Podcasts about hebrew scriptures

In this episode of Prove All Things, Robert Bates returns to discuss his study of God's name in the Hebrew Scriptures. He examines Hebrew names, vowel pointers, ancient manuscripts, and passages such as Exodus 3, Exodus 6, and Malachi 1 to explain why he believes God's name should be restored where it appears in Scripture. 

On Thursday, June 4th, 2026, we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi at Saint Christopher's. During the sermon, Father Blackburn preached from John 6 and some references from the Hebrew Scriptures.

Is the Protestant Canon valid? Why do Protestants have 66 books in the Bible while Catholics and Orthodox Christians include additional books in the Old Testament? In this video, we explore the fascinating history of the biblical canon, the development of the Old Testament, and the reasons behind the differences between Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Bibles.We'll examine the Deuterocanonical books (also called the Apocrypha), the role of the Septuagint, the Hebrew Scriptures, and how the early Church understood the canon of Scripture. Whether you're a Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox Christian, skeptic, new believer, or someone curious about Jesus and Christianity, this discussion will help you better understand one of the most important questions in Christian history.If you've ever wondered which Bible is correct, why Christians disagree about the Old Testament, or how the canon was formed, this video provides historical context, biblical evidence, and thoughtful analysis. Join us as we dive into church history, Christian apologetics, biblical studies, and the reliability of Scripture.Subscribe for more content on Christianity, theology, church history, apologetics, biblical interpretation, the early Church, and defending the Christian faith.

EXODUS LESSON 73 PART 1 In lesson 73 part one and part two we tackle the question, "Does God change His mind?"  As we study Exod. 32:10-18 it is clear the answer to this question is critical.  Also, Moses asks the Lord to not destroy the Hebrews.  It seems as if Moses intercessory request affects the Lord and He "changes His mind."  Or does He?   In this lesson I mention the fact that a generation in the days of Abraham and Moses and Joshua and David and most of the Old Testament is roughly 30 years.  It is not my opinion and here's a link (see below) to to support the 30 year generation.  There are many other scholarly sites that also support a 30 year generation in the Old Testament.  This is critical as we study the days of Ruth.  God said no Moabites were allowed to join the congregation of Israel.  But, Ruth, a Moabite, gets in.  Did God change His mind?  You'll see how a 30 year generation is related to help us understand this dilemma.   Link - GotQuestions.org - https://www.gotquestions.org/generation-in-the-Bible.html Another event in the Bible is the sickness of Hezekiah.   Hezekiah asked the Lord to give him more days to live.  God answered his prayer.  So, God must've changed His mind, right?  Related to this is the link below.  It discusses the question that for God's chosen, for God's elect, His people, disciples of Yeshua, that God fixes the day of our death.  Really? Check it out once again at GotQuestions.org. Link -https://www.gotquestions.org/appointed-death.html So Muslims say Allah الله is our Lord or Adonai יהוה and that our God, Adonai יהוה, is the same as Allah الله.  Really?  This is a very interesting study from the Quran and the Hebrew Scriptures.  It is clear that Allah الله is NOT the same as our Lord or Adonai יהוה.  There is only one God, one Lord, He tells us in His own words.  There is no other God but Yahvay or Adonai יהוה. Here's two links to two articles you must study.  The first shows that Allah الله states in his own words that he can change his mind.  His words show Allah الله contradicts himself when this god says he knows all things and does not change.  And the 2nd article is a paper I did awhile back that shows that Allah الله is NOT the same as our Lord or Adonai יהוה. Link 1 -https://www.calloflove.org/post/contradiction-in-the-quran-allah-changing-his-word Link 2 -https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g41mrsjrkidlzatocdhpq/The-Bible-Adonai-Allah-and-the-Quran-Who-is-Who.pdf?rlkey=m1ywwe45v4zp1n28w6qmmyhls&st=b3jdqokx&dl=0 Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  (Ferret - somewhere in the desert north of Eilat Israel) What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0    

Read OnlineSome Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers…” Mark 12:18–20The Sadducees were a Jewish sect composed mainly of the Temple leaders, including many priests. They held theological and political views that differed significantly from those of the Pharisees. The Sadducees accepted only the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) as authoritative, whereas the Pharisees recognized the entire Hebrew Scriptures, including the Prophets, historical books, and Wisdom literature, and upheld a highly developed oral tradition based on centuries of rabbinic interpretation. This led to tension and theological disagreements.The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead, the immortality of the soul, and the existence of angels—all of which were central to Pharisaic belief—because they believed those truths were not found in the Torah. They believed that God's blessings were given for this life and that when one died, the soul perished with the body.Despite their theological disputes with the Pharisees, both groups found common ground in opposing Jesus. Today's Gospel illustrates the Sadducees' failed attempt to trap Jesus in a legalistic theological dilemma, using the law of Levirate marriage (cf. Deuteronomy 25:5–10) to challenge the doctrine of the resurrection.The Sadducees took their turn to trap Jesus not only to prove Jesus wrong but also to justify their beliefs before the Pharisees. They pose an extreme hypothetical scenario, in which seven brothers successively marry the same woman, each dying childless and ask: “At the resurrection when they arise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her” (Mark 12:23). Their intent is not to seek truth, but to mock the very idea of life after death.Jesus responds, not with complicated legal reasoning, but with divine wisdom that lifts their minds beyond earthly concerns. He begins by rebuking their limited understanding: “You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Mark 12:24). Then, He offers a twofold response (cf. Mark 12:24–27).First, Jesus addresses the question of marriage after the resurrection: “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.” After the resurrection of the dead, human existence will be radically transformed. Earthly institutions such as marriage—good and holy as they are—belong to this world, not the next. In the life to come, every soul will find its perfect fulfillment in the Beatific Vision. Second, Jesus refutes their denial of the resurrection of the dead using the Torah: “As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead but of the living.”Though the Sadducees had built their entire theology on the Torah, they failed to recognize the implication of God's words to Moses. If God is “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” then these patriarchs must still be alive in His presence. God did not say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” but “I AM.” With this statement, Jesus shatters their disbelief and unveils the reality of eternal life. Perhaps even the Pharisees enjoyed His answer. Reflect today on the central truth Jesus revealed to the Sadducees: The soul is immortal, and those who die in God's grace will rise again to live eternally in His presence, in perfect communion with all the angels and saints. This truth must always be our focal point in life. Too often, we live as the Sadducees did—as if this life is an end in itself. By turning our eyes toward eternity, we not only better our lives here and now, but we also live in the hope of Heaven, knowing that all we do now must be for the sake of eternal treasure in the life to come.My eternal Lord, I believe in the promise of Heaven and the coming of the New Heavens and Earth, when all souls will rise and receive their eternal reward or judgment. As I journey through this life, keep my eyes fixed on eternity, and let my hope be firmly rooted in the resurrection to come. Jesus, I trust in You.Image: The Sermon on the Mount By Guillaume FouaceSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Enjoy this episode? Please share it with at least ONE friend who you think needs to hear it!This episode of Far Out With Faust features a riveting, deep-dive conversation into the global cover-up of non-human intelligence, ancient mistranslations, and paleo-contact with incredible author and researcher Paul Anthony Wallis. Broadcasting from opposite ends of the planet, Faust and Paul dissect what is officially known as the "Legacy Program"—covert units operating within aerospace corporations to reverse-engineer craft and materials retrieved from UAP crashes.Paul sheds light on the internal push-and-pull within the 18 separate agencies of the military-intelligence community. He provides a compelling, nuanced take on why the true policy of non-disclosure isn't actually being dictated by the shadow government, but by our cosmic visitors themselves until humanity can fully master the physics of space-time manipulation.Leaving no stone unturned, they travel from modern geopolitical secrecy back through deep ancestral history. Paul shares his groundbreaking work decoding the Hebrew Scriptures, revealing how the insertion of the word "God" into the Greek translation between 280 and 100 BCE systematically erased historic accounts of plural, powerful, non-human beings governing early human colonies. From the real political coup hidden in the book of Samuel to a 4,000-year-old body uncovered beneath an Irish pub, this conversation connects the deep past directly to the modern 21st-century disclosure movement.In this episode:* The Legacy Program Exposed: How military intelligence subcontracts UAP reverse-engineering to specific private aerospace giants. * The Role of the Microbiologist: Why mainstream scientists like Dr. Garry Nolan are brought in to analyze the line where technology meets biology. * The Space-Time Bubble: Why anti-gravity success isn't enough, and what it will take for humanity to create a stable, interstellar wormhole. * The Haim Eshed Testimony: What the 28-year chief of Israel's space security confirmed about ongoing human and non-human collaborations. * The Petrochemical Cover-Up: Why zero-point and free energy disclosure threatens corporate fortunes and the global financial hierarchy more than it threatens religion. * The Vatican and ET Life: The official, surprisingly progressive statements issued under Pope Benedict XVI regarding our brother and sister aliens. * The Mistranslation of Yahweh: How ancient social wisdom and geopolitics were entirely buried the moment historical texts were turned into theological "God stories". * The Queen Elizabeth II Exemptions: A shocking look at real constitutional power and how the late monarch blocked dozens of laws to protect her personal properties. * Ancient WMDs in Iraq: The hidden, archeological motivations behind the 2003 invasion and the mysterious disappearance of the Gilgamesh tomb discovery. * Trans-Medium Anomalies: Connecting ancient Babylonian texts describing underwater visitor bases with the modern tracker data of US Naval pilots. This isn't just a discussion about speculative conspiracy. It is a historical and semantic roadmap showing that our ancestors were openly negotiating a populated cosmos—and it's high time we remember how to do the same.Connect with Paul Anthony Wallis* Website: https://paulanthonywallis.com * Tours: https://ancientknowledgetours.com * Academy: https://ancientknowledgeacademy.com * YouTube: The Paul Wallis Channel & The Fifth Kind * Books: Escaping from Eden, The Scars of Eden, Echoes of Eden, The Eden Conspiracy, The Invasion of Eden, The Eden Enigma, and The Dragons of Eden (Coming July 2026!) Join Us On PatreonFor uncensored episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive community access:https://patreon.com/FarOutWithFaustListen on Spotify + Apple Podcasts* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6StPwgq2di3f8uxnc6SmIf* Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/far-out-with-faust-fowf/id1533017218FOWF & Faust Checho on SOCIAL* https://www.instagram.com/faroutwithfaust/* https://www.instagram.com/theonefaustchecho/* https://www.facebook.com/Faroutwithfaust* https://www.facebook.com/faustchecho/* https://x.com/faustchechoQUESTION THE ANSWERS™#Extraterrestrials #AncientHistory #Disclosurewe'd love to hear from you

If you enjoy this episode, we're sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we've got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.  Thank you and enjoy the episode!Links For The Occult Rejectshttps://linktr.ee/theoccultrejectsOccult Research Institutehttps://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/Cash Apphttps://cash.app/$theoccultrejectsVenmo@TheOccultRejectsBuy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejectsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejectsPart 2 — Core Citations / BibliographySecondary Works and Reference SourcesEncyclopaedia Britannica. “Perpetua.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Polycarp.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christianity: Relations between Christianity and the Roman Government and the Hellenistic Culture.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Decius.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Diocletian.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christianity: Catechesis: Instructing Candidates for Baptism.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Kerygma and Catechesis.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Exorcism.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Eucharist.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Early Christian Art.”Smarthistory. “Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome.”Vatican Museums. “Jonah Sarcophagus.”Yale News. “House Call: A New Study Rethinks Early Christian Landmark.”Yale News. “Yale Art Gallery Painting Might Be Oldest Known Image of the Virgin Mary.”Yale University Art Gallery. Materials on Dura-Europos and the Christian Building/Baptistery.Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Chi-Rho.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Paschal Controversies.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Melito of Sardis.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christology: Early History.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Docetism.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Adoptionism.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Cerinthus.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Theodotus the Tanner.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “St. Ignatius of Antioch.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Apologist.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Saint Justin Martyr.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “First Apology.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Dialogue with Trypho.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Celsus.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christianity: Apologetics: Defending the Faith.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Tertullian.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Athenagoras.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “First Letter of Clement.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “St. Cyprian.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Novatian.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Saint Irenaeus.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christianity: Aversion of Heresy: The Establishment of Orthodoxy.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “The Process of Canonization.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Late 2nd-Century Canons.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Muratorian Fragment.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Biblical Canon.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Codex.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christianity: Authority and Dissent.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Christianity: Relations between Christianity and Judaism.”Joshua Ezra Burns. “The Parting of the Ways in Contemporary Perspective.” In The Christian Schism in Jewish History and Jewish Memory. Cambridge University Press.Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed, eds. The Ways That Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Fortress Press.Judith Lieu. Neither Jew nor Greek? Constructing Early Christianity. T&T Clark.Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Constantine I.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Arianism.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “First Council of Nicaea.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Saint Athanasius.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Festal Letters.”Encyclopaedia Britannica. “First Council of Constantinople.”Primary Texts UsedThe Martyrdom of Polycarp. Used for the early literary shaping of martyrdom, witness, bishop-martyr memory, and the theological interpretation of death.The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. Used for imprisonment, trial, visions, martyrdom, and the rare preserved voice of a female Christian martyr.Apostolic Tradition, traditionally associated with Hippolytus. Used for baptismal preparation, catechumenal scrutiny, exorcism, fasting, vigil, renunciation, oil, and immersion.1 John 4. Used for the anti-docetic pressure around confessing Jesus Christ as having “come in the flesh.”Ignatius of Antioch. Letter to the Smyrnaeans. Used for Christ's real flesh, real suffering, Eucharistic theology, and bishop-centered unity.Ignatius of Antioch. Letter to the Philadelphians and related letters. Useful backup for episcopal unity, Eucharistic order, and anti-schismatic arguments.Melito of Sardis. On Pascha. Used for Paschal theology, Christ as Pascha, typology, and Christian interpretation of Passover.Justin Martyr. First Apology. Used for apologetics, public defense, accusations against Christians, Eucharistic misunderstanding, and Christian worship.Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho. Used for Christian-Jewish polemic, scriptural inheritance, fulfillment arguments, and the hardening separation between Christianity and Judaism.Athenagoras. A Plea for the Christians / Embassy for the Christians. Used as a major example of second-century apologetics addressed to imperial authority.Athenagoras. On the Resurrection of the Dead. Used as a philosophical Christian defense of resurrection.Tertullian. Apology. Used for Latin apologetics, Christian defense against Roman accusation, and the combative posture toward pagan criticism.Tertullian. Prescription Against Heretics. Useful backup for rule of faith, public apostolic teaching, and anti-heretical boundary-making.Origen. Against Celsus. Used for Celsus' pagan critique and Origen's major intellectual defense of Christianity.Celsus. The True Word / True Doctrine. Survives mainly through Origen's quotations and refutations; used for educated pagan criticism of Christianity.First Letter of Clement. Used for early ministry order, Roman intervention in Corinth, appointed bishops and deacons, and the emerging logic of succession.Cyprian of Carthage. On the Unity of the Catholic Church. Used for episcopal unity, schism, discipline, and the theological seriousness of the bishop's office.Novatian. De Trinitate. Used as a witness to mid-third-century theological conflict and Roman Latin theology.Irenaeus. Against Heresies. Used for anti-gnostic consolidation, rule of truth, fourfold Gospel authority, apostolic succession, and public apostolic memory.Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History. Used for the Paschal controversy, Polycarp and Anicetus, Victor and Polycrates, Irenaeus' intervention, early church memory, and the broader historical framing.The Didachē. Used as part of the wider early Christian literary world that remained influential outside the final New Testament canon.Letter of Barnabas. Used for anti-Jewish polemic, allegorical reading of Hebrew Scripture, and Christian claims over Israel's inheritance.The Shepherd of Hermas. Used as an example of a beloved early Christian text that was widely read but later excluded from the New Testament canon.Apocalypse of Peter. Used as part of the wider early Christian apocalyptic library that circulated before the canon fully closed.Muratorian Fragment. Used for the late-second-century Roman list of recognized Christian writings and the emerging shape of the New Testament.Cyril of Jerusalem. Mystagogical Catecheses. Used for post-baptismal instruction and the interpretation of initiation after the rite had been received.Ambrose of Milan. On the Mysteries and On the Sacraments. Used for mystagogical teaching, baptismal interpretation, anointing, and sacramental instruction.The Nicene Creed / First Council of Nicaea, 325. Used for creed formation, anti-Arian settlement attempts, and the conciliar compression of Christological conflict.Athanasius. Festal Letter 39. Used for the earliest surviving list matching the 27-book New Testament canon recognized in the mainstream tradition.Constantinopolitan Creed / First Council of Constantinople, 381. Used for the later stabilization and expansion of Nicene theological identity.Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. A

Shavuot is also called the Feast of Weeks and Pentecost. According to Jewish tradition, God gave the law on Shavuot. Thus, Shavuot celebrates the giving of the law and the revelation on Mount Sinai. According to Acts 2:1-4 it was on Shavuot that the Spirit of God was poured out on the believers and the "church" ("called out ones") was created.The primary passage in the Hebrew Scriptures that addresses Shavuot is Leviticus 23:15-22. In verse 15, the Jewish people are told to "count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering." The question is, "what is meant by the term Sabbath in this passage?"Since it was on Shavuot that the believers were placed into the "body of Messiah," also known as the "church," or "ekkleisia" (meaning, "called out ones") by means of the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, then what Luke is describing are the events that led to the birthday of the "church."The promise of the Spirit then is, among other things, the promise that by means of the Spirit of God, one can be placed in the "Body of Messiah." This means that believers in Messiah and what He has done for them, are connected to Him as well as one another. We are "in" Messiah and thereby members of the church, the "called out ones."YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/l5YJF2xSkK4Send us Fan Mail

Pentecost - It's more than you know! Listen as Jeffrey D. and Ted unwrap the roots Pentecost, which is the Feast of Shavuot in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Send us Fan MailNEW EPISODE - I'm so pleased to welcome back my friend Peter Wehner —  political thinker, former White House speechwriter, regular contributor to The Atlantic and The New York Times, and one of the most thoughtful Christian voices speaking into America's moral and political turmoil.Peter joins me to discuss four remarkable recent *essays that confront some of the darkest and most urgent questions facing our nation right now. Together, we explore the rise of militant Christian nationalism, the theology and rhetoric surrounding Pete Hegseth, and the dangerous fusion of political grievance, religious certainty, and the language of holy war.Peter examines how biblical texts — especially the imprecatory Psalms — are being weaponized to justify aggression, vengeance, and even bloodlust in modern political life. We talk about the influence of figures like Douglas Wilson, the appeal to “King David” spirituality, and why many respected biblical scholars insist that the conquest ethic of the Old Testament cannot be used as a model for Christian political action today. As Peter argues, the Sermon on the Mount stands as a direct repudiation of that worldview.We also step back from the headlines to reflect on our deeply fractured culture — our polarization, loneliness, loss of community, and longing for what the Hebrew Scriptures call shalom. Along the way, we draw wisdom from voices like Desmond Tutu, Rowan Williams, and David Bentley Hart.This is an honest, sobering, and ultimately hopeful conversation about faith, power, truth, and the soul of America. I hope you'll join us.*See SHOW NOTES for Pete's four recent essays.Support the showBecome a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you!Ken's Substack PageThe Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com

Good morning.Ocean transport has rarely left our news headlines over these last few weeks. The ongoing efforts of the USA and Iran to block or open up the Strait of Hormuz now being joined by the plight of passengers on a virus struck cruise ship, finally docked in Tenerife.It's tempting then, to think of the world's oceans primarily as means of transporting travellers and goods. Yet, as ocean naturalists, from Rachel Carson to David Attenborough, have repeatedly reminded us, the seas are home to a vast array of amazing species. The wonders of our oceans are however, now at significant risk from two direct consequences of human activity, climate change and pollution. Indeed, it's widely argued by scientists that, for the seas to recover, a minimum of 30% of the world's oceans will need to be protected by 2030.The challenge, as so often with regard to environmental damage, is our human reluctance to take short term sacrifices for longer term gain. Or else we so frame the actions required by way of sacrifice that they fall disproportionately on the poorest among our communities and nations. It is here that two core aspects of my own faith come together.First, as Psalm 95 in the Hebrew Scriptures asserts, “The sea is his, and he made it”. That tells me, our human accountability to God extends to our treatment of the oceans just as much as it does the dry land.Second, those of us with greater wealth or assets are expected to shoulder the heavier burden. As Jesus says in Luke 12: 48, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”Governments have a vital part to play. The High Seas Treaty, which came into force earlier this year, and the UK Parliament has now legislated to ratify, affords opportunity for safeguarding large swathes of the oceans. The Sargasso Sea, surrounding the Island of Bermuda, and home to a rich and diverse range of species, is a prime candidate for environmental protection measures that avoid destroying the livelihoods of local fishing communitiesI'm grateful too for the work of campaigning organisations, such as Greenpeace, whose ship Witness, I was privileged to visit, with other parliamentarians, recently. Along with sister vessels, it monitors biodiversity and plastic pollution in sensitive areas, exposing behaviours that jeopardise the seas and challenging us all to do better. Together, treaties and campaigners offer me hope that we can yet treasure the world's oceans for their true value, a value far far beyond their immediate usefulness as means to transport the world's supplies of oil. But, as Jesus stated so bluntly, our own individual practices matter too.

7 takeaways from this study See worship as drawing near, not “paying dues.” The offerings are about approaching the Presence of God. Prayer, study, and obedience/service are ways of coming close to God, not checking religious boxes. Offer God your best, not your leftovers. Unblemished animals and “most holy” portions challenge modern habits of giving God the spare time, spare energy, or spare money. Malachi 3 shows that careless, cheap offerings reveal the heart. Let God deal with your inner life, not just your behavior. Leviticus' focus on kidneys and heart, and Luke 6's focus on tree and fruit, call you to ask: “What is going on inside me — desires, motives, patterns — not just what people see?” Practice real repentance, not just ritual or words. Sin and guilt offerings require confession, turning, and (when needed) restitution. Luke 6's “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?” presses this home. Stay alert to “spiritual gravity” and small compromises. Malachi's priests did not collapse in one day. Little allowances, tiredness, and apathy piled up. Guard the “altar fire” of your heart through regular self‑examination and renewal. Choose teachers carefully and expect to become like them. Yeshua's warnings about blind guides and the pupil becoming like the teacher mean your podcasts, books, and leaders shape your character. Seek voices that love holiness, humility, and truth. Build your life on doing, not just hearing. The wise builder in Luke 6 hears and acts. Tie every insight you gain — from Leviticus, Malachi, or the Gospels — to at least one concrete step of obedience in relationships, work, or worship. The offerings in Leviticus form a pattern of drawing near to God. The central word for “offering” in Leviticus is קָרְבָּן korban. It comes from the root קָרַב karav (to approach, to draw near). The offerings are not about feeding God. They are about approach. The Tabernacle and later the Temple functioned as visible reminders of God's holiness dwelling among His people. Since God is perfectly holy, sin and impurity could not simply be ignored. The sacrificial system provided God-appointed means for cleansing, atonement, restoration, and worship. These offerings were not random religious inventions but gracious instructions from God Himself. They pointed both backward and forward: backward toward humanity's need for reconciliation after the fall in Eden, and forward toward the future work of Messiah. The goal is that all of those who are far away from God to be brought near to Him.  Leviticus 1–7 therefore describes how people who are “far off” come near to the presence of the LORD (Ephesians 2:13). The movement is from outside the camp toward the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle represents God's dwelling in the midst of Israel (Exodus 25:8). The offerings are the God-given means for that approach. The New Testament later reflects this same movement. Hebrews speaks of drawing near with confidence to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). The vocabulary and imagery echo the earlier pattern of korban — approach. In Hebrew thought, sacrifices were not merely primitive rituals or attempts to manipulate God. The entire system was designed to teach Israel how sinful human beings could approach a holy God while remaining in covenant relationship with Him. The sacrifices taught lessons about repentance, thanksgiving, fellowship, substitution, holiness, and obedience. These passages are not disconnected religious texts from different eras, but part of one continuous revelation from the God of Israel. Together they demonstrate God's desire for holiness, covenant faithfulness, sincere worship, repentance, and transformed hearts. The Torah, the Prophets, and the teachings of Yeshua all work together harmoniously and reveal the same divine character and purposes. The five main offerings in Leviticus Leviticus 1–7 presents five primary offerings: עֹלָה olah (burnt offering, whole ascending offering) מִנְחָה minchah (grain or tribute offering) שְׁלָמִים shelamim (peace or fellowship offering) חַטָּאת khatat (sin or purification offering) אָשָׁם asham (guilt or reparation offering) Leviticus 1–5 describe these from the worshiper's perspective. They answer the questions, “When do I bring this?” and “Why?” Leviticus 6–7 return to the same offerings. They speak from the priest's vantage point of leading the worshipper on the approach Each section starts with, “This is the law (תּוֹרַת torat) of the…” (Leviticus 6:9; 6:14; 6:25; 7:1; 7:11). The order also shifts. In Leviticus 1–5, the sequence is burnt, grain, peace, sin, guilt. In Leviticus 6–7, the order becomes burnt, grain, sin, guilt, peace. For the priests, the path ends with peace. This shift hints at an intended trajectory for the worshipper: consecration, gratitude, cleansing, restitution/restoration, and finally shared fellowship. ‘Soothing aroma’ and ‘most holy’ Leviticus repeats the phrase רֵיחַ נִיחוֹחַ reach nichoach (soothing or pleasing aroma). For example, in the burnt offering: “an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD” (Leviticus 1:9 NASB95). The phrase does not imply that God enjoys smoke as such, particularly when unpleasant things are burning. It points to His pleasure in obedient, wholehearted devotion. Another key term is קֹדֶשׁ קֳדָשִׁים kodesh kodashim (holy of holies, most holy). Some offerings, or their remainders, belong to this category (Leviticus 6:17; 7:1; 7:6). The inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, also bears this designation (Exodus 26:33–34). The phrase marks degrees of holiness. It divides between ordinary use and what belongs uniquely to God. In several offerings, contact with a most holy portion communicates holiness. “Anyone who touches them will become consecrated” (Leviticus 6:18 NASB95). This direction, holiness moving outward, anticipates the sanctifying effect of Messiah's work. The burnt offering The burnt offering, עֹלָה olah, appears first. The word comes from עָלָה alah (to go up, ascend). The entire animal (except the hide, which goes to the priest) ascends in smoke (Leviticus 1:9; 7:8 NASB95). The worshiper leans his hand on the animal's head. The Hebrew verb is סָמַךְ samach (to lean, to lay hand upon). This gesture conveys identification and transfer. The offering is voluntary. It expresses total dedication. All of the animal goes up. The act teaches that the whole self belongs to God. The text states, “It will be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf” (Leviticus 1:4 NASB1995). The root for atonement is כפר kaphar (to cover, to purge). The daily burnt offering, the תָּמִיד tamid (continual) offering, keeps this pattern always before Israel (Numbers 28:3–8). The fire on the altar must never go out (Leviticus 6:12–13). The Hebrew uses the verb כבה kabah (to quench, to extinguish). Priests must not quench the fire. This fire later connects with prophetic images of unquenchable judgment and refining. The grain offering The grain offering, מִנְחָה minchah, often accompanies the burnt offering. The term can mean tribute or present. It comes from the produce of the land. The worshiper brings fine flour with oil and frankincense (Leviticus 2:1). The offering excludes leaven (חָמֵץ chametz) and honey (דְּבַשׁ devash) when burned on the altar (Leviticus 2:11). This absence signifies purity and the avoidance of corruption or sweetness. A memorial portion (אַזְכָּרָה azkarah) goes up in smoke. The priests eat the remainder in a holy place (Leviticus 2:2–3; 6:16). This remainder is kodesh kodashim. It sustains those who minister. The grain offering expresses thanksgiving and dedication of labor. It acknowledges that what grows, and what human hands produce from it, comes from God. It also functions as an accessible offering for the poor who may not afford larger animals. The grain offerings, when offered in the right spirit, are an attitude of gratitude to God for what He has done and when we express gratitude to God for what He has done for us, it can become infectious and others will feel emboldened and an encourage to also express gratitude to God for His blessings.  The peace offering The peace offering, שְׁלָמִים shelamim, is related to שָׁלוֹם shalom (peace, completeness, well-being). It can be brought for thanksgiving, fulfillment of a vow, or a freewill expression of joy (Leviticus 7:11–16). The animal may be male or female but must be without defect (Leviticus 3:1). The fat and certain inner parts, including kidneys and liver, go on the altar (Leviticus 3:3–5). The breast is waved. The right thigh belongs to the priest (Leviticus 7:30–34). The offerer and family eat the remaining meat in a communal meal. This offering pictures fellowship. God receives His portion. The priest receives his. The worshiper and household share the rest. It displays restored relationship and shared joy. The phrase reach nichoach again describes God's pleasure in restoration (Leviticus 3:5). It was a peace offering in the sense that it was offered and eaten communally within the household, but it was also a sin offering, because it was offered to cover over sin and protect those offering it from taking on the consequences of their sin. So if someone asks, “Is the Pesach offering a sin offering or a peace offering?” The answer is “Yes!”  The sin offering The sin offering, חַטָּאת khatat, addresses unintentional sins and impurities (Leviticus 4:1–2). The root חָטָא khata means to miss the mark or go astray. The type of animal varies by the status of the offender. A priest or the whole congregation brings a bull. A leader brings a male goat. An ordinary person brings a female goat or lamb. Very poor worshipers may bring birds or even flour (Leviticus 4:3–32; 5:11). The blood's placement depends on the case. In some instances, the priest brings it into the holy place and sprinkles it before the veil and on the horns of the incense altar (Leviticus 4:5–7). In other cases, he applies it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering (Leviticus 4:25). Fat still goes on the altar. For high-level offerings, the remainder of the animal goes outside the camp and burns there (Leviticus 4:11–12). For others, the priests eat the meat in a holy place (Leviticus 6:26). The pattern highlights both expiation and contamination. Sin defiles the sanctuary, even when unintentional. The blood purifies sacred space. The carrying of the carcass outside the camp anticipates later reflections on Messiah’s suffering “outside the gate” of Jerusalem (Hebrews 13:11–13 NASB95). The guilt offering The guilt or reparation offering, אָשָׁם asham, deals with offenses that include a debt or breach of trust (Leviticus 5:14–26 and 7:1–10). The offenses include misusing holy things, false dealing with a neighbor in matters of deposit, robbery, oppression, or failure to return lost property (Leviticus 6:2–3). The offender must first restore what he took. He then adds one fifth (20%) and gives it to the injured party (Leviticus 6:5). After restitution, he brings a ram without defect as the אָשָׁם asham (Leviticus 6:6). The priest makes atonement. “It will be forgiven him” (Leviticus 6:7 NASB95). This offering shows that reconciliation with God runs through reconciliation with neighbor. It rejects the idea that one can “be right with God” while ignoring unresolved wrongs against others. It also distinguishes between healthy guilt that leads to restoration and destructive shame that traps a person in despair. Repentance is not merely emotional regret but involves concrete acts of restoration and accountability.  Substitution and pattern Across these offerings, substitution appears. Innocent animals die. The text never portrays them as morally guilty. They bear consequences in the place of the sinner. The visual and sensory impact teaches gravity. It shows that sin brings death and that mercy has a cost. Blood played a central role in the sacrificial system because Scripture teaches that the life is in the blood. Blood represented life given in place of another life. This principle of substitution formed an important theological foundation for understanding Messiah's atoning work. From a Messianic Jewish perspective, Yeshua did not abolish the sacrificial themes of Leviticus but fulfilled and embodied them. He became the perfect sacrifice who fully accomplished what the Temple sacrifices symbolized and anticipated.  Hebrews later calls the Levitical system “a shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1 NASB95). A shadow is not unreal. It has shape and direction. It points beyond itself. The pattern of approach, cleansing, substitution, and fellowship prepares readers to understand later fulfillment. In Matthew 5:23–24 during the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua taught His disciples that a person cannot genuinely draw near to God while knowingly remaining in unresolved sin, bitterness, or injustice toward another person. Yeshua was intensifying the Torah's ethical demands by teaching that reconciliation and repentance are part of true worship. A person cannot genuinely draw near to God while knowingly remaining in unresolved sin, bitterness, or injustice toward another person. The sacrificial system was never intended to function mechanically or magically. God always cared about the condition of the heart behind the offering. A sacrifice without repentance, obedience, or covenant faithfulness was unacceptable. This theme became especially important in the transition to the Book of Malachi. Malachi 3: Fire, priests, and weary worship Malachi prophesied after the return of the remnant of Israel from exile in Babylon and Persia. The Temple was standing again. Sacrifices resumed. Yet spiritual apathy spread. The priests were offering defective animals. They treated their calling lightly (Malachi 1:6–8, 13). People tired of serving God. Malachi 3 speaks into this situation. “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.” Malachi 3:1 NASB95 The passage then describes Adonai coming to His temple as a refiner's fire and launderer's soap (Malachi 3:2). He “will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3 NASB95). The fire language recalls the altar fire in Leviticus that must not go out (Leviticus 6:12–13). In Malachi, the problem is not lack of ritual. It is poor quality and wrong heart. Priests “despise” the table of the LORD by their offerings and attitudes (Malachi 1:7). God announces that He will refine them. He will restore offerings that truly please Him. God's goal was not merely punishment but restoration. The priests and people had drifted from covenant faithfulness, yet God still called them to return. This reflects the covenant loyalty and mercy of God toward Israel. The famous declaration, “I the Lord do not change,” is evidence of God's faithfulness to His promises. Israel survived not because of its own righteousness but because of God's unchanging covenant commitment. Malachi also addresses tithes and support of the priesthood (Malachi 3:8–10). People withhold what sustains those who minister. This connects back to Leviticus, where parts of offerings and tithes feed the priests and their families. Neglect of this support undermines faithful service and signals distrust of God's provision. Spiritual gravity and backsliding Rabbi Daniel Lapin likened the struggle against sin in the world to “spiritual gravity.” If gravity acts and no one resists it, objects fall. Similarly, if spiritual decline goes unopposed, people slide downward. Scripture often warns of “backsliding.” Hosea speaks of “a stubborn heifer” and of God's people “bent on turning from Me” (Hosea 4:16; 11:7 NASB95). Jeremiah describes a people who “went backward and not forward” (Jeremiah 7:24 NASB95). Small compromises accumulate. Priests in Malachi's day likely did not plan to profane worship. They accepted slightly blemished animals. They became careless. Over time, standards eroded. Slowly, they let the fire on the altar of their hearts die down and go out. The Torah and Prophets together urge watchfulness. They call leaders and people to “tend the fire.” They stress the need for continual renewal and honest self-examination. The scriptures do not promote manipulative prosperity theology, rather, they emphasize that generosity, faithfulness, and trust in God remain important covenant principles. God desires wholehearted devotion rather than empty religious performance. Luke 6: Exercise discernment and judgement on oneself first Luke 6 contains a section sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain. In verses 39–49 Yeshua tells a series of short parables that connect to themes from Leviticus and Malachi. First, He warns, “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?” (Luke 6:39 NASB95). This speaks to discernment in choosing teachers. In Malachi's time, priests functioned as blind guides when they treated holy things lightly. In any age, leaders who ignore God's word risk leading others into moral and spiritual collapse. Leaders who lack spiritual clarity cannot produce healthy communities. Second, He says, “The pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40 NASB1995). Training aims at likeness. Priests in Leviticus model holiness. They eat most holy portions in a holy place. They teach people to distinguish between holy and common (Leviticus 10:10–11). Disciples in Luke learn to resemble their Master in character and obedience. Followers of Messiah Yeshua are called to reflect His character, values, mercy, humility, and obedience. This reflects a deeply Jewish understanding of discipleship in which students sought not only to learn teachings but also to imitate the life of the rabbi. Third, He uses the image of the speck and the log (Luke 6:41–42 NASB1995). A person who tries to remove a speck from a brother's eye while a log remains in his own behaves as a hypocrite. Yeshua was not prohibiting all moral discernment or accountability. Instead, He condemned self-righteous judgment and hypocritical condemnation. This aligns with the sacrificial system's insistence on purity in those who minister. It also responds to Malachi's charge that priests and people blame others while ignoring their own compromises. Fourth, He speaks of trees and fruit. “For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit” (Luke 6:43 NASB1995). He concludes, “For his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45 NASB1995). Here καρδία (kardia) (heart) functions like Hebrew לֵב (lev) (heart). The inner life shows itself outwardly. Offerings and rituals without love and justice reveal a diseased tree, however impressive the leaves. This idea also related to the role of spiritual leadership. Just as bad trees cannot produce good fruit, corrupt leaders cannot produce healthy spiritual communities. Yeshua's warnings echoed prophetic concerns found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures regarding false shepherds, corrupt priests, and hypocritical leaders. Finally, He tells the parable of the two builders (Luke 6:46–49 NASB1995). One hears His words and acts on them. That person builds on rock. Floods cannot shake the house. The other hears but does not act. That person builds on soil without foundation. The same flood destroys that house. Hearing good teachings alone is insufficient. True discipleship requires obedience and action. Leviticus taught Israel how to approach God faithfully. Malachi rebuked the people for abandoning covenant obedience while maintaining outward religion. Yeshua likewise warned that merely calling Him “Lord” without obedience is spiritually empty. Inner life: kidneys, heart, and fire The Bible also frequently uses imagery of kidneys and heart. The Hebrew term for kidneys is כְּלָיוֹת kelayot (kidneys). The heart is לֵב lev. Together they describe the deep inner life. Psalm 26:2 says, “Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart” (Psalm 26:2 NASB95). Literally, God tests “kidneys and heart.” These terms appear in sacrificial contexts, where kidneys and certain fats go on the altar. The visual burning of these inner parts symbolizes the offering up of deep impulses and desires. It anticipates later teaching on inner transformation. Ezekiel 36:26–27 promises a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Hebrews 4:12 speaks of the word of God judging “the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NASB95). Fire, too, functions as an image for inner reality. The unquenched altar fire points to continual devotion and God's active presence. Malachi's refining fire points to God's work in purifying His people. Acts 2 later uses divided tongues as of fire to mark the Spirit's coming upon the gathered disciples (Acts 2:3). The same God who commanded priests to keep literal fire burning now lights an inner fire in His people. The post How Old Testament sacrifices and Messiah's teachings fit together in one big story (Leviticus 1–7; Malachi 3; Luke 6) appeared first on Hallel Fellowship.

Exodus Lesson 71 Part 1 In Hebrew Genesis 2:3 has a unique Hebrew grammatical construction only found here in chapter 2 verse 3.  The Hebrew translated direct from the Hebrew is that “God ceased from creating all his work that God created TO DO.”  This seems to suggest that the Lord stopped creating work to be accomplished in the future work.  Hebrew scholars such as Ibn Ezra (1092-1167 A.D.) and Radak (1160-1235 A.D.), noted that the Hebrew phrase that God created a world that was complete in its foundation but designed to have its full potential realized through time, partly through the stewardship of humanity. In other words it seems possible that God has created work for the future for Himself, His people like Moses, David, Isaiah, and of course Jesus and US!!  It is a very interesting valid alternative translation of Gen. 2:3.  (See “JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis.  Nahum Sarna.  © 1989.  The Jewish Publication Society.  Jerusalem, Philadelphia, and New York) Ask many Christians today how they are saved and they would tell you they are saved by GRACE and not by WORKS.  They are right.  This is the very words of God found in Eph. 2:8-9.  But, what we miss is this is a Jewish concept and understood quite clearly among religious Jews in Jesus' day.  Consider the Hebrew words Chen (grace/favor) and Chesed (lovingkindness) which represent God's unmerited favor and mercy shown to individuals and the nation, rather than just earning salvation through works. Hebrew Origins: The concept of grace (chen - found 69 times in the Tanakh) emphasizes God's unmerited favor, such as when Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Grace is then connected to Torah often expressed in Judaism as "saved by grace, led by Torah," or God's instruction and not law.  It is seen as a gift that frees individuals to walk in God's ways out of love, not just for merit.  Here's a number of websites to check it out and go deeper in your understanding and study. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/2013/05/21/rescuing-grace/ https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/2016/02/26/concept-of-grace/ https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/grace-enough/ In this podcast we will study Eph. 2:10.  The verse that most Christians forget.  They stop at verse 9 when they quote Eph. 2:8-9.  They tell us that works don't matter.  But, they do not read THE VERY WORDS OF GOD in verse 10.  We are sved by grace not by works to then become God's workmanship to do good WORKS!!  Thus, the Lord is telling us, the mark of a true Christian is once they are saved they do work given to them by the Father.  Works God created for us in Gen. 2:3.   Many of our Bibles say that Jesus was a carpenter as we find in Matt. 16:18 or Mark 6:3.  But, few study the Greek word that carpenter translates.  I never heard on pastor teach on this.  Not one.  The Greek word is TEKTON. It is a broad term for a craftsman, artisan, or builder, often used specifically for a woodworker or carpenter. Tekton refers to a skilled worker who constructs with various materials, including wood and stone.  Shown below are a few websites to check this out https://biblehub.com/greek/5045.htm https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/tekton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekt%C5%8Dn This Greek word tekton in the Septuagint translates the Hebrew word CHARASH חָרָשׁ H2796.  The meaning in Hebrew is artisan or craftsman whose trained hands shape wood, stone, metal, or precious gems or any material.  Thus, since there was NO New Testament in Jesus'day, only the Hebrew Scriptures, we can confidently say Jesus was not only a carpenter but construction worker.   And as B'zal'el and Oholee-av were to lead a group of CHRASHEEM to build God's Dwelling Place, our Jesus, who is a CHRASH, will build His congregation.  And this congregation will be like ONE TEMPLE, one place where God dwells.  I can't make this up.  The connections are too awesome. These two words in the podcast, TEKTON and CHARASH, were related to the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam (pronounced taykoon olam) תיקון עולם originating in the Mishnah meaning “to fix everything.”  Reform Judaism states that tikkun olam has evolved from a purely spiritual, concept into a mandate for social action, social justice, and environmentalism.  Dennis Prager, a famous conservative talk show host and scholar, who is also a deeply religious Jew, feels that tikkun oal as social justice shows why so many American Jews are democrats.  Some other modern Jewish interpretations suggest that in the absence of a single, personal Messiah, humanity itself (as a collective) is responsible for being the "Messiah" by performing acts of kindness to heal the world.  This results in the general concept in contemporary Judaism that repairing the world is ONLY through human effort to usher in a future Messianic era.  This clearly is not the view in Christianity.  Christians hold to the fact that the Messiah (Jesus) has come to begin this restoration, with a future return for a final, complete, restoration and renewal of the entire universe. The Christian view seems to be more correct.  The phrase tikkun olam appears in the Jewish prayer in the 2nd paragraph called Ahlaynoo עָלֵינוּ – meaning it is against us, on us, or incumbent on us.  This prayer may have been written in Jesus' day.  It first appears in the Mishnah is the 3rd century A.D.  Clearly, the prayer says God will fix everything and perfect the world.  Today in religious Jews seemed to have abandoned the idea that God does tikkun olam.  This is clear in the prayer and in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is nothing in the prayer or in God's word that says Messiah will come only if mankind does tikkun olam.  Shown below is the prayer. סידור אשכנז, ימי חול, תפילת שחרית, סיום תפילה, עלינו א׳ עָלֵֽינוּ לְשַׁבֵּֽחַ לַאֲדוֹן הַכֹּל, לָתֵת גְּדֻלָּה לְיוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית. שֶׁלֺּא עָשָֽׂנוּ כְּגוֹיֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת, וְלֺא שָׂמָֽנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאֲדָמָה; שֶׁלֺּא שָׂם חֶלְקֵֽנוּ כָּהֶם, וְגוֹרָלֵֽנוּ כְּכָל הֲמוֹנָם. שֶׁהֵם מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים לָהֶֽבֶל וָרִיק וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים אֶל אֵל לֹא יוֹשִֽׁיעַ. וַאֲנַֽחְנוּ כּוֹרְעִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים וּמוֹדִים לִפְנֵי מֶֽלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. שֶׁהוּא נוֹטֶה שָׁמַֽיִם וְיוֹסֵד אָֽרֶץ, וּמוֹשַׁב יְקָרוֹ בַּשָּׁמַֽיִם מִמַּֽעַל, וּשְׁכִינַת עֻזּוֹ בְּגָבְהֵי מְרוֹמִים; הוּא אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ, אֵין עוֹד. אֱמֶת מַלְכֵּֽנוּ, אֶֽפֶס זוּלָתוֹ, כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתוֹ: וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶֽךָ כִּי יְהֹוָה הוּא הָאֱלֺהִים בַּשָּׁמַֽיִם מִמַּֽעַל וְעַל הָאָֽרֶץ מִתָּֽחַת, אֵין עוֹד. TRANSLATED: It is our obligation (incumbent on us or AHLAYNO עָלֵֽינוּ) to praise the Master of all, to ascribe greatness to the Creator of the [world in the] beginning: that He has not made us like the nations of the lands, and has not positioned us like the families of the earth; that He has not assigned our portion like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitudes. For they prostrate themselves to vanity and nothingness, and pray to a god that cannot deliver. But we bow, prostrate ourselves, and offer thanks before the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One blessed is He, Who spreads the heavens, and establishes the earth, and the seat of His glory is in heaven above, and the abode of His invincible might is in the loftiest heights. He is our God, there is nothing else. Our King is true, all else is insignificant, as it is written in His Torah: And You shall know this day and take into Your heart that Adonoy is God in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is nothing else. סידור אשכנז, ימי חול, תפילת שחרית, סיום תפילה, עלינו ב׳ עַל כֵּן נְקַוֶּה לְךָ, יְהֹוָה אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ, לִרְאוֹת מְהֵרָה בְּתִפְאֶֽרֶת עֻזֶּֽךָ, לְהַעֲבִיר גִּלּוּלִים מִן הָאָֽרֶץ וְהָאֱלִילִים כָּרוֹת יִכָּרֵתוּן; לְתַקֵּן עוֹלָם בְּמַלְכוּת שַׁדַּי. וְכָל בְּנֵי בָשָׂר יִקְרְאוּ בִשְׁמֶֽךָ, לְהַפְנוֹת אֵלֶֽיךָ כָּל רִשְׁעֵי אָֽרֶץ. יַכִּֽירוּ וְיֵדְעוּ כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל כִּי לְךָ תִכְרַע כָּל בֶּֽרֶךְ, תִּשָּׁבַע כָּל לָשׁוֹן. לְפָנֶֽיךָ, יְהֹוָה אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ, יִכְרְעוּ וְיִפֹּֽלוּ, וְלִכְבוֹד שִׁמְךָ יְקָר יִתֵּֽנוּ, וִיקַבְּלוּ כֻלָּם אֶת עֹל מַלְכוּתֶֽךָ, וְתִמְלֺךְ עֲלֵיהֶם מְהֵרָה לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד. כִּי הַמַּלְכוּת שֶׁלְּךָ הִיא, וּלְעֽוֹלְמֵי עַד תִּמְלוֹךְ בְּכָבוֹד, כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתֶֽךָ: יְהֹוָה יִמְלֺךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד. וְנֶאֱמַר, וְהָיָה יְהֹוָה לְמֶֽלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָֽרֶץ; בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְהֹוָה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד: TRANSLATED: We therefore put our hope in You, Adonoy our God, to soon behold the glory of Your might in banishing idolatry from the earth, and the false gods will be utterly exterminated to perfect the world (that is לְתַקֵּן עוֹלָם or Leh Taykoon Olam) as the kingdom of Shadai. And all mankind will invoke Your Name, to turn back to You, all the wicked of the earth. They will realize and know, all the inhabitants of the world, that to You, every knee must bend, every tongue must swear [allegiance to You]. Before You, Adonoy, our God, they will bow and prostrate themselves, and to the glory of Your Name give honor. And they will all accept [upon themselves] the yoke of Your kingdom, and You will reign over them, soon, forever and ever. For the kingdom is Yours, and to all eternity You will reign in glory, as it is written in Your Torah: Adonoy will reign forever and ever. And it is said: And Adonoy will be King over the whole earth; on that day Adonoy will be One and His Name One.  (Accessed at www.sefaria.org) Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  (Ferret - visiting ancient Gath in Israel.  Didn't see Goliath though!) What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0    

How do you move from simply reading the Bible to truly understanding its depths?In Session 2 of the Rooted Conference, Pastor Daniel Batarseh shares the "Tool Belt" of hermeneutics he uses for deeper Bible study. This session moves beyond basic reading, equipping you with practical tools to uncover the richness of God's Word—focusing on finding Christ throughout the entire Bible and effectively using outside resources.In this session, you will learn:Types and Shadows: Discover how Old Testament people, events, and symbols prophetically point to the person and work of Jesus Christ.Biblical Allusions: Learn to recognize the thousands of subtle echoes and indirect references the New Testament makes to the Hebrew Scriptures.Essential Study Tools: A guide to using commentaries (Matthew Henry, David Guzik), concordances (Strong's, Blue Letter Bible), and quality historical books (The Puritans).The Power of Community: Why sitting under faithful teaching and discussing the Word with others is essential for spiritual growth.The Emergency Tool: A powerful strategy for when you lack the motivation to read your Bible.Whether you are a new believer or a seasoned student of the Word, these insights will help you rediscover a sense of wonder in the Scriptures and fuel a personal revival of the Bible in your daily life.

Why do so many people disengage from the Old Testament - especially books like Leviticus? In this episode, Brianna Tittel shares her journey from a struggling faith to a deeper understanding of Scripture as a unified story. What began as frustration turned into discovery when she realized Jesus was reading the Bible very differently than she was. Through that lens, even Leviticus begins to open up - not as an outdated law code, but as a central part of the Gospel story. This conversation invites listeners to rethink assumptions, reconnect the story, and rediscover the Jewish foundation of faith. Key Takeaways The Bible is one unified story, not two disconnected parts Jesus read the Hebrew Scriptures differently than most modern readers Leviticus is central, not optional, to understanding the Gospel The Torah is God's instruction, not an outdated system Replacing or erasing leads to theological confusion The Church has often lost connection to its Jewish roots Rediscovery begins with humility and curiosity Chapter Markers 00:00 – Introduction and connection 02:00 – Brianna's faith journey and crisis 05:00 – The question that changed everything 08:00 – Discovering the Jewish roots of Scripture 11:00 – Why Leviticus matters 15:00 – Jesus and fulfillment of the Torah 19:00 – Living out the Torah today 23:00 – Jews, Gentiles, and the one new man 27:00 – Why the Church needs this conversation 32:00 – Writing the book and future vision Visit thejewishroad.com to explore more conversations that reconnect Scripture, Israel, and the Jewish roots of the faith.  To learn more about Brianna Tittel and her book The Forgotten Gospel, and to engage with her writing and teaching, connect with her through her website and available resources. Listening, learning, and sharing are simple ways to step deeper into the story.

Both Christopher O'Keefe and Dr. Matthew Wiseman came from families whose love of the Scriptures led them to embrace the Hebrew Roots Movement, an expression of Christianity that takes very seriously the commandments of God the Old Testament, and has a unique way of understanding of what Christ meant when He said that He did not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it. They share how this reverence for the Hebrew Scriptures cultivated in them a desire to truly honor history and tradition; but also how their frustration with the way authority functioned in that world led them to go deeper, and brought them to a place they never imagined they'd end up: the Catholic Church. More of Matthew's story  More of Chris's story  More of their conversations together about Messianic Christianity and Catholicism Matthew's book, The Two Jerusalems The Coming Home Network was established to help inquiring clergy and laity of various faiths -- or even no faith at all -- with fellowship, resources, and encouragement as they explore the possibility of becoming Catholic. Find out more about our work: https://www.chnetwork.org Join our FREE Online Community: https://community.chnetwork.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CHNetwork Twitter: https://twitter.com/chnetwork Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cominghomenetwork Support our mission: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Jesus is continuing to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures—explaining and deepening them as He does so. This morning, we'll look at some of the most challenging words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: His words about marriage, adultery, divorce, and lust. - Pastor Ron KoolSupport the show

Welcome to Day 2841 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom – The Marcionism Heresy: When Jesus was Separated from Yahweh. Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2841 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps!   I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2841 of our Trek.   The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Our current series of Theology Thursday lessons is written by theologian and teacher John Daniels. I have found that his lessons are short, easy to understand, doctrinally sound, and applicable to all who desire to learn more of God's Word. John's lessons can be found on his website   theologyinfive.com.   Today's lesson is titled:  The Marcionism Heresy: When Jesus was Separated from Yahweh. In the second century, one of the earliest and most dangerous heresies in Church history took root. It was not a denial of Jesus's divinity, nor was it a misunderstanding of the resurrection. It was something far more subtle and insidious. Marcionism was an attempt to rewrite the very character of God by separating Jesus from the Old Testament and cutting Christianity off from its roots in Israel. This false teaching did not come from paganism. It came from within the Church, and it forced early believers to clarify what they believed about Scripture, salvation, and the God they worshiped. The first segment is: Marcion's Vision of Two Gods. Marcion of Sinope arrived in Rome around 140 AD. He was wealthy, persuasive, and deeply disturbed by what he saw as contradictions between the God of the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus. In his view, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures was harsh, legalistic, and obsessed with justice and wrath. By contrast, Jesus preached love, forgiveness, and grace. Marcion could not reconcile these two visions. His solution was to claim that the God of the Old Testament was a different being entirely from the Father of Jesus Christ. In Marcion's theology, the Old Testament God was a lesser deity, a creator god who imprisoned people under law and punishment. Jesus, sent by a higher god of pure love, came to rescue humanity from this legalistic tyrant. As a result, Marcion rejected the entire Old Testament and attempted to create a new Christian canon. He kept only an edited version of the Gospel of Luke and ten of Paul's letters, removing any reference to the Hebrew Scriptures or to Jesus fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. This was not just a matter of preference. It was a full rejection of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, and with it, a rejection of the unity of God's revelation. It fractured the biblical story into competing narratives and turned Jesus into a stranger to Israel rather than her promised Messiah. The Second Segment is: The Church Responds The early Church recognized that Marcionism was not a minor mistake but a full-blown heresy. Church Fathers like Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr wrote extensive refutations. They understood that Marcion's teachings struck at the very heart of Christianity. If Jesus was not the fulfillment of Yahweh's promises to Israel, then the gospel had no foundation. Tertullian famously responded in his work Against Marcion, arguing that the God of Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are one and the same. Jesus did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. The gospel is not a rejection of Israel's Scriptures but their climax. The justice and mercy of God are not at odds. They are united perfectly in Christ, whose mission is unintelligible apart from the covenant story that began in Genesis. The Church's rejection of Marcionism also had another important consequence. It pushed early Christian leaders to define more clearly which writings were authoritative. Marcion had tried to create his own canon, so the Church responded by affirming the full body of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments. The process of canonization did not begin with Constantine or centuries of debate. It was driven, in part, by the need to defend the faith from distortions like Marcionism and protect the integrity of the gospel message. The third segment is: Jesus Is Not a New God. At the core of Marcion's error was a failure to understand who Jesus is. Jesus is not a new god with a different character than Yahweh. He is Yahweh in the flesh. Every act of grace and healing in the gospels reflects the same God who rescued Israel from Egypt, gave the Law at Sinai, and promised restoration through the prophets. Jesus did not come to save us from the Old Testament God. He came as the embodiment of that God's covenant love. When Jesus calmed the sea, He acted like the storm-tamer of Psalm 107. When He fed the multitudes, He echoed the provision of manna in the wilderness. When He declared the year of the Lord's favor, He was announcing the arrival of Jubilee, rooted in Leviticus. The New Testament makes sense only when read as the fulfillment of the Old. This does not mean that the Father and the Son are the same person. Christianity affirms the Trinity, meaning there is one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we say that Jesus is Yahweh, we are affirming that He shares in the same divine identity and essence, not that He replaces or is identical to the Father. The New Testament presents Jesus as distinct from the Father while also fully and truly God, working in perfect unity with Him. Paul, whom Marcion admired, did not reject the Old Testament. He quoted it constantly. He called the Law holy, righteous, and good. He described the Scriptures as pointing to Christ. When he wrote that all Scripture is God-breathed, he was speaking about what we call the Old Testament. Paul's gospel was not detached from the Hebrew Bible. It was built on it, saturated with its symbols, promises, and patterns. The Fourth Segment is: The Old Heresy in New Clothes. Although Marcion was eventually excommunicated and his teachings denounced, his ideas never fully disappeared. They have resurfaced in every generation under new names and new justifications. Whenever a preacher says that the Old Testament no longer matters, Marcionism is speaking again. When someone claims the God of the Old Testament was cruel but Jesus is kind, that is the same heresy in softer tones. When Christians speak as if Israel was completely replaced by the Church and God's promises to the Jewish people are obsolete, they echo Marcion's contempt for the Scriptures Jesus Himself read, taught, and fulfilled. Some modern pastors have openly stated that Christians need to “unhitch” their faith from the Old Testament. They may mean well, often trying to make the faith more accessible, but the result is a gospel with no roots, a Jesus with no backstory, and a Christianity that forgets who Yahweh is. It is not a small shift in emphasis. It is a return to a condemned error. The Fifth segment is: The Danger of Disconnection. What made Marcionism so dangerous was that it offered a version of Christianity that seemed easier to accept. No wrath. No judgment. But in severing Jesus from Yahweh, Marcion also severed Jesus from His mission, His identity, and His authority. A Jesus who is not Yahweh cannot save. A gospel without the Law and the Prophets is no gospel at all. The biblical story begins in Genesis, not Matthew. The covenant made with Abraham is the foundation of the promise fulfilled in Christ. The God who speaks from the burning bush is the same One who says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” To follow Jesus is to follow the God of Israel. To know Christ is to know Yahweh. We must never pit one part of the Bible against another. The story is one. The Author is one. And He does not change. In Conclusion. Marcionism was not just a theological mistake. It was a direct challenge to the identity of God, the authority of Scripture, and the unity of the gospel. By trying to divide Jesus from Yahweh, it created a false Christ and a false message of salvation. The early Church rightly recognized it as heresy, and its legacy serves as a warning for every generation. The temptation to simplify Christianity by cutting ties with the Old Testament still exists today. But a faith without roots will wither. The God of Israel is the God revealed in Jesus Christ. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings all point to Him. Rejecting them means rejecting the very story that gives the gospel its meaning. If we want to proclaim the true Jesus, we must know the God who spoke at Sinai, who walked with Abraham, who judged Pharaoh, who promised a new covenant, and who came in the flesh to fulfill every word He had spoken. The Church cannot afford to forget that Jesus is Yahweh. Marcionism was wrong then, and its modern echoes are just as dangerous...

Jesus is continuing to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures—explaining and deepening them as He does so. This morning we'll look at some of the most challenging words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: His words about marriage, adultery, divorce, and lust. - Pastor Ron KoolSupport the show

Mark 14:32-42They went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter and James and John and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me, yet not what I want but what you want.” He came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”Thursdays are the roughest mornings in my household. On Thursdays, Clive, my three-year-old, goes to “school” for four hours. As soon as he wakes up and realizes what day it is, he starts: “I don't want to go to school. Please don't make me go. I want to stay here with you.”The other days of the week he's spoiled rotten by a mix of grandparents who watch him. So Thursdays have become the hardest day of the week. Who knew playing with friends, eating snacks, going outside for recess, and painting was so tough.When we pick him up, he gleams about his day and the fun he's had. But drop-off… that's another story. A few weeks ago I took him, and the whole car ride he kept saying what he had started earlier that morning: “Please don't make me go. I don't want to go. You can take me with you.”Finally we got into school, walked to his classroom, and said goodbye, or tried to. Clive gripped me tight, saying again, “Please don't make me do this.” I peeled him off me, told him it would be okay, and left. And as I walked away, he threw himself on the ground like only a toddler can do and wailed.And I knew he would be fine. The teacher texted later and said he was having a blast within minutes. But as I walked down that hallway, hearing him sob, it hurt my heart. I kept thinking, this is awful. Maybe you've experienced this as a parent, hearing your child plead, “please don't make me do this.” Or maybe you were the child pleading.Whether you have been the child pleading or the parent walking away, you have stood closer to Gethsemane than you realize.All throughout Lent we have been listening to prayers from Hebrew Scripture and the people who prayed them. Again and again we discovered that many of those prayers were our prayers too. Prayers we have prayed without realizing it. Prayers we wanted to pray but weren't sure we were allowed to pray. Tonight is no different.Because Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane may be the most relatable, honest, raw, and human prayer in all of scripture.Up until now, Jesus has never wavered in his journey to Jerusalem. He never hints that he wants things to go another way. And so we begin to imagine a Jesus who isn't afraid, a Jesus who wants the cross, a Jesus who is somehow different from us. But at Gethsemane we discover something important.Jesus is afraid. He hopes there is another way. He does not want to die. Because he is human, as human as you and me.After the meal they shared together and with Judas gone to do what Judas does, Jesus takes the eleven disciples to Gethsemane, which in Mark is more like an olive grove than a garden.He takes his closest companions, Peter, James, and John, a little further in among the trees.And something happens to Jesus there.He begins to shake. He is overwhelmed with sorrow and fear, so much so that he tells his friends, “I am so sad I feel like I could die.” And going a little further, he throws himself on the ground, like a child at drop-off, and he prays: “Father, I know you can change this. Please don't make me do this.”It is an honest prayer; probably one Jesus hesitated saying out loud because it meant Jesus still had some hope: hope it won't happen. Hope there is another way. Hope that my Father will save me, because I don't want to do this.And I wonder what it was like for God to hear that prayer. To hear your child begging you to stop what is coming. To hear your beloved pleading with you to save him. I wonder if it hurt God's heart, infinitely more than mine on that Thursday. I have to believe it did. And I have to believe God's heart hurts too when we pray this same thing today.This is the prayer of anyone who has cried out, “Save me.” It's the prayer of the young couple who finds out for the 10th, 15th, or 20th time that the pregnancy test is negative. It's the prayer of the cancer survivor driving in for another first round of chemo. It's the prayer of anyone who has needed friends, desperate for support, for care, only to find them asleep, indifferent to your suffering, leaving you alone while you cry and shake in fear and despair on the ground.Everyone eventually prays in Gethsemane. In desperation we all say to God, “Please don't make me do this.” “Please don't let this happen.” “Please take this away.” And sometimes the cup does not pass. And that is why we need Good Friday.Because Jesus' prayer does not end there. He also says, “Yet, not what I want, but what you want.” I don't want to do this, God. Yet, I trust you. I am scared, God; yet I will do it.The prayer does not change what is coming. The cup does not pass. But Jesus trusts God anyway. It is the most sacrificial and divine prayer we get in all of scripture, showing us again Jesus is fully God, too. It is a prayer of obedience, yes. But more than that it is a prayer of trust. Not the kind of trust that says everything happens for a reason or don't worry God's got a plan. But the kind of trust that says, even here, even now, against all logic and reason, I will trust. Having said his deepest hope, the secret he didn't want to utter, sharing his greatest fear, Jesus can now trust God with all that is about to happen.I don't lift this nevertheless part up as something to emulate, as if we just need to be obedient like Jesus was. That's not the good news of this prayer nor this day.The good news is that this prayer leads Jesus to the cross. Jesus gets up from the ground, walks out of gethsemane, and walks toward suffering, toward abandonment, toward death: for you, for me, and for everyone who has ever prayed this prayer and the cup didn't pass. Jesus has stood where we stand. Jesus has prayed what we pray; feared what we fear; and suffered what we suffer.And because of that, there is no place of suffering we can go where he has not already been. That's the good news of Good Friday. That on our roughest day, when we throw ourselves to the ground and plead with God to take the cup away, we remember that Jesus has already drunk from it. The cup may not pass. But we are not alone.Amen.

Scripture: Obadiah 10-14Title: The Relationship Between BrothersSHOW NOTES: For encouragement on your spiritual journey, we invite you to visit our ministry website, Discover God's Truth, where you can access additional resources to enrich your Walk with God.NEW! Watch us ONLINE! Click here!Obadiah is the shortest book (21 verses) in the Hebrew Scriptures, found among the Minor Prophets. This powerful prophetic message delivers God's divine judgment against Edom for their pride, arrogance, and exploitation of Jerusalem during the Babylonian invasion. Edom, descendants of Esau, is condemned for failing to support their brothers, the descendants of Jacob—they even captured fleeing Judeans and handed them over to enemies.It was morally wrong for the nation of Edom to harm, rather than bless, their brother. This goes back to the very origins of the two nations — it began with Esau's hatred for his brother Jacob. That hatred eventually led to outright physical violence.When they were invaded, you stood aloof, refusing to help them. Foreign invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem, but you acted like one of Israel's enemies.Obadiah 1:11 Edom watched with complete indifference to the pain and suffering of their close relatives, Israel. They saw what was happening but did nothing.Why will Edom be judged? The prophet Amos provides this word from the Lord.This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked.”Amos 1:11 Head to Heart – God is a Righteous Judge, and He keeps the score. Under His watchful eye, no one will escape His judgment. Let us remember that the Lord is merciful and gracious. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).SONG: The Lord Our Righteousness - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3NbYyW-OcY&list=RDy3NbYyW-OcY&start_radio=1

If the New Testament book of Jude quotes the Book of Enoch, why isn't Enoch included in the Bible? In this episode of Curious Faith: Questions Answered, we explore how the biblical canon was recognized, why quoting a source does not make it Scripture, and how ancient Jewish and Christian communities evaluated religious writings. We'll also look at what scholars mean by “pseudepigrapha” and why the Book of Enoch—though historically interesting—was never considered authoritative by the Hebrew Scriptures recognized in the time of Jesus.

Unveiled explores the powerful and intricate relationship between the Hebrew Scriptures and its fulfillment in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The texts that we'll engage demonstrate that Jesus is the culmination and fulfillment of God's promises made throughout Israel's history by taking a deep dive into Gospel stories where Jesus refers back to a text in the First Testament. Today's discussion is centered around John 6:22-35 and it's connection to Exodus 16 and Psalm 78:24.

Most people assume that the Jewish canon of Scripture was already fixed and universally agreed upon in the time of Jesus—but the historical evidence tells a very different story.In this episode of FACTS, Stephen Boyce and Pat May take a deep dive into the world of Second Temple Judaism to examine what different Jewish groups actually believed about Scripture. From the Pharisees and Sadducees to the Qumran community (Essenes), we uncover a landscape of textual diversity, competing authorities, and a canon that was still developing.Did the Sadducees really only accept the Torah?Were the Pharisees already using the full Hebrew Bible?Why were books like Enoch and Jubilees preserved at Qumran?And what does all of this mean for how we understand the Old Testament today?We'll also explore the role of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the rise of rabbinic Judaism after 70 AD, and how the idea of a “closed canon” emerged over time—not before Christ.If you've ever been told that “the Jews had a settled canon,” this episode will challenge that assumption and walk through the actual historical evidence.Join us as we separate tradition from history and take a closer look at the formation of the Hebrew Scriptures.#DeadSeaScrolls #BiblicalCanon #OldTestament #SecondTempleJudaism #MasoreticText #Septuagint #BibleHistory #ChurchHistory #Apologetics #FACTSPodcastIf you'd like to donate to our ministry or be a monthly partner that receives newsletters and one on one discussions with Dr. Stephen Boyce, here's a link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6381a2ee-b82f-42a7-809e-6b733cec05a7

It's time to reinvigorate the discourse between Jews and Christians about the incarnation of Christ and the authority of the Scriptures! Dr. Brian Crawford of Chosen People Ministries shares about the deeply-rooted mystical beliefs of Jewish Kabbalah. He reminds Christians of the importance in reaching Jews who deny the deity of Christ and lean into these ancient mystical philosophies that erroneously elevate humanity to false godhood. What are some of the biggest criticisms that Jews have about Christians? How can Christians respond with grace and wisdom? How do Kabbalists read the Hebrew Scriptures, compared with how Christians read them? Kabbalists are constantly searching for “secret” meaning in the text, while Christians understand that the Scriptures are accessible, objective, and the source of easily understood truth. TAKEAWAYS Jews argue that Christians don't follow the tenets of the ancient Torah, yet most Jews do not keep the Torah themselves Kabbalah focuses heavily on finding the ‘secret' or ‘hidden' knowledge in the Hebrew Bible Mystical rabbis have imparted Greek beliefs and philosophies into Kabbalah - it is not consistent with true Judaism As Christians, we receive the Holy Spirit, but we DO NOT become God, as Kabbalists believe

How can ancient prophecy point to Jesus with such clarity? From Bethlehem to the cross, the Hebrew Scriptures paint a picture that leads straight to Yeshua. Join Jim Scudder on InGrace as he shows how prophecy opens hearts, builds bridges, and points Jewish friends to the promised Messiah.

Jesus was a first-century Jew, and our scripture reading this week comes from the Hebrew scriptures that would have shaped Jesus' own theology and ethics. Our friends at “A Sanctified Art”, who developed our theme for this season, say: “Throughout his ministry, Jesus emphasized the last, the least, and the lost, building upon the mandates of the Hebrew Scriptures to care for the immigrant, widow, and orphan among you.” Retired religious studies professor Heather Anne Thiessen has pulled together some

In this episode, Dr. Stephen Boyce explores the origin and historical development of the Septuagint (LXX), the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. We examine the ancient traditions surrounding its creation under Ptolemy II Philadelphus, including the well-known account preserved in the Letter of Aristeas and later repeated by Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus. We also discuss how the translation likely developed historically within the Jewish community of Alexandria as Greek became the common language of the Mediterranean world.Along the way, we look at key textual examples showing the importance of the Septuagint for biblical studies and early Christianity, including the famous textual variant in Gospel of Luke 10 concerning whether Jesus sent out seventy or seventy-two disciples, and the missing “nun” verse in Psalm 145 preserved in the Septuagint and confirmed by Hebrew manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. These examples highlight how the Septuagint sometimes preserves readings that reflect an earlier textual tradition than the later Masoretic Text. This episode helps listeners understand why the Septuagint became the primary Old Testament of the early Church and why it continues to play a crucial role in biblical scholarship today.If you'd like to donate to our ministry or be a monthly partner that receives newsletters and one on one discussions with Dr. Stephen Boyce, here's a link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6381a2ee-b82f-42a7-809e-6b733cec05a7

This teaching argues that modern rabbinic Judaism is fundamentally different from the faith revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures and rejected by Jesus and the apostles, grounding its claims in Revelation 2:9, where Jesus speaks of those who claim to be Jews but are not, linking this to the inward definition of true Jewish identity found in Romans 2 and echoed by the prophets such as Jeremiah; it further appeals to 1 John 2:22 to define denial of Jesus as the Messiah as the spirit of antichrist, connects messianic fulfillment and the timing of the Second Temple's destruction to Daniel 9, and aligns Jesus' own warnings in Luke 21 and Matthew 24 with that prophecy, while using Jewish rabbinic sources to argue that the failure of atonement rituals after the crucifixion confirms Isaiah's teaching that sins require divine cleansing (Isaiah 1:18) and that human righteousness is insufficient (Isaiah 64:6); additional references such as Leviticus 19:16 and Leviticus 19:18 are cited to critique rabbinic ethical interpretations, and Acts 5 is used to highlight early rabbinic acknowledgment that opposition to Jesus could amount to opposing God Himself. You can connect with Moriel in more locations than just YouTube! Check out all our official links on the About page: https://www.youtube.com/c/MorielTVministries/about.

Rabbi Jason Sobel joins Rita Springer to unpack the Jewish roots of Jesus, the hidden meaning of the cross in Hebrew Scripture, and why the Church has often made Jesus unrecognizable to the Jewish people. From supernatural encounters to The Chosen, anti-Semitism, and the powerful truth that the tomb became a womb, this conversation will deepen your faith and challenge what you thought you knew about Messiah.Join Rita Springer in Dallas, April 28–30, for Church Conference, a gathering to equip church leaders with vision, leadership, and practical tools for the next generation. Register at aChurchConference.com.If you're enjoying the show, please rate and review!Follow Rita on ALL Social Media: https://linktr.ee/ritaspringerIf you would like to support the Worship Is My Weapon podcast you can donate to Wearing Justice at https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=0f0e22b...

In this episode of FACTS, Stephen Boyce and Pat May explore the life and controversy surrounding Marcion of Sinope—one of the most influential and dangerous figures in the history of early Christianity.Arriving in Rome in the mid–second century, Marcion brought with him wealth, influence, and a radical theological proposal. He argued that the God of the Old Testament was not the same God revealed by Jesus Christ. Rejecting the Hebrew Scriptures entirely, Marcion promoted an edited version of the Gospel of Luke and a shortened collection of Paul's letters as the only legitimate Christian writings.His teachings quickly sparked a crisis within the Church. Around A.D. 144, the Roman church formally expelled Marcion and returned the large donation he had given to the Christian community. Yet the impact of his ideas did not end there. Marcion went on to establish a rival movement that spread throughout the Roman world, forcing early Christian leaders to more clearly articulate the unity of Scripture and the authority of the apostolic writings.In this episode, we examine Marcion's background, his theology, the events leading to his expulsion from Rome, and why the controversy surrounding him became one of the most important moments in the development of the New Testament canon.#ChurchHistory #Marcion #EarlyChristianity #NewTestament #FACTSIf you'd like to donate to our ministry or be a monthly partner that receives newsletters and one on one discussions with Dr. Stephen Boyce, here's a link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6381a2ee-b82f-42a7-809e-6b733cec05a7Tertullian on Marcion: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03121.htmIrenaeus on Marcion: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103304.htm

Discover how the seven biblical feasts of Leviticus perfectly prophesy Jesus Christ's life, death, resurrection, and second coming. This comprehensive study reveals the hidden Gospel message woven throughout the Old Testament feasts and festivals. Learn how Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost were fulfilled with remarkable precision during Christ's first coming, while the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles point to His glorious return. Explore the prophetic significance of biblical holidays, Jewish feasts, and their Christian fulfillment. Understanding these appointed times reveals God's perfect timing and divine plan for salvation. This biblical prophecy study connects Old Testament shadows with New Testament reality, showing how Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life, the First Fruits of resurrection, and our coming King. Perfect for Bible study groups, prophecy students, and anyone seeking to understand the deeper connections between the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian faith. Discover why the timing of Christ's crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit wasn't coincidental but divinely orchestrated according to the feast calendar. Learn practical applications for Christian living and how understanding God's appointed times should impact our anticipation of Christ's return. This verse-by-verse exposition of Leviticus 23 reveals the Gospel hidden in plain sight throughout the ceremonial law.

In this second lesson, we begin practicing the Early Church's fourfold approach to reading Scripture. Using Proverbs 31 as an example, we explore how the passage functions within the Hebrew Scriptures before considering its Christological, moral, and eschatological dimensions. Reading the text in this way reveals a depth that is often missed when the passage is treated as a simple set of instructions. The session seeks to model how Scripture, read within the life of the Church, continually leads us back to Christ.⛪ Church of the Incarnation is an Anglican (ACNA) parish in western Henrico, Virginia, committed to:

Welcome back to the podcast!Soul Surgery: When God's Word Cuts to HealText: Hebrews 4:12–13 (NLT)Big Idea: God's Word isn't just a book to be read; it's a scalpel used by the Great Physician to heal us from the inside out.About fifteen years ago, I went under the knife for an appendectomy. Surgery is never something you look forward to. You surrender control. You trust someone else to cut you open. It sounds terrifying—until you remember the goal isn't harm, but healing.Hebrews 4:12–13 shows us a different kind of surgery—soul surgery. The author writes:Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”Hebrews 4:13 (NLT)“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”This passage is both comforting and confronting. Comforting because God is active. Confronting because nothing in us is hidden.The Living Word (Logos)The Greek word translated “word” is logos. Long before the New Testament, Greek philosophers used logos to describe the logic or ordering principle behind the universe. It explained why the world wasn't chaos but a structured system. Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria later used the term to bridge Greek thought and Hebrew Scripture, describing the logos as the “mind” of God expressed in creation.But the New Testament goes further. The logos isn't just a principle—it's a person.John 1:1 (NLT)“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”The Word is Jesus. When Hebrews says God's Word is “alive and powerful,” it isn't describing ink on a page. It's describing the living Christ speaking through Scripture. God is not silent. He is active in our lives right now.And that matters, especially when we feel abandoned or disappointed. Hebrews was written to believers tempted to drift away. The reminder? God is still speaking. His Word is still working.The Sharp Instrument (Machaira)Hebrews says the Word is “sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword.” The Greek term machaira refers not to a long battlefield sword but a short dagger used in close combat. Its strength was precision.Picture not a broadsword swinging wildly, but a scalpel in a surgeon's hand.The Word of God “cuts between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.” This isn't about splitting human anatomy into categories. It's about penetration. God's Word reaches the deepest parts of us—the hidden motives, secret intentions, unspoken loyalties.In Acts 2, Peter preached the gospel, and the result was immediate:Acts 2:37 (NLT)“Peter's words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?'”That's soul surgery. The Word cuts—not to condemn—but to convict. It exposes who we really are, rather than who we pretend to be. It gives us an objective standard, so we stop comparing ourselves to other sinners and start responding to a holy God.Laid Bare (Trachēlizō)Verse 13 intensifies the image. “Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes.” The Greek word translated “exposed” means to lay bare the neck. It was used of bending back the neck of a sacrificial animal—or of a wrestler forcing his opponent into submission.The image is sobering. We can't hide. We can't bluff. We can't spin our motives. Before God, we are fully seen.But this exposure has a purpose. Hebrews isn't about public humiliation; it's about revealing our true allegiance. Will we harden our hearts? Or will we trust and obey?The prophet Isaiah reminds us:Isaiah 55:11 (NLT)“It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”God's Word always accomplishes something. It never returns empty. When it cuts, it cuts with intention.Why the Surgery?Why would God expose us like this? Why lay bare our necks and operate on our souls?Because untreated sin is deadly.Just as my appendix had to be removed to save my life, pride, unbelief, bitterness, and hidden rebellion must be addressed in ours. The Great Physician doesn't cut casually. He cuts carefully. And though the process may hurt, it heals from the inside out.For believers, this means inviting God's Word to examine us daily. Let it convict. Let it correct. Let it produce fruit.For seekers, maybe you feel “cut to the heart.” That's not coincidence. That's invitation. The same Word that exposes also saves. Jesus—the living Logos—went under the knife of judgment for us on the cross. Because he was pierced, we can be healed.Soul surgery sounds scary. But in the hands of a loving Savior, it's the very thing that brings life.

In this episode of Prove All Things, guest Robert Bates joins Jeff and Mike for a deep dive into the Name of God—why the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) appears thousands of times in the Hebrew Scriptures, why many English Bibles render it as “LORD,” and how Hebrew language and culture can add vivid depth to passages we already know. This is a thoughtful, Scripture-focused conversation that encourages reverence, humility, and “testing all things.”

Send a textA question as old as pain cracks open the conversation: did God create evil? From there we move through real lives and hard doctrine—men finding hope in prison classrooms, disasters that still fall under providence, and acts that look virtuous until you step back and see the skull and crossbones on the mast. We draw a clean line between natural evil as judgment and moral evil as human rebellion, then show how God remains just while upholding the world in which sinners act. If you've wondered how sovereignty and responsibility can both be true, you'll hear a framework sturdy enough for the news cycle and close to home.We also press into the claim “good without God.” Measured against neighbors, kindness shines. Measured against God, goodness must arise from faith, align with his law, and aim at his glory. That reorients philanthropy, status, and even our private motives. The pirate ship image brings it home: teamwork and fairness still serve rebellion when the flag is wrong. It's bracing, but it leads to hope—God can restrain evil, redirect harm, and work all things for good for those who love him, without ever approving the sin itself.A candid segment on apostasy looks at Judas as Scripture's clearest profile of a false disciple. We talk about keeping boundaries with former partners who now deny the faith, while refusing bitterness and praying for true repentance. Then we shift to evangelizing Jewish friends with care: addressing the weight of history, clarifying what Jesus and the apostles taught, and using the Hebrew Scriptures themselves. One simple tactic—reading Isaiah 53 without naming the source—often opens eyes more than argument alone.If you value clear theology with street-level application, this conversation will serve you. Subscribe, share with a friend who's wrestling with these questions, and leave a review with the moment that challenged you most.Support the showBE PROVOKED AND BE PERSUADED!

Universal Salvation, part 4 Welcome back to Gnostic Insights. I'm going to do my best to wrap up this review of David Bentley Hart's book, That All Shall Be Saved, Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. And I hope you understand, particularly those of you who are Christians that are listening to this, that I do all of this in the name of the Father. It's not to tear down Christianity. It's to uphold the mission of the Messiah, which has been lost over the past several hundred years of Christianity. And so this talk of universal salvation is a necessary component of believing in the glory of God. Because universal salvation of all souls, not only all humans, but the dogs, the cats, the birds, the grasses, all living things, have to return to the Father, or else the Anointed loses power. The Father loses parts of himself. Okay, let's get back to David Bentley Hart. So we're going to run through these four meditations that are the body of his book. The first meditation is, Who is God? He says, The New Testament, to a great degree, consists in the eschatological interpretation of Hebrew Scripture's story of creation, finding in Christ as eternal Logos and risen Lord, the unifying term of beginning and end. There's no more magnificent meditation on this vision than Gregory of Nyssa's description of the progress of all persons towards union with God in the one pleroma, the one fullness of the whole Christ. All spiritual wills moving, to use this loving image, from outside the temple walls to the temple precincts, and finally beyond the ages into the very sanctuary of the glory as one. Okay, let me jump in here to say, do you notice that the New Testament words, when you use the correct translations, are the same as the translations in our Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi? Logos is the eternal spirit of humanity and the risen Lord. The Fullness is the one pleroma, the whole Christ. And in this statement, it's saying that all that is spiritual, which includes the spirits that reside within each of us, will all move as one into the pleroma of the Christ. That's who Christ is to us. He's the head of our pleroma. And when I speak of pleromas, I always picture that pyramidal shape, that hierarchical shape, and the capstone is the head. We 2nd order powers are children of the 1st order powers. The 3rd order powers are the Army of Christ that have come to redeem us. When Paul spoke of this, he was applying it literally to the temple in Jerusalem, where there were the walls of the temple, and most of the people were outside of the walls, and some of the people were in the temple precincts. And finally, the very sanctuary of the glory, where only the priests were allowed. These are the three parts that were mentioned, and these are archetypal of the movement of humanity, Hart is saying, from the outside of the pleroma of the Christ, into the pleroma of the Christ, and then into the very glory of God through the Christ. On page 90, Hart says, If one truly believes that traditional Christian language about God's goodness and the theological grammar to which it belongs are not empty, then the God of eternal retribution and pure sovereignty proclaimed by so much of Christian tradition is not and cannot possibly be the God of self-outpouring love revealed in Christ. If God is the good creator of all, he must also be the savior of all without fail, who brings to himself all he has made, including all rational wills, and only thus returns to himself in all that goes forth from him. And that's the end of the chapter, Who is God? And that pretty much states my basic belief on why everyone is going to heaven, because we all come from the Father, and therefore we all must return to the Father because the Father cannot be diminished in any way. And if he lost us, he'd be diminished. Do you see? The second meditation is, What is Judgment? And the subtitle is A Reflection on Biblical Eschatology. And eschatology, that's one of those big theological words that just means the end times, the end of time. On page 93, Hart says, There's a general sense among most Christians that the notion of an eternal hell is explicitly and unremittingly advanced in the New Testament. And yet, when we go looking for it in the actual pages of the text, it proves remarkably elusive. The whole idea is, for instance, entirely absent from the Pauline corpus as even the thinnest shadow of a hint, nor is it anywhere patently present in any of the other epistolary texts. There is one verse in the Gospels, Matthew 25-46 that, traditionally understood, offers what seems the strongest evidence for the idea, but then now Hart's going to explain how that can't be true. And then he says there are also perhaps a couple of verses from Revelation, and he says nothing's clear in Revelation, so he's not going to go there. But, What in fact the New Testament provides us with are a number of fragmentary and fantastic images that can be taken in any number of ways, arranged according to our prejudices and expectations, and declared literal or figural or hyperbolic as our desires dictate. It's why people can make the case for eternal damnation, but you can also make the case for not eternal damnation, because it's so metaphorical. On page 94, Hart says, Nowhere is there any description of a kingdom of perpetual cruelty presided over by Satan, as though he were some kind of Chthonian god. On the other hand, however, there are a remarkable number of passages in the New Testament, several of them from Paul's writings, that appear instead to promise a final salvation of all persons and all things, and in the most unqualified terms. How did some images become mere images in the general Christian imagination, while others became exact documentary portraits of some final reality? If one can be swayed simply by the brute force of arithmetic, it seems worth noting that, among the apparently most explicit statements on the last things, the universalist statements are by far the more numerous. And then he lists a number of verses from the New Testament that speak of universal salvation, over 20 of them at least, and I'll give you just a couple. Romans 5.18 says, So then, just as through one transgression came condemnation for all human beings, so also through one act of righteousness came a rectification of life for all human beings. And jumping in from the Gnostic sense, he doesn't say the fall of one human, he doesn't say through Adam, he says one transgression—and we would call that one transgression the Fall of Logos, the fall of the Aeon, which is a higher order being than we are. Or Corinthians 15.22 says, For just as in Adam all die, so also in the anointed Christ all will be given life. I would say where it says for just as in Adam all die, it's not because Adam ate the apple, it's that we humans who are outside of the Christ, we're outside of the walls of the temple, we are in the pleroma of Adam—we are in the pleroma of human beings. When you accept the anointed, then you move into the pleroma, or you nest up higher into the pleroma of the Christ. That would be the Gnostic way of saying that. Second Corinthians 5.14 says, For the love of the anointed constrains us, having reached this judgment, that one died on behalf of all, all then have died. And of course that one is the Anointed, and He died on behalf of everyone. Or even Romans 11:32, For God shut up everyone in obstinacy, so that he might show mercy to everyone. And there's a long discussion in the chapter about how God's chosen—the original elect, that being the Hebrew nation—has been obstinate about accepting Jesus of Nazareth as the Anointed. And so he's saying that everyone is shut up in obstinacy, that's the Hebrews, so that he might show mercy to everyone. And that is, they're temporarily set up in obstinacy so that the message of the Anointed can be preached far and wide, before death and after death, we Gnostics would say, and not be just constrained to only the Hebrews. That's why the Hebrews are set aside for the moment, so that those outside the temple walls can also come to Christ. And then there are 19 more verses after this, and he lists them all between pages 96 and page 102. And if you are a theological scholar or a concerned Christian that wants to know if this is heresy or not, I really suggest you buy the book, That All Shall Be Saved, by David Bentley Hart, and read it carefully from cover to cover. Jumping to page 116, Hart says, There are those metaphors used by Jesus that seem to imply that the punishment of the world to come will be of only limited duration. For example, “if remanded to prison, you shall most certainly not emerge until you pay the very last pittance.” Or, “the unmerciful slave is delivered to the torturers until he should repay everything he owes.” And Hart says it seems as if this until should be taken with some seriousness. Some wicked slaves, moreover, “will be beaten with many blows, while others will be beaten with few blows.” Hart says, of course, everyone will be “salted with fire.” This fire is explicitly that of the Gehenna. But salting here is an image of purification and preservation, for salt is good. Gehenna is the Valley of Hinnom from the Old Testament, and that is where, outside of the city of Jerusalem, the refuse was burned, and even carrion and bodies were burned. And that is why it is considered to be a hellish place. And it has become a metaphor in the time of Jesus for the purging fire, the Aeonian chastening for the good. Hart says we might even find some support for the purgatorial view of the Gehenna from the Greek of Matthew 25:46, which is the supposedly conclusive verse on the side of the Infernalist Orthodoxy, where the word used for the punishment of the last day is kolasis, which most properly refers to remedial chastisement, rather than timoria, which more properly refers to retributive justice. So, the fire of the judgment. What is judgment? The fire is the chastening fire, the fire of personal guilt and remorse over the sins one has done, that causes one to repent and turn to redemption. Hart says, It is not clear in any event that the fourth gospel, [and the fourth gospel, that's the gospel of John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John], it is not clear in any event that the fourth gospel foretells any “last judgment,” in the sense of a real additional judgment that accomplishes more than has already happened in Christ. To see His words as pointing toward and fulfilled within his own crucifixion and resurrection, wherein all things were judged and all things redeemed. The kingdom has indeed drawn very near, and even now is being revealed. The hour indeed has come. The judge who is judged in our place is also the resurrection and the life that has always already succeeded and exceeded the time of condemnation. All of heaven and of hell meet in those three days. . . Hell appears in the shadow of the cross as what has always already been conquered, as what Easter leaves in ruins, to which we may flee from the transfiguring light of God if we so wish, but where we can never finally come to rest, for being only a shadow, it provides nothing to cling to. And he attributes that concept of hell being only a shadow to Gregory of Nyssa, although we would attribute it to the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi which came before Gregory of Nyssa. Hell exists so long as it exists only as the last terrible residue of a fallen creation's enmity to God, the lingering effects of a condition of slavery that God has conquered universally in Christ and will ultimately conquer individually in every soul. This age has passed away already, however long it lingers on its own aftermath, and thus in the Age to Come, [and that's capital A, Age, which we would interpret as the Aeons to Come, the Aeonian Pleroma to Come], and beyond all ages, all shall come to the kingdom prepared for them from before the foundation of the world. And that's the chapter, What is Judgment? The third meditation or chapter of Hart is called What is a Person? A Reflection on the Divine Image. It says over and over in the Bible that we are made in the image of God. Man is made in the image of God. That is the divine image. On page 131, Hart says, Christians down the centuries have excelled at converting the good tidings of God's love in Christ into something dreadful, irrational, and morally horrid. [And we covered that in depth in the previous three episodes, if you want to go back there.] On page 132, Hart says, I suspect that no figure in Christian history has suffered a greater injustice as a result of the desperate inventiveness of the Christian moral imagination than the Apostle Paul, since it was the violent misprision of his theology of grace, starting with the great Augustine, it grieves me to say, that gave rise to almost all of these grim distortions of the Gospel. Aboriginal guilt, predestination, (ante praevisa merita), the eternal damnation of unbaptized infants, the real existence of vessels of wrath, and so on. All of these odious and incoherent dogmatic motifs, so to speak, and others equally nasty, have been ascribed to Paul. And yet, each and every one of them, not only is incompatible with the guiding themes of Paul's proclamation of Christ's triumph and of God's purpose in election, but is something like their perfect inversion. Well, isn't that interesting? Because we already know that the archons represent the inversions of the Aeons of the Pleroma. And so, although Hart doesn't realize he's implying this, to say that what has come down to us in Christian tradition through Augustine is the perfect inversion of what Paul was actually saying about universal salvation, which means, by definition, that it's the demiurgic or the archonic version of salvation. Isn't that interesting? I mean, that is what I have been implying, that what has been taken to be Christian tradition for the last couple of thousand years is actually a diminishment of the power of Christ and the power and love of the Father. By saying that people can be lost and condemned to eternal torture, that is sacrilegious to me. That is the heresy. And that is what Hart is saying here. He goes on to say on page 133, This is all fairly odd, really. Paul's argument in those chapters is not difficult to follow. What preoccupies him from beginning to end is the agonizing mystery that the Messiah of Israel has come, and yet so few of the children of the house of Israel have accepted the fact, even while so many from outside the covenant have. And Paul wonders, how is the promised Messiah rejected by so many, yet so many outside the temple walls have accepted the Messiah? There are far more Christians than there are Jews at the moment. Why is that? Paul was wondering. Hart says, Paul's is not an abstract question regarding which individual human beings are the saved and which are the damned. In fact, by the end of the argument, the former category, [that is the saved], proves to be vastly larger than that of the elect or the called, while the latter category, [that is the damned], makes no appearance at all. Jumping down the page, he says, “so then what if,” so now he's going to go ahead and quote Paul here, Romans 9:19, Paul says, So then what if God should show his power by preserving vessels suitable only for wrath, keeping them solely for destruction, in order to provide an instructive counterpoint to the riches of the glory he lavishes on vessels prepared for mercy, whom he has called from among the Jews and the Gentiles alike. For as it happens, rather than offering a solution to the quandary in which he finds himself, Paul is simply restating that quandary in its bleakest possible form, at the very brink of despair. He does not stop there, however, because he knows that this cannot be the correct answer. It is so obviously preposterous, in fact, that a wholly different solution must be sought, one that makes sense and that will not require the surrender either of Paul's reason or of his confidence in God's righteousness. Hence, contrary to his own warnings, Paul does indeed continue to question God's justice, and he spends the next two chapters unambiguously rejecting the provisional answer, the vessels of wrath hypothesis, altogether, so as to reach a completely different and far more glorious conclusion—God blesses everyone. Romans 10: 11, 12. And by the way, in Gnostic gospel, we would say the law is actually the Demiurge's rules for human behavior, because our self-will makes us otherwise uncontrollable. Because to the Father above, the only law is love. When we act out of love, all else follows. Going on, Hart says, As for the believing remnant of Israel, [Romans 11:5], it turns out that they have been elected not as the limited number of the saved within Israel, but as the earnest through which all of Israel will be saved. They are waiting for the Anointed to come and take the place of the King of Israel, King of the Jews. King of the Jews is one of the titles of the Messiah. That means the capstone of their pleroma. You see? It's all of these pyramidal shapes that are first designed up there in the Fullness of God, the pleroma. What Paul is saying is that the Jews that are in the pleroma of Israel, it's their remnant that makes them holy. It's their remnant that is the spiritual part, the higher part, the called part, the elect part of the pleroma of the nation of the Hebrews. And it is through those elect that all of the Jews will be saved, ultimately. Hart says, For the time being, true, a part of Israel is hardened, but this will remain the case only until the ”full entirety” [that is the pleroma] of the Gentiles enter in. The unbelievers among the children of Israel may have been allowed to stumble, but God will never allow them to fall. Hart's just saying that Israel's reluctance or slowness to believing that Jesus is the Messiah is just slowing down the progress of history to give everyone else a chance to catch up to it. Quoting Hart again, We're in Romans now, 11:11. This then is the radiant answer dispelling the shadows of Paul's grim what if in the ninth chapter of Romans. It's clarion negative. It turns out that there is no final illustrative division between the vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. That was a grotesque, all too human thought that can now be chased away for good. God's wisdom far surpasses ours, and his love can accomplish all that it intends. “He has bound everyone in disobedience so as to show mercy to everyone.” [That's Romans 11:32.] All are vessels of wrath precisely so that all may be made vessels of mercy. . . That Paul's great attempt to demonstrate that God's election is not some arbitrary act of predilective exclusion, but instead a providential means for bringing about the unrestricted inclusion of all persons, has been employed for centuries to advance what is quite literally the very teaching that he went to such great lengths explicitly to reject. . . Yet this is still not my principal point. I want to say something far more radical. I want to say that there is no way in which persons can be saved as persons except in and with all other persons. This may seem an exorbitant claim, but I regard it as no more than an acknowledgment of certain obvious truths about the fragility, dependency, and exigency of all that make us who and what we are. Oh, this is a very interesting portion. Okay, listen to this. Jumping to page 149. No soul is who or what it is in isolation, and no soul's sufferings can be ignored without the sufferings of a potentially limitless number of other souls being ignored as well. And so it seems if we allow the possibility that even so much as a single soul might slip away unmourned into everlasting misery, the ethos of heaven turns out to be “every soul for itself”—which is also, curiously enough, precisely the ethos of hell. But Christians are obliged, it seems clear, to take seriously the eschatological imagery of scripture. And there all talk of salvation involves the promise of a corporate beatitude, a kingdom of love and knowledge, a wedding feast, a city of the redeemed, the body of Christ, which means that the hope Christians cherish must in some way involve the preservation of whatever is deepest in and most essential to personality rather than a perfect escape from personality. But finite persons are not self-enclosed individual substances. They are dynamic events of relation to what is other than themselves. And then Hart summons up the idea of a single recurrent image, he says, That of a parent whose beloved child has grown into quite an evil person, but who remains a parent nevertheless, and therefore keeps and cherishes countless tender memories of the innocent and delightful being that has now become lost in the labyrinth of that damaged soul. Is all of that, those memories, those anxieties and delights, those feelings of desperate love, really to be consigned to the fire as just so much combustible chaff? Must it all be forgotten or willfully ignored for heaven to enter into that parent's soul? And if so, is this not the darkest tragedy ever composed? And is God not then a tragedian utterly merciless in his poetic omnipotence? Who or what is that being whose identity is no longer determined by its relation to that child? [Skipping to page 153] Personhood as such is not a condition possible for an isolated substance. It is an act, not a thing. And it is achieved only in and through a history of relations with others. We are finite beings in a state of becoming, and in us there is nothing that is not an action, dynamism, an emergence into a fuller or a retreat into a more impoverished existence. And so, as I said in my first meditation, we are those others who make us. Spiritual personality is not mere individuality, nor is personal love one of its merely accidental conditions or extrinsic circumstances. A person is first and foremost a limitless capacity, a place where the all shows itself with a special inflection. We exist as the place of the other, to borrow a phrase from Michel de Certeau. Certainly, this is the profoundest truth in the doctrine of resurrection. That we must rise from the dead to be saved is a claim not simply about resumed corporeality, whatever that might turn out to be, but more crucially, about the fully restored existence of the person as socially, communally, corporately constituted. Each person is a body within the body of humanity, which exists in its proper nature only as the body of Christ. Well, that's pretty neat. See, we are nested fractal hierarchies of the pleroma of the Fullness of God. And if you've been with me a while, you know what that long and complicated sentence means. Picture a pyramidal shape, picture every living part of your body as building up the pyramid, and your conscious self is the capstone of that pleroma that makes up your body. Now, you are then nested along with all other humans into the pleroma of humanity, the body of humanity, also called the body of Adam. Just the way our cells nest up into building us, we nest up into building the great body of humanity. And then, Hart is saying this body of humanity exists in its proper nature only as the body of Christ, because when we then nest up and make Christ the king of our pleroma, we are nested into the Fullness of Christ. And that is what the final salvation resting point is. When we all finally pass through the final judgment and nest up into Christ, then we're all nested up into the pleroma, we're all nested up into the Son. And there we are. And we will still have our lives the way the Fullness has their lives. They dream together as one of paradise. And that's where we're headed. Hart says, Our personhood must truly consist not only in the immediate love of those close at hand, but also in our disposition toward those whom we, by analogy, care for from afar. Or even in the abstract, for the most essential law of charity, of love, when it is truly active, is that it must inexorably grow beyond all immediately discernible boundaries in order to be fulfilled and to continue to be active. And all of those in whom each of us is implicated, and who are implicated in each of us, are themselves in turn implicated and intertwined in countless others, and on and on without limit. We belong of necessity to an indissoluble co-inherence of souls. And I think that down here on the physical level, on the material plane, the demiurgic version of that shared coherence of all souls together is quantum entanglement. That's the Demiurge's material version of how we are implicated and intertwined with every other soul. And now he goes on to say something that's very Gnostic. On the next page, Hart says, There may be within each of us—indeed there surely is—that divine spark, that divine light or spark of nous or spirit or atman that is the abiding presence of God in us, the place of radical sustaining divine imminence, nearer to me than my inmost parts. But that light is the one undifferentiated ground of our existence, not the particularity of our personal existence, in and with one another. Oh, hey, there it is. That's what I'm always saying. This one spark, that's what we call the big S Self. And the particularity of our personal existence is what we here at Gnostic Insights label as our Ego. So we are made up of the Self that we share with all others and that we share with the Son, but we are also our own individual existence. That's why we can't just blink out into nothingness and not be missed, because we have our particularity, and it has its own place in the hierarchy. Then Hart says, But then this is to say that either all persons must be saved or that none can be. [He says,] God could, of course, erase each of the elect as whoever they once were by shattering their memories and attachments like the gates of hell and then raise up some other being in each of their places, thus converting the will of each into an idiot bliss stripped of the loves that made him or her this person, associations and attachments and pity and tenderness and all the rest. If that were the case, only in hell could any of us possess something like a personal destiny, tormented perhaps by the memories of the loves we squandered or betrayed, but not deprived of them altogether. [Jumping to 157, he says], I am not I in myself alone, but only in all others. If then anyone is in hell, I too am partly in hell. . . For the whole substance of Christian faith is the conviction that another has already and decisively gone down into that abyss for us to set all the prisoners free, even from the chains of their own hatred and despair, and hence the love that has made all of us who we are and that will continue throughout eternity to do so, cannot ultimately be rejected by anyone. Amen. And that's the end of the third meditation. Now the fourth meditation, we just don't even have time to get to. It's called, What is Freedom? And if you want to hear the fourth meditation in depth, please text me in the comments and ask for more David Bentley Hart That All Shall Be Saved. But as for now, this treatise on what is freedom? I'll actually just jump to the last page and skip all of the explanations. The fourth meditation, What is Freedom? is all about free will. I guess I'll include it in some future episode about free will and just quote Hart extensively in that episode. But to close it out, Hart says, It would make no sense to suggest that God, who is by nature not only the source of being, but also the good and the true and the beautiful and everything else that makes spirits exist as rational beings, would truly be all in all if the consummation of all things were to eventuate merely in a kind of extrinsic divine supremacy over creation. But God is not a god, [or as we would say, the God Above All Gods is not the Demiurge, is how we would put it in Gnostic terms]. And his final victory, as described in scripture, will consist not merely in his assumption of perfect supremacy over all, but also in his ultimately being all in all. Could there then be a final state of things in which God is all in all, while yet there existed rational creatures whose inward worlds consisted in an eternal rejection of and rebellion against God as the sole and consuming and fulfilling end of the rational will's most essential nature? If this fictive and perverse interiority were to persist into eternity, would God's victory over every sphere of being really be complete? Or would that small miserable residual flicker of Promethean defiance remain forever as the one space in creation from which God has been successfully expelled? Surely it would, so it too must pass away. All right, that ends this long episode, because I was trying to wrap up the entire book, which I almost did. Write to me, tell me what you think of this sort of thing. I'd especially like to hear from people who used to be Christians, or who were raised in the church, and who fell away from the church because of some of these very problems and conundrums that we've been talking about for the last four episodes. God bless us all, and onward and upward! If you find these gnostic insights meaningful, please donate to the cause. Cyd pays for these podcasts out of her retirement money, and the well is running dry. If I am to keep this up, I need your financial assistance as well as your good company. I thank my (very few) paid subscibers from the bottom of my heart to the top of my pleroma. Please help. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *Stripe Credit Card *Choose your item *Item A - $10.00Item B - $25.00Item C - $50.00Total$0.00Submit

Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE) was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher and mystic who lived in Alexandria, one of the great intellectual centers of the ancient world. Deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures and equally fluent in Greek philosophy—especially Plato and the Stoics—Philo sought to show that true philosophy and authentic revelation were ultimately one.Philo's distinctive contribution lies in his mystical interpretation of Scripture. Reading the Torah allegorically, he taught that beneath its literal narratives lies a spiritual map of the soul's journey toward God. Biblical figures such as Abraham, Moses, and Jacob symbolize inner states of awakening, purification, and union. For Philo, the highest purpose of human life is not ethical conformity alone, but direct experiential knowledge of God. Central to his mysticism is the idea of ecstasy (ekstasis)—a state in which the soul transcends discursive thought and is lifted beyond itself into divine illumination. In this condition, the ordinary mind falls silent and the soul becomes receptive to God's presence. Philo insists that such knowledge cannot be grasped by reason or language, but is given through divine grace when the egoic self is relinquished.

Welcome to the first episode of Season 5 on The Promise Perspective Podcast! This episode marks a shift in how we approach the gospel—and how we read the Scriptures as a whole.Rather than beginning with conclusions, this conversation/episode/podcast season invites you to slow down and reconsider the foundations: how the Hebrew Scriptures, the words of the prophets, and the testimony of Messiah all belong to one unified story moving toward fulfillment.In this episode, we will discuss:What Scripture actually means when it says “according to the Scriptures”Why Messiah said Moses wrote about HimHow the priesthood, sacrifices, and Torah functioned as shadowsWhat it truly means for Messiah to fulfill rather than abolishAnd why misunderstanding the word “fulfillment” has created confusion on both extremesThis season is not about reviving old systems OR dismissing them—it's about clarity. It's about learning how to honor what was given without returning to what has already reached its intended purpose.If you've ever felt tension between obedience and grace…If you've wondered why some commandments are no longer practiced physically…If you've sensed that the gospel is richer and more layered than what you've heard or been taught…Episode 1 is your invitation to join me in a brand new season, in which we will spend time reasoning through the Scriptures the way the apostles did—allowing Messiah to be revealed, not assumed.The shadows were real. The substance is greater. And we are being called to live in that reality.HalleluYAH!! Contact me: stephanie@promise-perspective.comVisit my website: www.promise-perspective.comFollow on Instagram: @the_promise_perspective  Follow on Facebook:   / promiseperspective    Donate on Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/stephanie-green0611Donate on PayPal: http://paypal.me/stephaniegreentppYour support is greatly appreciated ❤️Contact me: stephanie@promise-perspective.comSupport the show

The virgin birth, the baptism of Christ, the transfiguration on the mountain, all the miracles of Christ, the cross and the resurrection from the dead are all events witnessed by people, yet according to John 12 and the Hebrew Scriptures, none of these events created any “believers”. In fact these events without the definition given […] The post 260130 Divine to the Fathers: Eastern Orthodox Hermeneutics first appeared on Gospel Revolution.com.

Paul writes his masterful commentary on one single verse in the Hebrew Scriptures, Genesis 15:6.  In our passage for this week, Romans 4:1-15, Paul illustrates the radical principle of righteousness by faith alone from the life of Father Abraham, our forefather in the faith.  We will study one quiet night in Abram's life, a strategic night if ever there was one.  Come and join us as we reflect on that quiet night, and God's genius in declaring Abram righteous by faith alone, apart from works of the law, before circumcision, and before the giving of the Law, and learn how the ancient story of the Bible continues in the life of every believer today, giving us a marvelous sense of belonging to God in the family of faith.visit us at: conejochurch.com

The Hebrew Scriptures reveal that the Messiah would be far more than a teacher. This message uncovers an ancient Jewish prophecy that shows Messiah's eternal origin.

John 1:1-3 - Christ: The Logos of God Our sermon text this morning is John 1:1-3. If you read our weekly email, you may have seen that originally, I was planning to cover verses 1-5. I backed off a little because there is so much packed into the first 3 verses. That probably scares some of you because you're thinking, “is this going to happen every week? And if so, are we going to be in the Gospel of John for years?” Well, I can't say that this will be the last time that I narrow our focus to just a couple of verses. However, I will note that Jim Boice, the late pastor of Tenth Presbyterian church, preached 270 sermons in the book of John. Doing the math, that's over 5 years. I've planned about 70. Ok, turning our attention to these verses, you'll hear the word “word” three times. That is referring to Jesus Christ. We know that from verse 14 where John writes that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” So, as I read, be sure to make the mental connection between the Word and Christ. Reading of John 1:1-3 Prayer “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal…” Those legendary words bring us back to the very founding of our nation. Or how about this on: “I have a dream” Those words take us back to Martin Luther King and the struggle of segregation in the 1950s and 60s. Or perhaps you recognize this: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Those are the opening words of Charles Dickens's book The Tale of Two Cities. It takes us back to the French Revolution and the stark contrast between London and Paris. Each of those opening phrases is packed with meaning and significance. They each capture our minds and our hearts. In some ways, they transport us through time and space and turn our attention to lofty ideas or significant events. Well, the opening words of John's Gospel do something very similar. For one, they are renowned. But also, their poetic language and expressive words raise the significance and consequence for the reader… and really for the whole world. Perhaps these words don't bring us back to a specific place, but they transport us to the very creation of the world. “In the beginning.” In the very beginning of all time and space “was the Word.” Does that not raise our senses and our curiosity and even our wonder at what is being communicated? As far as familiar opening words in the Bible, John 1 is only second to Genesis 1. And those are iconic words. Genesis 1 certainly ranks up there among the most famous in the world. Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” Those 10 words reveal several things about God. ·      First, that he is one God. It doesn't say, “in the beginning, the gods (plural)...” No, rather it's a definitive statement. “In the beginning, God…” There is one God. ·      Second, Genesis 1:1 posits God as existing before the beginning of time itself – he is eternal. ·      And third those 10 opening words of Genesis speak about God's nature and work. He is the creator God of all things - things in heaven and things on earth. And I think you have probably already made the connection in your minds. The opening words of the Gospel of John are very similar to Genesis 1. They start with the same three words. Of course, one was penned in Hebrew – that would be Genesis – and the other was penned in Greek. But the connection is unmistakable. Really, the connection between the opening of Genesis and the opening of John's Gospel even further expand our understanding of God's nature and the ministry and work of Christ - God the Son. In Genesis 1, we're told of God's creative work and in John 1, God reveals who accomplished that work and how. So, let's jump into these opening three verses of John. As far as an outline, I want to highlight 3 things about Christ: 1. Christ's Identity as the Eternal Logos 2. Christ's Deity as One with the True God 3. Christ's Work as the Agent of Creation Let me say those again if you are taking notes. We didn't have room in the bulletin this week for an outline. 1. Christ's Identity as the Eternal Logos – I'll explain the word Logos in a minute. 2. Christ's Deity as One with the True God – Deity meaning his nature as God. And 3. His Work as the Agent of Creation. It is through the agency of Christ that God created all things. So, let's work through those. 1. Christ's Identity as the Eternal Logos And the first thing to understand is the word “word.” In the original Greek, it's the word Logos. Maybe you've heard that word before. Logos is one of two words that are often translated “word.” The other is the more common word, rhema in Greek, merely referring to words on a page or spoken words. But the word logos, on the other hand, is packed with meaning. Yes, it's basic meaning is a statement or speech – you know, a “word” spoken. But the word logos also includes the idea of a charge like I'm charging you with something… and the idea of cause like speech that causes something to happen. It's a word spoken that is effective. It accomplished something. Now, the Greek culture of the time used the word Logos as well. But their use was more of an abstract idea. Their logos was the rational order of the cosmos. It was used in an impersonal way. There was no being behind a Greek use of the word logos. Nonetheless it was still a powerful word. By the way, the Greek word logos is directly related to our English word “logic”… you know, a reasoned explanation. And sometimes you'll hear pastors try to apply that philosophical and rational meaning to the Logos of John 1. But remember from last week that John is writing to a Jewish context. He was Jewish himself. And the word logos in the Jewish community had been used for centuries. The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the word logos hundreds of times. Our call to worship this morning was from Psalm 33. It says in verse 6 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.” Logos to the Jewish community was understood to be personal and declarative and often associated with God himself. That is very different from the Greco-Roman understanding. What I am arguing is that John is not borrowing the word Logos from the Greek culture. Rather, he is contrasting that impersonal understanding with the divine and personal understanding of Logos. He's revealing that the Logos of God is far superior to the Greek's rational concept of logos. We see that right there in verse 1. It says, “In the beginning was the Word.” From eternity past, the Logos existed – Christ existed. The verb is very important here. It's the English word “was” …you know, a form of “to be..” In the beginning “was” the word. And it's verb tense is the imperfect active. It means not only did Christ already exist in the beginning, but also that his existence continues. English does not have a good equivalent. The word “was” in English is past tense. But the Greek has a much broader meaning. “already was and continues to be” What we learn in these verses is that the Logos of God is eternal. He existed before the beginning of time and space and he continues to exist. Furthermore, he is not some impersonal rational concept about the ordering of the universe, but rather his eternal existence is personal. He has being, as the verb reveals. He is none other the person of Christ, again as verse 14 tells us. The eternal Logos of God. Now, in a few minutes we are going to further see how the word logos relates to Christ's work. That will be point 3, But let's move on to point 2 - the rest of verse 1 and verse 2. 2. Christ's Deity as One with the True God So, #2. Christ's Deity as One with the True God. – I'm saying it that way for a reason. He is God and he is One with God. The Logos mentioned here is not some force that God is harnessing. No, this Logos, Christ, is God himself. Look at the end of verse 1. It says, “the word was God.” It's the same imperfect active tense. The Logos already was and continues to be God. Now, that seems super clear, doesn't it? “The Logos was God.” Some of you know this, but about twice a week, you will see two of Jehovah Witnesses just outside of our church office. They are just standing there on the corner of Main Street. And if you ask them about John 1:1, they will say that it should be translated differently. They translate it as “the word was a god.” They say that Christ was like a god but not God himself. They argue that because there is no definite article before the word “God” (Theos), therefore Jesus is not being described here as God himself. However, they are wrong for two reasons. ·      Number 1, Greek scholarship is fairly unified on the translation. For those of you who are grammarians (you like grammar), the phrase is a predicate nominative. Greek predicate nominatives establish a shared essence between the subject and the predicate – especially when the predicate is placed before the verb as is here. In fact, predicate nominatives in the Greek usually do not use a definite article for the predicate. So, Christ is not being described here as a god, he is being identified as the God - fully and completely God. ·      And number 2. This identification of Jesus Christ being God himself is all throughout the Gospel of John. We considered that last week. Several times Jesus identified himself as one with God the Father. He said as much: “I and the Father are One.” We also considered all the I AM statements where Jesus identified himself as Yahweh. Furthermore, look at the phrase in the middle of verse 1 and in verse 2. They are very similar. It says, “And the Logos was with God… He was in the beginning with God.” This is one of the beautiful truths about the God of the Bible. God is personal and relational. Within the Godhead, as we say, there is a relationship between the three persons of God. The Father, the Son (who is the Logos), and the Spirit. This is something that the Gospel of John makes clear throughout. I also mentioned that last week. By the way, one of the things I plan to do as we work through this book, is to connect each section and paragraph to the broader themes. And this is one of them. Jesus teaches not only about his equality with God the Father but also his role as God the Son and the role of God the Spirit whom he and the Father will send. As I put it last week, this book is full of theology – the doctrine of God – Theos. And it begins with these profound words. You see, these opening words, especially verse 2 are not teaching that there are multiple gods. No. These verses are quite clear about that. Rather when they say that the Logos was with God from the beginning, they are revealing that God himself has relationships within himself. It's an amazing thing to consider. As humans created in God's image, we have been given the capacity and desire for relationships. That relational characteristic that every human being shares… comes from the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Spirit. One with each other. All eternal and all God. So, the Logos, who is Christ, is one with and in relationship with the eternal God. He is God. 3. Christ's Work as the Agent of Creation That being us to point 3: Christ's work as the agent of creation. This third point is very much related to the word Logos. Christ is creator. He is the one through whom the universe has come into existence. God's act of speaking his Word (his Logos) comes through the work of Christ. Going back to Genesis 1, the phrase that is used over and over is “God said.” “God said ‘let there be light' and there was light.” Every act of creation happens through God's word. God spoke, and it was so. Back to John 1. In verse 3 it says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” All things in the entire universe were made through Christ. Every galaxy, every star, every planet; every cell and molecule and atom and proton and neutron and quark. All things came into being through him. That may be something new to you. We don't often think of or speak of Christ's role as God's agent of creation. That's because we most often think and speak of his role as redeemer. And there is plenty of that in the Gospel of John. But just like in verse 3, several Scriptures passages speak of Christ's role as creator. Besides John 1, we read from both Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 this morning. In Colossians, “…by [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” In Hebrews 1. “In these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Or consider 1 Corinthians 8:6, which says, “there is… one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” God spoke through his Word, through his Logos, who is Christ, to bring everything into existence. I remember when I learned this for the first time. I was amazed at the glory of God in his work of creation through Christ. Our Savior is not only our Lord, but he is our creator. One thing is very very clear in these verses. Christ was not created. No, he existed before creation and he is the one through whom God created all things. Conclusion He is (1) the eternal Word of God, (2) As God, he is one with the true God, and (3) the creator of all things… visible and invisible. That is what we learn in these verses. Now, I want you to imagine something. Imagine that you grew up in a Jewish community in the western part of Asia Minor (maybe Ephesus or Smyrna).  Imagine it's the later half of the first century. You studied the Torah in school and your knew the history of Israel. Your family was a devout Jewish family. Besides your Jewish education, you had always been intrigued by influences from the neighboring culture to the west - Greece. People from Athens often travelled through your city. They not only brought their wares, but they also brought their philosophy and gods. They loved to talk about the latest philosophical theories and ideas. They used the word logos often. When they did, they spoke of the ordering principle of the universe, you know, the force that structures all of nature, as they described it. So, you have that in the back of your mind, but you also know what you have been taught from the Hebrew Scriptures. God speaks into existence all of creation, like it says in Genesis and Isaiah and the Psalms. Now, imagine that you are reading John's Gospel account for the first time. One of your neighbors had a parchment and he let you borrow it to read. And so you read these opening words for the first time. “In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God… and the Logos was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” And you are enraptured. These ideas are coming alive. You had been intrigued by the travelling philosophers of Athens, but this concept of a personal Logos who has eternally existed from all time and who is God is gripping your mind. And then you get down to verse 14… and you read “and the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us.” As you had been reading the first couple of paragraphs, you had been asking, “who is this Logos?” And then you find out from these words that the Logos has dwelt among us. He has lived among us. You had heard of a man named Jesus. But up until this point you had never understood why he was so significant or controversial. But now you knew. And your heart was leaping because not only are you reading here that he is and has always been the eternal Logos… but all of a sudden your mind is being flooded with all the things you had learned in your Jewish education. You begin recalling all of the promises and prophecies of Christ - the Messiah of God. Light bulbs are going off all over the place in your mind and heart. This personal, eternal Logos being written about is the Christ, the eternal promised one, and he has come to us in the person of Jesus. It's a life-transforming realization. You can't put the parchment down because every word and sentence and paragraph is speaking to your mind and heart. The Word of God, Christ, is becoming real to you in a way that you had never experienced before. He is changing your heart. I know that is just a thought experiment, but as we work our way through John, I want us to enter in to the lives of the first readers and hearers and those whom Jesus encountered. I want us to enter in to their situation. Through that lens, I believe these words will become living words for us. Maybe this is all new for you. And as you hear it, maybe your mind and heart are being drawn in with intrigue and wonder as you come to the understanding of who Christ is…. in his eternal nature as God and as the one through whom all things have been created. If that is you, as we go through this book, may you hear and grasp not only who Christ is, but what he has done for you. But maybe you've been a Christian for years… and these words are very familiar to you as they are to me. If that's you, may your heart and mind be re-ignited by the depth and clarity and wonder of God in the person and work of Christ, who became flesh and dwelt among us. As we go through this Gospel, may we all see him, our creator and Savior and Lord, the eternal Logos of God.

Sunday, 4 January 2026   But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Matthew 15:26   “And answering, He said, ‘It is not good to take the children's bread and cast to the puppies'” (CG).   In the previous verse, the Canaanite woman came to Jesus and worshiped Him and asked Him to help her. Following this, Matthew records, “And answering, He said, ‘It is not good to take the children's bread and cast to the puppies.'”   A new word is seen, kunarion, a diminutive form of kuón, a dog. Thus, it refers to a puppy. The word is found only four times. All four are in the same account found in Matthew and Mark. According to the Law of Moses, a dog is an unclean animal in regard to dietary restrictions.   It does not logically follow that dogs are unclean and not to be associated with, apart from those dietary laws. If that were true, those of Israel could not ride on donkeys, horses, mules, or camels. Therefore, equating a dog to something inherently unclean is not something to be found in Jesus' words.   Further, Jesus' words about casting the bread of the children to the puppies are not devaluing the woman at all. It is simply a truth that Jesus, the Bread of Life, was sent to the house of Israel, not to the Gentiles.   And that brings up the obvious metaphor used in the Hebrew Scriptures of Caleb. His name means Dog. He is used typologically as a picture of the Gentiles every time he is mentioned. Likewise, in Judges 7:5, the dog is used again typologically referring to Gentiles –   “So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.'” Judges 7:5   In that seemingly cryptic passage, the focus is not on how the lapping is conducted but on which animal did the lapping, the dog. The dog, anticipating Gentiles in Scripture, is thus typologically equated in that story to the fact that Gentiles during the church age will lap up the water (the word, Christ, the Spirit, etc.), meaning by faith. They reflect those who will engage in the spiritual battle that Israel failed to accept at the coming of Christ.   Jesus' words here do not speak in a derogatory manner. Rather, there is the matter of priority. God covenanted with Israel. Therefore, Jesus' ministry was to be focused on the House of Israel. Only after they rejected Jesus would the Gentiles become the focus of God's ongoing redemptive narrative.   Life application: It has been said that the actions of Jesus toward this Canaanite woman show a flippant, derogatory attitude toward Gentiles. The exact opposite is the case. Referring to a group of people by their nature is simply a way of making people understand a particular point about them. This is as common as threads in a weaving factory.   Throughout the Bible, the names of people groups are identified by the things they do, the places they live, or certain characteristics they possess. This is true in both testaments. Instead of finding offense in such things, we should try to discover why the name of a person or a people group identifies them in such a way.   By doing this, we will understand more about their nature and how God and other people groups perceive them. Further, when we understand these things, we can then understand how they and their names anticipate other things typologically. The entire Old Testament is filled with typology, anticipating other truths that are realized in Jesus Christ, His church, the future state of Israel, the dispensations of time, and so forth.   The only thing that is derogatory about the account of Jesus and this Canaanite woman is how people misuse it for various reasons. However, in understanding how God views the Gentiles, using the dog as a metaphor for them, and then in understanding the noble traits of the dog, we find that God is actually exalting the Gentiles, placing them in a preeminent position in Scripture.   While Israel failed to accept Jesus, the dogs of the world, the Gentile people, have been lapping up the spiritual truths of the word, faithfully following their Master, eagerly awaiting His return, and doggedly defending His house until He returns. Hooray for the dog! For a wonderful, short look at the dog, check out this song by Wendy J Francisco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY&list=RDH17edn_RZoY&start_radio=1   Lord God, Your creation reflects You in such wonderful ways. You created the dog, which is faithful, loving, infinitely patient, and always forgiving when we return to it. Thank You for what we can learn about You when we consider our pet dogs.  Amen.

I've lost count of how many times I've read 1 and 2 TimothyStill, it was only a few years ago that two words snagged me- here in this passage, Paul refers to the Hebrew Scriptures as “the sacred writings”• I had always believed this regarding the Bible, but never in those precise words• the effect they had was to motivate me to meditate on them◦ eventually, I spent nine weeks sharing with you what I learned- I've decided to tell you what these have done worked in my life since then• what I hope, is to inspire your reading of the sacred writings◦ and enhance your experience with God's word in the new year

In this episode, we respond to a listener question about how to challenge harmful uses of the Hebrew Scriptures without […] The post Queering the 10 Commandments appeared first on Queer Theology.

Preaching: Mike RothMuch is wrong with the world and it breaks our hearts. We feel discouraged. We feel overwhelmed. We feel hopeless. Our Advent sermon series, Held by Longing, will plumb the depths of our sorrow. But then, we'll keep going. We'll follow the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures in considering how our discouragement, overwhelm, and hopelessness can, like the North Star, hold us in light that guides us onward. Onward, to participate in Divine Love, which is capable of making all things new.Pearl Church exists to express a sacred story and to extend a common table that animate life by love. A primary expression of our sacred story is the weekly sermon. If our sermons inspire you to ponder the sacred, to consider the mystery and love of God, and to live bountifully, would you consider supporting our work? You can donate easily and securely at our website: pearlchurch.org. Thank you for partnering with us in expressing this sacred story.

On this episode of The Jon Gordon Podcast, I sit down with Rabbi Jason Sobel for a powerful conversation about his book Transformed by the Messiah. Raised in a Jewish family in Long Island, Rabbi Jason Sobel shares his unexpected spiritual journey and how discovering Jesus as the Messiah brought about dramatic transformation in his life. We dive into how connecting the dots between the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament reveals God's intentional story, and why faith isn't just about information...it's about experiencing deep change. Rabbi Jason Sobel discusses the importance of oneness, the link between forgiveness and healing, and how spiritual truth can bring hope and meaning in our everyday lives. If you're searching for real transformation and spiritual clarity, this episode offers inspiration and practical wisdom for anyone ready to step into their own story of change.   About Rabbi Jason, Rabbi Jason Sobel grew up in a Jewish home in New Jersey. In his late teens, Jason set out on a quest to discover the truth. After years of study, he discovered and embraced his true destiny as a Jewish follower of Jesus. As the founder of Fusion Global, Jason's purpose is to bring people's understanding of Jesus into high-definition by revealing the lost connection to our Hebrew roots and restoring our forgotten inheritance in Him. Rabbi Jason received his Rabbinic messianic ordination in 2005 and has a BA in Jewish Studies and an MA in Intercultural Studies. He is the spiritual advisor to The Chosen TV series and host of several TBN programs. He is the author of several books—including national best-sellers Mysteries of the Messiah and The God of the Way—and a much-anticipated new release in the fall of 2025. Rabbi Jason also leads and organizes rabbinic study tours to Israel and Greece at rockroadrabbitours.com. Find him on YouTube and Instagram at @RabbiJasonSobel and rabbijasonsobel.com   Here's a few additional resources for you… Do you feel called to share your story with the world? Check out Gordon Publishing  Follow me on Instagram: @JonGordon11 Order my new book 'The 7 Commitments of a Great Team' today! Every week, I send out a free Positive Tip newsletter via email. It's advice for your life, work and team. You can sign up now here and catch up on past newsletters. Ready to lead with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose? The Certified Positive Leader Program is for anyone who wants to grow as a leader from the inside out. It's a self-paced experience built around my most impactful leadership principles with tools you can apply right away to improve your mindset, relationships, and results. You'll discover what it really means to lead with positivity… and how to do it every day. Learn more here! Join me for my Day of Development! You'll learn proven strategies to develop confidence, improve your leadership and build a connected and committed team. You'll leave with an action plan to supercharge your growth and results. It's time to Create your Positive Advantage. Get details and sign up here. Do you feel called to do more? Would you like to impact more people as a leader, writer, speaker, coach and trainer? Get Jon Gordon Certified if you want to be mentored by me and my team to teach my proven frameworks principles, and programs for businesses, sports, education, healthcare!

Dr. Brian J. Crawford will join us to navigate the complex intellectual landscape that has traditionally separated Jews and Christians. His focus is on a scandalous claim: God became a man as Jesus of Nazareth. Since the Middle Ages, Jewish philosophers have said such an idea is impossible and absurd, and Jewish mystics have said the idea is redundant, for all things are inhabited by divine sparks. By critically examining the philosophical underpinnings of the Maimonidean and Kabbalistic thought that has shaped Jewish theology, Dr. Crawford will construct a compelling case for the incarnation that is grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures, consistent with history, informed by science, and illuminated by philosophical inquiry.Become a Parshall Partner: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/inthemarket/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.