Was Abraham an Important Part of the Gospel?

Was the patriarch Abraham an important part of Yeshua’s message, “The gospel of the kingdom?”  Most Christians have been taught that “the gospel” focused on the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua for the forgiveness of sins.”  However, Yeshua was not sent by the God of Israel to begin something new, as Christians are erroneously taught, but to finish or complete what God started with Abraham.  For example, Yeshua told his disciples,

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to FINISH His work.  (John 4:34)

This was near the beginning of his ministry. He was sent to begin anything new, but he was sent to finish something that God had started.  Most people – Christians, Messianics, and Jews – believe that the great relationship covenant of the Hebrew Scriptures is the covenant that Israel received at Mt. Sinai.  However, this is not true.  The ancient Israelites were in a relationship with God before Mt. Sinai.   Can I prove that?

And the LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharoah all the marvels that I have put within your power.  I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go.  Then you shall say to Pharoah, “Thus says the LORD: ISRAEL IS MY FIRST-BORN SON.  I have said to you, “Let My son go, that he may worship Me,” yet you refuse to let him go.  Now I will slay your first-born son.” (Exodus 4: 21-23, JPS; emphasis added)

This is before Moses ever went before the Pharoah, before any of the Plagues, and before any part of the Exodus ever began, and yet God calls Israel “My first-born son.”  How could Israel’s relationship with God have begun at Mt. Sinai with the giving of the commandments when Israel was already “God’s first-born son” before Moses ever stepped foot in Egypt?  Doesn’t a “first-born son” have a relationship with his father?  The covenant that God gave to Israel at Mt. Sinai did not create the relationship between Israel and God, but it made the Israelites into a people, a community, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”:

Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples.  Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Exodus 19:19:5-6)

This covenant again made Israel into a people, a community, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” but it did not give them or us with our relationship to God.  Salvation is not a belief in a past event, but it is an Exodus from the “Egypts” (old lives of idolatry, abominations, and sin) of our lives to follow God to the Promised Land of His future Kingdom.  In the original Exodus, the killing of the lamb and putting its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their homes protected them from the tenth plague, “the death of the firstborn,” but it did not automatically transfer them to the Promised Land of Canaan.  They still had to pack up all their things, and to physically leave Egypt, cross the Red Sea, make to Mt. Sinai, and then wander in the wilderness for forty years as God tested them to see if His commandments were truly in their hearts and minds:

Remember the long way that the LORD your God has made you travel in the wilderness these past forty years, that He MIGHT TEST YOU BY HARDSHIPS TO LEARN WHAT WAS IN YOUR HEARTS: WHETHER YOU WOULD KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS OR NOT.  (Deuteronomy 8:2)  

Don’t be deceived by this delusion that has come upon most mainstream Christian denominations.  We will not be kept from going through the tribulation.  In I Thessalonians 1, Paul writes, 

  For they themselves show us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus [Heb. Yeshua], which DELIVERED US FROM THE WRATH TO COME. (I Thessalonians 1: 9-10)

The “wrath to come” is not speaking about “the tribulation,” but about the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.  The word “tribulation” just speaks of “trials” and “persecution.”  And we all shall be tested with “hardships” just as the ancient Israelites were in the wilderness – to see if His “commandments are in our hearts and minds” – before we will be allowed to enter into the Promised Land of God’s Messianic Kingdom.  The belief in a Pre-Trib Rapture is a dangerous teaching.  If you prepare to go through it, and by chance it doesn’t happen, you are okay because you were prepared, but if you do not prepare because you believe that you will be raptured out of the earth before the tribulation ever begins, but it does not happen, and we will all go through it, then how horrible to find yourself facing a horrendous experience completely unprepared.

The fact is our salvation is based upon the completed covenant that God made with Abraham.  It is the great relationship covenant of the Bible.  The covenant that God made with Abraham (aka, “the covenant between the pieces,” Genesis 15) makes up the first half of our relationship with God and Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection completed or finished the process, so that the two together would function as our relationship covenant with God, and for that reason, it is called the “Renewed Covenant.”

In my last article, I laid out the verbal and non-verbal portions of the covenant that God entered into with Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father), but here are a couple of examples:

Mir’yam (Mary)

The first evidence comes from Mir’yam (Mary), Yeshua’s mother.  When she went to see Elisheva (Elizabeth), Mir’yam responds to her greeting by praising the God of Israel:

My soul exalts in the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.  For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.  He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in their heart.  He has brought down rulers from those thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed. (Luke 1:48-53)

And it is at this point that Mir’yam (Mary) connects what God has been doing and has done to her with His promise to Abraham:

 He has given help to Israel His servant, and in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and His offspring forever.  (Like 1:54-55)\

This provoked some questions for me:

1.  How is her child giving “help to Israel God’s servant?
2.  What “mercy” is God remembering”
3.  When and where did God speak this “mercy” to the patriarchs, “to Abraham and his offspring   forever”? 

These are questions I have never heard any Christian minister or leader discuss.  Consequently, they were questions I was left pondering.  But the more I read, the more I found I had to ponder.

Zecharias – The Prophecy

The next piece of evidence came through the prophecy of Z’kharyah (Zechariah), the Levitical father of Yochanan the Immerser (commonly known as “John the Baptist”).  When Z’kharyah (Zechariah) was in the Holy Place in the Temple offering up incense to the LORD, the angel Gavri’el (Gabriel) appeared and told him that God was going to answer his prayer:

 Don’t be afraid. Zecharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John [Heb. Yochanan].  And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. (Luke 1:13-14)

It is at this point that the angel starts giving him specific instructions about the raising of his son.

He will be great in the sight of the LORD, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother’s womb.  (Luke 1:15)

But Z’kharyah (Zecharias) tried to argue that he and Elisheva (Elizabeth) was too old to have a child, and as a result, Z’kharyah (Zecharias) is struck dumb for the whole time that Elisheva (Elizabeth) is pregnant.  When Yochanan (John) is born and then is circumcised eight days later, when he is given the name Yochanan (John, Z’kharyah (Zecharias) regains his ability to speak.  It says at that moment,

Zecharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel. for He has visited us and accomplished REDEMPTION for His people, and He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant – As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old – “Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;…. (Luke 1:67-71)

This first part of his prophecy, actually involves the Messiah, and it is not until the second half of the prophecy that begins speaking about his son.  But then it is after this, we see many of the same things that we saw with the end of Mir’yam’s (Mary’s) praise and worship of God:

TO SHOW MERCY TOWARD OUR FATHERS, AND TO REMEMBER HIS HOLY COVENANT, THE OATH WHICH HE SWORE TO ABRAHAM OUR FATHER,….(lUKE 1: 72-73)

Again, we are left with questions:

1. What “mercy” is he speaking about, and how is it being shown “toward our fathers”?  
2.  What “fathers” are being about about?
3.  How is the birth and coming of the Messiah remembering “His Holy Covenant”?
4.  What “Covenant” is he speaking about?
5.  How and when did God swear this as a promise “to Abraham our father”?

Z’kharyah (Zecharias) then finishes this part of the prophecy with the following:

To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. (Luke 1:74-75)

I began to wonder about this.  Christians teach that they cannot live “in holiness and righteousness before Him [God] all our days.”  Instead, they say, “We are just sinners saved by grace.  We can’t help but sin all the time, because we can’t keep the commandments PERFECTLY.”  Notice the word “perfectly,” there is not one single place in all of the Hebrew Scriptures where God says we have to keep His commandments “perfectly.”  Consequently, that whole Christian argument is based on a “flawed interpretation and understanding of what God wants.  He just wants what any loving father would want from His children:  He wants us to lovingly and willfully obey Him, be faithful and loyal to Him.  They get this erroneous idea from James 2,

For whoever keeps the law whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10)

But this does not mean what Christians think that it means.  They are quite proficient in taking things out of their context and creating a doctrine teaching what the Bible did not even mean by the verse or passage.  For example, when we place this verse back into the context of the whole chapter, James has been pointing out that by them showing preference to the rich – giving them the best seats – and making the poor stand in the back is showing preference to certain people and not others.  James says that by doing this, they are violating the Law.  So then he makes this statement, to try and encourage the Jewish believers to be more obedient to the Law – not less.  So the Christian interpretation actually violates the very point and purpose for James even making this statement.

So again, if none of us can live in holiness and righteousness, which is what Christians argue, then there is a problem here.  However, if we can, then Christianity has taught us something which is not true.  In which case, something is still wrong.  It can’t be true and false at the same time.  However, I want to challenge Christianity’s teaching that we cannot live holy and righteous lives, because if it cannot be done, then explain Z’khar’yah (Zecharias) and Elisheva (Elizabeth).  Because the Bible describes them this way,

And they were both RIGHTEOUS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, WALKING BLAMELESSLY IN ALL THE COMMANDMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS OF THE LORD.  (Luke 1:6)

That seems to tell me that it can be done.  Now Z’kharyah (Zecharias) and Elisheva (Elizabeth) were not a young couple here, but they are an old couple.  Yet they are described as being “righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the LORD.” So contrary to Christian opinion, this does demonstrate that it is possible to “walk in holiness and righteousness.”  

Let me give you a third example.  Paul writes in the book of Galatians,

 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness [qtd. in Genesis 15:6].  Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith [faithful and trust God] who are the sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles [non-Jews] by faith, preached THE GOSPEL BEFOREHAND TO ABRAHAM, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.”  So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.  (Galatians 3:6-9)

He then goes on to say a later on in the chapter,

What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.  For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but GOD HAS GRANTED IT TO ABRAHAM BY MEANS OF A PROMISE.  (Galatians 3:17-18)

Now look how he ends the chapter,

And if you belong to Christ [Messiah], then you are Abraham’s seed, and heir according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)

Notice he did not say that by simply “belonging to Christ/Messiah,” that you are an “heir according to the promise.”  But by being “in Christ, then YOU ARE ABRAHAM’S SEED, and heir according to the promise.”

Ask yourself, “If Abraham does not play a role in any of this, then why bring him into the conversation?” But he does play an important role.  Most Christians and Messianics do not really know why Yeshua was sent by God.  He was sent for these four reasons:

1.  To announce the redemption and restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. called “the gospel of the
     kingdom of God.”
2.  To complete the process of finishing God’s part in the covenant He made with Abraham;
3.  By his death and resurrection, it opened the way so that the redemption and restoration of the United Kingdom of Israel could happen; and
4.  To correct some issues where the religious leaders were misdirecting the people.

These were the four reasons why He came.  Christians believe that He came to die for the forgiveness of sins, but they are only looking at a sliver of what the Bible teaches.  The contexts and framework for understanding “the gospel” is much broader than anything that any Christian or Messianic could possibly imagine.  And because they are only looking at a sliver of the evidence, their view is a distortion of the truth.  It would be as if we went to a “Fun House” in a carnival, where the room of mirrors were.  We would see our reflections in the mirrors, but the reflection is distorted.  If we move up, we get elongated, and if we bend down, we get shorter and fatter, and that is the way the Christian view of “the gospel” is – a distortion.  To gain an accurate view, we must use the whole Bible to understand it – not just the “New Testament.”

A Tale of Two Anointed Kings

The first King, Solomon, began well, but he ended up being an idolator who practiced abominations and sins because of his lust for all his foreign wives.  They led him into idolatry, just as God had warned.  

Although Solomon started well, he did not end well.  And what turned him into “a wicked son,” his obsessive lust for the foreign women that God had prohibited to Israel.  All of these forbidden wives got him to open the doors wide in Israel to idolatry, abominations and sins, and then as a result of his death, he brought division to the Kingdom of Israel.  This account is given in I Kings 11.

Solomon’s Weakness – Foreign Women?

“King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharoah’s daughter – Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Phoenician, and Hittite women, from the nations of which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “None of you shall join them and none of them shall join you, lest they turn your heart away to follow their gods.”  Such Solomon clung to and loved.  He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.” (I Kings 11:1-3, JPS)

Solomon – the Idolator?

“In his old age, his wives turned away Solomon’s heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God as his father David had been.  Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.  SOLOMON DID WHAT WAS DISPLEASING TO THE LORD AND DID NOT REMAIN LOYAL TO THE LORD like his father David.  At that time, Solomon built a shrine for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill near Jerusalem, and one for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.  And he did the same for all his foreign wives who offered and sacrificed to their gods.” (I Kings 11: 4- 8, JPS)

Solomon’s Two Warnings from God

“The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him about this matter, not to follow other gods; he did not obey what the LORD had commanded.” (I Kings 11:9-10, JPS)

Solomon’s Judgment from God

“Because you are guilty of this – you have not kept My covenant and the laws which I enjoined upon you – I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.  But, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it away from your son [Rehoboam].  However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give your son one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”  (I Kings 11:11-11-13, JPS)  

So what happened after Solomon died?  His son Rehoboam took the throne, and shortly after, the United Kingdom split, because of the sinful life Solomon lived because of his lust for these “foreign women.”

The Other King

The other son of David lived his life in obedience to God and His commandments, living a life of holiness and righteousness.  His name is Yeshua of Nazareth.  He was anointed by a Levitical prophet as the Messiah, the King of Israel.  But he laid down his life doing only whatever the Father God wanted him to do.  But there are many mistaken ideas about him.  For example, it was God working in and through him that did all the miracles and raising the dead back to life.  For example, in the book of John, Yeshua teaches us,

“I can do nothing on my own initiative.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just BECAUSE I DO NOT SEEK MY OWN WILL, BUT THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME.” (John 5:30)

“My TEACHING IS NOT MINE, BUT HIS WHO SENT ME.  If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, WHETHER IT IS OF GOD, OR WHETHER I SPEAK FROM MYSELF.  HE WHO SPEAKS FROM HIMSELF SEEKS HIS OWN GLORY; BUT HE WHO IS SEEKING THE GLORY OF THE ONE WHO SENT HIM, HE IS TRUE, AND THERE IS NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN HIM.” (John 7:16-18)

“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, AND I DO NOTHING ON MY OWN INITIATIVE, BUT I SPEAK THESE THINGS THE FATHER TAUGHT ME.  And He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I ALWAYS DO THE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING TO HIM.”  (John 8:28-29)

/”For I DID NOT SPEAK ON MY OWN INITIATIVE, BUT THE FATHER HIMSELF WHO SENT ME HAS GIVEN ME COMMANDMENT, WHAT TO SAY, AND WHAT TO SPEAK.”  (John 12: 49)

“Do you not believe that ‘I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? [speaks of intimacy – not sameness] THE WORDS THAT I SAY TO YOU I DO NOT SPEAK ON MY OWN INITIATIVE, BUT THE FATHER ABIDING IN ME DOES HIS WORKS.  (John 14:10-11)

And then in the rest of the New Testament we read,

“Men of Israel, listen to this: Yeshua of Nazareth WAS A MAN accredited (or approved) by God among you through miracles, wonders, and signs, which GOD DID AMONG YOU THROUGH HIM, as you yourselves know.”  (Acts 2:22)

“…how God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and (miraculous) power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the (oppressive) authority of the devil, BECAUSE GOD WAS WITH HIM.  (Acts 10:38)

So as we can see throughout Yeshua’s ministry, he never acted or spoke on his own authority or feelings.  Instead, he took the time and effort to spend time in prayer (sometimes all night) to God to get His mind and His will in any situation and circumstance that He might face.  Yeshua’s constant goal was to conform himself completely to the mind, heart, and will of the Father, whether that will was already expressed through the Scriptures, or whether it came as he submitted himself to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

What John is clearly showing us in his Gospel is that Yeshua is “the One like unto Moses,” as Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18,

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your own people, like myself, him shall you heed.  This is just what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb, on the day of the Assembly, saying, “Let me not hear the voice of the LORD my God any longer, lest I die.”  Whereupon the LORD said to me, “They have done well in speaking thus.  I WILL RAISE UP A PROPHET FOR THEM FROM AMONG THEIR OWN PEOPLE, LIKE YOURSELF: I WILL PUT MY WORDS IN HIS MOUTH AND HE WILL SPEAK TO THEM ALL THAT I COMMAND HIM; AND IF ANYBODY FAILS TO HEED THE WORDS HE SPEAKS IN MY NAME, I MYSELF WILL CALL HIM INTO ACCOUNT.  (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)

Thus, nothing that Yeshua did, said, or taught was him doing it, but the Father (God) working in and through him to accomplish these things.  It was not Yeshua who raised the dead, healed the sick, or forgave individuals their sins, but God working in and through him who achieved and performed these miracles.  The same God who spoke the world into existence, placed the world onto its axis, and breathed life into Adam, is the same One who is seen working in and through the Messiah Yeshua to heal, redeem, and deliver.  Thus, Yeshua presents himself as “the One like unto Moses” or designated representative through which God, the Creator and King of the Universe, is able to reach out and touch His own created world.

In fact, John records Philip, one of the disciples, finding Nathanael, his friend in Bethsaida, and telling him,

“We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  And Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “Come and See.”  (John 1:45-46)

Then Yeshua is presented as “the One like unto Moses” throughout the rest of the book.

So if the words are not his, the teachings are not his, and the works (miracles) are not his, but the Father’s who sent him, then how can we take things he says or teaches and say that this proves that he is God?  I have seen a meme on Youtube that says, “His death proved His humanity, but His resurrection proved He was God,” but why does it prove that He is God?  Since God is the One who raised him from the dead, and it was God who took him into the heavenlies much like He did to Hanoch (Enoch) and the prophet Eliyahu (Elijah), and it will be God who will send him back at the right time, just as He has promised.

 

 

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