We are so happy to share with all of you, a little known Bible translation we are now using at the ministry. It's entitled: GOD'S WORD- and this two part article comes in-part from their booklet GOD'S WORD
Below, at the bottem of this page you will find a way you to can buy this booklet and their Bibles, all at a fair price... I have already gotten 4 copies of their students study Bibles as gifts for Christmas. So please check them out on-line...
For God's people today . . .
GOD'S WORDOF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ISRAEL
Part I
"Comfort my people! Comfort them!" says your God. "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to it that its time of hard labor is over and its wrongs have been paid for. . ." --Isaiah 40: 1-2
God's word from the Tanakh (Old Covenant) - the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings - and the Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) are a treasury of comfort during these uncertain tenuous times. They overflow with God's promises of love, forgiveness, peace, hope, joy and everlasting life for everyone that believes in him - who calls on the name of the LORD.
The passages in this booklets describe these present and everlasting blessings. They're encouraging words, a reminder of the tremendous comfort that you can have through faith in Messiah Yeshua [Christ Jesus].
Because of God's faithfulness, his words have special application to the difficult moments of your life - times of loneliness, fear temptation, discouragement, sickness, anxiousness and impatience. His words alone offer the encouragement you need.
May our faithful God - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - bless your reading of his life-changing words! Remember, "whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
God's Love -
God's Faithfulness to the Jewish People
"Tell the Israelites, 'I am the LORD. I will bring you out from under the oppression of the Egyptians, and I will free you from slavery. I will rescue you with my powerful arm and with mighty acts of judgment. Then I will make you my people, and I will be you God. You will know that I am the LORD you God, who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land I solemnly swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the LORD." Exodus 6:6-8
You are a holy people, who belong to the LORD our God. He chose you to be his own
special possession out of all the nations on earth. The LORD set his heart on you and chose you even though you didn't out number all the other people. You were the smallest of all nations.
You were chosen because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to you ancestors. So he used his mighty hand to bring you out. He freed you from slavery under Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). Keep in mind that the LORD your God is the only god. He is a faithful God, who keeps his promise and is merciful to thousands of generations of those who love him and obey his commands Deuteronomy 7:6-9.
Don't be impossible to deal with like your ancestors. Reach out for the LORD. Come to his holy place that he made holy forever. Serve the LORD your God, and he will turn his burning anger away from you. When you return to the LORD your relatives and children will find compassion from those who captured them. They will return to this land. The LORD your God is merciful and compassionate. He will not turn his face away from you if your return to him 2 Chronicles 30:8-9.
Who is Messiah?
What does Messiah do?
"Messiah is a uniquely Jewish word. Through the centuries it has embodied the hopes of the Jewish people. Throughout most of Jewish history it has meant a national savior for the Jewish nation - some person who would relieve the Jewish people of their suffering. The term itself is derived from the Hebrew word "mashiach", which means, "the anointed."
The first use of this word in the Bible pertains to the anointing of Levitical priests with olive oil, a way of choosing them and ordaining them for their God-appointed service (Leviticus 4:3). But from Hannah's lips God revealed the following prediction of the Messiah to come: "Those who oppose the LORD are broken into pieces. He thunders at them from the heavens. The LORD judges the ends of the earth. He gives strength to his King and lifts the head of his Messiah." (1 Samuel 2:10).
What is Messiah supposed to do? What's the job description?
Messiah is, of course, a divinely appointed position, so our information about his position should come from God's divinely inspired book, the Bible. The prophet Ezekiel describes Messiah's job in three categories "shepherd", "servant", and "king." Ezekiel reveals God's intentions: "Then I will place one shepherd over them, my servant David, and he will take care of them. He will take care of them and be their shepherd. I, the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be their prince. I, the LORD have spoken. 'I will promise them peace'". (Ezekiel 34:23-25)
Messiah as Shepherd
Messiah is to be a shepherd. A shepherd cares for his flock by guiding them to green pastures and peaceful waters, protecting them from wild animals, and healing their wounds. A shepherd will even leave the flock temporarily to search out lost sheep. What a wonderful picture of Messiah!
Messiah as Servant
Messiah is also to be a servant. This attitude, of course, is contrary to our human nature that urges us to "king" and compel others to serve us. As a result, we frequently complain about the service - about the person who didn't serve us properly. Indeed, a servant is one who puts his own welfare last and the welfare of those he serves first. Messiah as servant is not only the servant of God, but is a suffering servant - suffering four us - suffering for our sins - as the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah reveal:
Who has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD'S power been revealed?
He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we thought that God had wounded him, beat him, and punished him.
He was wounded for our rebellious acts.
He was crushed for our sins.
He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from his wounds.
We have all strayed like sheep. Each one of us has turned to go his own way, and the LORD has laid all our sins on him. He was abused and punished, but he didn't open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to slaughter. He was like a sheep that is silent when its wool is cut off. He didn't open his mouth.
He was arrested, taken away, and judged. Who would have thought that he would be removed from the world? He was killed because of my people's rebellion. He was placed in a tomb with the wicked. He was put there with the rich when he died, although he had done nothing violent and had never spoken a lie.
Yet, it was the LORD'S will to crush him with suffering. When the LORD has made his life a sacrifice for our Wrongdoings, . . .
My righteous servant will acquit many people because of what he has learned through suffering. He will carry their sins as a burden.
So I will give him a share among the mighty, and he will divide the prize with the strong, because he poured out his life in death and he was counted with sinners. He carried the sins of many. He intercedes for those who are rebellious. --Isaiah 53:1, 4-12
"I will pour out the Spirit of blessing and mercy on David's family and on those who live in Jerusalem. They will look at me, whom they have stabbed. Then they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they will cry bitterly for him as one cries for a firstborn son." --Zechariah 12:10
And, as the New Covenant reveals:
John saw Yeshua (Jesus) coming toward him the next day and said, "Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God." --John 1:29, 34
Messiah as King
Finally Messiah is to be a king. As the Psalmist reveals:
Why do the nations gather together?
Why do their people devise useless plots?
Kings take their stands.
Rulers make plans together against the LORD and against his Messiah by saying, 'Let's break apart their chains and shake off their ropes."
The one enthroned in heaven laughs.
The Lord makes fun of them.
Then he speaks to them in his anger. In his burning anger he terrifies them by saying, "I have installed my own king on Zion, my holy mountain."
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, or he will become angry and you will die on your way because his anger will burst into flames.
Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in him. --Psalm 2:1-6, 11-12
The Tanakh (Old Covenant) says this bout King David: "Even in the past when Saul ruled, you were the one who led Israel on its campaigns to war. The LORD your God has said to you,"You will be shepherd of my people Israel, the leader of my people Israel." (1 Chronicles 11:2)
And yet, the prophet Ezekiel reveals (Ezekiel 34:23-25): "Then I will place one shepherd over them, my servant David, and he will take care of them. He will take care of hem and be their shepherd. I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be their prince. I, the LORD have spoken. 'I will promise them peace '. . ."
The reader of these verses may be temporarily puzzled when he reads "My servant David will be their prince" in view of the fact that Ezekiel write these words about 600 B.C.E at a time when David had been dead for about 400 years. In this case, "my servant David" is simply a Hebrew way of saying "the promised descendant of David" - in other words, "the Messiah."
It's clear from the Hebrew Scriptures that Messiah is "shepherd", "servant", and "king". These are his jobs.
If so, the question remains: "Is there any descendant of David in Jewish history who has validly claimed to have fulfilled these jobs?"
The answer is "Yes." The divinely inspired writings of the New Covenant are based entirely upon that person. The word "Christian" is based on the Greek word "Christos, which translates the Hebrew "mashiach". And so the very term "Christian" really means "Messianic"
God's Plan
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days," declares the LORD: "I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, 'Know the LORD.' All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me," declares the LORD, "because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them." --Stone Edition Tanakh Jeremiah 31:30-33
Sing for joy and rejoice, people of Zion. I'm going to come and live among you, declares the LORD. On that day many nations will join the LORD and become my people. I will live among you. Then you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you. The LORD will claim Judah as his own in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. --Stone Edition Tanakh Zechariah 2:14-16
"Then a Savior will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from rebellion," declares the LORD. "This is my promise to them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I put in your mouth will not leave you. They will be with your children and your grandchildren permanently," says the LORD. --Isaiah 59:20-21
For Zion's sake I will not remain silent. For Jerusalem's sake I will no rest, until its righteousness shines like the dawn and its salvation burns brightly like a torch.
The nations will see your righteousness.
All kings will see your glory.
You will be given a new name that the LORD will announce.
The LORD has announced to the ends of the earth: "Tell my people Zion 'Your Savior is coming. His reward is with him, and the people he has won arrive ahead of him.' "
They will be called Holy People, Those Reclaimed by the LORD, and you will be called Sought After, a City Not Deserted. --Isaiah 62:1-2, 11-12
Unfortunately there's a Problem - Not with God's Plan, but with Us
Certainly, there is no one so righteous on earth that he always does what is good and never sins. --Ecclesiastes 7:20
Godless fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt. They do disgusting things. There is no one who does good things. The LORD looks down from heaven on Adam's descendants to see if there is anyone who acts wisely, if there is anyone who seeks help from God. Everyone has turned away. Together they have become rotten to the core. No one, not even one person, does good things. --Psalm 14:1-3
Indeed, I was born guilty. I was a sinner when my mother conceived me. --Stone Edition Tanakh Psalm 51:7
We've all become unclean, and all righteous acts are like permanently stained rags.
All of us shrivel like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.
No one calls on your name or tries to hold on to you.
You have hidden your face from us.
You have let us be ruined by our sins. --Stone Edition Tanakh Isaiah 64:5-6
But God - Our Savior - Fixed the Problem!
As the Hebrew Scriptures promise:
The people who walk in darkness will see a bright light
The light will shine on those who live in the land of death's shadow.
A child will be born for us.
A son will be given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
He will be named:
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
His government and peace will have unlimited growth. He will establish David's throne and kingdom. He will uphold it with justice and righteousness now and forever.
The LORD of the Armies is determined to do this. --Stone Edition Tanakh Isaiah 9:1, 5-6
My servant will be successful.
He will be respected, praised, and highly honored.
Many will be shocked by him.
His appearance will be so disfigured that he won't look like any other man.
He will cleanse many nations with his blood.
Kings will shut their mouths because of him.
They will see things that they had never been told.
They will understand things that they had never heard.
Who has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD'S power been revealed?
He grew up in his presence like a young tree, like a root out of dry ground.
He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him.
He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him.
He was despised and rejected by people.
He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn't consider him to be worth anything.
He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we thought that God had wounded him, beat him, and punished him.
He was wounded for our rebellious acts.
He was crushed for our sins.
He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from his wounds.
We have all strayed like sheep. Each one of us has turned to go his own way, and the LORD has laid all our sins on him.
He was abused and punished, but he didn't open his mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
He was like a sheep that is silent when its wool is cut off.
He didn't open his mouth
He was arrested, taken away, and judged. Who would have thought that he would be removed from the world?
He was killed because of my people's rebellion.
He was placed in a tomb with the wicked.
He was put there with the rich when he died, although he had done nothing violent and had never spoken a lie.
Yet, it was the LORD'S will to crush him with suffering.
When, the LORD has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings, he will see his descendants for many days. The will of the LORD will succeed through him. He will see and be satisfied because of his suffering
My righteous servant will acquit many people because of what he has learned through suffering.
He will carry their sins as a burden.
So I will give him a share among the mighty, and he will divide the prize with the strong, because he poured out his life in death and he was counted with sinners.
He carried the sins of many.
He intercedes for those who are rebellious. --Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
In view of these passages, the following passages from the New Covenant reveal that Yeshua [Jesus] is the one being spoken about by the prophet:
Messiah [Christ] carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins; we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you. You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives. -- 1 Peter 2:24-25
Before the creation of the world, [God] chose us through Messiah [the Anointed One - the Christ] to be holy and perfect in his presence. Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Messiah Yeshua. He freely chose to do this so that the kindness he had given us in his dear Son would be praised and given glory.
Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness. He poured out his kindness by giving us every kind of wisdom and insight when he revealed the mystery of his plan to us. He had decided to do this through Messiah. --Ephesians 1:4-9
My heart's desire and prayers to God on behalf of the Jewish people is that they would be saved. I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God, but they are misguided. They don't understand [how to receive] God's approval. So they try to set up their own way to get it, and they have not accepted God's way for receiving his approval. Messiah is the fulfillment of Moses' Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God's approval. Romans 10:1-4
Although they had seen Yeshua [Jesus] perform so many miracles, they wouldn't believe in him. In this way the words of the prophet Isaiah came true:
"Lord, who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord's power been revealed?" -- John 12:37-38
In the evening the people brought him many who were possessed by demons. He forced the [evil] spirits out of people with a command and cured everyone who was sick. So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true: "He took away our weaknesses and removed our diseases." --Matthew 8:16-17
This was the part of the Scriptures that the official was reading:
"He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
He was like sheep that is silent when its wool is cut off. He didn't open his mouth.
When he humbled himself, he was not judged fairly.
Who from his generation wall talk about his life on earth being cut short?" --Acts 8:32-33
Messiah never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. Messiah never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn't make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. --1 Peter 2:22
Then Yeshua came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual he went into the synagogue on the day of worship. He stood up to read the lesson. The attendant gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened it and found the place where it read:
"The Spirit of the Lord is with me.
He has anointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to announce forgiveness to the prisoners of sin and the restoring of
Sight to the blind, to forgive those who have been shattered by sin, to announce the
Year of the Lord's favor."
Yeshua [Jesus] closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue watched him closely. Then he said to them, "This passage came true today when you heard me read it." --Luke 4:16-22
I can guarantee that the Scripture passage which says, 'He was counted with criminals,' must find its fulfillment in me. Indeed, whatever is written about me will come true." --Luke 22:37
"Men of Israel, listen to what I say: Yeshua [Jesus] from Nazareth was a man whom God brought to your attention. You know that through this man God worked miracles, did amazing things, and gave signs. By using men who don't acknowledge Moses' Teachings, you crucified Yeshua [Jesus], who was given over to death by a plan that God had determined in advance. But God raised him from death to life and destroyed the pains of death, because death had no power to hold him. This is what David meant when he said about Jesus [Yeshua]:
'I always see the Lord in front of me.
I cannot be moved because he is by my side.
That is why my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.
My body also rests securely because you do not abandon my soul to the grave or allow
your holy one to decay.
You make the path of life known to me.
In you presence there is complete joy.'
"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that our ancestor David died and was buried and that his tomb is here to this day. David was a prophet and knew that God had promised with an oath that he would place one of David's' descendants on his throne. David knew that the Messiah would come back to life, and he spoke about that before it ever happened. He said that the Messiah wouldn't be left in the grave and that his body wouldn't decay. God brought this man Yeshua back to life. We are all witnesses to that. God used his powers to give Yeshua the highest position." --Acts 2:22-33
In the light of these of passages . . .
Yeshua [Jesus] is the Good Shepherd
Yeshua [Jesus] is quoted in the Book of John: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." (John 10:11). His ministry ended when he laid down his life for the sheep - when he permitted himself to be crucified. He was punished in our place and thereby offered the complete, perfect sacrifice for our sins. This is what Isaiah means when he predicted of Messiah: "The LORD has laid all our sins on him" (Isaiah 53:6).
As the Scriptures reveal:Yeshua was born in Bethlehem in Judea when Herod was king. After Yeshua's birth wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem. They asked, "Where is the one who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star rising and have come to worship him."
When King Herod and all Jerusalem heard about this, they became disturbed. He called together all the chief priests and scribes and tried to find out from them where the Messiah was supposed to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this:
Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah.
A leader will come from you.
He will shepherd my people Israel." --Matthew 2:1-6
Yeshua is the Servant
Yeshua is a servant - a servant of God and a servant of man. He said: "the Son of Man … didn't come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people" (Mark 10:45). Yeshua served by healing the blind, the deaf, the lepers. But his greatest service was to give his life "as a ransom for many." When Yeshua suffered and died on the cross, although the act was unjust on the part of the Roman government, God used it to punish his own Son. Yeshua accepted the punishment we deserved, and thereby restored our relationship with God.
Yeshua is the King
Yeshua is king. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate had an inscription written over the cross on which Yeshua was crucified: "The king of the Jews." What Pilate wrote is true!
In the last book of the New Covenant Yeshua is called "Lord of lords and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14). He is king even over death, because on the third day following his crucifixion Yeshua raised himself from the dead. The entire Christian faith is based on these events.
Yeshua lives! He offers forgiveness, divine guidance, peace hope, joy, and everlasting life to everyone who believes in him!What then should you do?
Do what a large multitude of Jews did almost 2000 years ago when they heard the message proclaimed by Peter - one of Yeshua's followers: "When the people heard this, they were deeply upset. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter answered them, "All of you must turn to God and change the way you think and act, and each of you must be baptized in the name of Messiah Yeshua so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift." (Acts 2:37-38).
When was Messiah to come?
According to the prophet Daniel, the Anointed One [the Messiah] was to come before the destruction of the second temple at Jerusalem. Here's Daniel's prediction: "But after the sixty-two sets of seven time periods, the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing. The city and holy place will be destroyed with the prince who is to come . . ." --(Daniel 9:26).
Messiah came and was "cut off" as predicted. Shortly thereafter, in C.E. 70 "the city" and "the holy place i.e. the temple" were destroyed by Titus and the Roman legions exactly as prophesied centuries before by the prophet Daniel.
My friend, the Scriptures are true!
"For God's people today . . .
GOD'S WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR
ISRAEL"
used with permission from GOD'S WORD
We thank them so much for putting out such a wonderful little
booklet that we can give out to our Jewish friends & family.
To get a hard copy of this booklet from GOD'S WORD
In His Service,
Rev. Barbara A. Di Gilio ThD <><
For Part II, and some deeper
understanding from
the GOD'S WORD, click on Iceberg...!
Mayim's Endnote