Galatians 3

After He completed the work that He came to do in the flesh, He said that He would always be with us:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. -Matthew 28

He said that "the promise of the Father" is the "Holy Ghost:"

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. -Acts 1

The Greek word pneuma (pneuma) is commonly translated as "spirit." However, when it refers to the spirit of a dead person, it is often translated as "ghost." In this case, the "Holy Ghost" is the "Spirit of God," which is also called the "Spirit of the Messiah:"

9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit of the Messiah, he is none of his. -Romans 8

When we are born of the Spirit of God, the Promised Spirit of the Messiah dwells in us. As long as we are led by His Spirit, we are counted as the "sons of God:"

10 And if the Messiah is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Yahshua from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up the Messiah from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. -Romans 8

The promise of the Father was that the Messiah would live in us through His Spirit:

20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. -John 14

After David strayed into a fleshly spirit, he prayed for Yahweh to renew within him a "right spirit:"

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. -Psalms 51

The Spirit of God, which is also the Spirit of the Messiah, is a "right spirit" that we receive by faith. We are freed from the condemnation of sin as long as we put aside the dominance of our fleshly spirit and continue to live together with Him, walking in His promised Spirit:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in the Messiah Yahshua, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. -Romans 8

He has sent His Promise! How will He work in our lives?

 

 

 

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Scriptures are taken from the Proper Name Version of the King James Bible.

 

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