69. DOCTRINE OF THE PHARISEES

69. DOCTRINE OF THE PHARISEES
Revelation 2:9 "... them which say they are Jews and are not...."

This lesson is to continue the commentary on the phrase "them which say they are Jews and are not." The religious doctrine of modern Judaism is that of the Pharisees of the New Testament who were continually at odds with Christ and were indeed anti-Christ.[i] Jesus said of this doctrine:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves, (Matthew 23:15).

This is the doctrine practiced by those calling themselves Jews today. Jesus repeatedly condemned them for their hypocrisy, (Matthew 23:13-29).[ii] One among many examples of their hypocrisy is their customs in celebrating the Passover. Since it is forbidden that they have any leaven in their houses, they regularly have a mock "sale" of their leaven to a non-Jew for the duration of the Passover. The Rabbi of each congregation handles this sale. The sale is made with the understanding that the leaven will be returned immediately after Passover.[iii] Thus it is not necessary for them to actually get rid of the leaven, they simply pretend that it does not belong to them by "selling" it.

Besides these ridiculous pretenses there is a much more serious spiritual dimension to modern orthodox Judaism. That is their use of magic and witchcraft; they ceased to believe in One God and turned to many evil spirits.

The decay of monotheism came about through the spread of Jewish mysticism (the cabbala) which developed in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, and by the late 16^th century had won an almost complete victory in virtually all the centres of Judaism….but in latter-day Jewish Orthodoxy, especially among the rabbis, the influence of the cabbala has remained predominant….According to the cabbala, the universe is ruled not by one god but by several deities, of various characters and influences, emanated by a dim, distant First Cause. [iv]

The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that the Church of Jesus Christ began with the ethnic Jews. Paul, whose ministry was to the Gentiles, always began to preach the Gospel in the synagogues of the Jews. After that, some of them believed and were cast out of the synagogues along with Paul. Eusebius records that in the time of Trajan, (98-117 A.D), vast numbers of Jews believed in Christ. Indeed, up to the time of Hadrian, (AD 117-138), the whole Church consisted of Hebrew believers (3.36.35 and 4.3.5). These believing Jews were the seed that produced the Christian Church; believing in Christ did not change their physical blood nor their natural genes, but it did make them blood kin to Christ, the only remaining Heir. Christ’s blood is the blood of the New Covenant.

On the other hand, many unbelieving Jews of that era were killed during the wars before and after the siege and fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. By some estimates, approximately three million Jews were killed in these wars in Judea.[v] But the colonies of Jews in other parts of the Empire did not escape. In Alexandria, Egypt and in Cyrene thousands of Jews were killed as well as great numbers in Babylonian Mesopotamia, (Eusebius, History 4.2). Under the Emperor Hadrian, Rufus, the governor of Judea destroyed unlimited numbers of Jews in the time of the revolt of Bar Cochaba, a Jew (AD 135). At that time, Hadrian decreed that Jews could not live in or near the City of Jerusalem, (ibid. 4.6.4). With this decree, the dispersion of the Jews was complete.

Since Bar Cochaba had ordered the persecution of Christians, (ibid. 4.8.5), it was necessary that those of Jewish descent make the choice as to whether they would identify themselves as Christians, or as Jews. Those who believed in Christ identified themselves as Christians in spite of the threat of death. This, of course, did not change the makeup of their blood nor their genes. Therefore, the genetic blood, the DNA of Abraham, is as likely to be in a Christian as in a so-called Jew.

But the propaganda is widespread that "the Jews are People of the Book," that is that they have preserved the ancient Scriptures and hold them in reverence. This is simply a part of the system of lies that is used to cover their actual identity. In fact, they altered their Scriptures in accordance with their own traditions and eliminated all that they could of the Old Testament that testified so powerfully to Christ. What they could not eliminate, they reinterpreted to use for their own purposes. Justin, (the Martyr), who lived through the Bar Cochaba revolt of 135 AD, wrote that the Jews had actually cut some passages from the prophets out of their Scriptures, passages which Justin had copies of at that time, (ibid. 4.18.7).

In fact, Judaism after 70 AD wrote the so-called “oral law” in the Mishnah and their interpretation of the law in the Talmudim which became their avowed authoritative scriptures. This document is brazenly anti-Christ and anti-Christian, cursing Christ and declaring that Christians are "heretics" and therefore should be killed. 
For the full text of the Babylonian Talmud in English translation see www.comeandhear.com. This is the doctrine of the Pharisees, practiced today by Judaism.

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[i] The New Testament Pharisees taught that God gave Moses an “oral law” at the same time that He gave the written law and that the “oral law” had been passed down orally to their own time and that the “oral law” was the authoritative scripture. These doctrines of the Pharisees were later embodied in the Talmud.

The source of authority for all the practices of classical (and present day Orthodox) Judaism, the determining base of its legal structure, is the Talmud, or, to be more precise, the so-called Babylonian Talmud; while the rest of the Talmudic literature (including the so-called Jerusalem or Palestinian Talmud) acts as a supplementary authority. (Shahak,  Jewish History, Jewish Religion, The Weight of Three Thousand Years, (London, Chicago, Illinois, Pluto Press Reprint 1997, 39.)

[ii] “A dominant feature of dispensations, and of classical Judaism inasmuch as it is based on them, is deception - deception primarily of God, if this word can be used for an imaginary being so easily deceived by the rabbis, who consider themselves cleverer than him. No greater contrast can be conceived than that between the God of the Bible…and of the God of classical Judaism,” (ibid. 47).

[iii] “A dispensation was … devised, by which all those substances are sold in a fictitious sale to a Gentile before the festival and bought back automatically after it. The one thing that must be done is to lock up the taboo substances for the duration of the festival. In Israel this fictitious sale has been made more efficient. Religious Jews ‘sell’ their leavened substances to their local rabbis, who in turn ‘sell’ them to the Chief Rabbis; the latter sell them to a Gentile, and by a special dispensation this sale is presumed to include also the leavened substances of non-practicing Jews,” (ibid. p. 45. See also Epstein, All About Jewish Holidays, 59).

[iv] Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, 32-3.  See also my Commentary on Revelation 18:23, "Sorceries."

[v] Josephus' estimate was of 1,100,000 in Jerusalem alone, (Wars 6.9.3). 

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context. My Book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and is also available online at www.amazon.com  or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net

68. TRACING THE HOLY SEED

68.  TRACING THE HOLY SEED, KINGSHIP, PRIESTHOOD AND NATION OF ISRAEL

The early Christian historians are important to show clearly that the fleshly lineage of Israel that might have claimed rights to the kingship, the priesthood, and/or the land were indeed "cut off" and the official, traceable lineage obliterated, except for Christ. 

The legitimate kingship ended in Christ. Eusebius shows that the native Jewish dynasty ended when Herod the Idumean became the first foreign king, and therefore the scepter departed from Judah, that is, the legitimate kingship ended in Christ as foretold. He cites Genesis 49:10:

There shall not be wanting a ruler from Judah, nor a leader sprung from his loins, until he come for whom it is reserved."[i]

This is a proof that Christ was "He...for whom it (the kingship) is reserved.

 Since Herod was an Idumean, the Jews did not accept him as their rightful king, knowing that their king should be one genetically descended from David. Therefore Herod destroyed the genealogical records. Eusebius says:

So Herod who had no drop of Israelitish blood in his veins and was stung by the consciousness of his base origin, burnt the registers of their families, thinking that he would appear nobly born if no one else was able by reference to public documents to trace his line back to the patriarchs or proselytes, or to the 'sojourners' of mixed blood. A few careful people had private records of their own, having either remembered the names or recovered them from copies, and took pride in preserving the memory of their aristocratic origin. These included the people mentioned above, known as Desposyni (the Master's People) because of their relationship to the Saviour's family.[ii]

Therefore the only genealogies that remained extant after Herod had burned the official records were the few unofficial family records, and many of these were people claiming kinship to Christ's earthly family. We should note that Christ was presented in the Temple for both his circumcision and his dedication, at which time he was also named, (Luke 2:21-24). By this rite Christ was properly enrolled as an heir according to the Law. His genealogies are now a part of the Holy Scriptures and so are eternally valid. There are no other official genealogical records of any living person whose genealogy is traceable to David and to Abraham.

The fact that Herod felt threatened by the babies of Bethlehem shows that he thought they had credible and legal genealogical rights to the kingship, (Matthew 2:1-18). By killing them Herod destroyed many of the lineage of David who would have been eligible for the kingship. The story of the flight into Egypt explains how Christ was divinely preserved.

Eusebius goes on to trace the genealogy of Christ and to reconcile the two accounts in Matthew chapter one and Luke chapter 3 by showing how the law regarding the re-marriage of childless widows in order to raise up heirs for the deceased kinsman explains how that the same person can be regarded as the child of different fathers, both the biological father and the legal father, the deceased husband of one's mother.[iii]

The High-Priesthood ended in Christ. Eusebius shows also that Hyrcanus was "the last to whom fell the high-priestly succession." When he was taken prisoner by the Parthians and Herod became the ruler the legitimate High Priesthood ended in Christ as foretold:

Herod no longer appointed high priests of the ancient stock but assigned the office to nonentities, and that a policy similar to Herod's regarding the appointment of priests was adopted by his son Archelaus, and after him by the Romans, when they took over the government of Judaea (p. 52). (See chart in my book at Commentary on 1:6 “Enumeration of High Priests.”)

 The end of the dynasty of succession to the kingship and the priesthood in a sense also brought about the end of the succession rights to the tribal and family lands.

The point is that there remains no other legitimate king, no other priest, nor any other heir to the land except Christ whose genealogy is in the sacred, canonical Scriptures and whose resurrection from the dead makes Him the eternally effective fulfillment of all of the promises of succession rights, to the kingship, the priesthood and the land. As Eusebius has also written, the anointing upon the Jews ended in Christ according to the prophecy in Daniel 9: 25-6.[iv]

For those steeped in the tradition that modern so-called "Israel" is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, it must be pointed out that all of the Old Testament prophecies of return to the land were literally fulfilled in the returns described in Ezra and Nehemiah. The destruction of the nation and the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD, as predicted by Daniel and by Christ, is described in the Book of Revelation as well as by the secular historian Josephus. This was the final end of the fleshly nation as such.

The modern application of Scriptures concerning the Israel of God should be applied to the true Church. Those things which happened upon the fleshly Israel of the Old Covenant are an example and a pattern for the instruction and warning of the Church: 1Corinthians 10:6-12; Galatians 3:24; Hebrews 3:7-4:11.  The spiritual fulfillment and application is eternally relevant in Christ and will never pass away. The fleshly, literal and natural application has been completely and finally fulfilled. The literal interpretation, i.e. "the letter," killeth, but the spiritual interpretation maketh alive," 2 Corinthians 3:6.

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[i] Eusebius, History of the Church, 1.6.6; 1.7.4; 1.7.14.  Eusebius depends largely upon Josephus for much of his historical material. He does have several other sources, however, and accepts the gospel records as historically accurate.

[ii] Domitian ordered the execution of all those of David's lineage, fearing the return of Christ, as Herod had done. Some of the grandsons of Jude, the brother of Christ, were found and accused, but were thought to be too poor and ignorant to be any threat. See Eusebius, History of the Church, 3.18.19 and 3.18.20.

[iii] Ibid. "The argument of Africanus must be treated with respect, Joseph's pedigree may not matter to us, but Christians have always been troubled, as he was, by the apparent discrepancy between the two gospel accounts, which seemed to cast doubts on the reliability of one writer or both. Nor is Africanus's solution to be ruled out. He clearly derived his information from relatives of the Holy Family, and it must be remembered that in the Near East family trees were, and still are, most carefully preserved; and that the 'raising up' of offspring to a childless brother must often have occurred," (G. A. Williamson, Eusebius note 1, page 56 on 1.7.14).

[iv] Ibid. 1.6.6 and 1.7.4. It should be further observed that Josephus records that in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD: "They fired the Archivum and Acra, and the council-house, and Ophla: and the fire destroyed unto the palaces of Helen, which were in the middle of Acra," (quoting Josephus).

   "Whether he means the magistrates' court, or the repository of the ancient records, according to the different signification of the word, we do not determine. There were certainly sacred records in the Temple, and civil records no doubt in the city, where writings and memorials of sales, contracts, donations, and public acts, &c. were laid up. I should more readily understand this of their repository, than of the magistrates' court, because, presently after, the council-house is distinctly named," (Lightfoot, CNT vol. 1, p. 55). 
This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context. My Book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and is also available online at www.amazon.com  or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net

        

67.The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

67. THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

2:9. "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of satan."  (See also 3:9.)
 It is perfectly clear from Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 that there is a Biblical standard required for claiming the name Jew. Those Jews who did not accept Christ were "cut off" from the people of God: Deuteronomy 18:15-19; = Acts 3:22-23; 7:37,51; John 15:6; Romans 11:17-24.
 One of the best-kept secrets in the world today is that there is no traceable genetic relationship between those calling themselves “Jews” today and those of the Biblical era. So-called DNA evidence for genetic kinship with Abraham which is being approved by the Rabbis fails to attain scientific credibility on many points. For example, Abraham is not here to compare his blood with today’s samples.

The standard traditional doctrines of most Evangelicals and others teach that those who call themselves Jews today are genetically descended from Abraham and are Christ's "brethren after the Flesh."[i]

Nowhere did Christ call them His "Brethren after the flesh." But He refuted this teaching, Matthew 12:48-50:

While He yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak to Him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But He answered and said unto Him that told Him, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, "Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother."

Christ was not born "after the Flesh" but was virgin-born. His "brethren" are therefore those born of the Spirit.

In Old Testament times genealogical descent was of great importance for three reasons: kingship, priesthood and land rights. The New Testament is very clear that the only legitimate Heir to these rights is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Hebrews 1:2. He is King, High Priest and Owner of the whole earth. Since He is alive forevermore, the inheritance is now secure and incorruptible in Him and is accessible to every ethnic and genetic group without respect of person.

Jesus warned the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" so that they could repent. However, all those who did not repent and accept Him were cast out, rejected, disinherited, (Matthew 23; Mark 12: 1-9, 12; Luke 10:1, 10-11; 13:28, 35; 14:16-24, 26-33; 15:11-32; Galatians 4:30). Even so, all those who will repent and turn to Christ can be restored, (Romans 11:23-24).

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[i] For example, L.V.D. Tiller says: "As Christians we owe a debt of love to the Jewish people for they are 'His brethren after the flesh' – this can be said of no other people. Furthermore the words of Jesus himself cannot be ignored: 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me' (Matt. 25:40)," ("What is God Doing in Israel?" Pentecostal Evangel, February 9, 1975, 8-10.)

   The basis of this theology is found in their mis-interpretation of the Old Testament prophets who foretold a return to the land after the Babylonian captivity, for example: Jeremiah and Ezekiel. An unbiased study of these texts, however, shows that they were literally fulfilled in the accounts given by Ezra and Nehemiah. They were spiritually fulfilled in the incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. The Bible itself gives full proof that a literal future fulfillment of the prophecies of return to the land is distinctly denied.

  This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context. My Book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and is also available online at www.amazon.com  or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net